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. 🤣

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?  

What is your Felicità?

OMG! My Felicità would be there listening to this in 🇷🇺 with my family. 

Such an upbeat song which I can’t sing coz I can only say  penne all'Arrabbiata and grazie. Need to complain why was I rostered only 2 FCO flights? 

Skin problem and Kiehl’s

Noticed che-che’s has a terrible breakout since the last few weeks, which is rare. Told her to find a salon and go facial. Talked but she didn’t do anything, so it means her mother has to do it right? 

Facial services

Now the question is where? Bring her back to my beautician which I haven’t gone back since before covid? Other salons? Where? And I really hate those hard selling packages. Which is why I haven’t been back to my beautician coz they keep wanting to sell products if not new packages. Then I remembered Kiehl’s has a (new?) facial service in Singapore. Not sure when they had that in SIN but I was surprised when I came across a pamphlet when I was in NYC and thought it’ll be nice if we have it here. It’s not easy to make appointment with them, a lot of days even weekdays are fully booked. Finally managed to book her appointment at the end of September. I should book one for myself for another day to try it out. At least if Kiehl’s wanted to hard selling any products, we might have them. 

Possible cause(s)

I believe she is under a lot of stress at work, yet during today’s lunch I saw her scratching her arms and asked if it’s allergic reaction itchy. This girl is mono-syllabic and hardly answers us unless it’s something that she’s interested in, answered me “dunno”. Dr Teo thinks it could also be (1) dry skin coz she never puts any moisturiser + sleeping in aircon room. (2) never use her Cetaphil. She has been using the normal body wash. Lil’ one chipped in “but it’s goat milk” thinking it’s pure. I don’t study the ingredients of both Cetaphil and goat milk but I’m sure there’ll be some ingredients that people with sensitive skin shouldn’t be touching. The price difference tells it all right? Cetaphil is so expensive, Aveda and Kiehl’s is so expensive. I will have to monitor her, worst come to worst bring her back to Dr Chu. 

Honestly I don’t baby the two of them to make sure they follow the facial cleansing regime. Please lah! 23 and 19 still expect me to nag and pull them into the toilet and slap the lotion on them meh? Past few days I notice she was slapping masque almost on a daily basis. But somehow the a-little-smart-me suspected that she shouldn’t be using the Rare Earth Deep Pore mask at this time, I couldn’t tell her coz she wouldn’t believe me and I may be wrong. Anyway, decided that since she’s working today we should drop by Kiehl’s in TMall to check which products to use.

@ Kiehl’s 

Haven’t been shopping in Kiehl’s since a year ago. Officially downgraded to Ruby 😂. I might be downgraded again after Sep 2025? 🤣

It must be a blessing in disguise, I actually have a $20 voucher that will expire on 1st Sep. Just nice I can use it. 

Brought items to recycle. They do accept bottles and containers of items that is only available in the US as well. Yah! I just brought that hugeass bottle of Calendula facial cleanser. 

Recommended some items which we don’t have and to use what I have at home. And 我猜对咯, she shouldn’t use that mask. 

Took pic at home on these products I have at home related to acne usage

Bought 4 items 

Have 4 travel size to choose from 

How is it I’ve never seen the soft cream before? I use the rich & nourishing cream for my going to age anytime soon skin.  

Needed to know the difference between the two

The samples. We have lots at home. lol 

Since on the topic on Kiehl’s, decided to dig up whatever I have posted on FB before. All for my memory sake. 

Taking turns to ✈️

So nice that they can take turns to travel while I’m stuck here. So envious. 

Changed a common phrase to this : When one luggage zipper closes another opens 🤣. Hubby just got back few days ago and in few days time che-che is going for another short holiday alone. She did ask me along lah! Just for certain reasons I decided not to go tho my heart is very itching to go.  

Hubby left his luggage on the BS floor since he got back, and I had to tidy it up today. Asked che-che which luggage she’s bringing, so I can bring it down and then put someone’s luggage into hubby’s luggage and store in the small space BS. Note —> it’s all their luggages. I don’t have any 😭.

After I did the measurements to make sure it’s within the size limit. Daddy asked her when he overheard our conversation the luggage she is bringing "how long are you going?" 😂 and continued with “I only carry a small bag when I went to 🇨🇳.” Che-che replied in cheekiness “if I go China I will also bring a small bag but if I’m going to 🇯🇵 it’s a different thing.” 

#bringsuchabigluggage#

Luggage out in yard area until she’s ready to pack 

This luggage is not hers, I bought it to replace the shared luggage for the 3 females when we go for family holidays. Then she claims it’s hers coz I (kindly) put her name tag on it when I let her use it to bring it to the States.

