Lunch at Suju

After reading Imp's review of her meal at Suju, Imp and I arranged to lunch there together today. We shared the homemade tofu with yummy salty soybeans and ordered a lunch set each.  The sticky rice was the star, with small dishes adding interesting flavour or texture. It was also a nice catch up with Imp :)

Apples and avocados

I realise the usefulness of stocking these 2 fruits at home.  I could use them as ingredients for my baked stuff or simply eat them as snacks or salad. Apples go well with peanut butter and I like the taste of mash avocado with spring onions, lemon juice and black pepper and salt.

Apple galette and shoyu tamago

After reading about the dishes prepared by Faerieimp and D, I was inspired to try making them. I googled and chose the recipes that are easy to follow. The crust of the apple turned out saltier than I like. Luckily the apple filling is nice as I only mixed the apple slices with lemon juice and brown sugar. The white of the egg was too soft with the shell hard to peel off. I had to abandon the recipe and boiled the water again and put the eggs back to soak for few more minutes. I will read up about the making of Ramen tamago carefully if I want to try again. The failed egg did make a good breakfast with the avocado coriander salad :)

Continue to sayang me!

Angel likes my feet to stroke him.  In this shot, I stopped to take a photo of him and he opened one eye and looked at me. So adorable and I quickly took a few shots before my foot continued to give Angel his massage :)

I love Jeh Jeh's comfy bed

That's what I imagine Bob might be thinking as he groomed himself, then paused and stared into space :)

Angel's favorite day bed

is parents' king sized bed :)

Making time for home-cooked meals

Sometimes I could walk around a shopping mall and not knowing what to get for dinner. Today was one of such days. I was at Thomson Plaza and none of the eateries there appeal to me, so I only bought a packet of baby kale from the supermarket and went home. Remembering a colleague recently shared a simple cucumber noodle with peanut butter dressing recipe, I made something similar with cucumber and baby kale. It was easy to prepare and delicious. For part 2 of dinner to get my carbs, after feeding the community cats with parents, I found a blog recipe on yogurt quick oats and ate half of the pancakes. Preparing my own meals take times but I feel good eating them :) even though they don't turn out well at times.

Avocado dessert and meal

I have transformed the 2 avocados I bought on Friday into chocolate avocado cake for yesterday's gathering with friends and mashed avocado potato salad for lunch just now. The weekend is meaningfully spent, when I manage to make something nice, or catch up with my friends.

Heartwarming meals

A meal always tastes delicious and even enjoyable when eaten in a relaxed manner alone, or with good company.

Happy 37th birthday lunch

In about 8 hours' time, I will be exactly 37 years old. At this point in time, I feel good about myself. There are things that I am still unsure of and will need to continue to explore and find the answers. I know I am fortunate to be born in this little red dot and be able to do what I am doing now and be surrounded by my family and good friends and my cats. I cooked a simple lunch for mom and myself just now, and felt a little squirt of joy :)

Monster chocolate muffins

I baked these on Sunday using a recipe from Joy of Baking. I followed the instruction to fill the batter to the brim. A mistake, as while baking in the oven, the chocolate lava started to flow out. Hee. Hence the muffins looked monstrous instead of lovely. They were quite sweet too. I will have to look for another recipe, as the texture is a little too moist for my liking. At least, sis seems to like it than my other healthy bakes :)

My cute ABC babies

Sometimes I will hug or give them a kiss when they give me that adorable. And if I am fast enough, I will quickly take a photo.

When Angel is relaxed

I can stroke him using my feet. I don't know why he prefers them to my hands.

Good Omens

I finished reading the book "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman last night. I started reading i. a week ago before Pratchett passed away on 12 Mar. The storyline and characters in the book are interesting, funny and at times charming, heart-warming. It is not as dark as Gaiman's Sandman, even though there are angels, demons in Good Omens. 

Below is a para I like from the book, where Adam Young, an 11 year-old antichrist, a tool to end the world, said to an angel and a demon before the planned Armageddon: 'I don't see what's so triffic about creating people as people and then gettin' upset 'cos they act like people,' said Adam severely. 'Anyway, if you stopped tellin' people it's all sorted out after they're dead, they might try sorting it all out while they're alive. If I was in charge, I'd try makin' people live a lot longer, like ole Methuselah. It'd be a lot more interestin' and they might start thinkin' about the sort of things they're doing to all the environment and ecology, because they'll still be around in a hundred years' time." 

I have not read any of Pratchett's Discworld novels, but after reading his obituary in the papers and Good Omens, I will be keeping a lookout for his books at the library.

Developing a taste for horror stories?

Last year, I was devouring almost all of the comics novels I could find on Sandman by Neil Gaiman from the library, after attempting to read "A Game of you" I bought from Sunny Bookshop years ago. Strangely, I couldn't go beyond the first few pages of that story then, but last year, I could easily flip page after page and even read more stories of the series. I like some of the illustrations, which could be quite gory at times, and the interesting plot. A good summary is found a. http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_About_Neil/The_Sandman_Summary. 

During the recent flight back from Tokyo to Singapore, I watched the 1st 2 episodes of a Japanese anime "Parasyte: The Maxim" and got hooked on the story line of a high school boy Shinichi having to live with and work with an alien parasite Migi (who ate up his right arm after his failed attempt to eat his brain and control his body) to fight with other parasites in human hosts. I have caught up with the rest of the episodes and eagerly waiting for 20th episode to be out this weekend! 

I like the storyline and a few times I cried for Shinichi's loss. Over the Chinese New year holiday, I found another interesting horror Japanese anime "Tokyo Ghoul" - another school boy Kaneki Ken who got attacked by a ghoul (human eating monster) Rize and ended up having organ transplant from Rize who got crushed. Kaneki experienced hunger for human flesh and had to learn how to survive as a half human and half ghoul with the help of his new ghoul friends who were trying to blend into the society and only survive on suicide victims and enjoyed drinking coffee. Season 1 has 12 episodes showing fighting scenes between the special investigators and the ghouls and the physical and emotional torture and changes for Kaneki. I'm waiting for Season 2 Episode 8 to be out too :)

Happy Lunar New Year

On the eve and 1st 2 days of the lunar new year, my family and I will have dinners with our relatives from my mom's side. For most of them, we only see them once a year. Lots of eating and shaking of hands with greetings and wishes. Some of the ang pows have lovely/cute designs.

The good memories of the work trip in Tokyo

The recent work trip to Tokyo late last month was quite tiring due to lack of sleep, but I was able to enjoy the food ("goma" black sesame pudding, teppanyaki dish of mixed rice, soba and beef tendon for lunch, warm udon with tempura for dinner, udon soup with tempura at a different restaurant for lunch), as well as a bit of sight-seeing (Asakusa and Sky Tree) on one of the nights with my colleagues.

DIY desserts

Last month, I managed to squeeze in some time to make a chocolate cake using coconut milk and dorayaki (Japanese red bean pancakes). This weekend, sadly I can't bake, as I have been down with cough and runny nose. I'm looking forward to other weekends to try new recipes :)

Goodbye 2014, hello 2015

Last year ended peacefully and well with a few gatherings with good old friends over yummy food and family at home :)

My adorable babies :)

I love them all.