Bread and scones have become such a regular feature on our menu ever since hubby picked up baking last year. So much so, it can be boring to eat the same thing daily. Even he gets bored baking the same stuff all the time. That’s why we get cakes once in a while but only for special occasions.
One day, hubby decided to venture beyond these items, and he made jelly, coconut pandan jelly, to be specific! My, oh my, the jelly is simply delicious. But the process, to me, is very tedious because every layer has to be precisely measured. Such patience he has.
The evenly layered coconut pandan jelly with the evenly measured jelly powder
Last year, when the Covid-19 pandemic burst onto the scene, it caused a lot of disruption to daily routines, schedules, and plans. And it was a mess as far as my golf club was concerned with their golf calendar for the year.
Many club competitions had to cancel to uphold the social distancing to curb the pandemic. And being at the club to play golf was also prohibited for the first month of total lockdown.
Luckily, the Iron Challenge, a tournament I participate in every year, was held right before the lockdown implementation. This year, the golf calendar is slightly better, and the club has held several tournaments already, but in strict adherence to the SOP outlined.
The Iron Challenge, initially slated for early March, has been rescheduled to be held on 22 May, and I am excited to sign up for the tournament again.
With a month to go, it looks like I have to change my playing strategy to prepare myself. So all the wood and utility clubs have to make way for the long irons. The long irons being the 6-, 5-, and 4-irons. We shall see how my preparation goes. Stay tuned on this.
As I have slowed down working on my DIY miniature sets, I have also stopped buying them, although there are several appealing sets that I have been eyeing. A pause on more purchases is the logical thing to do. What is the point of getting more when there’s not much progress?
However, there is no pause in the itch to buy things from the online shopping site. So I ended up buying little people for my miniatures! I have made three purchases already, and all the little people are of various sizes. It’s hard to get the right-sized people, even though measurements are provided, to fit all my completed different miniature sets sitting in the IKEA display cabinet.
If I am persistent on this, I guess I have to keep buying the little people until I get it right!
The little people range from an inch, 1.5 inches to 2.25 inches tall.
Whether I like it or not, subliminally, I think DIY project number 13 or 12A is a jinx. I have not sat down at my little workstation to work on it for almost two weeks. Then again, I have been busy with house chores, office work, and of course, golf games.
Four more DIY sets are waiting in the queue, and it’s a long wait. Thank goodness I have stopped buying more DIY sets from my favorite online shopping site. I have to be more disciplined and forget the superstitious number attachment. Otherwise, I may hold off finishing the set, horror of all horrors to even think this, and jump straight to DIY project number 12B. It will be a first for me to abandon a project midway.
Two years ago, after months of serious searching, I finally found the perfect teacup to use with my Nessie and the Deep Tea Diver tea gadgets. And coincidentally, the glass cup is a whale-themed one, perfect for me who, once upon a time, carved Whales (besides my Gnomes and Citizens of Gigglesville). These days, there is hardly any carving done because I ran out of wood.
Anyway, the teacup comes with a ceramic lid and spoon and just nice to keep my tea hot. However, these days I hardly go into the office because of the pandemic and MCO restrictions. The glass cup and the two tea gadgets are left unused. Pity.
Once in a blue moon, it is okay to have a cheat bake day. One can only eat so much bread and scones, and after a while, it gets boring. The palate needs a new taste to jolt its senses.
So I was craving brownies, but hubby dearest did not want to make them (from scratch) for me initially. He said there’s too much sugar involved, and brownies are bad for both of us.
I was persistent, and in the end, we picked up a ready-mix box instead. I figured, what I don’t know (as in how much sugar in the ingredients), I will not fret too much when I eat the brownies. I even feebly suggested I make the brownies, but hubby–knowing my sad baking skills—baked the tray of brownies for me. Sweet, rich, and very yummy, it was a job well done!
A piece each time to keep the tummy happy everyday!
Just when we thought the situation was going well for the little birdie we rescued, things went awry. We had our usual weekend golf game, and as always, I would check with the halfway hut attendant who adopted our feathered rescue on its well-being.
Initially, little birdie was cared for by him, but he gave it to his brother because the brother wanted the bird. And since brother dearest had a birdcage, he agreed.
But he questioned the decision of leaving the birdcage outside the house. Brother dearest explained that it was too hot inside the house for the little bird. And if hung outside, it’s not so warm and more comfortable.
Unfortunately, this proved to be a terrible decision as the birdcage went missing the next day! The little birdie was bird-napped! Dear, oh dear.
