“Alice in Borderland 2” + “Single’s Inferno 2” + PotaTOHs’ dinner @ pasar malam & Greendot + CNY day 1大年初一拜年 + 初二Farmily’s steamboat dinner + 初三gathering @ Mervyn’s + 《心动的信号：第5季》+ mahjong @ WL’s + 《ART》@ Esplanade with LL, Fran & Ning + STC Prosperity Lunch + 《每一件美好的事》

PotaTOHs finished watching “Alice in Borderland 2”.

A lot of blood as usual and loopholes.

Rating: 2/5

12/1/23 Thurs: Ate lunch with Cherry, Serene, Shelley and Debbie in office. I liked my batang fish soup with milk from Vista Point this afternoon. *Thanks to Shelley for her treat!* Came home to super yummy seafood kimchi fried rice by Potato! It’s chocked full of seafood like prawn, scallop, crabmeat and the usual enoki and mushroom~

Finished watching Single’s Inferno 2.

I don’t like how JY still stood beside Nadine for a while when his final choice was not her at all. A bit surprised to see SK went with JW but I thought that pairing would be better than her and JY.

Rating: 3.5/5

13/1/23 Fri: After Qigong and WIP meeting in the morning, I went to Bukit Batok’s OCBC branch to take the new CNY notes I requested for online. *Thank god I didn’t have to wait long as there was only one person in front of me in the queue.*

Did my second session of womb and back cupping at EE Beauty and Wellness. EQ gave me the free head拨筋massage, as promised. I always thought it’s normal for my head to have bumps here and there but she said they were unhealthy “knots” omg… especially bad at my颠部, where the肝胆筋lies. It was painful as she scraped the head, but the minute it was done, my head felt light and relaxed, and my vision seemed clearer and brighter. Again, my neck became relaxed after the cupping. *She did not cup my lower back this time though hmm.*

Came home to cook some udon with crabstick, fish roe ball, celery, black fungus, mushroom, egg and spring onion in tom yam soup for my dinner~ enjoyed! *I could feel a bit of pain now and then at the two sides of my head at night, but I suppose it’s the after effect of the scraping.*

14/1/23 Sat: Potato worked hard today as he spent the afternoon wiping and cleaning the living room surfaces and settee. Then, he pan-fried potato slices and enoki mushroom wrapped in pork belly rolls in teriyaki sauce and cooked tofu miso soup to welcome me home after race day duty! So nice~

15/1/23 Sun: PotaTOHs tried the面王1971’s sambal lala hokkien mee ($6.70) and braised pork meat hokkien mee ($6.70) and we liked how much sauce they gave! The sambal lala hokkien mee was better than the pork one because of the sambal. They have the “normal” hokkien mee at $4 too and they also sell nasi lemak ($5), so we can go for those next time.

We spent the afternoon washing the toilets and wiping and cleaning the dining and kitchen area. Had zi char for dinner with in-laws as MIL shared with us that she visited MM at NUH on Saturday after she gave birth to Liv on Friday night. 

16/1/23 Mon: Pilates reformer in the morning was quite intense, so much so that I felt the soreness on the inner side of my right knee in the middle of the night. Got the chance to try the mee soto ($3.50) at Happy Hawkers at Bukit Batok (it was always sold out by afternoon normally) and I added a dollop of chilli sauce, thinking the spiciness was alright for me, but man it was hot! It’s nice, but I “warned” Potato never to add more chilli if he were to try someday.

Noticed a subconjunctival hemorrhage in my right eye in the late afternoon, so I put some eye drop at night.

Enjoyed tomato penne with chicken leg chunk, celery, green capsicum and mushroom cooked by hubby! Tasted so good~

17/1/23 Tues: *The blood clot caused by ruptured blood vessel in my right eye has dispersed this morning, but I can feel the ache at the inner side of my right knee if I try to bend the leg. Hopefully it’s only DOMS and that it goes away soon.*

There were a few new students in aerial class tonight, so we did simple moves. So happy to hang myself upside down and making a diamond shape with the fabric~ all to signify CNY’s福气到 yay!

