DIY Beading for Suribachi

That's one of my new kitchen utensils for food grinding. It looks so simple so I have decorated it with the plastic beads. Suribachi is an essential tool for preparation of sesames, sauce, dressing and paste!

Suribachi Costs: HK$12  (US$1.6)

Original Product

Prepare beads of your choice

Completed!

Idea for decorating your party at Home!

I like to have a party at home and I like decorating like a party even though the party is not rolling.

I found a pack of paper bunting with printed images and die-cut in bunting shape, a set of 40 buntings only for US$3.9 (HK$30) at a book store.  yeah!

UV and hot stamping effect

Hong Kong Houseware Fair 2016

I love house, I love houseware too.

In this year, as usual, I visit the Hong Kong Houseware Fair at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre which the exhibition is held from 20 to 23 April 2016.

It is one of the large fairs and you can visit over 2,100 exhibitors worldwide for household products from outdoor furniture to kitchen utensils, from economically use to elegance. I just want to explore any new coming design and trends on the household products.

DIY Wedding Invitation Card

In Hong Kong, wedding invitation usually includes a red invitation card, and a red envelope. Wedding in Chinese culture the theme color should be in Red, for western style white invitation card is also accepted in Hong Kong.  

But for my wedding, my invitation card I can design for myself. I ordered the 10" doilies  from eBay and purchases some sunflower materials and pearl stickers for the decorations. I prefer sunflower to roses.  For doily paper, they are not large enough and not detailed neither at the baking stores and grocery stores. That's why I ordered on eBay, and they were at reasonable prices. 

It turned out definitely unique invitation cards to my guests.

The cost per each card (printing, materials and doilies): HK$6 (US$0.78)

Nail Art - Summer Inspiration !

Spring is always in raining and high humidity in Hong Kong especially for the month of April. I don't like Spring but summer time in May and June is awesome, with sunshine and breeze sometimes.

It's time to arrange the closet and nail colour. There is a contrast for nail color application for different seasons. Dark / pale color I use for the fall / winter but pastel / neon color for the spring/ summer. Well , it all depends on the occasions and the mood as well.

I just share some of my nail art photos I DIY in last season. I don't have a full equipped nail art pens but some of the basic equipment I do use like a brush and stamp kit (but not handle them very well).

Friends of mine always ask me how to draw patterns for both hands, but I can do writing for my both hands. Practice makes perfect.

皇室餐桌禮儀兼學西班牙語 (Colocación de la mesa)

不少家長會為兒女安排一系列的暑期活動。有出國的、有留港學習的，也有上網，無論以什麼形式和方法，有樂趣的我都希望透過這個旅遊飲食文化blog去分享一下。
這篇文章就講解有關皇室飯局餐桌禮儀的文章 (Colocación de la mesa)，當中也有普通的餐桌禮儀及用餐時的擺設 (Table setting)。

 

用餐前

 

每位賓客都有名牌 (tarjeta) 。

 

傳統的擺設由外至內使用，左邊放麵包碟 (Plato para pan) ，上面會有把牛油刀 (cuchillo de pan) ；右面多是放飲品，酒杯等，要視乎有多少酒類和款式，如有3款酒，就會有3隻杯，而且不同的酒會放不同的杯子，這裡只談酒的分類 : 紅酒 (vino tinto) 、白酒(vino blanco)和氣泡酒 (espumosos)  ，copa 即是杯子，copa de agua 是水杯，這很重要吃飯當然要喝水，不過在此講講西班牙人不會喝熱水 (agua caliente) 是很不普遍的。吃甜品時，咖啡杯會放酒杯旁 (plato y taza de café) 。

 

皇室飯局第一道菜會有海鮮作頭盤，所以要使用右邊的小叉 (Tenedor para frutos del mar) 起動；第二道菜是湯 所以跟着用Cuchara para sopa 。之後會有魚 (Pescado) ，肉類 (carne) 及沙律 (ensalada) 。當然，最後要吃女士最愛的甜品 (postre) ，餐具是cuchara (勺子)及Tenedor( 叉子)，要注意，不要使用Pala (餐刀) 吃甜品啊!

