Snow

It snowed today!Lots of flakes, swirling down in the strong wind. Almost magical.. Sadly it didn't settle as it was only 5 degrees. Gonna be a cold weekend tho...

Bouquets

I've never had so many flowers in my life. I was given these bouquets after baby was born. They were from C, his secretary, his Tokyo boss, friends in Spore (thanks guys!) and my cleaning lady! There was another one given a few weeks later by some friends, but didn't get around to taking a picture of that one. So sayang to throw them away once the flowers wilted.
Did you notice a small little hand in one of the pictures? Hehehe..

Answer

With regard to the previous post, actually it's a sphere of tofu! It's encased in a plastic cover. You just cut off the tail and out pops the tofu. This one is sesame flavoured but I could hardly taste the sesame. There were other flavours too.

What Do You Think This Is?

This Is For You, Saby

Hospital Days

Some pictures from when I was in the hospital with Baby.



They had this funny contraption which was supposed to massage one's legs to aid circulation. It works like a blood pressure machine - inflates and deflates. Can't say that it felt good - I think a normal massage using hands would be better. They came in to put it onto my legs everyday for about 15 mins. Have to carefully wrap my legs with some cloth before putting on the plastic thingy.


The machine.








The meals were so beautifully laid out and decorated.






If Little Miss was around, she would gladly share my meal. See how she enjoyed it!

On another note, I wanted to take a second shower in the evening one day and was met with an astounded stare! I guess they only take one bath a day.

Posing In Her Sleep

What A Day!

Yesterday was such a drama day. In the morning i took both girls out in the double stroller that is so big it looks like a train. So tiring. We went to buy groceries, then to the playground. LM kicked up a fuss about going home, and when we reached the door and met our neighbour, both girls were yelling! Got back in thru the door, carting in sand everywhere, so I had to vaccume it up.

A while later, LM was still in a bad mood. I had to feed Baby and LM was holed up in the bedroom. I wondered what she was up to, but figured I probably didn't want to know. So I waited a little while but then started to get suspicious and worried when she still didn't materialise. I knew she was up to mischief! So finally had to carry Baby along and found LM sitting onthe floor of my room, latering her legs with cream. She had managed to reach my make up case and took out my MOST EXPENSIVE Clinique pore minimising cream which I have only used about twice! It cost me SGD 50 for a small 15ml tube and I think she used up nearly half of it! Of course I yelled!

Later that evening LM didn't want to have her dirty bottom washed, so screamed and wriggled until the whole bathroom was dirty. No photos of this!

Then as icing on the cake, she bit Baby's tiny finger, leaving tooth marks. Sigh. Such a day!

To cap it all, Baby was awake for hours last night, and LM woke up once.

Big Sister

Conversations in our house:

"Emma, don't cry, Sophie's here." starts to sing to her - the one line of the song People in our neighbourhood, from Sesame Street.

"Emma, don't scratch your face," says the girl who has been scratching a scab on her face for days so it doesn't heal.

"Emma, don't put your fingers in your mouth," says the girl who always puts her fingers in her mouth.

I asked Sophie, "Did Papa change your nappy?"
"Yes, my nappy is there, sitting on a chair." Points to the nappy on her bottom where she is sitting on a chair.

Julie Andrews Turns 69

I've always been a fan of Julie Andrews ever since we grew up on Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. Her version of this famous song is priceless!

To commemorate her birthday , actress/vocalist, Julie Andrews made a special appearance at
Manhattan 's Radio City Music Hall for the benefit of the AARP.
One of the musical numbers she performed was 'My Favorite Things' from the legendary
movie 'Sound Of Music'. Here are the lyrics she used:
> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >> > > > > > > > >
(Sing It!) - If you sing it, its especially hysterical!!!

Botox and nose drops and needles for knitting,
Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings,
Bundles of magazines tied up in string,
These are a few of my favorite things.

Cadillacs and cataracts, hearing aids and glasses,
Polident and Fixodent and false teeth in glasses,
Pacemakers, golf carts and porches with swings,
These are a few of my favorite things.

When the pipes leak, When the bones creak,
When the knees go bad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don't feel so bad.

Hot tea and crumpets and corn pads for bunions,
No spicy hot food or food cooked with onions,
Bathrobes and heating pads and hot meals they bring,
These are a few of my favorite things.

Back pain, confused brains and no need for sinnin',
Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinnin',
And we won't mention our short shrunken frames,
When we remember our favorite things.

When the joints ache, When the hips break,
When the eyes grow dim,
Then I remember the great life I've had,
And then I don't feel so bad.

