home ec today!

3Rs

2008-09-16T13:42:00.005+08:00

we talk about the 3Rs -reduce, reuse and recycle in our daily lives.

we are aware of the global issues of global warming but how many of us actually practice what we preach?

something that comes to our mind about the 3Rs would simply to reduce the amount of waste we produce each day, reuse materials such as scraps of old newspaper, magazines or used plastic containers and recycle them by making it into something useful.

what about clothes that you decide to throw out of your closet?

common practices would include giving it away to the salvation army to help the needy people.

here's an idea that i stumbled upon while googling..

making use of your unwanted garments,

get it attached to your lamps at home and you can make an interesting gift or even add a new mmber to the furniture collection in your house.

simple and hassle free.

you reduce the waste you create,

you reuse unwanted garments and make it into a recycled product.

get your thinking caps cracking and explore the world of reducing, reusing and recycling.

idea adapted from: http://www.privatecircle.it/home.htm

DCX130 Investigative Lab - Bread!

2008-09-06T14:16:00.009+08:00

So! Last Thursday (4th Sept. '08), we had investigative lab where my group (me, Salwa, Zila & Phyllis) was assigned to do make bread using the bread-making machine!

We had to make 2 different types of bread; White bread and Stone Ground Wholemeal bread for comparison and evaluation of the characteristics of each bread.

Here are the results of our investigation:

Table 1. Volume and description of bread made from different flour types

Table 2. Evaluation of quality characteristics of bread

So there you go. Click on the tables if you wish to see a larger and clearer image of them.

May I also add my opinion, that although it is a lot easier to make bread using the bread machine, the fun of bread-making is absent during the process. You could only just watch the machine do all the work after throwing in all the ingredients in the bread pan, haha.

Wouldn't it feel more satisfying and accomplishing if you get to have your hands on the kneading of the dough and all?

read the numbers off your fruits

2008-08-25T10:30:00.003+08:00

recently via an email from my ST about labels on the fruits that look harmlessly "unimportant" but significant. All a person will do is to remove the sticker it and wash the fruit thoroughly before sending it into our mouths. i just got to admit how ignorant we are as consumers.

After reading the mail i happen to "discover" that the stickers actually meant something. (: I went on to search engines trying to see if the information was credible but i have yet to find any.. maybe i shall visit the supermarket to verify the stickers with my own eyes.

serious stuff aside, i actually found out that there are collectors out there who keep fruit labels as a hobby. they actually spend time not only to collect such labels... they also document their findings of various fruit labels.

interested to find out about such hobby?

you can read it here!

anyway back to the numbers on the label in the email...

The stickers tells consumer who are more concious about their choice of fruits as to how the fruits were grown. Reading off the label allows one to know whether the fruit is organically grown or conventionally grown with pesticides and herbicides; and the genetically engineered fruits.

Conventional Fruit Labels has four digits mostly starting with the digit 4.

Organic Fruit Labels bears five digits and starts with number 9.

Genetically Modified Fruits Start with the digit 8 **.

I personally go for organic food instead of those that are genetically modified.
Okay, so if you come across an apple in the store and it's labels 4***, it's an conventional apple grown with herbicides and fertilizers.

If it has a sticker 9****, it's organic and generally safe to eat.

If it says 89222, then think twice...

It has been genetically modified.

So next time you go shopping, remember make your choices and know how to avoid buying inorganic and GMO fruits.

Shop Safe :)

website review: Learning Seed

2008-08-24T23:20:00.000+08:00

Here’s the review.

Suitability: for everyone.
Synopsis: Collision of educational videos and softwares on nutrition, consumer education, parenting, critical thinking etc.

Here’s a snapshot of the homepage.

You may see the home page of the site boring as there's little or in fact no graphics to capture the attention of their audience. Same ol cliché but true, looks are deceiving! May I seek you permission to allow me to show you more about the site?

In Learning Seed (LS), the target audience is basically everyone. In our context here, i would affirm that this site is for both young and old. For the young, such aids come into good use especially we are talking about incorporating ICT into our lessons. What more for us to use it to make lessons more interesting. It is a site with an abundance of infomation that you do not have to read per say. All you have to order it, preview it. If you find that the resource is worth adding into your inventory, just purchase it and make it yours!

