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The Big Debate

9 Mar

Now that I’ve concluded it wasn’t the chocolate’s fault and I have two bags of M&Ms, I am caught in between on a decision.

I actually have an M&M chocolate dispenser (a Christmas gift) in contention with my gum ball machine to be of service to store my chocolate supply. While it’s of purely sentimental reasons that I want to use the gum ball machine, the thing is so old, it may not be hygienic. On the outside, it’s rather dusty even after cleaning, what more the inside of its solid base? I dare not think beyond the dust…

But if I use the new and clean M&M dispenser, the thing is so plastic-ky and unauthentic, there is no joy in eating. Also, unlike the real gum ball machine, the thing doesn’t require coins to dispense, it’s no fun. Sigh…

It’s a silly debate seriously but a debate nonetheless.

  
 

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It’s Not the Chocolate

24 Feb

Somehow marbles in a gum ball machine does not sound quite right. So I didn’t go ahead with the idea. I was mulling why I gained weight over the past three months. Yes there was the eating and drinking during the holidays and festivities which I don’t deny but I don’t think it was excessive. Maybe just richer and more hearty than my usual intake plus the lack of exercise played a part.

Then it dawned on me that the main culprit for the unwanted weight gain was the snacking on Chinese New Year titbits in between meals. Yes in between meals. Hah! I should know better that this is indeed bad but I couldn’t help myself.

Resistance has been futile towards the fried seaweed, pineapple tarts, peanut cookies and love letters! Oh… those love letters… so good. These once-a-year yummies are a must-eat during Chinese New Year whereas chocolates are not necessary must-eats but mood dependent. So laden with sugar those titbits, don’t expect to not gain weight.

Thank goodness the festivities are over and the cookies are almost gone, I should get back to shape in no time.

And to comfort myself that it’s not the chocolate’s fault, I bought not one but two bags of M&M’s because I know I will not eat them at the pace like I do with love letters. Thoughts of filling up my gum ball machine crossed my mind. Hmm…

  

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The Gum Ball Machine, Part 2

10 Feb

After much thought about the M&Ms for my gum ball machine, I have decided not to fill it up. Sigh… A friend suggested to mix the plain ones and the peanut ones if I was undecided. What a brilliant idea! Tempting, very tempting but I have to go on diet and having a chocolate dispensing machine within my reach may thwart my plans.

The Chinese New Year celebration is almost over with one last Chap Goh Meh dinner with Mom and my sibling’s family tomorrow night, so I have to stay disciplined and go ahead with the diet intention.

I need to lose all that weight gained from the constant eating since December last year when M1 came home for Christmas. Also because I feel a psychological expansion of my waistline when I put on my only pair of Levi’s and it feels tight. Not good especially when the Levi’s is those stretchy ones. Thank goodness, I was back at the gym earlier in the week to get things going.

So for now, the gum ball machine remains a decorative item and not a chocolate dispensing machine. But… me being me, I couldn’t resist the chocolate temptation and gave in to getting a small packet of M&Ms. I reasoned that the diet starts only next week, a little now wouldn’t hurt. Weakling.

  

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The Gum Ball Machine

9 Feb

I love my gum ball machine. It’s quite an authentic piece, made of metal and glass instead of plastic. I bought it in New York City during a blind date set up by my room mate dinosaur years ago. I agreed to the date only to oblige her. 

The date and I went to SoHo and ended up at the Cupping Room Cafe for lunch. Thereafter we browsed some shops nearby and I stumbled upon the gum ball machine. An unusual buy on a first date but what the heck? It’s a gum ball machine(!) just like the one in WBMG., Inc. albeit smaller. So the purchase was made.

Now, about the date… He was nice, polite and gentlemanly but too hairy for me. Gosh! Funny I can still recall the places we went and details like the hair at the back of his neck sticking out of his round-neck t-shirt but not his name. Ugh to the hair! There was no further second date. Thank goodness, otherwise I wouldn’t have tales of my M1, M2, hubby and Rooney to tell! 

Over the years, the gum ball machine has been in a discreet corner in the old office just collecting dust. Somehow I never considered displaying it at home, and it’s not like it’s a bad reminder of the date with Hairy Guy in SoHo. But I think it’s more of not wanting it filled with candy and enticing the girls (and myself) to have a sweet tooth.

Today, it sits proudly in a visible position in my office room! I will have to fill it up with M&M chocolate soon. The debate now is whether to have normal ones or with peanuts? Hmm… tough decision here.

  

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The Drive Home, Part 2

30 Jan

We came home by yesterday after the family Reunion Dinner on Friday night. The drive home wasn’t that bad as it took five and a half hours, an hour more than normal.

Every year during the Chinese New Year exodus, the drive both ways would be a long crawl with almost bumper-to-bumper traffic. On Friday, it took six hours and the return, a half hour less, far less than I had originally anticipated prior to the start of the trip.

There were a couple of years it took us ten hours just to get home, hence the fear. So I am thankful we arrived home with nothing close to those sort of hours yesterday.

