Cooking or Baking again!

​I've collected recipes from my teen years, imagining that I would naturally step into mother mode one day.   Nope!  That didn't happen.  Cooking or baking always seemed a chore.  I didn't enjoy it.  

Now when I see something on Pinterest and it looks interesting, I wonder if Stephen would like it.  Probably he would, as everything that I have ever made has been good for him.  One would think that this would spur me on to perform miracles in the kitchen but, lo and behold, the lazy gene is far more dominant.​

I do console myself that it isn't all about being lazy.  I just don't particularly like cooking or baking.

I made some bread pudding recently.  First time ever and it's super easy so that accounts for why I don't mind making it.  Stephen loves it and thinks I'm a genius now.  hahahahahahaha!

And I always add extra almond chips on top.

And I love packing Malay food instead of cooking!

Beef rendang, paru-paru, mixed veggies and salted egg!  Heaven!  Comfort food!  So blessed that this stall is just a block away from me!

Done by one

 

Recently I saw something that suggested we should get all our chores done by one pm.  It seemed a nice idea.  

I wondered if it would work for me.  So I did aim for it the other day.  Kept telling myself that after one pm, I can be guilt-free while I lounge around doing whatever I wanted.

Then Stephen made me change my mind.  He suddenly said, "just do one thing, only one thing."  He added, "wash clothes or whatever and then rest!".  

I won't always abide by this 100%.  I mean I may be done by one and then do nothing.  Or I may just do one thing and then rest.  I suppose that's the beauty of having the luxury of time and being at home.

Lesson one is just getting something done!

Image from WWW

Select Editions

I've been busy clearing all the Christmas things and also re-organising some of our stuff.  Somehow despite many attempts at decluttering, the books are always my weakness.  This is only one set of some books that I have.  

I have a small bookshelf with more books and two other piles which I hope to slowly dispose of, when I find the right mood.  Stephen generously asked if I wanted some rotating bookshelves.  I may look into it. 

I haven't been reading much lately.  Somehow I find it hard to concentrate for too long.  Too many distractions at home and also the digital world makes it harder with incoming messages.  And I always have tons of them.  Add the video chats with my beautiful grand-daughter and that about eats up my waking hours.  Okay, I also binge watch Netflix.

Anyway, I make an effort to check every message but I do admit that I skip quite a number of videos.   Sometimes when I get to "delete" mode, I am amazed at how many I have saved for watching later.  Saved but which I eventually decide are not really that interesting.

Anyway, I took this picture, so that I'll remember this set, in case I decide to give it away.  These books were given to me by a neighbour.  I remember him very fondly. 

Scenes of greens

Yesterday we woke up to rain again and it poured almost all day.  When it became a drizzle, I opened the back window to look out and took these shots.  I'm only posting them today because we had a lazy kind of Sunday and I didn't use the computer at all.

Wet leaves and flowers

Close up of this beauty in the midst of the greens

Then I saw this!  

I thought it was a yellow plastic bag at first!

But it was just a yellowed leaf.  

Chided myself for having negative thoughts about people.

At night, this is the scene in front of my door.

It's quite a pretty sight!

I really like how the lights illuminate the trees giving

a resort kind of look to our mundane housing area.

 

These images show that I never set foot outside all day.  This was the pattern of 2020 and I hope to break out of it this year.  If not today, then maybe tomorrow!  Yep, that's me, always putting off till tomorrow if it means getting out of my comfortable home clothes.

Irresolute resolutions

So I was chatting with a friend about doing a-photo-a-day again.  I did it in 2012 with the previous blog I had.  But I realise that I am more unconventional than other people.  Hence I decided that I would save my photo or photos here, whenever or wherever I take them.  I will make an effort to post at least one image daily but I won't let it hold me prisoner of my words.

I told  my friend that when I did the project 366 (it was a leap year) last time, it really made me look at things in a different way.  For sure, I was searching for a photo to take but it also forced me to see things with a more focused view.   And I just noticed that the 2012 and 2021 numbers are a co-incidence.  4D anybody????

Anyway, I will consider this a half-baked resolution.  There!  I've sealed it in writing!  

Most of the last two years have gone by without any documenting except for the uncountable photos of Cayla Gail.  I'm hoping that taking and saving other photos here, will be a good reminder of my 2021 and that we did live despite covid-19 in our midst.

My first photo of this year was of a beautiful kingfisher.  There is actually a pair of them but only one was perched on this tree outside my kitchen window when I took this shot.  It was drizzling but I couldn't capture the raindrops with my Samsung HP camera.

Then while on our way to lunch, I took these other two shots.  I hope they will remind me of the ride to Far East Plaza.

The sign caught my eye because it said "Balmoral Road".  We have been binge watching The Crown on Netflix and I felt that I should get a picture but the rain prevented a clear view.  I never noticed this sign before.  This will help me remember that moment.   Now we're watching The House of Windsor.  God save the Queen!  hahahahahahaha

It had been raining non-stop since before I woke up on the first day of 2021.  I remember hearing the rain in my on/off sleep mode.  When I finally got up, it was a slight drizzle but it stayed wet all day.

Today is no different.  It's another very heavy-pouring-rain kind of day.  I feel like the rain hasn't stopped at all.  

It's already late morning but it's still a bit dark and gloomy.  The sound of the rain is my companion and I need the lights on but not the fan.  

Stephen has gone to work already.   He's such a trooper.  When I feel conventional, he's ready and willing.  When I'm unconventional, he's raring to go.  We're so unlike two peas in a pod but we make it work.

I've made another resolution but that's a secret for now.  I'll share if I have kept it when the year is over.  If not, who cares, right?