She Slept Through The Night

She slept through the night on Saturday night! Wow... so nice! Last night she only woke up once (not counting when she got up at 6:45am for milk and dozed off after that) and I think I might have woken her up when I got up to go to the loo. Hopefully this winning streak continues!

Tired, Tired, Tired

I'm soooooooooooooo tired.

Couldn't sleep for hours and hours last night. Little girl la... fussing in her sleep, taking off her trousers, falling off the bed while trying to find her bolster. Finally I just left her alone and she slept till morning.
Meanwhile I couldn't get back to sleep!

Was so sleepy this morning but of course she chose to wake early and climb all over me. Now she is napping but I can't sleep! ARRRRRGGGGHHH! Maybe it's the half cup of tea I had at noon because I couldn't keep my eyes open. Maybe I'm just overtired. I so hate it when this happens. Been lying down on the bed for an hour, and I felt like I'm just getting more tired from trying to go to sleep.

I'm so going to take a sleeping pill when I can! (Ya, ya, ya... I can see all the disapproving faces, but I know what I'm doing ok; I take less than 10 pills a year, so there's no way I can get addicted!) I think sleeping pills have a very important place in medicine. Drs in Mt E used to dish them out regularly for the first night or two after delivery, and I think with good reason!

It definately helps me break the cycle of getting so tired, then too tired to sleep, then too stressed out about being too tired to sleep, and yelling at Little Miss in the meantime. One good night just breaks that cycle and I can continue to function.

But I can't take a sleeping pill now! Not with baby.... so it's tired, tired, tired for now..

Chicken Mushroom Mozzarella

C is giving the Little Miss a shower, and I can hear her singing in the bathroom a song from Sesame Street, "Oh, oh, who are the peeple in your neighbourwho". It should be 'neighbourhood', but she can't quite pronounce it. Also that's the only line that she knows!

I tried out a new dish today and it turned out pretty well. Looked up the recipe on the internet as I wanted to finish up some mozzarella in the fridge. Here it is:

Ingredients:
Chicken fillets/breast
Mozzarella, grated
Chopped garlic
Mushrooms, sliced
Sliced onion
Garlic and herb seasoning (or basil, or parsley or what have you)
Black pepper and salt
Plain flour
Stock or stock cubes

1. Heat some oil in a pan, then put in 1/3 of the garlic. Season the chicken with salt, pepper and seasoning, then add to the pan. Cook on both sides will cooked, but don't overcook.
2. Take out the chicken, put in more oil if needed then fry the rest of the garlic, onions and mushrooms until tender. Add in a tablespoon of flour.
3. Fry for a minute then add stock. Stir for a few minutes.
4. Put the chicken back in, cover and leave to simmer for about 10 mins.
Season to taste. Put the mozzarella on top of the chicken and into the sauce then cover again until the cheese melts.
5. Serve with a green salad and mashed pots.

Oiishi ne!

Different Skills

Mummy's skill: plaiting hair.





Papa's skill: Making a library.

My New Slippers

How do you like my new slippers? Ordered them from a catalog. I think they are supposed to pick up dust and water etc. Suppose they can be washed in the washing machine. Fun, huh? If you can see, they say 'Liverpool' on them! Not what I would have expected! Just that they are a bit slippery on the marble/wood flooring to wear all the time. Little girl also thought they were fun and she has been wearing them too.

Oh and someone found me a babysitter for the price I wanted! She speaks English (heck, she teaches English!), loves kids and lives nearby! Meeting her tomorrow to see if she checks out. Thank God!

About My Messy

This is about my maid or rather part time cleaner. She just comes in for 2 hours a week. Her name is Mese - pronounced "messy"! Great name for a maid, ya! Hehe..

So far I've been trying to teach her to do my ironing. But after a month of having to re-do almost every shirt that she irons, I have given up. I have showed her at least 3 times how I want it done, but she still goes ahead and does it her way. And the last time, it seemed as if the shirts - C's work shirts - were not even ironed at all! Feddap la. So finally give up. I'll do them myself. But the problem is, ironing is actually the most helpful thing she can do for me. She vaccumes the floor for an hour, and does it quite well, actually. It doesn't really need mopping as there is very little dust since we hardly open the windows or sliding doors. The windows are rather dangerous as there are no grilles. So last Thurs I got her to clean the bathrooms. I pointed out the sink and counter area and asked her to do there. Later I found out that she hadn't cleaned the sink, just the counter! Aiya... have to be very detailed and specific when giving her instructions!

