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?)

WorkTrips Bleugh

BIKSS has been away 2 out of the 3 weeks this month so far. That means we haven't had a lot of opportunity for his birthday feasting. 

We did manage a Korean fried chicken dinner before he left on Monday.

Salad with balsamic vinegar dressing AND YOGHURT! What??? Surprisingly it was quite delicious!

Fried cheese balls. Nuff said.

Crispy Korean style soy wings! Very very good. We ate all of it, which is amazing cos we don't usually finish our meals out. And then the food coma hit. LOL.

Last Thursday I took a day off to head across the border for a spot of shopping with the sister. I ended up getting lots of supplement drinks (berry juice, prune extract etc) and bird's nest! It's pretty expensive, well, the undiluted versions that is, and with the favourable exchange rate it was worth picking up a few bottles over there. 

I also ended up getting chips from Marks and Spencer LOL. Why not right? NOM NOM NOM~~~

Covid, Cough, Coursework

Don't panic. Not me. My sister. She's got the Covid. It's her second time. There's an antiviral drug that can be administered within 5 days of showing symptoms, but it's only available at what we call polyclinics - sort of centralised government huge-ass clinic complexes. BUT according to the boss they're running low on stock (he has friends who are still in the public health system) and they're only giving it to the really old and frail. 

So since she's neither of the two, it's unlikely that she'll be a good candidate to receive the drug. I told her to stay home and save herself a trip to the megaclinic. 

She's not in too bad a shape. A bit of cough and feeling slightly lightheaded, as one does with the flu. 

I on the other hand have developed that annoying post-nasal-drip cough again. It was bugging me in December and with a week's Dymista it went away. Well. It's back. I blame the fried snacks. Now whenever I eat something I cough. BUT it doesn't start till about 5 mins into the meal. So I've been stuffing my face as quickly as possible to get thru all my food before it hits. Not too difficult since I'm a pretty fast eater in general. 

And EdX had a discount code for me in my inbox today so I decided to get back to my course. I have one last module to go before getting my cert in lifestyle medicine in chronic disease management - it's back to "school" for me. 

Just in time too cos BIKSS is away on a work trip next week. We'll miss his birthday so I think we're "celebrating" tomorrow. If celebrate is what you can call a visit to the physiotherapist (for him) and an audiometry test (for me) before we get to the business of getting some yummy grub! 

Here are today's chips - Raw diamond chips. Cos I really shouldn't be snacking on potato ones! 

Birthday Week Update - Food, Fashion, Births and Deaths

Today I turned 51. 

2 days ago my aunt died at 82 - on her birthday. I haven't been to the wake yet. As both my mentor and boss told me - celebrate life. You can mourn her after you're done celebrating. I'll be off to the wake tomorrow. And then took a day off work to go to the funeral on Tuesday.

I ended up with two birthday cakes in the office cos they BOTH didn't think to check with each other if anyone was bringing cake. I'm not complaining.

I had a loklok / satay celup dinner with my best buds last night to celebrate.

And me and BIKSS went to an old Japanese yakitori joint to celebrate the night before - he had never been there so I wanted him to try it. We'd been meaning to go for a while now so I'm glad we managed to get a reservation for my birthday.

I bought a ton of jewellery - they arrived last night. Just in time for my birthday :) 

Top left - rhinestones and titanium bangle; silver bar bracelet 
Top right - zinc alloy bracelet, crystal rhinestone, square faced watch

Bottom left - moissanite ring, 925 silver (I LOVE IT)

Bottom right - stainless steel bangle with crystals - I'm still deciding if I want to keep it cos it's a real bother to put on and take off without help. 

Also picked up a couple of David Yurman dupes - this one turned out fine, but the other one was damaged so I'm getting a refund on that.

This VW inspired piece is CLEARLY meant to be a copy of the brand's Grace Bas-Relief Open Bangle but the star above the orb is a dead giveaway. Still it's a lovely piece and I'm pretty happy with it. 

(If you would like to have a look at more designer inspired items for cheap on Amazon, have a look at Shea Whitney's latest video.)

Also, the shoes from this post - I sent them both back. The company has pretty awesome customer service I must say. First they sent me a larger size without having to return the first pair. Compare them both and decide which one you prefer, they said.  Then I told them I didn't want both of them cos even tho the second pair fit better (bunions, balls of feet, back of heel ALL felt great!), the top of my toes - knuckles? - were getting chafed. I think the front of the shoe was too flat. 

Not only did they process the refund on the same day that I sent them the tracking number and receipt for the return shipment, they also sent me $30USD to cover the shipping cost. 

