Craving 1/2 satisfied

For the strangest reason I had a sudden craving for opera cake yesterday. However it’s not easy to find opera cakes now. Ciel Patisserie which used to be near my area serves good opera cake. The next solution is to go into Delifrance e-shop but it’s out of stock. Sigh… talk about when one thing don’t come your way the others follows 😢. 

We picked che-che up from work (the only person who didn’t work from home) and went for dinner. I wanted to get a chocolate cake just to satisfy a little of my craving. 

Coco Exotic from Four Leaves

Previously Che-che said I can bake since I knew how to bake opera cake. Maybe I can do it one day. Maybe just maybe. 

红枣龙眼桃胶甜水

I can’t remember when I bought the peach gum, could be years ago 🤭. I was shocked with the price when I picked up the packet in the medical hall. Boss said that it’s good quality and much more cleaner; less dirt to remove. I’m not sure if he was truthful as it’s my first time buying this. 

Wanted to cook to bring over to bro’s place but .. the LAZIEST QUEEN OF ALL LAZY QUEENS had to procrastinate soaking the peach gum. From wanting to soak on Sunday then to Monday then to Thursday. Oh well! 

Took the recipe and used Ma Thermie to help me prepare on the second day of CNY 😆

Turns out 1.2l is for 4 portion

soaked it on 29th (Wed) before leaving house for bai nian. Queen of lazy. 

Next day - cleaned. Really not much to clean.

@ 4.06pm

@ 5.36pm

@ 5.50pm

Yummy! Not too sweet. I like it. I will make more since I have so much peach gum left. And this is good for my skin! 

 

Cute valentine prep

 Saw this on Instagram. So cute! 

Been wanting to make decorated icing cookies but I can’t coz nobody eats so it’s like I’m wasting time. Wait! I can’t even find any time to bake in the first place. 

In the meantime I shall just swipe swipe swipe and look see look see others Instagram posts. There’s just something about Japanese bakes that shouts かわいい all the time. 

Che-che’s gyoza

25th Jan (Sat)

Che-che made her gyoza for first day CNY at bro’s place. Wah! She wraps the gyoza so much faster than me. I use the kiap kiap mould to wrap my wanton and is so much slower than her 🤣. I think coz she’s been doing it many times with her friends in US. 

In no time, she finished wrapping 4 boxes of 12. In total 52 gyozas. She was that fast! And coz she could sit down a longer period of time (I can’t. Usually when I do things I need to stand up; walk around; stretch; drink water etc..)

Thank goodness I didn’t throw these dumpling takeout boxes away. I had bought them hoping to make my cute cute dumplings (went for class in 2022) but haven’t had the time to do it. At least the boxes are made to good use now. Heng ah …plastic didn’t disintegrate 🤣.

I didn’t help her with anything except mincing the cabbage (which I realised later I could have used Ms Thermie). While she wrapped quickly, I zhor-bor acted busy by labelling the boxes meant to bring over and credited the chef. 

My first attempt in pan frying gyoza. Not bad not bad. I’m so proud of myself. 

27th Jan (Mon)

Packed (3 boxes) and ready to go by bro’s place after dropping lil’ one in school 

To Me From Me

Ordered flowers for ownself. 😂 

Been wanting to get preserved flowers to place on the dining table for the longest time. Looked for preserved tulips but no such thing, it’s usually other flowers. After all the ding ding dong dong, decided on this which doesn’t have the irritating furry furry fillers. 

Pretty small one but I didn’t pay a lot for it so expected this size. Maybe next time someone hears me and starts preserving tulips, I will get that for sure. 

I still have this arrangement bestie W gave me in ?? 2023? 2022? I need to track back the photos. It’s still beautiful although has lost a little colour over time. I would have continue placing it on the dining table but the furry fillers keep dropping and making a mess on the table and floor, especially when I have the fan blowing in that direction. 

Place here I still see it the moment I step into the house, see it when I vacumn and mop the floor, see it when I need to take my shoes. Ok, I must admit I was crazy enuf to even purposely stand there to admire the flowers. Maybe when the girls are working and busy and I’m left alone, I’ll start talking to the flowers 😂.

Petite Fleur can you please come up with newer arrangements? Perhaps with tulips? 

怎么样家还是需要有花。It does uplift the look of the place. Next thing I need to buy is the calendula and lavender click&grow pods and start ‘planting’

Dumb tourists

Dumb people deserves harsh treatment. All for the sake of that one or two photo to put in Instagram to show their friends that “oh I LOVE it here”

Call me a bitch but really I have no sympathy for such people 

screenshot from The Straits Times

So question is did anyone see her and shout at her to get out of the train tracks? Even so, 61 yrs old should be none the wiser right? 

