Weather

Hot like crazy. Think I wouldn’t feel that sticky uncomfortably hot  if I did not do the ironing in the yard area. 

Took a nice cold shower and sat on the bed with both aircon and fan on

A check. My goodness! Feels like 37

Sakura Pudding

Bought this on Tuesday coz it’s so pretty and I’m crazy over sakuras 🌸 after a trip to Flower Dome. Ok this is really impulse buy 🤭

So sweet colour right? 

Opened one to try today. Still admiring the packaging. I love how the Japanese pay attention to small details like the green ribbon tied on the cellophane. It wasn’t just any green colour but it was the peduncle green. 

Dismantling the whole thing to take picture 🤪 just coz I’m so intrigued by the whole thing. Suaku!

Wah! Super sweet. Nutri Grade F. Diabetes alert! Nice to see but 甜死你. The base pudding is super sweet, the clear part with petal is sweet but not as bad as the milky pink pudding. 

I will have to struggle with the remaining 2 puddings

Exhausted week - Week 04 of 4 on solo

Let’s see… I did say I wasn’t going to blog about the last week but sometimes I do hate to leave things halfway. 要做就全部做好好、做完整。After this week there’ll be no such nonsense updates anymore. 

10th Mar (Mon) - AT worked from home

Just getting about the day doing the usual. Why why why? Why on the day che-che works from home lil’ one has no HBL for the week? 

Cooked mee hoon kueh for her lunch while I cleared a packet of crab croquette. While preparing mee hoon kueh’s soup I soaked the grinded rice for their tomorrow’s lunch - porridge. It’s a mixture of Thai and Japanese rice which will make the porridge a little sticky like eating cantonese chok. I decided it’ll be porridge for tomorrow coz noticed the minced pork I had portioned out is rather a lot for just mee hoon kueh alone. 

@ 1.17pm taking today’s lunch to prepare for 24hrs later lunch (for girls tomorrow)

Lil’ one called at 1.24pm informing that she can leave school. Wow! 3 1/2hrs earlier. Ok good lah! Come back early then can rest, I can also do my things leisurely. 

Tidied the winter stuffs into the respective boxes and our sweaters into the vacuum bags. My trying to be minimalist is working, my bag of sweaters and pants is the smallest bag.  👍

Cooked dinner and before 8pm the kitchen is cleaned and rubbish cleared into the chute. I was able to go back to my room to shower and rest, more likely to edit my blog entries and clear photos. 

11th Mar (Tue) - Went to see my huay huays 🌸 🌸 

Wah… when was the last time I went to Flower Dome? Impressions of Monet last August? 😳 

Kokura Castle

This is a small castle, still not as small as Hamamatsu Castle 🤭. I was the only one who walked to see the castle from the outside in Kitakyushu while the girls went to Sanrio shop. I would have entered the castle if we weren’t rushing for time. 

Some general knowledge : Do you know that Kokura was the target for the second bomb not Nagasaki? The clouds saved the city. 

Wanted to go for my tuina but was extremely hungry after sakura viewing. Wanted to look for the ふりかけ I bought for che-che in October 2023. (Blog entry #1. Blog entry #2) 

It was by chance I grabbed this Nagoya Tebasaki Furikake by Yama-chan from somewhere. So when we were in Nagoya, che-che’s eyes lit up as she ate her chicken and told me I bought her the furikake before. Like I remember ….. 🤔

So now the question is where? Where did I buy it from? 

First thing first, makan! Too hungry. It’s been a long time since I had my chilli crab pasta. I was glad I stepped into Coffee Club 5 mins early as the crowds slowly came in at 11.20am. It’s always very crowded at noon time.

While waiting for che-che’s nasi lemak order, I walked into CS and saw this selling at $23.90. This orange is small, I wonder if it’s the same one as what we bought in Kobe. 

