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Month: March 2014

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

Wow! I found this half written draft amongst my published posts. Let me finish it before 小小宝贝 wakes up.

Making homemade ice cream is much easier than you think. I’ve always thought that I need an ice cream machine. Actually I bought one like a decade ago. It’s probably still in my Mom’s storeroom. Still not opened… *faint*

Here’s what you need : strawberries. Haha. No brainer right?!Freeze them overnight.

The food I produce are usually no brainers, based on my less than illustrious track record in home economics. (Makes a mental note to list my home economics exploits/disasters one day)

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Frozen strawberries. Rock hard!

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I added some bananas to it to give it a natural sweetness, in case the strawberries are too sour. Add a dollop of natural yoghurt and milk. Then blend.

It works for various kinds of fruits. Just remember to balance sour fruits with sweet ones, such as bananas.

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It feels more like sorbet though. But it’s yummy and at least I know what goes into it. No artificial sugar or preservatives.

You can freeze it if you are not eating it immediately.

Holiday Homework

Holiday Homework

Sunday Morning

Me : 宝贝, Zachary and Gabriel can’t go to the Children’s Garden with us today because Gabriel didn’t do his holiday homework and he has to hand it in tomorrow.

On the way to the Children’s Garden…

Hub : Wow! The ECP is so empty today. Where’s everyone??

Me : At home lar.

Hub : For what?

Me : Trying to finish up their kids’ holiday homework before school reopens tomorrow??

Hub : Oh, you mean the school holidays have started.

Me : It has ended you mean?! =.=”

Ok ok… this joke doesn’t sound as funny as I thought. I will try harder next time. Ganbatte!

 

Scammer or Psychopath?

Scammer or Psychopath?

It all started with a phone call… and now it’s stretched into a saga… I can’t exactly complain that my life is too boring.

17 March 2014 Monday 1pm

“Hi! I would like to speak to Zhiwei.  I’m Adams Chew calling from Globalonline…” Then he rattled on about something.  I had already tuned out, because I was up to my neck with work and it was probably a sales call, until he said, “I met you when you were in One Fullerton. Are you still with XXX?”

Me : Yes. (Not very interested to talk to him plus I was trying to multi task.)

Mr Weirdo : So is your office still at One Fullerton?

Me : No. (Monosyllabic and super sian tone – Doesn’t he get the HINT?!”)

Mr Weirdo : So where is it now?

Me : Republic Plaza

Mr Weirdo : Oh is it on XXth floor? (Trying to pull a fast one huh? He obviously knew where my office was and tried to pretend that he didnt?! Alarm bells ringing!!)

Me : Yes.

Mr Weirdo : Ok I want to know what you are selling now.

Me : Same thing as last time. No change.

Mr Weirdo : I want to know what’s your latest projects. I will put you down on my calendar at 3pm. I will come to your office.

Me : Sorry. I have a contract signing appointment at 3pm. I’m not free.

Mr Weirdo : Ok I will come at 4pm.

Me : I may not be finished by 4pm. (Oh Wow! This is the first time, someone is so desperate (drop dead desperate) to invest with me and I’m turning him away.)

Mr Weirdo : I will call you.

Me : …….

17 March Monday 4pm

He really called my hp!! I refused to pick it up and sent the number to my iphone block list. I was trying very hard to clear all my work so that I could meet my hot date for dinner!

Then my office phone rang.

My HR manager called me,”Zhiwei, are you expecting someone here at 4pm?? There’s someone here to see you.”

OMFG! He actually showed up at my office!! I decided to allocate 15 precious minutes to send him away. So, resignedly, I walked to the reception…

Eh… he’s not there wor.  Phew!

My HR manager asked me, “There’s this weirdo by the name of Adams Chew.  He showed us your namecard and told us that you are meeting him at 4pm.  Do you know him?”

Me : Noooo! He just called me out of the blue and sounded desperate to invest with me!

HR : Anyway, I told him that if you are meeting him, you would have been waiting for him at the reception.  I sent him away and told him that you were not in the office. (At this, my eyes were filled with tears of gratitude.) By the way, this is not the first time that he’s been here.”

Me : Nooo?? (And the saga unfolds.)

HR : He was here last week to look for E and W.  He asked E to give him $50 and refused to leave.  In the end, E gave him a scolding and sent him off.  He also stalked W outside the office.

Me : Fwah!!! I have been saved!! Gam Sia Gam Sia!