In the meantime.. I’m stuck here together with lil' one who can't travel 😥

Anyway, I’m still struggling to empty the phone storage space. Haven’t had time to do any iMovies of recent trip except one 20mins hiking. It’ll be a struggle for storage space if I make a trip. 

Not related to the post but tagging it in here. 

For own future reference - this is Delsey Freestyle - XL 82cm (around 32”)

Key Dimensions and Specifications

• Height: 82 cm (32 inches)
• Width: 55 cm (22 inches)
• Depth: 34 cm (unexpanded), expanding to 37 cm (13-14 inches)
• Capacity: Up to 143 liters
• Weight: Approximately 5.3-5.6 kg

🐣 Egg-cellent Day! 🐣

Coz che-che likes that onigiri in Japan so I’m trying to see if I can do that at home. Wish me luck! 

Procrastinated over curing the egg yolks, coz you know gotta make sure the day I cure the egg yolks we will have to eat the egg whites. 

Decided to do it today. Tried a new marinade recipe, tweaked along the way. I feel it’s still saltish so … have to see what che-che says. I’m going to make sure she eats them by tomorrow, all 5 egg yolks 😂, I’m not going to cure for more than 24hrs. I’ll probably tweak the recipe again or …… maybe …..

Finished curing her eggs at 1.50pm 

I have a blog post about Japanese soy sauce, still in the Drafts folder 🤭. (At least I didn’t lose that post, unlike the lengthy research like siao on soba is totally lost!! ARGH!) Always so difficult thinking what soy sauce to buy. The last time I bought one in Meidi-ya, it was so damn saltish! That’s why I resorted to using our low sodium soy sauce.

Che-che asked me last week if I wanted any soy sauce from Japan, she’s going to a place where they’re famous for soy sauce. Hmm…. Never get a chance to taste, how to buy? Anyway, I might look into it and see how. 

Saw a recipe. Recipe from Cook with Dana I can try next time? 

When I was looking for the recipe, I came across a few pages and this caught my attention from a manga Side Dish Which Matches Rice Well (ごはんのおとも) 

Seems like an interesting book, there’s two infact, maybe I can ask che-che to help me buy when she’s in Tsutaya or Kinokuniya?? 

 As I was storing che-che’s egg yolks in the fridge, I noticed the container that was filled with that little mouse’s eggs is empty. 

Then it’s on to boiling hard boiled eggs for lil’ one at 3+.

Two girls with different preferences. Sigh….. actually che-che likes onsen eggs but lil’ one insists on hard boiled eggs coz she hates egg yolks.

Marinade for lil’ one’s eggs is different. I didn’t prepare new sauce, will always re-use the same one for the second time before junking them away and preparing new ones. 

~ ~ DINNER ~ ~

Need to cook something with the egg whites from 5 eggs 

Wanted to do the 水蒸蛋 but we didn’t have any chicken stock 🤣. In the end it’s a dashi steamed egg with Chinese style mince pork

It’s white really! The lighting in dining area is warm 🤭

Not sure if solely egg white was the reason why the first steaming for 15 mins resulted in a watery part in the middle of the metal plate. I changed the cellophane wrap and wrapped up entirely, poking just 2 holes. Normally I leave a small opening whenever I steam chawanmushi in Ms Thermie. After that it was better. However it could also be the recipe. Normally when I prepare chawanmushi, it’s 1 egg to about 110ml of dashi stock. It’s a wrong assumption on my part as I don’t weigh the eggs. Based on what’s on the recommended ratio it’s suppose to be : 

Egg : liquid

1 : 2.5

For this dish it was a “I pray this works” cooking. My poor family! 

It makes no sense for 475g dashi. 

Initially I added only 180g dashi but after my cock-eyed eyeball felt that it’s too little so added another 80g. On hindsight, I should have only added 60g. Then again, how often do I weigh the eggs? The next time I cook this dish will use my agar-ration again. 

Links to help in my future cooking of 水蒸蛋 ：

1) One Happy Bite

2) The Woks of Lifetime 

Streamer from Mio

Last Thursday (21st) Mio sent me a message informing me that she has left my number as a form of contact for the postal services, and that she has sent a small package to che-che. 

Fast forward 5 days later, we received the parcel 🥳

So sweet of her to share 1 of the 3 streamers she picked up from the concert. She even made a deliberate trip to the city [which I found out later she had a fall otw there. Feel more paiseh she went thru so much.] to buy a yellow container (Kento’s colour) to put the streamer in. 