Photo from 2 wks ago trip to Great World City CS

Since I was already in the vicinity I thought I should drop by the big Donki in Suntec. Won’t be in the area anytime soon after that. Have searched in Jewel’s Donki but don’t have so thought the slightly bigger outlets should have it. I went to Somerset 313 outlet more often then (during lil’ one’s therapies) , maybe last try would be that outlet but I’m pretty sure they carry the same thing in every outlets. Unless they stop bringing that in now.  

@ Donki. So cute! Teeny weeny little oranges. Honestly I wonder who will buy them? People trying to dispose their money? 

Went from Donki to Meidiya, and then hungry again. haha! 

thinking “in the vicinity” again. Will be a quick one as I target the aisle. But …. I felt myself 1/2 transported back to Japan and I ended up walking and admiring the items s.l.o.w.l.y 😁.

And of course ended buying things that I wasn’t there for - kitchen cleaner, toilet cleaner, bleach etc… I do have cleaners at home BUT I can’t reach the box!!! Damn fed up! The bomb shelter I painstakingly tidied in Nov/Dec is all messy again when they throw the Japanese snacks on top of it and …. need I say more? That’s the messiest part in my house

Hungry! Stopped by for 鳥唐揚げ. $8 for 5 pieces is so ex but I can’t eat anything too full. I can’t be too full coz I might puke everything out at the tuina place. 

Thing about soaking into the ambience, except for some patrons speaking in singlish, is the 🎶. Never heard most songs in their playlist until Flower in the Snow came on again. I can’t recognise the song until the chorus comes on. A bonus - The Answer - came on. Yah, it was another of ‘what’s that song?’ until I went home with the muffled audio recording and asked cheche.

By now it’s already close to 3 and 时间真的是不三不四。算了吧！AMK is really out of the place, need around 20-30mins to get there. Not sure if their nearest outlet at Bendemeer will have my record. Anyway I have to get back to pick lil’ one up from school at 4+ really not enough time. Take it that today is relaxation day. 

Decided since I’m not going tuina, I’ll drop by JMart in i12 on the way to the east. Haha! I went to all the Japanese marts today. 🤭 I’ll go tuina tomorrow since lil’ one intended to pontang school (and she asked teacher for permission to skip school. Such honest student!😂)

Drove by Little Farms. Wanted to get sausage but I can’t have anymore food in the freezer. I’m clearing food for the ‘electricity shut down’ next week. So tempted to pack uncle wanton and laksa for dinner.. this is an unscheduled trip and I’ve packed our dinner at Raffles City. Sigh…. If only I knew I was going back Katong.

Bought this from JMart. Not sure if I can use this when I cook katsudon. You know I really hate to deal with the fresh aromatics, I tend to junk out a lot coz I don’t use that much and don’t cook that often. It’s so difficult to find that 几粒蔥蒜一小片姜 whenever I need it. The supermarkets usually sell them in gigantic mesh bags. If only there is dehydrated onion, dehydrated ginger where we can rehydrate and use it for cooking 😂

Extremely tired, I couldn’t keep my eyes open in the night and fell asleep at 11.30pm. I don’t even think I moved an inch coz I woke up with an aching back the next morning. 

12th Mar (Wed) 

Although I didn’t have to send lil’ one to school I had to wake up early to heat up che-che’s lunch. 

Went for my tuina bringing that ‘pontang school’ girl out with me between houseworks. Had to wash the dehumidifier containers and put in new ones. Tuina until so painful, the bruises will become more visible tomorrow. 

At tuina place I found out that the Bendemeer outlet, their HQ, is closed for reno. Wah…heng ah… I was telling 姜推拿师 that I had the intention of going there yesterday. He mumbled something in mandarin something like I was lucky “something something 福 something”. I think if I had conversed with him all the time my mandarin will be superb! Haha! Sometimes he tells me something and I’m like “what does that mean”? 

Lil’ one’s lunch - extra cooked rice from Saturday and the other half of teriyaki chicken.  

Started cooking at 3. 

Altho I’ve cooked this multiple times I still need to refer the recipe 🤣 otherwise this can be a fast yet not-splatter-free dish

Finally! Cooked and kitchen cleaned! 盘碗该收的已经收了. All I need to do is to heat up the horfun and thicken the sauce before assembling their meal

By 3.40pm I was ready to take my shower and have a nice rest on the sofa.

