Sleep vs Sun

12 Jun

Morning golf is always a challenge, especially when I have to wake up at 5.30 am. It gets tough when the night before was a restless one, and it’s usually the case. I don’t know why. Pre-game anxiety?

It’s always a debate on sleep versus the sun for me. An early tee-off means less sleep and a late tee-off, more sun (and heat) to deal with. Sometimes there’s also rain to contend with regardless of tee-off time, but rain is not the main thing.

Our regular weekend group generally prefers early morning golf. But these days, it is not easy to book an early tee-off at our golf club because of reduced slots. With the CMCO in place, tee-off times are ten minutes apart instead of seven minutes, and this has reduced the playing slots available.

The early slots are gone very quickly if we’re not fast enough to book ahead. Pre-MCO days, we usually tee-off at 7.15 am, but these days, we’d be lucky if we can even get the 7.25 am slot.

This past weekend, we played at the Lakes course on Saturday on a single-player single-buggy basis following the CMCO guidelines. Not the earliest tee-off (8.45 am for me, and 8.55 am for hubby), I thought I’d have the sun and heat to deal with. Luckily it was cloudy and cool, and I had a good game.

The next day, it was a different story. The flight registration for my tee-off at 8.25 am was muddled up, and I was not updated, so this flustered me. Then I misplaced a flight mate’s membership card. Not a good start. Sigh. Thankfully hubby found it before my flight headed to the tee box.

And my woes didn’t end there. The sun was out full force, and I lost focus as the heat got to me. At Hole 13, Par 3 with several houses flanking the hole, I pulled my ball into the backyard of one of the homes, something I’ve never done before! Yikes.

Then I dropped my Maruman Conductor utility club cover somewhere along the walk on the fourth nine on the Hills course. Sadly, I can deem it lost unless someone found the cover and kindly returned it. Boo hoo hoo. On the last hole, I launched my ball into the ditch in front that wasn’t even in play. The putting was terrible, the short game was off, and my flight mate even hit my ball wrongly. You could say I didn’t have a good round.

If anything good that came out of this terrible round of golf, it was the determination to walk the 18-holes carrying my bag with my 11 clubs. And I did it. For this and this only, I felt very accomplished.

Looking back, I’d rather forsake a little beauty sleep for an early tee-off, so I don’t have to deal with the heat and have unnecessary mishaps.

As the country entered its recovery phase on 10 June (CMCO is now Recovery MCO or RMCO), tee-off times have been revised and are no longer ten minutes apart. I hope the coming weekend’s 7.47 am tee-off on both mornings will result in better rounds of golf for me.

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This One Takes the Cake

9 Jun

Hubby’s baking skills have improved. He’s gone on to bake cakes besides bread, cookies and scones as well. He’s done carrot cake a couple of times already. Don’t forget there’s also the team effort apple pie and apple bread bomb.

The scones’ texture and taste were just right

I have to admit, I have gained a pound recently despite the vigorous weekend golf games. Maybe this is insufficient and I need to step up my exercise regime even more if I am constantly savoring all the baked temptations.

The latest effort is a sponge cake with a twist. M2 requested a Victoria Sponge and hubby obliged. But he didn’t want a whole Victoria Sponge cake because he felt that the jam filling would be too sweet.

So he improvised and instead of having a one-flavor cake, he did a half-and-half whereby one half had mixed berries for the Victoria part and the other half had Gula Melaka with coconut shreds. The second flavor was more suited to our tastebuds because the Gula Melaka was drizzled sparingly while the coconut shreds had hints of saltiness to counter the sweetness. Yum.

The half and half sponge cake

Such ingenuity as everyone was able to enjoy their preferred sponge cake without any guilt.

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It’s Rather Monumental

8 Jun
My eight inch Monument of Gigglesville

As expected, I didn’t take long to complete carving my latest Monument. I am proud to say it’s rather monumental. At a towering height of eight inches, this piece is by far my biggest monument.

I’ve also decided to put it to good use rather than displaying it on the shelf like the rest of the other Monuments.

The wedge

Supporting it will be a wedge that I had painstakingly used the wood planer to shave off to get the correct angle as a door stopper! Clever, ain’t I? It should look good and certainly very practical.

Stay tuned for the final piece!

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Goodbye Cat Condo!

5 Jun

Last week, I finally completed unveiling all 40 of the cat species in the Cat Condo game. Along the way, I managed to amass 555 quadrillion dollars! Crazy wealth right there.

555 quadrillion dollars… wow.

Towards the end of the situation, I sped things up by spending my dollars (for a faster unveil) on higher level species. And like the saying “money makes money”, the more I spent, the more I earned along the way.

With the last unveil, there’s no more challenge. So I have decided to delete the game. It’s been fun, time consuming yet mundane at the same time.

As for Cat Condo II, I am still at it because there are six more species to be unveiled. And now, there’s a new side mini Adventure challenge. So I will play on and will stop in due course when the Adventures are completed and the remaining six unveiled.

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Nothing Goes to Waste

2 Jun

Ever since the MCO started, hubby learned how to bake and as such, the eggs in the fridge are used up very quickly. It used to take forever to finish them but now, they are always on the grocery list to be replenished.

The best part of this is recycling the eggshells as fertilizer for the garden instead of just throwing them away. And I seem to enjoy fussing over the eggshells.

