What's For Dinner!

I've meant to cook a proper meal for days! The meat and the vegetables have been in the fridge for almost a week and I'm just too lazy to cook. Anyway, I promised my hubby to prepare some homecooked food today coz it's been quite long since he ate my cooking. He always enjoys simple homecooked food, but since we returned to Singapore from Shanghai, I hardly mess-up my kitchen. You know, I'm quite ngeow when it comes to cleanliness; I can't bear to see my kitchen in any state different from a show-room.

Anyway, grouses aside, I did enjoy preparing the meal. Just a simple one - my hubby's favourite herbal chicken soup, dou-miao with XO sauce and needle mushrooms in oyster sauce, and that is sufficient to make my hungry hubby grateful! : )

Moist Chocolate Cupcakes!

Finally gathered my lazy bones to do something today other than read and watch DVD. Actually I've completed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in four days, and have started my Korean drama (Wedding) DVD marathon since two days ago. Problem is, on Tuesday, I watched 5 episodes in one sitting and after that migraine hit real badly. I think it was due to 5 straight hours of staring at the TV screen so the eyes couldn't take it. So in the last 24-hours, I've had 2 sets of synflex+cafergot and a nice pair of extra-strong panadol to tail the pain off, plus plastered my temples all over with my trusty tiger balm ointment.

Thought today's cool wet weather would be an opportune time to work in front of the oven. I made Moist Chocolate Cupcakes - a new recipe I've never tried. Unfortunately, it was still hot in my tiny kitchen, and I feared I had killed a whole lot of facial cells when I opened the oven to remove the chocolate babies. But gasp...aren't they beautiful?! You've got to smell them!

Uh.. ok, actually they aren't beautiful. Think it's becoz I used chopped almonds instead of ground almonds, thus giving them the orange-peel face. They should look more 'glam' if I slather on some icing cream on them, but don't think I'll do that this time. Testing only mah. But I learnt that baking anything with molten chocolate is such a kungfu business! Have to melt the chopped chocolate over simmering pan of water blar blar.... so troublesome! My kitchen's really tiny and I don't have much workspace, so next time I'll go for one-bowl cakes as far as possible.

Hmmm..... I regret to inform you that you won't have a chance to sample them this time. They're really quite nice; crunchy and chocolatey. Worth all the perspiration! I shall offer them to my hubby's cell members when they meet at my home tonight. Lucky guys!

First Reunion

It was raining this morning when I opened my eyes around 7am. No it wasn't voluntary - the alarm clock beeped at 7am for my hubby and subconsciously I held it near his ear to wake him. Because the beep was quite gentle, it did not work, so I have to wake him 'manually' instead. I thanked God that I did not have to get up this early and snuggled further under the quilt.

I arranged to meet my colleagues for lunch today, and at the same time collect the dry-cleaning which I had dropped off last week at the dry-cleaner's near the office. Not the whole team turned up, but nonetheless the 3 of us had a good time catching-up. I promised next time when I visit, I will have some self-bake treats for them. : )

Then I headed to Raffles City to shop around. I do realise that I don't need that many new clothes since I'm not working now. Naturally, why the need for another pair or pumps or another stick of lipstick? I'm supposed to be frugal during this period! Anyway, I went to Cedele to have a cuppa and a little indulgence in something sweet.

I used to be extremely conscious of myself when I was alone. As in, I would imagine that people might look at me and think how pathetic I am to have to eat all alone, like I'm super unpopular or have no friends etc. (Also, in my younger days, I drew a bit more attention because I was quite pretty lah. Or had it just been my imagination!? Ha ha!) But now I'm ok, because I go everywhere with a book. In fact I enjoy having a meal by myself and read while finishing up my coffee. Besides, nowadays hardly any man look at me, no more sweet-young-thing, sigh! Anyway, would be interesting to hear how my friends feel about eating alone.....

The Day Has Arrived!

Oops, I said I'll wake up at 10am today but I slept till 1130am. Big regret... coz I'm feeling a bit groggy and heavy-headed now from too much sleep. Well, since it's my first free-day, I shall not impose too many rules, i.e. if I don't feel like unpacking the 3 huge-paper-bag-fulls of personal possessions brought back from my office, so be it. They are currently left on the floor of my study room being stumbled upon here and there but I'm just too lazy to tidy up the place. I shall read today, nap a bit, watch TV, eat ice-cream, and read some more!

Yesterday I was dizzy with 'celebrations' of my last day at work. My boss and teammates bought me lunch at the Teahouse at China Square and I couldn't help but feel so enveloped by love. You know, I have often heard about how challenging it is to have true friends at the workplace but by the grace of God, I have found myself surrounded by many people who care for me and whom I can call bosom friends. These are the beautiful people who will be forever etched in my memory......

