MollyMia Aspire to Inspire before we Expire

Sunday 29 July 2018

WholesaleAirtrack: Living Your Gymnast Dreams

-credits to dreamstime.com-

Always dreaming of perfecting that fancy somersault, but can't seem to get past the fear of tumbling over your own feet and landing on the cold hard ground?
Fear not, because Wholesaleairtrack  has got your back!

Being the world's largest supplier of inflatable airtrack, Wholesaleairtrack has several years of experience in producing airtracks. With all these years of being in business and hundreds of tests, Wholesaleairtrack has developed the best quality of air tumble track to ensure that each part of the airtrack maintains its best quality and lasts a long time and is safe for customers. They always strive to work closely with all customers to meet each of their requirements and tailor the airtrack according to their wishes. 


Having dealt with customers from all over the world, from experienced business to new entrants, Wholesaleairtrack has gone beyond just supplying products to helping customers with useful advice and tips for starting up. In order to maintain a good, long-term business relationship with their customers, Wholesaleairtrack is committed to live up to their highest expectation of their services and products, and will always strive to provide the most satisfying products. 

Other than the standard airtrack  that comes in P1. P2 and P3 variations along with a myriad of colours to choose from, you can also expect to find electric air track pump in various powers, ranging from as low as 500W to as high as 1800W to cater to your different needs. 

Wholesaleairtrack also provides various airtrack sets, such as the tumbl trak air floor that also comes in various pretty colours. 

Bringing products directly from manufacturer to your doorstep, Wholesaleairtrack pass along the savings of eliminating fancy showrooms, middleman and additional value of branding directly to their customers with low factory prices. Moreover, Wholesaleairtrack also strives to provide the best of customer service by offering FREE SHIPPING for all their airtracks and printing of logos on the airtrack without any customisation fees.

For more information, visit their website HERE or drop them an email at sales@wholesaleairtrack.com

Till then,
Mia Foo

Monday 23 July 2018

Duriandelivery.com.sg: get durian delivered to your doorsteps!

Do you smell something familiar? Yes, get ready to party, durian lovers! The durian season is here again!

-credits to duriandelivery.com.sg-

Well, actually I don't eat durian. I don't really detest the smell (like most other durian-haters), but it's the texture with the smell-and-taste combined that I can't seem to enjoy. But that doesn't stop my parents from enjoying their durians every year, during the durian seasons.
I still remember, earlier in the days when I was much younger and my grandma still very much active (she's still in the pink of health now, just a problem with weak legs), every year during the durian season, she would come over to our house and together with my mum and dad, head down to the market place in our neighbourhood and buy 2 to 3 big bags of durians from the fruit stall, carry them all the way back home, lay them out (still in husks) on newspapers on the floor and just whack everything. 
Back then, I actually quite like the smell of durian in husks and so I will always sit together with them (while my brother hides away) and just smell durians while they ate. 
Haha, I know it's weird, but don't judge me. 

And now, fast-forward at least 10... 15(?) years, there's no need for all those sweat (of carrying heavy bags of durians) and blood (when those pesky thorns prick you) in exchange of these King of Fruits, for you can easily order them online, and have your orders delivered right to your doorsteps. How convenient is that!

Being durian lovers themselves, Duriandelivery understand the desire for many durian lovers to have a durian eating experience that isn't filled with doubt disappointment, and definitely not the common quarrels with durian stall owners that happen all too often. Hence, Duriandelivery takes pride in ensuring the quality of their durians, paired with competitive pricing.

While most durian stalls typically are selling durians that are one day old, Duriandelivery makes sure that the durians reach us within 6-12 hours after they're plucked, keeping them at their best quality possible. Any fresher, you probably have to pluck them yourselves.

While there are quite a handful of durian variety available in Singapore, such as Musang King (Mao Shan Wang), Old Tree MSW, Red Prawn, D24, Golden Phoenix (Jin Feng), D101, Black Gold etc, the selection (and quantity) available on Duriandelivery still relies greatly on Mother Nature.

As of now, there are 4 variety available: Old Tree MSW, MSW, D101 and XO D24 (traditional D24 with a premium XO-like aftertaste). At Duriandelivery, the durians are de-husked and packed into hardy plastic containers in packs of 400g or 800g for easy delivery and greater convenience of their patrons.
Pricing (per 400g) ranges from $16.90 for XO D24 & D101 to $34.90 for Old Tree MSW

And here's what I got for my parents!


Old Tree MSW
These are the popular Mao Shan Wang that's plucked from only the oldest, most premium trees. Taste-wise, they're more rich, with a heavily complex flavour and much more bitter.

