leen

hi, i hvnt been going to see ovens lately but do read up the threads that i hv provided. look for the ovens that can hv the functions i mentioned and that u need. list them and their prices, sizes (if you hv a small kitchen, this is a factor to consider too), pros and cons, and decide which one you need. basically i think so long it has gd functions at a reasonable price, the brands comes second. if its the best branded one but doesn't perform wat you want, its worst than those cheapo brands. i hv seen a baking chef using a 'mobile' (means those cheapo brand, can be carried out type) oven and she bakes beautiful chiffon cakes and bread. but then again, she's a chef, she knows when the ingredient is ready at the look of the mixture texture/color. for us, its normally trial and error. buy a reasonably priced oven that has the functions that you need. eg. if like some ppl, who has family members who frequently like to eat roast meat, then u need to buy a bigger size oven so that at least 1 turkey can be put into the oven and it must hv functions like fan, upper and lower heat etc. turnspit is not necessary as you can manually bring out the turkey to turn it and at the same time able to check the meat on how well it has cooked. there r plenty of ovens but always remember, microwave oven is not a gd baking oven. imagine in the olden days where there r no oven, not even gas oven, how do ppl bake? i hv seen ppl (in other countries) using wood and a mud made oven to bake gd tasting cakes!

we hv been using HDB provided toilet bowls, sinks and vanity top. no problm so far. no breakdown, no flushing problm, nothing broken. like i say, HDB will provide some hardy toiletries for us but at an acceptable aesthetic level so don't expect to hv fanciful types. but it will last. and they hv to make sure their plumber's work pass certain test b4 certifying ok. they vy kiasu & kiasi of ppl's complaints so they r strict on contractors so usually the standard of work and material is maintain at a certain level. there r many plumbers outside making a living with their so-called experience but to hv a proper plumber cert with sufficient practical experience, there r not many. sometimes it could be due to improper pipe installation methods. as for hygene, can ask contractor to do a chemical cleaning on the toilet bowls for you b4 shifting in. 365+ is IKEA's -high range- cookware meh? the price is not ex leh... 365+ is the cookware's model / design name only from wat i saw from the catalogue and when i was at ikea. the 1 i saw was the frying pan i think.. I wouldn't expect gd quality for that price tag.

brand: takahi get a bigger size pot as it can allow you to cook more if you hv more ppl eating. juz put in whatever ingredients you want to cook and leave it in low heat overnite. u get to eat the food in the morning or get to packet it to work. if you preparing for dinner and you hv abt 1 hr to prepare, turn on high heat. if you go to work, juz leave it in low heat will do. it will keep warm the stew. if you r scare of electricity get fire, juz make sure the stew is warm up and you juz switch off the power. when u back from wk in the evening, turn on the heat to warm it up. my takahi cooker cheap n gd. use more than 5 years already. can use to make chinese tonic soup also. i use to make tonic soup overnite and the next day put in food warmer jar to bring to workplc to eat. food warmer jar keeps food warm for abt 6hrs for expensive and cheapo brands, coz i hv used both b4. no difference to me. my hb is quite busy at work so sometime he eats at 3pm for lunch and he told me that the soup is still hot (still got smoke coming out) even though i have pack for him at 7am in the morning. thermal cooker is using presurization method. gd but not cheap for brands like thermos, tiger and zorujishi. cheaper alternative brand are Endo. for ppl who still new on thermal cooker, go carefour to take a look at Endo and CK Tang/Metro/OG to look at higher end brand of thermal cooker and you will see the different grade of stainless steel that is being used. so far, from users of cheaper brand of thermal cooker, they work equally well. so it depend on one's budget and needs. you need to read the recipe book whereby they will tell you what type of meat (that is in your dish that you r cooking) require how many minutes of cooking over fire b4 putting pot back into thermal cooker, and also their method. if using it to make sweet soups/deserts, porridge, its gd as well. but must read up the recipe on the amt of water to put in thermal cooker. its gd if you like to packet food to work to eat as you can bring the whole pot out if you buy the small pot. coz by lunch time, your soup will still be warm. its able to keep food warm for 6-8hrs with the cooking effect that is not present in food warmer jar.

