The cake is in the oven

I told myself that I will not be making anymore cakes until the end of the year. But I was too bored, so today, the mocha chocolate cake is now slowing baking in the oven.

I feel a bit worried, about the cake. Everything's a bit strange. No need baking powder. Hmm.

And a couple of weeks ago, I made apple crumble. A long forgotten recipe, the last time I made was in 2007 (I think).

Not working for almost a year now. Makes me feel very detached from the real world. In a way, I'm very fortunate, not to have to worry about financials, but probably have to return to work one day, since cannot sustain the housing loan. But life is like that, it's really up to oneself to keep oneself happy.

Children and TV

The daughter is addicted to Sesame Street. Every morning, when she wakes up, she walks to her cabinet and if it's not shut, she'll take out the cds and goes 'elmo elmo, papa elmo'. Until you switch it on for her, and she'll be so gleeful and really pays attention for at least half an hour.

And we will have a peaceful breakfast.

I'm not really pleased with this scenario, but I have no choice because I have to make the breakfast. Maybe I should assign my maid to make the breakfast, but like I said before, she doesn't get my drink right. Till December ... *sigh*

How much TV would you let your child watch a day?

Updates 3 - The kids

The kids have grown bigger and stronger and naughtier. Or you might say cuter. I'm not so amused but that's because my keyboard shift key is kinda stuck, and it's kinda annoying when I want to use it. Yep, the daughter got her hands on the laptop, and now we try not to use it in front of her. Then again, her reaction to laptops nowadays is to slam down the lid and 'mummy, stop playing with the laptop and pay attention to me!'

My cute 15th going on 16th month old daugher can walk, can almost run, and can't talk very well yet. She loves vending machines, because the one at the babyroom at a certain shopping centre gives out her favourite drink - Yakult, and whenever she sees a vending machine, she gets attracted to it like a drunken fly, and goes kult kult and starts fiddling with it.

During the lantern festival, we bought both kids lanterns - those with the lamps, and they enjoyed themselves very much. The son had a doraeamon lantern - he's into doraeamon currently, after the grandpa showed me some of the cartoons.

The daughter enjoys her lantern very much. See the brother's lantern in the background?

The hubby has bought a new toy for himself, a new Digital SLR camera. It's kinda hard to sort through a few thousand photos. :P That's what he's doing. Taking photos by the thousands. But the photos sure are well taken! I'm tempted to buy a new small idiot-proof camera, something which is easy to carry around, but after seeing what the SLR can do, I'm not sure ...

The daughter has 8 teeth! Now she has 10, her left molars just popped, one on top and one below.

The son and his bike.

Blogger's slow. More photos over at FB when I'm free!

Anyway, I'm starting the son on Kumon workbooks. Call me kiasu, but those stuffs are actually quite colourful and interesting, and the son isn't the most hardworking when it comes to doing work. One letter and he'll be full of stories, ranging from: hey mom, what is this person doing? why is this and that like this and that? or something like: my hands are very tired. i need to rest. And it's only one letter. While he can go on for hours fixing his lego. I'm actually quite impressed with this lego fixing. After watching transformers, he'll fix a robot with his lego and transformed it into a vehicle. cool!

Our lessons so far are rather relaxing and happy. No canings yet, and I try to keep my temper in check. Usually I'll let him off after one or two letters a day, or one or two numbers, and depending on his mood too. We'll do the writing while the daughter potters around the room, playing the brother's toys, after which I'll read them some books (usually three, since the son insists that a 3 year old boy needs everything in 3s). Sometimes I'll play a bit of the piano with my daugther accompanying me as bass, or sometimes she'll try to climb up onto the top of the piano. After that I'll get the girl to sleep first, then it's the son's turn. But I still have to build up on the discipline to do this everyday. ah well ...

Updates 2 - baking

The month of August and September to early October saw a frenzy of baking. Lots of baking.

First I made white chocolate cake.

