Finding a perfect partner is a real struggle for everyone. In this generation, the standard of a perfect guy or a perfect girl is evidently a real high deal. With the pressure of society, everyone tends to think of finding the right girl or the right guy a mere fantasy because not everyone believes that there is true love that still exists even in the roughest of times.

Because love is something precious, setting standards for your perfect one is not a new concept. We all have that individual perception of what is the ideal woman or ideal man for us. For a man, the search for a better half that he can always depend on and will cherish for the rest of his life. For single woman out there, here are five basic things that a man is usually looking for a woman:

1. Being beautiful is one thing – having brains is something. It is a fact that a beautiful face can really attract the eyes – but if you’re a woman who wants more than the adoration of the eyes, beauty will never be enough. Man of this generation tends to find brainy and smart woman attractive than those who have only face and body to offer. They find it more beautiful if a woman has a speck of intelligence hidden in her beautiful head.

2. Princess on the outside – warrior on the inside. Every woman deserves to be pampered like a princess, and a real gentleman knows that. But modern men finds it admiring if the woman can handle herself. The type who is feminine enough but can stand up for herself – that’s the kind of woman, today’s gentlemen thinks are for keeps.

3. Being clingy is charming but independence is admiring. When a girl clings too much to his man – it is indeed adorable, yet men of today’s generation find independence as sexy. Usually, men nowadays falls for a woman who is independent. The kind of woman, who acknowledges his man, but doesn’t have to depend on him every time.

4. The kind who got his back. For a man, a girl who loves him so much, understands his ideals and supports his decisions is a kind of girl that he will cherish his whole life. Living in this modern world where life is always in the fast paced – a man definitely needs someone who will support him all the way. The kind of woman who always got his back whether things go according to plan or not – he knows he always have her by her side, always understanding and giving him incomparable love. Without a doubt, if a man finds a woman like this – she will definitely be for keeps!

5. Modernly classic – a bit of finesse and a ton of fun. What’s more adorable than to have a woman who behaves like a lady but also has the fun side within. It adds up to a woman’s sex appeal, and men usually finds it sexy, when a woman has a good sense of humor. Well, who doesn’t love a funny while at the same time a loving woman right?

An organized office table is seen as a reflection of how neat and orderly an employee is. While most employees see to it that their office spaces are in such state, some find this very difficult to achieve.

The problem starts when there’s a pile of unsorted documents in our drawer – among paperclips, rubber bands, pen covers and highlighters, among other knick knacks – and we do nothing about it. Every day we keep putting off the task of de-cluttering our office table until the whole area becomes a mess with all the accumulated stuff. Then we begin having trouble finding things, get frustrated and upset, then ask ourselves how such a small space can cause so much inconvenience. Sounds familiar? Before this adds up to your office stress, follow these five simple steps for a clutter-free table:

• Sort

You might not know it but this is the key element in organizing everything – from documents to pens to paperclips. Same things must be grouped together according to its function. This will make your table organized and this will enable you to find things easily. You can make use of envelopes and jars to sort paper documents and paraphernalia. Segregate what needs to be kept and what needs to be thrown away. When you sort from the very beginning, things will be in their respective places – literally and figuratively.

• Document

A problem you may encounter in sorting paper documents is that you may be unsure whether or not you will still need a particular document. To ease you of the burden of fear that you might have thrown away something that is important, document it. Your scanner and camera phone can come in handy with this dilemma.

Take a clear photo of the documents of the tiniest importance before shredding or throwing away. This method of organizing is easy and paperless! In this manner, you can always save a back-up of the photo and refer to it when the need arises. Make sure you still sort the soft copies in your computer though. Otherwise, your desktop will be cluttered and you will again spend time sorting it.

• Dispose

Once you feel comfortable disposing the papers, be sure to do it properly. If it contains confidential or personal information, off to the shredder it goes. If the other side of the paper is still useable, put it in the scratch paper compartment. Who knows, you might take interest in doing paper maches or origamis in the future. With this, not only have you taken steps in de-cluttering your office table but you have also helped Singapore in its campaign for recycling for a greener environment.

• Label

Once you have gone through disposal, all that is left in your table are the essential items you must keep. Label these things. These labels and tags will serve as a guide and will make your office table become organized. Cleaning up a mess can be fun and enjoyable. While you’re at it, be at your most creative! Use vibrant colors and showcase your penmanship if you have a good one. All your pens are just at the tip of your fingertips!