18/1/23 Weds: *The pain in my right knee ebbed a bit phew.* Decided to have the Korean spicy chicken soup at Yew Tee Kopitiam for lunch. It used to be one of my favourite food for lunch, but I guess it’s gotten a bit saltier over the years, and the price have gone from $4+ to $6.30 now after close to 10 years.

Tried the cheapest Lucky roll ($4.89) at Lot 1’s Maki-San for dinner but the rice’s texture was more like that of a glutinous rice lol. Attended Yip’s Yin Yoga and sound bath and wheel yoga at night. My tongue actually felt very tired as we rolled it 36 times around our mouth and in front of the teeth at the start of Yin Yoga class! The pose attempted during Wheel Yoga was not difficult, but if only I had my arm perpendicular to the ground, it’d be perfect.

19/1/23 Thurs: WFH today and tried nasi goreng ($4.50) for lunch at the new Indian stall downstairs… bland and not much ingredients. They had my nasi goreng left at the counter for a while until I went there to take it. *The old grandma at the counter also seems quite forgetful because she asked me for payment a second time.*

PotaTOHs walked over to Gombak central to try the pasar malam food for dinner. *Reminded me a little of my childhood days but they did not have the Taiwan sausages nor fried chicken wings there.* We ordered one Ramly burger ($4.50), one chicken chop ($5), one sharks’ fin soup ($2.50), one tauhu goreng ($5) and one curry fishball soup ($3.50)… $20.50 in all but luckily, we were full from it. *Contemplating whether or not to get one money tree plant for my place at the pasar malam…*

20/1/23 Fri: After lunch at Marsiling hawker centre, I didn’t know my mask fell onto the floor and I happily walked the overhead bridge to the bus stop, ready to go back until I realise my mask was not with me. Had to walk all the way back to retrieve it aish.

Met Potato and we went down to Greendot at One Raffles Place to try their wazen menu that is exclusively available at that outlet. He had his tempura don ($11.90) while I tried it with their cold udon ($12.90) and we both loved it! *The batter was well done and the enoki shroom tasted great in it!* I also ordered the matcha chocolate strawberry cake to go along with it and while Potato found it a bit too much for him after a while, I liked how the matcha went with the black glutinous rice at the bottom.

21/1/23 Sat: After tuition with Natasha, PotaTOHs had mhk ($4) and幼面 ($4) for lunch near her place since it was the only food stall opened at that coffee shop… not bad. Then, we cleaned and wiped our bedrooms before heading over to my parents’ for steamboat reunion dinner. As usual, a nice meal for the family as we rarely sit together for dinner.

二舅and三舅came later at night and they played mahjong with mum and bro.

22/1/23 Sun: PotaTOHs arrived at my parents’ first at 11+am to拜年. Mum cooked sweet and spicy prawn, ngoh hiang, roasted chicken and used the leftover ingredients from steamboat the night before for soup. Chit-chatted a bit with them before we went over to my in-laws at 2pm.

When we got there, I saw小姑 (FIL’s fifth and youngest sister)for the first time. Potato’s表姐XA, her husband, their 22-month-old son also came over for the first time post-COVID times. XA’s older sister YF also brought her son and daughter along, and I was impressed with how Potato can communicate so well with the 12 and 10-year-olds haha. *The boy looks clever too and he asked Potato questions related to Math, Anime and magic lol.*

FIL cooked up a spread on CNY as usual, albeit not as much as like previous years because there were few relatives over on初一this year. I was so full from the bee hoon and side dishes! *每年的华人新年，我都很珍惜和家人相聚的时间。*

23/1/23 Mon: Busy race day with Desmond and CT getting their 600^th and 100^th wins respectively. *Three English articles, one more from Larry and four Chinese translation to do.. omg. Would STC see and reward me for my effort?* Came home to steamboat dinner already prepared by Potato for the Farmily (Ian, Cherlyn, Fran, PY, Ning and us)~

We had cream puff from Don Don Donki that Ning bought and played Coup and Codename after that… so much laughter. James came later and joined in the fun!

24/1/23 Tues: Did some work in the morning and early afternoon, had lunch at home before PotaTOHs went to SD and Merv’s place for CNY gathering. 