Then I made blueberry muffins.

Then I made lemon sponge cake.

Then I made lemon sponge cake again.



Then I made white chocolate cake with dark chocolate glaze for PM's birthday.

Then I made Banana cinnamon loaf.

And finally I made the cheesecake. The one I've been dying to make for ages. Not that I'm crazy about cheesecake, actually I don't like cheesecake very much. But it was fun to make.

Hot from the oven.

So I finally close the chapter on my baking exploits. Till the end of the year. Maybe. :)

More photos if I can find them!

Updates 1 - Trips

I haven't been writing for a long time, but I just got sidetracked a lot. Mom went to Perth and she complained that she was bored to death. I told her why then did she go there for one whole week? *rolls eyes* And she bought me raw macademia nuts (when I specifically asked only for honey roasted ones). So what am I going to do with 1 and a half bags of nuts when they're going to expire end of this month? Mom got herself 2 bags of that too. She said her sisters all said the raw ones were better (of course they were also cheaper!). I guess I'll have to honey roast them myself soon.

Then the parents went Hong Kong & Macau after that and I was really left without any help. Parenting sure is a crazy thing. We'll talk about that later. Apparently they went to some nice high class restaurant, but they didn't enjoy a 100% of it, because there was no dim sum. The brother complained to me later that there wasn't any dim sum for dinner, and I went like huh, when was there ever any dim sum for dinner? And they ended up didn't order much because everything was like so ex. Yep, that is my brother for you. Such poor planning. *rolls eyes again*

I guess overall they had fun there, except that the parents were complaining that their hotel was so ex (holiday surcharge what, what did they expect, going during such times), and it was very crowded, and everything was very ex. *sigh* The brother who wanted to go HK to shop for stuffs ended up not able to buy anything. So what did he expect?! Quality comes with a price. My father complained that they ended up accompanying him through lots and lots of shopping but did not buy anything. Yep, that is definitely my brother. Hahaha. Good grief.

Be zen, I just listened and smile, and leave my thoughts here.

After that the parents went on a cruise. That, they had fun. I packed my son with them and he had fun too. And so did I, I'll write about that later. Yep, all the eat and sleep and casino and eat and sleep and doing nothing. And they're going again this weekend. Yep, the son is going too. *grins*

Hubby asked me if I felt guilty sending the son away like that, but I guess it's a break for both of us. He enjoyed himself and I could spend more time with the daughter. We went to have fun together and shopped together. Darn, my girl loves to shop too. You should see the way she chooses what she wants to buy. And her very pleased look when you pass her the loot in a shopping bag! Definitely like her mummy! :)

But at the end of the shopping trip, the son ended up with quite a lot of goodies. I bought him one sticker book, two pairs of chopsticks (the ones with the fingerholes), and a 'board' game. The daughter ended up with one toy phone only, and Auntie Min's present of the teacup set, which the son is now hogging it for himself. It's not that I'm being bias here, but whatever I buy for the daughter will end up with the son, and whatever I buy for the son will be what the daughter will like. LOL.

Parents are planning for more trips. China in November, Japan in Feb (CNY), maybe we'll close and go with them, and mom is planning to go somewhere in March. They have definitely been bitten by the travel bug. And me the sour grapes me who can't go anywhere will always complain to my mom that when I was still young and single, she didn't allow me to travel. Humf.

Catch up with my daughter.

Almost 14 months. Time to write a few things about her, so that I can remember what she does when she was 14 months. Heh. Yeah, I'd been lazy.

She can walk already, but she doesn't like to walk. Crawling is the fastest mode of transportation around the house.

She finishes her big bowl of porriage in ten minutes. Then she proceeds to eat her brother's food. And she opens her mouth the widest when she is fed her brother's food.

The brother, on the other hand, takes at least half and hour to finish his meal.

