Tagging along

Lil’ one has been having a few home-based self-study days on Thursdays. Instead of cooping up the whole day at home, she would usually tag along for my weekly Fight-Do class. My exercise mates will always ask “no need to go to school today?” My reply would be “it’s her self-study day. She’s here to ‘study’ us.” 😂 

Last week she wanted to eat her favourite prawn noodles at the hawker centre. This week however she was craving for Uncle wanton. So we 🏎️ down to Marine Parade the moment my class ended. It was going to be lunch time and it does get quite crowded in the small coffeeshop. Need to leave a packet of tissue on the table as fast as we can 😂. 

Otah to complete her meal. They automatically give her a big bowl of soup everytime it’s her order. Mine came with a small bowl 😬

“Uncle, can I have another bowl of soup?” #oldhabitsdiehard#

We follow a routine every single time we’re in Katong area - uncle wanton, pack my laksa for dinner, pack rojak,  Kimchoo. Today’s trip entails a diversion to Parkway Parade as I needed to get some things and groceries. Packed dinner at the hawker centre near KC. Made different stops today. I would have made a snack stop at Project Acai if not for the Haagen Dazs ice-cream in the car boot. It’s a hot hot day so needed to 🏎️ home. 

空手的出门 but returned home with so many bags 🤣收获很多

On This Day - (5th Aug) #Reminders from FB#

5th Aug 2025

4th Aug

Meeting with these beautiful never seem to age ladies after so many years of failed arrangement.

We ate and drank with joy to make up for the lost time (Eh. ok i don't drink. It's always small sips and today I just dip my lips coz.. why not. Still I had to be sober as I was driving)

Toast to many more years of friendship with makgeolli.

Let's all grow old together, we can laugh together even when we're boh-geh. Let's share all sweetness, bitterness, complaints about our grandkids next time.

For people who know us and in FB, you will clearly know which glass of soju is for who.

Don't have to guess mine. Mine is the least, the middle glass.

5th Aug 2024

Ah nia wanted to bake, but dowan to cook 🤣. The family can starve, I don't care.

Just something that | love to do tho I have no idea who is going to eat them. #bakingistherapeutic##nokitchenaid# 

#nothermomix##justmylefthandrighthand#

Coz I got rid of the 2 huge ikea mixing bowl after the reno (no space inside cabinets), I was trying to use whatever I have at home. And I have to be so careful that I don't whisk in my WMF pot, so had to think where to put the egg yolks and where to put the egg whites. The bowl for egg whites is small so I had to be very careful nothing spills on the table.

Aiyoh! Why so dark green one?

Then it's time to whisk the egg whites manually till my hands ache.

Yah. I tell you a lot of times things I do is 自找麻烦 的. I like to knead bread manually also.

I'm really crazy...but I did mention that baking is therapeutic. Maybe torturing myself is therapeutic 😅

As long as I have this music while I bake. I dunno why

the cafe music just make me 下多功夫

#soinspiredtowhiskandwhiskthenfoldandfold#

Then I question myself, what the heck are my two machines for ?? 😂既然我是自找麻烦我不能 complain.

How come so many cuppies? 34. I think I used bigger holders last time.

When was the last time I baked chiffon pandan? All I know is ...this should be my 2nd time baking in the 1yr 1 mth old renovated kitchen 🤣

Will ask lil' one to bring some to her workplace tomorrow.

5th Aug 2023

YES!! Finally!

Some books (which I couldn't get hold of them in jpn) and the data for all the books here and those brought home.

Family and neighbours will start listening to my trash playing music.

5th Aug 2022

When they were younger (lil' one @ 1y 7d old, didi @ Smths), they were curious abt each other.

They'll look at each other and poke at each other, most times lil' one is the aggressive one 😂. Then they grab anything so it happened that he grabbed her hair on this day and didn't let go. She bawled out really loud and was really sad.

#theadultscanlaughsomemore# 

5th Aug 2021

Long story rant:

I've been a YL user since 2015? 2016? I love their oils coz I know I'm using the real stuffs.

BUT YL oils isn't cheap at all, so when I heard of this brand - Revive - that smells exactly the same as YL and cheaper than YL, I just had to try it.

My items came today and seriously I can't tell the difference (except for Courage (YL's Valor) the initial sniff was sharper but after that no difference.

I chose to try Peppermint too coz this was the first bottle a friend gifted me. Introducing me to the world of pure oils. It was this bottle too that my innocent unbiased child, Athena, says she loves this smell better than the others I bought before. So it kindda convinced me that she knows the pure stuffs and the fake pungent peppermint cheap no brand oils we normally buy outside. In today's sniffing experiment, Revive's Peppermint didn't disappoint me. Will apply peppermint later, just nice my headache came back so will see if this will help me.

Sorry ah..... I know some of my friends here are also YL users. I'm just sharing, not implying that Revive is better than YL. And do read up on 2 sides of the story in the internet. I'm only trying the smells, haven't applied on skin yet. Some may not feel comfortable to try a new brand coz too used to YL, so it's up to your discretion.

5th Aug 2016

Lil' one's cookies from Home Management.

