“ I can do it k….” - Week 01

A couple of times coz I had made the same promises to 观世音菩萨 for her blessings and protection to my loved ones (mom, bro, hubby, girls) health and my wishes were granted. So it’s not the first time I’m on this vegetarian route. But I have never documented this down. Was it easy? It is, I think I went vegetarian so often with mom’s so many operations that I think on average I spend a month plus on vegetarian in a year 😜. It’s 2 weeks now for fulfilling a safe operation for brother and I still need to do another 2 weeks for hubby’s safe return from his holiday. Muahaha! Or which comes first? Technically hubby returned home on Friday and Saturday my brother was admitted to hospital, on Monday he had an operation. I made the promise to guangyin for bro’s operation on Sunday. I can’t combine them into just 2 weeks right? I believe I should keep my promise lah! 

So 4 weeks it will be. So this is for hubby or bro? 

But I’m no angel lah! I will take a break eating all the  🥓🥩🍗 before I start the next one. I try my best!

* edit : looks like when I haven’t finished my promises, I still need to make new one for mom’s upcoming operation. Haha! 我好像很忙 leh. How come all spaced so closely from another? “And we start from the beginning” - speaking in squeaky lil’ one’s voice

I have better discipline and determination than hubby, so I will see it through. If only I put in that much effort for a proper healthy diet and go through the torturous PT and strict exercise regime to slim down 😜. 

Here’s a record for this time. 

24th Mar (Mon) 

After my 推拿, I was famished so went Subway. Had mushroom soup and egg mayo sandwich for lunch. I think should be passable right? When I checked Cookidoo’s mushroom soup recipe they asked for vegetable stock. I checked for vegetarian food nearby but the nearest is a 6 mins drive away and no guarantee it’s still open at that time for lunch.

Kindda yummy. Makes me want to make たまごサンド　at home

Dinner I cooked plain porridge. I was looking forward to a warm watery carbs as I think I was falling sick. I took 2 hard boil eggs, the preserved mushroom and 京 らー油ふりかけ　which is basically sesame seeds, garlic and Kujo onions that have have been soaked in ra-yu (Japanese chili-oil)

I almost forgot, 嘴痒痒 wanted to finish my last bit of this snack. Ahh….prawn. Will just leave the packet of snack in the snack bowl for the time being. 

25th Mar (Tue)  

Lil’ one has been harping on Uncle wanton since the start of the school break after her last paper on 17th. So brought her there and thankfully he has a non-meat option. Ray was so kind and sweet to go to the back and fried three wanton skin for me. He often gives us free fried wanton with our order.

My SPML order. Heehee! 

I was also greedy and ordered an Ipoh hor fun chee cheong fun without the chicken. So full to the neck.

It’s really yummy

Went to visit brother at SGH, so packed our dinner from the foodcourt. Thankfully there’s a vegetarian stall.

26th Mar (Wed) 

Had a terrible headache today. Not sure if it’s from the awkward uncomfortable sleeping place for 3 consecutive days OR it’s my illness (flu) since Sunday OR from the body withdrawal without meat 😂. When I was on clean keto and accidentally ate sugar, I get a headache.

Hubby forgot that I mentioned I was on vegetarian and went to order cuttlefish cutlet for me. I gave that to him and only kept the fried egg. Fried bee hoon was so plain so I added some chilli sauce, but sometimes it’s nice to have just simple food. Heck! Sometimes I don’t even feel like eating. 

Dinner was dishes he packed from the economical rice stall, so I took the eggplant and tofu. Had to take a double take to make sure that there were no minced pork with the eggplant.

27th Mar (Thu) 

Another truthful vegetarian food from a vegetarian stall. So really I wonder if those times I ate from non-vegetarian stalls count. Haha! 

This vegetarian stall at Lor Ah Soo sells a lot of food. I should go there and take a look one day. This vegetarian kuey chap is really nice for a nice rainy day, I think I can have it for three consecutive days. 

From same vegetarian stall - mee rebus. Yucks! Not nice. I thought it’ll be similar taste since the normal Mee Rebus don’t use any hae-bi. I know Mee Siam uses hae-bi so did avoid. But I’m wrong, seems like Mee Rebus not only uses beans but also beef stock. 😨 ! Lucky I never ask hubby to buy Qiji’s Mee rebus for me. And no wonder the taste is different. 

28th Mar (Fri)

Actually I should have better excuses to stop now right? Coz I haven’t been feeling well since Sunday. 还是坚强地熬过去吧，otherwise all the days effort will be in vain, some more already 5 out of 7 days since I started. 

