This short story by Rainbow Rowell is part of a handful of selected short reads specially produced for World Book Day and the tale revolves around Star Wars fandom and how friendship/kindred spirits come about when one least expects it. 

Eighteen-year-old Elena is a Star Wars fan. To be exact, it was under her father's influence that she only saw the original trilogy. Anything other than that isn't exactly the "real" movies, at least this is what her father thinks. Well she doesn't mind it anymore if she did watch them now that their parents are separated. And with the new Star Wars movie releasing, she knew she wants to experience the excitement of camping outside the cinema and exchanging news and sharing thoughts with other fans till the opening night. Alas, the queue isn't what she has expected. She is aghast to find she is the last in line but truth be told there are only three people, including herself. 

The two guys in front of her, Troy and Gabe, may be out of her league but over the four days she was with them, she learned a few things about them, especially Gabe. 

Kindred Spirits may be a short story (62 pages) but the characters are quite well developed. I enjoyed the exchanges Elena had with Troy, who is such a huge Star Wars fan that his enthusiasm almost put her to shame. And then there is Gabe, a quiet guy who may not seemed to attract anyone's attention initially but he will grow on you the more you read about him. 

All in all, it was a sweet story about friendship (and potential relationship?) and not to mention Star Wars fandom (well, you don't need to be a fan to enjoy this book). Aside from the cute story, what I admire about Ms. Rowell is the way she could spin off stories out of our ordinary and sometimes mundane lives into something unforgettable and special. I just wished this story could be a bit longer.

Finally, before I end this review, I thought I would voice out my confusion over the book cover. The yellow sticker stated "For Older Readers" but it didn't contain any content which seem shocking or inappropriate to me. 

Misc. Musings:

I have been slacking in my reading lately. No, it isn't the book(s) but life as well as a few distractions which have kept my reading attention elsewhere. Last week was test week and I was so glad it was over. A few things also include playing Candy Crush on my mobile as well as re-watching Descendants of the Sun for the third time. This time around, I am watching it with my husband and I have a hunch it is his curiosity over the popularity that is speaking louder than the drama itself, ha. 

I am currently reading John Hart's Redemption Road and aside from the great storytelling, it is a book filled with suspense, emotions and questions which have me thinking about righteousness and justice. No, wait. There are many more issues which will set your mind thinking over what is right and what is wrong but yet they aren't really straightforward. This is my first John Hart book and I am enjoying reading it; his writing and his storytelling is excellent in my opinion and I am glad to have discovered an author whom I know I would be reading more in future. 

Once again, I am finding joy in writing and receiving snail mails. They are such a rare things nowadays (at least to me, aside from the book mails) that a letter would make me squeal in delight. To-date, I had received three mails (including a postcard which is not featured here) from Jenclair, who is a bookish friend from A Garden Carried in the Pocket. We share similar taste when books are concerned. :-) 


What are you reading? Hope you have a great week! 

June. Can't believe half of the year is almost gone. It just seems like yesterday we celebrated the new year. So far, it's been a mixed year for me. There are good memories, but there are bad and unforgettable ones as well. As for the latter, I'm going to grit my teeth and tell myself to move on, despite it is so hard at times, but I'm glad I have a supportive/encouraging husband whom I can lean on any time.  

So, June also means school holidays over here in Singapore. Primary schools here have a month long holidays in June and December. I'm sure most working mothers are happy to take some days off in these two months to spend some time with their children, but for stay-at-home mothers (like myself) these months seem like any month to us (well, since we are with our children all the time.) And these two months are a headache to me as I rarely get any peace at home with my two girls around. Well, they aren't that terrible, in case you are wondering, but they can be so noisy at times and of course, there are always little petty squabbles around. A few stay-at-home mothers I knew share the same sentiments so I know I'm not the odd one who doesn't really embrace June and December, ha. 

That said, school holidays also mean trips for our family so on 2nd June we went to Hello Kitty Town located in Puteri Harbour, Malaysia. We bought a package with round-way coach transport with admission tickets so getting there was a breeze. The only down side was the rainy weather on our way back (fortunately it didn't spoil our fun.) Hello Kitty Town is a small indoor kind-of park so it didn't take us too long to complete the tour. 