• Maintain

Let’s face it. You don’t live in a perfect world where you are programmed to put everything in order. Office employees are just not built like that. True enough, there will be busy days wherein you will not be able to put things in their right places. If this happens, do not be hard on yourself as this is perfectly normal.

However, there must be a sense of awareness of the chaos in your office table. You alone are accountable for the mess, thus you are fully responsible of bringing back your office space to its original organized state. Set aside a couple of minutes on a specific day of the week as your maintenance schedule. For instance, check the status of your office table every last day of the week.

Ensure that all papers and items are in proper order. A 15-minute check every week is better than an hour or two of organizing every month. Coming to the office with a clean and clear table will be a good way to welcome another work week. Having a clutter-free table will indeed make you organize your thoughts productively in the office!

They say people who love to eat are the best people. Every July, the Singapore Food Festival is celebrated by showcasing different Singapore cuisines. Like everyone, you enjoy eating in hawk centers or in restaurants all over the country. Just the aroma of the infamous Hainanese chicken rice makes your mouth melt and leaves you craving for this dish after your first bite. Or on a lazy night at your apartment, you are among the avid viewers of cooking shows where the contestants feature their own creative masterpieces.

You see them skillfully chop the ingredients and simultaneously put everything in the pan without breaking a sweat. They act so in control and you ask yourself what it takes to be like them. You get giddy and you gush – all for the love of food and cooking shows. If cooking is among the list of your things-to-do for 2016, you are in for a surprise with these easy starter guides for an activity that will make your stomach and heart full!

• Compile recipes

Start with the basics. Knowledge is indeed power. With today’s technology, recipes are just a click away. Assign a special folder in your computer for your recipes. Print-outs and magazine cookbooks are also good ideas. Initially gather recipes of your favorite dishes for inspiration and motivation. Bear in mind that something that you’ve eaten for nth times already will not be that hard to cook, right?

You, of all people, would know the right taste to your favorite food. Cooking is just like learning how to drive. Once you have taken the theory to heart, your cooking instinct will follow. Starting it right by having the proper knowledge will surely develop your cooking skills!

• Buy essential ingredients

After reading the compiled recipes over and over again, you will notice that certain spices are repeatedly used. There are basic ingredients which are ever present in cooking. Look up your compiled menus and check the common ingredients. Salt, pepper, onion, garlic – these are some of the most used spices. Be sure to stock handful of these in your kitchen.

Constantly seeing these will likewise motivate you to continue cooking meals after meals. It is also equally important to follow the proper storage of food items like meat and vegetables to ensure cleanliness of the food that you’ll be cooking and serving for yourself and your loved ones. Observing the Do’s and Don’ts in storing food will likewise maximize its shelf-life, leaving nothing to waste.

• Organize cooking tools

The pans that you will be using will depend on the kind of food that you will cook. You should know when to use casserole, pressure cooker or frying pans. The duration and the temperature of your cooking will be greatly considered in choosing the right cooking pan. The pan size must also be proportion to the amount of servings you plan to cook.

This will ensure an energy-saving and an efficient time for cooking. Measuring tools are part of your cooking tools. Even the professional chefs rely on these. As a beginner, organize your measuring spoons and cups. Familiarize yourself with the units of measurement indicated in the tools. It is also wise to keep a table of unit conversion for reference.

You might need to do unit conversions with what is indicated in the recipe versus what unit is available in your measuring tools. Be well-versed with approximation of volume per instrument. For instance, how many ml are there in one teaspoon? This should come easily once you are comfortable with the proper estimations. Ratio and proportion will also come in handy once you prepare dishes in bigger quantities in the future.

• Practice

Like in every activity, some first-timers have beginner’s luck in cooking. If you are fortunate, you might achieve desired taste on your first try. However, if you think you didn’t do well in your first try, do not be discouraged. Re-trace and review your steps if you missed something. Did the meat become too tender?

Is the dish too salty? Mistakes are stepping stones towards a more tasteful dish. Improvement in cooking will likewise be achieved through calibration. No one becomes a good cook overnight. Practice and take note of your previous lapses to prevent repeating the same mistake. Once you’re familiar with the ingredients, tools and recipes, nothing can go wrong!

