It’s only ..

 100 days to Christmas ! 

Omg! The year is flying by so quickly. 

Probably the year in how many years (?) we are finally in Singapore for Christmas. 

This tune

This tune just keeps playing in my head the whole morning, infact it’s just a few notes. All I can remember is che-che singing this song into my phone recording before. Now where is the recording?

The lyrics starts with “first light” but can’t figure what song it was. Thankfully AI is able to capture my humming and turns out it is an NDP 2012 song - Love at first light. Ahh….that makes sense. She was a 10 yr-old 冬菇头 so obliging and self recorded the song herself. 

Suddenly craved

for Moonlight cookies when we were having dinner at Sushiro.

Went upstairs to Donki to grab what I wanted and of course majority of other things (che-che’s snacks) that we weren’t there for 😂. 

Moonlight cookies - used to be available EX-NGO if I remember correctly. We would usually uplift for the return sector crew. 

I saw the grape jelly beans and had to get it. Che-che lamented that they don’t have mango ones - the one that she bought in her recent trip. Suddenly exclaimed “I want to go back Miyazaki again.” I also in my heart wants to go back Japan. But hor….. the world is so big there are many places countries I haven’t been to yet. 

Couldn’t find the milk I wanted. Managed to find it in NTUC, I took the last pack. Then will hv to try to finish it asap once I open it. 

Anyway talking about Japan, while waiting to be seated in Sushiro I made a count on the number of prefectures I’ve been to. 

Not a lot 😢 covered. Need to 頑張って

Tamagotchi

I really wonder what happened to che-che’s last Tamagotchi, the P’s, where I bought a few pierce attachments. It’s coloured and so pretty pink. She kept saying I threw it away but I’m sure I didn’t. I’m pretty sure I gave that back to her after her PSLE.

I went to find in my FB on my past entries. 

Then, they were only allowed to play with it during school hols which explains the demise of so many pets 😇 when school term commences. 

7th May (Sat). I checked Easter Sunday was 24th Apr (Sun). Easter hunting at home was on 22nd April. Read blog HERE. It was in the fridge for 15 days!  

Bought this in Tokyo. In Harajuku? where there used to be a Tamagotchi shop. 

The Aikatsu アイカツ is so colourful. Then they were into Love & Berry and then アイカツ . They would bring their cards whenever we went to Japan, and start collecting newer cards in Japan. 

You may think that che-che forgot about this. But she was really happy when she saw it in Canal City, she remember their names! 

Saw this when che-che and I did our 2nd mother-daughter trip to our favourite city. 

FAST FORWARD TO 2025

8th Sep (Mon)

I think che-che wants to keep her mom busy, as if I'm not busy enough 😂 . Does this give me the excuse to starve my kids and leave the house in a mess to take care of this?  🤭

I don't think it's that bad right? I don't have to deal with fur flying around the house, no asst books or Shichida to go thru, no PSLE. How hard can it be?

The most die then I re-start lor which most of their Tamagotchi went thru last time 😬

Then …busy and was keeping the luggage in bomb shelter when che-che came to me with a smile on her face "your tamagotchi is making noise." So fast?! I barely left it for 20mins. Wah this one is more 麻烦 than lil' one Aricia Ting.

Named it Aricia the 2nd coz i think this is going to be as noisy and nottie as her.

#childrearing#

Named it Aricia the 2nd coz i think this is going to be as noisy and nottie as her.

#childrearing#

This sleeps early. I noticed it at 9pm. Good! And it woke me up at 9am the next day. Not sure if it woke up earlier than that but coz ah-nia is still Zzzzzz so I don’t care. 

9th Sep (Tue)

Woke me up at 9am. Realised it didn’t poop, is this Tamagotchi constipated? How come no shower buttons? Don’t understand this new one that I had to google search on how to earn “Deeds”. And someone said technically we need to watch it 24/7 every second. As long as you see something appearing, you need to quickly ‘praise’ it. Wah….where got time to keep watching this? I only feed it when I’m happy and free lor. 