5th Aug 2016

She's done with her book. Can guess how long she ate her dinner, sat on the throne. I had to control myself, otherwise my blood pressure shoots up.

Jocelyn Ng, she says it's nice.

5th Aug 2011

Backdated photo : Mar 11 - My lil' girl is in Yellow Belt - Shichida.

5th Aug 2009

*pics tagged by MMI Katong*

Beautiful park to run in

Bubbles!

Catching around the trees

Soup

Been cooking soup more often for dinner now coz of lil’ one’s tonsillitis problem. [taking forever to edit my blog entry on her tonsilitis. Once done, will link to this entry]

Boiled a couple of times lil’ one’s fav lotus root (I have transferred the pics out from my phone) soup. Then as I wanted them to have a variety, I tried two other soups. All these are prepacked, all I need is to cook with pork bones and no wastage on the fresh ingredients. 

White radish scallop cuttlefish soup

Three mushroom soup 

She still prefers the lotus root soup. Lil’ grandma loves old cucumber soup. Gotta find recipes to cook other soups for dinner. I know I’ve cooked watercress soup before too but I need to look for the recipe. 

Pasta sauce

Time to prep another batch of pasta sauce for Iggy (and maybe the family). My sauce is thick coz I use the whole tomatoes flesh, but I keep the juice separately just to thin out the sauce when cooking. I know some people say should pour everything in when making sauce but my can of tomato is 2.5kg, how much should I pour? And it seems that the liquid usually weighs more than the flesh, so wouldn’t that make my sauce very watery? 

While cooling down the sauce in a bigger pot with two fans, messaged bro to drop by my place to pick up. I couldn’t go over coz I had to bring the car over to che-che, can’t make it in time to go two places. 

Came back home by bus after dropping the car at her workplace, and bottled the sauce. They will return it back to me after that so I can pass it to them again. Haha! 

800g tomatoes but only 798g here 🤣. Lost 2g in between Ms Thermie’s blade, spoon and my fingers. 🤭

Not related to pasta making but just for laughs. Have to do registration first and didn’t know what to write for the Invitation. 

 

Honestly I don’t know how many times of pasta can Iggy eat with this supposedly 800g of pasta sauce. In my household, coz it’s only lil’ one who likes tomato based pasta so she can eat her pasta 4 times. Anyway she doesn’t have a choice coz I was the one who block freeze and packed the sauce for her. 

Next project - truffle carbonara. I need to be fair to che-che prepare something she likes.

She likes this truffle carbonara which is a hit and miss in Meidi-ya of late. I’d like to make one from our home kitchen without all the emulsifiers, flavourings and dunno what E E E. 

Power of music

Housework music. Slow start today. Music to k.e.e.p.m.e.g.o.i.n.g. 頑張って！

In the afternoon, as I began my work in the kitchen. Boiling chrysanthemum drinks, making pasta sauce. This music made me go-go-go-work-faster

On This Day - (4th Aug) #Reminders from FB#

4th Aug 2024

The thunderous raging water in a cave.

The wonders of nature, so wonderful if only I can just sit down in one corner listening to the water and hide from the heat outside for an hour.

* just realised I haven't posted much of our recent trip and...算了吧 😄.I've already transferred most pics into the hard disk. Need to clear phone pics asap 😂 , always grouching abt my tons of holidays

iMovies.

4th Aug 2024

Muahaha! I would have done this to Thistle if we had this game.

4th Aug 2024

Finally tried Luke's Lobster after they arrived on our shore 4 years ago.

I wasn't willing to try then coz felt it's too expensive for something which will not make me full.

Decided to try it today and won't eat it anymore.

My personal review.

** pls note that prices in US are without tips unless otherwise indicated

...

And for those who wonder why I am allergic to certain prawns but not to lobster, I really have no idea why. Maybe my body is meant to ingest expensive foods. 😂 haha!

And now after typing this, I want to say I miss Boston!

In Boston che-che ordered lobster with truffle butter (US$24 + US$1 for truffle butter) while I ordered crab (US$17). Lobster is from Canada as what they claimed not that I can tell any difference 😜

Singapore's lobster roll is (S$25.50) claimed is from Maine but eh you give me one from M'sia I also dunno.

[Truffle butter lobster roll costs S$30.50].

A fair comparison would be US$24 vs S$25.50. But it makes me wonder how is it that it'll be so expensive after the conversion to eat in Boston when the lobster is swimming somewhere near there (fly from Cape Hood to Boston, both on east side of the continent) vs we need to fly the lobster over many miles across the land masses and ocean?

Bread roll is longer and skinnier here. I assumed the roll is supplied locally as it doesn't make sense to fly them over. Taste wise coz I did try che-che's lobster roll (but hate truffle), I would say it's not bad here. How many chunks of lobster meat in the roll I believe should be the same. Tho she dropped one huge piece on the floor in Boston and my heart was screaming 💸 heartpain.

In Quincy Market, we tried this one a day before, lobster salad roll for USD29 (I think it should be slightly cheaper coz I threw receipt away and only checked back my card, must have added the tips in it)

Oh..... the lobster bisque. I love bisque.

Well...when you're in Boston you gotta eat their seafood.

