Tag Archives: bit

Nail Art Mania in Phnom Penh

This should be in “What to Do in Phnom Penh?” list for ladies. Hahaha. But if a guy wants it, then I’m pretty sure he’d be accommodated. I have yet to try it myself , as I’m not really into nail polish thing, because Hello?! I do a lot of house chores and they get removed in a matter of few hours. But I’ve been with friends and relatives who go to have it regularly. And although I don’t have the nail art mania myself, I find it so fascinating! I could well understand why Khmers love putting nail art.

For one, each design is hand-painted (yes! seriously) and the Khmer nail art ladies are masters of their craft. Teeny weeny and intricate designs are applied with ease, well it looks easy when they do it, but I’m sure you need more than just a steady hand to do it properly. Another reason why its a hit? It’s cheap! Can you imagine getting nail art done abroad? I mean in Manila this is a bit hard to find and if you find a salon that offers this, you’d have to pay a really steep price. But here in Cambo, they only charge from $2 {a bit more if its a complicated design} per design. And that covers your ten fingers already, lol!

Also if you have a short nail, you can just get yourself a temporary, glued long nails complete with the fancy nail art you want. Some even have glittery stuff, maybe its zirconia or Swarovski Crystal beads. If you want blings and glitters you’d be spoiled for choice.

And here’s what I also observed in that salon we frequent in Sorya Mall… A Nail Art Training Corner! These ladies are actually learning and honing their nail art craft perfection. Cool, right?

PS. Thanks to PinayMum. She’s the hand model in the first photo

Learning Khmer Language: Basic Colors

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I haven’t been diligent in learning Khmer language. Although I know tik theat (little) and it could get me by when I go to market or go out but I still have a hard time. I guess I was just too caught up with life and work. Anyway, I decided I have to at least slowly get back into learning the Khmer language bit by bit. It would definitely make living in Cambodia a lot easier for me.

Two days ago I was in the market for some errand. I was looking for wilson electronics cell booster, small throw pillows, DVD’s and some cotton shirts. When I was at the shirt selling stall, I had a hard time telling the seller what colors I wanted lol! We resorted to pointing to pointing to objects around the market to get her to ‘get’ what I meant.

So I figured, its high time I learned some colors in Khmer. When I got home I bugged the kiddo and hubby to translate for me. Note that these are just rough translations and I follow the way the English alphabet is pronounced to get the approximate Khmer sounds.

The root word for COLOR in Khmer is PH-OA. If you want to refer to a color, then you have to start the phase with the word phoa first.

Black – Phoa Kha Maot
White – Phoa So-w
Red – Phoa Krohom
Yellow – Phoa Leung
Blue – Phoa Kiev
Green - Phoa Baitong
Orange – Phoa Teuk Krewt
Pink – Phoa P’ka choup
Violet – Phoa Svay
Brown – Phoa Thnout
Silver – Praa
Gold – Meas

I have this listed now in my little notebook and hopefully could help More later.

Food Trip Friday # 39: Bicol Express

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I had to laugh {a bit sheepishly though} coz I noticed most of my posts are mostly FTF entries. Yeah, I know I’m just too busy, sometimes lazy, but you know what I’m never too busy or lazy to cook and eat. Lol!

Anyway, for this week, I’m posting the little something I prepared for the Peluka Sister’s lunch party hosted by Sreisaat. I miss eating this – Bicol Express.

We usually use fresh hibe, or those teeny weeny shrimps but the one’s I saw in the market I didn’t a fancy to, so I decided to use prawns instead. Yumminess and just the right spicy hot zing.

Food Trip Friday 38: Veggies with Pork-Oyster Sauce + Coffee Leche Flan

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I was in a ‘cooking mood’ a few days ago and made these. Taiwanese cabbage {sorta like Pinoy pechay but smaller and has milder taste} blanched and topped with ground pork-garlic-oyster sauce. Hubby likes sweets and he specially misses leche flan.

I’m not so into too sweet stuff and eating a few spoonfuls of this already gives me goose bumps so I usually tweak the recipe a bit. When I caramelize the sugar, I either burn it a teeny weeny tiny bit or add a little coffee for the dark tint and also to give it a bit of bitter taste. Which I can eat coz it balances out the too sweet..

Anyway, Hi-ace liked it and asked me to make another batch. Hmm, maybe next time, when the cooking mood hits me again..

hmm, the leche flan looks kinda thin. lol! we don’t have ‘llanera’ here

so I has to settle for the disposable aluminum plates.

Dressing Up My Blogs

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I’m on a dress-up my blog mood this past few days. Two days ago, I updated one of my long standing but often neglected blog. And it just inspired me to do a revamp of the blog looks of some of my other blogs. This blog is not on the list though coz I just changed the template last December and I’m still loving it.

Currently on the works is a new look for my fashion-girly blog FeminineReveries and you’d be seeing the changes in the coming days. I’m a bit picky about the templates I choose, I prefer themes by ElegantThemes since they are indeed elegant, and very easy to customize. If ever I fancied a free theme then I have to make sure the code is clean. I don’t want themes with malwares and malicious codes. I know, that takes a bit of time to choose but for me its simply like shopping for my own clothes or picking a designer upholstery fabric for our new sofa.

One blog I already finished changing themes for is my oldest blogspot blog – Pinaywife Atbp. It’s all about home decors, home styling, home trends and I picked out a nice and clean theme called Simply Minimal by Splashy Templates. I love themes like these, very easy on the eyes and highlights the content, and just between us, encourages a lot of CPM clicks .

Food Trip Friday 25: Tofu, Mushrooms and Tomatoes Sauté

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I’m still on my ‘lose that weight’ and ‘cease resembling a steel drum’ quest.. But allow me one sentence to lament – Why is it so hard to lose weight? Why, why, why???!!! Okay, I’m fine now hehe..

I’ve decided to do a bit of tweaking to our menu to accommodate my lose weight drama, and I’ve added some tofu as substitute to eating red meat. Not really much of a sacrifice since I love eating tofu! And the one’s I could buy from the markets here in Phnom Penh is so fresh and tastes sooo good!

Here’s one tofu recipe I’ve concocted on a whim.. Fried tofu, mushrooms sautéed with fresh tomatoes. I added some peanuts for an extra crunch and a bit of cornstarch dissolved in water before removing from heat for that extra thick sauce. Then topped with spring onions..

Yummy! Even my daughter liked it!

Lui in Penh

living in Phnom Penh & getting to know Cambodia