Hiking Kent Ridge Park & dinner with Jess +《逆局》+ “Red Notice” + 《迷失安狄》+ eye check & new glasses @ Visio Optical + my belated bday lunch with Pat & WZ @ Café One O & Signs A Taste of Vietnam Pho with Potato & Diam Diam Era 2 + visit to Ahna’s

19/11/21 Fri: I made scallop butter rice for dinner! I used soba sauce and mirin as the base to mix with Japanese rice, then add in the white parts of the spring onion, seaweed, Korean beansprout and shimeiji mushroom into the cooker to cook everything. After half an hour or so, I added in the scallop already marinated with salt and mirin and a thick slice of butter as taught by The Silver Chef. When everything was ready, I only had to stir it! Tasted very good!

20/11/21 Sat: Potato cooked soba, grilled saba fish, stir-fried celery with carrot and enoki shroom and miso soup with seaweed, carrot and enoki shroom for dinner~ always shiok to have home-cook food after a day of work.

21/11/21 Sun: Ian and PotaTOHs drove to Bukit Timah Plaza to have Nasi Kunyit ($7.50) at Tok Panjang Nonya cafe for lunch. They use steamed chicken leg as opposed to fried ones in Nasi Lemak, and the crunch and sour taste of the Acar went very well with the meal. Ian also bought some kuehs.

Though it was forecasted to have “thunderstorms” in the afternoon all over Singapore, Jess and I decided to go ahead with our hike at Southern Bridges, starting from Kent Ridge Park. It was a small, serene park and we passed by that to reach Alexandra Arch at about 6pm which was went the rain started to get heavier. We decided not to continue on the Southern Ridge trail which will bring us to Harbourfront eventually, so we took a bus to Alexandra Village Food Centre instead for dinner.

Had the sliced fish hor fun ($5) because the wok hei smell was great and there was a short queue for it. We chatted about my family plans and her family as well.

22/11/21 Mon: My Potato is very “on” about our “Meatless Monday” plans, so he cooked Chinese cabbage with carrot, red date, egg, wolfberry and white pepper in chicken stock soup, and also stir-fried Caixin, oyster mushroom and carrot. I love the sweetness of the soup!

Finished watching《逆局》(Danger Zone).

是因为仔仔、李铭顺还有曾敬骅决定看的电视剧。从连环杀人分尸案牵扯出的非法器官走私以及相关联的大型枪击案，一直到警局内部“在正义的道路上迷了路”的警探……这些环环相扣的情节真叫我一点都不能分心啊哈哈。

喜欢仔仔演的律师梁炎东、李铭顺演的谭崇辉，还有朱轩洋演的任飞。曾敬骅演的变态也和他在《刻在你心底的名字》的角色完全不同，但也不是那种很复杂的大坏蛋啦，感觉角色单薄了一点，但他至少证明自己也可以演坏人/痞子。

Rating: 3.75/5

24/11/21 Weds: Had fishball noodle in soup after a long time. I have never liked fishball noodles, soup or dry, as much as other local dishes. But looking back, there was three or four years when I was studying in Lianhua Primary school that I kept going back to the same fishball noodle stall to buy the soup version at 50 cents every school day! I was a shy and timid kid, did not even dare buy food from other stalls then, and so I used my 50 cents allowance a day to eat this! *It’s a wonder how I never get sick of it!* Oh well, the price has gone up by 700% after many years, but it will always bring back memories whenever I have it.

Potato cooked dry udon for us during dinner. Loved salmon marinated in teriyaki sauce and the crunchy celery with carrot and oyster mushroom!

25/11/21 Thurs: Francine came over for dinner with us and Potato cooked十全大补汤! The bitterness is a bit too much for me, but even adding sugar nor soya sauce did not help much haha.

27/11/21 Sat: It poured suddenly in the evening and Potato craved for a bowl of warm soba, so he decided to cook dinner last minute. We had hard-boiled egg, fish roe, edamame, cucumber, scallop and seaweed to go with the hot soba~ shiok! *Last race day of the season too~ finally time for a break from work!*

28/11/21 Sun: PotaTOHs and Ian had lunch at Enaq prata shop after my tuition with Rayne ended. I tried their Mee Goreng with egg ($4.50) for the first time and it was fragrant, but still quite oily.

Watched the action comedy “Red Notice” together.

It stars Dwayne Johnson as an FBI agent who reluctantly teams up with a renowned art thief (Ryan Reynolds) to catch a “Number 1 art thief” (Gal Gadot)…

...

And you think all that was written was true? Haha. Enjoyable because it was “brainless”. Had a good laugh.

Rating: 4/5

29/11/21 Mon: Managed to get a slot of Reformer class with Chisa this morning, not the most taxing moves but still a good workout. Also told Julia and Shirley about my thoughts on continuation of the packages and as much as I am inclined to sign up for the new round, I hope they open up the new neighbouring studio soon and that I can get to do it attend the classes consistently every week!

