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Today is Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duan Wu Festival (端午节). On the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese calendar, people celebrate Duanwu Festival by eating zongzi, drinking wine/tea, and race dragon boats.

Photo Credit: jackyamsc

Dragon Boat Festival originated n ancient China. It is a day we commemorate the death of the poet - Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan tried to warn his king against ally with the Qin, but was unsuccessful. When Qin Dynasty general took over, Qu Yuan’s grief was so intense that he drowned himself in the Miluo river on the fifth day of the fifth month after penning the Lament for Ying.

Photo Credit: ~Nisa

Rice dumplings are made up of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. The shape of zongzi ranges from relatively tetrahedral to cylindrical. The fillings of the dumplings changes every time as people come out with many innovative ideas.

Photo Credit: laihiu

Mini Vegetarian Dumpling
Photo Credit: FlungingPictures

Karn Sui Chung (Alkali Water Dumpling) (碱水粽)
The glutinous rice is treated with lye water (aqueous calcium hydroxide), which gives them a distinctive yellow colour. Karn Sui Chung are typically filled with sweet fillings, although some are unfilled. This is the variation that usually contain no filling and are often eaten with sugar or light syrup.
Photo Credit: 5xmom

Dumpling with blue colouring
Wrapped in dried bamboo leaf, this dumpling is filled with minced pork & mushroom.
Photo Credit: SeetYing

Veggie Glutinous Dumpling
Photo Credit: JayTee

Photo Credit: jamesjyu

Teochew Glutinous Rice Dumpling Roll
Photo Credit: Camemberu

Meat Dumpling
Photo Credit: neener_7

Stuffed Sweet Dumpling Squashes
Photo Credit: vanesscipes

Green Tea and Red Bean Sticky Rice Dumpling
Photo Credit: Australian Rozie

This is my second time going to Ah Hong Jie²’s house for baking! The first time was Pineapple Tarts, and now is muffin! Going to Ah Hong Jie²’s house to bake is much more enjoyable than staying at home to bake myself. 

When I reached Ah Hong Jie²’s house, bubbly En Qi came to the door and invited me. Played with her before baking. We started baking in the morning. We baked Peanut Butter Muffins and Chocolate Chips Muffins. The recipe was taken from Internet and was further modified by us after testing the muffins. Today’s muffins are really good but not good enough..still got room for improvement. I shall not reveal too much about the recipe as we may start our E-shop. =p

En qi wanted to join us baking, but Iuckily my star bracelet distracted her.

The making of Peanut Butter Muffins..

The making of Chocolate Chip Muffins..

First, we tried making one batch for each flavour. One batch is around 16 muffins. After baking, we tested out to check what went wrong and tried to find ways to improve it. The peanut butter one was great, but the chocolate chip one was a bit dry. So, we modify the recipe and go for mass production. Luckily, they turned out great.

We finished baking at around 5:30pm, and started our karaoke session. Took a lot of En Qi’s photos. You can view it in my facebook. =)

Before baking the Chocolate Chips Muffins..

Peanut Butter Muffins

Chocolate Chips Muffins

Ranked the 2nd position in the 2008 Franchise 500 Rankings, Subway has over 29,045 franchised units in 86 countries as of March 2008 and is the fastest growing franchise in the world. It provides a healthy alternative to fatty fast food. On Wednesday afternoon, my department colleagues and I went to Amara Hotel Shopping Centre for lunch. We settled our lunch at Subway Restaurant.

There are 4 steps to create your own Subway sandwich. First, choose the sub you want. They are: Classic, 6 Grams of Fat or Less, Hot Subs, Local Favorites. Then, choose the bread from Wheat, Italian, Parmesan Oregano or Honey Oat. You can opt for either six inch or a food long.

Photo Credit: http://www.vkeong.com

Then, choose the toppings you want. They are: Cheese, Onions, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Green Peppers, Olives, Pickles, Jalapeno Peppers. Lastly, choose the type of sauce you want. They are: Honey Mustard, Mayonnaise, Sweet Onion, Chipotle Southwest, Red Wine Vinaigrette.

Subway Melt sandwich
Ratings: (out of 5 stars)
A taste-tempting combination of our famous lean and tender sliced turkey, ham and crispy bacon topped with melted cheese and served hot I had the 6 inch on Honey Oat bread with tomatoes, pickles, cucumber as my toppings. I had Honey Mustard as the sauce.

I paid for an extra charge for the meal. The meal comes with a drink of your own choice and a piece of cookie of your own choice. I got myself Macadamia Nut cookie.

Looking for a value-for-money place? Finding a place that provides meal that can make you full, but without burning your pocket? Try Just Acia.

Just Acia
11 Orchard Road
#B1-17 Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station

Nestled throughout Dhoby Exchange, Just Acia provides you a range of asian dishes from local delights to Korean and Japanese meals. Every set meal comes together with free flow of drinks (Pepsi, Root Beer, Iced Peach Tea and etc) or cappucino, free flow of 6 flavours of ice cream(chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, chocolate chip, coffee, mango). You can have as many toppings as you want just like you have your Topless 5 at Swensen. Just Acia is just a nice place for a catching-up session as you can hog the area for a long time.

Last friday after work, went Just Acia to have dinner with my caregroup. I shared the Chicken Teriyaki and Soft Shell Crab double set with my brother. The set includes a plate of soft shell crabs, a plate of chicken teriyaki, a bowl of Thai Fragrance rice and a bowl of miso soup.

Chicken Teriyaki and Soft Shell Crab double set
Chicken thigh broiled in the very own teriyaki sauce and grilled till its skin is a shade of crispy golden brown, but, its meat soft, juicy and tender, sink your teeth into its succulent taste.
Ratings: (out of 5 stars)

Chicken Teriyaki
Good proportion of chicken with the sweet teriyaki sauce. The skin was crispy.
Ratings: (out of 5 stars)

Tempura Soft Shell Crabs
Ratings: (out of 5 stars)