 

At 5.53pm, suddenly I heard a funny noise and this transformed into Tako-ken. So ugly 嘴凸凸 like baby Aricia likes to do last time 😆

When I looked at this at 8.09pm, it was already Zzzzz

There are so many kinds of Tamagotchi that one is spoilt for choice in Japan. This Gen 3 I have is really small but it comes in black and white. I wish they have eye appealing coloured ones. 

我要出国！

Sob sobs. I want to go back Japan, I want to go Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany, 

Made me long for this more when it’s playing this now. 😭

Dying to travel 🧳 

My Spotify account

My Spotify account follows so many artistes. Can you believe that I follow Hey Say Jump and なにわ男子 as well? Haha! I can’t believe I did that, all thanks to che-che who keeps playing their songs. 

Who am I following in Spotify? Lots! Jazz, classicals, German/swiss folk songs, Italian/french/korean cafe, easy listening, spa relaxation etc.. I prefer to instrumental music instead of vocals. I do follow a few singers too. Lately just followed these ladies Utada Hikaru and Aoi Teshima coz of their sweet soothing voices. 

I only knew Utada Hikaru’s name when che-che had the song First Love in her playlist. Music amplified the house while she was in the living room working and I was cooking in the kitchen. I found the song so familiar and only after some time I recalled hearing this song when I was viewing the Inside Flow videos. I followed her after that. 

I began paying attention to Aoi Teshima coz I found this song 森の小さなレストラン so cute. I got the scores and started playing on the piano and electone. Followed her and now listening to this

This song こころをこめて　is so nice. Let me tell you my Japanese is very very lousy now, che-che’s competency is much better than mine (she reads faster than me, esp kanji). But hor.. I listened to a part of this song

 “ こころをこめて あなたに伝えたい

               "愛しています"届きますか” “

 

I thought must be some love love thing coz こころを　is something like heart. Haha! If I can grasp the whole song just by one liner will be a miracle man! Obviously I’m quite dumb so I still need the translation help. Ok lah! Not bad lah! I only understood 1% of the song. 

** edit **

Omg! I just realised that the electone book I had been KIV-ing : STAGEA エレクトーンで弾く 8～5級 Vol.60　エレクトーンの定番&ザ・ヒット30 Vol.7 ～平成スペシャル～ has the song First Love ❤️ 

Click HERE for the ymm jp link 

Click HERE for the song, First Love, played on stagea 

Actually the reason why I KIV-ed this book was coz I wanted this song Everything by Misia. I watched a drama that played this song. Thank goodness I’m able to search what drama it was, coz I vaguely remember it has something to do with a stewardess finding love. Wow! 2000 drama, Ah-nia that time still flying ✈️. And it’s playing on Netflix now, I found First Love too! Now I have dramas to watch 

Nice sister

Went to pick che-che up at the airport and che-che upon seeing her little sister passed her her Teriyaki burger in the car. Lil’ one was too hungry and wanted to eat it so I can only take this photo of her with her burger, while she ate it otw home. It’s cold but warms our hearts. Took great care of the burger but her own onigiri is all flattened. 

Back at home I can take photo of che-che’s burger 

It’s so nice that che-che thought of her sister who had complained she misses the burger 🍔 . It’s heartening to know of their good relationship. 

I can’t help but think how good elder sister che-che is. I came across a video recently where a young girl was crying for attention when her younger sibling was crying fighting for attention. Che-che, although 3yrs 10mths older didn’t cry or fight for attention. Or maybe I addressed the issue even before she could throw tantrum or throw things around the house to get our attention. Although I must admit there were days when che-che started baby-ing, wanted to sit in the stroller, sleep in the crib 🤣 (So worried the crib cannot take her weight.) I let her be, coz luckily lil’ one likes to be carried/slinged so I do bring a baby carrier along and let che-che sit in the stroller. Only when I needed her to come down coz maybe it’s difficult to manoeuvre then I’ll ask her to come down first, no complaints from her. She comes down and then when it’s safe I let her go back on. Plus at that time we had KZ so it was easy for 1 adult to 1 kid if I’m with KZ. 

Through their growing years, they fight over sweets or snacks. Other than that, now that they’re older they get along well. At least che-che didn’t give her sister a kick down the stairs 🤣.

