Bak Kwa for Dinner?

If you've read here long enough you'll KNOW how much I love bak kwa. It's that sweet roasted pork jerky thing everyone goes crazy for at Chinese new year. Me, I just wait for people to gift me some as the price skyrockets during the festive season. 

But what happens to the shops the rest of the year when demand is so-so and no one is queueing for slices of cured pork? 

I read an article about the bak kwa business and how they actually sell other stuff that locals may not associate with their brand, mainly for export etc. 

One famous brand, perhaps the first one EVERYONE thinks of when you say 'bak kwa' (whether or not they think it's the best, I'm pretty certain it'll still be the first name out of their mouths) sells French wine, apparently. 

AND - THEY HAVE A GRILLERY. WAIT. What? 

Of COURSE I had to try it! 

There was bak kwa in everything. Almost everything. Bak kwa shops sell pork floss and fish floss too, so if it didn't have bak kwa in it, it had one of the other things. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Did BIKSS enjoy it? Yes. Would we go back? I would. For sure. Maybe not so soon, but that's a definite yes for me.

Summer Salad - Gourmet Fusion Bakkwa (pork belly / hind leg), mixed mesclun, baby radish, green apple, orange-infused watermelon. With yuzu foam - that was pumped out at the table after the dude explained our dish - and citrus vinaigrette - which was also dolloped onto our salad at the table. It was pretty posh for a bakkwa place, I thought. Then again, this is kinda the first bakkwa bistro I've heard of.

Mozzarella Katsu - Gourmet fusion bakkwa, cheesy mozzarella, housemade mayonnaise and chives. Dipped in batter and fried. Winner of the "BIKSS' favourite dish of the night" award.

Chicken Roulade - Gourmet fusion bakkwa mousseline stuffed in whole chicken leg, with sauteed baby spinach, potato mouse, Chiziban (crispy bakkwa). I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. It definitely tasted better than it looked.

Bakkwa Scone - Crispy on the outside, buttery and fluffy on the inside. They promised chunks of their Signature Bakkwa with every mouthful, and they weren't kidding. Topped with cream and blueberry jam. (There were OTHER desserts, but I mean, you KNOW how I feel about English Tea and scones right?)

It came as a set of two. I had one, and BIKSS had one, and by the end of dinner - which didn't seem like very much, we've definitely had more substantial(-looking) meals - we were both well on our way to food-induced comas.

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In other updates - the mother has been eating like a little pig. I'm happy that her appetite is on an upward trend. I suspect it has to do with the better sleep she's getting. 

Thank goodness for no more waking-ups and wandering in the middle of the night. She still does talk in her sleep, but not for extended periods of time, and not every night. 

Yesterday I took her to the store where I had gotten those caviar chips, so that she could be out and about, BUT at the same time I didn't want to end up overstimulating her. I decided to take a chance and go anyway since the shop is in a very uncrowded mall, we have a direct bus to it, and it was likely we would buy so much stuff  we'd end up cabbing home, which would be quick (and quieter than the bus) and easy. 

I was right. It WAS quick and easy. And the mother seemed to have enough of a good time despite it being a really short outing, AND it didn't make her more confused / delirious after.

Mum has always loved going shopping so it's really awful that the Covid situation and her sensitive mental state are preventing her from getting her regular mall fix. I was glad she enjoyed herself AND was interested in picking out her own snacks - not too long ago she started becoming disinterested in anything food related. So this is progress! She ended up getting some chocolate marshmallow tea cakes, cupcakes, prawn crackers, a vanilla cereal drink, hot cocoa, chocolate Quaker oat drink, and ginger snaps. While I had a good time picking out more potato chips! Our caregiver's birthday is today so it was kinda a free pass for her to go crazy too. 

"Alright kids, go wild. I'm paying", I declared.

LOL. She got herself some snacks, coffee, tea, cookies; basically, MORE stuff that she could share with the mother - who is constantly munching, I'm told. "As long as there's food on the coffee table, she'll put it in her mouth", my caregiver tells me.

For lunch today I ordered some croissants from Starbucks - mum wanted both the egg mayo and the ham & cheese, so we cut them up and she had a half-and-half. Then she had a third of my chicken turnover. For someone who couldn't even finish 3 spoons of cooked oats, this is a HUGE change.