It has seven fun stations with activities such as cookie decorating, badge making, photo taking with Hello Kitty and friends, solving a puzzle in a maze-like dimmed place in "Hello Kitty Black Wonder" where in the end each participant will get a certificate upon successful completion. It was loads of fun and I wish the place were bigger and that it's outdoor. However the fun didn't stop there, we are planning for another trip to somewhere else so we shall see. 

Well, June also means my reading progress will be slow but I will try to catch up on it whenever I can. Here's a list of what I'd read for the past five months:

• Dark Rooms by Lili Anolik
• The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
• Half a Lifelong Romance by Eileen Chang
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
• Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library by Eth Clifford
• The Pocket Wife by Susan Crawford
• Love and Miss Communication by Elyssa Friedland
• A Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor 
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
• Under a Silent Moon by Elizabeth Haynes
• Behind Closed Doors by Elizabeth Haynes
• Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
• The Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister
• The Man from Berlin by Luke McCallin
• Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
• Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon
• One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis
• The Daughter by Jane Shemilt
• The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson
• How to Live Forever by Colin Thompson
• The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters
• Countdown City by Ben H. Winters
• World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters
• Diamond Head by Cecily Wong

I'd had a wonderful time making the milk loaf with the bread machine the last time, so this past Saturday I decided to make another - Mango and Banana Bread. Doesn't this sound yummy? And what I love about the bread machine cookbook is the step-by-step instructions and the introductions of all the necessary ingredients as well. This book definitely suits well for a novice like me, but of course it also includes other recipes which I find very challenging interesting so perhaps one day I'd be able to reach to that stage, ha. (Please note all rights remain with the original copyright holder, Jennie Shapter. The photos of the bread are all mine, though.)

Ingredients (Medium Loaf)

60ml orange and mango juice
200ml buttermilk
1 large banana, peeled and mashed
45ml clear honey
4 1/2 cups unbleached white bread flour
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp easy bake dried yeast

1) Pour the fruit juice and buttermilk into the bread machine pan. Add the mashed banana to the bread pan, with the honey. 

2) Sprinkle over the flour, ensuring that it covers the liquid. Place the salt and butter in separate corners of the bread pan. Make a shallow indent in the centre of the flour and add the yeast. 

Personally, I'd prefer this bread more to milk loaf due to its sweeter flavour (my two young daughters said it was not sweet enough, though. I suppose most children tend to have a sweet tooth so their opinions of the sweet level may different from us.)

Linking this to: 

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. For more information, see the welcome post.

Last weekend I mentioned about a bread machine cookbook I bought and how I wanted to 'resurrect' it after 'hypernating' in our storeroom for about two years. So yesterday, I've decided to make milk loaf based on that cookbook recipe and I've to say I'd fun preparing the ingredients and measuring them. My two daughters looked on with fascination, as if I was going to perform a magic show. Anyway, here's the recipe (all rights remain with the original copyright holder, Jennie Shapter. The photos of the bread are all mine, though): 

Medium loaf

230ml (1 cup) milk

100ml (7 tbsp) water

4 1/2 cups unbleached white bread flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp granulated sugar

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp easy bake dried yeast 

1) Pour the milk (make sure it's at room temperature) and water into the bread machine pan. 

2) Put the bread flour in and make sure it covers the water. Add in salt, sugar and butter in separate corners of the bread pan. Make a dent in the centre of the flour (not right at the bottom that you can see the liquid) and add in the yeast. 

3) Set to basic bread setting, medium crust, size 750g. Press Start. 

And there you go. The milk loaf I made may not win a prize for best presentation, but it tasted good and the texture was soft (I recommend to consume it as soon as possible as the texture would not be as soft the following day, since we didn't use preservatives.) Next time I may try out something a little more challenging. 

Linking this to: 

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. For more information, see the welcome post. 