She can eat rice. Don't ask me how she chew them. She only has 4 front teeth on top, and 3 and a 1/2 teeth at the bottom. The half is because it came out long after the other three and is still very tiny, as compared to the rest.

She doesn't like her porriage nowadays as much as she likes our rice.

When she wears her brother's hand-me-down ORANGE pyjamas, and the brother wears his grandma-buy-from-china ORANGE pyjamas, both of them look like jailbirds who just broke out from prison. I should post a pic of them in the setup! Heh.

She can say these words: papa, mama, gorgor, jiejie, dark dark, ball, book, car, card, cart? She doesn't call her brother by name anymore. She calls him gorgor. Definitely less words than her brother. She doesn't really talk a lot. But she really understands what you say. I was quite amazed too. When I tell her to put her head on my shoulder, she knows to do it! When I ask her if she wants something, and she wants it, she'll nod her head, otherwise she'll shake her head. I'm reeling from amazement.

She likes books. From day 1, she likes books. She likes turning the pages and looking at the photos in the book. She likes playing the piano. She likes climbing up the piano too. She likes climbing up and down the stairs. She likes climbing up and down the bed. She likes playing with water especially at the fountain. She found that she can also play with water when she is being bathed, as opposed to mummy always car-wash-style-quickly-bathe-her, so she has made known her displeasure when she finishes her car-wash-style bath. She likes to swim. Kisses were fashionable for a few months, but no longer now. Morning greetings are fashionable right now. She can hold her own when she fights with her brother. She is learning that the voice can be a weapon of terror. She can get up and down the bobby car without help, but she is still going backwards on the bobby car. She is much better going out now, but she wants to shop as well, and will grab things off the shelves. She can fit her brother's lego. Not too successful yet, but getting there ... somewhat.

She is still super cute and cuddly. Happiness is when I hug and kiss her. Heh. I love her so.

The son is learning to ride a real bike. 2 wheels plus 2 training wheels. He needs lots of motivation and encouragement though. I've stopped violin lessons for him. Maybe continue when he's older. Haiz.

Me? I feel like learning the violin again whenever I listen to my cds. Just more dreams. haiz.

P.S: Now I understand what it feels like to be on autopilot when driving. Heh.

What do new moms need?

After reading this, I thought I would just write something. :)

What do new moms need? If you ask me, and I think back to when I had my first kiddo ... hmm.

Top 5 things for the mother, she'll need:

1. Electronic Breast Pump. Forget about the manual one. I was recommended the Medela one, and until now, I'm still using it. A bit noisy now and a bit creaky, and a crack on the motor part, but it's still surviving well. Heh. Of course if the mother doesn't intend to breastfeed, then don't bother with a pump.

2. Nipple cream. Putting your breastmilk on sore and crack nipples doesn't quite moisturise them, it only helps the healing.

3. Massage. Preferably hot stone massage and the therapist coming to your place. Wrap is optional. For my 2nd kiddo, it was too hot to stay wrapped. So my poor tummy is still budgling. Arrgh. The massage helped with all the tight shoulder and neck muscles from carrying the baby. And it is relaxing to have at least one hour to yourself for the massage. Mine was really good, she even massaged my blocked ducts! Better then being manhandled by those err ... lactating consultants at the hospital!

4. Bottles. Even if you are breastfeeding, you will need to express your milk and get your hubby or anyone else to do the 3am shift. I'm so fortunate that my 2nd kiddo sleeps through the night right from day 1. For the 1st kiddo, when I was a new mom, I just couldn't handle the graveyard shift. Fortunately, sometimes the hubby helped. But I still have to get up, warm the milk, prepare the bottles, express ... what a horrible memory! How did I survive!?!?!!

5. Baby clothes, baby booties, baby mittens, baby blankets, baby towels etc. Trust me on this. When it is your first born, you would want to get the softest bath towel for your kiddo, nice baby clothes, warm baby booties and mittens, and a baby blanket. Hmm, the 2nd one was sharing bath towel with us. Yikes. And she was using her brother's oh-too-big socks for booties and for a while I was searching desperately for her brother's mittens too. I remember I forgot the baby mittens for my 1st kiddo and had to desperately call my girlfriend to buy some for me. Heh heh.

