Final Post Of The Year

Nearing the end of 2014 and the family gets together as my cousin, Criszean, and his family return just before midnight. We started the night off with a pizza party and soon more food was being added as my aunt brought Nasi Lemak from her condominium's residents party. Criszean then brought over his log cake from Christmas and we dug out some ice cream from the last pizza party we had. 

So it is about the end of 2014 as we leave it enjoying some good food with family. 

Om Nom Nom...

Such An Eyesore

My right eye has been itching since the day I started helping out at the Christmas food fair and I thought it might have been because my eye got hit by the steam when I opened the big steamer. It was just slightly itchy until Christmas day when it got quite irritated and I thought it might be due to lack of sleep. 

Yesterday, my eye was swollen and the left one started to itch as well. This got me wondering if it might be the something in the air or something infectious. However I decided to avoid the creepy backup doctor and went to my regular doctor instead. Found out I got conjunctivitis and got myself a bottle of horrible eye drops. I dislike them because it ends up dripping down your nasal passage, to the back of your throat, and leave this horrible bitter taste.

Hopefully this clears up fast!

Facebook Year In Review

Angie posted this first on my Facebook wall and then another friend of mine also posted it with the link. I decided to see what mine was like as I did not like the one that has been made by Facebook. That one seems to take random pictures and it does not really highlight the year, and from what I have seen of my friends' year, it is definitely a mess. 

The My Times article is much more funny and is actually interesting to read. Even with parts of it sounding a bit cut off, you still get to see the real highlights of your year. Dad seems to be featured a lot in my news article. 

You can make your own here.

Checking Out Potential Savings

Went out with my parents today to check out the NTUC Warehouse Club, as well as Big Box which is almost similar. Both have memberships available but Big Box deals are for anyone, with their membership giving extra savings and invites to special events. Looking through both places, there are deals which are quite good, especially if you have a big family or have a a good amount of people to share in bulk buying. I would say the best deals are actually cleaning products where you do not have to worry about the expiry dates. There are also good deals to be had to food and you do not necessarily have to buy a ton of food to save. Only thing I was disappointed with Big Box, was that they did not have any diet drinks!

Getting Exciting

My spaghetti squash plant is flowering and I am wondering if there will be any squash forming soon. The flowers are huge and I am also wondering how big the squash will grow. Mom is on standby to crochet a net for the melons should we get any. Fingers cross I can get some flowers pollinated!

Not A Bad Concept

Had a long day at work today and I was glad to have Angie join me for both my lunch and dinner breaks. We were not sure what to have for dinner, but I definitely wanted a place I could just rest my feet. So after skipping a few outlets in the Gourmet Paradise, we ended up trying the food at Griddy. 

As their name suggests, there are waffles to be had here and what we did was order a main course and top it up with a waffle and drink. I got the Griddy Combo and it came with a rather flat piece of chicken, a nice burger patty, fried egg, and fake bacon, along with a salad, waffle fries and a small ramekin of mushroom sauce. It was quite filling and I only ate one of the waffle fries as I actually wanted to just have my waffle with all that meat. The waffle actually came later and had a really tiny portion of butter on it, but it was a nice simple dessert. 

I would not mind having this again, but I think I might try one of their waffle sandwiches. 

Om Nom Nom...

Christmas Freebies

After work, mom and I went to check out the food at the Pasar Malam that started near my place on Monday. Well it was actually I who checked out the food while mom waited for me in the car. Anyway, after getting a few tea eggs, I wanted to get some Vadai for mom but they were all really small and I would have an earful if I bought them. I decided to get two bags of min vadai instead. The stall keeper must be really eager to close his stall as he asked if I was alright with getting a little more vadai for a dollar more. After agreeing to that deal and looking to get a stick of chicken liver and hearts for Barkley, he started donating the rest of his stall to me. I ended up getting a pack of chickpeas, four of the vadai I did not want to buy, a small bag of Keropok Lekor, a dhal vadai and two veggie vadai. Must be the Christmas spirit!

Om Nom Nom...

The Annual Christmas Eve Spread

Time for our annual Christmas dinner with the family and mom managed to dig out proper bowls and plates to present all the food. She also dug out the free 3-tier dessert caddy we got while shopping at Plaza Singapura last year, perfect for the red velvet brownies. There were three bowls we got during a sale at Ikea that came in handy for the coleslaw, potato salad and Risoni salad. Two souvenir plates from a school event I did in 1999 that held the cured salmon and banana cakes. A baking dish held the fried chicken chunks and a scalloped Chinese plate which held the sliced lamb. While the Nutella drops were in their own plastic container. It all came together as everyone came in and finally I can dig in!

Om Nom Nom...

Ovens Working Overtime

It is the third day of Christmas preparations and the Christmas tree has not been put up but the two ovens are up and running. Mom and I are preparing the coleslaw and potato salad dressings, marinating meats and still baking desserts. The oven has baked red velvet brownies, banana cakes and mini apple pies already, and still have the big apple pies to go. Tomorrow would be another round of roasting. Cannot wait to dig in.

Om Nom Nom... 

Created My Own Recipe

It is the second day of Christmas preparations and I thought I would make something for mom and I to nibble on while we baked. With the ideas from all the almond and coconut flour recipes I have been using, I thought I might do something similar and use up as much of my Nutella stock as I can. I intended to make cookies, but they turned out a little more like cakes and would definitely do well as cupcakes. Too bad I did not have any cupcake cups, but it does not matter what shape it is, as long as it is easy to eat. 

Om Nom Nom...