And that's the round up for the week. 

It's late. I'm going to bed. I had a lovely birthday week... or fortnight.... and it's time to get down to the business of getting ready for Chinese New Year!

(Oh - and I threw out a bunch of G-strings today. It's not like I've been wearing them anyway.... )

The Most Expensive Steak We've Ever Eaten

...was had at a practically unheard of steakhouse. Well, I only knew it because my cousin brought a roast beef along to mum's place for lunch some years back and being in a part of town that was terribly inconvenient for me to get to I didn't think much of it. That is, until I mentioned it to BIKSS and he said, well, yes, that's the place he told me about that had the awesome Irish coffee (during MY birthday dinner). Um, no, that's on xxx road, I said. He pointed over to the right side of the street and said - what road do you think THAT is?!

OK, I get that that conversation might be a bit confusing. But never mind. That's not the point. The point is that we eventually ended up at this place that looks a little worse for wear on the outside, but was just full on old-kitchen charm on the inside. He'd been there once before (that's how he knew about the Irish coffee) and I'd been there never. 

The menu is rolled over to you on a chalkboard.

We had the portabello and shrimp (on the other side of the chalkboard) for starters, 

..and chose the Australian Wagyu, done medium rare. The dude rolled the trolley over with the slabs of meat to show us the difference in the marbling between the Australian and Japanese Wagyus. I can't tell the difference to be honest, but at $20 difference per 100gm, we'll stick with the cheaper one TYVM. Beef is beef. And any Wagyu is already rich enough for my taste, never mind Japanese or not.

It was my first ever Wagyu steak. (The rump we had at the other place - see link at the end of this post - was meant to be a Wagyu too but I wasn't convinced. So this one counts as my first as far as I'm concerned.)

I should have taken a picture of the inside of the cut steak, I realise, but we were so impressed by how delicious it was that we just kept on eating! I also ordered the black cod - again, a first for me. It was absolutely divine.

Then came the zesty cognac soaked crepes, flambé-ed table-side. That was 4 minutes of watching our crepes get prepped.

And finally, the reason we came here - Irish coffee :

It was a whole production! 

And according to BIKSS, tasted way better than the too much cream-not enough coffee one that we had at the other place. Which, I admit, had a lot more in terms of menu variety and fancy names, but this place is a really simple no frills joint (offering wise, I mean; the table-side shows are another story) with tasty well-cooked food without the elaborate names and descriptions. The portabello and shrimp was called "Portabello / shrimp". If you go back up and have a look at the menu, you'll see what I mean. 

So that slab of beef was 320gms. At 45 bucks per 100 you can do the math. 

Dinner came up to a whopping $320 with tip. Was it worth it? No food is ever worth hundreds of dollars, imo, but considering the experience and the quality of the food and service, I *will* say I didn't regret a single cent! Besides, it was a combined celebration of BIKSS' birthday (belated) and early V-day, so hey, for a 2-in-1 it wasn't too bad! (He's off on a work trip this week... bleagh.)

Will we come back here? Yes. And as far as pricey steak places go, if I'm going to be paying a kidney and a spleen for some beef, then I'd rather do it here than at the other place. 

Most notable lines of the evening - 

Me - I think that's the most expensive steak I've ever eaten...

BIKSS - I KNOW that's the most expensive steak I've ever eaten!

Today's chips - take your pick!

TMJ and Delayed Birthday Dinner

I suppose there is something to be said for luck. Either the lack of it, or having accidental 'good' luck.

Those born in the year of the rat are supposed to have good fortune this year (according to the Chinese zodiac thingamajig). 

So far I haven't been the most lucky. My kettle died, the microwave died, part of my ceiling (the beam above my window sill) fell off, and on Wednesday night I developed an inflammed TMJ. I was halfway thru my bag of chips when I felt the click in the right side of my jaw as I bit down. 

Needless to say that meant I couldn't eat real food (or anything that required biting down) the next day or two. Meaning our Thursday night date was a bit of an event! 

BIKSS found a vegetarian Japanese restaurant. He's more and more open to the idea of vegetarian cuisine these days, especially since his HbA1c result came back higher than we wanted. 

So the new plan for him is to try and lose some weight, cut down on meat consumption, and see if we can't get his pancreas back on track in 3 months' time. 

But where was I? Ah yes. Back to veggie Jap for dinner. 

Agedashi Tofu. Good. I could mush it between my teeth and swallow. 

Vegan salmon sashimi - not bad. It was like a stiff jelly which didn't require a forceful chew.