Barriers are down at crossings so if she took chance to slip under the barrier, she’s taking a risk to have her body slip under the train. Ouch! Such painful death. Totally not worth it. 

All these dumb tourists who disrupted train schedule because they wanted people to 

LIKE their FB

or LOVE their Instagram

should be fined for inconveniencing others. Pay for the emergency services and bills themselves too. Hopefully this will put a stop to people + dunno ‘who the heck they are’ influencers to pose dangerously. 

Goodbye and …

“Hello Fairy” 

Our new laundry rack has voice activation. Not that I wanted or needed one, but the ones that don’t have voice activation are not the types I like. 

I have never anticipated anything so excitedly like today. My saviour is finally here! No more damp clothes; no more ironing all clothes and undergarments just to dry them; I can finally wash the sweaters, thermal wears (think now super 臭臭) and shoes. 

Sent lil’ one to school and rushed back home for the appointed time - 9.30am. 

Thank goodness I have this last roll left for this small drilling dusty job. Whoever invented this is one smart ass lad. 

By 9am, covered this area and the ironing board plug area mainly because I didn’t want dust to get into the master bedroom walk-in wardrobe + common toilet. At the same time I covered the two trolleys which I’m so lazy to move.

Moved away the small table. I love it how the yard area looks so clean. 

Saying my goodbye to this cheena rack. Thank you for serving me for XXX years. 

Cleared the laundry basket into the laundry area temporarily. This area looks a little neater. If only, if only hubby had asked the developer (then) to hack this wall we could have put the washing machine facing outwards and put in laundry baskets inside. But those cleaning aids make the place look unsightly lah!

Guy called later to say he’ll come around 10.30am. Ok, I have time to relax. Decided to act a little smarter by only vacuuming the rooms first. Reckon my other areas will be dusty so be smart. 

When Hassan came by, he called to say there was no instructions from management and guardhouse didn’t allow him in. Wah! Didn’t know for this removal and installation I need to inform management under renovation. Since when were they so strict? Dashed out of the house to inform them. Just as the staff was about to call the guardhouse to allow them entry, I asked her to hold first coz all intercom calls are directed to me, I’ll have to rush home to open the house door while I’m still in the midst of filling up the form. (I’m really the bao-gah-liao person.) Just stalling time a little for my sanity. 

By 11.50am they finished the installation. Hubby helped to pick lil’ one up before rushing back for a work phonecall. In times like this, I’m so grateful he is able to help me out.

Three modes of lights and it’s brighter than our second light there. This looks smaller, I couldn’t get the 160cm rack as the extension part of it will hit the beam and louvre window. When I measured our old rack it measures 130cm but I don’t understand why this 130cm looks shorter. Hmm….. anyway I don’t hang anything that big except our queen size bedsheet so it’s really a small matter.

This speaks angmoh language not the “祝您生活愉快”. I probably won’t use Fairy, think maybe it’s faster to just use the remote control. Until one day when my girls grow older and out of the house and I’m bored…maybe I’ll start talking to Fairy 😂.

Till then it’s time to start doing all the 啦啦渣渣 washing and turn on the heater. 阿嫂开工！

Edited : I didn’t order from 淘宝 tho I tell you the designs from all the shops, from branded ones are same design as what I saw in 淘宝。Few reasons why -

1. I couldn’t wait. It takes time for item to reach me from China. 3-4wks. By then I also need to find a guy to help me do the installation. So by the time I add up $$, I save maybe $200-$250 or less. Installation time may be a problem as slapped during CNY period. I may only get to use it after CNY 😱. No way! 

2. I had to see the real thing and feel it. Coz hopefully this will be something that will last a long long time. I couldn’t find that specific model I like videos online. 

Withdrawal

I’m suffering with post holiday withdrawal syndrome now 😂. 

I want to go back to Japan. I want to go on solo holiday! I want money ….. okay to be more realistic I want to go down Meidi-ya supermarket now. 

Buying things from Japan

When I just got back. Muahaha! I should have just grabbed it and carried home right? I save the shipping fees and possibly price difference. 

But the problem was I didn’t know where to get it. I saw this in two restaurants. Compared with all the other sanitizer dispensing machines in other restaurants that we went and still liked this dispenser. 

Thanks to online purchase, I went to order this on the 14th and received it on the 18th. That was fast! 