The thing is that she is very nice and I feel kind of mean to be 'ngiau' and particular. Esp since she is so much older than me - she's a grandmother already. But if she doesn't do it well, I'll just have to do it all over again, and I'm paying her so much leh..

Have A Kit Kat

Shh... don't tell C, but I'm on my 4th bar of mini Kit Kat todday. Just feel like it today. I had 3 bars of caramel salt flavour - yummy. I think that's my favourite so far. C has 6 bags of mini Kit Kat in that flavour in the larder. He buys them to keep and give as gifts as the new flavours finish up really fast.

Now I'm trying the ocha or Japanese tea flavour. Not so nice. C prefers this one tho. I think the caramel salt is much better. Now I know why the Straits Times said in an article that caramel salt is so 'in' at the moment. Apparently there is even caramel salt ice cream - in Spore, that is. Hmm... I'd like to try that!

Has anyone else out there tried anything with caramel salt?

Huis Ten Bosch

Earlier this month we went down to Nagasaki and stayed at Huis Ten Bosch, which is a Dutch theme park and village. It was quite fun though it involved a LOT of walking and the weather was tremendously hot. Since Calvin took loads of photos, I will divide this into rather a lot of blog posts, so stay tuned!



The entrance to HTB.



Walking along the bridge from the railway station. What should have taken less than 5 minutes took ages as the many photographers stopped to take countless pictures.



There were a lot of museums among the varied attactions. The teddy bear kingdom was quite nice, though we had to rush through it partly because of time constraints, also because Sophie was rather scared when some of the bears started to talk and move!



There were many windmills around, some of them were actually functioning. Lots and lots of flowers too.

Rain Again

It was raining today and I needed to go out to get groceries so I decided to walk. Usually I try not to go out in the rain. I have a plastic rain cover for LM's stroller, but she tends to pull it up which defeats the purpose. Also, it's quite a feat to push her heavy stroller, carry groceries and an umbrella at the same time. Even without the umbrella, I don't really have energy to go to the store with her now.

So she got all togged up in her new raincoat (care bears picture on the back, hey not cheap you know) and I put her harness on top of that for good measure so she couldn't run away. And we set off!

She totally loved walking in the rain and the puddles. Kept going on and on, "Sophie so wet!" But she was really good and didn't try to run off which I am always scared she will do as we have to walk along a pretty busy road.

When we reached the supermarket, I noticed (for the first time) that they provide not only plastic bags for your wet umbrella, but also stacks of clean and neatly folded towels! I saw some other people using them to wipe down their wet raincoats! Wa... they think of everything! So ok, la, we also used them to wipe down LM's raincoat!

Another place where they provide fresh clean towels is at the petrol stations. While they put petrol for you, and clean your windows, they also hand you a nicely folded white towel to wipe the dust off your dashboard! The staff will even pump air into your tyres, and when you drive off, they will help you look out for traffic and stand there bowing until you leave! As I told C, he will surely miss that if we go back and he has to DIY everything again!

Red Snapper

Well, I bought a fish for last Monday's dinner. It looked a bit like this red snapper - well, it probably isn't the same fish, but I call it that cos it looks quite similar to the red snappers I used to buy occasionally in Spore. It's one of the few fish I have tried to cook here in Japan. As it's very fresh, I usually steam it and then pour over fried garlic, fried ginger and chopped coriander if I have it. Frying fish just makes my whole house smell since it's an open concept kitchen and I hardly open the windows/sliding doors.

Anyway, I bought this fish for 780yen on Monday. Little girl and Papa enjoyed it, so I thought I might cook it again on Thursday. I found another one at the supermarket and bought it. But it turned out to cost me 1800yen! That's about RM50 btw!! And it wasn't a big fish - just nice for the 3 of us! Aiyo... by the time I discovered the price, the fella had already cleaned and gutted it, so how to reject it? Why didn't I know the price in advance? Well, these fish are not prepacked, they are laid out on ice with a label - written in Jap and with the price written in chinese numerals. I have tried to make sense of the prices before, but since I can only read up to number 3, and since it's written top to bottom I can't quite make out where the Jap words end and the numbers begin! I have asked the price before, but they answer so fast, I can hardly catch the words. So since I had bought the same fishy recently, I thought it would be okay! haha...

Anyway, it did make a nice dish. C said he could taste the difference from the previous fish - said that the flesh was less compact. I shall be more cautious in the future! That's rather too much to spend on a small fish. I had to count my money that day to make sure I had enough to buy all the other things I wanted to!