Time to Change the Header and Birthday Eats

Every year around my birthday I tell myself I have to change that darn thing up there with the brief of who and what we are. I think I'm going to do away with the numbers altogether. At this point, it really doesn't matter. 

The updates so far - 

I've decided NOT to buy snacks and cookies for my home this CNY. It's too much money wasted on unhealthy food. I WILL, however, accept gifts of Bak Kwa (sweet bbq pork jerky slices) because that's one of my favourite things. So instead of shopping for myself, last night we bought some CNY treats for a dear dear friend of mine who has recently found herself in the same position I was in when faced with being the sole caregiver of a very elderly and care-needing mum. We dropped the bag off and surprised her with a text to let her know there was a delivery for her out front! 

Healthwise, I am still dealing with that subscapularis tendonitis. But it's less painful and I'm just learning to be patient while it heals. Thankfully the TMJ has been good. No clicks recently. 

In projects, I am on a mission to shamelessly ask for donations so that I can send stuff to the people in the Philippines who were hit by the last typhoon and are still trying to recover from it. My caregiver has a friend who hails from one of the provinces that were devastated by the waters. I'm going to send a box of clothes and sheets and school supplies and whatever else we take for granted on a daily basis to help them get by. (I hope to make this an on-going thing...)

In money, we're looking for opportunities to amass more precious metals to protect ourselves from whatever effects a certain new president's annonucements might have on the world economy when he takes office. I'm shocked at how quickly gold prices are rising. The maple coin we got was almost a hundred bucks cheaper a couple of weeks ago. 80USD up in a fortnight is scary shit. And he hasn't even been sworn in. (I also intend to make gold collection an on-going thing...)

I have begun my CNY lapis baking days. Today was day 1. I have 14 more bake days to go. But I'm taking it easy and doing no more than 1 batch per day (2 cakes per batch) unlike before when I would cram in 6 / 8 cakes per day. I'm not taking any personal days from work to do this, so it'll just be a slow and easy post-work bake until the 3rd of Feb, with some breaks in between.

In dining, we enjoy the snacks at this Vietnamese place near the gold dealer we go to. But the menu IS rather limited if one is not keen on having rice or noodles. We have just about exhausted all our options on the starter / sharing / snack pages now.

We also tried a slightly fancier restaurant last night which had Crab Bee Hoon on their menu! It was pretty good.

Anti clockwise from top left - 

1     Fruit platter sans pineapple
2     Tahu Goreng

(literally fried tofu - beancurd)

3     BUT this one had bits of stewed turnips stuffed into it - 

and I enjoyed it even tho I'm no fan of tofu (bottom right).

4     A variation of the popular Crab Bee Hoon from Singapore

5     And finally, a chef salad.

I might suggest this place to my ex church mates who are planning a meet up next month. 

In birthday news, the feasting has begun. I've met up with a couple of groups to celebrate the January birthdays... and there's one more coming up this Saturday.  This set is from a group that hadn't seen each other (not all 5 of us together anyway) in about 30 years. Of the lot, there was one lady in attendance whom I actually hadn't met in person at all in that entire time! 

There was a lot of meat on the table. This is just a part of it.

I also went for a dim sum dinner last week with another Jan baby and Betty, who bought us both dinner! And then we had waffles. Yum Yum. 

All this eating is dangerous... which is why I'm being very careful NOT to gorge. Just eat what you would usually eat, I keep telling myself, you don't have to EAT MORE just cos you're celebrating. One big feast might be ok. But if one is having a SERIES of birthday dinners... then they'd better just be 'regular' sized dinners. 

With more and more people dying unexpectedly (about 5 last year that I know of) at the not-yet-ripe age of anywhere between 30 and 60, a lot of my friends / groups have been more active in making obvious efforts to organise meet ups that I'm happy to say have actually come to fruition. That and the fact that I am AVAILABLE to go out and meet people (now that I'm not tied down by caregiving responsibilities) is giving my social calendar a right good workout! 

I'm busy! And actually have things to do and places to be on the weekends BESIDES work (which I still do, on Saturdays and some Sundays).

The plan for moving ahead with life is well underway. I am starting the year happy and fulfilled and I hope it's a sign that the rest of the year will be just as full and satisfying! 

(It's not quite my birthday yet but there's no law against starting celebrations early, right?)

My Year of Black and Gold and Going Places

We're planning a trip to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of La Vang, about 58km west of Hue, Vietnam. If everything goes according to plan, it'll be happening second week of Feb. We plan to get back into Ho Chi Minh a day before the trip ends so that we can shop a bit at our favourite markets there.