i think ikea's 365+ is their model for that cookware, not the price. i happen to see it in their catalogue that was sent to us. lawry is quite rite abt the sink. larger sink = lesser table top. that was our major constraint as my kitchen is in a pretty odd shape and small in size. our situation: kitchen is in a pretty odd shape and small in size the corner place where the tap outlet for basin has a pipe which we want to box it up but which means it will eat into our sink area, therefore sink has to be small. most of the sinks in the mkt are of standard size, we need to hv a smaller size sink than what is selling by retailers now. what we need (according to our experience in our previous hse): 1) i demanded to hb that i WANT a sink that has a washing bowl, a small 1/2 bowl to put sponge (if due to small sink size, den no choice i willing to forgo this), and an insert area to allow me to defrost and place cutting board on it to cut my fish/meat and at the same time allowing the water to flow to sink. i don't want to cut on table top as the water from the fish/meat smell will linger on the table top for some time. cutting/defrosting fish/meat on table top = leaves fishy/meaty smell on table top = hard to get rid of 2) as large a table top as possible 3) more cabinet space solution: 1) search high & low through almost whole of SG in search of a sink of the rite size... finally found the 1 and only last 1 in ikea that fits my need and also till now im vy satistfied with it. no rust, no problm, no stain 2) looks like this juz that the small 1/2 bowl is in between the washing bowl and the insert. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S89847463 ikea's sink fit our needs so we boughgt it 3) top kitchen cabinet depth is increased 4) tap we use the type that can be pull out and spray on after much considearation of abt to was the sink and deep / tall kettle, pots etc. we know that the old type that has a rubber hose (something like that) which allow to be able to pulled out, used to leak or water tend to flow back along the hose and into the sink, or flows along the hose and into the hose outlet area thus water seaping into the underside of teh sink as my aunt has 1 which has this problm and our previous type is the u-like which can't be pulled out and we find that we hv difficulty washing the insde of the tall pots. so we decided to spend abit more for this tap to buy a gd quality pull out spray type of tap which is used in restaurant. but we buy the smaller range as the bigger range will take up space as well. so far so gd and it serves our needs. as for mover, we engage Jimmy also. I wonder if Lawry's Jimmy Mover's boss name is Jimmy Chan? if its the same Jimmy we r talking abt, he'd gd. thumbs up for me as well. Jimmy comes and view our flat and our items and told us that he needed 3 trip for his lorry. he quoted us and say that if he needs to spend only 2 trip, he will only charge us for 2 trips' price. we told him don't overload lorry by trying to squeeze many things and he assured us he will not do so, he even wanted to show us his lorry which we don't think necessary as we r in constrn field, we able to gauge his lorry type to our moving needs. he also told us that he need half day to help me move hse n place the items to the designated areas at the new hse. he even ask if we hv things like piano as he told us that they don't move piano and that we must engage specialist to move paino if we hv 1. we agreed to engage his service as we think its fair and that his price is cheaper and more reasonable than others. he provided cartons for us. when he move our items over to the new hse, he was careful by putting protection on the floor to prevent damage to our floor and hse. he worked alongside with his workers and sweating plenty. i would say he and his team are really dedicated lot. both hb n me r vy pleased with his service.

hi, try looking up yellow pages under curtain section and calling those retailers to ask them if they have this rack

Hi, maybe you like to read up the following threads on oven and microwave oven. pls bear in mind that what an oven can do, microwave oven can do but result is not that gd. its best to buy separately, ie oven is solely for baking, grilling, etc. microwave oven cannot bake well. http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?ac...=33&t=19962 http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?sh...623&hl=oven http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?sh...amp;hl=germania hope the above helps.

the last time (abt 1 1/2 years ago ) i went poh joo, they hv quite a few type, round, square, big, medium, small etc. with different prices but you hv to ask them coz not all are install as demo for ppl to see. duno now if its still the same? i hv these rain shower sets install at both my toilets. both come with shower rose, mixer and handshower set. 1 shower rose is the round one that look exactly like Bluefly's, the other 1 look like those retro type which is call the bell shower rose (you can find from their website). both r genova brand. so far being using them lots of time and its still quite gd, no problm with pressure, water coming out from all holes and hot/cold water issues (btw im at mid level of a 16 sty flat). no problm with pipe issues also. i hv install a storage heater at hm, but duno if can work with instant heater for this... u can check their website for their products and also to view as sample to get an idea of what u want. my reno contractor is their boss friend, so i was able to get at gd rate and also that time juz nice got promotion. u can go to their showroom to see their demo set, sometime they got promotion. their product r made in taiwan and china. http://www.genova.com.sg/?p=productsList&a...ain-Shower-Rose so far our experience is gd, juz like when u go to swimming pool or country club's toilet where they hv this type of rain shower rose. hope it helps.