Played music on TV. Was blown away with the pictures -  ocean view, lighthouses, some broken castles either from Ireland or Scotland. 

I love lighthouses. I don’t know why. Maybe I needed some hope, some guidance. Maybe I feel so empty and life meaningless that I have nothing to look forward to. 

I saw one lighthouse so familiar although it was an aerial view.  Turns out I was right, it’s Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Oregon. 

Last two nights of solo and then hubby returns home. Yay! I’m already dying of exhaustion here. But then again, usually I’m also busy. I cook lesser when he is around though coz it’s so difficult to please him and the girls. Sometimes I want to cook single dish but he doesn’t want and choose to go out to pack. And since he’s packing, I might as well ask him to pack for the girls. Correct? And when I cook, nobody helps me to dry the dishes and put them up, nobody helps me to clean the kitchen. They either sit infront of the TV or go back to their room. So poor me slaving away. Sometimes I also 不甘愿咯！they can rest but I can’t. 

13th Mar (Thu) 

Mood is shitty, macam going through some emotional distress. Gradually my energy is draining off too, white flag is somewhere in the house and I’m about to raise it up. 🏳️ Nothing spectacular to blog about now, think you’re bored by reading my blog, I’m tired not sure what to type but my boring mundane life. Like who is interested to know anyway…this only serves as a reminder for me in years to come.

Started the day late with body aches at close to 11am. Che-che will settle her lunch herself, I run out of ideas on what to cook for her.  

Been wanting to wash the car since yesterday but then it rained. It’s so troublesome now, there’s no more car washing bay in our condo. 真的很可笑、pay so much for maintenance and no washing bay so have to go to the nearest HDB MSCP. Or should I just send the car to the car wash? Or should I just go with pail and walk back and forth between car and my PES) and wipe the car down. I want to slack and do nothing today, don’t feel like cooking, should just starve the girls 😏. If only I have a 🪄 magic wand. 

Lunch for lil’ one. Shoyu ramen

As I’m drafting this now, I’m suddenly craving for sugar. Grabbed Nutella and enjoyed the creamy hazelnut. Did that make me feel better? Not really, maybe the 2.5 tablespoon is not enough. Should I open the new Nutella spread? 

I want to travel. Maybe coz I’m envious hubby can travel while I’m suffering here, maybe coz I saw friends travelling now. Maybe I should have done a longer social media detox. Maybe coz I’m an emotional wreck. I just don’t feel good and it’s not just coz of being stuck here. 

Dilly dally dilly dally still wondering if I should cook what I’ve planned or order Grab. But…. I’ve already thawed the chicken fillet and salmon. At 5.15pm I started cooking. 120g of rice. Oh well! I shall just eat the otah for now n cook instant noodles for self later if I’m still hungry. Or maybe I can eat my Nutella. 

@ 5.58pm resting as all the 啦啦渣渣 are washed. Resting as I’ve 8.5mins to check the oven, 3mins while Ms Thermie is doing the cleaning 

Dinner is served! Chicken and salmon mushroom baked rice. In one corningware, half chix half salmon. Mummy have to eat rubbish to clear the fridge and freezer

Official last day of slaving away. Hubby’s home tomorrow morning. This marks the end of this lorsoh blog entries. 

Sakura 🌸 floral display - Trip #1

On a Tuesday morning after dropping lil’ one in school I made a quick trip down to FDome. 

Have more pictures but I’m just so tired to make them into a collage, this you will see the same photos in another blog post. 

*Oops! I’ve removed some into the SanDisk so just refer to that blog entry. 

Just started the display on Saturday so many trees are still botak. Still the incredible me having spent 54mins can have 231 pictures and a 50% battery left. 

Exhausted week - Week 03 of 4 on solo

3rd Mar (Mon) - Monday blues made worst with housework. Oh! But coz lil’ one is on HBL so I woke up at close to 10am. I can’t remember what I cooked for her lunch 🙄. 