Set it up on the 20th day time 

Realised something is wrong. In this picture you can see how I attempted to save the isopropyl alcohol. Hopefully the extras goes into this small bottle I carry with me all the time. 

Free shipping 👍

Price if send dispenser to Japan

On the same day I messaged Amazon on fault. The item dispensed 4x every time I put my hand under. Very wasted leh! Maybe that’s the reason why there’s a tray below 🤣. Asked staff how to do an exchange.

Initially staff was saying I needed to ship back with no charges as long as I found any box to place it in. But after some time, another CSO took over and said it’s ok no need to return, they will do a $ refund for me and I can place my new order. I received my money back the same day!!! That’s downright efficient. 

Did I buy another? No, I’m afraid to come across with the same fault as it’s possibly the same batch of units sold. So I guess the best solution is to put a piece of tissue below so that it can absorb the wastage and I’ll use it for cleaning the mirror and piano. Haha! I think these two spots in my house will be superbly clean and sparkly 😂.  

My flight home and this Sunday (19th) gone just like that!

Haven’t been the 100% me since we got back from Japan

During flight

Fell sick one hour before boarding the plane. Thanks to hubby who passed it to me. I can only say it’s him coz he carelessly left his mucus filled tissue paper next to me when he was sick. 每次不会注意卫生。Sigh….

Felt cold so borrowed hubby’s fleece top. Took Tylenol and fell asleep when boarding, which I don’t think it’s the medication causing drowsiness but rather I was over-exhausted. For the record, I was only awake for 15mins or less for my meal which was served after take off. Not sure if drinks were served but lao niang was oblivious to what was happening. I was roused from my sleep when I heard some noise, the CS was asking lil’ one her choice and served her first on the way out. It took me some time to register what was happening coz I thought all meals are served at the same time then I heard him saying he’s coming back for us adults later. Haha! I wanted to tell him she’s 18years old leh! Slept so much that I didn’t even register the complimentary wifi. Woke up for another 5mins after a lull period as I needed to go to the toilet and stretch out my legs. Ehh..how long was the flight time? 7hrs plus. I slept so much on the plane. 

Tested

Nope! Not Covid. Tho with all the variants now, I wonder how accurate the tests are. 

Camping outside

Last year the girls camped outside, this year I camped outside. The man is still coughing so i guess it makes no bloody difference that we’re going to cross-infect each other. I didn’t sleep in the same room as I didn’t want the aircon, it always make my stuffy nose worse. Slept outside for 3 nights, lugging that heavy mattress from lil’ one’s room. No joke man! Was thinking to self that next time if I need to isolate myself from hubby then how? Should I buy a foldable mattress? It’s going to be huge and I have no place to put in the bomb shelter. During one of the camping out night I went online and bought a mattress protector just for the sofa. Yup! I will sleep on the sofa next time. I am able to keep the protector together with the rests of our bed protector in the shelf, thus will not worry about where to put it. 

Back at home

As we all know cough usually take a long time to recover. I was not only coughing and nursing a runny nose as well, for some unexplainable reason nothing seems to agree in my tummy. I wonder how is it that I have more output than input but yet didn’t lose weight. The cold damp weather only made it worse for me. Plus housework, with CNY looming close, heater rack spoilt, all the extra work in getting clothes dry. I have no idea when I will handwash the sweaters and thermal, it’s late this year. Normally I get everything washed within a week including the sports shoes but not this time. It’s impossible with the rainy weather and spoilt heater, I might end up with moldy shoes and sweaters. 

Not doing any Ōsōji in particular coz cleaning in my home is an ongoing process. But it’s me trying hard to close two eyes to the mess in the home lor. Should I nurse my health or die over-exerting myself? 

CNY

Also no mood lor! With things happening, who have the celebratory mood for CNY? I just want to pass the day quietly and rest. 

It took me days to put up the decorations and I didn’t have many coz I was not going to stick anything on the wall from now on. 2025 is almost like 2022’s CNY where we only have two weeks to CNY after returning from our trip.

This year not buying any NY goodies as we always end up throwing them away as nobody eats them, now our house looks just like any other day except just a bit of red deco. 

And …. I just remembered didn’t shop for new clothes!! Haiyah! 算了吧！not like we’re going anywhere also. 