These Old Tree MSW have much smaller seeds and very plump flesh, apparently damn shiok to eat, especially if you're a fan of MSW for their bitterness. But my dad is not a fan though, for the bittersweetness of the usual MSW would have been just nice for him. So the slightly stronger bitterness in these Old Tree MSW has somehow crossed that line for him.
My mum loves the plumpness of the flesh though. I think that's pretty obvious just by looking at the pictures, they're huge!

Mao Shan Wang
The ever so popular MSW that's bittersweet with a complex taste. In terms of bitterness, these will be milder than the Old Tree MSW. 

Rich & creamy in texture, relatively small-seeded with plump flesh and that distinctive bittersweet flavour, my dad is a fan! He just kept eating non-stop from this box. ROFL.

Red Prawn
Intense sweet flavour, with a more distinctive orangey-yellow flesh and definitely more "fun-sized" compared to the other two variety.

My mum (actually my parents') first try of Red Prawn, and she loves it for the sweet flavour.

And do you know, Duriandelivery also offers 100% money back guarantee (bao jiak) for their durians? Duriandelivery offers full refund or replacement for any unripe/sour/watery durians. You can also get to enjoy free, same day delivery for purchases of above $120!

For more information & ordering, visit duriandelivery.com.sg

Till then,
Mia Foo

Friday 20 July 2018

Mia Bakes: HappyCall Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies (cookies cooked on hob!)


Well, I didn't intend to put this up as a recipe post, but in the end I just decided to (for my own record's sake) so here's a super quick and short post! 

To be honest, I have no idea how many cookies I can get out of this recipe because I've not finished baking the entire batch of dough (more than half of it is currently still frozen in my freezer) even after using part of it as my baked cheesecake base. That idea came out pretty fail, by the way, because the low heat required to bake off the cheesecake is not enough to give you a crunchy cookie base, which was what I want to achieve. But if you like a soft, severely underbaked, chewy and gooey cookie base, then go for it. 

Anyway, to get at least an estimated a dozen huge (subway sized) chocolate chip cookies, you'll need:

100g unsalted butter
70g shortening (preferably butter-flavoured)
75g dark brown sugar
115g castor sugar 
(I substituted part of this with stevia)
125g plain flour
60g top flour (or cake flour)
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
180g chocolate chips 
(I used semi-sweet & 72% dark mixed)

recipe adapted from modernhoney.com

First up, melt your unsalted butter in a pot over the hob and let it simmer until browned. Then, take it off the heat and set it aside to cool, before beating in the shortening and sugars until creamy.
Add in the egg (at room temperature) and vanilla extract, and mixed until well combined before sifting in the the rest of the dry ingredients (except chocolate chips) in 2 to 3 batches, folding until most of the flour cannot be seen. 
Then, add in your chocolate chips (or you can use chocolate chunks, up to you) and fold until just combined. 

And I'm pretty sure nobody needs to bake off a dozen huge-ass chocolate chip cookies at one shot, unless you're having a party, so just portion out the amount of dough you wish to bake off for now, and wrap the rest tightly in clingwrap and pop it into the freezer. That should give you ready-made chocolate chip cookie dough for the next couple of weeks!

Do note that cooking time will differ depending on how big or small you portion out your cookies to be, I made mine with 3 flat tablespoonfuls of dough each. 

The cookie dough has a pretty high fat content (170g of butter and shortening!) and also because HappyCall is a non-stick pan, there's really no need for you to add in anymore butter or cooking spray. Just warm up your pan for a little (needs not be very hot, just barely warm), and then press your cookie dough (I shaped mine into about slightly more than 0.5cm thick) onto the pan. Snap your HappyCall pan shut and lower your heat down to the lowest heat and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until the side has turned golden brown.
Now, the reason why I used HappyCall pan is because the cookies will still be very soft and crumbly, so flipping them will be a b*tch! With HappyCall, you simply just flip your entire pan around and set it back onto the hob! It's that easy!
Cook your cookies for another 8 mins or so, until the side turns golden brown as well. 

At this point, the cookies will be fully baked (this is a slightly crunchy, crisp cookie so you need not worry about over-baking it that much) but they will still very extremely fragile. Leave it on the pan to cool for at least 3 to 5 minutes before attempting to pick it up. The cookies will firm up and turn crisp upon cooling down. 

Till then, 
Mia Foo

Sunday 15 July 2018

Mia Bakes: Mochi Cheese Balls

Many years back, I've once tried to bake myself some chocolate mochi bread (recipe HERE) but they turned out pretty fail. Dense, hard and not as chewy as it should be. 