try out baking recipes and follow the steps and the amt of ingredients and most likely can come out nice cookies. in fact cookies look easy to do but u need to know how, if not they will be burnt easily. u hv to put at 2nd level of the rack. usually the temp is lower compare to baking cakes and the time to bake do not need to be too long. eg. if recipe says bake 20mins, you put timer to 15mins and start to observe. if by 18mins, it achieve a light golden yellow color, its mostly ready. if u want to be sure, u juz use a baking testing needle to poke it. if it comes out clean, its ready. if not, u need to put a while more. if its cooked at light golden yellow, n u can accept it or like it, you can take out the cookies. but if you need to make it look a bit more golden brown, u juz need to turn up the heat, eg. from 150deg c to 180 or 200deg c for abt 30sec to 45sec and it will brown the top abit. and then quickly turn off the heat and open the oven door and bring out the cookies. this is for looks. (this is known as flush up the temp) and to quickly use a spoon and fork to bring your cookies to the cookie metal rack for cooling. don't leave it in the baking pan as heat is still in the pan and it will burn the bottom of the cookies. how to diy cookie rack instead of buy those ready made: 1) use a rack with the size slightly bigger than your baking pan (which is not use to bake the cookie as its still vy hot) 2) put the rack over the baking pan 3) put the cookies on top of the rack and leave it to cool for baking food, eg. if u hv cheese on top of bake rice (eg only), and you want it to have a bit of golden brown, use a gd blow torch and with quick sweeping motion, burn the top portion abit and it will brown abit. but DO BE VERY VERY CAREFUL when u handle blow torch coz you don't want to burn down the hse. put your food with nothing surrounding it or things that can easily caught fire coz the blow torch flame can easily spread the fire to other items or melt other items if they r too near (eg. melt your plastic ware that is near to where u use the blow torch). other than careful usage, blow torch can be a gd tool to use. alternatively, eg. if u do meringue, to make the top brown (juz like professional pastry chef at hotel or pastry that comes from hotel or restaurant), u can use your oven to flush the temp as per the above method. if not, can use blow torch also can. as for your thermometer, do buy from professional bakery stores as they will not bring in items that don't work. i don't compromise buying my baking equipments from elsewhere. hope the above helps.

i have always believe HDB's standard coz i know they r stringent to contractors. so hb n me choose to use all of wat HDB has build for us and till now no problm. tiles r easy to maintain. my kitchen n toilet tiles r matt type which i prefer as it can get quite slippery if there r water on shinning surface smooth tiles.. you will not slip but you can't guarantee you will never slip, your old folks, children and guests will not slip accidentally when there r water on the floor. HDB always provide those easy maintenance and hardy items for us. i find it a waste to juz discard these items away if they r in usable condition. when we buy the hse, we paid for all these items. so by replacing these items, it would mean throwing away our hard-earn $$$$$$$$$$ the rest is due to experience so our hm is non-fancy but functional type. kitchen cabinets - we use sandy color (some may say beige) so that it is easy to maintain, even it is dirty, cannot see properly no fanciful feature walls for us as it waste space and $$$ our curtains must have tab and also hook type for our rods which can be use as tab or hook type utensils - go to those utensils shops to buy stainless steel type will do. plain type (without designs) to prevent dirt from sticking in it and for easy maintaining and cleaning. the most expensive is only $1.50 per piece. can use for long time. window grilles installed at service balcony and study room (facing common corridor) for security. intend to install grilles at balcony and rooms as protection for kids as there is a kid that fell out of the hse from 7 floor! sink is brought from ikea due to limited space and i want a washing side, a small compartment in the middle for putting sponge, and a side panel for me to cut seafood, meat and vege so that any stinking water will flow into the sink and not everywhere on the working top. gd quality granite top which is heat resistant. no walk-in wardrobe for me although hb ask if i want i find it a tedious job if moulds start to grow. we r living in Singapore and with such a humid environment, moulds grow easily on cabinets, etc. so no point slaving for the wardrobe and not cost efficient to keep buying those humidifiers. no pointy glass or metal dinning table due to safety reason. mine is a big oval shape natural marble table with natoh wood legs and support and chairs. no false ceilings for me as i don't want my family to eat the dust everyday as cleaning for such areas is very tedious. imagine tons of dusts and some dead insects r living above u and u r serving food to your family to eat just underneath them no downlights. no fridge base as we don't think we are going to wash the kitchen floors like the market where water is splashed everywhere. this also help to give us more options if we need to change our fridge as we are not restricted to certain size of fridge only. no washing machine base as well. same reason as above. no special customise built display cabinets. no fanciful basin in my hse. as for stainless steel items in toilet and kitchen sink and all taps, we have a habbit of using a absorbant cloth to clean it dry of water after use. so still in gd condition. as for carpet, we vacuum it offen. as for toilets, we scrub it often. also use a scrub with a long handle to scrub the internal bowl and the hole thoroughly. for pots and pans, we go to CK tang, Metro, OG, BHG (sometimes only) during their sales to buy WMF, Corningware, Luminarc to use. which is safe, functional, proven and easy to maintain. for other normal utensils, we go to neighbourhood shops, eg. 5B at Joo Chiat, utensils shops at Ang Mo Kio, etc. to get them. cheap, gd and functional. we also have the habbit of wiping clean the utensils after washing and putting it back to the cabinet after use.