Although shipping is not readily available to singapore, arrangement can be made via email. In order to minimize shipping cost, the power of networking comes into serious play. The more we order, the lesser the shipping will cost per resource.

Looking at LS, there are special sections has a range of “interesting” catchy links that you just want to click on it and find out. Take for example, “New and Revised” has a full list of fresh videos that has been recommended. All the videos are made accessible for a grace period of 30 days for viewing. there is a great variety of topics of the videos. The videos are very current and the availability of the videos encompasses and COLLIDES with the world of home economics today!

in addition, if you have grown tired of videos, you can consider going for the animations. There are animated cartoons and comics that provides another alternative to the usual videos. Such videos are good resources to be screened in the midst of a lesson to capture the attention of students.

being educators does not mean that we have acquired all the knowledge that we need. i see knowledge as a vast ocean. something that we cannot stop it from coming. we all learn new things everyday. life skills is what it takes for us to call for.

right..
are you ready to click on the site here to plant your learning seed today?

do not have to worry about navigating around the site because the site map is properly categorized to allow easy navigation. FAQs section is also available. It is stated that there's consume redress available should your video gets damaged. It will be replaced at zero cost!

food and craft

2008-08-24T18:57:00.000+08:00

simple "experiments" wow students alot.

bet everyone has used pasta of different cuts and shapes to make into crafts and such.

the common ones that are used would be the alphabets pasta that looks like this.

how about putting some food colouring to it and add some colours to it instead of having to get those that are readily available that looks like this?

was multi-tasking this weekends and i found this somewhere while googling on sites for review and cracking my brains to come up with something simple yet meaningful for my friend's 21st.

found this perfect for a pasta lover.

simple as it takes and i might do it over the weekends at home.

materials needed would be food colouring, alcohol, plastic bags and pasta.

directions are simple and it doesnt seem to take too much of a time either.

all we need is to soak a portion of pasta in alcohol completely into a sealable bag.

add in a few dops of colouring.

allow the colouring to dissolve completely and leave the bag to stand.

(the intensity of the colours of the pasta depends on the standing time. you can be playful and create different hues!)

afterwhich just drain the liquid off (note: do not rinse the pasta!).

and dry it on baking sheets.

and tada!!

i always reccommend people to lacquer their pasta with a layer of top coat nail varnish to add a sheen to the pasta.

picture of end product and idea adapted from http://tutusandturtles.blogspot.com/

next,

i was having a conversation with this art teacher and she shared with me that

she conducted a lesson on different texture of painting in class.

students were awed by her lessons.

guess what she used?

eggs and bread!

something that you and i would thought that could only surface in the kitchens.

not true anymore!

here you see an example of an end product.

done by a sweet student on the last day of school.

don't you think we can do this in HE lessons too?

twist it and teach them about complementary protein?

add some bake beans and get the students to perform a hands on experiment!

experiments to engage the students.

teacher delivers theory.

one stone, two birds.

okay reviews up next.

DCX 130 Website Reviews

2008-08-24T00:47:00.018+08:00

Website Review 1
BrainPOP - http://www.brainpop.com/

BrainPOP is an animated website that is educational to students. There have been comments on the website from teachers who use BrainPOP to educate and that their students love it. Because the visuals and the animations are very colourful and eye-cathing, a lot of students are very interested to learn from it.

So this website does not only focus on one area of study. It has many different topics on Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Arts & Music, Health as well as Technology. Students will find this even more interesting as they will then be able to go to just one website for all the subjects they are studying in school.

Under the Health section, that is where you can find more relating topics to food and nutrition. If you click on the Nutrition topic, there are further sub-topics like Alcohol, Body Weight, Carbohydrates, Fats, Food Safety and lots more. Under these sub-topics, there are information and even videos relating to topic. It makes learning much more fun and interesting for students. Teachers can use this website as a tool during lesson time.

There is also a section especially for educators / teachers where tips, tools and resources can be found. On this page as well, news and updates about BrainPOP are also posted. There are lesson plans only for teachers' usage but there are limited examples on there. It is still very useful to read about as it may just provide more ideas for teachers for their own lesson plans.

