Took me a long time

Sometimes doing some random stuffs/jobs in the house (not housework related) takes days for me to complete. Lots of tidying and tidying, I don’t even know why I have to keep tidying all the time when it’s tidied? Yah, it does get messy sometimes when the family members just throw things in without tidying. Then I have no idea what’s inside the cabinet and have to start putting them in the correct place. Sigh…..am really the only person in the house organizing and keeping things.

For this job - it took me months 🤭. I’m lucky if I do small little jobs with minimal time, for eg. every 6mths or so I’ll check the medicine drawers, teabags drawers n throw out expired stuffs. Every few months I’ll check and declutter my walk-in until I really have nothing to declutter coz those are things that I’ve been using very often.

Project mini-Kiehl’s shop over the years 

Things in my house are organized in boxes including my Kiehl’s products. I started with only 2 boxes then became 4 boxes and now 5 boxes. At one time, my things were all mixed together. Then I segregate them. Over time this face of mine 来不及用 and there were always so many promotions for Kiehl’s members so I buy coz I’m greedy to stock up. Then the boxes got messy again. 🤣. The last time before the 26th Oct 2025 project I did segregate them but didn’t have time to label coz I had to cook dinner. Not that I have good memory, months later I soon forgot which item is in which box. I had to open up the boxes when I needed to get a new facial cleanser. All my projects may not be done on consecutive days coz I only have two hands and many tasks. Have just so many things to do around the house that I can totally forgot I have a project 60% completed. 

26th Oct. 

I had to put Che-che’s new facial wash but I can’t remember which box contained the facial cleansers 😁

a) took all 5 boxes out from two toilets. Ideally is to put in same spot but there’s not enough space where the stupid sink pipe in the way, so need to play ‘fit the space’ puzzle.

b) took everything out again from each box coz decided to list down the items and count them. Then did a temp label ‘BOX A - E’ with a scotch tape  as it’ll take extra time for me / leychey to use my Nimbot label printer. Next time when I’m using the label printer then I will print them out. That is IF I REMEMBER.

Put the boxes back coz I have to cook. 

Intermission : Between 27th Oct to 18th Nov

And then I forgot I had the scribbled list I put in between my iPad coz that’s where I’m going to do a stock / inventory list. Out of sight out of mind 🤣.

19th Nov @ night 

Was reaching for something and then I brought my iPad out. The list dropped on the floor. Oops!🙊 Since I had a little time in the night (I didn’t cook today as I was out in PP so packed dinner home for the family) decided to try to get some work done. 

(a) find apps. Tried some and didn’t like it

(b) opened up my Goodnotes folder to see what templates I have in there 

(c) no inventory templates. Spent time looking in Etsy.

(d) purchased and instant download. Wanted to write but my handwriting is so ugly. Tried typing and it took such a long time and difficult n slow to get the alignment  

Then I stopped coz I was tired and lost interest, spent time clearing photos and draft my blog.

25th Feb 2026 (Wed)

Lo and behold I had totally forgotten about this. Told ya my memory is really bad. 

No way was I going to type in Goodnotes again. It’s so messy and difficult. 有点不甘愿 so looked for apps again. Yippee! I found one which is simple and nice - has Nitori colours.  

Nitori logo

I was able to categorize them so neatly, just typing a few out and it looks so organized. It’s important too that I indicated which box the items are. The only hassle is looking for pictures. No choice if I want things to look neat. Next thing is to figure out if I can put them into folders. I do have my (1) Method cleaning products which I bulk-purchased and the (2) house cleaning products + human cleaning products that I need to do my inventory count. Haha! Like so siao, I don’t have a store but I’m operating like my house is a store. Oh well, it’s actually a store 🤣. 

Till then, I don’t know when I will fully complete this project coz I have 5 boxes items to compile. And I need to clear as much iMovie and photos I can from my phone for my upcoming trip in March. Who knows maybe I will complete this Project mini-Kiehl’s in October? 😉

Matcha IV - a day of exploration

Just because I needed to clear the fresh milk in the fridge asap I made matcha lattes. Aiyah! 真麻烦 the girls want to drink matcha but nobody wants to make, everytime I have to do it. 

And because of this mentality ‘since I’m making matcha I’ll make more’ I realised this can (1) is about to finish this I went on to open up (2). Both cans purchased in September. Link HERE for previous post. 

(1) Matcha from Shizuoka. 

