HAPPY DAY! February 9, 2013
Posted by misscraftyfingers in Blog, Life, Singapore.add a comment
In Singapore, it’s not necessary to own a car nor drive myself around because:-
1. Singapore is really small,
2. Public transport is available EVERYWHERE,
3. Cars, vehicle and road taxes and road entry charges are bloody expensive.
But, we have a car at home. As time goes by, I do feel handicapped not being able to drive. If I could, I would have been a lot more helpful for emergencies and other situations.
So, after many years of procrastination, I decided to learn driving and get a driver’s license. It took me more than 1.5 years and 2 tests to finally do so (including 4 months break between lessons because of busy work and 4 months wait for a 2nd test)
And now, I am very proud to announce that I have finally passed my driving test on 8 February 2013 and I can now drive legally on the roads of Singapore!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!
It’s gonna be a good good year! 
Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Gong Xi Fa Cai! Wan Shi Ru Yi!
My Chinese New Year Weakness: Seaweed Beancurd Skin Crackers February 7, 2013
Posted by misscraftyfingers in Cooking, Recipe, Singapore.Tags: Chinese New Year, cooking, Recipe, Singapore, snacks
3 comments
Every year during Chinese New Year, we would buy or prepare lots and lots of goodies to eat. My neighbour, an aunty who is a really good vegetarian cook, always made this particular snack and give us a jar every year. The jar would not last beyond a day. 
I would finish the savoury snack even before anyone else sees it.
I googled around the internet for a recipe but couldn’t find any. Most people use wanton or popiah (springroll) skin but I like the taste of beancurd skin better. So I adapted the recipe using eggwhite wash, but it didn’t quite work out, too salty! Today, my neighbour came by my place when I was attempting the recipe and she taught me her method & tricks on the spot! I was so grateful! She said she is very happy that someone else likes her recipe!
Here’s my neighbour’s recipe! Fast and easy!
Seaweed Beancurd Skin Crackers (suitable for vegetarians)
Ingredients
- 1 large piece of beancurd (tofu) skin (the kind used for making dim sum)
- 6 sheets of nori (large sheets of Japanese seaweed)
- Flour paste – some plain flour mixed with water seasoned with some sugar and/or mushroom granules Note: just a small amount of paste is enough – about 1/2 a ricebowl, it’s used for sticking the seaweed to the beancurd skin.
- Vegetable oil for frying
Method
1. open up the beancurd skin. Wipe beancurd skin with damp paper towels on both sides. Tip: Store bought beancurd skin is salty, wiping it with paper towels will prevent the results from being too salty.
2. Lay out the whole piece of beancurd skin on your kitchen table. Tip: you can wrap your table top with cling wrap for cleanliness.
3. Brush half of the beancurd skin with the flour paste.
4. Lay the seaweed sheets on one side of the beancurd skin.
5. Brush the seaweed with the rest of the flour paste.
6. Fold the other side of the beancurd skin over to cover the seaweed.
7. Cut into smaller sheets. Leave in fridge for about 15 minutes for the flour paste to dry up a little.
8. With medium heat, deep fry the strips quickly until light golden brown. Remember to keep stirring as they brown very fast. Tip: If the oil is too hot (ie, the crackers turn dark brown very fast), add some more oil to bring down the temperature.
9. Drain and cool on paper towels.
10. Store in air tight containers immediately after cooling to retain crispiness.
Enjoy the crispy crackers!
GONG XI FA CAI!
Favourite Places in Singapore December 18, 2012
Posted by misscraftyfingers in Blog, Stuff.Tags: Singapore
add a comment
This is one of my favourite places to explore in Singapore. No fancy stores/brands, cheap toiletries, a bit tacky and old fashioned, along with my favourite local craft store (Golden Dragon) ….People’s Park in Chinatown. 
I went there after a medical appointment at NUH today. Bought yarn :p, cheap toiletries and spotted a shop that sells self-assembled bean bags!