oh, forgot to add... im in no way related to these companies that i have mentioned above. im in construction field, walk site, inspect works, witness tests, scold workers / engineers, amend drawings, attend meetings, do programs, supervise submissions, submit claims, do tenders, find new projects locally and overseas, look up new / old clients... etc. so baking is my hobby... if only i have more time on my hands

hi, im no expert, also learning everyday you can go to PA and phoon huat for cooking and baking classes. PA has quite professional teachers / instructors for both cooking and baking lessons. Phoon huat has professional pastry chefs for their baking classes. some other places either charges too high, or they either go to places like Phoon Huat to learn the tricks and method of baking and decor and start to teach at their own premises or open classes at some other 'institutions' charging high fees for simple things which i find not worth it. if you r really committed and interested, NITEC and BITC are also vy good place to obtain certs for such courses. but of coz, the duration is longer and fees slightly higher. its like getting a diploma cost. Other institutions are Shatec and Sunrise although their fees (especially Sunrise) are much higher but you will get professional results and certifications which are enough for you to get a full time job in the professional kitchen (my current dream.... but hb says i only 5min passion only... ) but you can search their webs for short workshops or courses that will suit you. how i look for classess: 1) must be professional enough, not aunties who don't have anything to do and come and teach for leisure only 2) place must be big coz you need big space to do your work. some places may tell you they only have small classess so that its more family style or focus teachings... bullsheet actually their premises is too small so can't accomodate too many students at 1 time. ask to view their class venue and it will be better if they r having a class and you can see for yourself 3) have certificates is better (don't have also can but fees can't be too expensive) so that you will feel you r appreciated (at least you feel it yourself) 4) don't be afraid to go for metal tables or professional layout type of environment. you will find that exposure to such environment will let you have a feel of being a chef-in-making in a professional kitchen and inspire you to do your best juz imagine small cramp place, wooden table that rocks to and fro everytime you roll or knead your flour... worst if you have a neighbour who is like a monster machine in rolling the flour... juz like richter scale 7 earth quake... 5) teachers / instructors / chefs r professional enough, not those semi-retired or retired aunties. why? becoz they will tend to give you more professional and proven theories and advise. 6) if you go to places that uses professional machines (eg. mixer / oven) to do the baking, you can ask the instructors if you have a normal domestic equipments, how u manage them. 7) hands-on lessons r the best but usually ppl charges high fees. remember to take notes on the eg. mixture color / texture when its mixed correctly, etc. 8) pay attention to the teachers, not the aunties around you. ask all questions and clear all doubts. back to topic... your method of pre-heating the oven is correct. pre-heat the oven is to make the oven hot, not to that EXACT / PRECISE temperature coz you r not baking anything yet. to guage your temperature, go to phoon huat to buy those thermometer that can be hang inside the oven and safe to use in oven. can ask the sales girls there as they r quite friendly, professional and knowledgeable coz they need to help the pastry chefs do baking also. you can google for their website with their company name. phoon huat has economical baking items. some ppl always say some other places cheaper. maybe correct for some small items but generally phoon huat has everything you need for baking at affordable prices (i have went to countless shops and this is my conclusion). if they don't have a particular item that you need, you juz ask the girls to check for you if they have it at other outlets. so far, most of my baking items are bought at their place. daiso also sells some baking stuffs but trust me, $2 quality for baking wares r abit scary to use. eg. baking pans of all shapes. they r cheap but they seems to be like aluminium wares. aluminium wares r harmful to our health. Pls avoid if you can. pots / pans - use stainless steel, casserole pots (eg. corningware, luminarc etc.), glass, non-stick wares (they r gd but need carefull cleaning method, cannot anyhw scrub) etc. do not use aluminium type. type of thermometer to buy: 1) those that looks like a pocket watch type that have a metal bend on the top for your easy hanging IN the oven 2) must state safe to use in oven 3) REMEMBER: CANNOT USE IN MICROWAVE OVEN OK (must state this in advance coz some ppl forget cannot put metal things in microwave oven, wait explode and go on Lian He Wan Bao ) 4) if not sure, ask the sales girls. 5) a typical oven thermometer temp range is from 0deg Celsius to maybe 400 or 500 deg C which is sufficient. don't buy a too low range temp type and we don't need too high a range type also. 6) why buy hang type of thermometer? i believe most of the oven has glass door that are ususally tainted (meaning of darking colored glass). if you buy a stand type where you need to put on the rack and not near the glass door, when you bake, you may not be able to see the temperature clearly. for me, i juz want it to hang near the glass door so that i can see it clearly. step by step on how to hang the thermometer: 1) hang the thermometer on the 2nd rack (or the middle rack) why? coz when you bake, you will wear mitten to take out your bakes and it will need space for your hand to move in. most of the bakes r recommended to put at mid rack so as top and bottom will not burnt / browned too much or uncooked. if you were to hang it on the 1st rack, when you stick your hand into the oven to take out the bakes, you will touch the thermometer and it will drop and scald your hand which is not covered by the mitten. or it will become a hindrance to your view of your bake. 2) position the thermometer a bit to the left or right side (as per your preference) starting from the middle of the oven. why? coz if you position in the middle of the oven, it will obstruct your view of your bake. i know there r some oven that has a border panel which is built in the glass door, so if you position it too much to the side of the glass door, when you closes it, the thermometer is hiden and you can even see the thermometer. (hope you get wat im talking abt) in hotel and restuarant professional kitchens, chefs and pastry chefs sometimes do use electronic phrobe type of thermometer for precise accuracy on temperature checks. but we don't have to use so professional types. i only uses electronic scale coz when i measure my ingredients, i find that i have to wait for those manual type to stop bouncing before i can know what's the weight of my ingredient which is a hazzle to me as i like to prepare my ingredients fast. be it baking, cooking or steaming kuehs, all r talking abt chemical reactions of different items being mixed together. being baking for a few years already so like i always say, when you do more, you tend to understand and know when you need to stop blending, beating the mixture, etc. cannot over beat also... initially i also face flop cakes, burnt cookies, etc. don't be disheartened, ask yourself wat went wrong, etc. don't comprise methods and ingredients. hope the above clears your doubt.