• Garnish and serve

The one who cooks is as excited as the one who eats. Even if it is just an ordinary day of the week, always make sure your dish is presentable. Decorate and garnish the food. At the end of the day, cooking is all about labor of love and serving a hearty meal!

Food poisoning is not new here in Singapore although uncommon. For Singaporeans who experienced food poisoning, it can be unsettling and unpleasant even for healthy and fit person. If left unattended, food poisoning can lead to serious illness or worse – death. With this, as food handlers, it is important that we know food safety tips for the sake of our family.

Many people think that all food poisoning cases originated from restaurants and other food outlets however, we need to be aware that it can also come from our household. Our family can get ill from the foods we prepared at home. It is high time to you know food safety tips for your family’s sake.

Here’s the list of the tips:

• Wash hands: This is the most basic thing that you can do. Washing hands whenever you handle food should be observed. Washing hands mean including a lukewarm water and soap. It is crucial that you dry your hands before actually handling food. After handling raw foods like fish, meat, vegetables and eggs, you are required to wash your hands too.
• Clean worktops: Worktops should be sanitized often since it can entice bacteria. It doesn’t need to be antibacterial sprays, usually hot and soapy water is good. Cleaning the worktops before and after handling food should be practiced.
• Sanitize dishcloths: You have to know that damp and dirty dishcloths are the ideal breeding ground of germs. You need to sanitize it if you have plans of using it again. After washing with soap, you have to dry it. Once it is dry, then you can use it again.

• Employ different chopping boards: One common mistake here is using the same chopping boards for raw and ready-to-eat foods. Raw foods hold bacteria that spread easily. This is the reason why you should employ different chopping boards for raw and ready-to-eat foods. Do not forget to constantly sanitize it.
• Organize refrigerator: You just don’t put anything without arranging the food inside the refrigerator. The raw meats should be at the bottom of the shelf to avoid dripping. When there are ready-to-eat foods, make sure to keep it as far away from the meat to avoid the contact of bacteria.
• Cook thoroughly: When you cook food, make sure that it is steaming hot before serving. Restaurants have this standard cooking temperature to make sure that the foods are cooked thoroughly.
• Look for the dates: Do not consume foods beyond their ‘use by’ or ‘best before’ dates. Many people still use it especially if it smells and looks okay.

It is the time of year to make a list of resolution. To some Singaporeans, the list will serve as their guide all throughout the year but to others, it is useless. Regardless of what we think, we have to acknowledge that a New Year’s resolution list can in fact shape our future.

We only need to make it happen and stick to it but psychologists discovered that we are more likely to accomplish our goals if we divide our resolution into smaller goals. For those who divided their resolution into smaller goals, they felt sense of triumph. It is time that you feel the same.

Here are some tips on making a New Year’s resolution:

• Create one resolution: You do not need a long list. Sometimes, you have to focus on one task and channel all your energy in achieving it. This will make things less complicated and time consuming for you.
• Evade previous resolutions: The point here is to do something that you have never done so making a previous resolution will actually forfeit the purpose of New Year’s resolution. Revisiting the failure of the past will only make you bitter and disappointed.
• Think well: New Year’s resolution depends on the person and it is not good to follow their pursuit. You are your own person and you only know what is best for you. So, instead of making a resolution based on other people’s list, you have to reflect and think well.

• Be practical: Most resolutions fail because they are not practical or realistic. The best thing that you should do is to divide your goal in sequence then create sub goals. The sub goals should be time-based, concrete and at the same time measurable.
• Consider a reward system: If you feel the need to reward yourself for achieving a sub goal, you have to pursue it. The reward will maintain your motivation plus it will give you a sense of progress.
• Expect failure: There will come a time that you revert back to your old habits. No matter how hard you try, there is something drawing you to your old habits. That is normal. Think of the failure as a temporary setback to make you strong. Do not give up. The resolution will be a total failure if you stop and not redeem yourself.

Most common New Year resolutions discuss about health. It is crucial that you maintain your state of health and be at your best. For a start, you can consider losing weight, quit smoking, getting active, drinking less alcohol and the like.     

Singaporeans are big fans of English Premier League (EPL). However, many are bothered by the news proclaiming that Singtel has secured the rights to air the EPL for three seasons which will begin on August 2016. The issue lies with the price of the subscription.

The Chief Executive Officer of Singtel gladly announced on November 10 that the telecom will bring the Barclays Premier League to Singapore for three more seasons. He also stressed that footballs fans here should be confident that their experience will stay incessant at affordable rates.