I was curious about the price so I went in to check it out. Then the lady boss who was there saw my bag of yarn and said “Oh you crochet!”. I said yeah!
And we started talking about crocheting and knitting and how fun it is. hehe. Then she had a customer in the shop, so I told her it was nice meeting her and left. Forgot to ask her for her name. I’ll say hi to her again the next time I’m there.
It’s so nice to be able to talk about crafting with someone who has similar hobbies!
Finally, my ribbed lace bolero November 9, 2012
Posted by misscraftyfingers in Blog, Crafts, Knitting.Tags: Bolero, Knit, Knitting, lace
add a comment
After a few years of procrastination, I finally decided to try knitting the Ribbed Lace Bolero which I loved so much as to make a crochet version of it (because back then, I didn’t know how to knit. )
So, here it is! Alas, it became bigger after 1 wash. LOL. I used TLC Cotton Plus, I guess I should have made it slightly smaller because this yarn has a bit of drape and the design is very stretchy.
I will give it to my friend Suanie now because it is too big for me to wear!
Basic beanie calculations (bottom up knit hat) November 2, 2012
Posted by misscraftyfingers in Crafts, Free Pattern, Knitting.1 comment so far
Recently, I made the android hat which is basically a basic bottom up knit beanie with antennas attached. I realised that the measurements are to my own head size only. Depending on the size of your head and the type of yarn used, the number of stitches will be different.
So I decided to write up the basic measurement method which is easily customised to whatever headsize there is (or at least, this is how I figured out my measurement).
Basic bottom up knit beanie hat calculations
1. Measure around the circumference of your head.
Mine came to 22 inches (holy crap I have a big head).
2. Knit a gauge swatch with your preferred yarn with the corresponding size needles for the yarn. For my android hat, my gauge was 5 stitches per inch.
22 x 5 = 110.
However, my ribbed rows were 2 x 2, so I needed the cast on stitches to be in multiples of 4. So, I have to either subtract 2 or add 2 to 110 to get a multiple of 4.
In my case, I dropped 2 stitches since I don’t want the hat to be too lose as I didn’t change the needle size for the whole hat, so I got 108 stitches for my cast on.
3. Measure from your hairline to your earlobe. If you don’t have hair, just use your imagination where your hairline will be. But hairlines differ on individuals. So perhaps 2 inches above your eyebrows. If you don’t have eyebrows, use your imagination as well. ……….. don’t really know how to put this into words, but it’s from the part where your head starts rounding up to the top!
Cast on, join the round, knit the ribbed rows for an inch or more if you want more ribbed rows. Then switch to stockinette stitch or whichever stitch pattern you prefer. (If you are using some other stitch pattern that is fancier than plain old stockinette, you will have to do recalculations for the cast on. Patterns are usually repeats of a certain number of stitches, but same concept! Just have to do a little math. If you are capable of knitting fancy patterns, I’m sure you can figure this out! )
Knit your way up till the hat reaches this measurement then start to reduce. Use a stitch marker to mark every new row.
4. To reduce, divide your cast on stitches with the lowest possible whole number to get a single digit whole number.
Eg. 108 / 12 = 9
I will reduce my hat every 12 stitches and I will do this every alternate row.
So, to start reducing, I knit 10 stitches followed by knit 2 together. Repeat until you reach row marker. Then knit the whole of next row. Then reduce again, knit 9 stitches, knit 2 together, repeat till you reach row marker .. etc. Until you have 9 remaining stitches on your needles.
5. Cut your yarn to leave a little for sewing in. Thread the end through a yarn needle and sew through the remaining 9 stitches. Pull firmly and sew in the remaining yarn into the underside of your hat.
There you go, easy peasy knit beanie calculation. You can use this to customise any hat you want, eg. my android hat. Or … make your own PANDA hat! Or anything you want! Any colour! Any size! Anything creative you can think of!
Happy knitting! TGIF! YAY!
