Food testing

It has been a while since I had a night out drinking, and a Friday night too, no less. 2 nights ago, I decided to try out the no.1 pub in Singapore (top 10 in the world!) - Jigger and Pony. It was then that I realise that I don't have many close drinking friends.. Anyway, decided to jio Gerrie for the drinks since it was just past her birthday. Booked the 6pm slot and a sign that I haven't been drinking in a while at a pub was when I commented to the waitress "Your food menu like this only ah?". I mean, it was 6+pm, i.e. dinner time. I naturally thought I should be eating proper food to support the alcohol... That's when I remember I'm in a PUB.

But OMG, the cocktail I had (yuzu whisky something) was really GOOD. And the wagyu beef skewers were so nicely done! Gerrie was commenting that the $150 wagyu steak she had the week before definitely paled in comparison to these skewers. And the black pepper crab dip. And the bikini toast. And the mac n cheese... okok, let's focus back on the drinks. Yes, I think THAT cocktail rocks. Gerrie did pear n tonic and she felt it was very good too. Will try that next time! Oh and they did a nice gesture of giving us a small free chocolate cake with a candle as I indicated on my booking that I was celebrating a birthday.

After all the finger food, they somehow added up and we were feeling full. Walked all the way to Chinatown where I started feeling a bit sad seeing my grandma's old house. Took a train home from there, with the belief that I had lost at least 1kg (out of the 10kg I needed to lose) from that walk. My kids were still awake and running round the house when I got home around 9.30pm. That's when my LAU (life-as-usual) mode kicked back in and it was back to kids everything once again.

A lot of this weekend was focused on Isaiah doing test papers in preparation for the 1 week year end examinations starting tomorrow. During the process, I'm constantly reminded on why I cannot teach my own kids... I really cannot tolerate it when the mistakes made were obviously careless. Or when I have explained a couple of times and the kid still doesn't get it.

Today, I was planning to bring the kids to my in-laws place (as usual) for dinner after picking Elisah from gym class. However, my MIL seemed tired and Elisah irritated me so I decided to just stay home with the kids. Isaiah started crying when he realised that we weren't going down anymore and Elisah the copycat followed. Was rather annoyed that Isaiah wasn't thinking about his exam tomorrow, and instead wanting to play / watch tv at my in-laws. He's already 9 years old and should understand priorities better! Ok, I relented and let them watch a couple of educational shows on tv, and brought them to their favourite Caruso (cost a bomb) for dinner. Elisah was busy commenting on how the food rated 100 out of 100 for her. From the seafood pasta to the parma melon to the lamb chops to the dessert. Isaiah was slightly more critical and rated the bread 5 out of 10, and pasta 7 out of 10, making it 42 out of 50, or 84%. Ok, that's probably from doing a lot of test papers the past couple of days.

Now to continue preparing Isaiah for his exams, and getting myself mentally prepared for the week to come. Gotta juggle between a few different conferences and events and trainings. Argh.

Chiong ah!

So post-covid, my company continues with partial WFH as they did not want to rent enough office space for everyone to come in. With my new boss, he wants us to be in office at least 3 times a week. Ok, it's still not THAT bad. And cos Deepavali was on Monday, today (i.e. Thursday) is the only day I actually WFH. Mainly because I wanted to help my son with his P3 final exams next week! So in between all the calls, I picked him up from school and I think for the 1st time this year (and maybe last year too), he ate lunch at home after school.

It's so difficult to get him to focus on work. He's always thinking about having a break, playing minecraft, doing SLS or eZhiShi (i.e. screentime) or whatever else. No, I didn't tell him my childhood life as a gamer... and therefore making sure he doesn't become one too. Took me a lot of pain to explain how he only has a few days left to complete all the assessment papers for the entire year that he only starts now and hence he needs to CHIONG AH!! At least until end of next week.