After that I spent my time preparing for dinner while she’s in her room. Wah….kindda remind me of CB in 2020 when I start cooking dinner after I’ve been washed all the dishes used for lunch. Working non stop and crawled into bed daily. 

@ 5.47pm : Thermomix dried and pushed back to position. Everything is ready to be served just need to warm up curry n miso soup n cut the cutlet. Want to shower but can’t will perspire later. 

4th Mar (Tue) - Went for my tuina while che-che worked from home. Dropped lil’ one in school, went to SArmy at AMK area before going for my tuina. A lot of time wasted driving coz school and AMK is not near to each other. 

Called mom but dowan to come by. Again it’s another 2 nights. I can’t accommodate more nights as I have already planned all Fridays with appointments a month ago and kept Tuesdays for my 推拿 days (found out my credit expires in April 😱. Which explains why I’m 拼命的在用 now, if not I won’t go back every week. 很 💸leh!)  Aiyah! Told her I’ll get her over when hubby is away, she dowan to come. Next week I can’t ask her over as lil’ one has study break and I won’t even go to tampines area. 

She asked how come I’m so busy; busy with what. Basically I can’t compare my life to her now. She was busy when she’s at my age too. She’s tired can’t do much lifting etc.. so she has nothing to do except to rest. While me at 49yrs old I’m probably slaving just like she did when she was 49yrs old. Busy as ever. Oh! Apart from us the housewives, the difference is that I have chauffeuring job to do and she cooks more often than I do. Actually she has a better life than me when it comes to cooking 😂 - coz the kids (us) are not that fussy over food, we eat what is placed on the table. My 3 bosses are fussy, all have their own preferences. That’s why I HATE COOKING!!

After some time I kapo and did some calculation. She was 49 when I was 21! I, the youngest in the family, was already flying then. So she was probably busy with the housework + cooking. She did get up at ungodly hours to prepare food for me while I got ready for work, otherwise she’s between home and markets. 

Yah! Busy with what. Housework, tidying up or decluttering places, cooking. Now I’m busier coz I need to get food prepared for their packed lunch. Have this mentality that since the kitchen is already messed up and dirty from cooking dinner, I might as well prepare the next day’s lunch. So the job is really neverending and tiring. When hubby is around, he can help to send while I crawl back to bed for another hour of sleep. Now I can’t coz everything is bao-ga-liao. 

My own meals is haywire. Trying to clear the fridge coz received notice about shutting down electrical in 2 weeks time. 

No time to update blog. Everything, as usual, is always backdated. Tho many people will think why blog then since it’s not that an important thing to do. Well … at this moment as long as my mind is still clear I’d do some update, I can read back next time. 

I have things to do - translate some Japanese recipes. Flip thru the jap recipe books. Tho I tell you now by this 3rd week of solo, I’m most of the days dragging myself to bed.

I kindda pity che-che that she never gets a chance to go Orchard on a weekday and asked her how flexible can she be working outside. I do want to spend a quality time with my greedy girl who gorges on ramen, Azabu Sabo ice-cream etc.. It’ll be a nice break for her working outside with a change of environment but her job requires security and confidentiality so it can be challenging.  

Dropped by Kinokuniya. Altho I never liked her wasting money on all her Jap magazines but I went to buy for her. Spent some time flipping through books, I usually can’t do this coz lil’ one will always stand so close to me. And she doesn’t like to read, I feel really awkward to have someone breathing down my back. 

Packed their dinner from つるこし

Went by German Market coz I’ve been wanting to get my sausage and curry ketchup sauce. Weather is just too hot. It’s 32 degrees celcius but feels like 38. So shall make a quick trip into the mart. 

Miss Germany …. Aw…. I miss going to so many countries / cities. 

They didn’t have any of the sausage I want, so was still thinking if I should get the curry ketchup sauce. The one I wanted didn’t have a smaller bottle, they only have this in a huge 650ml bottle. Somehow I have the impression that I bought a smaller bottle last time.

I’ve seen these before but never tried before. 