Conclusion
This website also encourages educators to share their resources, such as lesson plans, videos or any resource that can be useful on the site. I think that is one way for all educators to develop and become better to ensure education is delivered to the students in the best way possible. This is indeed a very useful website for especially teachers to introduce to their students for learning as well as sharing resources among other educators worldwide.

Website Review 2
Epicurious - http://www.epicurious.com/

Epicurious is not only a typical recipe website. The wonderful thing about it is that this site also contain articles and guides, the community page where members can add their own recipes to the site or just browse through those added by the other members. The best thing is? There's the video library! I'll be going into each of these sections each to further elaborate how they can be beneficial in teaching food and nutrition.

Recipes and Menus

At the Recipes and Menus page, you can search or browse for any recipe you would like. This is really helpful as it can help teachers to share some wonderful recipes that can be taught during practicals or even take a sample recipe for discussion in class about the different ingredients and the science behind it. This also helps to build up one's experience to give the recipes here a try.

Students also may find this website useful as it helps to give them ideas and tips for their food and nutrition assignments or even their coursework. I think looking at other recipes and other ways of cooking a certain recipe can provide inspiration and creativity for the students to learn.

Articles and Guides
Articles and Guides is another main category of the website where you can read and find out more on topics such as culinary travel where writers or journalists talk about favourite culinary spots in certain countries e.g. Discover Greece, or they would write about essential restaurant guides in some places e.g. Where to Dine in New York for the best dining experience there, and for this topic specifically, it basically gives an introduction first, after which there are more categories on this page of different types of dining such as high-end, budget, hotspots, favourites and classics.

Also check out this visual guide on Pasta. Very useful for teaching also.

Another interesting section under Articles and Guides is the Epi Log. This is where you can find food news and views from all over. It is like a blog with many different writers. Any news relating to food and culinary, be it personal or not are published here. There are also tips found in some of the entries which I think is very useful. Besides that, there is also a long list of food blogs on the left side menu for visitors to check out.

Resources

The above picture shows what is in the Resources page. It is very helpful for both teachers and students should they want to check up on a food or any word relating to food. Even methods of cooking like "saute" or kitchen equipments like microwave oven or what a "paring knife" is can be found in the food dictionary. There are over 4000 food terms available here.

Videos
My favourite section of this website is here. :)
I really found this section very beneficial as I get to watch not only cooking videos, but also technique videos! I would really like to have my techniques right before even being able to cook right. You can find technique videos to watch and learn. Examples of videos are like:

simple method of creaming

knife skills like julienning!

And I would just like to add another video, it can be found under the Celebrity Kitchen Tours section and this if of Isaac Mizrahi, a fashion designer, (remember him from AdFund??) and how he makes his own Mint Chocolate Chip ice-cream!

There are other parts to this video as well which can be found at the Epi Videos section under Kitchen Tours. :)
Do check out the other sections on the videos page, I would list them all out but then it would be too much and won't be exciting for you to check them out anymore!

Conclusion
I think that the videos are very beneficial because I feel that most teachers and students are more interested in watching to learn techniques and ways of cooking. It gives a clearer picture on how the processes are like. It's very interesting. However there are quite a limited number of technique videos on the site. Hopefully more will be added soon!

Overall, I would really recommend this website to others, both teachers and students alike as a resource for them to look for more ideas, tips and helpful techniques, as well as a large variety of recipes uploaded by people all over the world. You could even drop a comment on the recipes to discuss and make the recipe better. There are even forums for deeper discussions on relating topics. This website is a very extensive resource for teaching of food and nutrition therefore, do check it out!

Old Navy - Review of Online Shopping Website (DCX131)

2008-08-23T18:01:00.021+08:00

Old Navy – www.oldnavy.com

I wasn’t too keen on online shopping before. After experiencing my first online shopping experience, it was really fun and exciting that I decided to do it again once in a while for items I may need. Of course there are advantages and disadvantages to shopping online, but I would not go into that for now as I have this one site to review on and that is, Old Navy. Old Navy is an American clothing store which cannot be found in Singapore. It is also one of the Gap Inc. Brands, alongside Gap, Banana Republic and Piperlime.

