Miniatures Museum of Taipei, Taiwan - the beautiful creation of home interiors

A  posh living room with a sunk in sofa area

A baby grand complete with a score sheet - it is hard to tell it is a miniature from this picture 

Little details such as a night out at the musical Cats is painstakingly created in miniature form

I enjoyed my visit to the Miniature Museum of Taiwan, taking in with great delight the painstakingly created details be it the little personal touches of a posh living room or the surreal landscape of fairy tales such as Alice in Wonderland, Gulliver's Travels and Cinderella. 

Evangelione - Doll Maker

Whimsical even before you step in 

A simply stunning display 

The unassuming and charming dollmaker 

Tako puts her heart into the creation of every doll

I love these brooches ! 

The doll maker's workshop at the top 

My heart squealed with delight on seeing this ! 

The colour and fluidity these goldfishes show the skills of the maker

Through someone who has a wide circle of friends in the field of artistic crafts, I had the pleasure of meeting Tako Yeo Mei Ling, a doll maker with the most beautiful shop I've ever seen. It's not about upmarket furnishing but the heart and soul she puts into every nook and corner. With a pair of legs dangling from the postbox in front and a little rabbit at the shop window, it was indeed beckoning me to go into the rabbit's hole of whimsical surprises. Through the door, wooden shelves of delights filled with the most well made dolls with pretty outfits, little chairs and on the wall, portraits of the most quaint looking faces. A wonderful twist of the iconic poses of Mona Lisa and Audrey Hepburn and comical expressions of Mr Rabbit popping out in 3d. As if swooning over her creations was not enough, I couldn't help admiring the wooden vintage furniture she had to display her creations.    

It felt like I had walked straight into the fairy tale home of Alice in Wonderland. It even had a little attic workshop at the top, accessible by climbing up a little steep but short flight of stairs. Beautiful sunshine shines through a little window to light up the dollmaker's work desk from where she works her magic on her dolls. Love the different dress styles of the dolls as they are truly vintage and stylish! Her box of little dolls' legs sticking out was also a sight to behold and that really tickled my fancy! 

It was so heartening to see a young lady doing what she was most passionate about and with today's technology, Tako is able to reach out to a market worldwide. Her beautiful shop is only opened on Saturdays and Sundays (12pm -6pm) as she spends most of the weekdays on her creations. I heard that her dolls are snapped up as soon as she puts them on the shelf and I was indeed lucky to see some on a weekday with my friend's help. What's lovely too is the creativity that runs in her family. Her father made the little chairs for her dolls and her brother's postcard drawings of animals are on display and sale in the shop. 



Evangelione 
22 Jalan Tan Hock Ngee 
80000 Johore Bahru 

www.evangelione.com

Peranakan tea treats

As a volunteer with a local theatre group, I had to put up a Nyonya spread of Kim Choo goodies before every show of Emily the Musical. Just a few days before the event, I had to uncover all the plates, crockery and Peranakan ware that I have stashed under all the beds in my house, high up in the kitchen cabinets and more. I used to have an intense passion to collect kitchen and serving ware over the years but this has since cooled down when I ran out of space. Getting reacquainted with my old "treasures" and realizing that they have a functional purpose after all made me feel good.  Love the experience of styling the food and the table for a visual treat, not to mention that the goodies on the serving ware were delectably tasty.

A blooming flower tea

Spent a lovely afternoon with my friend Waee Waee and after our popiah lunch, I was indulged with a most beautiful cup of tea. A marigold flower that literally blooms as hot water is poured into the tea cup. And to match this delightful flora moment, I had a choice of sugar, not your usual spoonful but the most quaint little crystals that come with a little pansy embedded within.

I had to sip it slowly in order to savour such a beautiful treat !

Vanishing Trades - Hand made popiah skin at Joo Chiat

I used to live near Lake View Thomson where I fondly remember a hand made popiah skin shop.
My mum would pop in now and then when my maid from Batu Bahat decided to make popiah. It was quite a tedious process as she would finely chop all the vegetables by hand. Today, I take the easy way out by using my food processor.

The Lake View shop has since been torn down and I've not come across a similar shop since the 80s. But there it stood, Kwat Guan Huat Popiah Skin shop in Joo Chiat in all its true retro glory. It is not cheap compared to the machine made ones I get from the market but they are really soft and fresh.
A moment of serendipity !

Popo Muruku - old school favourites

Brought popiah to a friend's place for lunch and she popped in some Popo muruku on the popiah before wrapping for texture and crunch. Think I can try it one day for my vegetable salad which is a modification of the Chinese New Year yue sheng dish which I love. I used to pop quite a number of this old school snack back in my growing up years and based on the packaging, Popo muruku has been around since 1975.

A baby which is the icon of the brand represents the word Popo which means baby though I always thought that Popo was closer to the meaning of Grandma (lost in translation) !  My friend says there are other flavours such as seaweed and chicken though I 've not come across these in the supermarkets.

Pomegranates

The nutritional value of pomegranates has been quite well publicized lately through social media and this may explain why this fruit has become so popular in Singapore lately. In the past, I used to find them only in shops along Little India but supermarkets are now bringing them in when they are in season from all around the world such as Turkey, Spain, United States and Egypt.

My kids like freezing them and eating them as snacks while I like slow juicing them, leaving all the pulp behind. Sometimes I get a good deal when they are very very ripe ( 6 for $3 was the best deal I had ) and I add gelatin to the wonderful juice for a nice cold jelly. While in Turkey, I discovered that a special pomegranate molasses gives salads an extra special zing.
It is tedious to remove the seeds (avrils) from the fruit but the benefits pomegranates give are so worth the effort.