:P

Masak masak

So the hubby relives his second childhood by buying lego. Lots of Lego. We now have pirate set, house set, train set, lots of star-wars and god knows what else.

Me? My second childhood is starting, since having a cute daughter gives me excuses to buy some toys for her, which the hubby didn't think the son should play too much with. But what's wrong with boys playing with cooking? Duh.

So, the kids now have 3 sets of plan toys. Fruits and Vegetables, cooking utensils and vegetable set. I plan to get the tableware set, the breakfast set, the tea set etc ... hmm, that makes almost everything! hahaaha.

Well, the kids love them so far. MM is putting all the food stuffs into her ELC pots and pans (that Min gave), and opening and closing the lid (playing peekaboo with her food!). The son is cooking stuffs for me now. All they need is a stove, a sink, an oven ... whoops.

I prefer plan toys than ELC stuffs, but I must say ELC looks good too. Maybe get the small wooden stove set from ELC ... hmmmm .....

Okie, I seriously like the dolls from The Better Toy Store, but I think my girl doesn't appreciate dolls. heh. Err, can I buy one for myself? :P

Being a mommy.

Is like being a contortionist. Feeding the daughter on one side and holding the son's hand on the other side. And the son was sleeping on his mattress on the floor. Next to my bed. I guess having done yoga twists come in handy.

The good news is that I'm starting to get the hang of bringing both of them out. By myself! This morning, after Em woke from her morning nap, I bundled both of them out. Em went into the pram, and I held on to Len's hand tightly. Together we took a stroll to the nearest LRT, then mrted all the way to Central, where I met my mom for lunch. Still too cowardy to do it without mom. Already Em was wanting to be carried by the time we reached our destination. Otherwise if she could stay quietly in her pram, it would be No Problem, Yay.

I must say that the son is getting more and more angelic day by day. He held his sister's hand and helped push the pram. When she got bored, he whipped out his Tomy cars and passed her one (so that she can start banging on the windows in the train! Duh). He smacked the chair for meimei's sake when she hit her head on the seat. heh. My darling son, already protecting his little meimei. And he alawys gets so excited when we take the train. It's becoming very nice and fun to go out with my little boy nowadays. Wanted to bring him out all by himself one of these days, but haven't got the chance to do so yet. Something nice to look forward to. :)

And just in case some pple says I'm neglecting the daughter, everyday when the son goes to school, the few hours I spend with Em all by ourselves. Sometimes we'll go wander around, sometimes I get to stay at home and play with her. Nowadays we try not to let the kids hang around at the clinic, so I've been spending too much money. Arrgh.

We've been thinking of having a third one. I think it's nice to have three. Hubby agrees too. But I really really can't get the idea of living the nine months again. And I've only just got my life back. I can somewhat fit into my nice clothes again, I'm starting to exercise, I'm starting to enjoy the time with my kids, I'm able to run and play with them, and help the hubby with his work. I might even be going back to work in one year's time. Would I be neglecting the two of them if I have one more? *sigh*

Some pple might envy the life we have. But it's not easy, having the hubby working 7 days and working till ten plus at night everyday. When I have to work, the kids will not sleep till I get home. When I'm home, I have to take care of both kids by myself. If my parents help, they will leave by eight. It's starting to get a little easier now, since both kids are getting bigger, but it would be back to square one if we have another one huh. :P

Ah well ...

