Some free time

Last week was busy for me as hubby was away, so while little girl was in full-day school, I wasn't having it easy either. My arthritis has been acting up pretty bad and I had to insist on an appointment with the doc. Whatever it took, I just had to make them squeeze me in as my appointment wasn't due till 18 Nov. I couldn't wait that long or I couldn't function otherwise.

While I was battling joint pains the week before hubby's holiday trip, little one suddenly caught the flu bug and it took a week to clear. She was very miserable throughout, as she wasn't able to go school for 3 days; missed ballet class; and worse of all, a birthday party, and that burden was passed on to me. She really got on my nerves every second mummy this and mummy that and just wouldn't leave me alone. All these were additional stress thrust upon me and by Sunday I couldn't take it anymore, I just had to get out. Told hubby I needed a few hours off, and went to have a nice lunch with mum. I definitely was ready to get rid of the two of them by Monday morning. :D

What was meant to be a relaxing week, in which I was supposed to have more time to myself, turned out to be the opposite. Not only were there the joint pains to reckon with, my having to pick up little one from school every evening (as the school buses were filled to the brim and thus they couldn't take her on) made things worse. But really, from what I learn from the school administrator, that wasn't the case. I guess the bus company just didn't want to put themselves out, and besides I offended them once recently when I insisted that my girl was changed to another bus where the driver didn't smoke in it. Reluctantly, after threats by me, they changed her. So now I have to pay for that.

So I did manage to see the doc on Tuesday and was given a jab. However, a new problem presented itself in the right knee and it didn't help, that I needed to climb the stairs up the overhead bridge every evening on the way to school. I was in such pain, and it was really weird considering I had just had a jab two days prior. So all in, it wasn't a good week for me at all.

However, the week ended off rather well with a visit to the cinema to catch the premiere of High School Musical 3 on Friday and hubby was home early Saturday morning. There was then grandma's birthday dinner (where I made a mess of my marshmallow cake given that I didn't have enough time to chill it). But everyone was nice about it and called it a pudding cake. Well, at least they didn't spit it out.

And I made another marshmallow cake for B's birthday bbq on Sunday and made sure I had plenty of hours to chill it. I couldn't afford to embarrass myself in front of a whole lot of people (not family this time). And am glad it turned out well, and the birthday boy was happy. :) But I have learnt too, that cakes like these and bbqs do not go hand-in-hand as they melt easily in the heat and humidity. I have also learnt not to use sliced pineapples in it else is difficult to cut and messes up the cake. On top of the cake, I made a portion of chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache as I didn't think the main cake was big enough, and although KY said there's not that many people at the bbq, there were LOADS!

So I spent the whole of Sunday basically in the kitchen till it was time to leave for KY's. We didn't have lunch so I made some curry puffs with dough and fillings leftover from during the week, and ready hardboiled eggs from baby C's one-month-old cake box. They don't look very pretty as I am bad at pleating them, but who cares once they taste yummy, right? ;) I must make sure I buy a curry puff mould soon. Princess, who doesn't eat curry, loved it and said, 'I love mummy's curry puff'. Awww.... :D

Will type out the recipe when I have time again, but meanwhile need to take a walk down to the market to buy some fishballs for soup tonight. And incidentally, dinner's cooking itself in the magic pot so that's saved me some time today. ;)

Poor girl's ill

My poor little girl is ill. :( Initially I thought it was from the hula hooping she was doing all day yesterday from trying to get her tummy small (as told to her by Auntie P who visited yesterday, haha). I know I practise it but I don't advocate it for children about this losing weight and raising their self-confidence bit. Well, of course she's not fat, and I was mad at dad a few weeks' ago when he said it to her that she had put on weight? Hang on there! I told him off. She's only 6, why are you giving her a complex? I don't care if she's 6 or 16, I don't want her growing up and feeling insecure about her body. Does thin necessarily = healthy? I'm not talking about obesity here. I remembered he said it too, to my goddaughter a few years ago. She wouldn't have been more than 9. I was very shocked when she started P1 and was told to go on the TAF club programme (if you haven't already noticed, TAF stands for Trim And Fit, but it's also FAT spelt backwards). There was no way there was even an ounce of fat on her skinny 7-yr-old body (that was before she started putting on a little weight).

Back to the topic at hand. Well, poor little one said she had a tummy ache this morning and even while at ballet class, she wasn't feeling too well. Whenever they had a little break, she always sat down while they were still supposed to be standing and practising. She even asked to be excused so she could take a rest. She didn't have an appetite for lunch so she skipped that, and even for dinner, she had a few maki. Poor girl. She asked to go home immediately after dinner and even though she slept 3hrs in the day, she went to bed at 10pm. I hope she gets well soon as it's very seldom that she's ill like this and out of sorts. As I was saying, it probably couldn't have been the hula hooping she was doing all day else how to explain the lack of appetite? She might have caught some bug but thank goodness, there's no fever or anything else.

Just wanted to share the mooncake pastry fish that I love and bring back some memories for some. I remember grandma used to come home with those little piggies in the baskets, how cute they were. They can still be found each time the Mooncake Festival comes along. Is it because I'm bigger now that I find the little piggies have shrunk? Well, I'm glad I found this fish (carp?) at a market stall and the owner sells them every year at this time. They cost only 60cents each and are real value for money. Just this afternoon, I saw a fish a third the size of this and it cost $1.50. These plain pastries are great for kids as most (like mine for e.g.) do not like the lotus pastes in them. Children are such purists. How's your mooncake preparations coming along? I know this is the time that most bloggers will be busy churning out mooncakes. Can't wait to see what the offers are this year. :)