After her physiotherapy session in the afternoon we had a simple sing-a-birthday-song-blow-out-a-candle-on-a-slice-of-blueberry-cheesecake celebration for our caregiver. Mum enjoyed that cheesecake too.

These days she's only got good things to say about her food, which is very very different from the mum who wouldn't eat just a couple of months ago. My boss is quite surprised. I showed him a photo of her munching on some ice cream. His very abrupt but very succinct proclamation - Old people eat, good. 

I do apologise. We weren't going for grammar. But you catch his drift right? 

My chip pic today ~ 

[Edit - if you're in the UK and are interested in trying some Bakkwa, have a look HERE. 

There's a US site selling it too.]

A Simple Poke

 ... bowl to share for dinner.

Quinoa and romaine 1/2 and 1/2 as our base, corn, cucumber, pickled beetroot, jalapeno & sweet onion relish, limed avocado, sweet potato mash, and wakame seaweed for toppings, sous vide chicken for our main, and furikake and tobiko for garnishings. 

Today's chip pic ~

Inessence by Rubio - Black Caviar

I found a Canadian site that sells it for almost $8. I got mine for about 2 bucks at the dollar-snack-shop. And I'm definitely going to get more if I'm around the area again!

I haven't tried this flavour - it's sitting in the pantry - but I did try the honey mustard one as seen on this UK site - and it was good!

If you're in Greece, try THIS site.

I can't seem to find a seller in the US but I suppose if you're stateside you'll probably get better hits off your search engine than I will. 

Where do they get off...

thinking that they have a right to tell me I should be writing only BDSM-related stuff? 

On my last post an anon user left a comment saying they think I've lost the plot and is this a BDSM blog or a cooking blog? 

1) does it look like I'm cooking? 

2) did I say it was a BDSM-only blog? 

3) nobody held a gun to your head and made you read here. 

[EDIT - from this point forward any comment I DO NOT LIKE will be deleted and not published. The only reason I left the comment in question on my blog was so I could address it via a reply as well as in this post. And now that I have made my declaration, I shall no longer publish idiotic comments.]

Moving on... 

Having said that... I'm curious about what bits of my blog you enjoy. 

Leave a comment letting me know what you like, what you're not particularly thrilled about, and what you'd like to see more or less of. 

It could be content related (more food, less plants), it could be style (love pics, not so many words please) it could be snoopy (if my life sux you'll maybe feel better about your life), it could be knowledge expansion (wanna know about snails but too lazy to look it up), or just my personality (more wit and humour and snark please, less touchy feely stuff... ugh). 

Today's chip pic ~

Dinner and Divine Intervention

When the orange jasmine is as good as dead.. and then new leaves appear. 

That's divine intervention.

[Edit: Here's what it looked like when it was alive and well - so you know, I do kill 

(or almost-kill) my plants too. But they're tenacious things. Some of them, anyway.]

When the hibiscus flowers despite a week of rain and overcast skies. 

That's divine intervention. 

And when BIKSS and I both happen to be well and everyone is stable and calm, that's DINNER DATE TIME!

Grilled pork skewers

Stir fried veggies

A deep fried seabass - it was impossible to get a pretty picture. This fish has got to be the most unphotogenic thing I've ever eaten! And it didn't taste awesome either. But there was a decent amount of it. And by the end of dinner we were full!

My chip pic today ~ 

They're called prawn crackers. I like the stick version better - easier to eat, and feels like I'm munching on fries. Only, they're super crispy and crunchy and I love them! 

Have you tried these? Let me know what you think of them if you have. 

Valentines Schmalentines, Fun Puns and Updates from Around the House

BIKSS has come down with a fuzzy throat and he's feeling under the weather again. The fact that we're seeing 10k plus new cases daily isn't helping everyone's morale. So far he is still negative.

Hospital beds are getting snatched up by the thousands each day. We're headed for a crisis if you ask me, but everyone is so casual about the omicorn variant it's scary to think it could blow up even bigger than it has. 