I have one girl who don't eat many seafood, I don't eat clam, oysters anything except scallops in the mollusk family myself. So really can't eat the freshest bestest seafood, which turns out well coz when you start calculating the cost of food, it's so expensive!

#shouldbringtravelcooker#

Lil' one Aricia Ting likes clam chowder, eats oyster but too bad she's not here.

Since I hate clams, I should try lobster bisque. Top left pic of lobster bisque -1 had it in a restaurant which I told girl the total cost of our meal came up to few dollars short of $100, by the time I add tips in. Sigh..... told girl it's the most expensive meal so after that we should eat cheaply. I only tried 2 lobster bisque in Boston, so I must admit that's the better one. (USD10.50 vs USD6.30.

Maybe not a fair comparison coz the quantity is different + one in better setting.

I didn't like the one from Quincy Market (had this a day before the restaurant meal) and was so thankful I ordered a small cup to try. But there were huge chunks of meat in both soup.

Singapore's S$12.50. Taste just like the one in Quincy Market but only 2 small bits of meat.

Will | eat at LL again? Most likely no. I've tasted better lobster bisque in restaurants here.

4th Aug 2023

Dropped by Kimchoo to get my dumpling (the bestest nonya chang after my mom's). Saw that ondeh and kueh kosui selling at total price of $4.40, a fraction of what one will pay at ahem.. ahem.., so why not pick them up as well? Kimchoo's kuehs are equally nice + I'm adding more weight to myself and adding more pennies in my pocket. No reason for me to not buy them. Anyway, this could be the only time I'll indulge in these.

#inevergiveupketofornothingk#

#mustmakeitmorehuasuantotempstop#

4th Aug 2023

@ "my favourite uncle wanton place" - direct quote from lil' one. I realised it's the same row we sat. She didn't want to move in to the next table to replicate this photo.

Used to be wanton noodle now it's shredded chicken noodle.

Big bowl of soup which now comes to her automatically 😂. Last time she used to do the Oliver scene by going up to uncle and asking for another bowl of soup 😂a few times.

Now that I've stopped keto temp, it's one of my must indulge. And had it like 4x already 😂 in a short span of 2mths? The last time was only last wk? 🤭

Bei-Ing Wanton Noodle 美樱雲吞麵

*ps both father n son's stall serves same good food.

4th Aug 2021

The last show or should I say documentary I watched - Hitler’s Circle of Evil 🤣🤣

4th Aug 2021

Spending some quality time with 貴重な赤ちゃん before uni term commences.

We bond over food. Haha!

She saw something which I can eat, came to me and tell me while I was packing lunch. I must admit that got me really excited as I was deprived of ice-cream for quite some time 🤣

4th Aug 2021

My heart went awwww the moment NaEun said "it's my job".

Her parents raised her up so well. She always puts her siblings first.

In one episode, JooHo asked her how she felt being the eldest, and she spoke out her thoughts.

She truly deserves a day out every week or fortnight with just her parents, so she can be a child. Forget abt the troublemaker Jinwoo and cute Gunhoo for that day. 슈퍼맨이

4th Aug 2016

One happy smiley child

And one grouchy, naggy mother (later)

4th Aug 2012 

Balloons that kids can't reach. Oh oh! Like it but can't seem to get a nice shot.

Waiting for her rabbit

4th Aug 2012

“Number 6”!

Footnote written in 2022 : 

@ Bei-Ing Wanton Noodle 美櫻雲吞麵

Your young fan love your noodles for more than 10yrs.

#unclecanihaveanotherbowlofsoup#

4th Aug 2011

Asked Athena if she knew abt broken magnets, she told me a few pointers. Took out her magnet which I've broke in the day. "There you go, we can experiment it." She was enthusiastic and recalled alot- iron, cobalt, steel and nickel.?? Can't rmbr myself.

Mummy's nose almost touching the sky. Asked her “Athena, what happens when you put 2 similar poles together?" "It... er....(trying to recall)." "It re ..." Eyes opened big big shouted so loud "REWIND!!!" Immediately can cover my mouth. LOL!

4th Aug 2011

Lil' girl said, "mummy 1 1 2 go 2 school tmrw. I hv no more fever."

"mummy touch...u dun hv fever ...(touch own head n lying) but mummy hv fever now cannot bring u 2 school."

"huh??....." "go n ask daddy if he can bring u 2 school tmrw."

After some teasing, I asked "what if mummy n daddy hv fever, then who's bringing u 2 school?" "Aunty Zet!" "if everyone hv fever?" "then ….. Too bad lor!

We will take bus to school." Haha! I thought she was going 2 say," too bad, we'll hv 2 skip school."

4th Aug 2010

Time to start f #-ing again for the kids.

Click on these links or copy & paste to my blog :

http://athenamummy.blogspot.com/2008/03/blog-post.html

http://athenamummy.blogspot.com/2008/04/books-cute-overload.html

4th August - lunch

Cutlery pack with a honey sweet (Pooh loves honey) and cheese snack

Pooh pasta with Pooh ham. Eggs didn't turn out well, suppose to be one with flower and the other is heart-shape. No time to fry fish fingers - rushing for time

Assembly line