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. 

ABCDE

A is for AI. I have been enjoying the meta AI function on Whatsapp and have been spamming people with tailor made pics. Such as this one - because sending a pic is more fun that just SAYING "bullshit".

B is for Brunch. I went to brunch last Sunday. It's been many years since I've ventured out on a Sunday. For as long as I can remember Sundays are work days. Then when I quit Sunday classes it was because dad and mum needed me to elder-sit as our caregivers typically get Sundays off. I daresay everyone (myself included) has forgotten that I am now available for outings on Sundays. This has been my first Sunday social engagement since mum passed. 

C is for cakes. Mooncakes that is. I wasn't planning on indulging this year but since the jaw's been such a pain (pun totally intended) I decided to go for it. They're soft, don't require much chewing and there are ones without seeds or nuts which eventually melt into gooey yumminess if I get tired of munching. This one is a frozen during mooncake I shared with the sister when we went mooncake shopping yesterday.

D is for  Drinkmate. I buy sparkly water. Cos I like sparkly water. I don't have it everyday, but I do like having some in the house in case I get the urge for some fizzy liquid. So I decided to get a carbonator. It arrived today. I am happy. :D

and E is for earrings. It turns out you can do a tooth test to figure out if your pearls are real pearl or plastic. Now I had been hunting for a pair of pearl earrings for a bit (drop pearls, fishhook), so I was really glad that I found  a pair of freshwater ones for just $10 from a reputable jeweller - it was the last pair and they were on discount. And I had vouchers and points from the cashback app. Would have been $40 otherwise. I'm happy with them. I also bought a cheaper pair from a local Amazon-like site. For $2. I mean, why wouldn't I? For 2 bucks? It said "pearl" on the listing, whereas some other pairs were listed as "faux pearl". I figured they couldn't be real, but since it was listed as such, I decided to try my luck. I expected them to be plastic. But both my very primitive tooth test and the rub-together test tell me they're real. If, indeed, they are, then yay me! What a score! If not, they're still pretty.

Left, cheapo pair. Right, jeweller pair.

Aight, it's time for dinner... BIKSS Just got here. And I wanna let him have some of that fizzy water! 

It Was the Soy

Turns out all that gas and indigestion and bloating was the result of a new organic non GMO soy powder I was adding to my coffee. 

I stopped it and my tummy issues went away. 

To science it, I tried a local brand of soymilk. No problem. I've had soy sauce in my food the whole time, and continued to use it when I cooked following the stopping of the soy powder. No problem. I had some bean curd rolls. No problem. 

So it's not soy. It's THAT soy. 

The human body is weird. What can I say. 

The latest update - I've been invited (ok, I wrangled an invitation) to sing with another community choir for their Christmas season. So Fondles is choir-ing again! 

I'm glad. And happy to be singing in a group once more. (Only this time it's more of a sextet than a choir!)

That is all. I shall continue to munch on my shortbread. The proper shortbread-tasting ones. 

Self Discovery, Sydney Pics and More Vacation Days Next Month

I am finally seeing a little bit of shift (about 1.5kg) of that hormonal weight I told you about. That is ONE piece of good news. Maybe this IF thing really does work. My appetite has grown smaller, that's for sure.  

The other, is this - for a while now I've had to travel a fair bit to teach a particular student of mine and I've not wanted to stop cos he's just so lovely to teach. But the travel time really just doesn't justify it anymore. I used to teach two brothers, so it was worth the trip. But with the older one finished with his final grade, it's just the younger boy left now. 

And with the aches and pains in my hip and back, I really began to rethink spending 2 hours on public transport each time I go to teach him.  Thankfully I've managed to sort that issue out, as they have agreed to travel to me instead (they have a car, I don't). This frees up an afternoon which I can now spend at the music studio (15 mins away!), much to my school manager's delight as he's been begging for me to come in an additional day each week. There is some adjustment where the fees are concerned (re: the faraway student), but if it means I can sit on my ass in the studio earning an extra 2 hours of fees instead of commuting, then I'm all for it. 

It was only after this was settled that I realised just how much I had been dreading the weekly trips out there. I am suddenly very relieved at not having to travel there anymore. 

I am reminded that  I should do what makes me happy, what works for me, and not feel obligated to do something just because of 1) who the person is that's asking (boss - aside from work-related things, older relative etc.), or because 2) I think I would be disappointing them if I didn't, or even because 3) I offered once before and if I don't say yes again now what would they think? I often default to an OK because not to do so feels like it's "not a nice thing" to do/say/be. 

But people change. And circumstances change. And each situation is never exactly the same as the one before isn't it? And I'm allowed to say no. Or to stop saying yes. Or to say maybe, let me think about it. 

This is a thing I've always struggled with. But at least I'm aware of it, and am reminding myself each time it happens that I have a choice in the matter. 

Just like I have a choice in dining chair covers. And furniture. And bedding. 

It's funny that I am so quick to put my foot down in deciding what I want or don't want when it comes to the more trivial stuff, but am so reticent to stand up to others when it comes to my wants and needs. Anyway, that's where I am today. Still learning. That's always a good thing.

BUT more importantly, pictures! Sydney... here they are. 

The coffee truck in Paddy's Market

When you really want to have an avocado (they're huge! and so delicious.... nom nom) but have no access to a knife or kitchen. 

Jason Donovan in Rocky Horror Show! It was fabulous.

The lone ibis. I think I have a 'Lone Ibis' picture from every single Australia vacation. 

There's always that ONE dude on the sidewalk. 

