It was a boisterous Christmas for the family as all the children are together again, with the second twin finally returning after graduating.
Except for the turkey and rack of lamb, the dinner spread was all homemade, even the cookies.
The family photo session thereafter was hilarious. It was indeed a great time together.
Here’s wishing all my readers, family and friends, a very Merry Christmas!
Sans music, this sums up the motto of our Tuesday Food Club!
The group consists of 4 couples, with three occasional individuals—childhood friends as well—whenever their work schedule allows them to join us.
In the midst of the Lunar New Year celebration at the beginning of 2014, we kicked off our gastronomic adventure and termed it the Tuesday Food Club, meeting every second Tuesday of the month.
A year has gone by so fast and what a trip it has been! Every month, each couple takes a turn, on a rotational basis, to select the restaurant and all of us would meet over food to catch up. No matter how busy each one is, everyone makes the effort for this; such is the strength of the friendship and lure of good food.
Tuesday Food Club will definitely continue into the new year and beyond as we prepare to say goodbye to the good memories of 2014 and await to usher in 2015 with new memories ahead.
It was a year ago without M1 (as she was in Japan for a student exchange program), the three of us went out for dinner and doing the not-so-last-minute Christmas shopping. When the salad came along with some celery and carrot sticks, the hubby gleefully reached for it and conversationally asked M2 if she ever brought healthy food like carrots sticks to school.
Before I could confirm that query with a nod, M2 said, “Yes, I eat healthy. I bring mac and cheese!”
It’s awkward when etched-in-stone philosophies imparted on our young ones are challenged. I was just talking (and writing) about no free lunches to M2 and guess what? I was proven wrong. It is almost quite embarrassing…
Yesterday, I went to the mall (number one) with M1 after work to buy something. We walked past the supermarket and M1 said she was hungry—as it was close to dinner time—thinking maybe we could enjoy some free food samples from the supermarket (having learnt from my post the day before). Unfortunately the timing did not allow us as we had to make our way to mall number two to purchase something else which mall number one did not have.
At mall number two, we walked into Tesco and tadaa, right in front of us, there were several booths with free food samples! Hungry and unabashed, we both tried the spaghetti bolognese, beef soup, curry chicken, chicken-flavored rice and tempura onions. We even had coffee!
What can I say? Burp…
Recently, I sent M2 to the mall for a friend’s birthday party and she was happily saying it was a free lunch. I was in one of my moods and decided to correct her about free things in this world.
“There’s no free lunch. Nothing’s free in this world,” I tried to instill the worldly reality into my child.
“Yes there is,” she countered.
Sometimes innocence can be a blessing.
“Really? Name me one thing” I challenged.
“Well… Oxygen is free.”
“Go on…” I probed.
“Free food samples in the supermarket!” She beamed at me.
I think it will be tough to instill the worldly reality into M2.
It’s a known fact that I play only four games on my iPad: Candy Crush, Farm Heroes, Candy Crush Soda and Zookeeper Battle. Now remember these levels for all mentioned except Zookeeper, they are just so darn hard to pass – Level 751, Level 597 and Level 90 respectively.
Many times I wonder why I subject myself to such unnecessary stress and emotional turmoil especially when the games become so intense and always at that so near yet so far moments. Sigh…
It was a Saturday morning and I was in the midst of a feel-good dream when hubby abruptly woke me up.
“Quick, wake up! Come see the owl in front of the house,” he said excitedly, urging me to wake up from my slumber.
Although I am quite an owl-lover (I collect the figurines), I was not pleased at being interrupted in my beauty sleep, what more, my feel-good dream. Eventually, I did wake up and went to check out the feathered visitor.
My, my! It was indeed a beautiful one. It looked like a domesticated but an escaped pet, its feathers very well groomed. And we were not sure how or why it ended up perched under the roof in the corner of our home but nonetheless, we thought it was a good omen. I mean, how often does one get a barn owl a-calling? I even took out the binoculars to have a close up look.
The little girl next door saw it too and aptly called it Barney (as in barn owl, get it?). So Barney hung with us the whole of Saturday. Every now and then, one of us would come out to check on it; it would lazily peek at us, sometimes turning only the head and other times, facing us frontal view and with a piercing stare. I was afraid it would fly off and took the pictures from afar, zooming in with the iPhone5S.
By evening, it was still perched there. M2 then wanted to know if we could keep it as a pet. As much as I would like to, I didn’t think it was possible and just considered it a good omen that it chose our home over the other houses.
However by nightfall, Barney was gone, in search of food and most likely a new place after the hunt. As Sunday came around, Barney never returned. I hope he has found a new place otherwise, our home is always open to him!
Not too long ago, M2 was querying me about vinyl albums and gramophones. She had been surfing and found these classics fascinating, even up to the point to suggest that we should buy a gramophone for the house. When we were in Bangkok recently, she saw these things in the mall and gave me a knowing look with a wiggle of her eyebrows. It’s quite amazing that such classics appeal to her.
The younger generation of today is so deprived of such classics with the advancement of technology. All they ever have to music are their iPods, the computer and the internet. Purchasing physical CDs are also being phased out slowly with the easy availability of music purchases online, iTunes or otherwise.
I had flashbacks about my childhood after her query. When I was young, I had access to my Dad’s vast collection of LP albums. When his good friend moved away, Dad inherited his (the friend’s) lot, making the collection even bigger! During the afternoons after school, I remember I used to open the cupboard and sieve through each and every album, admiring the cover design or photo. Somehow I ended up being the only one taking care of the collection – cleaning, playing and cataloging. It kept me occupied indoors when I didn’t feel like going outside to play. I even had one album of my very own: Donny Osmond – My Best to You!
Cringe or laugh you may but it was my mine. There was even a Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album! Eat that.
Sadly, after I moved out from the family home, the collection was neglected. And today, with Dad gone, I don’t remember what happened to them for they are definitely not at home anymore nor with me. A loss and a pity.
I must confess I actually brought the MacBook Air along to Bangkok. Not so much for work but to play my games, played in Facebook and requires the Flash Player and the iPad does not have this capability.
So every night, back in our Junior suite after our outing, I would log on, first to collect the beans in Farm Heroes then to spin the Jackpot in Facebook. After this, I would attempt the other two, Candy Crush and Candy Crush Soda, to try my luck to move on. It was a good thing because these games on the laptop are easier and in Candy Crush, I managed to move on to the next chapter, Marmalade Meadow. I am now at level 750.
Our taxi ride from the hotel took 40 minutes without any real traffic woes and we got to the airport quite early. Suvarnabhumi Airport is just like an oversized beehive of activities! So many people and so crowded.
Queue to check in was okay but going through immigrations took a while. And like a tourist, we had to buy those last minute purchases. The girls each selected something and before we know it, we are boarding.
This time the B737-800 is new and we have personal screens! Yay. Until our next travel, I am glad we are homeward bound.
Angieneering 
Remarks