There were several accidents along the drive up north but I wouldn’t call them accidents; just mere breakdowns of single vehicles. Not even any contact of two vehicles and the slow down was unavoidable, causing some stretches of the drive to be a crawl. I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry.

The time with the family was all about eating. And we had good home cooked meals by the Aunty. Now that we are back here, it will be more visiting to other relatives and more yummies to savor!

We officially go back to work on Thursday.

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The Drive Home

27 Jan

Today is the Reunion Dinner and for the first time for as long as I can remember, we are just leaving home the day itself and not a day earlier to attend the occasion. We just could not leave yesterday because of reasons worthy of another story or two. This year, the dinner is with hubby’s family up north.

I anticipate a ten hour-journey for what is normally a four or five hour drive. Oh well, we are prepared with much music choices, sandwiches, chips and drinks for the car, I just hope traffic will be kind. Who knows? We may arrive on time.

Here’s wishing everyone a very Gong Xi Fa Cai and may the Year of the Rooster bring you much happiness, success and prosperity that you will want to crow about it all year long!

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Fat Fingers

20 Jan

It’s without a doubt that I have gained weight when M1 was back for her Christmas holidays. Every day was an adventure in meals and race against time to check off her ‘To Eat’ list. 

We did pretty good; covered almost all except for a couple of items: Dim Sum and Assam Laksa. She managed to check off the first item immediately upon arrival back in the US. But the second item will have to defer until her next return.

Sadly, not only my waistline expanded, I think my fingers too! I have fat fingers now. And there’s no excuse calling them muscles because gym session has not been excessive. The eating was plus I have been drinking my coffee with creamer and sugar again. Bad.

It’s very obvious because I cannot wear my rings anymore especially the few designer rings that I like. I tried; they were too snug for words and I had quite a battle to remove them. 

Looks like I have do something about my fat fingers if I want to start accessorising again. But with Chinese New Year around the corner and no gym for the next two weeks, I am facing an uphill task ahead. 

Sigh…

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Smitten Not by the Baby

17 Jan

Another Sunday dinner adventure at the mall! This was many moons ago.

It was at a crowded Japanese French restaurant and the three of us were seated at a table next to a young mother and her girlfriend. The baby was in a stroller.

I glanced over and the most high-tech looking baby stroller caught my eye. I have never seen anything like it before.

It was a beautifully engineered piece of contraption that doubled as a high chair and a stroller as well as a shopping cart without taking up a lot of space in the restaurant.

The baby was cute I must admit but I was more taken by the stroller and for a moment, wished how nice it would have been back then when my girls were babies that such amazing contraptions existed. I don’t recall there was.

Not that the one we had back then was not practical. It was. It was a lightweight foldable sturdy Combi stroller that lasted for both our girls. But glancing over my shoulder again at the red and grey thing, I couldn’t help but mentally compared that our stroller was not quite the three-in-one.

Although it moved the girls well without us having to carry them, it was hard to hang shopping bags at the back without the stroller toppling over. This situation became quite a balancing act especially if the child wanted to come out and the back was weighted down with purchases.

Also by comparison, our stroller was way too short at dining tables of most restaurants. The poor child would be looking at our knees instead of being eye level with us if left strapped down. The baby in the red and grey contraption however, was gurgling away at his mother happily. Cute.

Strange that I would rave about a baby stroller, something I certainly have no need for these days. Smitten not by the baby indeed.

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Good Start

3 Jan

With New Year’s Day being on a Sunday, Monday was a replacement holiday, so we didn’t have to work. But the day wasn’t wasted being a couch potato like most times. 

I was determined to get back in shape with the start of the new year. After all those intensive eating with M1 back, my waistline has happily expanded. Sigh… the will has not been strong enough to resist the temptations of our local food, Vietnamese food and more of local food.

My trainer obliged us with a gym session at an earlier time from the usual time slot – hubby, myself and M1 went but M2 opted out. Dang! It was torturous. After three weeks laying off exercise, suddenly going back at it was quite a challenge. 

Thankfully we survived. With that, I’d say it’s a good start to begin the year!

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Year In, Year Out

2 Jan

Happy New Year world! With the new year ushered in, let there be more positive vibes, more love and more stories to share!

This New Year countdown has been different for us. Year in, year out for the last few years, we would stay home for a simple home-cooked meal, paired with a bottle of wine and just relax. By eleven, we would be in bed and by the stroke of midnight, the fireworks in the neighborhood would go off and entertained us. Then in the horizon, there would more fireworks displays and we would ooh and ahh at the bursts of colors as well.

This year, a friend invited us to her house for dinner for the New Year Countdown. And what we had was a front row view of the fireworks display within the community that she lived in. We were only two streets away from the launch site; only the tall hedges between the two streets blocked the view of the actual launch.

For a change, it was breathtaking and simply awesome to see the fireworks display so up close instead of from the bedroom window. I think we ooh-ed and aah-ed for the entire ten minutes, definitely more than all the previous years combined.

It was all good positive vibes especially with the whole place organized as a carnival with lots of people, food stalls, food trucks and even a stage for live performances. A fitting welcome for the year in and curtains down to the year out.

Happy New Year!

   
    
   

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