From the same vegetarian stall, this is “Ipoh Hor fun”

Was so hungry before lil’ one’s therapy that I stopped for this. 好像一个在成长的孩子一样. I think usual meals the meat kept me full that I hardly snack. But this week I’ve been snacking every day. 😂 Had bread with kaya instead of my favourite Nutella. Having sore throat so keeping away from heaty food. First time ever we didn’t need to fridge the other half loaf, coz I was eating on average 2 slices of bread daily. 

The half-boiled eggs simple yet so satisfying. With my milo-o-kosong. In days like today where I had to drag my tired body out for her therapy, I really needed a pak kiu drink. Did I feel more energised after that? No, I was even more tired and wanted to sleep. That girl wasn’t with me and it was so quiet …… I can sleep 😂. 

Dinner is from the foodcourt in Centrepoint. I had packed the girls dinner from Donki but there’s no just 菜菜 bento there so bought 茶碗蒸し. 

When I was driving on the way home I realised - Alamak! Dashi got fish fish so I cannot eat the 茶碗蒸し

Feeling so peckish but couldn’t eat my curry prawn cracker, couldn’t eat any snacks the girls bought from Japan. Dropped by NTUC and bought this. I think 我不要我的命 😂，am coughing away with runny nose and still dare to eat heaty snacks 

Bought this from Donki

29th Mar (Sat)

Lunch from vegetarian stall

The girls wanted Sushiro for dinner. 🧐

I was thinking I have a small option there and I can’t possibly eat 5 plates of tamago sushi, it won’t be filling. Maybe I’ll need to standby some bread (which I did later, bought some あんパン) Che-che was telling me I can eat edamame. But how can I fill stomach up with all the beans?

I ordered this shoyu ramen thinking as long as I didn’t order tonkotsu. But now I realised there’s probably some pork broth in the shoyu soup. Silly me! Ok… I will probably need to do one or two more extra day after that 😂. I think guangyin will forgive me right? Trying to console myself. 

 This probably won’t count too coz I think they use dashi stock to make the tamagoyaki. Muahaha! Ok, today’s dinner don’t count 😜. Japanese is not really vegetarian friendly coz most food uses dashi and broth. 

30th Mar (Sun)

Just when I was calculating how to spread my remaining ‘vegetarian’ weeks (another 5 more weeks to go), hubby told me at 12.10am (as in from Sat night into Sun) midnight that he is going for another long trip again in May. Huh? UNCLE! I gotta add another 2 more weeks?! 😭 Pls lah! I hope these people I’m praying for also take some responsibility in taking care of their health/themselves lah! Don’t make me go vegetarian in vain k?! 

Lunch time : I realised I forgot to eat the chwee kueh I bought on Monday . So steamed all the 10 chwee kueh for lunch.

Forgot to take picture until I was into my 2nd last one 🤭

The girls wanted Lenu for dinner. So I searched online and was happy that I might have a choice there. 

When I checked with the staff after that she told me they didn’t have any vegetarian option. Hmm…. 

Ordered a Dried shrimp & scallion dry noodle. In the customisation column I asked for no shrimp powder. Ehh….honestly don’t know if this count. I have no idea if they scoop a spoonful of broth or not. I mean from what I can see, I did avoid eating meat lor! 🤭

I found it funny that my noodle was so plain with no spring onion in sight at all. When I said that, hubby offered me some from his bowl and che-che gladly offered me the cucumbers in her pork cutlet plate 😂. I was so so tempted to take a bite of the yummy pork cutlet (che-che’s) and chicken cutlet from hubby’s meal. I stared at their plate looking for batter crumbs. 

My plain dinner 😂

At home I also checked on their menu and thought I can eat the tofu but no…. there’s beef broth added to it. So is it more difficult to go vegetarian or keto especially when I need to dine out with the family? Both equally difficult, I have to watch out for the sauce. 

At least there’s an attempt made. 自己安慰自己

Chilled silken tofu with century egg is a no-no but I did try to scoop the part without the gravy. Wah…. Now I’m tempted to take the tofu in our fridge to eat with black soy sauce. 

Left the restaurant half full thought I finished the whole bowl of noodles clean, I even picked up the small strands from the bowl. When the girls went to pack their drinks at Compass One basement, I went to buy Shihlin assorted mushroom for myself. 

Week 01 done! 

The lucky one!

Lil’ one 收获最多 today.