And so, I thought that’s the end of it.  Having blocked his calls and all.

Then I saw on my brother’s facebook that he met a weirdo.  We crossed references and found out that it was the same guy!!! What’s he doing?! Calling all the investment consultants in Singapore?

He posted a blog post on his encounter. After that, friends did CSI and sent me his picture.

Adams chew

I forwarded the picture to my HR manager who sent it to the receptionists so that they could keep a lookout for this dodgy character.

18 March Tues

I had a blissful call free Tuesday from him.

Apparently, after my brother left him high and dry without paying for his lunch at Coffee Club, he called my colleague W to go down to pay for his lunch?! I’m not sure if he’s bonkers or what.  Anyway, ICA, please look out for him.  He may try to gatecrash the JB customs again like the rest who pleaded insanity.

19 March Wed 950am

I was in the sales area, just minutes from a project launch.  I received a “no caller id” call and took it. And his voice boomed out at me! He’s become smarter.  He must have known I blocked his call and called me from another number!

Mr Weirdo : I came and look for you on Monday, your receptionist said you left the office?

Me : Yes. I was out of office.

Mr Weirdo : Ok I will come and look for you at 11am.

Me : Sorry I’m busy.

Mr Weirdo : What time are you free?

Me : Why do you want to meet up with me?

Mr Weirdo : I want to know about your new projects.

Me : You have already tried to contact my colleagues so you already know about the new projects.  There’s nothing new for me to share with you. Besides I have many clients and I am already very busy.  I have no time to take on new clients.

Mr Weirdo : ….

Meanwhile, all the associates in the sales area were staring at me with their mouths open. Hmm… This one arh! So atas! Turn away clients!! Waaaa!!! Sigh… If only they knew the full story….

*Pat myself on my back* You’d think this is the end right?! Noooooo….

19 March Wed 11am

Received SOS from HR manager.  The receptionists sounded the alert when they realised that Mr Weirdo walked into the office, looking for E.  We had an event at 12 noon. And he had self invited himself for the event, giving the excuse that E invited him and that he would come back at 12 noon again.

So our big boss (my hero!) decided to end the nonsense once and for all, instructed the receptionists to put him in a secluded room to “Pia zui”! No lar.. just kidding.

19 March Wed 12 noon

He appeared on the dot. We were all summoned to the room while the big boss had it out with him.  He stuck to his story about having a lot of money locked up in Uk and wanted E to give him $600 to unlock the funds so that he can invest with us, and all the shit etc.

Big Boss told him to stop harassing us, to stop asking us to go and pay for his lunch or to ask for $600 etc. And that, if he comes again, we will call the police.  And then he was escorted to the lift.  He loitered around the lift lobby and refused to press the button. ICA take note hor. Potential customs breach. E helpfully pressed the button for him to summon the lift up.

Meanwhile, all of us lined up at the door to send him off.  The associates thought we were expecting some VVIP because the big boss was there personally at the door.

FWAH! Talk about Tw drama saga. This is real life ok!!!! Anyway, hope that this is the end of it.

Meanwhile, take note of this and BEWARE!!!

19 march wed 140pm

I was retelling my brother what happened…

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Weaning off Breastmilk – Almond Milk

Weaning off Breastmilk – Almond Milk

My target for breastfeeding 小小宝贝 was 12 months. He’s now 14 months old. Hmm… Seems like I’ve exceeded expectations (in corporate terms ?). Anyway the breastmilk has been dwindling and he’s deriving more nutrients from solids than BM anyway. So it’s more like a good to have but not a necessity.

And it’s more of an emotional connection for me. It’s great to feel needed. ☺️That’s why I’ve been delaying the weaning. For 宝贝 I wasn’t given a choice. She refused to latch on after I was away for one week. We will see how it goes for him.

I’ve reduced my pumping to just 12 noon lunch time and evening 6pm.

Due to experiences with 宝贝’s food allergies and eczema, I’ve been reading up a lot on nutrition, diet and whathaveyous. So instead of formula milk (cow’s milk) which has a lot of additives, I’ve decided to go with plant milk, almond milk.

Although it’s low in fats, but it’s extremely high in calcium and other forms of nutrients. In fact, even higher than animal milk. Fats can be easily replaceable through other food.

The only concern is – is he allergic to almond which falls under the high allergenic group, nuts.

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I bought this from Iherb, original, unsweetened almond milk.

