2nd acrylic painting - Couple in the rain

Painted another one which is a popular one that can be seen everywhere!

First background.... something didn't feel right....

And re-do it again! 

Sketched in the drawing and filled it in, the easiest part!

Added in shadow and rain!

Now I'm out of canvas!!! Thinking about a mix-media project next... 

My First Acrylic Painting!

This was my first background EVER! Wanted to create a rustic look...

But something happened here which made me hated the look...

So I painted it over! Better blending this time.

"Sponged" on some gold paint on and sprinkled some glitter, it looked like the "Space Invader" thing....

I printed out a picture of the lotus flower, traced out the outline and put in more lines...

Doodled in more details and it's done!

Painting is great because there is no right or wrong, it all depends on how you like it to look like.  And since it's my first painting, I choose to stencil and draw with a black marker pen as well.  You decides what you're most comfortable with to make up the painting.  You can even glue in stuff, etc and go mix media! It is also a stress reliever when you're focus on getting the right shades, moving the brush the way you want it to, time just flies by.

I hope I can paint more, but first I need to get some good brushes, the ones I have are going bald.... 

Bored out of my mind....

I'm waiting for some materials to arrive so that I can finish the teacher appreciation gifts.  So at the mean time, I was just sitting around with limited materials on hand and dying of boredom!!

So the other day, I made these!

A ninja with nunchaku for my super-hero-wannabe Prince I.

And a Nyan cat for Prince C who likes anything colorful and cute.

And after these were done.... now the wait continues......

Work in progress....

I'm in the process of preparing the teachers' appreciation gifts for this year....

Testing counts and patterns....

Result is not ideal, so I made it into a fridge magnet instead!

And the testing continues.....

Alternative to KFC

There is no KFC where I'm living (These people don't know what they're missing out on!).  And it has been 2 years since I last went home.  When the craving hits, it's like an itch deep in the throat, a place where I can't reach!  So I crawled the net looking for recipes which can satisfy my craving a little and I found what I was looking for from one of my favorite food blogger, Nasi Lemak Lover!

And so I marinated the chicken last night, fried them before lunch...

This is our lunch today! Home made KFC alternative, close enough to satisfy my craving and healthy (reduced salt)!

This is the link to Nasi Lemak Lover's recipe! Go try it yourself!

Teachers Appreciation Gifts - 2013

Once again it's the end of the school year for the children and by the time this post is up, summer holiday has already started!

Every year we will make small gifts to be given to the teachers to express thanks for their patience and guidance for the past year.

This year, we bought coffee mugs from Ikea and some markers for porcelain and made these!

Peacock feathers for the ladies and bamboo for the men!  I came up with these simple designs which even the kids can duplicate, after all they are the ones who should be making all these for their own teachers.

With their names included as part of the designs and in Chinese as well!

My princess baked thumb print cookies to go with the coffee mugs.

In goes the cookies....

nested in the blue napkin.

Put all of these in a small plastic bag and tied with a simple ribbon! Done!

The thumb print cookies is a recipe taught by one of the teachers during Home Economics class, so it's a nice touch to show the teachers that they remember what they have learnt! :)

Now, what should we make next year??

Easy Spicy Korean Pork

This is one of my husband's favorite and it is very easy to make. This is a very good recipe from Beyond Kimchi.

Things you need, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, Korean chili paste, corn syrup together with garlic, ginger and onion (which are not in the picture).

This is the Korean chili paste I used which can be bought from the Siam Store downtown.

Prepare the ingredients for marinate...

I usually marinate the pork for about 2 hours because I'm quite sensitive to the "porky" smell but if you're not as particular as me, you can just mix the ingredients together and get cooking straight away!  First heat up the oil and put in the pork.  I usually fry the pork till they are a little brown (not burnt ok!) and then....

......add in the onions and stir them around.  And once the onions are soft...

.... then it's done! Easy right? ^.^

 Ingredients:

450g of very thinly sliced pork of any cut
Half of a large onion or 1 small one
3 tbsp of Korean chili paste
2 tbsp of Korean chili flakes (which I omit because we have 2 small kids who are not yet trained to eat spicy food)
1 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp of sugar
2 cloves of finely minced garlic
1 tsp of fresh finely minced ginger or half a tsp of ginger powder
1 tbsp of sesame oil
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (which I also omit because the kids in our family get "freaked" out by white seedy stuff on anything they eat...)
1 tbsp corn syrup, optional
1 tbsp canola oil for stir frying

Method:

1. In a small mixing bowl combine chili paste, chili flakes, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and corn syrup, mix well.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine pork with the sauce, and mix well to coat all the pork slices with the sauce evenly.
3. Drizzle 1 tbsp oil to the skillet and bring it over medium high heat.  Place pork over the skillet and add the sliced onion on top.  When they sizzle, start tossing everything to cook evenly all the way or until the pork is fully cooked and onions are soft, about 3 - 5 minutes.
4. Serve hot with a bowl of rice.

Seems like this blog is turning into a food blog..... my crafting mode is totally turn off at the moment.... :(