I needed to get another Apple Watch charger so needed to drop by Apple Store. I was also thinking if should get an iPad for lil’ one to bring to school, as she has been complaining that her laptop is so heavy. Her laptop battery life is also depleting very fast now and have been having problems and was serviced twice in Lenovo. I HAD TO BRING IT DOWN FOR HER. Now she complains that she can only use her laptop for 2+ hrs before it 🪫, there’s no power socket in the classroom or lecture hall for her to plug her laptop. 

Got her the cheapest deal 128GB @ $899 coz it’s mainly for her studies. She don’t need 256GB as what che-che said even for her Uni she used less than 128GB. 

Suppose to only buy my cheap charger ($39), I ended up spending more than that - $1037. 

Monetary damage breakdown: 

iPad Air  —> $899 but $80 student discount = $819

Pencil —> $199 but $20 student discount = $179

My watch charger —> $39 no discount 🤣

Because we went there unprepared so she asked the staff if she can get student discount without her student pass. Tho I think with her small childish voice anyone can tell she’s still a student. The guy asked her where she’s studying and asked if there is any proof, maybe she can do her student login into ITE portal. While she was looking for it, I asked him if the email I received asking to pay school fees will help prove she’s a student, he burst out laughing and said it’s possible. Muahaha! In the end, lil’ one showed him. He only took a 2 sec glance so I suspect he’s an alumni too coz he’s familiar with the format. Like that also can 😂. 

At first che-che was saying she can pass her pencil to mei-mei since she doesn’t use now. Then staff asked her if hers in 2nd gen, it doesn’t work on this one now. Che-che mumbled to me “Apple making money only” 😂

I can’t remember how much hubby paid for her pencil last time, but I suppose it must be $199. 高い！At around the same time I was also looking for a pencil for the iPad (6th gen) I took from hubby. I can only use the 1st gen and it was very expensive too. Now they’re selling the 1st gen pencil @ $149. However I got mine for only $58.99, it’s definitely not the original Apple pencil coz it’s not even charged this USB-C way. Oh well! I have nothing to complain about coz I can use it.

The funniest thing happened - my CC payment didn’t go through and I didn’t bring my CC. (Wah….how long since I changed to the current LV bag? My CC was in my previous bag. Tapped a few times and staff asked me if I set a limit to the card. Oops! I think I did for protection and I don’t usually spend that much. Che-che the rich lady came to the rescue and I transferred her the amount after that. 

Back at home I was looking at what model or what generation her iPad Air is when I realised the M3 (whatever that means) was released on the 12th of this month, just last week. 🤭 Oh….

Her new iPad Air and pencil 

Installing apps and dunno doing what. Checking which notes app is good. Both che-che and I used Goodnotes, tho mine is FOC. Stingy me didn’t want to waste money as I don’t need that many folders. Che-che paid for hers coz she used it in Uni. She tried to let lil’ one use her account but can’t. 

土鍋

Came across this claypot which is said to be the best in Japan by search engine. 

Nagatani-en is located in the Iga region of Japan and that makes the clay they use special, the clay was under a lake for 4 million years resulting in lots of tiny fossil in the clay that result in special properties making the clay heat up more slowly and also holding the heat longer.  It makes for tender, warm extra delicious cooking.

This is Japan's oldest and finest donabe maker, they have been making beautiful and functional pottery since 1832.    

The artisans make the pots absolutely beautiful to cook in and serve with.  Each pot takes two weeks to make and is made with special care.  None are exactly the same.  

I’ve never owned any claypot so not sure if all claypot comes with double lid

I like this white better, it’s a limited colour 

The claypot doesn’t come cheap at all. Should I or should I not? But I don’t have space in my cabinet 😂. Looking at all the yummy claypot dishes but can I cook? 

Cookpad has a lot of recipes. Click here 

If one is a visual learner, you can watch the videos here

SHIT!

I’m transferring some of my Dec 24 photos from SanDisk to the hard disk now and realised my 2015 photos in the hard disk is GONE! What the heck? When did it happen? 

Literally one year wiped out. I did a search but to no avail. Went to Recycle Bin also not there. Where did it go? I need to know how to rescue my lost photos. #%^*!! 

Nobody should come an antagonize me now. As it is I was so bloody angry with lil’ one today. Asked her since her last visit to the ENT specialist 4 months ago to take note how many times has she been having throat pain and SHE DIDN’T. What the ?!?! I have other things to worry about and she didn’t make life easier for me. What the#%^*!! 

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. 

The orange we bought from 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.