Homepage

As you can see above, that’s the homepage of the website. From the homepage alone, you could clearly tell that this is a clothing store. The main picture of the adults and children wearing a certain trend of clothing here is good as it catches the eyes of the visitor first. This is a positive point where it grabs the attention of the visitor to give an idea of what type of clothing they have for the current season and it makes visitors curious, wanting to check out the other styles too. The homepage also states the starting price of the clothing there to get people interested as their prices are mostly quite reasonable there.

Target audience

Aside from that, you can also see who this store is specifically targeting by the navigation bar at the top of the page e.g. Women, Men, Boys, Baby Boys and Baby Girls etc. This also gives a clear overview of what you can find in this online shopping website so as not to waste time should you want to look for something else.

Navigation / Links

Apart from the navigation bar at the top, the main table on the left of the main picture there provides links directly to the different sections available. This is for easy accessibility to the pages you would wish to look at.

Other links can also be found at the bottom of the homepage, such as clothing that are “On Trend”, even sweepstakes where consumers can participate in to win prizes and lots more. The e-mail updates feature is also there for visitors to sign up. There are also links to the other online stores under Gap Inc. Brands which can be seen at the bottom of the page. It also provides a clearer linkage to these other sites at the top of the page as well.

Search and Content

At the top, right-hand corner of the main content of the homepage is the search function. You can type in a word of what you would like to search on and under which category would you like the search to look into. For example, I searched on “jeans”. Here’s how the results look like:

The search function is quite specific. Not only the normal types of jeans for bottom-wear are shown in the results, but denim skirts or clothing of the jeans / denim material are also included. At the left side of the page, there are links of the different items in the search results organised accordingly, by department, by colour or by price. This makes it easier for you to look for what you want specifically and also a lot faster.

The items are shown in a thumbnail format, with the item’s name, and price and even special notices. Discounted prices are also shown. When clicking on an item, you will be directed to the item’s page with full details about it such as the colour, size, fabric type and how to care for it as well as more details of the item itself.

Visitors can also zoom on the picture by just moving the cursor over the item. The zoomed version will pop up on the right side of the main picture there. There are also other angles available but only to certain types of clothing which may have designs on the back or sides.

Authentication

Old Navy is an authentic online shopping website. When a member wants to sign in, the website will be secured, and at the bottom of the web browser the person will be able to see confirmation of authenticity “Authenticated by Equifax”. Also, clicking the “About Gap Inc.” link at the bottom of the homepage brings you to basically information telling consumers who was the one who started Gap Inc., how it was started, where its first shop was opened, their purpose and values etcetera, and they are very well recognised as well by having won many different awards.

There is also a “Contact Us” link where you may go to should you wish to have them clarify your doubts about their products.

Accessibility

For accessibility, this site is very good. The links are good and they are very accessible on each page you go to as well. In terms of purchasing, it is necessary to be a member to purchase and signing up for membership is free. The process is simple where you would need to provide your e-mail address for the first step. Subsequent steps include keying in important personal information such as address, credit card number and such for Old Navy to access in order to process the orders made.

In terms of language, accessibility would be poor because this website is only in English. Foreign-speaking people would have difficulties browsing this website if they prefer to know details of a certain type of clothing.

However, Old Navy is attempting to modify and make changes to cater to more visitors by making the website more accessible.

Design

Old Navy has a very simple and organised design. Outlook-wise, it’s simple and pretty basic, with just faded stamps of the Old Navy logo on the background.

Organisation-wise, I think it is excellent. It is very useful to have the clothes categorised accordingly.

Under the categories itself, there are further sub-categories. For example as can be seen on the left image here, under Tees & Polos, there are further categories such as Short-Sleeve, Polos, Long-Sleeve etc. This gives makes browsing easy for the visitor.

Unique Feature

One of the unique features of Old Navy that I think is excellent is that it has the section called “What’s Now, What’s Next”. The link can be found at the bottom part of the homepage. This is where visitors or members of the website can go to and see what are the upcoming styles and trends of clothing that will be sold. The styles are different each month, so I think it is really interesting that visitors can know what styles to expect next month.

Forms of Payment

There are quite a number of payment modes. However they do not accept Paypal, Cheques or Money Order. Most of the payment methods are by cards.