I pray that they will continue to have a special best of friends relationship forever. Yup! Siblings trip, no matter what will let them go. 

盛り付け Moritsuke

Japanese takes pride in their food presentation and plating. Perhaps that’s why it helps to evoke our appetite, I only wonder why the greens don’t evoke any of my girls’ appetite 😂. 

Anyway in my bor-liao thing I did today has no serving tray (wah….i really want to buy those wooden trays and nice crockeries) but just a small bottle 🤭. 

I like these bottles. Pity I can’t eat anymore after two that night (had to leave next day morning and can’t buy anymore pudding the next day). I kept the bottles for home. Keke! I collect rubbish. 

So inspired by my host who prepared a nice home cooked breakfast and on the tray was this yoghurt

Wanted to eat my yoghurt and did the most bor liao thing. 

Digging out the things and …wah my ingredients are ..😂

Although I like strawberries, I don’t know why I always prefer to eat my yoghurt with blueberries. Maybe I startee to like this when I was on keto - Greek yoghurt and I’d throw blueberries. 

I always eat the yoghurt just from the plastic container itself but don’t you agree with me that by a simple change of presentation, it levels up the food? 

Can’t really see the ブルーベリージャム coz the bottle opening is small. 

Bon appetit 

Ok, after doing this bor-liao thing I have to wash 2 spoons and the bottle. 🤣

Finally!

After a year plus later, I managed to get this display box from Daiso. Been oos for the longest time 

The two figures are from two different blind boxes. Ducky ducky is from Spirited Away 

Roselle drink

 18th Aug (Mon)

1st Sep

Busy boiling Chrysanthemum and Roselle with the help of Ms Thermie

Tweaked the original roselle hawthorn recipe. 30g roselle, 1.5litre water, 130g sweetener. 

My drink is not as sweet as what is sold outside. I suspect it’s much lesser roselle dried flowers and lots of rock sugar. 

And off she goes

for her 4th or is it 5th (?) holiday this year

On Friday she commented “your shopping list already took up half my luggage” so exaggerated. “Be thankful I didn’t ask you to help me buy my honey ok? (ps. In actual fact there’s no member promo now.😂) I also didn’t ask you to help me get my cleaning stuffs.”

She did ask if I wanted to go with her but few reasons I couldn’t go with her. 

As if I knew it would happen OR maybe coz I jinx mouth. - he fell sick! (There’s 10 days from the day hubby returned home and her leaving for the trip.) Flu and cough. If that is not bad enough, he had gout on Sunday! Limping away, you tell me if I had gone on a trip will I be 安心的去玩? Had to bring him to the doctor today to get medicine coz the one he took didn’t help him at. 

If I’m not around will that lil’ one be able to help daddy? Lil’ one needs help instead! How is hubby going to pack food for her? So I guess it’s fated I’m not supposed to have anymore holidays either with che-che or alone? Why? Why other friends whose kids are same age as mine can travel freely now but I can’t? Why lil’ one at this age, she’ll be 19, can’t even be independent? 

Put my misery and self pittance aside in the meantime, I need to wash all her toys. 

Nearer to her return date, will have to steam clean her room, vacumn her bed, wash her bedsheet and blanket. Have to make sure her room is clean coz now I’m wondering if anything else in her direct contact is causing her skin to itch. Who knows? Maybe I need to separate her laundry and bedsheets from us and use eczema friendly detergent for her?  

Japanese cooking

ARGH! This is not the original header and post. I was suppose to blog the solo month (July). I was already into the last week and this morning (30th July) I was looking through what I edited last night, I must have accidentally deleted all the entries in between last night. ARGH! Why my finger? Why didn’t I check before I save? All my time wasted!

Damn! It was really a lot of stuffs in there and some tips linked. I shouldn’t have been so greedy to want to post all 4 weeks entries into one blog post. Lesson learnt! Maybe it’s a hint to me that I shouldn’t waste my time blogging rubbish things. 

All that’s left in the post are Japanese food related. As if it’s pre-destined I’m not suppose to blog my mundane boring weeks. I won’t re-type anymore just make do what’s left in this blog entry, I won’t even bother to dig out photos that is in my hard disk and deleted from phone and re-type. So I will continue to blog about the other Japanese food cooked in August.

