These Are a Few of My Favourite Things

This is the second post of a few photos about the small happy things that have cheered up my days recently. You can find the first entry here!

Coffee isn't coffee unless it's the real stuff - espresso! And it tastes even better home-made with my cute Bialetti coffee maker given to me by my dad. We both love our cuppa but are particular about the taste. I also never take my coffee black. Cappuchino is the word and this maker is an easy and affordable way to make quality coffee at home and it brings back lots of memories. I love those coffee moments with my dad. He makes the coffee, carefully measuring the water and pressing the ground in the machine, placing it on the stove and waiting for it to make its magic. Then he heats up the milk and foams it with his small cute milk frother. The coffee is perfect but what I enjoy the most are the endless conversations about anything on earth that we share over the cups of freshly made coffee. Dad I miss you! <3

I always drink my coffee from my favourite mug that my hubby got me three years ago. You can read the whole story here.

With the coffee I always crave for something sweet! And I'm not really one of those people who eat one piece of chocolate and that's it. No, I take as much as it takes to finish my cuppa, which is quite a lot :D But my home-made chocolate is just simply sooooo good. Recipe here!

I love this Chinese painting given to me by my mum before she left back to Finland in September after visiting me here in Singapore. It's called "The Four Seasons" and she wanted to give me this because there's obviously no change of season in Singapore. This painting reminds me of Finland and how it's snowing there already by now. Mum is miss you too!! <3

 

A very small things that made me smile was when I found this in a papaya. A heart. In a papaya! What a beautiful thing! <3

What made you happy today? Noticing the small beautiful things around us just requires a bit of attention, that's all! :)

X Ang Moh Chick

Creamy Pumpkin Soup

I hardly eat soups here in Singapore because of the hot weather. I still wanted to try making a creamy pumpkin soup and it turned out to be so good that I wanted to share it with you! 

You need:

• 1/2 small size pumpkin
• 2 stocks of celery
• A handful of dried (or fresh) mushrooms
• 200ml cream of your choice
• Onion, garlic (optional, I'm allergic so I didn't use)

Simmer mushrooms (and onions) in a little bit of vegetable stock for about 30 minutes. In the meanwhile, cut the pumpkin and the celery into small pieces. After the 30 minutes or so, add in the pieces and cook until the pumpkin is soft. Add the cream and bring to boil, then let the soup cool down. When the soup is a bit cooler, blend it smooth in a blender or use an immersion blender.

Before serving, mix a handful of pumpkin seeds (those ready ones, not the ones in the pumkin :D) in the soup and sprinkle some on top. I enjoyed my soup with two pieces of bread topped with fried eggs, ham, feta cheese, olives and pesto - my addiction. Yummy!! :)

X Ang Moh Chick

My Favourite Place in Singapore

Everything in Helsinki, Finland is somehow so... small. And there's nothing wrong with small. The buildings are all quite low even in the city centre. There is no real business centre, even at 8pm you can easily walk on the main shopping street without bumping into other people, and during Christmas you can easily be the only person on it! I like it that way, being able to be deeply in my own thoughts without being stepped over. I do feel Singapore is a bit too congested, however, I love the 'big city' feeling I get here.

The best place to get that feeling and also the place with the best view over Singapore is the Esplanade bridge that crosses from Esplanade to Raffles Place and its sky scrapers. I love the view of Marina Bay Sands, the tall buildings and the Durian-shaped Esplanade building used for theatre and concerts.

As Esplanade is dedicated to arts, there is a small pond with environmental art pieces...

We continued to the Merlion Park with its statue and lots of restaurants and bars to choose from. We were almost caught by a thunder storm but luckily it passed by (I do like thunder storms like my hubby claimed, just not when I'm enjoying a drink outside! ;) Our night ended with a stunning light show coming from the Marina Bay Sands.

As I've written here, almost all of my clothes and especially jewels carry a story. The dress I'm wearing in the photos is from Estonia, Tallinn, where we headed for two days after our ROM in 2012. The earrings are a gift from my grandmother when we had our wedding five months later. They are designed by a famous Finnish designer and are not made anymore - my grandmother bought them decades ago for herself. They carry a valuable meaning to me; everytime I wear them I remember both my beloved mummi (granny in Finnish) and also our wedding day.