Little Em sleeps like a ... boy. With her arms thrown wide open. At least bringing them out means they'll both be tired by night. Heh. The son has finally stopped coughing. I guess the pred does the trick, but everytime I have to give him pred, I feel extremely apprehensive. I hope he will be stronger. No more phelgmy coughs! Not sure if he got this one from his school or from swimming in the rain. *sigh* Let's see, on Sat, he swam in the rain. He was fine after that and on Sun he got a bit, just a tiny little bit, of runny nose. On Monday he was fine. He went to school, and when I came back from work that night, Mom told me he was coughing like crazy the whole afternoon. And it went from bad to worse, until we started him on pred on Tues. On Wed, the pred made him super hyper and jumpy. I told hubby that can we just give him a three-day course and lower the dosage? He's also on Flumicil for his phelgm. He's really much better now, almost no cough. Should I let him go to school tomorrow? They're having an excursion. *sigh* Decisions, decisions decisions. Why are kids so vulnerable?

Hubby is also slightly sick. He thinks he might have caught the H1N1 bug too. Except that it must be extremely mild. Just a bit of bodyache and chest tightness. Could also be chronic fatique, or the haze. Am getting the hubby to exercise more often and eat healthier. Sometimes it's just so worrying.

Me and my girl? Both perfectly fine! Heh heh. No bugs to worry us. I hope I don't speak too soon. Had a bad headache today, but it went away after medicated plasters, medicated oil, some massage and a nice dinner. I hope everyone in the family will remain in good health.

Eventful day

Last night's dinner was delicious. We had grilled squid from my book: Harumi's Japanese Cooking, chilli clams with celery (my style), Stir-fry caixin, and braised fish with soybeans. The last dish was cooked by my father. Soup was pork ribs with lotus shoot. Hubby was very happy with what I've cooked, and he said that I've improved since we moved in. But hey, it's only this year that I've really stopped working! And I've been looking at the cookbooks more often now. It's not easy to work full time, come home and prepare dinner and do housework! I'm still wonder how I did that all last time!

No photos. Was too hungry and tucked in immediately when the dishes were on the table. :P

Finally installed messenger on this laptop. One week without messenger makes me feel a bit wierd. Ha, one day without facebook makes me feel like I'm out of touch with the world!

Ion shopping - still exploring. Today we tried the Hokkaido ramen. Nice! But maybe that was because mom and I shared one bowl of noodles. Just in case it wasn't nice. :P More exploration next week! Is with all malls, we aren't too keen with the shops. Nothing really exciting, if you ask me. Are there anything interesting in there anyway?

A few thoughts.

30 minutes of exercise: 12 minutes on the stationary bicycle, 10 minutes on the strider, and the rest of time on the treadmill.

One packet of chili potato chips, one cup of full cream fresh milk.

I don't think I'm getting anywhere. Nope.

Am going to call in the contractor to do up some reno. Let's hope the quote isn't too much.

The son made the grandma climb up and down eleven flights of stairs the other day. All fine for the son, but the grandma has to carry the granddaughter ... ouch.

Everyone's cholesterol is high. Mine is still good. Heh. So have to cook healthier food for everyone else. Tried mushroom soup, tasted okay, but too mushroomy. And buttons are quite strong smelling. Tried celery soup. Yum!

Son went to bed without dinner tonight. He told me he was very tired and very hungry. I underestimated him, thought he would just sleep for a couple of hours and wake up for dinner. Still snoozing away ...

Too many mangoes equal one super painful tongue.

One super painful tongue can still eat chilli hot potato chips. Am I cool or what? Ouch ouch ouch ...

That's why the one cup of cold fresh milk.

Daughter's vocab has expended: dark dark when it's dark. And a lot more words which sound like what they are, but somehow still a bit off.

Nope, she isn't into Hermes. And I'm avoiding the evil duo and their Hermes. Heh. Waaaayyy to ex. Am not going back to work yet. But I will get a wallet when I go back to work!

BTW, did anyone catch the news one channel newsasia a while ago? They actually showed a penis on national television! A naked one! Dangling on a scope. For a few long seconds!