In the end decided that I shall try and make it on my own coz how often do I crave for sausage? I found a recipe from thekitchenmaus.com. I have all the spices at home, including the German curry powder. No worcestershire sauce tho, I think somewhat the taste will be less tangy. Or I might buy a small bottle in Meidiya (if I can find it) as some Japanese food recipes I’ve been looking at requires Wsauce.

Recipe from thekitchenmaus.com

Good to know : there’s a difference between the German curry powder and the Indian curry powder. The taste is different, some sweeter than the other. I have 3 types of curry powder at home - Indian, German and Japanese. 

Left the mart with lil’ one’s fav Hanuta and my vanillin zucker. Car interior was burning hot when I got back. But I’m happy to be in mini mini mini mini Germany. 

*****

For the past few days I’ve been playing music on amplifier to sleep. This music puts me to sleep almost immediately as I’ve been conditioned with this music since a year ago. Then I had music + eyeshade + lavender eo = drifted to sleep faster. This time I only had music coz I was always extremely tired by late afternoon and I can just zzzzz… I don’t need the other 2  

Tonight I was taking out my small label printer when I saw a packaging. Alamak! The grounding sheet I bought in July last year! I’ve yet to try. So took it out to try. Will post about this grounding sheet another time. 

5th Mar (Wed) - after dropping lil’ one I came back home doing the usual. 

Also as I hardly open the letterbox, I went to open it today and saw a notice informing that electricity will shut down in 2 weeks time for 4 hours. What?! Looking at how much I’d be cooking, I won’t be able to clear some frozen food in time. 

Took time to look through the fridge and freezer and did some clearing. 

Exhausted! Sat down and had my lunch and a cold Ribena. Needed to replenish my sugar. 

Spent the day (1) housework (2) picking lil’ one from school (3) tidying trolley (4) cooking dinner (5) cont’d tidying trolley (6) unscheduled che-che asked if I could pick her up from work coz it’s raining heavily n carrying lots of things (7) serving dinner (8) cont’d last bit of  tidying trolley, had to stop coz needed to serve the 2 mini boss (9) cooked next day’s lunch for lil’ one (10) cleaned n tidied kitchen (11) shower (12) my own dinner 

Tidying and cleaning one trolley at the yard means cleaning off the 6 months old layer of dust on the white trolley (there you go! Disadvantage of having a white trolley coz I hate black or anything dark in the house.) It’s not a huge trolley but coz I had to clean the dust off the bottles of cleaning items and whatever it took me some time + I do get tired of doing it and it’s 🥵 behind with no wind blowing so took few short drink breaks. 

Dinner for the girls. Boiled salmon which she dips with ketchup, fried cod for che-che. Chawanmushi for both. I can’t remember what I had for dinner! Must be the leftover fried noodles or whatever leftover. 

Gyudon for lil’ one’s lunch next day. Into the Jap good mode coz hubby don’t like so this is the only chance I can cook for them. 

It was 9.20pm when I had my dinner. Exhausted. Coz had to pick checche up from work I had already spent more than 40mins out. Thank goodness already finish cooking dinner. But wasted time for that ride to and from lor! I probably won’t have my dinner that late. 

Mid Week 03 and I’m so tired. I desperately need a solo holiday not a solo handling a house.

6th Mar (Thu) - AT work from home then has the 1/2 day off. I think the 1/2 day off is for the weekend she had to work. 

Dropped lil’ one school, made an unscheduled trip to NTUC to get chicken fillet. Wanted to make chicken mushroom baked rice but I realised it has a smell. Didn’t want to poison my kids. Saw this (pic) and reminded me of tingkat days when Athena was young. I’d usually keep the rice for my next day’s lunch coz the tingkat caterer always give so much rice, and fry luncheon meat and rice with this sambal paste. 

She was meeting C, her uni friend for uncle wanton so asked me to send her. I ate with them at Ray’s place since she made me travel to MP. They had plans after lunch and left, as for me I made a trip to Kim Choo to get rice dumplings before 

Packed lil’ one’s dinner from uncle wanton. Ray always give us extra fried dumplings. 