Privacy Policy

Old Navy may share personal among the other Gap Inc. Brands if the member decides to purchase items from these different stores in one order. Personal information may also be shared with service providers who manage customer information and perform services such as communications with customers, promotions, conducting surveys etcetera. However, Old Navy does not authorise the service providers to make any other unrelated usage or disclosure of a customer’s personal information.

Redress

Old Navy merchandise can be returned within 90 days of original purchase date. For Old Navy swimwear returns, there must be the original price tags and hygienic liner intact.

Overall Rating = 4/5

Although the fact that Old Navy does not have excellent accessibility since it only is available in English, at least it is improving to cater to more visitors. The losing point was that Old Navy didn’t have enough payment methods. Besides this, I think the website is pretty much great to shop at and easy as well!

Reviews of DCX130 Sites

2008-08-23T16:15:00.010+08:00

1. Washington Apples

http://www.bestapples.com/index.shtml

I'm sure alot of us have heard of Washington Apples. They are crunchy, juicy and delicious! Well here is the site of these apples. In here, not only do they present information about Washington Apples itself, but they also give further information on healthy living, recipes, and even meeting the grower of these apples! You can also buy Washington Apples merchandise here!

Students and teachers alike can benefit alot from this site, pertaining to the topic of apples. Here, you can find the nutrition facts of a Washington Apple. You can find quite alot of information zooming in on apples that relate to Food and Nutrition.

Students can also learn about the different varieties of apples here, and this would be interesting for them to know about in Food and Nutrition, where they would be able to choose different types of apples when shopping for apples as a consumer.

Methods on how to prepare apples are also shown here. Coring, peeling, cutting into chunks or sticks, are all different ways of preparing apples whether for further cooking or just snacking on them.

Also, here, the site provides important terms that are associated with apples that teachers can use to inform students with.

Last but not least, there is also a "Teacher's Corner" for teachers to use some of the resources as well as get some ideas on making fun activities for the classroom. Although some of the activities of this particular teacher's corner is more inclined towards students of younger age (below Sec 3 and 4), it could still be a fun activity for Food and Nutrition students.

Overall, I think that this site is quite a useful and interesting one, albeit focusing only on apples.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

2. Learning Seed
http://www.learningseed.com/

This site actually sells lots of resources pertaining to topics mainly on Food and Nutrition. As a teacher, I am able to find a wealth of resources that would be useful in my teaching of the subject. I can choose to purchase some of these items if I want to, and thus add on to my collection of resources.

Also, this site is easy to navigate as they allow me to browse categories by subject. As such, I am able to zoom in when searching for a particular item in a subject that I may want to look for. (For example, if i click on "Food and Nutrition" I will be brought to a page where resources are listed such as a video on Germs and Viruses: A Self-Defense Guide )

In this site, there is also a section on Life Skills which have resource items that include kitchen safety, sewing seams, etc. I find it very useful to have these resources categorised neatly. On the other hand though, I find it a bit troublesome as I would have to purchase any item I may want first online, and receiving it would take quite awhile. Thus the resources here are not available for immediate use.

Some of these resources include in DVD format (videos) which I can use to show students so that they would be more excited to learn visually.

Purchasing the items would require me to have an account and log in, but even so, the site does not ship to Singapore. =(

Moreover, I feel that this is a very useful website for me as a teacher to build on my resources on teaching Food and Nutrition.

Overall Rating: 4/5

Burgers...

2008-08-23T00:25:00.007+08:00

Ode To Nike Sculpture Looks Delicious

A Swedish designer/illustrator named Olle Hemmendorff created this visual ode to Nike by using the greatest damn sandwich in the history of the world as inspiration: the hamburger. Olle and seven other designers were commissioned by Nike to come up with a design that would have people salivating over sweatshop created products and this is what they came up with.

'In the tradition of material innovation of AM 90, I constructed a running shoe using the most powerful, most durable and most delicious material known to man: hamburger.’

The design is the “Air Max 90” and it’s a brilliant piece of artwork until some rabid vegetarian-sweatshop-hating-hippie decides to eat the sculpture in protest of Nike’s questionable production ways. We can totally envision a ketchup touting protester.

