Roti Jala

So.

Itchy-backside me recently decided that it was about time for another scrumptious meal and set my heart and mind out to make a batch of Roti Jala for our (mainly mine!) gastronomical pleasure.

I had actually featured this dish in my blog post quite a while back, raving how on how good they can be.  

It has also been quite sometime since I made these yellow-netted Asian styled pancakes fit to be devoured with either beef or chicken curry. 

This is my comfort food. I forgot how good they can be.

Here's the ingredients required to make Roti Jala:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup fresh low fat milk*
• 1 cup evaporated milk*
• 1-2 tspn tumeric powder
• Salt to taste
• 2-3 drops of olive oil
• 1-2 cups of water to thin the batter (if necessary)

[* Note: There are recipe variations which use coconut milk. I prefer mine with just normal milk and combined with evaporated milk]

Method:

• Sift all purpose flour
• In a bowl, crack the eggs, add in the milk and a few drops of olive oil
• Slowly add in the flour and mix them well
• If too lumpy, strain them and mix them well until you get a thin batter like crepe like consistency - add water if necessary to thin it
• Heat up a flat plan and grease it with some oil
• Put some batter into the Roti Jala mould and move the cup in a circular motion onto the pan to get the lace-like pattern.
•  Once it's cooked, you can fold it into a rectangular or triangular shape. 
• Serve it with curry and voila!You have got yourself a meal.

Newspaper Snippets

A portion of this article originated from a newspaper in Malaysia was circulated on the Internet recently (I was just a little slow in putting this up!). See the highlighted bits:

If you don't get it, here's the scoop: The writer of this article had idiotically translated the the rapper's name, 50 Cent, into a local currency.

It is someone's NAME. Granted that the the name 50 Cent is already silly enough, but you don't just convert that into a local currency to put it into context. Who does that?!

How hilarious is this? Hee....heh!

Disconnected in a Connected World

Isn’t it amazing that while we are connected to technology and every electronic gadget we possibly can, we actually ended up being more disconnected to the real world than actually connecting with it?

I’m in a pensive mood – so let me explain:

I don’t know how it is with other people, really, but every so often, I see individuals get completely absorbed in their little gadgets (blackberrys/smartphones/iphones /ipads),   chatting on apps or making their presence known on social network sites, and at the same time is completely unaware and choose to be oblivious of things going around them. 

Not a new phenomenon there, but how often do you come across dating couples or even groups of people exhibiting the same behaviour? 

They get so caught up in their little gadget and completely absorbed in their own little world with the “smarts” in their hands that they seem to forget the very people they are actually and physically with at that moment in time.  Sometimes, there will not be any real conversation going for a good half an hour as everyone on that table seems busy with something else.  So, really, if that is the case, why do you even bother to go on a date or meet up with friends?

It does make me I wonder if the generations of this world now have suddenly become socially inept and completely forgetting the etiquette on how one should behave when having a face-to-face interaction.

That is what I essentially meant by being disconnected in a connected world. 

Whilst I embrace technology and the convenience of it, I am still the conservative traditionalist at heart when it comes to making contact. Sure, I indulge in Social Networking or texting on my phone and the what-nots. However, but when it comes to personal interaction,(unless I cannot stand the sight or aura of that person), I personally prefer the face-to-face communication in close physical proximity whenever I can. With my mobile phone, although in plain view, is usually tucked away on the side.

I like that one-on-one interaction. It is personal, and that way I can give my fullest attention to the person I am with.  It also feels very sincere and genuine enough to warrant the fact that I am there because I really want to be there and because the company of the other person means a lot to me.

Needless to say, I have trained myself to be very conscious of using my phone whilst in the company of others.  I strongly believe that  when you are sitting together for coffee , a meal or whatever  the purpose is when people meet, you have gotta to respect that person’s time. 

If anything, it is just plain rude to be checking your phone every 2 minutes. Worse is when you start picking up every single call that comes your way and then spend the next half an hour yakking with the other person who called you, leaving the person whom you are physically with to pick his/her nose.

Really, people; unless of course, it is a matter of life & death, why is it so difficult to tell the caller that you are currently in the midst of something else and that you will call back soon-ish? And for fucks’ sake – get OFF that friggin’ gadget you are fiddling with the whole time you are sitting down with that bunch of people or that single person you are having a meal with!