(2) Uji matcha  

It became a day of exploration. Putting the two powders side by side in the sift for colour comparison. You can see a little difference in the colour.

Why do I have (3) ? Not much left, can’t make a teaspoon that’s why I opened (1) previously. 

There’s a subtle difference in all three powders

All are ceremonial powders. (1) & (3) were in the fridge. (1) has a plastic cover before the can cover, (3) is ziploc sealed. If that makes any difference? 

(2) is newly opened and was in the kitchen cabinet away from the oven and stove area [but my EY class galley kitchen is small so maybe heat is bounced here and there]

  Hmm….in this angle the colours look a little the same, gotta squint your eyes

Let this fake matcha connoisseur speak 🤣🤣

Jokes aside I’m no connoisseur, I’m as blur or maybe more blur than most people. But based on my cock-eye short-sighted eyesight at first glance when I first opened (1) on 9th Feb the powder didn’t look vibrant green at all which is strange. Can states it’s ceremonial (tho anyone can lie). It’s priced at ¥1620 (if price matters) or did the colour change due to storage? Link to my Matcha III blog, click HERE. 

(3) Naoki matcha powder and the extreme right (2) looks vibrant. 

Truth to be told, I’ve so much to learn about matcha. But do I have the time to compare even more matchas brand in Japan? Do I have the time to read up on matchas? Maybe I should just drink my matcha and shut my mind from thinking and reading too much. Haha! But I have a feeling I’ll have more posts on matchas when I open the other cans. I think this post and the previous ones deserve a label on their own in my blog. 

Questions need to research when I’m free :

(a) is current storage place correct

(b) how long can I keep unopened matcha powder? My powders are 5+ months old since purchase date (2nd Sep 25)

(c) is the way I fold and tape the foil + scotch tape seal can correct? Or is there a better way way to store leftover matchas? 

(d) how long can I keep an opened matcha in the fridge? 

This popped up in my Instagram one day. Is there a need for this at all? If only they have a sakura printed canister. 

I had to pour water, take pic, whisk, take pic, pour into a cup, wash bowl, use another powder, pour water, take pic, whisk, take pic, pour into another cup. 

After I poured the water for the second can, immediately can see the second can’s looks brighter. And if my memory didn’t fail in what I saw earlier coz yours truly only have one bowl so I can’t compare them side by side. 

And after whisking, takes this short-sighted girl to bring the bowl up closer to check coz of the lighting in kitchen. But there’s a sure winner in the second bowl. It’s more vibrant. 

Same after whisking - can tell which is better. Now can you guess which is which? 

Of course my judgment may be biased coz I didn’t like the Shizuoka’s matcha the moment I opened it early this month. I decided to ask Mr AI for help. 

Drumroll….. 

You can see my question and the answer given

When I did the collages one after another for comparison, I decided to switch the photos 

Switch also no use. When it’s more vibrant the answer will be the same wherever I switch the photos to

So yah that black can is better 

 

Strangely when I did the taste test. (2) is more bitter. Or maybe I should have washed my palate? Perhaps you can’t trust me - the person who still can’t tell a floral or fruity taste in wines. 

6 cups of whisking 🍵 and I’m tired. 6 cups of distraction and I felt a little better. The next task is to deal with all the bits of leftovers in can (1) and packet (3). Poured water into the can and packet and mixed it around 😁. My lazy and not the correct proportion plain tea. 

Left it in the fridge coz my stomach is full from drinking too much water 

Final verdict on today’s exploration 

Wouldn’t buy that Shizuoka’s matcha anymore once I finish the two cans at home. When che-che brought it home, I was shocked by how cheapskate the packaging looks. Doesn’t it look like one of the birthday favors packaging design I would do? 🤣. Shizuoka’s matcha also do not have any の昔 so I’m not sure how legit the tea is. Is it a reseller matcha company? Then again I’m not even expert, do all teas need to have the の昔 indicated.

So far I was happy with the Aichi’s matcha I purchased in Nagoya and Masuda Chaho -¥4400 per can 不好才怪. I think once I finish all the 5 + 3 cans, 80x of whisking, I will only stick to buying proper matcha for myself and the cheap ones for che-che’s matcha lattes 😬. Oh! I forgot I still have another 2 packs of Naoki’s matchas gifted by W.

Jap food throw everything in

Didn’t buy much ingredients for CNY but still ate it over three meals. Haha! 

