No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

It's Time To Travel! What To Bring And What To Leave? The ultimate travel help is here to keep you in check with all your travel preparations. Every now and then, one needs to travel to rejuvenate oneself. It is important too to make sure that before you start your flight search phase, the things you bring with you are the things you need to bring and the things that you should keep away at home are right at home. We don’t want unnecessary stuff that will just add pounds to our luggage. Here are the things that can help you narrow down the stuff you need and your stuff you need to leave behind.  Oh, heads up on the news of the day, Traveloka is throwing great deals including cheap  AirAsia ticket price online.   Air Asia flies to many destinations and one of them is Hawaii and 'quote' from their CEO  ….“By connecting Asean and North Asia to the US our world-class low fares offering, we will make it possible for those who could only dream of a vacation ac...

I am thrilled to announce that one of my recipes will be featured in this new ' Bake & Celeberate :  Cookies & Treats'   cookbook.  Many thanks to Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Ltd for giving me the opportunity to be part of this joint cookbook. The book will be sold at S$14.90 once launched at the bookstores in Singapore in December which comes in handy as a gift to your family and friends for the coming festive seasons.  But there will be a special pre-order sale for this book at a special price of S$11.95, which is a 20% discount from the actual retail price.  There will be a delivery charge of S$10 for orders of 4 copies and below.  Free delivery will be provided for 5 copies and above.  The pre-order starts from now till 9 December 2016.  Kindly direct all orders to letsbakeandcelebrate@gmail.com As for Malaysian readers, you can place your order @   http://www.mphonline.com/ books/nsearchdetails.asp...

Cakes are one of the most popular desserts across the world. It is simple to make, it is sweet, and there are many variations in which cakes can be made and enjoyed. There is no clear reference as to when and how cakes were first discovered, and who was responsible for it. However, one thing is pretty well established, that cakes have been popular from the very beginning. Another reason behind the popularity of cakes is that they are easily available as well. There are many bakeries in every city, every locality, and all of them make decent cakes. Now you can also order cakes online in Chennai,  or any other city for that matter, and enjoy a cake in your house or workplace without ever having to get up from your couch. This is like a dream come true for all the people with a serious sweet tooth. Butterscotch Cake Variations of delicious cakes Every person has different choices in different aspects of their life. The individual choices differ even in the smal...

These days, online shopping is getting very popular especially among the younger generation.  It's so easy to just browse thru the websites and pick and choose what you would like to buy at the convenience of your home.  But have you heard of an online shopping mobile application whereby you not only buy what you want and at the same time sell your stuff too.  Yes, it's Shopee! And what is Shopee?   It is a mobile marketplace specially designed for both buyers and sellers to enjoy fast, smooth and safe transactions.   With their in-app functions, you can convert what you thought is 'thrash' into cash.  It may be thrash to you but someone out there may be looking high and low for this 'valuable' item.  Buyers and sellers come together and they can buy and sell almost anything. Learn more about Shopee from the following links :- Official Website :   http://shopee.com.my/mobile/ Official Facebook :   https://www.f...

It was a privilege to be invited along with three other fellow bloggers to a dim sum review at Yuk Sou Hin non-halal Chinese restaurant, situated on the first floor of  the recently opened Weil Hotel in Ipoh.  We were treated to a sumptuous brunch of Hong Kong style dim sum prepared by their Master Chef Chung Ho Shi who has 38 years of culinary experience, hails from Hong Kong but has been residing in Singapore for many years. Before we left we managed to have a few words with him and squeezed in a picture as well.   We were ushered to a room and was attended to by Ms Rosa who introduced the food to us as and when they were served. A very  appetising condiment comprising of silver fish, dried shrimps, some dried chillies, garlic and shallots which paired well with the vermicelli roll that was served later.  And on the right is a healthy appetiser of guava, cherry and some finely julienned lemon skin. 'Har Gow' or prawn dumpling that b...

A one-stop online shopping platform ~ iprice I’m considering getting a cooker hood or cooker chimney for my kitchen and have been surfing the internet for a suitable one with regards to brand, size and of course to fit my budget.  I stumbled upon this website,   iprice    a one-stop shopping platform in South East Asia.  I was surprised that they offer a wide range of products, from household goods, apparel, health, accessories, you just name it and they have it.  And they boast of housing more than 1,000 brands under their umbrella, that’s interesting! Moreover, they also provide product information of the different brands that they have on offer, which is indeed an added advantage to online customers.   Banana Republic, Longchamp, Sony, Adidas, Converse, just to name a few, are some of the top brands available in iprice. What makes iprice different from Amazon or Alibaba is that iprice does not sell directly to customers online....

