Review: Sentral Kitchen, Gadong Central

Some of you may not have heard of this new restaurant in town. It’s located at Gadong Central and it was only officially opened last Wednesday (26.03.2014). The said restaurant is established by the owner of City Hair Studio. I was at City Hair Studio yesterday morning for my hair treatment and decided to drop in for early lunch after I am done with my hair session. Peggie sniped another inch of my hair yesterday as the ends curled when hitting the shoulders. And it’s really bob hairstyle now. LOL!

I did not take any picture of the restaurant but food and drinks only. The restaurant wasn’t modernly designed but rather normal. The restaurant was pretty spacious in my opinion. It could accommodate more than 12 tables including ample walking spaces between the tables.

Iced Wheatgrass With Milk | B$1.70

Peggie gave me their food menu to browse through while I was still having my hair treatment done and I found out that they are serving this particular beverage. It’s quite rare to find this beverage being served in Brunei.

According to Peggie, the cost price of this beverage is not cheap hence not all restaurant owners wanted to include this on their menu. I used to order this beverage quite frequently back when I was still studying in Miri. To be honest, this was pretty good but it was a little bit too sweet for my liking. Maybe I should remind them to reduce the sugar level for me next time.

Deep Fried Whole Leg Chicken & Pineapple Fried Rice | B$5.50

Peggie highly recommended me this. According to her, the sambal sauce was spicy. To be honest, it was indeed spicy but not the spiciest sambal taste which I had tasted though. The deep fried chicken was marinated beforehand and it was deep fried to perfection. Juicy and crispy at the same time.

The Pineapple Fried Rice was good too and it was cooked with raisins, sweet corns, pineapple chunks and topped with chicken floss. I had specifically requested the waiter to remind the chef to reduce the salt input.

Baking #11: 6″ Japanese Cotton Cheesecake

It’s been months since I promised baking Japanese Cotton Cheesecake for Jia. I decided to bake her one today since I wasn’t able to do so last Friday. I had a block of Philadelphia cream cheese ready since last Friday but I was short of lemon. So, I drove to Supa Save, Mata-Mata for them. But unfortunately, one of the staffs told me that they were out of lemon when asked. I drove to Sim Kim Huat, Kiulap and I was given the same answer too.

Out of frustration, I drove to Hua Ho, Kiulap to try my luck again but I wasn’t that lucky either. But I still managed to get two lemons from Warisan UtamaJaya in the end. It turned out that I drove to four different supermarkets just for two lemons. *sigh* Jia came over to pick up her Japanese Cotton Cheesecake while she was on the way home with Stephen (Jia’s fiance) from Lumut.

To be honest, I baked two 6″ Japanese Cotton Cheesecake in within a short period of 5 hours. Started baking Jia’s Japanese Cotton Cheesecake since 3:30p.m. in the afternoon and I baked another piece right after the parents and I finished dinner.

The ingredients for a 6″ Japanese Cotton Cheesecake are the same as a 8″ but only difference in terms of the measurement. I adapted the recipe from Tested & Tasted. Here’s the link to her recipe if you are interested.

Ingredients:

• 125g cream cheese
• 25g salted butter
• 50ml fresh milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 30g cake flour (sifted)
• 10g corn flour (sifted)
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 tbps lemon juice
• 4 egg whites
• 70g fine granulated sugar
• 1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Directions:

1. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over double boiler. When they had completely melted, remove from heat and set aside to cool. Upon slightly cooled, fold in sifted cake flour, corn flour, salt, eggs and lemon juice.
2. In another clean bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in fine granulated sugar bit by bit and continue beating until you see soft or medium peak forming.
3. Scoop 1/3 of the egg whites meringue into the cream cheese batter and gently fold them in and careful not to deflate the batter. Add in the remaining egg whites meringue into the cream cheese batter and fold them in until they are completely incorporated.
4. Pour cream cheese batter into a 6″ baking tin lined with baking parchment. Wrap the exterior of your baking tin with aluminium foil if you are using those removable bottom baking tin.
5. Bake your cheesecake in a preheated oven at 160 degree Celsius for an hour and 10 minutes or until cooked in water bath.
6. In order to prevent the cake from collapsing, do not remove the cake from the oven immediately when cooked. Leave it in the oven with the door ajar for at least 30 minutes before removing.