Hi, maybe you like to read up the following threads on oven. http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?ac...=33&t=19962 http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?sh...623&hl=oven http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?sh...amp;hl=germania hope the above helps.

go bras basah level 1 and walk around. there r many shops selling watches, clocks, pens, etc. i ever saw some shops hv this cuckoo clock that's hang on the wall (not floor standing type) but i don't know how much coz never ask.

for framing wat? eg. pic, photo, cert, painting?

donut88 is quite right abt the above. top and bottom heat is for baking n fan is more for meat cooking as its more hot n will burnt the bakes if use the fan. i cook n bake as well. maybe you like to read my following posts in the thread on oven. these r from my experiences as i get to use different type of ovens for different purposes and that's why get to know more of these electrical appliances. http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?sh...623&hl=oven hope the above helps. my experience tell me that even the most expensive oven may not produce the best bakes/dishes. each ovens hv their own characteristics even if they r of same brand n model. most of the ovens that hv alot of functions r expensive. after searching high n low, i bought a La Germania standing cooker which has a cooking hob & a oven below. this standing cooker was brought from Citygas at around S$1300 only (a few years back) and its Italian made. i hv ever use this type of cooker while i stay in Australia (Oz) before as the angmoh old landlady uses it to cook for her family. btw, she is a heavy cooker. n that's why she put 1 same cooker for me to use at my rented unit from her. she stays at level 1 while i stay at level 2 of her hse which has a separate kitchen from hers. so far, i hv baked many many butter, chiffon (etc) cakes, cookies, etc., grilled meat, cooked dishes from this cooker. its cheap n gd. many ppl had negative view on such cooker as they said, if 1 spoil, the whole cooker has to be changed. i told hb that if i buy separate hob n oven, lets say a cheap hob is S$300 n the oven is S$3k (with the functions that i want), then with this money ($3.3k), i can change 3 standing cookers with abit of top-up (abt $600)! so its still worth to buy it. and also dun forget, italians r gd cookers. that's why the appliances they made r of gd standard also. it has many functions that i can use. as for precision wise, of course baking calls for precise temp, timing, ingredient amount, etc. but do remember every oven tend to behave differently and you need to get to know your oven. usually the rule is undercook is better than over cook because if its undercook, you can cook it some more but if its over cook, its burnt... for timer wise, electronic will be more precise but to me turning knob makes no different as i hv put it that its better to undercook than overcook, eg. if recipe calls for 30mins, you put timer to 20 or 25mins n start to monitor from there on when to turn off the heat. as for rapid heating, it can only claim that it can heat up the oven faster, thus save electricity? or if you r using gas type (not many uses this type nowadays), it saves gas? well, imho, pre-heating is to heat up the oven so that a certain level of temperature is achieve compare to a cooled oven environment. this is because when you do pre-heating, you heat up the oven environment. then when you open the door to put in the bakes or dishes, temperature drops drastically but still maintaining a certain level of heat. this is only possible to detect if you hv an electronic thermometer to measure the heat as in hotel's kitchen where the chefs need to know exact temperature. but for us domestic users, it don't make alot of difference unless the drop is too much. if you hv a rapid heating function, it could only mean pre-heating time is cut short, eg. for normal oven, its preheat at 180 deg c. for 10 minutes, rapid heat may only need 5mins? so you will gauge when to finish preparing your bakes / dishes juz when the pre-heat has juz ended. coz you can't put your already mixed baking ingredients / dishes out to wait for too long before putting into the oven. so sometimes its alright if pre-heat ends 10minutes already then you put in your bakes/dishes. if you delay for too long, the pre-heat environment will cool down and you will need to heat it up once again. as for other functions, you can read up the following threads for more ideas. some functions are redundant, juz like donut88 says, self-cleaning is actually bull****. you still need to clean the oven yourself after every use. n you can on the heater to melt away any stains that is stuck in the oven. after its cooled with its oven door slightly open, you use a damp cloth to wipe it clean will do. not that we trying to discredit certain forumers' recommendations or brands, but this is our practical experience from using these appliances, thus hope you don't buy those unwanted functions that you will never use. even 6-star hotel chefs who cook at home also won't use all of the oven functions even if its there (tips from chefs personally). http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?sh...amp;hl=germania hope the above answer your query.