Needless to say, che-che was happy for this momento. Can’t go to the concert but she received something from the concert. Even though I teased and joked that “Aunty M also collects streamers from concerts just like you did.” Although I don’t like seeing her spending money on buying the CDs, cards from Family Club Store, rubbish from the secondhand shops I hope that one day she gets the chance to attend their concert. 

Chinese fruits

Hubby got back from China and bought fruits home. At least he buys home healthy snacks unlike me 🤭😂

We tried the peach on 24th Aug for the second time, he regretted not buying back a whole box 🤣. 

When hubby showed me, I told him this fruit looked like the yucky South African physalis. Told hubby I didn’t like it last time coz it tasted yucky. Tried this today. Ay…. this is actually a little sweet, not that bad. Are they the same fruit?

Had to find out the name, it’s Peruvian groundcherry or cape gooseberry coz last time I remember it was physalis (?)

Of course need to check on the goodness of these small berries  

Россия (Russia)

Post first drafted on 12th Aug

Hubby is in Russia now holidaying. So envious that he could go while I’m stuck here in my yet again another how many times long-period solo month handling the shit at home. Now I want to go for another solo holiday. 😀  

When he was preparing for his trip, I also had to do preparation on my side. 

Insurance

I never travel without insurance. The man never buys insurance whenever he travels, always say there's no need to. Of course I want my family members to 平安的去平安的回 everytime we travel. I'm not worried about me losing more money buying insurance and have nothing to claim. Aiyoh! Better no need to claim anything lor! 

What more now that he's going to a country that is sanctioned by Singapore and many other countries, it won't be so easy to find an insurance company willing to offer travel insurance to Russia. Searched and searched, I considered if I should purchase insurance from Russia or China (since they allow online purchase) but what if I need to claim anything? It'll be so difficult. Choy!

Messaged dearie W to check with her where she buys her travel insurance from coz she has travelled to Russia before. Checked the insurance company and unfortunately they don’t cover Russia and some other countries. 

Finally found one, reconfirmed with them that the country is covered. 

@ 6th Aug 2.34am : chatted with MSIG and I thought I read somewhere Russia is included but I decided to make an extra step in asking them. Look at their reply, can they stop sending template replies? Or am I not comprehending this correctly? Asked twice and they kept giving me the same reply. Fed up and I decided not to buy from them. 

Ooh….this covers against acts of terrorism. Aiyoh! 观音菩萨 please por-pi por-pi

I simply forgot FWD existed. Haha!  I bought from them donkey years before $197.15 but coz of some promo only paid $118.29. So yup! I went with FWD who didn’t give me a template reply to my question, to reassure me. 好吧！Quickly buy his insurance as he is travelling the next day evening to PKX and then for his connection to Russia after that.

Anyway, now I mainly buy our travel insurance from ETIQA. 

Seems like since last year all of us had been travelling more often than usual, this year alone hubby has made 4 trips in a span of 6 months. Che-che and lil’ one made a trip in June and che-che is making a solo trip in September. I made a trip in June. Maybe year-end we’ll do one short trip somewhere coz che-che is left a few days of annual leave. So with all these trips, should I have gotten a family yearly insurance in the beginning? Maybe I should purchase a family yearly insurance from next year onwards?

Register e-MFA

Had to insist that the man registers for e-MFA coz' I can't do this on his behalf. In order to ensure that it's done because he claimed that he will do it BUT I DON'T trust him that he will do it. Made him log into Singpass and registered for him.  

Advisory from MFA

01 Apr 2024

MFA TRAVEL ADVISORY: SITUATION IN UKRAINE AND RUSSIA 1 APRIL 2024

In view of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the current security situation in Russia, Singaporeans should defer all non-essential travel to Russia, and defer all travel to Ukraine.

Surprisingly there are some Singaporeans who also don't heed government advisory. 😆The moderator in Singapore Hikers FB group that I'm in says that there's a group of hikers in Russia at that time.  

******************************

Was in between doing some houseworks when I suddenly craved for chocolates and since he's in Russia, I had to join him 😆. Took the chocolates he bought in May

I'm thinking all chocolates will taste like chocolates, what can go wrong right? 

Decided to eat hazelnut chocolate. Yucks! Not nice. 

The box says hazelnut, the foil packaging says cranberry but it's hazelnut inside. Ha!   

Aiyoh! Old stock huh? 

Though I love dark chocolate, this is really 不好吃 👎

I messaged him after that and told him not to buy any chocolates home. But he can buy other unique snacks and my fridge magnets.