What's your favourite place in Singapore - I would love to hear! :)

Dress: Guess   Bag: GG5   Shoes: Aldo

X Ang Moh Chick

The Love of My Life

My husband is my idol, truly. And I don't mean to sound cheesy. Just the way he treats me with unconditional love, kindness and appreciation is something I have a lot to learn about. Our story hasn't been the easiest one with long distance and cultural differences but he has never stopped believing in us. Not one day has passed that he wasn't there for me. I'm forever grateful for that.

It's time to give turn to my husband to share his views about Ang Moh Chick! So here is a small interview. This is a way to make you all know me a bit better as well. :)

So how did you meet with your wife?

She was on exchange at my university in Singapore. We met through a friend who is a Finn on exchange as well and I was his tutor at SMU.

Describe her in five words.

Delicate, smart, kind-hearted, sweet and spicy

What are her biggest likes and dislikes?

Likes: Wonderful delights such as food (e.g. seafood i.e sambal sotong), new experiences, cosy cafes with interesting interiors, animals, nature, thunder storms...

Dislikes: There are many but, food in small portions (my biggest dislike too)!

What has been your biggest obstacle as a couple?

It is always difficult to agree with each other :D

What has been the most special occasions that you shared?

- Our wedding ceremony on a lovely island of Helsinki, best Finnish cuisine, family members, the band...

- A romantic dinner on the beach in Bali (on the menu: seafood and sambal sotong of course)

- As she was recovering from a very bad flu virus; her appreciative gaze for taking care of her is priceless. And the  I got the flu...

- Seafood platter for 4 in Madeira; yet we were snatching food from each other

- Champagne at our two honeymoons in Tallinn and Madeira

What is your funniest memory with her?

What I thought as silent racism in Helsinki: A drunk Finnish man did a squat with a kungfu hand gesture as I walked past him. Pissed, I told her when I got home but she laughed her arse off and almost fell off the chair... Finnish humour.... oh well... the way she laughed was really funny.

What is there about her that blog readers might be surprised about?

How she can eat so bloody much.

What is the most annoying thing about her?

Her voice when she nags.

What have you learned from her?

She made me a man.

What has she learned from you?

Let's not talk about meeting expectations :p

What are you looking forward to the most about your life together?

Our own home, or two each in Singapore and Finland. Able to travel across the globe and have new experiences together, laugh, travel more, laugh, and perhaps a kid or two. A summer cottage would be nice too.

Okay..... This was an interesting read - for me too :D Hope you enjoyed!


X Ang Moh Chick

Mooncake and Lantern Festival

I went through the photos in my camera and noticed that I haven't shared some lovely photos I took during the Mooncake & Lantern Festival in September. 

Mooncake Festival is sort of the Chinese version of thanksgiving. The origin of the festival is in the celebration of harvesting while moon is the symbol of harmony and unity. Nowadays, during the festival season, people eat small round mooncakes that symbolize completeness and unity - mooncakes are sold in all major stores and their prices can be surprisingly high. I will write more about moon cakes later on ;). 

The background of lanterns is a bit of a mystery. They are originally symbols of fertility but they have come to symbolize the Mooncake Festival itself. I was walking in the Northern Singapore at night during the festival and took some photos of people celebrating the festival with their families. Everyone was there - uncle and auntie, children in many generations, grandmother and grandpa, maid... I wanted to share these photos because I think they capture some of the Asian culture with its large families and the simple way of living.

After seeing all the beautiful lanterns, I wanted to get my very first own!

I decided on a flying horse. Who says adults can't dream of flying horses?

X Ang Moh Chick

A Word About Sustainable Fashion

For me, fashion is a form of self expression - a way of showing personality, character and emotions. Beautiful clothes bring pleasure to our eyes and tell something about us - they can be a way of standing out or belonging to a group. However, in this materialistic world that we are living in, nothing seems to be enough. The constant feeling of wanting, needing and missing something from our lives is present everyday. Buying things might bring a short term feeling of satisfaction, a feeling of fulfilment and pleasure. Buying can be a substitute for many things and feelings; loneliness, sadness, displeasure, anger, feeling of emptiness, unconfidence... What wouldn't a good shopping trip solve?! Nevertheless, there are ways to do it a bit more sustainably.