Is graciousness becoming a lost art? 

Have we successfully established such strong surreal connection with the virtual world that we forget how disconnected we are with ourselves and the real people around us?

With no real human interaction for communication, emotions (compassion, love, friendship, empathy) is all lost. The romance only exists with deceptive machines loosely termed as technology that is incapable of giving a crap. 

As we become enslaved to machines, it begs the question if  the real connection to people still exists.

Roo's scrotum

One of my team members who came back from his vacation over Songkran in Melbourne bought me a little something that is native of Australia –a Kangaroo Leather Pouch.

Now, if you don’t already know, anyone who goes to Australia for a vacation will almost certainly be buying the usual suspect of kangaroo leather skin in the form of purses, bag, wallets and the likes of that as a souvenir. While I was very appreciative of the gesture, it was unfortunately not my first-ever Kangaroo leather skin gift. Hence, nothing to be super- excited about and I left it on my desk.

This morning though, while waiting for the program on my laptop to start-up my eyes darted back again to that Kangaroo Coin Pouch on my desk. 

Something which I have not noticed before caught my attention. 

As I scrutinized it carefully, I realized the embossed words on the leather pouch read as “Genuine Kangaroo Scrotum”.

Yes, you read that right. SCROTUM.  

I had to laugh! It appears that my team member had actually bought me a leather pouch made of a Roo’s testicle! How bizarre is this!

I wondered if he actually knew what he has given me, and so being the thick-skinned idiot that I am, I approached him quietly and gently dropped the ball on him (pun intended).

Not surprisingly, he was completely unaware of that knowledge, resulting in him apologizing to me really profusely.  I may have just unwittingly embarrassed him, but he took it in a very good stride and laughed about it.

I was far from being offended and thought that it was quite a hilarious gift. Who would have thought that I now have a genuine Roo’s ball skin in my hand. How bizarrely cool is that!

As I found out through Mr Google, all those in possession of the skin of a Roo’s scrotum is assured of a long life, happiness and healthy children.  Ahh…sounds better already, isn’t it?

And not only that, the scrotum pouch is apparently also a great sign to attract an opposite gender! (Not something I need would need, though) Who would have thought Kangaroo’s balls have got so much power!

Check out this "factoids" I got off the web:

http://www.australiagift.com/scrotum_shop/car_scrotum.htm

 Although I am not too sure if I would ever want to be using a Roo’s scrotum to hold my coins, this is certainly one gift I will remember for a long time. Definitely one that will not be too easy to forget.

Angmoh's Ondeh-Ondeh

My crazy husband has outdone himself.

True to his word from some months ago, he somehow decided over the weekend there and then, that come hell or high-water, he was going to make an attempt at those ondeh-ondeh my mom made when she was here last December.

I don't know what came over him; I reckon it is another case of being itchy backside. So... bright and early at 8.30 am on Saturday morning, we battled the traffic and drove all the way to Bangkapi Wet market about 20 km away to buy freshly grated coconut and fresh pandan leaves; mainly because we have no idea where else near us we can get freshly grated coconut. All in all, we technically consumed more than 2 litres of gas costing about 90 baht (one way!) for a grocery bill of 48 baht. Talk about being environmentally friendly!

But that did not matter when it comes to gastronomical priorities! He was determined to make them, and I am all too happy to support his cause. 

So, I took a step back, left Silver Bullet pretty much to his own devices and was happily waiting around to be his ever-willing guinea pig. I only sneaked in a couple of times to snap a picture of him in action.

When his first ever ball of ondeh-ondeh was ready, the texture and taste were both pretty much spot on! You should have seen that look of triumph on his face.

What surprised me most was that he attempted making the ondeh-ondeh merely from memory he had by watching and asking what my mom use or did. As far as I know, he did not even bother to google it. (I certainly would!) How cool is that!

I reckon my mom will be so proud of his successful attempt the first time round.

I know I am. I mean, how hilarious is this? Silver Bullet is now easily the very first angmoh I know to be making a fabulous ondeh-ondeh.Hee...heh! Best of all, I now know that I cna have ondeh-ondeh on demand. Even his daughter appreciated the taste and asked for more.