While I am mildly upset, I’m just appalled at the fate that has befallen our feathered friend. I hope whoever swiped the birdcage is a true bird lover and would provide for the little birdie with just as much love as the attendant and his brother.
The progress for the latest DIY project has been at a snail’s pace. Could it be due to the superstitious stigma of the number 13? I should refer to it as 12A; then there won’t be all these clouds of doubts or distraction.
But I have to admit, the pieces of this set are very tedious and minute. And I find myself feeling intimidated having to make all those minuscule fruits and vegetables. Sigh. So I have been procrastinating, hence the slow progress. The Chinese instruction manual does not help. Luckily, I managed to download an English PDF version of the manual to cross-check.
Every day, I try to get a piece done up, even if it is at a snail’s pace. Something better than nothing, right? Also, this set is very different from all the others that I have completed.
There are more hands-on steps required, as in painting up pieces of furniture and accessories. Things like the display racks and cabinets need either a paint job or sanded down for a worn look. Vegetable stalks, as well as their display wraps, also require painting! So much work.
The eye-boggling step for the display wraps involves untwirling the paper rope to spread it open before painting! Unbelievable and a real test of patience. With so much effort put in, I’d like to customize the set to my liking by changing and omitting things. We’ll see how it goes as I progress along.
After the recent pineapple theft right before our eyes by the garden squirrel, hubby took no chances with the latest pineapple as it is almost ripe and ready. He had put a wire mesh around the fruit as it grew to protect it from the squirrels. Of late, squirrels have been visiting us.
Last week, hubby set out a cage trap intended for a suspected rat intruder in the wet kitchen area, but a silly young squirrel fell for it instead. It wasn’t a big-sized squirrel, nor was it the scalded squirrel. He let it go because the furry critter did look rather cute but not our intention to trap it. Then several days later, two squirrels was simultaneously trapped! Two, I thought it was quite a feat.
I suspect the critters are coming around because there are fruits in the kitchen, and they can smell the enticing fragrance of ripe fruits. Thankfully, we are one step ahead of them this time, and our fruits are not compromised.
But with the whiff of the ripe fruits, we have to be careful, and since the current pineapple is almost ready, hubby decided to harvest it. I think it should be two or three days before we can savor this fruit of his labor.
And yesterday morning, the scalded squirrel had a brief encounter with me. It contemplated coming inside the house as we left the terrace door wide open. We had a short staring moment, and I won as I got up, causing it to scurry off.
Again out of pity, hubby left a piece of bread for the poor squirrel. I hope the birds will not eat it and continue pecking at their provided bird seeds. The things we do for our garden visitors.
Sometimes when sports equipment is left unused for too long, it will deteriorate in performance and strength – case in point, golf shoes. I have had many different brands of golf shoes. And it does not matter what brand, the rubber outsole, will deteriorate with time and usage or harden if underutilized.
Although I was golfing so much last year, I rotated only the newer three pairs of shoes. The two remaining older Adidas pairs were left collecting dust. Last week, I decided to wear the brown Adidas pair to walk 18-holes on Saturday. Bad idea.
As I have not worn the shoes for a long time, I did not check the shoe outsoles properly before donning them. Right after the first hole, a piece from the bottom fell off! Uh oh. A little unbalanced but still okay. I continued with the game. We were walking 18-holes, hubby using the golf trolley, and myself carrying my bag with 11 clubs. I wanted the exercise.
Eight holes later, the left outsole was flapping! Oh no, this is not good as we are only halfway through the game. I had to save the situation; otherwise, we cannot go on. Luckily, there were rubber bands on hubby’s golf trolley. So a quick DIY and the problem was resolved.
Three holes later, the rubber band snapped! Hmm. Why did it not occur to me in the morning that the shoes may not survive the walk? We’re talking about 8.25 kilometers and about 12,000 steps for the 18 holes. On foot, there is so much more stress to the shoes’ performance. I should have known better.
So there I was, that Saturday morning with a flapping left outsole and some other missing outsole parts on both shoes! On top of this, water seeped in, and my socks were soaking wet. Let’s not even go into details about my pruned toes and my heavy matchplay loss to hubby.
The moral of the story – never assume all unused equipment will still be okay for use. Always do a thorough check, not a quick glimpse, to ensure everything is tip-top before teeing off for a golf game challenge or tournament.
The shoes were immediately retired when we got home after the game.
Ta my Adidas, you served me well except this last game.
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