I tried it myself… Eh! Quite nice!!

So I gave both of them some, in the morning. In case allergy develops, I’ve time to bring him to the clinic for anti histamine.

And guess what, both of them were fighting to drink it. Good news!!! After 3 days, it’s been confirmed that he’s not allergic to almonds. Time to try other nuts which are full of wonderful stuff! ??

The bad news is, Iherb discontinued this right after I bought my first packet. Sheesh!

So it’s off to cold storage to buy the expensive Silk brand almond milk. $15 per packet.

Food diary summary

My homemade almond milk recipe

The Digital Age is HERE!

The Digital Age is HERE!

When we were choosing locks for our doors, before the renovation, I was fiddling with the digital locks at the shop.

“It’d be so cool to have one of these!!! Look! Fingerprint!!” I said wistfully as I played with the locks.
“$1000 each lock leh! Already busting the Reno budget!”
Sigh… So that was the end of the story.

I hate, hate, hate the basement lock. That’s where we enter the house if we drive. And usually it means that we will have our hands full with bags, groceries, carrying children AND we still have to fumble for the keys.

Ok maybe it’s just ME! My hub has never had any problem with locating his keys. I just keep misplacing them. Heck! I even misplace my car! Ok ok that’s yet another story. Let’s not start there.

It was so bad that I ordered everyone not to lock that particular door if I wasn’t home yet. Everyone left the door unlocked, EXCEPT my hub. I swear he’s doing it on purpose so that I’d learn the importance of keeping my keys at the same place in my huge bag. But it’s sheer torture!!! I contemplated hiding his keys one day so that he’d know the feeling of not being able to get in!!! Must make sure that he’s holding like 10 bags at that time!!! Muahahah! My secret torture fantasy.

One fine day, I saw Fred’s Facebook post “Yale digital lock on promotion!!” Yes!!! Probably the universe has received the numerous signals I’ve been fervently sending out.

Mai tu Liao!! I called him to order the lock!!!

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Here it is!!!! I fingerprinted the whole family and dumped my keys…somewhere. Except my hub’s prints. Well he was at work when the lock was installed. He had to scream for help. Really made my day!!! *evil cackle*

Now, if only there’s a way to get rid of my car key too… Hmm…. Any car that locks by fingerprint???

Then I can go keyless!!! Bliss….

For now, this is good enough!!!

宝贝 a-messaging

宝贝 a-messaging

I wrote about 宝贝 learning words so that she could message all her friends (her friends’ parents, to be precise) and her favourite adults.

Well she has progressed to being able to carry a very simple conversation.

whatsapp messageNot the world’s top conversationalist, but adequate.  It’s actually pretty repetitive.  She can spell the high frequency words and she can guess the words from the question so if she can’t really spell the word, she copies the word from the question.  Or if she can’t remember the entire spelling of the whole word, she will hunt down the story book which has the word, just like one of our open book exams.  It’s really fun for her as she gets a response from the other party. She gets the kick out of it. So she’s Miss Eager Beaver for new words.  It’s better that she bugs me to teach her words, than for me to hound her to learn new words.

So far, her jiu jiu has been the most responsive person on whatsapp.  So he’s one of her favourite whatsapping friend right now!

As anti-gadget-for-children I am, it does make a very good learning tool when well utilised.

I’m visualising myself teaching her how to start a simple blog next year.  That should be quite fun. :)

(Disclaimer: the adult conversationalist has lousy grammar!)

Phone Dementia!!

Phone Dementia!!

It’s unbelievable. My phone has 56gb of memory space and it’s all gone. Yes! If the next iPhone has more than 56gb then I’m going to preorder it!!

Yes yes! Of course I back up my phone. So what did I use the mem for?? Photos. Lots and lots of then. 5000 over…

90% of the photos are of my 2 little ones. Hmmm… Although they are backed up but I still like to carry them around. I like to scroll through them and marvel at how they have grown over time. Call it a mom’s nostalgia.

And yes, I’m a hoarder. I’m one of those who keep Christmas cards sent to me by my secondary school friends… I hoard everything. Although nowadays I’ve been more ruthless in my housekeeping. But still, memories are precious.

So yes….apple, please release your next iPhone model with more memory space very very soon ok!!

Meanwhile I’m trying to do some form of housekeeping and use up my pictures that I’ve stored for blog posts so that I can free up space to continue to snap pictures for keepsake. They grow up so fast!!!