WEEK 01

4th Jul (Fri)

Took the time to check and note down what I have in the freezer and the pantry. Took out the stuffs out I want to finish within these 4 weeks. Ambitious? My kitchen is in a mess but no choice, I’m quite forgetful so I feel it’s better that I take out what I want to use and put it somewhere where I CAN SEE. 

Lots of Japanese foodstuffs 🤣 I think I have more Japanese condiments compared to our chinese condiments. Ehh….I still have some newly purchased condiments in the bomb shelter

6th July (Sun) 

Feeling hungry coz didn’t have heavy dinner. Took this chocolate slice thing I asked the girls to help me buy. It's nice and soft. 

Some other ideas from the website

10th July (Thu)

 Trying to finish the 2 FOC bottles of diabetes drink 😂

??? Lost the date, no pics in phone now

Made a trip to Donki, since I have no date I can only pinpoint to a Thursday (?)

Noting that she wanted certain onigiris and certain food preferences

 I saw this in Donki and bought this to try

My gawd! Protect the kidneys! It’s so damn saltish!! There is only 2 leftover and I threw this away without letting che-che to try it. I need to protect my daughter’s life. 

26th Jul (Sat) - Trip to Meidiya 

Argh! I lost some pictures of the Japanese food we ate there and pics in the supermarket. Dunno why but I just love Japanese supermarkets even tho this Meidiya don’t solely stock up on Japanese goods. I also lost precious links on the different types of soba sold there. Duh! 

28th July (Mon)

Needed to finish the last Japanese curry cube. After making my fruit juice, I had one last carrot. YES! Usually I had to plan menu in such a way that the ingredients are used up. But when I finish the carrot, I realised I needed potatoes 🤦🏻‍♀️

This is for me since I’m on vegetarian 

Pork katsu curry with the pork I bought on ?? (I lost the dates and photos are in hard disk now)

29th July (Tue)

Hungry again coz I didn’t have a tummy filled dinner. Remembered we have the slices I asked che-che to help me buy.

Not bad. But ….. is our bread larger than Japanese loaf bread? 

@ 7.46pm - dished out for AR. Not related to Japanese food but coz I lost lots of pics and my yakking due to my above mentioned carelessness. This pic is left behind and I did use Japanese condiments to fry the rice

Haha! That’s why I think whatever is deleted seems to be selective 😂

30th July (Wed)

My vegetarian Day 07

Spent time cleaning the windows apart from the usual vacumn n mopping. Spend time clearing the baking pantry cabinet and saw my anko, my kinako. I even have Japanese bread flour and I haven’t even baked anything. The moment I think of the fact that I needed to translate my Japanese baking books, I’m already sian 一半.

31st July (Thurs) 

yoghurt expired but I still ate. Never laosai at all

Was trying to recreate this yoghurt I had in Shirakawago 

Then coz I was tired and needed a rest before getting busy with cooking dinner. Vegetarian Day 08 so grabbed this vegetables crackers + yuzu honey drink 

Bought this chikuwa during my last trip to Donki on with N on 22nd 

Making the batter. Was looking for a recipe for crispy tempura batter but realised I have tempura batter mix at home so used that first. However coz I noted the difference and learnt that soda water does make it crispier and lighter (That’s why beer battered fish and chips are so delicious 😋), so added soda instead of water. Heng ah…I have soda in the fridge.

Tip : make sure it’s used immediately, don’t leave the batter idling for long otherwise it will hold the gluten and then … soda water wasted 😏

The udon soup prepared in one pot while deep frying chikuwa for che-che

Left side udon is for lil’ one, she doesn’t like deep fried food so it’s only hard boiled egg and kamaboko

Using the leftover batter to make 天かす. It’s the only thing that I can try so took a few pieces. Yup! It tastes crispier than usual but still not the usual crispy tempura batter I’ve had in Japan. 

Compare this to Day 01 - 4th July. Like no difference like that! Haha! Only took a few small packs to use. Hopefully by the next time he comes back from his another upcoming trip, the stocks will be lesser 😅.