it depend on the type of key holder/cabinet (small type) that you want. most of these need to hang on nails that are drilled onto the wall. mine is a country type. A) if you just want a key holder that looks like office use, metal type: 1) you can go to popular bookstore (the bigger stores, eg. bras basah) stationery section. They have those metal small cabinet that can be locked and can hang many keys. 2) those diy shops B) if you want a country style of key holders, you can consider the following options. you can go to the following website to take a look at the key holder and have an idea. *1) http://kalescloset.blogspot.com/ key holders http://kalescloset.blogspot.com/search/lab...%2FKey%20Holder note: there are other type of key holders sold by other retailers where its a small cabinet type. 2) Lovely DeArt Open times: Daily 11am-9pm ADDRESS #02-16 Thomson Plaza 301 Upper Thomson Road Phone: 6455 1282 3) Forest Woodworking Pte Ltd Thomson Plaza (Map) 301 Upper Thomson Road #02-15, Singapore 574408 Phone: 64546655 4) Astoria Floral Design & Landscape Pte Ltd 301 Upper Thomson Road #01-01, Singapore 574408 Phone: 64570114 Note: they hv a small range of home decor items. sometimes you can find what you need there cheaper than alot of other places. 5) HuaRong Arts & Crafts Pte Ltd / HuaFu Furniture & Homewares 315 Outram Road, #01-09, Tan Boon Liat Building, Singapore 169074 Tel: 6227 3217 Opening hrs: have to call them to check Note: their items are mostly from china. some are quality stuffs at inexpensive prices but have to be really careful coz the space for walking is extremely limited. 6) Le Cozy No. 1 Jalan Anak Bukit, Bukit Timah Plaza, #02-05, Singapore 588996 Tel: 6469 7456 Note: They have some items at quite attractive prices as well. the lady boss is quite friendly. if you buy more items, you can negotiate with her on discounts. 7) Country Colleczions 101 Thomson Road, B1-56, United Square, Singapore 307591 200 Turf Club Road, #01-09, Singapore 287994 Tel: 64660972 Opening hrs: have to call and check Note: they have quite a few number of items also. Can ask for discount if buy a few items from them. if you pay cash, they able to give some discounts but not for card payment. 8) there is 1 country decor shop at Beauty World Shopping Centre (the one that has a foodcourt at the top most level). Its shop is located at Basement or Level 1 (if i remember correctly), visible from the escalator at the atrium. Quite alot of items to view also. *9) Zara Vintage - located @ Bussorah St *10) The Cottage Crafts - located @ Stamford house *11) Creations from the heart- located @ Anchor point *12) Kitchen Place - located @ Park Mall recommendations by other forumers who went there before. I have never visited these shops so i can't comment on them. fyi, my hse is not done country style. juz happen that i needed a key holder box / cabinet at that time when i shift hse. so during the time when we go hunting for furniture, we also keep this in our list so we juz kept a look out at that time. hope the above helps.

juz my 2 cents... i bought a juicer n a (glass jar type) blender. i find the blender is of a better choice coz i can put in alot of fruits of different sizes and definitely easiler to clean. the juicer has a filter of some kind and fruit's purees (eg. orange pup) gets stuck there. there will still be some that's hard to come off even when i use a toothbrush to brush them. so i think it gets quite unhygenic for the next juicing. my blender is a braun brand with a glass jar for easy cleaning n also being more hygene as plastic type tend to be scratched and mixed into the food when u do blending. its abit loud though.