Here is the recipe courtesy of Silver Bullet's aggaration*

Ingredients:

• Approx. ½ kg of glutinous rice flour
• 2 small sweet potatoes , peeled, boiled and mashed
• Fresh Pandan leaves, blend with some 1-2 cups of water  and strained for juice
• Fresh Grated coconut, steamed and salted
• Palm sugar or Gula Melaka, cut to small chunks

Method:

1. Mix glutinous flour with water and knead into a dough-like paste
2. Add in the sweet potatoes
3. Add in about half a cup of pandan juice made earlier
4. Add a few drops of green colouring
5. Mix in well. To gauge if you have the right consistency, make sure the dough stops sticking to your finger
6. Roll into a ball and use your finger to make a well in the center of the ball. Carefully fill the well with palm sugar/gula melaka 
7. Then seal the opening of the dough and roll it into a ball again
8. Boil until it floats. Take it out of the water and coat with  the steamed  grated coconut

Voila!

Silver Bullet's Angmoh Ondeh-Ondeh fresh from the kitchen!

Papa feeding Spud her very 1st ondeh-ondeh made by Papam with love!

  * Aggaration means estimation in Singlish - a combo of Malay words (agak i.e. estimate)

She's got hair!

When Spud was born, she was quite the little baldy, with really sparse hair right on the top of her head. I used to joke that if her hair remained the way it was, I would have to start sweeping the hair over to the side to cover the bald patch.

But, look at her – Spud’s got hair, alright! Her hair has grown rather long in a dark brown tone. She’s got the curls going for her too.  Her Papa loves her curls to bits ( I do , too actually), and somehow, if she is anything like me, she would probably grow up hating her own curly/wavy hair just like I did mine.

Spud mostly refused to have her hair tied-up and that “rooberbun”  (aka rubber band) in her hair usually lasts no longer than 5 minutes before she takes them off.. And so,  when her hair does fall all over the place and all over her face (which is mostly all of the time!), it makes ME feel so hot and bothered that I want to snip the edges and sides off. 

Which was what I did recently; very much to the chagrin of Silver Bullet who prefers to see Spud’s hair grow longer. That, and the fact that I am no barber and generally do a bad job at cutting Spud’s hair. Hee...heh!

Oh well! My take is that her hair will grow, and that there’s nothing to worry about.  And when it does, I’ll do the snipping again until Spud’s old enough to have a choice if she wants to keep her hair long or short. 

Best Job: Honouring Moms

Being a mom indeed is the hardest job in the world, and this ad here honours everything that all Mums do to help their children succeed by showcasing the amazing Mums behind Olympic athletes at the London 2012 Olympic Games.



This one here really did make me tear. It pulled my heart-string as not only I can imagine how proud I would feel when my own child would succeed in life in the years to come,  but also remembering the sacrifices my own mother make when I was growing up to get me to where I am today.

Well done P&G!

The me, me, me syndrome

Have you ever met or encounter people who ask a lot of questions about you, just so that they can tell you about themselves?

How highly annoying is that?!

I know of one such person and it annoys the crap out of me. They ask you question, and just when you are about to get to the 4^th word of your sentence, they interrupt you and tell you about their story instead and how they dealt with it, and how good/miserable they were and to ‘trust them” because they KNOW!

Not only that, they also tend to have a knack for always interrupting another person’s one-on-one conversation with someone else. Without shame, they just plonked themselves right in between the two people who are talking, and then move in to then dominate the whole conversation. A conversation that somehow morphed to one that is about their life! 

It happens all the time, and by now, every time either one of the above happens, I just retreat. I basically just stop myself short, shut the fuck up, pretend to listen and then phase out by pretending to get busy with other things to leave the conversation. 

I then subtlety roll my eye-balls.

These people, for some reason, are always super friendly. They always want to know what you are doing, always offering (unsolicited) advice, and projecting an image that they are offering genuine help. But, don’t get fooled, because all they are interested in is to tell you THEIR stories, and actually telling YOU how good they are. 

They, actually, in all sense, hold zero interest in you, and the only interest they have, is,  to make sure that you do not have an up-one-manship over them.

Too many people have been desensitized to the egotistical way of carrying on a conversation. Interrupting people , in my mind, is truly an insipid, self-centered and inconsiderate habit that manifests itself into the majority of the corporate population. It basically is a manifesto of telling you that they don’t find you interesting or worthy enough, and so they are just going to ramble on because they seem to feel that they are the superior being. 