My after dinner dessert 

9th Aug (Sat)

Soba for lil’ one, ramen for che-che. 我们还有很多拉面, need to quickly finish them coz che-che will head to Japan in Sep, in 3 weeks time. I’m sure she’ll buy more home 😆. I think my home is like a Japanese supermarket. 

Okumino Soba（奥美濃そば），a type of Japanese buckwheat noodles.

Here's some information about this product: 

• Origin: It is manufactured in Shirotori-cho, Gujo City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.
• Ingredients: It is made using the underground water of the clear Nagara River. (Nagara river runs alongside highway 256. Haha!) 
• Cooking Time: The standard boiling time is
• 7-8 minutes.
• Quantity: The package contains 240g, which is enough for 2-3 servings.

Ah….got the そば湯

Hida Takayama Ramen from Men no Shimizuya. An 昔ながら (old-fashioned) kind of ramen with shoyu straight from the brewery. Founded in 1948. 

When you hear that it's spring water from the Alps, it sounds super delicious,

Hida Takayama Ramen（飛騨高山らーめん）。

• Product: Hida Takayama Ramen (飛騨高山らーめん）
• Features: It's described as having traditional thin, curly noodles from the Hida region at the foot of the Alps, and a proud soy sauce-based soup.
• Preparation: Cooking time is 1 minute.
• Contents: The package includes raw noodles and soup, with 2 servings per pack.
• Origin: The package mentions "Twenty-three years of establishment from long ago," suggesting a long-standing tradition.

Mochi ice-cream for after meal dessert

Dinner - not related to cooking but we had Japanese (again) at Sushiro for dinner 😂.

12th Aug (Tue)

Dinner is agedashi tofu and sukiyaki pork for the girls. I haven’t cooked agedashi for a very long time, maybe the first and last time I cooked this was in Punggol 🤭. 

Used Sudachi YouTube receipt for the tofu sauce. (150ml dashi, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp mirin, 1 tsp sake, 1/4tsp salt which I omitted, corn starch to thicken sauce) Looks weird, perhaps I should omit the corn starch next time as well or maybe look for a new recipe 

Katakuriko makes the difference. I believe  must have used corn starch (wrongly) last time to yield a horrible agedashi tofu. Also to coat it when about to deep fry them, I made the mistake last time to coat way ahead. 

I had eggplant coz I’m on vegetarian. Not exactly jap style but added soy sauce instead coz I can’t eat dashi

15th Aug (Fri)

Both girls worked from home 

Still snacking on this raisin cookie. Definitely more than 5 days its best before or expiry and no laosai. I only asked her to buy 3 boxes and it took me so long to finish this. I guess coz now we go there so frequently until …. Eat until sian already 😂

Dinner is butadon. Love this pre-cut sliced porky pork. 

Trying to copy Sanpoutei’s Butariki. For lil’ one coz she only likes hard boil egg. Miso soup as well. 

Cannot waste the egg white coz the eggs are so expensive.  Fried this for che-che

There is always a debate that I shouldn’t put onions since they won’t eat and (also in hubby’s opinion last time was why did I need to fry the prawns in vegetables) Both prawns and onions, in this case, used in cooking helps in enhancing the overall flavour with no need for MSG. Onions also helps to tenderize the meat. Yah, this is what I read before. BUT I’M VERY LAZY WHEN IT COMES TO COOKING. 

Coz the girls didn’t like onions so I kept this aside after cooking the pork with it. I had this

The ingredients I used. Bought the bottom shelf’s pasteurised egg from Donki on Thursday.  

Only when I returned home I saw the label - Product of Singapore. Chey! 

When I cracked the egg I noticed more white thing

With a curious mind, I dug into some info. Some interesting info HERE. If you know this, good for you. I’m an aunty and wouldn’t bother reading these until I need to find out/know. 

For a certain reason, even before I read this article (below), I would have purchased Japanese eggs if I wanted my family to eat anything raw. 

“ In Japan, eggs are usually washed thoroughly before being distributed to the market, and are distributed under strict quality and hygiene control, but in Singapore, this is not the case.