7th Mar (Fri) - Short day for lil’ one and I have appt made at 10am in PP. She told me she ends school possibly even much earlier at 11+ - 11.30am. What!!!

A quiet mall 

At my fav place for breakfast in PP, in my special spot 

Went for my LR appointment at 10 and finished at 10.41am. I have a few strands on my left (top pic) reaching the 11th mark.

Packed my own lunch at KFC. Staff was telling me that they will close on Monday for the works in PP and won’t be coming back after that. Sad. Another place gone. I used to come by here for breakfast after dropping girl/girls in school on day when I needed to run errands. Have breakfast and do some stuffs while waiting for the shops to open. I like KFC coz it’s quiet. 

Took pics for memory sake. PP has changed so much since they opened their doors on 9th Mar 1984. 

Picked lil’ one up and headed home. M was coming by our house as he needs to go through my policies. He didn’t have time to go through with me mine when we met with che-che. Anyway he hasn’t been to our new home so I opened the house for visitation. Che-che helped to pack dinner on her way home. Wah…if only she or Aricia can help to do that next time, I don’t have to worry about our meals. 

8th Mar (Sat) - Why am I slaving away on Women’s Day. As at this time (@ 4.13pm) I’m drafting this post I have yet to lay the new bedsheet on the bed. Just sitting down to cool the dirty me down infront of the fan, after dishing out the fried rice into a container. 

Another restless night, I woke up at close to 10am, few hours later than usual. Oh! The girls always complain that I snore so had been wanting to record myself. It’s in another post, drafted but will post out another day. 

Another cook out day. Cooked pasta for lil’ one’s lunch. Kept the extras into container.  

Che-che don’t like pasta so cooked this udon herself

Had some leftover rice from dunno which day’s dinner. This is the sambal fried rice. By 2.15pm all dishes out into a bowl. 

At the same time I cooked a new batch of rice 

@ 3.51pm - all’s done!! For dunno which meal. Just do everything at one go. 

Kept some rice for Monday’s meal. 

Kitchen tidied at 5.10pm ready to shower. Wah….and it’s dinner time 

The girls wanted Sushiro. Initially I suggested to go somewhere nearer at Tampines coz I had intention to drop by home to visit mom with the girls. But they wanted Jewel where both Sushiro and 九鲜 is under the same roof. 

I love this! Mapo eggplant

Walked around a little to digest the food before packing bubble tea. Dropped by Tokyu Hands and they’re having closing down sale. Another outlet gone. 

Che-che told me she misses FUK and when are we going in July? Haha! Has it become a tradition to go back to hot and wet typhoony FUK every July? I miss Japan too. Going back to see our sexy butt naked men? Ahem ahem I mean Yamakasa. Go holiday with her I also pok-gai. But I know what we’ll always do in Japan. First stop at Hakata Station is to buy our fav curry pan; go crazy n eat all her ramen until I get sick n tired of it; eat her Baskin Robbin’s ; go Johnnys shop; go airport to buy snacks; drop by conbini to buy rubbish n our fav ice-cream; meet Aunty Mio at Aeon near her and eat at che-Chye’s fav tempura place; go Tower Records/HMV/Kinokujiya; go karaoke; watch TV at night with all the boy boy performances. You see! It’s all what she wants to do not what I want to do. 

Called mom at her mobile and home a few times wanting to inform her we’re dropping by but nobody picked up. So che-che said just go back home.  

9th Mar (Sun) - nuah-ing day. Click HERE for the blog entry. 

However due to miscommunication, che-che came back from her outing with Fayth (JC friend) before dinner. I’ve ordered our food from Lixin so I ended up heating the fried rice meant for her lunch the next day for her dinner today. 

Tomorrow will just cook Mee Hoon kueh for both her lunch and dinner. 

What I thought will be a fully nuah day turns out to be really 1/2 relax mode. Had to marinade the pork for tomorrow’s mee hoon kueh.

With that, this concludes Week 03.