PotaTOHs enjoy our “Meatless Mondays” as usual! I made the tofu with pistachios “starter” hehe, and he stir-fried carrot, broccoli and shimeiji shroom! We also hair tomato rice, which could do with some sugar he thought. *Not kidding but I am starting to lose interest for fried stuff totally.*

30/11/21 Tues: Aerial moves tonight involved cross back flip and I reckon it’s my third try at this already but no I still cannot flip backwards! So envious when I see some of them being able to achieve it. *I reckon it has got to do with the technique and I shall try to do it the next time!*

1/12/21 Weds: 下午看了《迷失安狄》(Miss Andy)。

电影讲述 Andy（李李仁 饰）在妻子过世、孩子长大以后终于成为半个女人“Evon”，但却失去家庭和工作，上天也把他最重要的朋友露西夺走，让Evon生无可恋。Evon某日在工作的途中邂逅了苏荷（林心如 饰）母子，一对没有居留身分证的非法越南母子，但Evon收留了他们。他以为找到了这座大城市里唯一的温暖，却没想到，同事阿德（陈泽耀 饰）出现，喜欢上了背景复杂的苏荷，两人私奔还把Evon中了大奖的彩票拿走。

看了怎么不同情Evon呢？看到Evon以父亲的身份现身女儿的婚礼，女儿还嫌弃并破口大骂，真的很心酸。凭什么她就可以做她想做的（恋爱结婚），但身为父母的Evon却不能出席从小照顾长大的孩子的婚礼呢？

我更讨厌的是收留了苏荷母子，还有Evon那看似不错的同事阿德，最后竟然糟蹋了Evon对他们的信任！究竟这世界是有多么丑陋，人是有多不可信呢？那两人就算是为了活下去，也不该把这个建筑在他人的痛苦上啊。这样，苏荷的儿子长大会是什么模样？

Rating: 4/5

Potato cooked corn soup using chicken stock, and added in egg, carrot, cordyceps flower and red dates. He also stir-fried shimeji shroom with lady’s finger and carrot. We took some samples of the Nando’s Peri-peri sauce from NTUC, marinated it with chicken drumstick and air-fried it. The taste did not came out as strong so we probably have to add more in future.

2/12/21 Thurs: Did an eye check at Visio Optical since my last comprehensive eye exam at Paris Miki three years ago. This shop did not impressed as much as the rave reviews I read online though. The Managing Director Stefano only did a normal eye check for me, and to do a slit lamp examination, I have to top up an extra $10, even if it meant buying glasses with them! *In comparison with Paris Miki, who is known for their pricier frames but they actually do it for free if you make any purchase with them.* Frames similar to the one I did at Glimpse four years ago was even more expensive it seems, so I went for a cheaper one at $165. Factoring in the cost of the blue-guard lenses ($215 for a 1.6 index lens) and a discount of $50, I spent a total of $330.

However, to my relief, my myopia did not worsen as much as I thought. My left eye stayed at -6.50 (same as three years ago when I did an eye check at Paris Miki), but right eye increased to -5.50 (from -5.00 four years ago as per my old Crizal lenses). My astigmatism got better in numbers: left eye went from -1.00 to -0.75 and right eye went from -1.25 to -1.00. For contacts, the optometrist Ms Tee recommends normal daily lenses with degrees of -6.00 for my left eye and -5.25 for my right eye after adjusting compensation for astigmatism. After that, PotaTOHs had plump prawn dumpling noodles ($4.50) at Holland Village food centre~

I suggested pasta and Potato cooked alio olio spaghetti with spinach and salmon tonight! We paired it with white wine too~ yums.

3/12/21 Fri: Met Pat and WZ for my belated birthday lunch at Orchard. We planned to go Tenya for lunch at first, but the waiting queue was one hour long, so we changed to Café One O at level 10 instead. It was tuck in a corner, so there were not many customers. They had Thai and Western food, and all were fried, so I chose sweet and sour fish rice set. *$9.50 per person for lunch which was reasonable for a dining place in Orchard.* We chatted a lot about their lives with their kids and how relationship between couples could have changed a little because of that. *Having kids is such a huge responsibility. I would have one when I’m all ready to love him/her.*

We shopped around Don Don Donki and Uniqlo while I waited for Potato to reach Signs A Tase of Vietnam Pho for dinner. I read reviews about the place online on how a deaf couple runs the place and apparently, all their waiters and waitresses are too. But the old uncle serving me and Potato was very polite and helpful throughout, and I just wished I could thank him more.

I had the chicken pho ($7) and he ordered the beef one ($8). We also shared the pork and prawn spring roll ($6). I had one warm lemongrass drink with lime ($3) as I was waiting for him too. I really enjoyed my pho and the spring rolls because it’s such value-for-money at Orchard. They also had no GST and service charge, and no MSG too.

PotaTOHs watched “Diam Diam Era 2” at night too.

Rating: 3/5

4/12/21 Sat: Ian and PotaTOHs headed to 302 Foodhouse at Choa Chu Kang to try the Ngoh Hiang Prawn Cracker Ian’s dad recommended. I have been trying to cut down on fried stuff, so I did not eat much, but we unanimously agreed that the one at Bukit Timah Food Centre was better, partly because of their sweet and sour sauce too.

Potato drove LL, Jess and I over to Punggol in the afternoon. We bought her a bouquet of yellow tulips from Floristique, some coronets and Ahna treated us to Tim Ho Wan and Dian Xiao Er. Ahna has also discovered much about crystals and gem healing at home, so she gave us handmade bracelets and some Lulu Tabitha masks! *LL also gave us Christmas presents~* The 4 ladies were practically on and on about crystals, Ahna’s condition and LL’s work the whole day. *Ian and Potato drove over to pick us all up at night after their kway chup dinner at Bishan.*

6/12/21 Mon: Had my last group Reformer session with Chisa this morning and it was a good mix of arms and legs work. *Funny how my shoulders kept going up when I did some moves.* They increased the price by $100 for the 20 sessions-package now, but on account that it helped me to a certain extent and in the hope they I can get the classes I want more easily moving forth, I decided to sign up for a second round at Options Pilates.

Picked up my new pair of glasses at Visio Optical. I’m still not used to my “new nerd look” now, but Potato did not even realise I was wearing the new glasses when I came home, so I think I don’t look too different from before then!

We had mushroom rice for dinner and it was very nice! Potato marinated the mushrooms in white pepper, mirin, light soy sauce and Chinese wine for 15 minutes then put it into the rice cooker together with the rice to cook. It came out a little harder than the usual texture we would have, like claypot rice, but still fragrant!