The tradition of Quinceanera is one of the most important celebration in the Mexican culture.   In Mexico and other countries in Latin America, it is customary to celebrate a girl’s fifteenth birthday party with full pomp and glory. Now what is Quinceanera?  It is a combination of the Spanish words quince “fifteen” and anos ‘years’.  It is one of the most meaningful event that happens to any fifteen year old Mexican or Latin American girl.   This celebration traditionally marks a girl’s coming of age, that she’s mature and ready for marriage and also to give thanks to God for all his blessings.    It is also an honour to the girl’s parents and her godparents who’ll play an important role throughout the ceremonies. The celebration normally begins with a thanksgiving mass in church, to give thanks for a completed childhood.    The godparents will bestow the birthday girl with lavish gifts and jewellery  which will acce...

Lace Wedding Dresses Lace Wedding Dresses  seem to become trendy again as nowadays women  tend to view lace as a feature of a ladylike wedding dress and more and more brides-to-be are considering lace dresses over others as their bridal gowns.  Some ladies who are keen in passing on their gowns to their daughters someday are now interested in purchasing wedding dresses with lace.  Lace adds sophistication to a wedding dress whether  the lace only appears on the collar, the upper part of the dress, on the sleeves or as an overlay over  the whole gown. Although there are many types of styles for  Lace Wedding Dresses  due  consideration must be given when deciding on a lacy wedding dress and how much lace the dress should have.  Heavy lace is perfect for fall and winter weddings and not for the summer. If you have a slender neck, a high collar heart shape lace mermaid wedding dress will bring out the elegance in you.  Th...

Beach Wedding Dresses Destination weddings have become one of the hottest trends now and a destination  wedding means to have a wedding reception, casual or formal in a place more than 100 miles away from where the couple lives.  Nowadays many brides-to-be are getting bored with traditional church weddings and now opt for something unique and more memorable.  Many young couples are now quite keen to book their nuptials at a resort or beach and plan to have a more intimate wedding with their close buddies and family members between the two.  What about a beach wedding with a romantic boat ceremony?   That sounds wonderful! But there are also a few fine points to consider while planning for a beach wedding.   Will the family members be ready and can afford to take time off to join you on your journey to matrimony in a place far from where they are living?   Also the clothes to bring along if you plan to have a wedding b...

Vintage Wedding Dresses Many of you must have heard of and seen Vintage or antique cars.   They are a collector’s items and many vintage car lovers consider this as an investment with the hope that the value will increase over time.  Then what about Vintage dresses and more so Vintage Wedding Dresses?  We ladies were having tea one day and a daughter of one of the ladies among us is going to get married in 2015.   The mother lamented that it’s very stressful to shop for designer wedding dresses and her daughter is frantically searching for her dream dress.  Rather then getting a dress off the rack, why not go for a    Vintage Wedding Dress,  I suggested.  It’s actually a personal preference really  whether you want to get a modern wedding dress or something that belongs to the times of your grandma for your Big day. The word ‘Vintage’ is used to describe clothings between 20 to 100 years old.   The...

Wedding Dresses 2015 UK I was on the phone with my daughter the other day and she told me that come 2015 she’ll have quite a fair bit of travelling to do.  Oh, I asked her whether it’s work related or otherwise and she revealed that there are two weddings to attend back home in Malaysia.  That sounds great to me as I’ll get to see more of her next year. Weddings… how sweet to see two lovebirds tying the knot in matrimony.   Then I reminisced that decades ago we have had to get our bridal dresses or gowns tailored or rented and according to Chinese customs, brides had to wear the ‘Qun Kua’ a traditional two piece attire, with a black embroidered top and a red embroidered skirt for the customary tea ceremony.   But nowadays the  whole attire is in red.   These ‘Qun Kua’ were rented as well. Now in this era of modern technology, have you ever heard of purchasing wedding dresses on-line?  This sounds interesting, doesn’t it?...

I was enjoying our ladies meet-up for tea a week ago and when ladies got together topics for discussion will naturally be about our children, their careers and their love lives.  From the exchange of updates I know that there'll be some wedding invitations in the pipeline. One of my friends lamented that she's got invited to two weddings in a 5 star hotel in Kuala Lumpur, one is for a lunch reception while the other is for dinner.  No dress code was stated on the invitation card for the lunch, so I suppose she can wear something not so formal.  The dress code for the wedding dinner was stated as formal - long gown.  She was having a headache and couldn't make up her mind as to what to wear to both functions and even though she may have quite a few formal dresses and gowns but then she couldn't be wearing the same dresses to those dinner receptions often.  It's alright to wear those dresses twice or thrice provided that the functions are different and with diff...