They seem to forget that there need to be TWO people to hold on a conversation, and when they start interrupting, what they essentially did is disregard the most basic rule of human interaction – namely of respect. 

It is hard to be a good listener, and most people, especially bosses it seems, don’t listen enough. (I am, of course, generalising here)

But you know what, I am thankful for the existence of such annoyingly egotistical people in my life.

They have shown me exactly what not to be.

Quote of the Day

"I may not be perfect, but at least I am not fake"

One of those quotes I stumbled on FB, and I just can't help but re-post it here on my blog.

On the on-set, it sounds like someone with a chip on his/her shoulder...childish even. It makes me wonder how many people who knows that they are not perfect, attempt to make up for their imperfections by being fake. Some failed miserably - you see through them like you see through a Glad Wrap; whilst some succeeded and take on the world as they continue rubbing shoulders with the "right" people. 

But, thinking about it, and if you take it for what it is, it really is just a simple quote.Without over thinking it, I actually can resonate with it.

Staying behind for Songkran

It has been unusually hot at this time of the year.  Likewise, Bangkok has also been unusually quiet since last Friday.

The entire street in which we live in has been quite peaceful, and devoid of traffic. Throughout the day, one can count thenumber of cars actually passing through the expressway and by 6 pm (!), there hardly has been  any car at all! Traffic throughout the day is a dream. And it MOVES. We can drive to almost anywhere, and not get stuck in traffic for hours on end.

Traffic situation-wise, it is actually quite nice to be in Bangkok.

It is that time of the year called Songkran – the world’s largest water festival and essentially the traditional Thai New Year’s celebration. It occurs around the 13th to the 15th of April every year and celebrated by all for over a few days.

Unlike the previous years where we would usually plan for our annual vacation, this year, we stayed behind in Bangkok– the first time in our seven years in Thailand with NO plans to go anywhere whatsoever for such a long weekend. 

Given the long weekend, we actually found ourselves scratching our heads and scrambling away to find activities to keep Spud (and ourselves!) occupied. It is safe to conclude that finding things to do and running after Spud while trying to keep the household chores together is definitely more tiring that a 14 hour work-day for days on end! 

While it feels nice to have some family time together (and possibly making Spud all confused with her routine again), both Silver Bullet and I have been completely knackered by the end of the day. Apart from meal times which have proven to be very difficult with Spud refusing to eat at breakfast, lunch and dinner, we otherwise have had a rather pleasant time.

We have, so far,  managed to stay dry too despite seeing a lot of dousing activities out there on the streets, venturing only into the safe areas of Bangkok (enclosed places and shopping malls) and staying well-away from the crazy areas of water fights. 

Even whilst in the car, we made sure that we lock our doors, as apparently there had been cases where revelers would have no qualms opening the car doors and throwing water and/or talcum powder and /or flour  into your car to make you wet in the name of Songkran.

I would think though that if you are single or even married without small kids, Songkran would certainly be great fun. Otherwise, like us and possibly other parents with small kids, we avoid this devious festival like a plague! 

I tried taking some pictures whilst in the car, but none turned up well as we were mostly moving (!). So, to give you a flavour what it was like, I nicked off a few pictures from  Google Images of what lurked in the street corners of the big water party here in Bangkok.

And, uhmmm....no. I did not miss being a part of the water dousing chaos and mayhem.

TNT - We Know Drama

Another brilliantly executed advertising stunt made in Belgium which recently caught my attention:



I wonder how many people did actually push that button!

Taking on the world!

Silver Bullet took this video shot of Spud taking on a big slide at one of the playgrounds in Emporium recently:

Spud looked so pleased with herself here, despite her crashing down quite hard! It warms my heart to see her so happy like that.

It is so nice to be a kid that age.

Selfish beings

I am annoyed.

No. Make that I am ROYALLY annoyed.

Annoyed and pissed off with the BTS commuters in this city, who seem to have no sense of consideration for other people, and are just being selfish beings – especially to parents who have their hands full with shopping bags whilst carrying a little toddler in their arms

I’m not sure if they are even aware of it, or if they did, they just didn’t care. But, it is appalling to see some of these commuters smiling, cooing and even touching Spud while she was being held by either Silver Bullet or myself, and yet, none bothered to offer us their seats, and left us standing in a crowded train for the rest of our journey. 