Mum has officially gotten 'discharged' with a memo sent by the health ministry. My caregiver will have to wait till tomorrow before she is officially allowed to leave the house. 

They still have to both test negative before entering the hospital tomorrow afternoon if they are to attend mum's physio session. 

I'll have to call them and update them when I know the results of their a.r.t. I am also supposed to have a kid coming in for lesson tomorrow afternoon. I've told the mum I will update her as well. I don't want to expose anyone to this. Getting sick is one thing, passing it to 10, 50, 100 people is another. 

👄👄👄👄👄

Tomorrow is also Valentine's Day. Obviously no one here is going on a date. It'll be crowded, expensive and risky. 

Not to mention I don't think either of us should be meeting the other until everyone is Covid-free, we are a.r.t negative for at least 2 weeks, and neither of us is feeling sick-ish. 

That leaves us with, um, maybe a date in March. LOL. We'll celebrate it along with his birthday that was a week and a half ago. 

But aside from Valentine's Day there is also Galentine's Day. It's celebrated on the 13th of Feb so I guess this is me wishing all my blogging gal pals HAPPY GALENTINE'S DAY. 

"The best thing about Galentine’s Day is that it was created by a fictional character: Leslie Knope of Parks and Recreation. In 2010, the second season of Parks and Rec included an episode called “Galentine’s Day,” in which Leslie gathers a group of her closest gal pals for a brunch full of waffles and love."

I mean, gal pal love and waffles??? I'm in!

But what if you wanna hang with a guy pal, or if you're a guy and well, "galentine" isn't for you? Don't fret. There's always Palentine's Day. It is also celebrated on the 13th of Feb so I'm wishing my NON-gal blogger pals HAPPY PALENTINE'S DAY!

👄👄👄👄👄

I've been sitting on these for a bit, I guess I should share them or else they'll just get mouldy by the time I get round to it. 

(And if you, like me, enjoy music-related things, try Byrdle - it's like Wordle but with a choral theme.)

Heh. Heh heh. I really liked this one. 👆

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH BOTH OF THESE. Reading the news makes me irritable. The amount of stupid in the world is mind-blowing. I realise I should be used to it by now. But it still surprises me. 

👄👄👄👄👄

Mum has been hooked on magic-related TV shows. It's a good thing we found something she enjoys so as to kill the time she has to be stuck indoors. She has watched the reboot of Charmed (3 seasons) and is currently going thru Merlin (from 2008). I enjoyed it when I watched it a decade ago, so I'm glad she's also finding it entertaining. There are 5 seasons so she'll have plenty to distract her. 

Meanwhile I'm on season 2 of A Discovery of Witches. I like the premise, I don't like the main actress - I think she's over acting and doesn't seem to be doing justice to Matthew Goode who plays the character opposite her. (And she has the worst American accent. I get that she's Australian, but seriously.) I DO like Matthew Goode - yeah yeah, that tall lanky type. My friend thinks he'd make a good Bond. I think he'd make a good bonk. But only if he smells nice. The problem with LOOKING at eye candy is that I worry (unnecessarily so, but still I worry) that they'll end up not smelling good. 

Can I just say again how I love that BIKSS always smells good? Mmmmmm. Nothing beats that clean, crisp scent of laundry detergent and fabric softener LOL. Dettol is good too. And so is bleach. I think I have a sickness. 

But back to TV.  You can watch the trailer HERE or click on the video below-

And while looking for that trailer I decided that I shall give Scandal a go. Why not right? I mean, I should be doing my module videos on Understanding Dementia but TV is so much more exciting. 

Ok that's not entirely true. I am enjoying what I call my dementia videos. If basic brain anatomy is something you're interested in, maybe you will too. 

You can read more about it here. It's another MOOC in the same series as the one I did last year on Preventing Dementia. I told my caregiver about it and she has also signed up! It'll be good for her to have this under her belt, I think. Practical knowledge is always a plus, but more importantly she'll have an additional qualification for future employment opportunities. 

Oh, and speaking of caregiver, mum slept thru the night again last night. We are happy that her new medication schedule is working well. Most nights she gets up maybe once, sometimes twice, but some nights she manages to sleep right through. My caregiver jokingly addressed me as "Doc" the whole morning. She also thinks our geriatrician is a quack and that I've managed (with the help of my boss) to do a better job at solving mum's sleep issues. 