Back: Marcus, George, Spencer, Boss, Keng Heng

Front: Lynn, Sheryl, Me, Stella, Ros

Stella has lent me her copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (yup, I haven't bought the book yet coz I wanted to wait for the release of the softcover copy to complete my collection) since I couldn't wait any longer to read the story. This will keep me occupied for the next few days. Tonight, I shall be watching the movie preview of 'Balls of Fury' - a good friend has got me and hubby tickets. I checked out the movie trailer and thought it would be a hilarious / slap-stick movie and I don't mind that at all! What a happy way to start my break! : )

What, No More Holidays?

Many people asked if I will be taking a holiday to kick-start my break. Oh, how I wish to, but unfortunately traveling is not in my plan. Hubby and I just visited Italy at end-June and I've used up my holidy budget for this year.

Our Italy holiday was almost perfect, if not for the hot weather. Because of work commitments, I could only take leave at end-June. Ma-ma mia! Rome was scorching hot and Venice got quite sticky in summer, but we still enjoyed ourselves! Venice became my 3rd favourite city (I've visited) in the world, after Paris and Barcelona.

Would like to share some of my favourite photos from the trip. Hope they will inspire you to visit Italy soon!

Now, What Should I Do Next?

I’m drawing very close to my last day of work. This last week has been quite relaxing for me – my boss has since a few weeks ago stopped giving me new work assignments, and I was left to finish up whatever work on hand in peace. Last Friday I did nothing more than to clear up my desk and shred 2-angsana-tree worth of old personal work papers. Shredding paper is a noisy ritual that people leaving their jobs do. As my mind drifted away in the rumblings of the machine, it hit me that the reality of an idle life is just less than 5 days away!

What should I be doing immediately on 19 Sep 2007 (the first non-working day), in the first week, month and after that? Are there any specific things I want to accomplish within the 6 months? I recalled when I first went on no-pay leave in 2003, I was overcome with sadness of having to leave my family, friends and work behind, that I had a hard time adjusting to a totally different life (I even got into mild depression for a while). This time round, I told myself I should not repeat the same mistake. I will try to cherish the free time on hand and do the things I’d always wanted to do, but never found enough time to do in the past, such as:

#1 Spending more time with God – Honestly, I have not been reading my bible for sometime. I wake up at 630am every morning to prepare for work, and I can’t make myself wake up any earlier to do ‘quiet time’. I’m one who needs to sleep a lot, you see. And by the time I come home every night after work and dinner, it’s like 9pm or 10pm. If I were to pick up the bible, I am likely to just fall straight into slumber. So many times I pass out even before I complete the Lord’s Prayer (Very sorry God)!

#2 Reading – I love to read! Am interested in all sorts of books, novels, sci-fiction, fantasy, biographies, and Christian books. I am always tempted to buy books whenever I visit bookstores, but I can’t seem to find enough time to read them. I am concurrently reading these books now: The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley), Good Morning Holy Spirit (Benny Hinn), Your Best Life Now (Joel Osteen) and The Purpose Driven Life (Rick Warren). I have a whole shelf of books (about 15) yet to be read and I can’t wait to finish them all!

#3 Taking up driving lessons – I’m quite embarrassed to admit that I still don’t have a driving license at this ripe old age. After 2 attempts some 10 years ago, I developed a phobia for traffic and have refused to take up lessons since. However, everyone’s telling me how stupid I am not to drive when we have a car. Whenever my hubby goes overseas, my car is left in the car park and I have to take public transport (and I don’t really enjoy doing that). Since I will have so much time going forward, I should take up driving lessons. Actually, I am somewhat motivated to drive our BMW 323i, coz according to my hubby, it’s a nice car to handle. I love cars too.

#4 Taking up baking lessons – The thought of signing up for a commercial baking course crossed my mind much earlier, but later on it got watered down to just taking up occasional baking classes for items which I would like to bake. It’s too troublesome to do a lengthy course, because, not to forget, I will have to take public transport to these baking schools, which are usually located in rather inaccessible places. Actually I do know how to bake basic cakes and muffins, but I want to learn more varieties and pick up cake decoration skills.

#5 Exercising – It’s such a big thing for me! Because of my not-so-good health condition, I avoided strenuous exercises. My stamina just got worse and worse over time, and my waistline got thicker and thicker (Huh? Waist, what’s a waist?). I am also quite lazy lar, coz if I have some time to spare, I would rather huddle in a couch to read, than to sweat it out right? I’m a super in-door person. But it’s time I do something to shed those pounds before it’s too late….