Teriyaki "chicken" - meh. The insides were soft enough but there was a lovely crust covering that I couldn't manage except to nibble in the front part of my mouth. Which is what I ended up doing. If not for the pain I would have enjoyed this quite a lot I reckon.

Cheesy shitake. I didn't manage this at all. So the entire mushroom was battered and fried. And then the cheese slapped on top and torched till it melted. On its own the cheese was too salty (plus look at all that sauce) for me to just lick off - although I did try, with 2 pieces, before giving up entirely.  BIKSS ate the rest of it. 

This was by far the cutest thing I'd ever seen. I've put up a lighter beside the teapot for size reference. It's a pot of soup with mushrooms, veggies, some vegan 'prawns' and more mushrooms LOL. I ate a prawn, some shimeji and the veggies. BIKSS had the rest. I do love me my enoki but I didn't think I would be able to manage them. 

(In case you were wondering what I am going on about...)

Right. So far I haven't told you ANYTHING that sounds remotely good, luck-wise. HOWEVER - a month ago we planned for BIKSS' birthday dinner a week AFTER his actual birthday. ie. next Friday. In a way that's fortuitous, right? If we had planned to go to the steakhouse yesterday on his birthday proper, I'd be unable to eat anything! Ok, maybe pumpkin soup and mashed potatoes. 

But since the reservation is made for next week, my jaw will be better by then! 

In fact, it's already pretty much healed by now. I had a slice of deep dish pizza for lunch and I'm eating nuggets for dinner now and so far it hasn't hurt all day today. I'm not going to tempt fate with any chips or nuts for a couple more days... but this is progress. 

And I'm glad to report that it didn't stop us from having some blowjob fun, albeit shorter than usual because it got a bit achey and sore after a while. 

Because I'm not eating any right now, today's chip pic is going to be a different kind of CHiPs. :)

Birthday Steak, Ikea Shopping and New Curtains

First things first. That top bit that you see marked out on my stand lamp has long since died. I had rolled up some A4 paper and stuck them together to make a cylinder that I then used as a shade. 

But when the second lamp's plastic bit started flaking off too I thought it might be time to do something about it. So even tho it took some doing to get these (sold out, unhelpful staff etc), we managed to find 2 at Ikea's As-Is section for half the price I was going to have to pay for them. They're a bit bigger than I expected but it's nothing I can't get used to. It's meant to be a regular downward shade... but why not right? 

(Left - my room, Right - Ikea website)

The other thing I did for my room this year was chuck out the old curtains and put up some new ones. 

OLD - (they weren't the same colour at the end, let me tell you) 

NEW - (blackout ombre drapes with star cut-outs and a sheer layer over top)

The room now has a blue hue as long as the curtains are drawn. It's great!

And now, the food!

1. CAPESANTE pan-seared scallops, mint salsa verde, tomato jam, artichoke

Looks expensive. Is expensive. But TOTALLY delicious and I dare say, worth it, at least once in my lifetime. Huge juicy un-shrunk scallops perfectly seared. 

2. RIB-EYE 400g angus 200 days grain-fed, MBS2/3, australia

All I can say is Fat never tasted so good. Really. 

3. FUNGHI  maitake mushroom, parsley, egg yolk

Neither of us was expecting an actual raw yolk. But after mixing it in, those mushrooms were really something. It was kind of like my brain kept asking if it was a good idea to be eating this stuff, and my mouth kept ignoring it. 

4. CAVOLFIORE cauliflower, pecorino cheese, crispy ham

The cheesy goodness was at the bottom of the bowl. Once mixed it was rich and fragrant and creamy and I would definitely order this again. The crispy ham (like bacon bits) was served on the side cos Ms Fondles didn't want any. 

It got noisy in the restaurant so we moved outside. We found out later that the table we like inside (where we were seated last time) is number 18 and this one they moved us to outside was table 40. Always useful to know the numbers of the tables we like. For future bookings, I mean. 

The view from where we were seated -

BIKSS got himself an Irish coffee with all cream and whisky and very little coffee. 

I got me a pot of chamomile tea cos that's the only uncaffeinated tea they had. But I was impressed they had actual flowers instead of just using a teabag. Not a common occurrence in my part of the world. 

And just before closing (I think they were waiting to see if we were going to order dessert, either that or they clear forgot about us!) we got a complimentary Tiramisu with Happy Birthday written on the plate. 

d 

So that was that! I didn't get the mats / runners I wanted from IKEA but that's ok. I won't die without them. The day turned out splendidly. After Ikea and before dinner we sat and enjoyed an iced tea, boba tea style, but without the boba! LOL. It was a little sunken in cove of a sitting area tucked away in a corner of the mall. 