I love shopping, like 99.9% of us do. However, sometimes it's healthy to stop and think before buying. Hardly anyone regrets not buying those shoes after one month has passed. For years now, I have chosen to buy less but better quality. I also like flee markets and recycling. Even old clothes can be turned into something fashionable and totally unique. I still wear clothes that I purchased years ago. Sometimes the feeling of "I have nothing to wear" is only due to the constant pressure to consume more from the society.

Here are a few simple tricks that you can try before you think of buying something else that you likely wear only once;

Clear your closets. Sell or donate the clothes that you really will not wear again or that you cannot reuse. This creates more space in the closet for you to notice dresses that you haven't worn for a long time but still love.

Arrange your clothes. Arranging clothes according to occasion (party, work, coctail, evening, day...) or by color is fun and it also makes finding suitable outfits easier.

When you buy, buy what you will wear (more than once). If you feel awkward in a deep cut dress, don't buy it. You will most likely never wear it even if it looks awesome in photos or you have an image of wearing in on a beach in Bali with you love (unless you have the trip booked, it's likely you will not).

Don't compare to others. This rule applies way beyond dressing but it's important to create your style according to what suits you, makes you happy, what you like and what makes you feel comfortable. Just like other choices in life. Buy shoes that you feel comfortable in. Just because you think others look nice in high heels or your man tells you that you would look great in a dress that Scarlett Johansson wore in a movie, doesn't mean you should try to wear the same thing. It's because you look the best when you are yourself, not a copy of someone else, and confidence in wearing the outfit you chose comes from feeling at home in it.

Forget trends created by ads, tv stars, even bloggers. Ok, so why am I writing a blog including fashion? I love fashion magazines, fashion blogs and beautiful clothes. I get a lot of inspiration from them. Fashion is self-expression, pleasure for the eye and a way of telling a story. I'm not trying to keep up with the constantly changing trends but to keep a style that lasts time and I only buy clothes that I'm sure I will love next year too.

Don't believe everything you see. Just because a dress looks great on a model brushed with photoshop and make up, doesn't mean that it's a good buy. The dress might look completely different on you only because that dress in the photo doesn't exits; it's been modified to look like it fits perfectly. Remember that almost all photos and even moving pictures that you see are modified and what looks fashionable and good is media-created. I do not photoshop my photos but I do choose them carefully. I do not publish photos of a day when I look like a zombie because that would be a different blog (good idea though ;)...

Buy special. I like imperfections, a story in a clothing or a jewel. I usually get good quality clothes made from natural materials that last wear and tear and that are designed in a way that lasts through trends. If an item tells me a story, I will buy it. The story makes it unique and meaningful. I still wear clothes and jewellery and use bags that I purchased ten years ago. And I still remember their stories. Special also means picking up carefully an item, not buying bags and bags of clothes that you can't even remember after you get home (been there, done that - until my credit card wasn't accepted). Getting one special item that you adore, bringing it home and wearing it gives much more pleasure in the end.

The items shown in the photos are all old. The dress is bought more than five years ago for a very affordable price. The Furla bag is a good quality purchase that wasn't cheap but I have used it for years and it's still in good shape. The belt is from the flee market and the earrings are bought from Italy almost ten years ago. Like all my jewels, the story is still fresh in my mind. A small shop on a remote alley in Southern Italy. A warm day. Ice cream dripping. An old goldsmith selling handcrafted jewels. Those golden starfish... Hesitation. Determination. And I have never regretted buying them. They are more than earrings to me. They are a Story.

X Ang Moh Chick

Singapore City Lights

Singapore has that something, that glamour and excitement of a metropolitan. Just walking among the huge buildings of the business centre still awes me somehow. Or maybe I'm just a small-town gal from Helsinki - the capital of Finland but oh, so small compared to everything here.

Here are some outfit pics during one night of a busy metropolitan..

Dress: Ivo Nikkolo   Bag: GG5   Shoes: Aldo


X Ang Moh Chick