Shopping for Craft Materials

So I limited myself to 45 minutes and S$50 on 14 Dec at the famed Yongle Fabric Market. If I didn't, I would have spent hours wandering not just through the market but also along the streets around the market. It was probably a good thing that I didn't find the Bear Mama shop.

Getting there was easy: take a train to Beimen station. Look for the Tacheng Street exit and walk against the traffic for a few minutes and you'll start seeing fabric shops on both sides of the street. I'm not into tailoring type of fabrics but crafting, so I was looking out for cotton / cotton-linen prints.

If you make your way past the shophouses, you'll then reach the market proper. There are 4 levels. I don't remember the first. I just went in and there was a colourful flight of steps up to the level 2. The 3rd level is under renovation so the tenants moved to the 4th level which is only accessible by the lift.

The first shop we saw was 布哥哥的店. They have many cotton / cotton-linen precuts that I was stuck there for a while trying to limit myself to only a few pieces. A fat quarter cotton-linen cost NT50 (about S$2.50) which is really cheap considering the quality and print. Incidentally, I opened up the folded fat quarter when I got back and saw on the selvedge that they printed it themselves. I checked out their website from the sticker on the fat quarter and saw that they also ship to Singapore. Maybe I'll check them out when I'm done with sewing these.

We walked around a bit more looking for other pre-cuts and snagged a couple of laminated cotton-linen prints, canvas and liberty-type cotton prints. The largest piece was a yard of giraffes peeking out from triangle prints. Too cute :)

If you're also doing the tourist-stamping thing, stop by the visitor information centre at the junction. That's where I got the largest stamp for the whole trip. A shop further down the road also had stamps outside.

If I would go again, I'd probably limit myself to an hour and higher budget. I'd skip level 4 because I'm not into tulle or pinstripes.

Nut bags?

I'm currently addicted to enjoying almond milk. A chance post on the web got me thinking about it and I bought raw almonds to try. I also wondered if it'd taste like my favourite almond soya milk at Hong Lim Food Centre. It doesn't.

Anyway, I soaked it for 2 nights. Recipe said one night but the next day I wasn't in the mood so I just left it for another day. Basically, I blended the drained nuts with some water and poured into an unfinished drawstring improvised nut bag. I sweetened it with honey and refrigerated it. While it can be drunk at room temperature, I prefer it cold. Smooth creamy texture is just, great :)

Points to take note of 

• the first time I soaked the nuts I didn't change the water and it smelled really bad. Now I change the water every 12 hours or when I remember to. The first time the nuts smelled fine after I rinsed them so I didn't throw them out. LOL.
• I estimate all the time so I grabbed 3 handfuls of nuts and soaked them. Added enough water to blend without the blender complaining then squeeze the milk out. I then top this up to 600ml and add 2 heaped teaspoons of honey.
• I use the munster blender meant for smoothies. 
• the almond meal, I have been throwing it away but today I'll try to toast them on low heat and see if I can get almond flour of it <updates later>

About nut bags

• I was sewing drawstring bags and had this stack so I just grabbed one, It's a basic rectangle folded half with both sides sewn up.
• What I did was flip it inside out, meaning the blended mixture would be in contact with the right side. This was so that the almond meal wouldn't be stuck in the corners when I wash it later.
• Fortunately the cotton material of the bag I simply picked up was dense / strong enough to withhold the squeezing. I think this is important as I would want more almond out from the nut than water.
• When I actually sew nut bags, I'll make the U-shaped so nothing gets trapped in any corners. Perhaps with a loop so it can be hung somewhere. Seams will be on the right side and I think there's where the serger will come in handy. Will need to check the material to see if it can hold up too. Don't want it bursting while squeezing the milk out.

Going to the fridge to get my fix now.

Have a blessed afternoon!

ps: that's my solid granny square WIP in the background. Bought a kit off Taobao ages ago and decided to just make solid squares instead of daisies. Found the flat-joined method. Much neater and prettier than my earlier granny square project. About half done now. Wonder if I'll finish it before the weather gets warm again. LOL!

Cashless in Singapore - Part 2

Experimented going out cashless (okay, okay so I brought standby cash and a physical card as a back) for a few days.

Firstly, I topped up the EZlink card from my Singtel Dash account. I previously assumed that it was only for Singtel customers with a NFC-SIM but it works with my M1 card. Since I don't have a Singtel bill to charge the top-up to, I used my credit card instead. Oddly, there is no $10 option so I chose $5. Most times I used POSB or DBS cards. This means I need to top-up before leaving home because I can't remember the 16 digits and other details. Or else top-up a larger amount which means money stuck in there.

Second thing I did was to save the Fairprice card to Android Pay. Previously I only saved the card to Android pay as a credit card. I didn't realise I had to save the card as a loyalty card (apears as a white card) so I could also use it to tap for Linkpoints. Just turn on NFC, choose the loyalty card, tap for Linkpoints and switch to the credit card to pay and tap again. I used it last night to the cashier's amusement. I think I'm her first customer to also tap for Linkpoints.

Some things to look out for

• DBS Paylah now has a on-demand withdrawal if you link your bank account. This means I don't have to top-up, pay and then send the balance back. I try not to leave cash on my phone because it is not earning interest, even at 0.05%, LOL.
• About DBS Paylah - so there's this nondescript bookshop near the market that offers Paylah for payment, proudly displaying their QR code. However, when I paid, the owner said the phone was with his wife who wasn't there yet. He let me go because I was a regular. I wanted to go back and showed him the transaction history but DD said it was okay.
• Check if Fave Pay is accepted. You'll get rebates for the next payment.
• Singtel Dash's Fairprice rebate is capped at $2.50 which means a $50 spend. Any amount above that will not earn rebates. Incidentally, Khatib's Fairprice has removed the terminals though the promotion is valid till 31Dec.
• Cashless hawker centres - I like to eat the wanton noodles at the Hong Lim Food Centre but, alas, it doesn't subscribe to cashless payment. DS suspects such establishments don't want their income tracked.
• phone defaults - currently my default is Android Pay. If I want to use NETSpay, I have to manually switch it. Haven't found many places that I normaly go to that use this though.

I realised one thing though... now that I don't have to bring cash/cards out, I might have to bring a portable charger. *grin*

Have a blessed cashless day!