All About Your Child

As most of you know, I was forced to end ended my retail business of 6 years last year in May. But I’ve got sooooo much stocks to clear, you can only use your wildest imagination OR you can get a glimpse of the amount of stocks I have in the 3rd picture of this post.

I’ve been going to low or no rental bazaars to clear my handmade accessories at S$1.00 each since last year every now and then. OF COURSE, AT $1, EVERYTHING IS PRACTICALLY BELOW COST!

But the 3-day bazaar which just ended yesterday would be MY LAST. Going for a bazaar now can easily upset my little Binbin and Allan’s appointments with his clients. Moreover after we have sold the van, it was extremely mind-cracking to squeeze all that into the tiny car.

I still have lots of beads, lots of parts and pieces, lots of handpainted clothings, lots of mobile phone accessories, mannequin, clothes hangers, jewellery-display gadgets, to sell away….so I’ve decided to give eBay a try and I got to know a forum (got this from one of the retailer during this bazaar) where people look for 2nd hand items for their pushcarts business (which I definitely have lots to sell to them).

Of course, I’ll continue giving consignment as I have been doing since last year, but that’s just too slow. When you give consignment to a retailer, they (naturally) will concentrate on their own products more than yours, completely understandable.

So I’ll be beading away as and when I feel like it and no longer need to rush out hundreds of earrings (before the every bazaar) just to meet the ‘expected sale quantity’ for each bazaar.

And my Keatkeat need not help me do this anymore, go see how great a helper my boy was (last year), this is a MUST SEE POST!

And no more of these moments…..

So goodbye to long hours of standing…

goodbye to late nights setup….

goodbye to not-able-to-take-my-meal-in-peace….

goodbye to sweaty and dirty hands after every setup and tear-down…

goodbye to the fear of not earning enough cover the rental and the cost price of each item and not even considering my salary…..

goodbye to all of that….

And many didn’t believe that it was Allan who decided to start this retail business and who was also MY TEACHER before I start to create my very first handmade jewellery.

So wish me lots of luck in clearing my stuff at the forum and at eBay too, won’t you?

DURIAN!!!!

For my friends from another side of the planet who have not seen this fruit before, Wikipedia has the following explaination : –

…...the fruit is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The fruit can grow up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter, and typically weighs one to three kilograms (2 to 7 lb). Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown, and its flesh pale-yellow to red, depending on the species.

The edible flesh emits a distinctive odour, strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Regarded by some as fragrant, others as overpowering and offensive, the smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust. The odour has led to the fruit’s banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in Southeast Asia.

But if I were to compare Taiwanese Smelly BeanCurd, “Eeeeewwww”, that is definitely the champion if we talk about intense disgust.

I like the durian sellers’ new style of serving their customers now – opening the THICK and PRICKLY husk, picking out all the flesh and packing them into the disposable box before selling to us, the consumers. Opening the husk need some skills and if you are unlucky, your fingers may bleed before you could even get to the flesh!

This is the first time for Binbin and he loved it! Lost count on how many he ate. So if a kid can be so crazy over it, you can imagine the smell – can’t be that bad, right?

After trying for so many times over the years, Keatkeat still refuse to take the 2nd bite.

A sight like this with the great banner “Durian Sales” or “Mao San Wang” the new species of durian are almost every where in Singapore. Durian is a seasonal fruit and so its not always available in large quantity. There are always new species coming out, for a certain year, it was XO and that sold like hot cakes!!!!

My FIL is an expert when it comes to choosing durians, surprisingly non of his sons are interested to dig into the knowledge he has, yet the whole family loves to eat durian. When I was still Allan’s girlfriend (not even fiancee), I often have durian as DINNER with his family members. Durian (a fruit) as Dinner was truly an eye opener for me.

So the inqusitive daughter-in-law (ME) got the tips from the ever-willing to share FIL and here they are: –

1st- know if it’s ripe by shaking with your hands or knocking the durian with the flat-side of a knife. If it is ripe, you can feel the flesh rock alittle. The sound of the knocking of the knife is different for a ripe and an unripe fruit. Too bad I can’t really explain how different they sounded. THAT’S THE REASON WHY all durian sellers holds a knife and knock on the fruit before opening it for you to test.

2nd – Look at the shape, choose one that is oval, almost like an America Football or rounded. If you choose an irregular shaped durian, the parts that are indented are the parts without flesh or have baby-flesh.

3rd – Look at the torns, if they are widely spreaded, you know their seeds are small and the flesh is alot. If the torns are very close to each other, then the seed is big and the flesh is lesser.

4th – Durian have many different taste. Some sweet (my favourite) and some bitter-sweet (my FIL’s favourite). To know this, you need to train your nose to smell it out from the husk. You will be able to see a fine line on every durian husk, that’s the opening-line, put your nose there and you can smell the ‘taste’ inside. This really needs practise to differentiate the different taste.

So I leave you with 4 simple tips. I’m happy with the result of my first attempt on choosing the KING of FRUITS based on my FIL’s tips. So for all you durian lovers out there, go give it a try! *wink*