Seriously, I think as long as I accomplish Objective #1, I would have no regrets, but this one requires the most discipline, in my opinion. I hope I’ll be able to stay committed to the above. Well, guess I’ll find out soon enough if these plans will materialise!

A Tribute to my Shanghai Tai-Tai Friends

As I’m entering tai-tai-dom again, albeit temporarily, I must write about my best experience being one some 4 years ago. Most of my friends know that I was staying in Shanghai between Feb 2003 and Feb 2005 when my hubby got a job at Capitaland China. At that time, while I was excited about being an expat in blooming Shanghai, I was very sad to leave my organisation, especially when the reality of having to leave home came quite suddenly. I loved my job and my organisation, and loved them even more when management granted me a two-year no-pay leave. That meant I could come back to the embrace of the organisation after my tai-tai stint.

It was cold and lonely in Shanghai when we first arrived. After a few days of settling in, hubby had to go to work, leaving me alone in our service apartment. I didn’t have any kids to occupy me, so I woke up at noon most of the days, and my pastime was reading through a mug of coffee at the Starbucks downstairs, everyday without fail.

Overtime, I got to know the wives of my hubby’s colleagues (who stayed in the same service apartment block) and through them, other tai-tai friends. Whoa! Mind you, these ladies are not naggy housewives who like to talk to vegetables. They all used to hold great jobs in Singapore but quit to support their husbands’ careers (so self-sacrificing!). And they certainly are not bimbos who only know how to visit salons, do manicure, shop and have tea (of course we did all these too lar), gossip and bitch. They are knowledgeable, strong in character, well read and well traveled ladies, and they know more about 3G phones, msn chats and blogs before I did!

Being the youngest amongst them, they took very good care of me: chio me out for lunches and massages, gave me tips about where to find the best deal for anything, did marketing for me (coz I was not familiar with the chinese vegetables and didn't know which ones were edible), cooked for me and hubby when I was sick, comforted me when I found out I got hyperthyroidism etc. We became a close-knitted group and looked out for one another. Being in their company was the best ever thing that happened to me in Shanghai. Just thinking about them spreads warmth through my heart. Sigh, most good things come to an end, when one-by-one we either returned to Singapore at the end of our hubby’s postings, or got transferred to Beijing. But we make it a point to gather in Singapore at least once a year during the summer breaks. Last year the tai-tais came to my new home. This year we gathered at Jessie’s new home. Here are the pictures of the gathering of the extraordinary ladies!

July 2006 Gathering

July 2007 Gathering

A New Chapter

This is called jumping on the bandwagon - so many people are 'on blog' nowadays! I thought it is a good idea to start one too, to keep my friends updated on what I'm up to, and I do hope I can hear from them occasionally. Very soon, I'll be on 'retreating' at home but I certainly don't wish to lose touch with my colleagues, friends, and human beings in general.

So here's presenting "Straight from J's Heart"... Is the name too cliché huh? Actually I chose this name for my blog for two reasons. Firstly, I had been secretly fantasizing about setting up an on-line baking business, and I had intended "straight from J's heart" to be the label of my products. I love baking, and every creation would naturally be made with love, straight from my heart! (Will write more about this next time.) Secondly, well that's what a blog is meant to be, right? Penning down our personal experiences and thoughts, and putting our hearts into it? No?

I said earlier I’d soon be retreating... Yes! I'll be on a long six-month leave from work to do anything else but work. Was kinda too shy to tell people about my leave, coz it's not like I'll be emerging from my break with a new diploma, or likely to brandish a research paper. I'm just going to be a tai-tai during that period. This decision came on impulse, well, sort of. I thought I needed a break from the work routine, which was beginning to bore and frustrate me. One day, when I was whining in the car on the way home, hubby said, "Why stress yourself dear? If you xian about work then don’t work loh. You stress me when you are stressed too!" At that moment, a light bulb popped above my head - That's a good idea I thought, worth exploring. I did the sums and was quick to arrive at the conclusion that my annual salary is not even near my hubby's annual bonus. Why am I working until so cham for?? So, we discussed and I made the decision to live on his dough for a couple of months.

So I'm opening up another new chapter of my life. Contrary to 'popular believe', my hubby and I are not loaded. It's quite tough for a household with single income to manage the expenses - mortgage, car instalments, parents' allowances, bills, holidays, and we haven't even got kids yet! I can't afford to be a tai-tai perpetually. But since I'm blessed with the 6-month free period, I might as well make good use of it. At the minimal, now, I have established my personal blog!

Don't ask me yet about my plans for the 6 months, and especially what will happen at the end of it. Besides a rough list of things I really wish to do, I have not spent more time thinking about it. I'll have lotsa time to do that later. We'll, if you are interested to know what I'm up to do, tune in to my blog occasionally! : )