Look for pasteurized eggs not sanitised eggs. Pasteurized eggs do a thorough cleaning. Sanitization focuses on external cleanliness, while pasteurization provides a more thorough internal disinfection.

So clean until can eat the eggshell. “

16th Aug (Sat)

I haven’t been able to try these ramen as I’m on 🥬🥦, not sure if she’ll save any for me. But we do need to finish these asap (bought from my solo trip. I think we still have a few more boxes of ramen from the Dec/Jan trip which is hidden in the “FOOD” box in BS. 

Not sure if she’ll buy more during her Sep trip 😂, we whole time trying hard to finish food at home. 

Che-che’s lunch. I can’t rmbr what lil’ one and I had 

18th Aug (Mon)

Trying hard to finish the NTUC pork belly at home. 

Used Sudachi Recipe to make this egg drop soup. Found leftover chikuwa and cut some for che-che. 

While I had this ra-yu furikake. Love this!

20th Aug (Wed)

Che-che worked half day from home today, so did a quick cooking, sent her to the place she had to go and I went to HMall after that to do some grocery. Packed dinner also since I’m out, I want to 罢工 don’t want to cook. 

Finishing off the last 4 pieces of pork belly. Decided to deep fry it with potato starch and then soaked it in the sukiyaki sauce. Honestly have no idea what I’m cooking, but I’m thinking as long as it’s deep fried it won’t go wrong with her right? 😆

Looks like BBQ pork here. Hehe! 

28th Aug (Thu)

Had to buy pork from Donki, went to Waterway Point which is nearer to us. 

Got the 1-1 promo at Kamakura Warabimochi (che-che’s matcha latte, my black sesame soy milk and a 5piece Warabimochi. I paid only $8.90 for 10piece instead of $15.90)

Sipping this at home as I started preparing dinner

 

while having the AirPod stuffed in my ears listening to the upbeat music. Can’t blast music as hubby is watching TV in living room, che-che is working at the dining table with her jap music. 

Bought nasu from Donki coz only 3 small pieces, minimise wastage. All my ingredients are from Donki 😅. Trying to finish the enoki mushroom so did the enoki and pork for him. 

How come the mushrooms seem to disappear?? Haha! 

30th Aug (Sat)

Been putting this off coz I didn’t get the chance to prepare for her dinner yesterday as we had our dinner outside. 

Egg yolks Day 04 (cured this on 26th - Tuesday). Not sure how long we can keep this before somebody lao sai from eating poisoned raw egg yolk

Not sure how much rice to cook. Usually when we have our meal at home, I cook about 140 - 160g. Today I only cooked 100g for her. 

** my mistake. I read from somewhere after that that each onigiri should use around 100g of rice. 

This mold is small 😆, only 6cm? 

As gently and careful as I can, still the yolk broke

2nd onigiri broke again. Gave up. There’s one more egg yolk but I can’t be making more coz the amount of rice is already more than what she usually eat. She also bought a lot of side dishes from Donki, she won’t be able to finish any more rice after 2 onigiri portion. 

Honestly I don’t think it’s that easy as it seems. How did the conbinis’ supplier do their soy egg yolk onigiri? It’s so fragile. I’m sure something else must be added to it. A guy in the JP FB group I’m in said coagulants are added into it. Ahh….that makes sense. 

edit : I took this picture when che-che brought it home in Sep. Also che-che did say the one she eats is harder. “Not soft as yours” 🤭

Kapo check the company, there’s onigiri lessons also. Maybe I should go for classes next time? 

I have this book, but flipping thru this book I realised I wasted my money 😅 coz they don’t eat this and that. Mio says she always only prepare the same - salmon, tuna, mentaiko and plum. 

My messages to her 

Haha! She’s not wrong “the most difficult thing to do” that even the Japanese says so. Only the non-Japanese is still trying to do what Japanese won’t do 🤭. But … I’ll learn from mistakes lor! 

Think on what ingredients, girls favourite stuffs then thought maybe I can put fried cod fish skin for che-che. I was searching online to see if anyone sells the fresh cod fish skin and this came up. 

Haha! Why suddenly talk about dog treat?

** edited. Found this only in Sep while editing blog and will try it next time 

credit to okonomikitchen Instagram