It really makes my blood boil, this. Even when I was a kid, I was taught to give up my seat to the elderly, pregnant women, parents with small babies and the handicapped. But no ma'am, not in this country apparently - and not unless you are a monk!

I just cannot understand why they harbour such mentality, and this transcends to both Thais as well as Farangs in this country. So far, maybe only 1 in 10 passengers ever offer us their seats and that, I find simply unacceptable and appaling!

Is this what the more modern, educated society has come down to?

Ayam Lemak Cili Padi

One of my all-time most favourite dish is the "Ayam Lemak Cili Padi" or loosely translated as Chicken in Coconut Gravy with Birds' Eye Chili". The spiciness is addictive.

It is of no surprise that  my love for this dish goes way back to my childhood; and the best Lemak Cili Padi Dish I ever had is none other than the one made by my own mother. Be it with chicken or with fish, they can be oh-so-mouth-watering. The dish will leave you craving for more even though you would be smokin' away from its spiciness!

I have been cooking this dish every once in a while over the years, and I only realised that I have yet to post the recipe on my blog.

It is a simple and unassuming dish - and I always top it with a dash of kicap manis (sweet black sauce) after scooping it on my rice.

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Chicken or Fish
• 1 and half cup low fat milk
• 180 ml coconut milk (or santan)
• 1 inch galangal, bruised
• 2 lemon grass, bruised
• 2 tbsp coriander powder
• 1-2 tbsp canola oil
• Fresh tumeric leaves
• Kaffir lime leave (optional)

[To be blended]

• 20 pieces bird's eye chilli  or cili padi (both red & green)
• 20 red shallots
• 1 red onion
• 2 garlic
• 1 inch fresh tumeric root
• 1 inch ginger

Method:

1. Blend birds eye chilli, shallots, onion, garlic, tumeric root and ginger in the blender. Set aside
2. Heat up oil, when hot enough,add in the blended ingredients and stir fry till fragrant
3. Throw in the lemon grass, galangal and stir them together
4. Add in chicken or fish into the mixture for about 20 minutes or till cooked
5. Add in the coconut milk. If the gravy seems too thick, just add water
6. Reduce the heat of the fire, let it simmer to boil until the chicken or fish is cooked
7. Lastly, add in the tumeric and kaffir lime leaves
8. Serve dish over rice

Framed memories: The 4th Year

We did it again.

For the fourth year in a row.

Both Silver Bullet and I completely forgot that it is our wedding anniversary today. Hah!

And the only reason I remembered was because I received an e-greeting card in my mailbox today from Silver Bullet's parents. My first thought was why did his mother send me a greeting card? What is the occasion? Was it because she knew I had been unwell in the last few days - and if so, that is sweet, but still...that could not be it!

And when I clicked on the link, I saw this:

Gosh! That triggered it and I laughed myself silly. It was not only to me (duh!), it was for both Silver Bullet AND me.

I immediately called Silver Bullet to inform him that we forgot something again today (he immediately went "what?! did Spud leave something in the car?"), went on to tell him about the card, wishing him a Happy Anniversary, and went on to laugh our asses off for forgetting yet again...

Ahh! Such forgetfulness is so classic for us, and honestly, I don't think either of us actually really thought about our anniversary at all in the last week or so. We certainly did not talk about it as far as I remember. 

Although, a nice feeling came over me after being reminded about it (thanks Mom & Dad!). I was then tempted to look at some of our wedding photos which I still have on my desktop , and was then duly reminded that I actually did a video montage which I had put together post our wedding.

I had produced 2 versions then, with one already posted up here.

It HAS been four years, indeed. I feel so blessed to not only have such a wonderful man for a husband, but also that we both are still blissfully married (with more years to come, hopefully!) with a tot in tow.

Looking back at the videos, I think I now have a reason to put up the other version (which I have conveniently forgotten about), for commemorative purposes in lieu of our 4th Wedding Anniversary.

I'm thinking I should also convert our little wedding slide show which I did on PowerPoint  for our wedding day to an mpeg version one of these days

The pictures in the video still makes me smile and, it brought back so many nice memories during the photo shoot for our wedding.

It is just a shame that I won't be able to look as good and/or slim as I did before...Anyways, here you go. Enjoy!