The Ramses Exhibition at the Australian Museum

 While we were there we poked into the permanent galleries as well - (click on the links to go to the Australian Museum website where you'll find more details on the exhibits and audio guides to other stuff not shown here! It's literally a virtual museum tour over there!)

The skeleton of an Irish Elk  - with antlers spanning three metres it dwarfs all living deer and even moose. It was found perfectly preserved in a peat bog, an oxygen-starved quagmire that mummifies any hapless animals or people who fall in. ~ The Daily Telegraph

Sir Hercules and a Rider

This skeleton of a horse and rider, affectionately known as the ‘Bone Ranger’, is a symbol of the importance of horses and horsemanship to Australian history.... The Bone Ranger’s horse is the skeleton of Sir Hercules, one of Australia’s foundation thoroughbreds.

Demon Duck of Doom! Best nickname ever!

Dromornis planei was a massive bird - 2.5m tall, 300kg! - with a formidable bill. It belonged to a uniquely Australian family of extinct flightless birds, the dromornithids (mihirungs). Because of the close relationship between mihirungs and ducks, Dromornis planei has been nicknamed the 'Demon Duck of Doom'.

Diprotodon

The massive Diprotodon optatum, from the Pleistocene of Australia, was the largest marsupial known and the last of the extinct, herbivorous diprotodontids. Diprotodon was the first fossil mammal named from Australia (Owen 1838) and one of the most well known of the megafauna. It was widespread across Australia when the first indigenous people arrived, co-existing with them for thousands of years before becoming extinct about 25,000 years ago.

And after all that, some sit-down time for our tired bones. We caught the musical & Juliet, and it was way more fun than I expected.

& Juliet is a 2019 coming-of-age jukebox musical featuring the music of Swedish pop songwriter Max Martin, with a book by David West Read. The story focuses on a "what if" scenario, where Juliet does not die at the end of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. ~ Wikipedia

BIKSS listens to the radio A LOT and he recognised almost all the song and dance numbers. I could identify about half! LOL. What can I say, I'm not a listener of pop music. That didn't stop me from enjoying the high energy of it all tho! 

On the way back we walked across Pyrmont Bridge and took in the view of Darling Harbour. Magical. Despite the rain-drizzle-rain-again of the evening, it was possibly the most romantic memory of this trip for me.

The next day we were off to an early start. We had chocolates to buy, supermarkets to visit, malls to roam! But along the way, the best lobster roll I've ever tasted! 

After we had gone and picked up all the chocolates in the world... ok I am obviously exaggerating, but it really seemed like BIKSS had become chocolate-mad all of a sudden, we went for lunch at a Peruvian place we passed on the first night, as BIKSS has always wanted a taste! I don't think he was planning on beef heart tho. I pretty much cajoled him into trying it... I am clearly the more food-adventurous between us.

Next we walked to the maritime museum.  Where there were a lot of other non-maritime things... 

Then it was time to hop onto a ferry to get to the Sydney Opera House!

It was cold, but I always have an ice cream at least ONCE per cold-weather trip. 

This was our once.  It was good too!

Ta-da! The Sydney Opera House at last! 

Badu Gili - meaning ‘water light’ in the language of the traditional owners of Bennelong Point, the Gadigal - is a free daily experience that explores First Nations stories in a spectacular six-minute projection on the Opera House’s eastern Bennelong sails.

Watch the sails illuminate with Badu Gili: Celestial, a new projection celebrating the work and stories of two female First Nations artists from Australia and New Zealand, created in collaboration between the Opera House, Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain.  

You can read more about it HERE

After the light show we made our way to the Chinatown street market... where the food was disappointing, and I got cranky at BIKSS and all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed and snuggle. He was trying to feed me. I was too full to eat anything. Stuff was expensive and unappetizing. Ugh. 

I did spot a cute wall of little mahjong tiles making up a picture of a big mahjong "fa" or "huat" tile. That was interesting at least.

We spent our last day in Sydney at The Rocks. Yes we bought more chocolates. 

The Rocky Road Chocolate company makes an awesome nougat version of rocky roads with different flavours. The one I'm most in love with is the White Chocolate Cookies and Cream Rocky Road. Simply divine! I hear it's based in Melbourne so I've asked some friends who live there if they've heard of or seen this brand in the shops, and no one has any idea what it even is! 

I found it on this shopping site but they don't deliver outside of Australia, sadly. I'm trying to get the sister's friend (who is a Melbournite) to order a bunch and bring it in with her the next time she comes for a visit - she has family here so she comes at least twice a year. With any luck I won't have to wait too long!

We had brunch at Pancakes on the Rocks. This was 1/4 of our lunch. There was a huge bowl of salad, some seafood crepes (below), nachos and salsa and cheese... oh it was a HUGE meal!

The rain was a bit annoying but people still came out to enjoy the market. 

I got myself a pair of Mother-of-Pearl earrings in a light purple. Pictured here with some souvenirs from the Bonorong Sanctuary in Tasmania and a bottle of perfume also from the Rocks Market.

And at the end of the trip, my whole suitcase was literally filled only with stuff I BOUGHT! Chocolates, Tim Tams, souvenirs, banana bread(!) and essential oil mists, essential oil sprays and, well, actual bottles of essential oils. My dirty clothes got chucked into another duffel! (Chips were in the Coles paper bag!)

And with that, I shall say adieu. I have been on here too long already. And tomorrow is another day of work. Until the 14th of July. Which is when I run away to KL with BIKSS for another 5-day vacay! Hurray!