After dinner we sat and chatted and tried to figure out all the other couples seated near us. It was very enjoyable and relaxed and I went home with a food-baby! No more rich food for me till ... oh mid Feb. Cos that's when we're going to celebrate BIKSS' birthday and V-day all in one! 

Have some chips as I get busy with CNY baking this week. I might not be around much. But I'll try. 

Tomorrow! and Lots of Other Things

We're going to have a day out tomorrow. To celebrate my 50th! 

We managed to play with the cane last night too :) I said, birthday spanks. He went crazy playing theme songs with the cane on my bum. And I had to guess the tune! From Cliff Richard's Silhouette to Mozart's Sym No 40, Beauty School Dropout to Beethoven's 5th! It was fun. And definitely more than 50 spanks. But then they were tappety taps so I guess it wasn't too bad. Still, I felt a bruise even if it never actually showed up in colour. 

I wanna look at some Chinese New Year lampshades, floor mats and table runners at Ikea tomorrow, and we're having that ribeye that was recommended at the steak place we went to 2 weeks ago. 

Meanwhile, last week we rescued some food AND my cousin bought me a huge ass chicken pie from a bakery near her place (she had given me some before and I really liked it!) so I made a picnic and we sat at the beach for dinner - 

Anti-clockwise from bottom left - red spinach tofu soup, baby spinach leaves with honey mustard and mayo, chicken pie wedges, stir fried egg with onions, avocado cubes, pickled onions. I'm glad he enjoyed the mostly non-meat dinner. It's a thing I'm doing. And I'm happy BIKSS is ok with not having meat-centric meals.

(But we WILL be having steak and scallops tomorrow LOL)

Yesterday's dinner was at a tiny cafe near my piano kids' place. 

The little bit of waffle wasn't half bad, but BIKSS wasn't too keen on it I think. I reckon we have to go back another day and have it with ice cream - just to see how it stands up to the cold and wet! That yellow blob is "fake" cheese (you know, like nacho cheese...) on a chunk of boneless fried chicken. 

It was surprisingly good. Very satisfying. And the salad bowl was HUGE! I like that there was enough black pepper that I could actually taste it!

This week I've been baking other things besides my lapis - ok, ONE other thing:

Flourless, sugarless, butterless, whole orange cakes. Please excuse the charred tops. This batch got a bit burnt. 

The recipe uses sugar but I sub with Xylitol for the diabetics around me. You can find it here - 

Whole Orange Cake

The best part is that you chuck everything into ONE FOOD PROCESSOR and you're good to go. This is what the inside looks like (from my trial run a week ago - it got good reviews!)

Next week I've taken some days off work so that I can concentrate on my lapis-ing properly. WITHOUT killing myself in the race to prep for Chinese New Year. It's so early this year that everyone I know is groaning about feeling rushed. Christmas barely over, and now one more thing to start fussing about. 

I bought new curtains for my room too - but I haven't put them up. I'll show you what they look like once I do. 

And here's the CNY dress - (pic taken from the website). It's just a straight fitted dress with a tight skirt that hits right below my knee. Modest and festive, with all the right elements -  CNY is also the celebration of the begnining of Spring and therefore flowers are important to the traditionalists; red, as some of you may know, is an auspicious colour to the Chinese and is believed to bring good fortune. Perfect for receiving old conservative rellies when they come a-visiting. To me, it's another little black dress I can wear on date nights! The best thing is that it isn't terribly form-fitting so I have room to move, and the all-over distracting print hides all the wrong bumps brilliantly! Where I usually get a Medium, or sometimes a Small for baggier cuts, this time I got me a Large! It is reeeeeally important to check the reviews before buying!

On the topic of fit and form, I recently picked up a few new bras. Basics. From the teen bra section. TEEN. My boobs were small to begin with. As I age I'm inclined to believe the fats in my boobs have migrated into their retirement home that is my belly. 

Nothing fancy, just regular everyday bras. Two black ones that have seamless, lightly padded cups for no nipple show-thru under teeshirts, and a nude one that is super comfy - I have three of those in black - which I bought about 15 years ago, and are in dire need of replacing. These 3 bras cost me $95. In comparision, that CNY dress cost me $2.39. Yes. 2 dollars and 39 cents. $3.39 if you add shipping. This world has gone nuts. 

And I seem to be in a battle at the moment. Some viral prodrome going on in my body and I'm determined not to succumb to a flu. Which means, it was tme for bed half an hour ago and I really should get going now. 

I'll update with pics of scallops and ribeye and new curtains!

Meanwhile, have a chip :)