I’d remove the membrane first before pounding them up with my mini mortar and pestle. Fine but not too powdery, the eggshells act as a good deterrent for the slimy snails in the garden. They are also a good source of calcium especially for the habanero chilli peppers and it shows with the healthy harvests.

Besides the eggshells, other food waste is also recycled to be natural fertilizer for the garden. Rice water for instance. Whenever I wash rice grains before cooking, the water from the washing is kept a day or two in a container to be fermented before being used.

Occasionally if there are juice pulps from juicing, these are instantly sprinkled around the garden amongst the plants. And banana peels are always fed to the staghorn fern for nutrition. Nothing goes to waste in our home.

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The Next Piece

1 Jun

Soon after the ginormous Gnome was completed, a change on subject matter to carve would be good. After all, I ran out of wood for Whales. However I do have an abundant supply of long Meranti wood pieces, why not carve a Monument?

Honestly, it’s been a while since I last carved a Monument. A quick check on the carving log and my… my… the last one I carved was 2 June 2019, a year ago! So carving another Monument now is apt.

It should be good fun and not too difficult, this piece should not take too long to complete.

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Almost a Pro

29 May

Our weekend golf games are routine by now. During this CMCO phase, we’ve opted to walk and carry our golf bags playing at the Hills course instead of taking the buggy. Some may say crazy but to me, that’s my outdoor gym right there and really good exercise.

I’m proud to say our stamina has improved and the past weekend we walked 18 holes on Saturday and 16 holes on Sunday. An increase in holes covered compared to the weekend before.

And both days, hubby baked in the afternoon. On Saturday, he made dinner rolls which turned out soft and fluffy. And on Sunday, ciabattas. On top of these, we did our tag team baking as well for yet another apple-filled effort.

First time making dinner rolls
Ciabatta was simply heavenly

Not a pie nor a tart, it bordered between an Apple Bread and a Caramel Apple Bomb. We had to combine two recipes because we didn’t have caramel and I didn’t want the outside to be too flaky. So a bread-like texture akin to dinner rolls instead.

Our version of Apple Bomb
Honestly, you wouldn’t know what these are

Turned out good. So did the ciabattas. Like the golf, the baking is almost like a pro too. And as always, I look forward to the weekend routine of golf and baking efforts by hubby.

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Odd One Out

26 May

I took quite sometime to finish the latest Gnome because cooking and cleaning comes first over carving. And when I finally painted it up, it is an odd one.

Same same but different

Certainly a breakaway from the troop, it does not have the blue top or white shoes although it has the red cap like the rest. Well, it’s okay. Sometimes variation is good to make things interesting and also helps to improvise for the better.

However, when a piece in hand is not following a systematic way to carve, like carving the Whale pieces for example, the task in hand becomes challenging. And ginormous Gnome, at the height of 17.5cm was certainly a tough challenge.

One tough cookie… err, Gnome to carve

Well it’s almost completed (the varnishing being the final process), I am now contemplating what my next piece should be. Hmm…

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Thrilled by a Kitchen Utensil

25 May

It takes a pandemic to change the behavior of people and how the world functions. We have been under the MCO and now CMCO since 18 March, and during this time, things happen to us. I’m sure we’re not alone on this behavioral change.

We discover ourselves in the midst of the semi-lockdown situation, perfecting our patience and unearthing amazing skills in the kitchen. Whilst my cooking has improved, hubby discovered baking. Who would’ve known?

On top of these, I find myself thrilled by online purchases of kitchen appliances and utensils! Something unheard of pre-MCO life. The first thrill was when the stand mixer arrived some time back. This time, it’s an eight inch baking pan which arrived middle of last week. Yes, an eight inch baking pan!

The thrill of my life!

The pan was specifically purchased for one purpose only and that is to bake apple pies. And since I didn’t go to the office the day it arrived, I efficiently whipped up my apple filling before the water could even dry off the pan after a quick wash upon unwrapping.

Then I waited patiently for hubby to return from the office to prepare the dough. That night immediately after dinner, we got down to baking the apple pie.

Again it was a test of patience – an hour for the dough in the fridge to settle, then another hour to complete the rest of the process and baking.

As soon as the pie came out of the oven and cooled, the three of us polished off three quarters of the apple pie without any guilt. So good, burp.

A successful effort this time!

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The Accidental Baker

22 May

I am bowled over that hubby dearest has taken to baking so effortlessly, like fish to water. I simply do not know where he gets his energy from.

Even after a round of golf, he can still bake whereas I would just keep things slow to a manageable pace. For me, it’s to cool down my body in this furnace of a weather and not sweat any further than what I have already shed at the golf course. But he just goes on.

Last Sunday, after walking 15 holes with me, we got home and two hours later, he whipped up a superb herb whole wheat loaf. And as if that’s not enough, he baked a sponge cake thereafter!

Sponge cake had coconut shreds topping

If you thought I helped in anyway, hardly… I just ate when they were fresh from the oven. Of course this encouraged the accidental baker in hubby.

And as he’s constantly at it, I have to exercise constantly too to balance my intake. The weekend golf games are scheduled already and I am pretty sure the accidental baker will bake after the games.

Weekday efforts: cupcakes, banana bread and mini scones

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