Images on this video courtesy of J&C Bridals Photographe, Singapore

Musk Melon

This, by far, must have been the most atrociously expensive melons I have ever seen.

I was trying to get a decent shot of the fruit and the price, but the sales person there was clearly not happy and after warning me several times, and I pretended that I did not understand her, she then just tried to block me in every way she could. 

Two thousand, five hundred and fifty baht.  For one friggin’ melon! That is more than SGD 100. An insane amount of money to pay for a damn melon.  

I do wonder if it tastes any different from a 200 baht melon? I’m inclined to think it would be, otherwise, what is the point? But still, how much for deliciously different it could be? 

Who buys such an expensive melons, anyway? And really, for what?  You eat it, you shit it out and then boom! Gone. There was not even a taste test for crying out loud. How does the price justify the purchase?

The price they sold this so-called Musk Melon is mind-boggling.

Ladies' Man

Every once in a while, Silver Bullet gets to gloat on his position as King of the Castle as our feline friends bestow their honorary kinship to the man of the house...

This is the time when these cats, for some reason just can't get enough of him as they showered him with loads of affection as their purring engines go into full gear. A twitch from Silver Bullet will send one of the cats meowing away with a tone of "how-dare-you-move" annoyance.

It is not very often that the cats will shower their owners with affection, and when they do, you almost don't want to move them away.

It is quite endearing to see him become a "ladies' man", although,  I do kind of feel sorry for him when the cats have had enough as he usually ends up with the sneezing bouts that sometimes last for days!

20 months update

At 20 months, I am having a little bit of a struggle to update Spud’s milestones, simply because the development has not been quite as stark as it used to be when she was younger. It does make me wonder how long before I will actually stop updating her progress on a monthly basis and more of an ad-hoc update. My guess is that it probably will not be too far away!

What else is new this month?

This cheeky monkey, is actually quite pleasant to be with – that is mostly, when she is not cranky, whiny and throwing her little tantrums. She continues to test boundaries, sometimes pushing the limits to the breaking point. She no longer goes just, “No, no, no”; instead, she upgraded her vocab to “No. I don’t want!”  or “I want” quite confidently. 

She has, of late, been notorious for changing her mind every 3 seconds when asking for what she wants. I do have a strong suspicion that she asks just for the sakes of asking when she really does not know what she wants. She is also this little parrot who repeats after what we say and mimics what we do. Every so often, I see her picking stuff up with her feet (and then stumbled over) because I suspect she sees me doing it! Yikes. We are also hearing more and more of her repeating words with a Filipino accent such as “put it bug” (i.e put it back),  “roober-bun” (i.e.  rubber band) and “cut” (i.e cat). Quite funny actually – and I can’t help but laugh at how messed-up her accent will be growing up here in Thailand!

She is all about her stuffed toys now, and has recently took on the never-ending, fun challenge of trying to pick all of them up at the same time with her two bare hands; and trying all over again when she drops even 1 of them before she gets to her intended destination. 

Her few favourites includes Pete The Penguin, Bear the Bear, Puss The Cat, and Sam the Seal. She still sleeps with Lenny the (Snowy) Leopard and Moe the Monkey, but will always make it a point to ask for Bear if she does not see it. 

We have also started her on a part-time playschool curriculum just a couple of weeks ago. The day we enrolled her, the admin staff was quick to label her as a chatterbox as she simply would not stop yakking away. It is of no surprise though, that the moment we left her in the care of the teachers, she wailed her guts out. This has so far happened every single day. 

I have heard from a lot of mothers that this-leaving-your-kids-to-school-episode is usually one of the most heart-wrenching sessions any parents would have to go through when they leave a screaming child behind. It makes me wonder if I seriously am an emotional fuck-wit on this because I did not feel sorry or sad for Spud. 

I was in fact, really cool about it; even on the verge of nonchalance. Does that make me a bad parent? Somehow, I think that it is something that needs to be done, and she just needs to get over it.

Spud will just has to get used to it.

The same thing she got used to in having to sleep in her own bed without being carried. 

The same thing she got used to when she was transitioned from the breast to the bottle. 

The same thing she eventually got used to when she was weaned off the bottles to a sippy cup. 

Perhaps, if anything at all, Spud probably was the one who “hardened” and “trained” me to handle the situation as it is whenever I am with her. Despite the emotional fuck-witism on my part (if there is such a word!), I know deep in my heart, that she’ll be able to cope with it and thrive. And like every other kids, she will eventually appreciate the joy of going to school – until she goes off to a proper-proper school for real, that is!