Cooked Japanese udon for the girls tonight.  

Can clearly guess which bowl is for lil' one

Che-che's 

Mine has cabbage and old cucumber

When you are desperate

6th Feb (Fri)

When I’m so desperate. I can churn out 3 videos in a day. At least 2 were less than 20 mins long lah! And this is also possible coz I really say down and refused to do any other housework apart from vacuuming and mopping and not cooking the whole day for the day. 

19th Feb (Thu)

Resuming deleting some pictures. Going all the way back to 2021 while I still have my GJ - Shirakawago full day iMovie not completed. Sigh…. My attention span is really short. 

BUT I WILL GET THERE. I will clear as much pictures and delete unnecessary apps to have the space ready. Jiayou! 

21st Feb (Sat)

Yes! 5 completed iMovie videos in total. All these are made possible coz I haven’t been cooking dinner, minimize housework (just vacumn, mop, laundry n iron) and sitting down many more times than my usual busy days. Now you know why I still have 2019 USA pics and videos in my phone, I really don’t have the time to do it. 

Anyway, once after long March holiday, I’ll be struggling to clear those photos and videos as well. Haha! 

Music + Jap gf + headset

A chapalan blog post today. 

The music I played today while working around the house. I didn’t know what to play and was scrolling thru the lists of albums in my Spotify when AKB48 songs blasted out from Che-che’s phone. 好吧 I shall listen to my Japanese songs then. Moving to the music just makes housework less mundane. 

Have I mentioned about Hikaru Utada before? Her song, First Love, was a tune I loved. When I was watching those Inside Flow yoga moves (I really want to go for the class) and they kept playing this song. I didn’t know the title until one day che-che played it on her phone. I was doing something in the house and shouted excitedly to ask her for the music title. Only then did I know it’s from a movie. I watched it, I cried and wonder why no happy ending for the two people. Sigh…

Anyway, I only listen to the songs and not that crazy over the artistes. 

Changed to this album. 

Aoi Teshima has some really nice songs. This is one of my fav

When I’m working, the phone is away from me so I don’t check what song is being played. The album plays the music randomly and somehow I must have been paying attention to the words when this song came along. 

Ok, some words like maybe only 5% I catch some words I understand. I don’t know why but I suddenly thought of my Japanese girlfriend. It’s like this song suddenly is reaching out to me and giving me a message. I went back to the phone and screenshot the singer and song title

Since I have my phone I sent her a message just like that, out of the blue. I dunno why prompted me to do so but … I think the words hit me or maybe not 🤣 since I only picked out 5% or maybe 1% of the words 

So out of curiosity after I had finished my work, I had to find the lyrics of the song. AI summary was given as : 

"Himawari no Yakusoku" (Promise of Sunflower) by Motohiro Hata is a poignant ballad that focuses on finding joy, warmth, and hope through deep, unwavering, and sometimes bittersweet, human connection

. Released in 2014 as the theme for Stand by Me Doraemon, the song uses the imagery of a sunflower—representing loyalty, longevity, and honest warmth—to illustrate the comfort of having someone special by your side. 

Key themes regarding joy and warmth in the song include:

• Warmth in Everyday Moments: The lyrics emphasize that seemingly ordinary or "useless" days become treasures when shared with someone special.
• Warmth as Comfort: The song likens the love and kindness of a partner to the "upright gentleness" and "warmth" of a sunflower.
• Finding Joy After Sadness: It explores the transition from loneliness to finding true happiness, with the singer expressing a desire to return the warmth and support they received.
• Hopeful Future: Despite themes of potential separation and, the song promises that even if paths diverge, the memories and connection will remain, providing comfort and a "bright future".

The song's gentle, nostalgic melody, often featuring acoustic guitar, is specifically designed to evoke feelings of comfort and emotional depth, similar to a "warm hug". 

So did I get the correct interpretation of the song to suddenly send her a message? Did I understand 5% or 1% or none at all?

I miss Mio, I haven’t seen her since July 2024. Che-Che and lil’ one met up with her last year during their siblings trip. I should make my pilgrimage this year. A friendship which I truly cherish even though we’re miles apart.

Unknowingly almost 3hrs with the headset on and off my ears, ears still feel hot. Needed to clean my headphone. and feeling 

So in love with my new headset. Need a break coz putting pressure on my not so big solitaire.