Today's chip pic ~ 

(I really could do with some french fries ...)

Short and Sweet. A Surprise.

I came to Blogger an hour ago intending to put up a post. I got stuck jumping from blog to blog and reading and leaving comments. 

So all you get now are some pics. 

BIKSS came by to pick up some antihistamines for his hives. 

I left them outside beside the fittonias. 

He said he had something for me so I peeped thru the door when he got here, because I didn't want to pass anything to him, I mean, just in case right? And had him leave the parcel by the front door before I shooed him back into the elevater.

I found these in the bag.

One parcel contained a table-top globe I had asked for last Christmas. I totally forgot all about it so it was a fantastic surprise. My geography sucks. You don't know HOW badly it sucks. As a joke we thought I might benefit from having one of these. And then it actually began sounding like a seriously good idea the more we talked about it. So ta-da! It spins and it tilts. It's adorable.

The other box contained a black mug. Only, I figured it had a pour-hot-water-to-see image. I held it up under the lamp and could sorta make out the pony, but not the details. So I ran into the kitchen to make myself an orange tisane. It's adorbs! Perfect for cheering me up this week!

My chip pic today ~ 

Fine they're not quite chips. As in, not crisps. But they count as chips, as in fish-and right? Only they're waffle cut. And loaded with other stuff. 

I must be hungry. I could go for some of that right about now. 

Since I'm Stuck At Home

...babysitting the two C+ patients and making sure they're ok, I have been catching up on my movie watching. What else am I supposed to do cooped up in my room all afternoon right?

(Shoutout to the team who's doing an awesome job calling me 3 times a day to check in on mum. Also, our system is pretty thorough I will say - talk about putting taxpayers' money to good use! Over the last 3 days I :

-got an SMS about mum's positive result, 

-had to fill in a form listing all the people living in the same house, 

-got a follow-up call from one of the health ministry people checking on mum's symptoms and asking about pre-existing medical conditions and informing me of the appeal he would submit on my behalf for mum to stay home instead of being moved to a hospital / treatment facility for closer monitoring since that's what I wanted given her almost non-existent symptoms PLUS the fact that she has dementia / delirium etc., 

-managed to get a home-recovery agent on the line real quick when I needed to check on whether my caregiver had to fill in the same form cos I had already been named on mum's form, 

-received a close-contact alert SMS informing me I should stay vigilant, and I am to do an antigen test at home and submit that result within the next 2 hours, and also that I have to take a test each morning (and be negative!) before leaving the house for the next 7 days - those results do not have to be reported,

-received an SMS that our stay home appeal has been approved and that mum should fill up an electronic Letter of Undertaking stating that we have opted for home recovery instead of going to a hospital / treatment facility, failing which an ambulance will be despatched to our registered address to convey the patient to more suitable medically-equipped premises,

-got a whatsapp message from the Tele-med service provider giving us details of how to contact them should we need more medication or a virtual medical consult, 

-got a call from said Tele-med doctor in the evening checking up on mum, checking up on how I'm monitoring mum, and advising me to keep an eye on heart rate (not above 100), O2 (not below 95) and to call an ambulance immediately if she experiences breathlessness or chest pains,

-received another SMS informing us we could collect free a.r.t. kits from vending machines located around the estate so as to administer home tests (for the patients, not for me) beginning on day 4 onwards, and if at any point before or on day 7 a negative test is had, then quarantine is deemed lifted and that test result should be submitted. If not, then it is officially lifted anyway regardless of test result on day 8. 

I. Am. Impressed.)

But back to my point  - movies. (Title links take you to official trailers on Youtube.)

So far, Solo - A Star Wars Story - Not bad. Way better than the last 3 in the main Star Wars franchise. Dragon mama was a surprise - I didn't know anything about the movie. 

The last of which I also just watched. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (IX). Horrid chemistry. Overacting. Bad guy turned good. Pfft. They really should have just quit while they were ahead - which for me means after Return of the Jedi.