Despite this announcement, many fans are still in doubt. Do you need to pay more to see the games of Alexis Sanchez next season? If you recall, in 2013, Singtel presented EPL packages and bundles. The packages include the $59.90 per month subscription.

There are reports saying that the monthly subscription can reach up to S$80 this time. Granting this, you will have to pay at least S$1,440 for eighteen months. This is costly for many fans. EPL or Singtel did not comment about the monthly subscription yet or how much is the broadcast deal. One thing is for sure, Singtel promises to give fans the best Premier League experience – at a sensible rate.

Whether it is Singtel or StarHub, it doesn’t matter. You only want to make sure if the prices are affordable. You do not want to let go of EPL but if the need arises, you will have no choice but to wait for the announcement and miss the games. Not seeing the game real time is painful but you have to accept it.

Your parents often say that you should save money and not just splurge it on travel. You find ways to justify your actions but they always find something to discourage you. Indeed travelling is not practical but the experience is more than monetary. The value of travelling is priceless.

Now, you can justify your actions. Your parents and those who somehow scorn travelling should know that there are health benefits of travelling. There was a study conducted by the U.S Travel Association in collaboration with the Global Commission on Aging and Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.

The research revealed that travel has cognitive and physical benefits. The research found out that there is a relation between travelling and the reduction of heart attacks. It does not end there because travelling can also decrease depressions and it can stimulate brain health that can fend off dementia and other age-related conditions and diseases. 

Similarly, there is a study conducted by the LA Times last December 2013. The study revealed the following things:

• Women who travelled twice a year have lower risks of developing heart attack or other coronary diseases compared to women who only travel once every six years.
• As for men, those who do not indulge in annual vacations have twenty percent risk of death and thirty percent of these deaths are from a heart disease.
• The emotional benefit of travelling is instant because after two days of the travel, eighty nine percent of the respondents confessed of dropping stress levels.

You should not wait for your retirement to travel because it will be too late. You can no longer trek, climb or even ride bicycles. You have to travel as young as you are.

How to Spot Authentic Antique Furniture

Many of us turn to antique furniture as key elements that can turn a dull home into something that comes out of interior design magazines.

Buying antique furniture is a serious business. We desire to invest our money in quality antique furniture and fixtures. Some people go as far as traveling overseas to seek out great pieces they want to purchase.

In order to help you spot genuine antique furniture, use this cheat sheet when purchasing one.

• Wear and tear

Wear and tear is a good sign when it comes to antique furniture. After years of changing ownership, it’s no surprise antique pieces may look worn and shabby- the good kind of worn and shabby.

• The evidence in the patina

Patina is the  dark of shiny surface that naturally forms in wood or leather when used for a long period of time. A real antique wood furniture has a certain glow about it that develops as time goes by. This is impossible to be copied and is often a deciding factor in determining genuine antique pieces from the fake ones.

• Check for dovetail joints

Dovetail joints in wood are those that connect pieces of wood by placing pieces together, kind of like what we do in puzzles. If a furniture is too uniform and sleek, it is most likely done using modern tools and equipment. Real antique furniture is done by hand so that cutting and piecing together is rarely perfect.

• Look for the secondary wood

During the olden times, using secondary wood, usually a less expensive one in places that it cannot be seen are common. When you cannot find a secondary wood in a furniture, the item is likely to be recently made.

• Inspect the furniture’s boards

In a true antique furniture, it is normal to find boards that are made of planks of wood in different widths. It is also common that a furniture is made of a single plank of wood. This is true for chairs and tables. During those times, a plank of wood is utilized completely to avoid wasting source materials.

• Furniture handles and nuts

A true antique furniture has a handle made up of a single piece of metal, usually in the form of brass. Constant pulling may result to wrecked furniture handles so replacing them is typical. When this happens, check the nuts attached to handles. Nuts made in the past are circular and irregular while newly made nuts are machine-cute and hexagon in shape.

• Examine the nails and locks

Locks attached to an antique furniture are made containing wrought iron that are gripped by nails made of iron. 18^th century locks are made of brass and steel.

• Carving examination

The carving is the exquisite part that makes an antique furniture stand out. An authentic and completed carving is a factor that increases the price of an antique. Moreover, an antique piece that has an inlay design has a higher price because of the difficulty of the work involved in it.