Feeling overwhelmed

Sometimes when I see all those SAHM doing so much for their kids, I feel really overwhelmed. What have I been doing for mine?

I don't know how to play with the daughter. I smile and tickle her and feed her. That's about all I know.

I don't really know how to teach my son. I'm not a preschool teacher! So stressful to teach him actually! I wonder how some people can have so much patience! So impressive! The most I do is read to him, but I should be teaching him ... teaching him to read, not just reading to him! The neighbour says if I read to them too often they may get lazy to read themselves. How true is that?

Arrgh.

Working vs not working

My brain feels like it's going mash. Don't get to gossip as much as I would like. Topics mostly centered around the kids. Don't get to dress nicely and put on make up. Listens only to children's songs and reads only children's books. Gah, when was the last time I picked up a proper book? How many times was 'The ants go marching one by one' on repeat?

The plus side is that I get to cuddle with my two kids, see them smile and laugh, play and swim with them. I don't have to wake up so early (seven is not early!), and get to take afternoon naps with them. I get to watch J and K dramas, and I must say, I still prefer J dramas! No animes for now, since nothing nice nowadays. I get to bring my girl out shopping at 10am, and there's hardly a crowd at the malls at that time!

So I packed some of the things back, I guess they don't expect me to return to work anymore. It was rather shocking to see the head looking so ... old and worn out, and I guess I don't miss the office politics and all. It's nice to be free!

Things I really ought to do: Play the piano and organise the mess at home. Things I'm starting to do: exercise more and teach the son.

In the end, maybe it's still worth it.

Shopping! So fun.

Yep, certainly is. Went to the newly opened Ion. So crowded on a weekday afternoon. So many new places to eat, but because it was so crowded, and we have two hungry kids, in the end we packed from Isetan supermarket. Ah well, gotta check out Ion again. Seems interesting. Still got the new shopping mall smell. Ahhh.

Mum and I went shopping for clothes. Heh. So fun shopping with my mother. I hope when my daugther is bigger I can shop with her like that too. Actually my girl was shopping with us too, but she was asleep in the pram. :P Son was at school. Heh.

First word

Just a quick and short post.

The daugther's first serious word was her brother's name.

Can't quite remember when she started calling him, but it should be around or after her 1 year-old birthday.

Photos when I'm less busy.

Wathcing J and K dramas. heh.

Being pleased

I'm so pleased with myself. Heh. Okie, so sometimes I whine a lot in my posts, so here's something encouraging for me. Hahaha.

1. Bought a total of four pairs of shoes during the GSS. One from Stuart Weisman, a nice orangy one, one from Tods, open-toed; then I just must walk over to Hogan, and they were having a 50% sale. How can anyone resist? Veron: quick go there too! Got a gold sandals there (was thinking of the white one, and the saleslady was soooo helpful: why don't you get both?). And the final pair was a sports running shoes from Nike.

All because the shoes I broke within the month were:
1. my pair of old Nike sports running shoes from like 10 years ago. The bottom came off while I was running, and I had to throw them in the bin.
2. My birkies (damn, not to be confused with the Birkin!). Very nice denim material. I suspect it broke because ... well, maybe because hubby liked to wear them sometimes when he was too lazy to take out his slippers! Nah .. probably because I twist my feet once too often.
3. My very well-worn white pair of sandals from ColeHann, the one I liked so much that I was actually thinking of ordering from the states when I found that they didn't have my size anymore. GOod thing they restocked. Stupid salesgirl, lousy service though.

3 pairs of shoes within a month. So I'll need to get some to replace them ya? :P

Unfortunately no more pretty red and black ballerina. *sigh* The colour was really pretty! Veron really got a good bargain for that!

Another reason for being pleased:

Finally managed to restore the password for hubby's webpage. TOok me long enough. ANd managed to fix the air-con remote controls! Thought we were going to have to throw two away, but yay! THanks to the daughter's ithcy fingers. She loves pressing on the remote controls because she likes the sound it makes. No more remote controls for her!