usually those shops that sell home utensils will sell this bucket

sometimes its doggy urine. i ever saw 1 ah pek with a fat dog who pee everywhere n the ah pek never pick up his dog **** hv any of u notice that the carpark r not cleaned and there r bottles of soft drinks, liquor n food packets left at the carpark stairs? its getting quite dirty n rench of liquor smell

this topic beri funny usually its due to pantang n hw the mum brought him up. my mil never teaches him abt ladies' undies so be it panty or bra, he's vy shy to it and of coz with the pantang thing teachings, he never touches my bras and panties for washing. n everytime if he does the washing, he will quickly throw in clothes to wash b4 i could put in my bras n panties. so i get vy annoy and told him off many times. finally, i derive 1 thing. he is a stingy cat so i purposely just throw in 1 panty n 1 bra to wash. and i showed him that its wasting electricity, water & $$$ so he get the msg and nw put in my bras n panties to wash if he does the washing. but he still will not hang my undies n bras. he will just put in a small washing bag for undies n bra washing bag and wash them with the other clothes. after washing, he will use clothes peg to just hang the whole bag onto the hanger to dry. this ended when i went for an operation. i teach him how to hang my undies 1 by 1 and my bra. i told him that if he wants to hv bodily enjoyment, he need to take care of my body too. if my body is not well taken care of,eg. i develop itchness due to undy not hang out to sun properly, it will pass to him, introduce germs / bacterias to my internal where its mean for baby making/storing n jeopardise everyone's 'happiness' so i guess he get my meaning. occasionally he still help me to hang my undies n bras, esp during the days where im busy with work or sick. i taught him to hang all of our long pants, jeans, skirts, boxers, etc. to one side of the hanging area. i told him that not that im pantang, i just ask him, 'eh darling, u feel shiok whenever u walk to the service balcony n the pants r rubbing against ur head izt? i find it irritating as it tend to get in the way when i want to hang other clothes' . this, he also get my meaning and follow suit. the 1st time we wash our clothes together, we got into a big fight. i really hv no idea hw he is brought up as he has more siblings living together than me. he washes his shirts and hang them by putting the bamboo thru the sleeve to the other sleeve, n hang the pants by putting the bamboo thru 1 of the side of the pants. in this way, he uses 2 bamboos to hang 2 pants, 1 bamboo to hang 2 shirts!!! i told him that the shirt can be hang on hangers and hang onto the bamboo side by side but he argue with me that it will not dry properly and told me to wash my clothes the next day as there wasn't enough bamboo to dry them so juz imagine i really want to hum tum flat flat when i heard that. i told him that if u hv a family of 8, hw much space and bamboos u need to hv to dry the clothes? i told him that my mum drys her clothes that way and i was taught that way also. i never hv a problem of un-dry clothes. so i showed him by taking down his clothes, hanging them with hangers and hang onto the bamboos side by side. Washed my clothes n also hang them closely to his. then i tell him, cum tomorow morning n see if the clothes r dry. the next morning he checked and find that the clothes r dry. then when his mum came to 'visit' us (aka inspection of the hse n my knowledge of hsehold chores handling n also whether i got torture her precious son), she was surprise i hang the clothes that way and ask my hb 'like that also can dry har?' my hb told her 'if got many clothes, wat u do? buy many bamboos n hang all over the place? my clothes is 100% dry the next day la' i almost laf out loud when i heard him telling my mil that way. the reason is that my mil likes to freely comment this and that abt anything, esp on our hse living where i dun like coz my hb will listen and start to do n say wat she commented.. juz like a photocopying machine / parrot... i told him many things r common cents n of logic, coz my mum is a full time hsewife who was make to learn many hsehold chores when she was vy young. so she knew many things n how to go abt to do them. when it come to hsehold chores, she's like a walking encyclopedia. and to add on her knowledge was that my dad is a peranakan so my grandma was vy fierce and demand alot from my mum (as my dad was 2nd son in the family). so my mum is developed into a woman who is vy gd in hsehold chores n cooking. like wat is shown in the Little Nonya show, my mum does all the hardwork also. when she just married my dad, she need to wakes up at 5am in the morning, starting to boil water, wash clothes, wake & feed us, go marketing (all hsehold chores to done by 6.30am as need to go mkt by 6.45am to buy the most fresh meat n vege), cook breakfast, wash up all utensils used after breakfast, tidy/mop (no using of mop, only cloth) hse, clean the drain (my grandma's old hse is the old peranakan type, vy big double storey), prepare lunch, eat lunch with us after everyone has eaten, wash the utensils, boil water for my grandma to bath, bath us, fold clothes (if any), prepare dinner, eat with us after everyone and wash the utensils. finally boil somemore water for my dad n me to bath at the end of the day, help to mend some clothes or do some sewing and finally she would usually get to go to bed at 11 or 12 in the night time. she would pound the spices and ingredients for food or special chilli that she want to cook with from scratch. she do not belive in buying ready make even for now when we can get them conveniently from supermkts, restaurants, etc. she is 1 lady i salute to n love dearly. she never make us do all these chores n cooking, only want us to watch wat she do and ask if we would like to help when we r at primary school age. she wants me n my sis to take care of our delicate hand/fingers so that they r not roughed from all the hsehold chores like hers. so far, we hv learned from her some of her special recipes. when we visited my mil, she asked her precious son if my mum's cooking suits his taste, guess wat he says that piss her? 'oh, she can cook really well and can do many delicious dishes' the reason is that my mil don't bealive in garlic, onions, ginger, spring onions n spices and cooking of soups, toufu and vege in her cooking. and everytime its either over cooked or taste funny. its alway fried things which really scare me to death whenever i need to eat at her place. even my hb also start to eat lesser at her food. my hb's siblings n his neices/nephews r choosy in their food whereby they will pick out the garlic n onions if its in their food, choose to eat meat more than vege n lighter food. his sis even complain n ask me hw to make her children eat more healthy food as they only like fried things where i really don't know how to answer her without offending her. coz the adults don't set a gd example, hw u expect the children to change?

