Mustafa Centre

On the way back from Australia, Manbacon and I had a quick 2-day stopover in Singapore, just to break up the journey a little. We arrived in Singapore around 9.30 at night, and met up with my delightful and insanely energetic cousin Sabrina about an hour later for a trip to Mustafa Centre. Yes, that's right, we went shopping at 11 at night! 

No, there wasn't some late-night shopping extravaganza going on. In fact, it is possible every night, thanks to the fact that Mustafa Centre is a veritable temple to consumerism that is open 24 hours a day, every day. Seriously, if you're ever in Singapore and find yourself suffering from insomnia, that's the place to go. Have a look at some of the wonderful items we found. 

Monopoly: Singapore Edition

Crazy-eyed stuffed lion

Qwerty-keyboard thongs in pink and other colourways

Hundreds of dollars worth of milky hazelnut chocolate

Handpainted floating Jesus on some kind of animal hide

'Pie Sand' - chocolaty biscuits with crystallised sugar on top

Rows of fake flowers and scented items

The golden goose! 

No, unfortunately, I did not come home with those sexy Qwerty keyboard thongs. I did come away with some lovely sari fabric on supersale, as well as a glamourous set of rhinestone jewellery. 

Eggy, crispy roti prata and ice-cold bandung

After all that shopping, recharge with a meal at one of the numerous hawker centres in the area. A restorative meal of freshly made roti prata and lurid pink bandung helped us get our breath back. 

Village Food (Part 1)

Our first two days in Thailand were mostly spent visiting relatives who lived in Hankha in Chainat Province. It was about 3 hours away from the airport in Bangkok, so of course we had to stop at a shack by the side of the road for some fresh coconut juice. 

After that refreshing stop, we were off again, for more food of course. Sitting in a car for hours is hungry work! About an hour later, we stopped at a river side restaurant for a huge meal with the HUGE extended family (long story involving multiple families in multiple countries...). The restaurant looked, well, fairly shabby, to say the least, and rather empty, so I guess I wasn't expecting too much. Of course, I was wrong! Most of the best food I've eaten in Southeast Asia have often been from the dustiest, shabbiest hole-in-the-wall, and this was no exception. Look and drool, my friends...

Gigantic grilled river prawns. Look at the size of those legs! This one almost looks like a baby lobster. The prawns were stored in a pool at the front of the restaurant, and only picked up and grilled when ordered. They were cooked without any seasoning, but came accompanied by a bowl of dipping sauce (fish sauce, chillies and ginger, I think). These were some of the sweetest, juiciest prawns I have ever had, and I was content to eat them plain.

Lots of fish dishes, including fried fish cakes, and steamed fish served in a number of ways. I especially liked the one that came in a fish-shaped dish on top of a heated container. 

A sort of omelette with glass noodles -sort of plain but strangely addictive. 

Homemade steamed cakes with grated coconut and steamed corn (below).

All these items were consumed within my first two, maybe three hours in Thailand. Jealous?

In Flight

Hello, lovers! It's been a while, but I'm back, with plenty more pictures to come. Where was I? Off on a manic two week trip to Singapore - Thailand - Singapore and then back to London last Friday. Just in time too, it turned out, as the snow finally visited on Saturday. I'm still feeling a little jetlagged and getting my head around actually having to do W.O.R.K., but there will be some holiday snaps and a holiday dress up soon.

Tiny Hat

My brief was to make Shannon a little pouch-type thing so he could keep stuff in it. But it looked fairly...boring. So what does one do to jazz it up a little? Add some scalloped edges and turn the thing into a teeny tiny hat!

Now we're all set to party!

No idea why I look so worried. Possibly because I was envisioning a crowd of prepubescents all adopting the crocheted tiny hat trend, and then, one day, leaving the house only to be confronted by lots of tiny people wearing tiny hats.

Finally, Some Crochet...

Alright...confession time. Since I came back to Sydney, the weather's been way too hot for me to want to sit under a pile of wool, making warm winter wear. So I've mostly refrained. I'm most definitely not a warm weather person.

But I did manage to crochet a few items in the week that I was in Melbourne. All I can say is...thank goodness for air-conditioning. Sure, it's not that good for the environment, but when you're baking in a 40 degree room, it's very pleasant.

I found out (while enjoying the air-conditioned comfort) that both my cousins had got into crochet and knitting, thanks to a book that they received for Christmas a year ago. I promptly commandeered a crochet hook and some wool and proceeded to make them beanies. Very simple but very well received. It also didn't hurt that they thought I was a 'genius' because of how even my stitches were.

Trying on Shannon's beanie for size before I gave it to him. (Sorry about the fairly Myspace-esque pose, it's hard to take a good photo of the side of your head when there's no one else around to help.) Compared to a 12-year-old, I have a giant head.
Shannon was pleased with the finished product, even though he'll have to wait at least 4 months before he wears it if he doesn't fancy giving himself brain damage.
Belinda loved hers too, and the fact that I made it in her favourite colour, burgundy. I didn't know it was her favourite colour at that time, it was just the one of the colours that my sister had in her stash.
At least I seem to have a couple of fans now.