Other things to be pleased about:

Finally fix window grills for all the windows. Colour a bit suspect, but it's okay, curtains will cover them. Next improvement? MAybe solar film for all the rest of the windows? Or change the living room and stairs curtains? Looks like we won't be selling this lovely place for a while yet.

The daughter had a lovely one year old bday party. Was a bit disappointed as lots of my 'so-called' close friends couldn't make it, but I guess it can't be help, since it's a working day. But others turned up and it was a nice party I guess. I wished I could have had taken some nicer photos with the daughter, but as I was the one cooking the beehoon, I ended up having an oily and shiny forehead! Dear hubby also never tell me. Grrrr.

In fact, I thought it was going to be a disaster, since at the last minute, hubby needed me to work. We closed slightly earlier, went to get the fishballs and sotong balls, collect the cake, bought the chicken wings, rushed home (reached at 6pm) and I started cooking the beehoon. First guest came around 7.20pm, we actually thought no one was going to come! Started our dinner first. heh heh.

The kids had fun in the son's playroom. SO many toys to play with. I should have warned all of them that the violin is not a toy! Now have to get it tuned, and so many hair fell out of the bow! Duh. Was watching some videos for the party earlier, and it made me laughed when I saw the neighbour's kid stealing all the mushmallows from the cake right under my nose! haha. NExt time I'll have to buy him a bag of mushmallows!

I hope the goody bags were nice. Forgot to get input from my friends. Oh well. Prob the next day the kids will have thrown them somewhere. I know my son has. For all the goody bags he got in the past, and even the one I gave him. In my haste, I actually forgot to buy drinks for the kids. Last year I bought packet milo. THis year I truely forgot. Good thing some kids like green tea. hahahaha.

Been busy. PHotos next time!

Things that amused me today.

1. Man came and stood in front of counter.
Me: Yes?
Him: Locum.
Me: Huh?
Him: Locum dr from 2 to 5pm.
Me: Huh? Which clinic?
Him: XX
Me: XX clinic is down the corridor.
Duh. So super blur. Like how? I wanna roll my eyes and say something suan. Duh.

2. Pt trying to get MC although not sick. Came with friend, eating ice-cream, and conspiring outside the counter. Of course I'll 'warn' hubby first. Duh. After she got booted out, came and whine to me (and friend), so I asked her: Are you sick? no. So I advised her nicely: cannot come for mc if not sick, go tell your school that you tired never go lor. DUH. If really want to pretend to be sick, at least give a good excuse right? Stupidity level very high. I had to go back behind the counter to roll my eyes up my forehead.

3. Pt saying: I've been here before. Do I need to give you my name? DUH. Like I know the names of all the dogs and cats in the neighbourhood. Seriously trying hard not to roll my eyes in front of pt.

**Update!
Apparently the pt from 2 went into the consult room and told the dr: I'm not sick but could I have an mc please? Me jaw dropped. Think she's prob sick in her head or too stupid. No wonder got booted out. Ha.

Have evolved.

The little missy finishes her lunch about the same time the son takes to finish his cup of water. Make that say ten to fifteen minutes.

Her poo is no longer the baby poo. It's round and well formed and solid brown in colour. Looks soft and moist too. haha.

She still refuses to stand and walk on her own. Crawl is the best transportation from one place to another.

*****
Dinner tonight. Satisfaction level: high.

The fried tofu finally tasted quite decent. And it didn't splash so much in the oil. The last time I got bloody burnt by oil ... *mutter* The hint is to drain the tofu dry. Grrr. Neighbour didn't tell me that! That's why my cookbooks are good. Haha. Not that I follow any recipe from them, I just read them and get a general idea.

The pumpkin soup also tasted better than the last time. Maybe it's because I added a tablespoon of sake in it. Ran out of my cooking rice wine, so added a tablespoon of my expensive sake. Better be good!