 Last we heard from the teachers, Spud seems to be enjoying herself playing with other kids once we are gone!

Spud’s still unpredictable with food. Some days she is ok, some days she will not have anything and I have given up trying to get her to eat if she doesn’t want to. So far, our nanny has been doing an excellent job at feeding her during the weekdays whilst we are at work,  (I don’t know why that is!), but at least we can sit back and be comforted on the fact that she eats well when we are not around. 

Our little girl looks so grown-up now. She certainly has exerted some sort of independence, makes her own decision as to what shoes she prefers that day, and wanting to practice putting on her own shoes failing which, she will throw her temper tantrums. Not ideal if we are in a hurry to go somewhere;  and  failing which we just put on her shoes for her anyways and let her wail as we dash out of the door!

At 20 months old, Spud’s really keeping us super busy, and somehow the time we have with her over the weekends is never enough. Well, sometimes.

Wrath of the Titans

It is a long weekend here in Thailand with Friday being declared a public holiday (so is Monday for some, but not for me!), we did something a little bit different from what we usually do.

We dumped Spud with the Nanny in the afternoon and decided to treat ourselves to a long-overdue past-time: We went to the movies. Never mind the fact that we did not know what movies are screening these days, we figured that we'll just go for it and jolly damn well watch something, because we jolly well deserve this.

Yep. We left Spud,  we got out of the house, bought ourselves VIP tickets, plonked ourselves on some fat-ass comfy chair and watched Wrath of the Titans for over 2 hours. In the theatre of a cineplex! Guilt-free.

Even though I am not much of a fantasy-movie fan, I have to say that I really did enjoy the movie.  The storyline is nothing more than just the struggle for godlike powers. It has, I think, a subtle subplot that somehow challenges the establishment of beliefs surrounding gods and religion. In this movie, gods die...like the once great Zeus.The special effects were pretty awesome.Some of the characters in this movie are also quite entertaining. Liam Neeson still has that same superior-being presence like he was in Star Wars.

Gosh! I can't even remember the last time we went to the theatre; I reckon it must have been at least a year ago.

And it was nice to be spending the afternoon at the movie theatre, just the two of us.

The "Dirty Look"

I have a thing for what I call an “exotic-nyonya” style earring designs.

Don’t ask me why, but I just love it. So in love with them, that I bought them by the dozens in Singapore more than 4 years back.  Given that I am a creature of habit when it comes to designs and styles, buying at such a quantity was an ideal thing to do because, not only I use one piece of earring at a time (I wear it at the outer ear rim at the top of my ear – also called the pinna piercing) but also for a very embarrassing fact that I have a penchant for losing my earrings way too often. 

Recently, I realized that I am left with only 2 pieces of usable earrings. 

This is when I start to panic, because at the back of my head, I just know that I will not be able to find anything remotely similar (creature of habit syndrome sets in).  And I was right! 

 Because I have anticipated this moment to come round a while back, I have actually spent the last 1 year or so searching for it, and to date, I still am not able to find any.

Recently though, I stumbled upon a pack of loose pieces of jadeite  at a DIY bead-store. There were altogether 5 pieces in one packet, each with different shades and tones. Hence, as soon as I saw them, I thought they would make the perfect replacement for my soon to be extinct nyonya-styled earring for my pinna-pierced ear. 

Feeling happy, I then approached the sales staff and asked her (very nicely!) if she could please make these into simple hooked earrings for me. She furrowed her eyebrows, telling me that there were only 5 (I know!),  that they are of different shades (I know!) and each one is too small for an earring (I also know!). She repeated the same comments at least 3x, as if she was questioning my sanity, and each time, I reassured her with yes, I know, before she proceeded with making an earring out of each of them.

I left it at that, smiled gleefully at her and I did not explain to her why I would need odd number of earrings 

And the whole time, I could see her face scrounged up while she was making an earring out of each jadeite.  She looked to look so unbelievably bothered and “buay-gam**” by my request.

The only thing I can think of why she reacted that way was perhaps because (I think!) it must have killed her not knowing what the hell I was going to do with 5 separate pieces of earrings. I mean, they each not only looked different, they are in odd numbers, and are all too “small” to be made into a hooked earring!