Fast-forward to 2018, I found Ochikeron. HAHA, who else is a fan of her recipe too, drop me a comment down below! :) 
 
Don't they look cute? <3

So let's get over the ingredients so we can get started!

To get 12 mochi cheeseballs, you'll need:

100g glutinous rice flour 
(ochikeron used shiratamako, but I used those Thai brands glutinous rice flour we can easily get in the supermarkets)
100ml milk
50g grated parmesan cheese
30g shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese 

adapted from Ochikeron's No Egg Japanese-Style Pao De Queijo

It couldn't get any simpler to make these mochi cheeseballs. First, mix the milk and flour and until it's fully combined. I'll say ditch the spatula or wooden spoon and just go in with your hands. The dough is going to get pretty sticky and tough to mix. 
Then, add in the cheese and knead until well combined. While mixing, you can use your hands and break up any large pieces of mozzarella and cheddar into smaller bits so that they can get more evenly distributed. 
When the cheese are all mixed in, try to squish the dough in between your hands and see if they come together into a ball easily. If they don't, add in a little bit more milk and knead well until they do. 
Shape your dough into a disk or a log and cut them up into 12 equal pieces, or to any sizes you fancy. They're just going to puff up very slightly in the oven, so don't make them too small. 

With clean hands, roll the dough into round balls and set them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. As I've said, they'll only puff up ever so slightly during baking, so you need not spread them out too much. Just make sure they're not touching each other. 

With a pastry brush, brush each ball with some water to wet the surface before sending them to bake in the oven that's pre-heated to 180 degree Celsius for about 15 to 20 minutes.


And TADAA~ 

These mochi cheeseballs are AMAZING! The outer shell is not exactly crispy, but does have the slight crunch of a french baguette, while the inside is chewy with bits of melty cheese. 
They're best eaten warm, nearly piping hot, fresh from the oven as that's when the shredded cheese are melty and oozy. 
The mochi part of it will still remain soft and chewy even after having cooled down, but those shredded cheese obviously won't be oozy anymore. 


And I've also made a chocolate chip variation by adding some icing sugar and unsweeten cocoa powder to replace the grated parmesan, and some dark chocolate chips to replace the shredded cheese. 
The BF and my mum prefer the sweet version as they thought it's weird having salty mochi, but I personally though the cheese one was DA BOMB! 

Did I mentioned I ate FIVE balls in one shot right after they came out of the oven? 


Till then,

Mia Foo

Saturday 7 July 2018

Mia Bakes: Brookies (Brownie+Cookies)


Finally, I made myself some (half-healthy) brookies!

Even though I made this for my #cheatdayeats on Sunday, I'm still hesitant on "go big or go home" and decided to lessen my guilt by combining a sinful, high calorie chocolate chip cookie with a healthy, low calorie (just 70 kcal per serving!) brownie to balance it out! :)

So let's get over the ingredients so we can get started!

For the chocolate chip cookies:
(adapted from tasty.co)

60g unsalted butter 
12ml to 15ml strong coffee (optional)
25g baking stevia (or 50g castor sugar)
60g light brown muscovado sugar
80g all purpose flour
1/2 an egg 
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp baking soda
110g chocolate chips/chunks 
(dark, milk, bittersweet, semi-sweet or a mixture, to your preference. I've used 72% dark chocolate chips & Excellence Chili Chocolate)

For the healthy (70 kcal) brownie:

64g unsweeten applesauce
80g plain greek yogurt
84g raw honey
60g all purpose flour
45g unsweeten cocoa powder
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt


First, let's start off with preparing the cookie dough as it needs to chill for at least 30 minutes. In a pot, melt your butter and keep it over low heat until browned and set it aside to cool. As the water content in the butter will be evaporated during browning, measure the butter again and top it back up to 60g with a dash of strong coffee (or water, if you prefer). 
Then, add in your sugars and beat with a balloon whisk until well combined before beating in the half-egg and vanilla extract. Sift in the dry ingredients (flour, salt and baking powder) and fold until mostly combined before folding in your chocolate chunks until just combined. 
Cover with some cling wrap and place it in the fridge to firm up for at least 30 minutes or overnight for the flavours to develop. 

While the cookie dough is chilling, prepare your brownie batter! It couldn't be any simpler, for this is a 1 bowl recipe. First up, dump all your wet ingredients into a large bowl (applesauce, yogurt, honey and vanilla extract) and whisk until well combined. Sift in your dry ingredients (very important to sift the cocoa powder as they're always lumpy!) and mix until just combined. THAT'S IT!
Pour your brownie batter into a greased/parchment lined baking pan (I used a round pan, but you can use an 8x8 square tin) and bring out your chilled dough from the fridge. 
Using either your hands or spoons, drop chunks (big or small, up to you!) of the cookie dough all over the top of the brownie until it's mostly covered. You need not make sure that the surface is 100% covered as the cookie dough will spread as it bakes.