Christmas Dinner Preparation Starts Now

Mom got a good deal on a whole salmon, and as planned, she got one so we could cure it in time for this year's Christmas dinner party. The salmon has to be cured for at least two days and that means the process has to be started tonight. With suggestions from the family, I made some adjustments to the curing mix and added a little more lemon juice to the curing mix. It was a little wet but the curing mix tasted alright and I think it should turn out as good as our first try. 

Fingers crossed. 

Mushroom Farm

With the recent wet weather, there were quite a few patches of mushrooms sprouting around tree roots all around Singapore. I had joked with dad that we might end up at some mushrooms in our own garden patch and then it happened. I had found one the other time and pulled it out, but the spores are obviously in the soil and new ones keep popping up. Wonder if we can grow our own Enoki or Shitake one day.

Contractors And Hampers

Got home from work tonight and mom told me we got a hamper delivered to us this afternoon. About twenty years ago, we used to have hampers delivered to us during Christmas and Lunar New Year from some of the contractors my dad use to work with during his time in the hotel industry. 

This time, I could say that the hamper was for my dad being the contractor while we were staying at my sister's place. While over there, my dad had been doing quite a bit of electrical work, cleaned out the cars, created a veggie garden in a patch that was being wasted with nothing in it. 

Thanks for the goodies!

Om Nom Nom...

Japanese Vegetables Anyone?

Today is the start of the Christmas food fair and I have been scheduled to man the stall at the event together with Takuya, the delivery and trained chef of the company. Since his English is not the best, I guess I am the one tasked to promote the Japanese products on sale, as well as hand out samples. No one really prepared anything for the sample platter and this was what I managed to find. It is definitely not the best looking sample platter, but it works for now. 

Steamed sweet potato, pumpkin, potato with butter and mayo, and barbecued corn anyone?

Fatty Tuna Nigiri

It was the last day of the Japan fair and I managed to get the braised squid along with a few other items that I wanted. I decided to also get a Donburi from the sushi counter as I wanted to have the squid with the lightly flavoured rice. While looking around the counter, I spotted a pinkish row of Nigiri sushi and realised that they were filled with the chopped fatty tuna I was eyeing. Finally I get to have a pack of it all ready to eat and all they needed was a little splash of soy sauce.

Om Nom Nom....

A Day With Family And Food

Met uncle Shane and my cousin Dwayne this afternoon at Ikea and had a quick lunch. We then dropped Dwayne off at his home before heading to Mandai Columbarium to look for where my grandaunt's ashes had been interred. The information given to us was lacking but we were lucky enough to find it quite fast as I noticed that there were numbers on the rows of resting places. We turned the corner and found 120, and Shane got out to check if it was right. Seems like there were a few people who have visited her resting place as the tiny holder for flowers was fully stuffed with a bunch of plastic flowers and had dried ones sticking out at strange angles.

After a few minutes paying our respects, we head back to the hotel to pick up Karmei and the boys for the trip to Mustafa. We managed to get into Mustafa just after 5pm and decided to have some food before shopping. Crossed over to C.M.K. 2001 Restaurant for some local food and drinks. We got a some Prata, Thosai, Murtabak and Roti John, together with a Milo Dinosaur and Bandung. I just realise the chilli for the thosai here is AWESOMELY spicy. Once filled up, we were back into Mustafa where Karmei got a few bargain buys.

Big Bowl Lunch

It is lunch with mom today and we wanted to use up as much of the leftovers from the pizza party as possible. We actually bought a pack of noodles for my dad and uncle as the both of them do not like pizza. Since then, we only used a little bit of the noodles and had about two-thirds of the pack left. Mom told me to cook the rest of the pack, while she heated up some of her pork nuggets from the party night as well. The only thing fresh was the blanched garland chrysanthemum and sliced chilli padi. We had enough to feed four, but after mom and I had our share, dad basically finished the rest when he got back from work a little later.  

 Om Nom Nom...

 

Personal Cutting Board And Bin

Been getting a bit of a pain in the back at work and I realise it was due to the height of the work tables. The work tables are at a height that is about half a metre too low for my height and bending to cut vegetables daily is killing me. I finally saw an opportunity to help my back when I saw one of the older ladies throw a styrofoam box that once contained all the broccoli. Slipped the box in a trash bag, turned it over and cut out a small hole for whatever bits I needed to throw. The styrofoam box was also sturdy enough for me to use as a cutting board. So I basically killed two, or three birds with one stone, but most importantly, my back is not killing me!

Pizza Party

We got the family together so that everyone can finally meet Shane's family. Uncle Dennis decided to make his pizza and that rolled off the idea of a potluck party but the pizzas were still the main attraction. We managed to put together a choice of thirteen ingredients and let everyone decide what they wanted to have on the pizza. 

There were the usually pepperoni pizza, ham and mushroom, vegetable pizzas being made. I managed to make a version of the bacon cheeseburger pizza I had in Australia, but with a slight twist thanks to the nacho cheese contribution from Adi. Shane actually liked the pizza, probably because it did not have one bit of vegetable, and it was full of meat. There was also a pizza made with the cured trout, onion and peppers that seems to be enjoyed by everyone as well. 

Perhaps it has been too long since our last pizza party. 

Om Nom Nom...

Bloody Expensive Melon

Today I got to try one of the most expensive melons in the world. One of the Japanese melons were getting a little too ripe for sale and Kei-san took it in and cut it open. A bit of it had turned too mushy but there was still enough for Angie, Kei and myself. It was really sweet, and slightly creamy. I would say this would be the perfect melon to make into an ice cream or gelato if you want to stretch your dollar. However, I did not have time for that or to bother with trying to freeze it, and since it was nicely chilled, it was the perfect sweet break from work. 

Om Nom Nom...