Change of Habit - Elvis anyone? And a young Mary Tyler Moore. What's there not to love? I can't say I love the music in the film, but it was SO lovely to watch an old Elvis film. I remember watching them on TV as a kid.

And now I'm on An American in Paris. I'm not a huge fan of Gershwin, and I don't particularly enjoy his brand of jazz, but dammit he's good. I'm more impressed with Oscar Levant's killer piano skills tho. He's wild!

What are YOU watching these days? 

My chip pic today ~ 

To Comment or Not to Comment

Sooooo it's not the first post to talk about reasons for blogging and fellow-blogger interaction and comment etiquette - if there is such a thing. 

But Bonnie's post inspired me to leave a comment there and midway thru' I realised that even if someone read my post and didn't have anything post-related to write, a "Hello, I was here" would still be a lovely thing to see. 

I understand, as I am also guilty of this, that sometimes you might read and not write anything because you may not have anything relevant / of import to say regarding the topic of the day. 

I mean, I write about Plants. Food. My Mother. Surely there are readers who do not know about plants, food, or mothers.😏. And so they read and don't leave a comment that day (I assume). Or, well, you know, ever. And I cannot expect everyone to know what a plant is, or what purpose food serves or how mothers came to be. So surely there are those who will just be passing through. 

But if you're ever here and want to leave a comment but don't know what to say, just say "Popping in to say Hi," and that will suffice. I don't need to enter into a meaningful discussion in the comment section. I just like having people say Hello. 

My question to other bloggers is - Do you feel the same way? If your post that day asks for captions (KD, I'm looking at you) or if you've written something about an illness (and I have had no experience with it either first, second or any hand), or perhaps you've drawn something, shared a pic, or written a poem or otherwise produced something which might fall into the "creative" category, and I don't connect with it, would you prefer I leave a "Hello, stopping by to say I was here today" comment? Or would you rather a reader didn't mar your comment wall with irrelevant (to the post) text?

(Don't be surprised if you see just a Hi and/or a "Like", or maybe a thumbs up 👍 on your posts.)

Leave a comment letting me know. Or not. You could just leave a smiley face emoji. I don't really care one way or the other. But it would be nice, since you came round, to just say hi. Like how you wave or smile when you pass a friend on the street, you know? I mean, YOU DID CLICK ON MY BLOG. ON PURPOSE. TO COME SEE WHAT I WROTE. 

Ahem. Was that too loud?

Ok, leave a comment. 

My chip pic today ~ 

(I've been watching Ocean's Eleven)

C+

That's the abbreviation we use in the clinic for Covid-positive cases. 

And now I have two. I was on the way to work this morning when mum's caregiver tested positive with our home antigen rapid test (a.r.t.) kit. I rang my boss who told me to get the caregiver to take herself and mum to the doctor, and tell them this and that and eventually he just said, "Why don't you just go back and take them to the clinic? You need to inform the doc of your mum's condition, their living arrangements etc. And if the caregiver is positive and mum is negative then she will be shipped off to a care facility so you'll have to stay with mum anyway. If mum is also positive they might BOTH be shipped out to a treatment facility (cos mum is considered an at-risk patient due to her age and other pre-existing conditions), in which case I will try and get them transferred to our hospital." (The clinic I work for is part of a group that runs a hospital too.)  

So I came home, took them both to the nearest swab-available GP for confirmation (who will then alert the health authorities and they will become part of the country's official count lol) where they both tested positive. 

BUT since they're showing very mild (caregiver) / almost no (mum) symptoms, they were sent back and are under what is called the Home Recovery Protocol - stay isolated if possible, do not leave the house, test at home with the a.r.t. kits again on days 5, 6, and 7, and if the test is negative on any of those days, they're ok to escape quarantine resume normal activities. If not, then by day 8 (next Monday) they are free to leave the house regardless of test result as they would have been deemed non-contagious by then.

I tested negative today and will be allowed to go about my normal business as long as my a.r.t. comes out negative each morning. 

They have run of the living room, kitchen and bathroom / WC (I only have one WC and bath anyway) so I shall be masking up while at home except when I'm hiding out in my own room where I have decided to spend my time except for pees, poops and showers. Oh, and food.

