1. Watch: Get Organized With The Home Edit
Since last year's circuit breaker and the ensuing work-from-home model, I have been routinely clearing out and re-organising random corners of my room.
A regular spot of spring-cleaning has never hurt anyone.
Get inspired to declutter your living space with this series featuring expert home organisers The Home Edit. Californian founders Joanna Teplin and Clea Shearer have built an empire out of teaching regular folks and celebrities alike to edit, categorise and contain their clutter. Their company has 5.3 million followers on Instagram.
The Netflix series is organisation porn at its finest. Released last September, it also gives viewers a peek into the homes of real celebrity clients such as actors Neil Patrick Harris and Reese Witherspoon and reality television star Khloe Kardashian.
If you are a fan of home makeovers or find yourself nerding out over storage containers (and fair warning, half the success in organising lies in buying clear containers), this show is for you.
Binged the entire series in a day? Fret not as the pair are in the process of casting for season two.
Info: Watch on Netflix
2. Do: Journal on mental health app Intellect
For anyone looking to take baby steps in improving his or her mental health, try Intellect.
The Singapore-based mental health app offers self-guided programmes based on cognitive behavioural therapy techniques to tackle a range of issues - packaged in a user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing platform.
The free app was launched last year in an effort to make mental health support affordable and accessible, and encourage more people in Asia to incorporate it into their daily routines. It has since grown to reach more than two million users globally.
After answering a simple questionnaire to analyse what the app calls your psychological profile, you can embark on "learning paths" tailored to specific areas of personal growth.
These include tackling stress, social isolation during Covid-19 and emotional regulation.
Within each path, listen to soothing audio clips and answer questions that help you reach a higher state of mindfulness.
The app also allows you to log journal entries (your choice of free journalling or with prompts) and access "rescue sessions" - five-minute tap-through sessions that address problems such as insecurity, low mood or relationships.
Info: The Intellect website or download from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store
3. Drink: Make your own kombucha
Resistance is futile - succumb to the brew-it-yourself kombucha trend on Instagram.
The fermented fizzy health drink packed with probiotics has further risen in popularity over the pandemic, thanks to its touted benefits in improving gut health.
Making it at home is easier than you think. The two main ingredients are a live scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) and starter tea - an aged unflavoured kombucha, usually from a previous batch.
You can get both cheaply from friends who make kombucha and have extra to spare, or buy starter kits from local brewers such as Kombynation Co.
Online recipes abound, but the other main ingredients are black tea and sugar. Ferment the tea and sugar with the scoby and starter tea for around seven to 10 days - after which you can drink it as it is, or add various fruit and herbs to flavour it in the second fermentation.
Do not forget to save the leftover kombucha and scoby to repeat the process for your next batch.
4. Recipe for steamed yellow croaker with salted black olives
For steamed fish with a difference, try this recipe for steamed yellow croaker with salted black olives.
I was inspired to make the dish after seeing it on the first season of docu-series Flavorful Origins, which focuses on Teochew food from Chaoshan.
In the episode on olives, black olives are brined before use. The black olives produced in Chaoshan are different from the Mediterranean ones - they are long and tapered in shape.
Preserved salted black olives are available at provision shops here, but there are not many choices. The brand commonly sold is Sin Guo. Or search for salted black olives online.
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