Jia was quicker than me in posting the result of my baking today on Instagram. And since she had already posted it, I decided not to do so on my side.

Unfortunately, my second piece of 6″ Japanese Cotton Cheesecake which I baked after dinner was not as successful as the one I baked for Jia. It did not rise as much as compared to Jia’s but it browned nicely on the top. I couldn’t be sure what went wrong but I think it’s the egg whites meringue as I only used 3 egg whites when the recipe called for 4 egg whites.

And here’s the link to my 8″ Japanese Cotton Cheesecake which I baked previously.

Elizabeth Arden Hauls & Freebies

I know I shouldn’t be spending on skincare products anymore when I still have lots of other skincare products stashed in my skincare drawers. But as I was running out of my previous Artistry Ideal Radiance Illuminating Essence, I had no choice but to get another bottle or something else as my whitening serum.

I considered getting Shiseido White Lucent Total Brightening Serum as mentioned in my January & February Empties blog entry but I really wanted to try this Visible Whitening range from Elizabeth Arden. I thought Elizabeth Arden was still having this 20% discount on all their skincare products but it turned out that I was two days late so I had no choice but to pay for the full retail price but Shet Fui (BA) gave me loads of free samples!

This is not a review entry on the Elizabeth Arden products which I bought the other day. Reviews shall come in another day when I am almost finished with the products.

Elizabeth Arden Visible Whitening Melanin Control Day Essence | B$130

Unlike other brands whereby their whitening serum is for usage both day and night, Elizabeth Arden’s version separated the usage for both day and night. Elizabeth Arden Visible Whitening Melanin Control Day Essence is for the usage of daytime while the following is for nighttime.

Elizabeth Arden Visible Whitening Melanin Control Night Capsules | B$140

A bottle came with 50 capsules which you could only use it during the nighttime before you go to bed. The texture is rather greasy compared to the Day Essence. A capsule per day is too much for me so a capsule lasted me for two usages.

Now here comes the free samples which I got along with my other two products …

Elizabeth Arden Prevage Anti-Aging Hydrating Fluid

Elizabeth Arden Prevage Anti-Aging Daily Serum

Elizabeth Arden Visible Whitening Multi-Targeted UV Shield BB Cream SPF30 PA++ (Transparent)

Elizabeth Arden Prevage Anti-Aging Eye Cream SPF15 PA++

Elizabeth Arden Visible Whitening Anti-Melanin Spot Corrector

Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Luminous Lip Gloss

Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Radiance Blush

Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Lush Enhancing Mascara

So, this was how much free samples that I am being given the other day along with my purchase of Elizabeth Arden Visible Whitening Melanin Control Day Essence and Melanin Control Night Capsules.

Shet Fui also gave me a black handbag and a tube of lipstick. As I am not fond of makeup, I decided to give Mom the lipstick since she uses them. I gave her the bag as well. I have too many bags at the moment. So keeping it means I have to find another space for it.

So, this practically sums up my Elizabeth Arden hauls and the free samples which I obtained!

Review: Timeless Truth Hydra-Soothing Moisturizing Fiber Mask

I just realized that it was more than two months since I lasted applied facial sheet mask on my face when I was reading some of my previous blog entries. That’s the perk about skincare review, you can track when was the last time you use this and that if you don’t have a habit of jotting them down on your calender. Anyways, I just got my Internet fixed at home few days ago after being Internet-less for more than 2 weeks. It was a long story and I don’t feel like rattling or rambling about it here.

Let’s start on my skincare review on Timeless Truth Hydra-Soothing Moisturizing Fiber Mask, shall we?

Timeless Truth Hydra-Soothing Moisturizing Fiber Mask

I had actually stashed this facial sheet mask in my household fridge for more than a month before deciding on using it. When I was packing up my stuffs for house moving, I found out that I had three boxes of unused sheet masks and they are not 10 pieces in one box but about 15 pieces per box. Maybe I should start using them religiously considering that my skin has been experiencing mild breakouts on my right cheek.