Sleepy, lethargic, sleepy on a Sunday (19th)

Doctor prescribed hubby Metophan (cough mixture) on Wednesday and he said it’s pretty effective and asked me to try. I hesitated until last night (18th). I drank and past one in the morning I woke up and vomitted. Wah! Stayed awake for the next 2 hours feeling sleepy and queasy, didn’t want to choke on my own vomitus in my sleep 🤣. Woke up doing just the minimum housework and then nuah. Ate my lunch and fell asleep in the living room.  I have no idea when hubby left the living room switching off the TV, I woke up at 1+pm and decided to lie down on the sofa and woke up from deep sleep at least twice and went back to sleep. The next time I woke at 6pm, I dragged myself up. Took a late shower and had my dinner. Now at 8.20pm I’m feeling sleepy again. No more cough syrup for sure. I don’t want to end up vomiting in the morning again. How many more days will I continue to feel so lethargic? Is this the 所谓 - 老了很难病好？🤨 

E-wallet

Payment has never been so easy with e-payment almost everywhere now. My cards in my wallet keep increasing but monies decreasing 😂. 

Why do I have 2 Revolut cards? Coz I thought I had lost the old physical card so went to apply another. Found the card but second Revolut account still remains $0 🤣. 

Not forgetting the 5 expired passes I have inside the wallet. Time to clear them from the phone, but first thing first is to do a screenshot and keep the images. 

Funny girls

Were waiting at the dental clinic when the girls saw these book in the kids play area. 

The girls because of restricted video viewing in Shanghai were stuck with either 小猪佩奇 or 熊出没. Who can forget lil’ one was so enthusiastic in the opening part of Peppa Pig, that she often recites and snort in her shower and everywhere else when in Shanghai. 😂

Lil’ one took the books and started reading 

When every minute counts

When every minute matters. With lil’ one’s school dismissal at 12pm and therapy at 3.30pm, it means I need to make full use of whatever time I have. 

The day started with hubby sending lil’ one to school at 7+ for school to start at 8am. Was too tired to get out of bed even though I slept early last night (early in my standard). I couldn’t go back to bed after she roused me from my sleep “who’s sending me to school?” Volunteered to send che-che to work. Had some time while she got ready for work so used the time to remove the curtains in living room n lil’ one’s room. I can’t remove the curtains in master bedroom coz the stupid cabinet is in the way (who puts the cabinet all the way so in leaving only 1cm for the curtain rod?) and che-che’s room (coz I can’t open up the ladder with her bed in the way. N too short when I use her bed as a stepping stool). Started washing the curtains in batches. 

Left one set of curtains to do the tumbling in the house and I brought the rests out and dropped by the 24hr laundromat. 

Had to remember to bring che-che’s chicky chicky. I washed it and air-dried it few days back but coz it’s been raining, now chicky chicky smells. Re-washed it today and brought it to the laundromat with me. 

Separated into 2 dryers and put for half hour ($5 each dryer), packed lil’ one and my lunch at coffee shop next door and went to pick her up from school. 

The curtains completed its dryer run when I was otw home, barely 2km out from her school. Yippee! Curtains dried, che-che’s chicky chicky is fluffy and smells nice. 

Between 12+ to 2+ : Back at home. Last batch of curtains done and did our laundry. Brought them out with me, was hoping to throw them into 3 dryers and spin at a lesser time but alas! All dryers were utilised. Kept the damp stuffs in the car while I brought lil’ one for her therapy. Didn’t walk around much, packed dinner and dropped by NTUC and then went back to the car to rest. Closed eyes for 15mins is better than walking around aimlessly mindlessly. 

Reached back close to 5pm and promptly went over. Thank goodness all dryers are empty. Threw into 2 dryers for 18mins each (cost : $1/ 6mins. So $6 gone!)

Dropped lil’ one back at home and picked up the washed undergarments. Should have asked hubby to help wash the socks. I did a quick wash run for 15minutes

and came back with the curtains and clothes dried. Dump all the undergarments and socks into one dryer for 18mins. Aiyah! Don’t care 了。It’s not a huge quantity each batch so …. Want to put into 2 dryers is akin to wasting money. 

By the time all is done, it’s already 5mins to 6pm. Should I pick che-che up or not? In the end, I simply headed home, I’m so tired today from all the running around + cleaning windows and doors, all I look forward to now is a nice warm shower and rest.

$19 gone just like that! I’m grateful that we have this 24hr coin operated laundromat only 350m, a 5min walk away from us. Used only in emergency. However I must admit I like the idea of not having any laundry hanging around in the yard area. In the meantime, I’ll need to look to get a new one. I haven’t washed our sweaters and thermal yet. Sobs! Can’t do it in damp weather.