Same for the roast chicken thighs. I think I need to change it to grilled chicken thighs! :P

Photography still need improvement. Photos still not as great as Obachan's. She's my source of inspiration! :)

roast chicken thigh.

pumpkin soup.

fried tofu with minced pork

And in case you're wondering, yep, I cooked everything myself. The maid only helped me chop the garlic, onions, potatoes, carrots, and debone the chicken. Maybe I should use a food processer to mash up the soup, but everyone kinda like the texture so far.

To self: must get a deep-fryer!

Sleepy Sunday

Those were the days when I would make dashi stock from stratch. Actually I only made it once, or was it twice? When I made chawan mushi. Nowadays I just buy ready-made dashi stock from the supermarket. Have evolved.

Am still toying with the idea of making dashi stock. Actually bought kelp and bonito flakes. But that was like more than a year ago before I was expecting my 2nd kiddo. Can I still use them? Or will I poison my friends? haha.

So I bought two more Japanese cookbooks. I think I have more japanese cookbooks than anything else. Will try making the dobinmushi soon. Looks easy. Just need the teapot. heh heh. Which I don't have. See. Got excuse to shopping again.

Come to think of it, it would be nice to have an ice-cream maker too. hahaa. Home-made ice-cream. Sounds yummy? Sure sounds good.

Am thinking of making ox-tail stew soon. My pork-rib stew hubby gave thumbs up. Parents also gave thumbs up. Then mom copied me and we also gave her thumbs up. haha. I put sweet potato, carrots, onions and tomatos and stewed it over the stove. Maybe I should consider putting the whole thing in the oven. Not sure if my coningware can fit the small oven. Time to take some measurements if I'm seriously going to do ox-tail. Heh. Hubby said that finally (after five years), I managed to cook something which my parents copied, and not the other way round. Hello, excuse me! I did quite a few things which didn't come from them too! Although most of the time I was just plain lazy. :p

Hubby just need to buy a bigger house so that I have a bigger kitchen to cook in, and he can have a basement for his home theatre, and another room for his lego display. ha. ha. ha.

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What's with the movies nowadays? It's the June holidays and there isn't anything good in the cinemas! What happened to Star Trek and Wolverine? How come there's so few selection in the cinemas? Aiyoh ... no wonder people are not going to the cinemas. Still, we had a good time watching Chronicles of Narnia: The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe with the son today. At home. Too bad, no potato chips. haha. We love the hot stuffs. The son apparently likes it too, except that he'll beg for water after that. He only takes the hot stuffs if it's unhealthy.

More on swimming today later ...

Shopping!

So I told my galfriend that I need to go back, since my fever was starting to come back, and it was almost time for the antibiotics. But I couldn't resist walking past the shop, it was on the way to the mrt anyway, and the shop was on sale!

Zoomed in, tried on the shoes again, and a few pairs more, while waiting for my galfriend to come over for moral encouragement or whatever, haha. Surprise, when one is busy shopping, one doesn't feel any pain or sickness at all.

Would have bought two pairs, except the other one did not have my size, just a little bit tight.

And I am really sick, otherwise I would have gone to Tods too.

What is up with Tods nowadays? I see so many people carrying tods shopping bags, tods bags etc. And someone a few floors down was carrying a Tods bag which I had my eye on for a while! Arrgh. No wonder Wen went upmarket and is buying Hermes now.

More shopping needed. Need to check out cookbooks at Kino, wallet? :P ... heh heh.

Now I need to recover quickly. Seems like this round of antibiotics is working slower.

BTW, Waston is more expensive than Guardian. And Unity is like $10 more ex than the other two. Hubby sure is blur though, he said that the chap was the same. haha. But the first time, he actually bought it at Guardian. I wonder. :p

And he completely misses the big green flashing light button at the entrance of the carpark. And it even says 'Press here'. He was looking at it (or rather the general direction), and tapping his fingers away. :P