Needless to say, this means that I shall not be meeting BIKSS for at least a week, so I guess we're going to have to postpone his birthday day-out and celebration again. I jokingly said to him when he came down with his tummy bug that we'll celebrate it in March. It looks like that might not be too far from the truth after all.

I also contacted all the relatives who came to visit over the CNY holiday and informed them to be vigilant. I sent some a.r.t. kits over to my aunts and uncles for them to conduct their own tests but I'm assuming the cousins (who are younger and gainfully employed) will be able to sort themselves out. The health ministry has distributed these kits to every household too so everyone has access to at least 2 kits but I thought I would just send extras in case they had already used up their government-issued ones. 

And now, TV. Because I'm not doing anything else today. Mum's taking a week off physio. I'm taking a week off piano classes. We'll see what happens tomorrow morning cos tomorrow's a.r.t will determine if I go to work or not. 

Today's chip pic is chocolate ~ cos that's what I need right now.

Sewing So So

My Shein top came. I sized up cos I didn't want the tank to be hugging my belly. 

Way too big at the armholes. The belly / hip part was great tho. Not tight, just nice. So that part at least went according to plan. The sizing information did NOT get the measurement around the bust correct tho, so I had to do something stat if I wanted to wear this the next day (CNY, red, auspicious, guests visiting... you get the picture).

So I stayed up and sewed in the two sides. Not too bad a job considering I know next to nothing about sewing AND I stitched it by hand. 

Just goes to show what you can do if you put your mind to it! LOL. 

(It was either that or send it back and wait for a refund, which I didn't want to do cos too-much-trouble!)

My chip pic today ~ 

... is another video showing how to make kuih bangkit. It's a melt-in-your-mouth cookie made from sago flour and flavoured with pandan leaves and coconut cream. This is another one of mum's favourite CNY treats. As far as we're concerned, a good bangkit cookie should be firm enough to lift into the mouth without risk of crumbling, and once in the mouth it should stand up to that first bite which will break the cookie into 2 or 3 pieces. At which point it should melt almost instantly into wonderful wonderful goo. Sometimes it's too brown, sometimes too pale. Sometimes too hard, sometimes too crumbly. But once in a while you get a tub of perfect bangkits and then it's heaven on your tongue!

 👈 This is a good colour!

 

Food and Tigers

My beverage options last night were this or water. I haven't tasted beer since that first trip to HCMC 3? 4? years ago... so non alcohol beer it was. 5. It was 5 years ago. Le sigh. 

Meh. It's ok. My friend whose house we were in was desperately trying to get rid of this stuff so I assisted by drinking two cans. 

💧💧💧💧💧

A variety of pineapple tarts on the first day of CNY. There are 2 more bottles that are yet unopened but this was the sample plate my cousin was taste-testing. He's a tart fiend so he was happy to give me his opinion. 

The verdict - the one on the bottom was his favourite!

💧💧💧💧💧

Some buah keluak and chicken fillet in a tub ready to be shipped off to the sister's for reunion dinner on the eve of CNY. It is typically more watery and made with cuts of a whole chicken, but in the interest of easy (less messy) transportation and healthier eating, I decided on a drier version with just a couple of chicken thighs and a lot of chicken inner fillet instead. I also used the flesh of the nut without the shell cos it's a lot easier to eat without having to dig it out of the shell. 

Depending on the family's recipe, it could be a soup or a stew, be liquidy or thick, have lots of liquid or be very dry. It can also be anywhere between yellow-brown to black. A search on the web threw these up - and they're all legitly buah keluak looking to me. The one that most closely resembles my mum's version is the first one on the left in the top pic - 

💧💧💧💧💧

There were many tiger themed CNY greetings flying all over the messaging apps, but this one was my favourite. Can you name all the tigers? 

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Amidst the festive madness I found time to chuck a bowl of Marks and Spencer lentil stew in with some cooked mixed quinoa for those times when I need a quick and easy meal.

And for tonight's dinner : Leftover cooked barley, frozen shrimp and Wattie's stir-fry mix veggies in a gravy made from a paste consisting of shallots, candlenut, belacan (shrimp paste) and chilli (we call it Ti Tek, and is a familiar flavour in Peranakan cooking - I have little tubs of this pre-made paste in the freezer) + Nuggets that came from the freezer and browned in the oven.