Source: machochip.com

"the most powerful, most durable and most delicious material known to man: hamburger"
Is this true? Well in my opinion, the world is fast growing into a fast food society and hamburgers are part of it. And so, anyone who loves hambergers and looks at this hamburger shoe would probably get hungry. I admit, it did trigger my appetite abit. Haha. However I don't think it's the most powerful, most durable and most delicious. If it's powerful it won't cause you to gain weight even if you eat lots of it. If it's durable, well, it probably won't go stale, and if it's the most delicious, people who think so probably haven't tried Singapore style chilli crab!

I like the last paragraph, it's a tongue-in-cheek way of saying things. =D

Besides anything else, this hamburger shoe is a quite a show of creativity from the designer.

What do you think?

___________________________________________________

Since we are on the topic of burgers, let's all enjoy this video...

Voilà! Cheeseburger in a can anyone?

More cheeseburger in a can + powdered red wine?? - http://youtube.com/watch?v=k9u42zDPU7s

FreePeople.com - A Review

2008-08-22T19:37:00.015+08:00

Hello everyone! Once in awhile I like to do some online shopping and to me, it is always interesting to discover new shopping sites that have beautiful and interesting things to offer. One of those sites is Free People.

(click on pictures to enlarge)

1. Homepage

When you first enter, you will be greeted by a very lovely and aesthetically pleasing homepage.

The background design, colours, layout and font is enough to attract me to further explore the site. Just by looking at this, one is able to know the product that this website sells. Also, you do not see it here but the pictures actually change (animation) but it does not require any plug-ins to install that may deter visitors from further exploring the site. There are links that provide easy navigation to different parts of the site at the top and bottom of the page, as well as a search bar at the top right-hand corner.

Rating: 5/5

2. Authenticity

There is a "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the page so that doubtful visitors can contact the owners of this website should they have any queries.

However, it is a reliable site since it is a big company and many people have bought from them before.

Rating: 4/5
(no other forms of authenticity verification)

3. Accessibility

Signing up is necessary if one wants to purchase anything from the site, as well as adding items to their "wishlist", which will be explained later. To sign up only takes less than a minute, where only my e-mail address and a password is required.

The site is only available in English, probably due to the fact that the site only ships to USA, Canada and the UK. However, it does not take into account that there is a French-speaking area of Canada, where the people may be more comfortable with the French language.

Rating: 4/5
(lack of other languages)

4. Navigation & Design

On every page, there are links that can immediately bring you directly to another category within the site. These links are placed in a neat manner and it is not hard to find. Sub-links can also be found under the main links, e.g. under apparel: tops, bottoms, tunics, skirts, etc.

If you are lazy to browse through the different categories one by one, just go to the search bar and type in the keyword of the item you are searching for! A search for "dress" resulted in this:
The search results are even grouped into different sections of department, category, colour, prices and sizes! That's how well-organised this site is. It also states how many items are found in each description of each section. Navigation through the website itself is pretty straightforward and flawless, I could go through it with my eyes closed. (Not really, but you get my point! haha.)
As mentioned earlier, the background is very artistic. I think it goes well with its name of “Free People” – it depicts freedom to express yourself. The colour scheme used are in my opinion very sweet. (pastel colours)

Rating: 5/5

5. Content

Categories on the site include: What’s New, Trends, Apparels, Accessories, Intimates, Shoes, “We The Free”, Outfits, Shop Catalog.

Under trends, I can look at current and seasonal trends as laid out by Free People and get inspired on creating my own styles. Under outfits, I am able to view an entire outfit designed by the people at Free People if I do not know how to pair different clothings with shoes and other accesories.
Unique Features

Products are arranged in a way that pictures are on the left, while their descriptions are on the right. I find this a hassle because I would have to match what I see to the words on the right. I find it easier if each of the descriptions were put together with each picture.

If you do not have time to click on the product to see the detailed description, you can just click on "images | availabilty" under the descriptions.

When clicking on "images", a pop-up will appear so you can see the different views of the item.

When clicking on "availability", you can see information on stock availability and detailed information on when new stock comes in. (This earns plus points! especially for impatient people like me.)