In the evening, it was condo council duties again. For whatever reason, I became secretary?? That's after throwing out my treasurer position from the previous year. Anyway, we are now in the 2nd stage of selecting a new MA to replace the existing CMI one. We interviewed the potential candidates and one of them is actually a single mum. Fortunately for her, her kids are rather old (> 21 years old). It kinda hit me that I'm also like a single mum but with really young kids. I mean, I have to work since I am the sole breadwinner paying for everything, get groceries, fix house stuffs (from aircon servicing to silicone to wallpaper), settle all kids stuff and plan routines / holidays etc. Oh well. Back to the candidates. We had a vote to determine who we preferred. The one who works PLUS talks a lot, or the one who works and is much quieter? I decided to go with the quieter one and am glad I'm one of the majority. Cos that guy's character is probably similar to me - Work more, talk less :)

Drop 10!

Went for my health screening last week and just got the report today. Basically it was bad in a few areas, from cholestrol to liver to gall to abdomen to goodness knows what else. They all point to the same root cause though.. my BMI!! So the advice is for me to lose AT LEAST 10kg and most issues should self-resolve. Gosh, how do I even start? I didn't succeed even when I was fighting tkd last time - that's how I always end up fighting the heaviest weight category lol. I mean, I think I've been trying to lose a bit of weight for the past 20 years? 30 years? Ok, maybe I just have the thought all the time. Isn't it the thought that counts? Sighs.

So what do I do now? More resolutions for 2026. I can't just set a goal of losing X kg. I need a plan, a real proper plan that is realistic for lazy (and greedy) me. Time to chatgpt!

That fella (aka chatgpt) is really good. It came up with a rather holistic plan, from nutrition to activities to habits to tracking... it has got'em all. Honestly, I've got the pool and gym so close to my house and I never use them. The pool is pretty much just 15 steps away and the gym is upstairs. The issue is ME. And my stomach.

Maybe I'll try starting with the stomach first.. Time to stock up on yogurt and berries and overnight oats. Let's go do this! Fighting!!

Beneath the cobwebs

Maybe cos of my recent post, I suddenly had an urge to read my past blogs. I didn't know I was SO into blogging last time with frequent updates (sometimes even twice in a day??). Then I realise the value of blogging them all down.

1. It keeps me entertained for more than 24 hours (I think I can publish a decent book with all my blogs combined)
2. It brings back memories
3. It corrects my distorted memories
4. I didn't realise I was so full of energy I barely needed to sleep
5. I get reminded of my past resolutions from 20 years ago... that continue to be carried forward until today...

Yes, I should find time to restart my blogging habit. Even though I have a lot lesser personal time to do what I want to do after settling down and having kids. Those kids just take up every bit of your time. Plus there are so many other distractions now. There's netflix, iqiyi, micro-dramas, PC games (yes, still doing it...), mobile games...

Ok, new resolution for 2026 (in advance). Start blogging again, be it here or on my other blogs. It's even more important now than before cos my memory is deteriorating as the years pass me by. At least I will have my memories digitally captured here and know that I have lived.

Kick-off of SG restaurant week 2025

Once again, I'm with the kids and thinking what we should do for dinner after Elisah's gym class and Isaiah's table tennis lessons. Decided to kick-off the SG restaurant week by bringing them to Garibaldi that has a 4-course set menu of $98++ per person. Ok, I was also in a half upset mode and therefore needed nice food. Fortunately, they allowed the 2 kids to share 1 person's portion (honestly, that is still a bit too much for them). And the very nice service staff split every single course item into 2 portions for the kids! How's that for service eh?

First up was amuse bouche (not going to talk about bread sticks etc. here). It was some meatball in truffle sauce and my semi-vegetarian Elisah gobbled it up and wanted my share too! Hmph. Gave her half of mine unwillingly... it's rare she's interested in meat after all. Then they had mushroom soup scented with truffle, while I did the wagyu beef carpaccio. Mine had the colours but was a little bland on taste. Kids finished their soup before I could try...

Next up was shell pasta with prawns and broccolini in lobster bisque. I'm not a fan of shell pasta but the lobster bisque did the trick. Finished up most of my pasta surprisingly (so did the kids). Our main was the snapper loin fillet with mussels. Fish was ok and mussels were excellent! I really love fresh mussels with that tender texture.

Finally, dessert came - Mascarpone, white chocolate & pistacchio cream cake. Isaiah was too full by then so Elisah happily finished up the entire portion on her own, as did I. Nice ending to a very nice dinner, coupled with excellent service. Not sure about value for money but I think paying a premium for the service is well-deserved.