morning sun u will get morning sun shinning thru ur hse in the morning, thus no sunday sleeping late but its gd to wake up early hse will be warm for the 1st half of the day and cool downs after 3pm. so by the time u get hm around 6-7pm, ur hse is cooled must wash clothes or bring out quilt, mattress early for sun shinning if u want to. afternoon sun u will get afternoon sun from around 12 noon onwards. the whole hse will be warmer for the 2nd half of the day and cool downs only around 7.30pm onwards. old folks or ppl who like warmer feel due to arithis etc. will like afternoon sun. during the afternoon sun, u can sun ur mattress, clothes etc. but the sun shine direction will change slightly due to seasonal changes (in SG, its monsoon changes) my old hse has all the afternoon sun and i hv to draw the curtains in the afternoon thus its always dark and much warmer than my current hse where i hv the morning sun. usually up to 8pm, my old hse will still hv a warmth lingers on. sometimes during the hotter season, it gets quite unbearable so our fan is on all the time and also increase in use of air-con. for eg. usage of air-con for my old hse compare to my new hse new hse: 1 week uses the most twice. usually on for sleeping, so start around 12midnight to 6am old hse: 1 week uses 3 to 4 day. usually start from the time we get home n was watching tv to the next day. eg. 8pm to 6am. so you can imagine how scotching hot my old hse is... to make matter worse, there's no trees/greenery so there's no wind

separate whites, light colors (eg. lighter pink, green, yellow, etc), darker colors (eg. red, maroon, dark green, dark yellow, etc) and blacks clothes into different washing bags and wash them according to the classification above. read the clothes' labels to see if they say color run. usually, for darker colors and blacks, they tend to color runs as to achieve such colors, manufacturers usually have to mixed colors. there r no straight lazy fast food type of washing clothes unless all your clothes r darker colors and blacks.

hi, i don't know if you r going to private doc or govt hospital for your checkups and ops. but if u r really that worried, talk to your gynae again and tell him/her abt your wish to have babies and what will the operation mean, eg. removal of cyst only or need to remove ovaries? etc. if you still not sure, get a second opinion from another doc. ppl can share with you their experiences, but you hv to try to get gynae to explain clearly and address all your doubts. there r some cysts that will go away naturally with time, there r some that need only medication, then there r some that really need op and some by using laser only. so you hv to really grille your gynae no matter how piss off he/she will get but they r not suppose to be piss off but to help their patients. if really all else point to the fact that you need to remove the cysts to save your life, then you hv to do it. no matter who try to comfort you, you will feel sad, depressed, stressed.. but look on the bright side, you can opt for adoption although that is a difficult route and decision to make as family must be really supportive of your decision, esp your hb. do not be despair, god always will help open another door if 1 door closes. be strong..

Dear Mist, 1st of all, take gd care of yrself. Once you r strong & healthy (coz u got babies), u will be much more able to prepare to take care of yr dad, yr babies n yr family (including yr mum, bro n hubby, esp mum & bro coz they r stressed out too). and also once u r healthy n strong, u will b strong mentally also. all forumers here r giving gd encouragement and advice. so u must jia you although sometime u will feel tired mentally n physically. Mist, don't despair, try all kinds of alternative treatment to help see if yr dad's body respond to it. n don't think he don't respond mean he don't know or don't understand. he could be listening to you all n feelling sad n helpless too. all of u r his family which he has make it as his main objective to take care of n if any of u feel sad, he will be sad too. financial wise, u can talk to the hospital too. there r aids and deferment plans for paying of bills. if hv medishield, medisave, also can use. go to MP also can as they will be able to help arrange some kind of help to you. u can also approach / ask them for advise on plans of taking care of yr dad n alternatives to taking care of him coz we don't definitely know all kinds of help/assistance that is available and provided by the govt and/or organisations. there r many ppl who will be able to help you or lend you a helping hand. but you must be strong in order to be the pillar of strength of the hsehold. Mist, jia you

this is the newspaper cutting on the poor little boy... best regards to the boy's family, hope they will recover from their loss and be strong...