If you have time to see more of the item, clicking on its picture will bring you to this page:

I like the fact that there are alot of things that you can do here. Firstly, a short description of the product is given, together with some fabric information. There is also a size measurement for easy estimation of my size. I can view other similar items. There are also links to the other products that the model in the picture is wearing. I can even read reviews and see the ratings for the product from other people who have bought it.

If I want to tell my friends about the item, I can click on the "email a friend" link. Last but not least, I can add the item to my wishlist! This would bring me to this page:

This is where every single item I would want to buy is "bookmarked" into this page. Others are also able to view my wishlist if I allow the function.

Rating: 4.5/5
(placement of pictures and descriptions a hassle)

6. Forms of Payment

There are many ways of paying for your purchases, mostly through cards. Payment through PayPal and cheque is not available.

Rating: 3.5/5
(absence of PayPal and cheque)

7. Security

Security when making purchases is highly important and as such, Free People has employed security measures to prevent any identity thefts.

Rating: 4/5
(there is only one way of technology that contributes to the security of the site)

8. Redress

"Free People will gladly accept unworn, unwashed or defective merchandise for return or exchange within 30 days from the shipping date." This is very useful when doing online shopping when one may buy the wrong size. There is even free shipping if a customer wants to exchange their purchased item with another of the same item in a different size or colour.

Rating: 4/5

Overall Rating

I would give this site a 4.5/5 as I did not find or encounter much difficulties while browsing through this site, and would definitely recommend it to others! (Provided you don't mind the pretty hefty price tags! =D hehe.)

Print screens credits to freepeople.com

Review: www.ae.com

2008-08-22T01:29:00.015+08:00

A Review of an online shopping website.

This is my first attempt to do online shopping. so i hope my steps provided are able guide people around too! first, google keywords like "online shopping" or "online sprees". A long list of sites will appear and you can take your pick. the site i chose is .... here!

American Eagle Outfitters at http://www.ae.com/.

(short and sweet, it's easy to remember!)

Next up, to navigate and get access, i signed up for an account. Easy as it takes. Only takes two minutes and voila! (: (+ this scores some points!)

Here's some introduction about the company...
American Eagle Outfitters (in short, A.E)

- is an established retail company based in states.

- targets consumers of such as the older teenagers between 15 to young adults aged around 25 years old who has a lot of buying power these days!

- designs, markets and sells its own brand.

- carries different designs for casual wear, footwear and accessories for both genders.

- has different collections for the various seasons.

this is a screen shot of the website.

about the accessibility and credibility...

The first impression of the home page of A.E gives first time visitors a pleasant experience. (: The language used is in english and hence allows many people especially teenagers and young adults like us to access the site. A.E does not have pop ups that distracts the consumer and does not operate on flash which requires additional plug-ins. Furthermore, it does not have background music which hinders the loading of the site. The navigation of the website is very user friendly because it has a a sitemap that lists all the available links for easy navigation and different categories are sorted out neatly for the convenience of consumers.

A.E is a registered site with its own domain giving credit to the authenticity of the site. Consumer redress is available with some terms and conditions. A list of FAQs (frequently asked question) is available for consumers to find out more. Navigation around A.E is easy as the categories are well listed according to gender specifications between men and women. There is a wide range of clothes and accessories that are popular and in trend and is available in the site.

A.E has links to locate store locally, check out items and make wishlist meeting needs of the consumers. However, the absence of search bar does not allow consumers to navigate around by searching for what they want. They would have to spent some time going through various categories to get what they need. This site has an individual category to show new arrivals, clearance items and web exclusives for those who shop online.

going more in depth...

The content of A.E is very detailed and precise as it provides a good description of the items that are available. Goods are classified according to tops, bottoms, accessories, footwear etc which gives a great variety of choices for consumers to mix and match. It also shows what's in trend nowadays. Photos are made available in many angles as well giving consumers a closer look to have a better idea of what they are buying.

Most of the items are offered a variety of colours in A.E. Consumers can choose from a variety of colours to mix and match their wardrobe. On top of that, there is a mix and match suggestion provided to the most current trends. A.E gives suggestions on stylish mix and match with other clothes and accessories. Consumer can thus make reference to the suggestions available.