Speaking of kitchen gadgets, the majority of us would usually think that it's always the women who buy them, right? Well, I did most of the decisions when it comes to buying our kitchen gadgets (the Hubs just need to pay the costs, ha!), so can you imagine how surprised I was when he carried a box from the office one day (last year, or is it the previous year?) and informed me that he bought a bread machine (his colleague bought it for him actually. He claimed it was cheaper back in his home town.) 

Well, I love breads and pastries but making them is entirely a different matter. My husband said as long as we follow the instructions and the manual given, it shouldn't be a problem. I told him then that maybe he can give it a go first. So we bought all the ingredients and I watched him putting things together like a chef supervising her student (if only!). Anyway, it looks easy since we only need to put all the ingredients in and let the machine do its job. I remember the sweet aroma of the bread that filled the house then and I was mesmerised. Alas, our interest lasted for a few months (since we made the same bread most of the time and the recipes in the manual is limited) and we are back to buying breads. 

The other day when I was browsing at a book store, I came across this cookbook about bread machine recipes. I bought the book and told my husband it's about time we should 'resurrect' the bread machine. As I flipped through that cookbook, I was not only captured by the pictures but also the introductions of the various types of ingredients and step-by-step methods serve to be useful and informative especially for novice like me. What's more, they also included topics such as "Getting down to basics", "How to use your bread machine", "Baking, cooling and storing", "Glazes and Toppings", "Getting the best from your machine", "Troubleshooting" (Oh yes!), etc. And oh, it also has a complete nutritional analysis of every recipe too! 

While I haven't tried making any breads from this cookbook (first I need to get that bread machine from our storeroom), I thought I'd highlight this book to you and make a list of some of the categories they have in here: 

• Basic breads

• Flatbreads and pizzas

• Sourdoughs and starter dough breads

• Savoury breads

• Vegetable breads

• Rolls, buns and pastries

• Sweet breads and yeast cakes

• Teabreads and cakes 

Linking this to:

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. For more information, see the welcome post. 

Fried rice is one of the easiest dishes to prepare. All you just need is steamed rice and other ingredients such as eggs, vegetables and meat (optional if you are a vegetarian) and you have your dish. Plus, minimal time is required so it is a convenient dish for anyone who is in a hurry but still want home-cooked food.

Once your steamed rice is cooked, set it aside to cool. My mother would tell me that leftover rice is the best but I tend to finish what everything I have so that I can have fresh food every time. And while you are waiting for the rice to cool, you can prepare the side ingredients. First, make scrambled eggs (2 or 3 eggs would do) and shred them to pieces. Next, stir fry the mixed vegetables - peas, carrots and corns in a wok using little cooking oil (as these are frozen items make sure they are thawed first.) You can then pour in the steamed rice and stir fry with the mixed vegetables for a few minutes. Add in the shredded eggs and stir fry again, then add a dash of salt to taste. You are now ready to serve. Simple, isn't it? There are various recipes out there and basically what ingredients to put are up to you but what I have shared is the most commonly used. And yes, you can add in some pineapple cubes so it looks like pineapple rice. 

Linking this to:

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. For more information, see the welcome post.

Satay is considered one of the popular eateries in Singapore. Originated from Indonesia, satay is basically a dish of grilled marinated meat (chicken, beef or mutton) served with spicy peanut sauce. This dish is usually accompanied with cucumber cubes, ketupat (rice cakes) and some onion slices. Before I became vegetarian, my favourite used to be mutton satay. Mutton tends to have a stronger flavour but with the marinated spices, it covers up the 'mutton-y' smell or flavour (plus there's the peanut sauce, too.) 

Anyway, finding vegetarian satay is a challenge (well, some vegetarian food stalls do have them but not all) so I was thrilled to find packets of frozen vegetarian satay in a supermarket. And, it comes with a sauce dip too. While I don't have a griller, I found frying is another great alternative, too. (Just make sure the oil doesn't cover those sticks. And yes, they taste equally yummy!)

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. For more information, see the welcome post.

I was clearing my drawer the other day and found some bookmarks I'd collected over the years. So, my post title may seemed to be an exaggeration; after all they aren't that many as compared to readers or collectors who have collected much more than I. Still, they are my treasured items. 