Nintendo switch game

I haven’t played Nintendo switch with Che-che for more than half a year. 

The girls started playing Overcooked first. 

I see Che-che keep running around. And lil’ one keeps running in circles. 

Athena to Aricia:

"The kitchen is on fire 🔥”

"Ay! I gotta pick up the extinguisher."

"You must cook the tomato you know?!"

"We only served one dish!"

"Ay! U only have one job to do. I'm doing all the other jobs."

"Ay! Can you go and wash the plates?"

Aricia to me : "mummy do you want to play?"

Me : "no i dowan to get scolding from che-che." 🤣

#bossysister#

The 3 of us started playing Mario game. Wanted to ask hubby to play but he was 😴 . We were so noisy. 

We're not supposed to say inauspicious words during

CNY but we were playing the wrong game. We said

"Aiyah! I die/lose already" so many times 🤣🤣. Che-che won the game. 

I had a good laugh when they commented that I "perplexed your opponent". How can I confuse them when I was completed baffled myself? I didn’t understand what I was doing. In one game when I was  one against the other three. I had no idea what the ON/OFF button was for so I anyhow jumped to hit the button to ON/OFF and then can kill my opponents. Let’s just say in my blur-ness, I really killed them so fast!! “Ay! You all died already?” “Ah then?”, Che-che answered.   I won that my position jumped two steps overtook Che-che to be in the first position. Eventually I was the last coz che-che can steal something from someone so she chose to steal from me 🤭 and next Luigi also switched my coins and stars with him. 

In one game we had to capture lil’ one, Che-che and I worked hand in hand to win that game. We had such good fun playing together. 

CNY 2026

I’m getting more and more lazy each passing year. I think come 2027 I will only have one Happy New Year deco and order Grab food delivery or maybe should just fly out for a short vacation. 

Decorations

I didn’t want to stick anything on the wall incase I peel off the wall paint. This year's deco is minimal. The glass sticker set I bought for my balcony is too small.😂

Used to put table runner on the coffee table, now don’t coz hubby always flips the thing aside when he sits there for his meals.

Flowers

Last time I used to make an effort to buy ang ang flowers to put in balcony. This year I couldn’t be bothered. My plants always end up dying on me. However for the sake of having something auspicious, I bought the lucky bamboo at last minute. 

NY snacks

越买越少。本来都不要买 but since I was at Kim Choo once I just picked three items. Bought my every year must buy Julie’s love letters. That’s it! 4 snacks only. 

Mandarin oranges

We haven’t been buying the huge box of mandarin oranges for many years. Always a lot of wastage. So just these few we have at home, anyway after we exchange we get back our oranges🍊🍊 

In my mind from last year or was it previous previous year I’ve been telling myself to make carrot yam cake for CNY, to make agar agar using the fish mold, to make orh nee (I love orh nee!) maybe I should cook dish for reunion dinner or first day lunch. But as usual, I always like to daydream only 🤣

As for baking - I did want to bake peanut cookies, coffee cookies BUT ….. I always like to daydream only. 

Too much of daydreaming, too much of thinking that my brain makes me tired lazy tired 

Reunion dinner 

Didn't join bro and family for reunion dinner, hubby wants to have it by ourselves. We barely bought any ingredients. Just cabbage, mushrooms, crabsticks and fishballs. We have pork and chicken at home, scallops too. Another day hubby went to Sheng Siong and bought 7 prawns. Haha! We had to clear our fridge. 

Went to SH house to play cards the day before CNY eve so this year he didn’t return home late, or rather early at 4am

My own ‘decorations’

I’ve never had the practice of going to the hair salon for haircut and colour, nail salon for manicure pedicure. Cheapskate me will always do it on my own at home. But this year I didn’t even bother. I’m lucky at this time my white hair didn’t show much 

 Never colour hair, never paint nails, never buy any new clothes or red underwear (no wonder I’m so poor)

First day (17th)

I woke up late and prepared simple CNY stuffs for the family. 

 

Girls bai nian with us. 

Wanted to start cooking the peach gum dessert to bring over to bro's place. To my horror I realised that I mistook my hawthorn for red dates. Turns out I didn’t have anymore red dates at home. Hubby went out to help me buy, at the same time he said the snacks are quite filling so wasn’t hungry we swooped the idea of cooking simple lunch to just getting snacks. 