I personally did not use up all my cookie dough for the brookie (hence the "bald" patches) but leftover about 20% of the dough to bake up as some chocolate chip cookies, which I found to be too sweet. I have already reduced the sugars from tasty's recipe to begin with and used dark (and spicy) chocolates, so... I can't imagine how sweet the cookies will be if one is to follow that recipe strictly.
And I do know the 70 kcal brownie looks inviting but I do not suggest that you use this brownie recipe as a straight up brownie on its own. I've intentionally tone the flavour down (both the sweetness and richness of chocolate flavour) to complement the strong flavour from the cookie. In short, these two seemingly separated recipes are meant to be baked and eaten TOGETHER. 
If you're bent on having a healthy, low-calorie brownie, check out my 77 kcal brownie recipe HERE.

Alright, then send your brookies to bake in the oven pre-heated to 180 degree celsius for about 25 minutes until the middle has set an a skewer inserted comes out clean with just a few crumbs. 


Wait for the brookies to cool COMPLETELY before cutting as the cookies will be exceptionally crumbly when still warm from the oven. 

Till then,
Mia Foo


Friday 6 July 2018

Focus Hairdressing: Oway Flowerfall Head Spa



credits to beautyundercover.sg

Recently I've went back to Focus Hairdressing at Chinatown Point to try out the latest addition to their hair service, Oway Flowerfall Head Spa! (read about my experience HERE on beautycover.sg)
And I liked it so much that I decided to bring my mum over for a treat! And also because my mum's dandruff issue is getting unbearable, so I thought (was hoping) that the head spa would be able to do her scalp some good.

credits to focus hairdressing / Oway

The Oway Head Spa comes in 3 variation:

helichrysum - for sensitive scalp
sage - for oily scalp
thyme - for dry scalp


On top of that, the herbs & clay peeling cleanser that is part of the base step of the head spa, also helps with removal of the very dry (old and flaky) skin on our scalp, which helps with preparing our scalp for better absorption of nutrients.
Turns out, both my mum and I have dry scalp, and apparently the dryness of my mum's scalp manifested as a "dandruff problem", which just got worse and worse as she switched from one anti-dandruff shampoo to another anti-dandruff shampoo. Because all of these anti-dandruff shampoos are meant to target dandruff arising from OILY scalp. And when my mum's problem stems from dryness, those shampoos just made her condition worse! 


The head spa starts off with a head-neck-shoulder massage, coupled with aromatherapy (you may get to choose one of the 3 blends according to your liking/needs, and it will be added into your scalp treatment as well) to soothe and invigorate your senses. 


 And so that's my mum enjoying the massage. HEH! 


After the rejuvenating massage, the treatment blend herbs concoction is then applied and massaged into our scalp. I love that it gave a soothing and cooling sensation on our scalp, gives me the feeling that all the ickiness and impurities on my scalp are getting cleansed off (and in fact, they are!). 

After leaving the treatment blend on our scalp for about 30 minutes and washing it off, it's on to the final step of the head spa. The flowerfall water!


The flowerfall water (花露水) not only a has smoothing effect for our hair, but also comes with anti-aging properties for both our skin (scalp) and hair. 
I didn't get to see the setup previously when I experienced the head spa for myself (for my eyes were covered), so I had absolutely no idea what was going on around me. It's so interesting that they set it up in a funnel over our hair and let it drip down slowly over the course of about 5 to 10 minutes. The slow trickle of the flowerfall water was a little ticklish for me initially though, took me a couple seconds to get used to the sensation. 
But I love the effects of the water on my hair! Mt hair felt legit like I've done hair treatment on it after the flowerfall water step was done. 

And now, here's the before (left) and after (right) shots of my mum's condition. Not only the flaky skins (dandruff) were gone, but her hair itself also appear shinier and "softer". 

And here's a closed up scan of her scalp's condition.

Before: Speckles of flaky skins everywhere and hair roots full of hair product remnants (silicons).

After: TADAA~ So clean!

Focus Hairdressing (Chinatown Point) is located at
133 New Bridge Road #02-03
Chinatown Point

For more information on the Oway Flowerfall Head Spa Scalp Treatment, visit Focus Hairdressing's FB page HERE

Till then,
Mia Foo