As shown, these bookmarks are from the Book Depository. If you are a regular customer, you would know that they would enclose a bookmark whenever you purchase a book from them. What I love about these bookmarks is, they are designed by readers like you and me from all over the world.  

OK, so some of these are not really bookmarks but more like book plates. They are sent by authors when I requested from them a while back. I used to read lots of historical romance back then.  

I didn't know what to categorise these bookmarks as they are an assortment from book store, accessories store (really!), tel co and an attraction place. The bookmarks below are sent together with the poppets I purchased years back; they are actually cute little clay figurines and the designer handmade every one of them. I love her creativity!     

Finally, these bookmarks are the ones which I considered to be more "bookish". The second bookmark (from left) is a miniature rendition of an actual world famous Oriental Carpet. It is a "Tabriz" (Persia) and its original circa is 1710. Wow. The one right below is a bookmark I bought from a souvenir shop in South Korea two years ago. As you can see, it is a "Hanbok", which is their traditional dress. This, as well as the miniature rendition of the carpet bookmark are my most treasured bookmarks given their value and sentiments. 

What about you? Do you collect bookmarks? Do share some pics if you do! :-)

So my daughters are into Toy Story lately. No, scratch that… they love watching the animations and in fact, my eldest daughter has even pointed out a few characters for us: my husband and I are Mr & Mrs Potato Head (because they are the only couple aside from Barbie and Ken, and she knew we are too old for that, ha!), my youngest one the space alien (the reason given was, she too makes that little ‘Oooh’ sound occasionally), and as for herself she wants to be Jessie just because she thinks she is cool. My husband and I always have a good laugh whenever we watch the DVDs, especially when the three space aliens begin to make that ‘Oooh’ sound, or even on scenes where Mr Potato Head being get squashed or bullied and our two-year-old would squeal with delight and yelled, “Daddy!”.

Anyways, that enthusiasm set our goal for searching the three space aliens toys because all of us think they are the most adorable and yes, the hardest to find in stores. Can you imagine our thrill when we found these three little guys in a box at a shopping mall last Friday and I just grabbed the box without first looking at the price. When that excitement died down a little, I then took a peek at the price tag and was happy to note that it was on sale (costs S$65 and it makes me wonder what the original price was) so of course we bought it. And thereafter, I saw another box that piqued my interest and grabbed that box too (see picture below - a pop up tent that can accommodate two kids, or one adult if you are the petite size).


And finally, not wanting to end this post without a book-related issue, I thought I’d share with you some of the books I bought along the trip:

Sweep Vol I and III by Cate Tiernan (couldn’t find Vol II as it was out of stock)
The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo
Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer (Nightshade Series #2)

I also picked up the latest copy of Entertainment Weekly after seeing Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson on the cover and I wonder what is in store with the first part of Breaking Dawn, which is to be released in November.

So there you go on my shopping trip last Friday. Hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead!

Hello, everyone! Do you miss me? I sure miss you guys, considering that my blog has been so quiet lately and I apologise for that. In case you are wondering, I am still up and reading. For my friends who follow me on Facebook, you must have known that I have been spending too much of my reading time on playing Gardens of Time and Puzzled Hearts and let me tell you that these games are addictive, especially the former! But... do I ever regret of playing it in the first place? Absolutely not. Aside from taking up part of my time, I have to say not only I have fun playing them but I have also made a few friends along the way. To make things better, I just discovered that one of them (Hello, Melinda!) is a reader too and the other day she asked about a book, The Help by Kathryn Stockett and we ended up having a little chat via the comments.

Despite the fact that I have been spending some time on Facebook games, that does not mean that I will be giving up on reading entirely. Absolutely not! For starters, I love reading too much to give it up completely. My reading progress may be slow lately, but let me assure you that I am reading and my reviews will be up once I have finished reading the books, as always!

Anyways, I am currently reading Forever by Maggie Stiefvater and for those of you who follow this series, you would know that this is the final instalment of the Wolves of Mercy Falls series and I can't wait to find out what happened with Sam and Grace, as well as Cole and Isabel, both whom I think have enough chemistry to sizzle the pages also! After this, I have no idea what to read next as I have too many choices in mind - should I read the review copies sent by the wonderful publicists, or should I indulge in those books which have been on my reading list like, forever? Also, I have heard so many good things about The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy, and Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series starting with The Redbreast. What do you think? Any ideas? And to all Jo Nesbo's fans out there, do you know that there will be a film titled Headhunters based on his novel? (Watch the trailer.)