Out of boredom, I went to our display unit and took picture of this матрёшка Matryoshka dolls we have for more than 10 years. Will he buy something similar when he's there? I hope not, coz all I wanted were fridge magnets

Can't wait to see the photos he took. Sigh..... will I have the chance to go there? Russia is really beautiful. I've been to a Russian church in Darmstadt, deliberately made a stop there while I was otw to Heidelberg from Frankfurt. So charmed by the church, then SQ hasn't started any flights to Moscow. I've always loved countries for their folk costumes, songs and dances, Russia is one of them. Have you seen the dance where the ladies seem to be gliding across the floor? The male cossack dance. The famed Kalinka and some other popular Russian folk songs. 

21st Aug (Thu) 

Everytime hubby returns home from any trip, we will look forward to him bringing back stuffs. Hubby is unlike us, he doesn’t go crazy shopping for souvenirs or snacks like we girls do 🤣. So whatever few items he buys back is highly treasured 🤣. 

Teasing lil’ one with her gift 🎁 from China. Coz she likes this laundry pod

Bought some snacks and a pack of instant noodles that che-che likes, the individually wrapped braised eggs which is yummy. Not going to post those pics (I didn’t even bother to take pictures). 

What I was most interested in are the souvenirs from Russia coz like how many people can go to Russia? 

This is nice. He hardly likes chocolates and even though I already told him not to buy any chocolates back, he did 🤭. But he said it’s nice so I gotta trust him. 

Initially was thinking if I should give mom n bro a packet or some but this is nice. I think we will finish the two big packs ourselves. It tastes just like Almond Roca, which is my fav but I hardly buy them in SIN coz is expensive. For this pack of 62-63 small pieces of chocolate (or if I combine 2 pieces = 1 Roca it’s 31) it only costs S$4. That’s cheap! 

Pine nuts. Said is a specialty product from Russia. Logical coz sure have an abundance of pine trees or whatever coniferous trees in that latitude. Whatever it is, I haven’t had pine nuts for a long time, I used to enjoy putting them in my salad. And when was the last time I had salad at home? Haha! 

Pine nuts : Yes, pine nuts, particularly Siberian pine nuts, are well-known and historically consumed in Russia, though they are more famous globally as a major Russian export product rather than a domestically famous superfood. Russia is a top producer of pine nuts, which are harvested from Siberian cedar trees and are seen as a national treasure, with regions like Siberia and the Far East being significant for their production and an important source of income for locals.

Chagoff Chaga Mushroom Tea (ЧАГА

БЕРЕЗОВАЯ молотая)

Have absolutely no idea what this is. So you see at least hubby comes back with healthy snacks, unlike the 3 ladies in the family always buy back unhealthy snacks 😂.

Some info from :thewhistlingkettle.com

Some bathing stuffs and 1 sunscreen

Facial wash. Reminds me we have some facial wash he bought from N Korea

My fridge magnets for Moscow and St Petersburg. There are two other places where hubby stayed but no magnets ☹️

Hubby bought this. Said it’s not cheap lor! 87199 rubles = S$1387.17. Got diamonds and rose gold (I love rose gold) and an amber stone. Ok, the amber stone doesn’t look that nice but hubby 有心买给我 so ..

Curiously I asked if Alipay is widely used since Chinese tourists literally filled up the tourist spots. Not really, mainly he paid cash (conversion rate as of today is 1000 Russian ruble = 15.93 SGD)

I need to figure out how to open and close the earring tho! 

Good to know : Russia is famous for amber because the Kaliningrad Oblast region, a former German territory transferred to the USSR after World War Il, contains the vast majority of the world's Baltic amber deposits. This region is often called the "Amber Capital of the World" and is the center of the global amber industry, with more than 90% of the world's amber supply coming from its deposits.

Why wear amber : People wear amber for perceived physical benefits, like pain and inflammation relief due to succinic acid, and emotional well-being

through its calming properties and connection to nature. It is also worn for protection against negative energy, as a talisman against the "evil eye," and as a symbolic connection to the earth and ancient energy.

Additionally, amber is valued as a beautiful, warm, and allergy-friendly accessory.

Agate pendant that is too huge. 3 digit amount, so not a cheap item. But who is it for? 

Good to know : Russia is known for its significant deposits of agate, particularly the distinctive Russian Dendritic Agate, which features fern-like patterns. The Ural Mountains are a major source of this stone, and it has also been found in regions like the Magadan Oblast and Chukchi Peninsula.

Agate has a long history of use in Russia, being incorporated into decorative objects and jewelry by artists like Carl Faberge.

Why wear agate : Agate is accepted to promote balance, strength, and emotional healing, recuperating, enhancing thoughts, and encouraging a feeling of stability and harmony.