Cooked, cooled and then packed 

Went to bro’s place late, just nice for dinner, coz hubby needs to Zzzzz first. As usual, tossing yusheng. I wonder how many times we will toss yusheng this CNY. Once? Twice? Surely not as many times as most people but no love lost as we don't really fancy all these sweet things.    

Catered dinner

Then it's the end of Day 01 🐎

Second day (18th)

Over the years many eateries open on the second day with the changing dynamics of these youngsters and people my age range. We don't cook as much as our parents generations do. 

We headed out for lunch at Sushiro in Jewel. So many parking spaces.  

Che-che wanted to play Switch so we played with her. We were so noisy.

Dinner is us trying to finish that little ingredients we have left. Kept the dual steamboat pot in the bomb shelter and took out the single pot for this. Lots of commotion during this meal "open the door, we need to air the house." "cooked already?" "wait lah". It doesn't matter even if we're eating expensive food, cheap food can bond the family together. 

Sukiyaki 

 

That sums up our boring two days of CNY. Then it's work day the next day. 

Matcha III

On a Monday just doing the most borliao and time-consuming thing 😂. Filming editing and all I can say is “thank goodness I wasn’t interested to be an influenza 😉/ content creator coz my editing/content is lousy/boring.”

Took me an hour from taking videos all the way to the final video product. It was a good break from the break I was taking. Actually it was a good mental break for me coz I’m feeling shitty.

The behind the 🎬 scene :

1) messy kitchen so trying to move things away out of camera view

2) I just push the matcha powder out from the bag to the bowl after that few spoonfuls as seen in video (so leychey to scoop bit by bit with the wooden scoop). And I forgot to sift the powder 🤦🏻‍♀️

3) suck in tummy & make sure only hand in view

4) aiyoh! I’m left-handed 🤦🏻‍♀️, blocked the camera. Shadow on kitchen top.

4) “ay! How come the colour looks dull? 😳”*panicked and checked the can 

5) after pouring. Oops! Only half the glass 🤣. Made another portion 

6) where’s the glass straw? Wanted to put a straw in after pouring matcha to complete the presentation. Oh well! 

Such a simple video but took me one hour, can you imagine how long it takes for those who make a living out of all these social media postings? I wasn’t making a living out of these so yah I won’t waste so much time 😉. 

My microfoam looks a little better than usual. Still need to learn to do it properly, think next trip to Japan I should go for classes.  

Ok…so I panicked why the colour looked dull after I had poured in water. Maybe it was the angle I was looking at it in the kitchen? Initially I thought it had something to do with organic (?) or expired. Anyway this isn’t organic, I got it all mixed up with another can of organic matcha. I took the Naoki matcha that W gifted me on my last birthday to see if there’s any comparison

When JL was in our house, she only opened this pack of matcha although I brought down the various cans and told her she can open them to try. Maybe she’s paiseh.

Naoki’s looks a little brighter in colour

Whatever powder that was on the plate and stuck on the spoon went into this unwhisked but stirred cup of plain super thin usucha. Don’t care lah! Not that I’m serving this to a guest, 自己喝的可以乱乱来。

Che-che bought this matcha in her Sep 25 trip.

I do have some at home but that didn’t stop me from asking to buy more in Jan this year when she went to Uji. At least she’s in a proper matcha shop. I was happy that she went to Masuda coz I really liked the 泉 something tea. Apparently that’s what they use in their shop.

I didn’t know the tea I liked cost so much ¥4400. I wanted to try a better one so asked her to get a can that is 2 steps superior quality - 至宝の昔　¥6300. In the photo that she sent me, I saw the superior 出品抹茶 selling for ¥12500. Gasp! I will lick up the bag if I ever kee siao buy that one day. I’m not that crazy. 

She continued and messaged me the other matchas she saw earlier. Didn’t ask her to buy coz we still have at home, need to finish what we have at home first. Firstly we don’t have much storage space designated for the various types of teas left in the kitchen. Secondly I’m not sure if it’ll be good to keep matcha powder that long coz I don’t drink it everyday. 

The next day, 30th, she messaged me again. 

Sigh…. they don’t even remember. And most frustrating thing is that they expect me to be preparing the drinks for them everytime. I don’t make, they wouldn’t drink. 

When she returned from her Jan trip

¥15100 for my matcha. And this girl went to buy hojicha. My message to her was probably late. 

Check back my last blog entry on matcha on 昔.