Onto a non-reading issue, I tried preparing a vegan chicken teriyaki steak yesterday afternoon and I am sad to say my attempt was a half success. The preparation took up some time though, since I need to boil the soybeans thoroughly to make them soft so that I could mash them. Frying them wasn't a problem, but I have to say it is surely a challenge to me to get the sauce right. In the end, I find the sauce to be a bit sweet to our taste, but overall it was a great experience and I have my husband to thank for for helping me with the soybeans mashing and listening to all my rants. We both agreed that if we want to make this dish the next time again, we'd better get a mincer quickly, LOL. (If you are interested in preparing this dish, you may wish to check it out on this link.)

Before I end this post, I am glad to note that BBAW (Book Blogger Appreciation Week) is here again! You can be sure that I will be participating and that I have a few bookbloggers I have in mind for the nominations!

Well I hope you all have a great week!

In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami. Don't you just love the cover and the title, but let me tell you that there is nothing pleasing or cute to the story. Set in the backstreets of Japan and with a plot that evolves around the sex industry there, this psychological thriller never let your attention wavers even though you know the places where the author take you isn't pretty.



2. The Last Book I Finished:

Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale by Carolyn Turgeon (my review here). This is one of those wonderful classic which I would never get tired of reading it over and over again. What makes this retelling tale a wonderful reading experience to me is the writing style and the two narratives so it is refreshing to read the other side of the story from Princess Margrethe's point of view aside from the mermaid's.

Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax. This book was given to me by a publicist for review. I read The Accidental Bestseller and Magnolia Wednesdays by the same author awhile back and enjoyed them so I can't wait to see what is in store for this one.

Well I can't really remember when I first signed up on Facebook. It seems like everyone I knew have a facebook account and not wanting to feel left out, I became a member. I wasn't really active then, and at that time I thought it was kinda silly to update my status now and then for I don't think anyone would be interested to know what I'm doing or where I go.

However, that mindset changed after seeing many of my blogger friends updating and voicing their opinions there, and I began to think it is a great platform to play catch up with one another on top of those. But that is not all, I also see myself addicted to one of their games there: Puzzled Hearts (PH). I know there are a lot more games over there but I'm trying hard not to participate in too many as I know once you are in it, it is hard to get out (see how PH has done to me).

Anyway, here is a collage of pictures I collected from PH. The method is actually very simple: You send and receive hearts from your friends. Once you have completed collecting the hearts you want, a love quote will be unlocked and it would prompt you to another stage where you get to collect and solve jigsaw puzzles. Below are some of the pictures I collected after completing the jigsaw puzzles, and don't you think they are lovely?

Hi everyone! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Mine was great! We had a fun time going house visiting since it is Chinese New Year! Needless to say, I took several pictures both indoors and outdoors, ha. Above is a collage of the flowers arrangements (except the bottom right since that was taken at my in-laws' place) and our CNY goodies (e.g. egg rolls, pineapple tarts, cashew nuts, pistachio nuts etc) at home.

Well I'll be back to work tomorrow. Life is finally back to normal after the 2-days holidays (and not counting the weekend as well); how time flies, huh! I didn't do any reading or read all your posts on my Google Reader since I was too busy house visiting and/or watching TV, but I definitely look forward to reading all your posts once I'm back to the office tomorrow.

I have always wanted to buy some bookshelves for awhile; after all my TBR piles are piling high up in our storeroom, and a few of my books are stacked in my living room's TV console and coffee table as well. These may be a pleasing view for all booklovers, but I do wonder what other visitors might think should they step into our house and see books lying about almost anywhere.

Anyway, my husband and I had finally decided on buying from a furniture store which is within the neighbourhood. We bought our first bookshelf from them so we know the quality and the workmanship. Plus, the store owner is friendly and she did not charge us for the delivery fees.