And that's what I cook and eat for sustenance when I'm not out at a restaurant somewhere on a date with BIKSS. :D

Today's chip pic is a video - 

We call these love letters - directly translated from Chinese it reads as 'egg roll' but is quite different from the deep fried eggrolls you get in the West. They're probably more closely related to the Indonesian Kue Belanda (or Kue Sepit / Kue Semprong).

I remember being very confused watching American TV shows as a child when the characters would order eggrolls from a Chinese restaurant for dinner, and I'd be like - Why are they eating Chinese New Year treats for Dinner??? 

Watch this - it comes out of the mold soft-ish but hardens and gets crispy as it cools. This is one of mum's favourite CNY treats!

(I figured this would be a great time to share some of our CNY foods with you!)

Update - I'm Alive ... Just Tired As Heck

BIKSS had a birthday this week. He also got a bug on his birthday. So he's at home sleeping it off right now. We were supposed to make a day of it today but I went to work and had a class in the afternoon instead since he isn't in any fit state to do anything except sleep. 

Don't worry, it's not Covid. It's not even respiratory system related. He has a viral tummy bug. 

I feel funny saying that cos you know, there's no such thing as a stomach flu or gastric flu. There's gastroenteritis. A stomach ache is usually down in the intestines. Not in the stomach. An ache in your actual stomach would be a gastric pain. But ok, we've all been taught that if it hurts up top it's gastric and if it hurts at the belly button it's a stomachache / tummy-ache. It's all very confusing. But yes, so he has viral gastroenteritis, to be exact. 

It's been going around recently, so I'm not too surprised. 

💙💚💛💜💓

Meanwhile, I've had a tiring couple of days cooking and hosting visitors. I've also had to deal with an over-stimulated mother who had a delirious episode on Wednesday evening. I made sure to keep things quiet and calm on Thursday and in some awesome news - SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT! HURRAY! 

I changed the timing on her meds, and this new regime seems to work best. So far she's had two nights of complete no-somnambulism-sleeps in the last 7 days. I am hopeful. 

💙💚💛💜💓

Here are some pics of what's been going on. 

First, while browsing on the Shein app during our last waffle encounter I showed these to BIKSS and ended up purchasing a couple of tees. 

That face! 

In honour of the year of the tiger!

💙💚💛💜💓

Speaking of CNY, this is what the inside of a lapis looks like - 

Yes, you spread a layer of batter, then pop it into the oven, 

wait for it to cook, take it out, spread another layer of batter. Repeat.

💙💚💛💜💓

Here's a picture of the nanouk with a tiny shoot I promised - when I first discovered it, and again about 4 days later - 

I'm happy it's growing. It'll probably never flower again (given that I don't get 

direct sun of any kind) but the foliage is very pretty even without the flowers. 

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I've gone back to work. We had two days off for Chinese New Year, and both days I was so tired I ended up napping in the evenings. And then felt like my limbs were made of lead when I woke up. 

Being back at work has been good for my health LOL. I'm at least feeling alive again, and definitely not as exhausted as I'd been the previous couple of days! 

Today's chip pic is not a chip pic. But it's one of my favourite CNY snacks~

It's known as prawn roll, or prawn spring roll, or hae bee hiam roll...

First some hae bee hiam [say hay/bee/hee-um] (or sambal udang kering in Malay) is made with dried shrimp, then gets rolled up into mini spring rolls and fried. 

It's strong in flavour, crunchy beyond belief, and just spicy enough that you want to keep going so the heat doesn't sit in your mouth too long without new food getting introduced. One of things I find about chilli-ed foods is that if you keep eating it's not as bad as letting the heat sit in your mouth with nothing else going in there!

THIS Wikihow page that teaches you how to make hae bee hiam has pictures and instructions if anyone wants to be adventurous. 

THIS Wiki page tells you all about the dried shrimp used in the making of the hae bee hiam. 

And here's a video showing you how to make this yummy thing. It might help you imagine what it tastes like... maybe. LOL.  Bon appetit!