She could have asked, really, and I would tell her the reason. But she didn’t, and I left the shop with an impish smile of glee on my face. I really like what I got myself.

I kind of enjoyed the sick humour I had unwittingly created; and only because she had given me the "dirty look" as she could not figure out what I would be doing with it.

Like I said, she could have asked. 

** Buay Gam: Means feelings which is not right, inconsistent or mismatched in Hokkien

Where's Spud?

Somewhere in that pile of wonderful colours, lies the cheeky monkey amusing herself in a pool of balls.

Hilarious to watch. Nonetheless, was very mindful of other kids who may just crash-land on her as they descend from the big slide and may not realise that she is in there because she was very well camouflaged, and has no sense of danger or fear whatsover.

Cygnet to Little Fish

If not for Silver Bullet telling me that he saw a sign telling parents to pick up their kids’ swimming certs as the semester is about to end when we went for Spud’s weekly swimming lesson last week, I would never have known that there is a certificate to be picked up!

Turned out, since we started baby swimming in January lastyear, we never did pick up any of the certs, simply because for us, it was not a big deal and also because, nobody actually reminded us about it.

So, Spud never has any official swimming certs, and if not for that little nudge from Silver Bullet (I did not see any signs!), I don’t think it would even occur to me to ask for it. And when I did ask for it, it turned out that Spud has four to her name already – 1 for every semester.  Sweet.

To be honest, I don’t know what we will do with four certificates, and I am sure there will be more certificates to come   - only to collect dust in the end. 

In any case, I guess they are kind of a keepsake for Spud. 

I wonder what comes after Little Fish and beyond.

(I had no idea what “cygnet” means initially as it was a term I don’t think I am familiar with; only to find out later that it means “young swan”. )

For some reason, I had an image of a krill (from Happy Feet) when I saw the word "cygnet"  on the certs.

If You Could Only See

This song has been playing in my head for more than a week now eversince I heard it on-air whilst I was chilling out with a good friend last weekend. It seemed so long ago since I last heard it, and while I recognised the melody, and could even remember some of the lyrics, I had no clue what the title of the song was!

Can't bear the thought of not knowing, I then shamelessly asked the waiter for the name of the song. He kindly checked it for me and told me that the one that was played on air was covered by "Boyce Avenue" - a name I haven't heard of before.

As I found out soon after, the song was first released by a band called Tonic way back in 1997.

I don't know what it is about the song, but the melody (not so much of the lyrics this time) got to me. It gave me a sense of nostalgia, and I like the soothing voice of the vocalist.

Enjoy!

Our Sunday on April Fool's Day

Spud was pretty whiny when she woke up today, and got crankier by the second as the morning went by. I thought her body felt warmer than usual, although the thermometer registered a reading of slightly lower than 37 Degrees Celsius.

It turned out that she was a little under the weather, taking an unusual early morning nap when she was sitting with me in front of the TV. By 9 am,  she threw up on Silver Bullet twice – TWO definite signs that she was not a 100%. 

It must have been something in the air – as I, myself, have been nursing a nasty cough, a massive blocked nose and an annoying cold in the last few days. It could be that Spud must have gotten it from me. The weather here may have also played a part as it has been extra-ordinarily hot and humid in the last week. 

We can’t really tell what it was, but after giving Spud a tummy rub, a foot massage and Spud dispensing a load of crap in her diaper after that, she seemed OK.  She was a ball of energy again, and was literally bouncing off the walls. 

She has not been as difficult as she was when she got really ill while we were in Holland, but the exaggeration that comes with her whining has certainly not gotten any lesser! 

For reasons unbeknownst to us, Spud is certainly showing a clear preference for Silver Bullet when she feels under the weather; rejecting me every now and again throughout the day when she sees fit.

It is still not as bad as the last rejection fiasco we have had before, but I am still little bit annoyed when it happened. While I roll with it, and even handled it a little better this time I think!), I really just wish that Spud would snap out of it soon. 

On a scale of 1 to 10 though, I’d rate the rejection today as a 2 if I were to compare it to the previous ordeal we had. So, not too bad, really, and I just have to keep telling myself that it is nothing personal. 

My only wish is that Spud sleeps through tonight or both Silver Bullet and me can say bye-bye to a much needed rest...