If everything continues to go to plan I might tag along with BIKSS to Thailand when he heads there in March for another work trip! Looking forward to visiting the Cath Kidston Teahouse again! Mmmm such delicious scones! But that's a ways away yet.

My current obsession is gold. And since I've always loved earrings, I figured if I'm going to spend money on shiny ear ornaments, may as well make 'em gold. At least they'll be worth something when I'm old and grey. The result of my quest for sparkly baubles is two pairs of earrings, one an 18k mixed yellow and white gold pair off Etsy, and the other a 24k yellow gold teardrop from a reputable jewellery chain where I live. 

On the actual gold front, I've also been wanting to get a 5g bar of investment gold, but was planning on waiting for some of my cash deposits to mature mid-Jan before doing so. 

However BIKSS reminded me that the last time Trump took office gold prices jumped. And advises against waiting too long. 

He has recently become interested in gold as well, so we went to my bullion shop of choice last week for him to pick up a bar. And then he bought me one by way of a Christmas present! I love it!

Anyway, he's going to spot me some dough before it's too late, so that we can buy more this Friday. And when my funds come rolling into my bank I'll return him the moola. With time deposit interest rates dropping 30% I've decided to take a larger than previosly intended portion of that cash out of the bank and put it into a Canadian Mint Maple Leaf coin. And before you tell me that coins cost more than bars, this one is only 1.9% over spot, making it cheaper than all the other options right now because, like every retailer in the world, my bullion trader is not unaware that they, too, need to dangle promotional prices in front of their clientele to entice people to buy more stuff.

Since I looked at prices 3 days ago it's already gone up a little bit. I only hope it won't hike up too much before we manage to get our pieces on Friday.

The other thing I've decided to do is just forget about all that fashion advice I've been hearing about re: stepping out of your comfort zone and trying out colours in your palette etc. I know I'm comfortable enough with some of the more neutral offerings in my autumn palette, but dammit, I've found myself staring at the wardrobe in the mornings more times than I would like, holding out a top and thinking why didn't I get this in black instead! I have since remedied that. These are some of my latest adds.

1. Flare fit V-neck top. Had it in White & Forest Green. And now I have it in Black.

2. Sleeveless V-neck top. Had it in Dusty Blue & Olive Green. And now I have it in Black. 

3. Knit top. Had it in Beige. And now I have it in Black.

4. Cotton tank. Had it in Camel. And now I have it in Black. 

Plus 2 bonus tops not previously owned in a different colour. 

A very decent one that I could wear for work, or to more conservative events... 

and another for fun date nights! 

Oh, and because I've always thought knits look just a little bit more dressy, I got me two knit tops. Not in black. Cos they didn't have THIS one in black.

And cos this one looked better in the beige.

I've also been on the lookout for a leopard bag, so I picked this up for 1/3 the original price on sale!

And because I don't have a pair of actual button up long black trousers, I got myself a pair. 

And those were my 10 pieces for under a hundred bucks. I think it might be something like 60-70 USD for the lot. Not a bad haul, I must say. It should last me the whole year. I don't intend to spend money on clothes and bags and skincare/makeup this year. Unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. I just have way a lot of this shit and I don't really need more. 

UNLESS I'm on holiday. That's the only caveat. In my defence, I only buy stuff when I'm on holiday if it's terribly cheaper than back home, or if it can't be got back home. And those are pretty good reasons imo. 

And so begins my 2025. 

I shall be baking like there's no tomorrow come mid-Jan as the Lunar New Year (or Chinese New Year aka CNY) comes earlier than usual (end Jan iso Feb) this year. 

I will be having the traditional reunion dinner with the sister's family in their house this year, instead of here where mum was. Then on the first 2 days of CNY (national holidays) I'm going for a little R n R with CG1 to Malaysia! Just chillin', hangin', and not doing anythin'.  Being my first CNY without mum, I didn't think I should be sitting home and staring at the walls, as we will be without the usual stream of visitors since there's no more matriach in attendance for the family to visit / pay respects to. Instead I will be hosting a family lunch on the 4th day of CNY. 

Am I excited about the year to come? Yes. I can't explain it, but it feels like I'm on the cusp of something solid. Something true. Something that feels like a "let's go!" instead of a "just keep swimming." 

Perhaps because this is the first time, in a long time, I'm not stepping into a new year wondering if this will be dad's / mum's last.