 

 

酒的分量

 

有時出外吃飯點了白酒，待應好心地倒很多給你？在此希望各飲食從業員看看以下的圖片:  由於白酒是冰涷飲最好，少過半杯為妙。紅酒方面比較複雜，除了陳年佳釀要用decanter 外，new world wine 也好，1/3 為佳。另外espumosos (即氣泡酒) : 3/4 並使用窄身酒杯令bubbles 可持久一點。

用餐後
用餐後，餐具的擺放是很講究的，亦是一種跟服務員講通的語言。一般常用是暫停 (Pausa)或完畢(Terminó)，不過，還有其他如十字型即表示下一道菜可以呈上 (Siguiente Plato)；刀叉水平放指着3點和九點的代表這道菜式非常好 (excelente) ；但如圖 (no le gusta) 的擺放，就是不喜歡這道菜了! 可能這些語言在香港不流行，就當是知識吧!

原文及圖片 (Source: Original Post)
 

 

 

DIY Bling Bling Stationery Set

People usually working at the office or SOHO, is supplied with different stationeries such as calculators, staplers, note pads, pens etc. Even though the stationery suppliers differentiate their products with various colors, it seems boring to me.

So in this article, I wanna inspire you to DIY your unique sets of stationery with bling bling stickers.


I am a pink lover, so usually pick up pink color items if they are available. For a calculator from CASIO, I decorated with the pearl and pink stickers, pairing with the pink stapler.
For the date stamp, it was in blue color originally. I painted with acyclic color in pink first and then placed my favorite gem stickers to make it more vivid.

Details of the Stapler

 











DIY bling bling stickers costs me around HK$70. Some of them are left over from my previous DIY project.
 
Thanks for your reading.

Spanish Seafood Paella (Paella de Mariscos)

I love Spanish food and I do like cooking them. One of the signatures of Spanish cuisine should be Paella, the rice with saffron and garnishes with the mains on  the top. In this article, I would like to share the recipe of myself for a Paella de Mariscos. Mariscos means Seafood in Spanish. So I do select some fresh prawns, mussels and squids for this recipe.

Paella de Mariscos  (Seafood Paella) 

Level of difficulty: easy
Cost: less than HK$100

Serving: 2-3
Ingredients:
2 cups of Spanish rice (it can be bought at Gourmet or City Super HK$29 for 500g)
Fish stock
8 king prawns
50 grams squids
Little peas and chopped carrots
6 Mussels
1/2 lemon
Saffron
Some chopped garlics and spring onions

1) in a paella pan, pour some olive oil and sauté the king prawns and seasoning
2) remove king prawns as set aside, put rice and stir-fry for 2 minutes with spring onion and garlic
3) add hot fish stock and let simmer for 10 minutes with saffron
4) add peas, carrots, squids, mussels and bring back the king prawns to the top and cook until the rice is done
5) garnish with lemon wedges and serve hot

Easy Cooking Steps

Paella de Marsicos

Selection of Saffron (Azafrán)

Saffron, the most expensive herb in the world, is the key ingredient to make paella, so it shouldn´t be skipped.
You can buy in a pocket of Saffron in powder form or in herbs at grocery stores or supermarkets.

Azafrán en Hebra (Herb)  - the most superior












Azafran en Moulu (Powder) - average one you can grab at HK Supermarkets


Paella Seasoning with Saffron  - it is a ready seasoning pack, available at Spanish grocery stores.

Traditional Paella Pan

I used to buy one from the Supermarket in Spain, but now you can get it at Citysuper! Great! Substitute of Paella Pan?  Yes, you can use a large pan.

Paella Pan display at El Corte Ingles

¡Buen provecho!

‬

DIY Facial and Body Scrub

I read some articles to clean the darkness elbow and one of the remedies is good to try and share to you all I must say. As these two ingredients are easy to get them from a bakery home.

MILK + Baking Soda

Just use a spoonful of milk and add 3 tsp of baking soda
Mix them like a paste
Apply on your face (chin and mouth area) and the body before taking a shower
Very low cost and effective!!
Plus moisturizing your skin!!

Let's Try!

View related article  - Removal of Cup Stains