Ear digging freak incident + JS Suspension class + MIL comes over for army stew + Kranji Marshes with Potato & YJ & Acron: Attack of the Squirrels

15/9/21 Weds: Watched Potato salt the cut bitter gourd and then rinse them off half an hour later so as for the salt to absorb the bitterness and yet not make the bitter gourd too salty. He also marinated the cut salmon in teriyaki sauce. Potato decided he wanted to add lady’s fingers and long bean with eggs too.

16/9/21 Thurs: I was digging my ears this morning when I accidentally pushed one big hard piece of earwax further into my ear, and now it’s blocked almost 90% of the hearing in my left ear. Very uncomfortable with the “blocked ear” because I could not hear things clearly.

Had yummy fried rice for lunch thanks to Potato! He did kimchi fried rice, with sausage, crabstick, golden oyster mushroom, abalone, long bean, egg and Korean spicy sauce… very appetising!

Potato was very careful when he helped me remove parts of the earwax before bed and it was a rather painful process because our inner ears are sensitive. It looked like it has been there for very long because of the deeper brownish colour. I can hear normally now at least, but there’s still a large chunk left inside but we decided to let the ear do its own self-cleansing, and hopefully push it out by itself. *Been having pain in the left ear after that whenever I burp, in which I hope is a temporary one and not a sign of hearing loss.*

17/9/21 Sat: Potato marinated the chicken drumsticks in hoisin sauce and baked them for 35 minutes… tasted very good!

20/9/21 Mon: PotaTOHs cooked meatball penne pasta for dinner! I decided to add in the shiok roe fishball as a side haha. Must say I really enjoyed my hubby’s pasta keke~

21/9/21 Tues: Tried JS Suspension training class for the first time. I ever tried to sign up previously, but the classes were always full. Julia even “warned” me this class would be physically more taxing that our usual Pilates reformer classes, so I honestly was a little nervous before class. Then again, I have the experience of being suspended by hammock and strap in aerial yoga classes, so I thought it shouldn’t be too hard trying to get the hang of this.

The structure of the suspension trainer reminded me a lot of TRX. Patrick taught us how to adjust the length of the suspension trainer to our elbows, knees, and calves according to moves we were going to do. In that one hour of class, I worked the entire body including the arms, legs and core. Only the first stretch was easy for me… the rest was about your endurance and the core. *I found it easier to do Hundreds on the mat though.* If I thought reformer Pilates was tough, this was tougher in the sense that JS moves quicker so it’s more on cardio, and I had to take a sip quite a few times la. *I felt my hamstrings while doing bridge! And the part of the mat where I laid down on was soaked after that oops.* I reckon I will be able to do all the moves well separately with enough rest in between, but continuously one after another in an hour is a real test. *I’ve had my share of “fun”, shall stick to my reformer Pilates classes and “not complain about how tiring they are subconsciously” again haha.*

Bought seaweed soup (large), marmite chicken (medium), chilli kang kong (medium) and curry fish head to celebrate brother’s 30^th birthday at night. I thought the marmite chicken and curry fish head was good, but I bought a bit too much for five people. Had to carry them and walk home for about 15 minutes or so. My arms were already dead from JS suspension training, so this was tiring. *Mum added in duck meat last minute too… really “overkilled” lol!* Managed to test the digital tv antenna and also settled parents’ Singtel TV pack termination issue.

Did simple flips at night which I got the knack of and I’m happy about it. We also stretched as usual but some of them really brought further “agony” to my already screaming hamstrings and quadriceps! *Waking up the next day with aching legs was horrible~*

22/9/21 Weds: As I expected, the pain in the quadriceps and hamstrings are quite bad since this morning. I had a bit of difficulty whenever I go down the stairs or when I try to squat down. Did some quads and hamstrings stretch in the afternoon, and they did relieve the muscles a little at that point of time, but the DOMs soon came back after. *It lasted for four days till Saturday...*

Cooked simple meals for dinner! Bitter gourd with scallops, oven-baked a brand of kimchi pancake that we will never buy again and pan-fried three different flavours of dumplings as suggested by my brother. Yes, they do taste a bit better pan-fried, but PotaTOHs are still not keen on this brand from NTUC.

23/9/21 Thurs: I did the preparatory work on the spinach, while Potato marinated the chicken pieces with teriyaki sauce, chilli flakes and花雕酒! Tasted really shiok! He helped with cooking while I was working.

Spent a bit of time decorating a small corner of our living room!

25/9/21 Sat: *Singapore’s back to “Resilience – Stabilisation” phase. All the back and forth with restrictions is troublesome for many. It’s very hard, even contradicting when you want to open up and yet minimise the number of cases at the same time. Can someone with foresight step up soon?*

MIL came over to PotaTOHs to have Korean army stew for dinner. *Aunt Nancy did not feel well, so she took a rain check.*

26/9/21 Sun: PotaTOHs drove over to YJ’s to pick her up and we headed to the Kranji Marshes for our forest-bathing session! It was an easy walk and the place was not big, so we finished the whole walk in 1+ hour. We climbed up one tower to take in the scenery from above too. *Not a fan of spiral staircases as usual.*

Stopped by at Bollywood Veggies but they changed their seating arrangements now, and we had to sit outside with no air-con. Not particularly attracted to the menu, so we decided to go to Whisk and Paddle café near PotaTOHs in hope of getting lunch there. A pity, the queue was too long so we ended up buying Hua Zai roasted delights home.

YJ, Potato and I played Acron: Attack of the Squirrels for a while and it was quite hilarious. *Ian simply enjoyed laughing at us~* The guys went out to James’ while YJ and I stayed home for some catch-up since it’s been some time since we saw each other too.

27/9/21 Mon: Potato marinated chicken drumstick and mid-joint wings in hoisin sauce, 花雕酒, light soy sauce, chilli flakes and sesame oil before air-frying them near dinner time~ came out very tasty! The lotus root soup which he cooked with peanuts, carrots, red dates, wolfberries, tofu, and pork ribs was yummy too! The lotus roots were soft yet still crunchy. Bok choy and cabbage with enoki shrooms, black fungus, carrots and garlic were good as usual.

28/9/21 Tues: PotaTOHs ate dried ban mee from Top 1 Home Made Noodle at Beauty World Centre hawker for lunch. I ordered one with white fish and another with salmon fish meat, amounted to $12. It tasted different from my usual favourite mhk at Jurong West (I didn’t get mhk this time because they were sold out), but the soup was very flavourful, and the ban mee has that taste of “home”. I added in chilli for both our ban mees, but it was a bit too spicy for Potato la haha. It was worth the nearly half an hour of queuing and waiting.

Had dinner at mum’s, before PotaTOHs drove over to Jcube and IMM to buy groceries.

29/9/21 Weds: My early birthday present for Potato arrived this afternoon. It's a pair of Havianas slippers because his current pair from Chiangmai is spoilt already... soles worn out.

We had two stalks to broccoli for dinner tonight because Potato forgot that MIL brought one over on Saturday, and so we bought one from Giant yesterday night lol. The baked sutchi fillet was slightly salty so we thought to lessen sea salt and add more butter and Italian herbs next time.