To be honest, they aren’t acne but probably allergic rashes. They are itchy rather than the usual pain that you’ll experience when you try to pinch them. A colleague of mine told me that probably the flowing air in my new house is not so clean as we couldn’t open our windows and door as much as we did before. The surrounding area is filled with sand, which is way worse than not opening the windows and door.

Let’s not get sidetracked and start on our topic for today – Timeless Truth Hydra-Soothing Moisturizing Fiber Mask

The main features of this facial sheet mask are it’s moisturizing and soothing properties. When unsealing and removing the sheet mask from it’s packaging, the entire sheet mask was drenched in generous amount of essence. It gives my face a cooling effect when applied, but not the kind of cooling minty effect that you are thinking about. It doesn’t have any artificial fragrance that I could pick out.

The texture of the sheet mask is thin and soft at the same time. It fits onto my face contour perfectly. I had this sheet mask on my face whilst blow drying my washed hair. I read from Cheeserland that it’s best to have a sheet mask on your face while you are blow drying your hair as the hot air released from the hairdryer dries up your skin quickly. And furthermore, I am using those commercial saloon type of hairdryer rather than the household kind which you can buy from any electronic or departmental store.

Removed the sheet mask from my face 20 minutes later and there was still a generous amount of essence stayed on my face. Decided to massage and pat them dry as much as I could this time instead of rinsing them off like how I used to most of the time. I always complained that I hated the sticky feeling of the essence left on my face if I do not wash them off. And skincare product application is even more irksome when your face is sticky. But Shet Fui (BA of Elizabeth Arden) told me there’s no need of extra skincare product application after you removed the sheet mask as the essence left are more than enough to stay on your skin for the night.

To be honest, I don’t see much difference on my skin after removing the sheet mask. It doesn’t brighten up my skin complexion like some other sheet masks did albeit their main focus wasn’t on brightening effect. My skin did feel softer and moisturized. But I can see that my skin was indeed moisturized the next morning and it has the bouncy effect. LOL!

Here’s what I think of Timeless Truth Hydra-Soothing Moisturizing Fiber Mask in a nutshell:

Pros:
1. Thin texture.
2. Fits onto my face perfectly.
3. Sheet mask drenched with generous amount of essence.
4. Skin felt moisturized the next morning.

Cons:
1. Not available in Brunei.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Price: RM8 (HiShop)

Repurchase? Maybe

Agro-Technology Park, Brunei

As promised, here comes an overdue blog entry on Agro-Technology Park located at Kampung Tungku. The family and I visited the said place on the first day of Chinese New Year as there’s nothing much that you could do in Brunei anyways apart from house visiting. It’s advised not to do heavy shopping on the first day of CNY. I have no idea what’s the main reason behind it but that’s the superstitious saying.

I did not take a lot of pictures of the surrounding but mostly on the plants only. So if you are interested in plants, perhaps this blog entry might fascinates you?

The entrance leading to Agro-Technology Park. There is an open air parking space across the entrance whereby you can see quite a few food vendors selling snacks and beverages.

It’s the first day of CNY on the day when we visited Agro-Technology Park. So, that explained why I was in a red blouse. It’s rare to find red colored clothing in my wardrobe but I decided to go for a change this year and got this blouse instead.

Anyways, pictures of flowers ahead …

There’s a greenhouse as you walked further into the park and the plants displayed inside were under the care of KN Nursery. Before visiting Agro-Technology Park, I was under the impression that these plants were not for sale but for the sake of displaying only until I was there myself. And these plants ain’t cheap. Some of them were cheap but majority were pretty expensive to me.

All the above pictures of plants were taken inside the greenhouse. Another side of the greenhouse is for planting vegetables. They do have vegetables like Sawi Manis, tomatoes and so on. And I think they have cherry tomatoes as well.

Ending today’s blog entry with one last picture of myself taken before we leave Agro-Technology Park. xD