Gift cards are available for those who are fussing over what to get as a gift. there are several denominations to the gift cards. the gift cards need not be used in stores. one can use the gift card via online shopping too! if one has to get a gift via the virtual world, gift cards can be send via email too! that's the wonder of technology huh! (+ good marketing strategy here!)

Upon deciding to get a particular garment, all we have to do is click on the design of the desired garment. We will be directed to a page where more details of the garment such as sizes, colour, fibre content, care instructions will be stated. The break down of the fibre content allows consumers who are more concern to be more aware about the fibre content of their garments. Apart from that, the care instructions of the garment is also briefly stated under the description of the garment. This ensures that the garment would be able to sustain a longer "wardrobe-life".

One can do shopping based on the sizes available not having to worry wasting time browsing through and result in not getting anything. (+ consumer centered!) A wide range of sizes are available ranging from petite to plus sizes. Size charts are available and ways to do specific measurements are available too!

Consumer has various ways to pay for their purchased items. Payments can be made via Paypal which is very commonly used in Singapore. It is made secured by VeriSign. Payment can also be done via the use of credit cards. A range of cards are accepted by A.E. Visas and debit cards are accepted. However, A.E does not accept cash on delivery. A.E ships over to a total of 62 countries including Singapore! Shipping fees will be factored in as it is required for international shippings. A&E will take around 3 - 10 business days to get your garments shipped and sent to your door step.

All in all, A.E has an organized and established site for online shoppers. There are many reviews in forums singing good remarks of theservice that is provided. The entire online shopping process is not too complicated as it is guided by the FAQs available.

However, i noticed that there are a few loop holes in which A.E could have included in their site to draw more hearts of the consumers. The site does not state the frequency of restocking. Consumers will not be aware of the availability of their desired garments if the stock runs low. Secondly, express shipping is not available and shopping here is not tax free and no tax is refunded. Although sales is going on, it is not applicable to international shoppers and A.E did not specify the period of the sales.

rating of site: 4/5 (: (: (: (:

Cool Animation Videos

2008-08-20T19:10:00.006+08:00

This video is really creative and cool, I really like it. They are "cooking" a dish using unlikely "ingredients". Watch and see:

This is nice as well:

You can check out other very interesting animation videos at PES's Website.

Amazing or what?

2008-08-16T16:20:00.010+08:00

This is what home economics is basically about:

consumer resource management (purchase house items wisely)

sewing to create or decorate

the kitchen :D

limiting unhealthy foods

fashion / textiles & clothing

Best of all, it also includes..

See how everything collides together? A lot of things relate to home economics.. it surely isn't just cooking and sewing.
Would you even believe me if I say that the photos above that you just saw are all actually cakes? Haha..
What do you think?

Take a look at this video.. and note the same cupboard cake as the first photo above, on the table.

The cakes you see above are from www.pinkcakebox.com except the kitchen and sewing machine cake, which was made by Zhanna Zubova.
Anne Heap, as seen in the video showing us how to decorate the cookies, is the woman behind Pink Cake Box, the one who designed and decorated the cakes you see above. It's amazing, isn't it? I couldn't believe it when I first saw those photos myself. They looked real at one glance.

Check out other beautiful cakes by Anne Heap on her website.
Elegant Cheese Cakes also have a wide variety of designed cakes for different occasions. Take a look and be amazed. ;)

Is that a cake or what??

2008-08-12T23:54:00.003+08:00

During a recent family gathering, I was lucky enough to take a picture of this very unique "cake" made by one of my aunts. It is actually "pulut serunding" - a Malay dish primarily consisting of tumeric-flavoured glutinous rice eaten with serunding (toasted grated coconut), and other items such as the prawns you see above.

Taste test? It was really delicious and filling! =)

cupcakes from cupcakemomma (:

2008-08-11T10:52:00.006+08:00

hello this is the first test post.

remember my big two last year?

my bunch of lovely friends asked me what i wanted...

i randomly said twenty of anything.

and there i got it!

twenty cupcakes under my favourite themes.

the sun,

the sea (supposed to be wakeboarding but it turned out to be surfing),

colours focussing orange and blue. :)

like it?

you can do your pre-orders here.

love,