Played Jackbox Party Pack games with Galv, Joan, Tiff, Josh and Merv… it was quite fun but I’m not a good liar nor game player I think haha. Also played mahjong at night and learned more about the rules from Galv and Joan.

SD and Merv prepared nine dishes for us on the third day of CNY~ it was a lot of effort and they were nicely decorated too.

25/1/23 Weds: Had only tom yam maggie for lunch because there’s lots of work in the morning. Potato came home at 4+pm and rushed to cook pasta with chicken, capsicum and king oyster mushroom in tomato sauce for our dinner~ before I had to leave for my Yin Yoga and Sound Bath class. *Thanks to my 脑筋东动很快的personal chef!* 

I really enjoyed yin yoga and sound bath class a lot because I could relax nicely there even if I had to tahan some moves. We tried kneeling on the wheel on both knees with our head on the floor and it really wasn’t too hard. However, I felt my right calf almost cramped when I lifted my left leg up while in that position.

26/1/23 Thurs: Potato cooked meatless Japanese curry with potato, onion, carrot and king oyster mushroom~ nice!

Finished watching《心动的信号：第5季》.

Agreed with what Jess said… this season was very sweet, like a love drama for youngsters haha. *All four ladies got paired up with a guy in the end, which is the most number of pairings in a season that I’ve seen so far already.* Though some pairings that came together in the end don’t look like they became couples in real life, their interactions in the house was nice.

Rating: 3.5/5

27/1/23 Fri: After piloxing, I pan-fried the mid-joint wings after scoring them. I followed the recipe from the下厨房app and added one soup spoon of light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and oyster sauce, and then more than a cup of coke into the mix before simmering it for 20 minutes.

Taste came out not bad, albeit too few wings for Potato keke. I thought my stir-fried napa cabbage with king oyster mushroom was nice too hehe.

Played mahjong at WL and WS’s at night using their automatic mahjong table… cool. I won a bit at first but WS had super luck that night, and I ended up the biggest loser on the table lol.

28/1/23 Sat: Potato cooked mille-feuille nabe and also lotus root soup (with a lot of ingredients like carrot and my favourite cordycep) for dinner~ warmed the cockles of my heart on a cold day hehe!

29/1/23 Sun: Met LL, Fran and Ning to catch 《ART》($37.20 per person), a play from果陀剧场, featuring屈中恒、曾国城and卜学亮 at the Esplanade.

《ART》很棒。好笑的都是表面，内在的复杂看了心酸。多年的友情遇上了危机，化解了？ 三个男人的友情就败给一幅画吗？没有。浅谈的是“友情的value 是什么？” 背后深论的是“你是我的ART！”

老友曾经的共同点经过岁月的洗礼和自身的遭遇会随之改变，此时“我”能不变吗？“我”因为“你”就不能改变吗？“你”又何曾没变？我们之间的友情“过期”了吗？还是过了“试用期”呢？选择后者也好。让我们重新开始认识现在的彼此。一起创造一幅新的美景。

看完只是觉得老赵最后那句：“友情建立在谎言的基础上好吗？” 是善意的谎言。我觉得没事，反正都是为了大家好。老赵骗得好。反正这辈子不要说出marker可以轻易擦掉的事实就好了lol.

Rating: 3.75/5

After that, I treated LL to dinner at Old School Delights at Esplanade Mall. We both had the nasi lemak ($11.50) and LL wanted to try their acha too. I thought the rice was fragrant, but the chilli was a bit too sweet for me. The fried drumstick could also be crispier. Had a good talk about family and work too.

30/1/23 Mon: There was only one other student and me in Chisa’s Pilates reformer class this morning… not bad. During my tuition with Triston, I suddenly felt a bit giddy even though I was seated down on the chair and the left arm, my pinky and ring fingers were a bit numb. It lasted for less than a minute, went away but happened a second time in that last half an hour of lesson. I was quite terrified because I thought I could faint any time. *Maybe I exhausted too much energy teaching Trinice… back-to-back classes no joke as age catches up with me…*

Cooked hot soba with napa cabbage, carrot, onion, enoki shroom, spring onion and mushroom dumpling for PotaTOHs’ meatless dinner that night~ the soba looked like ee mian because the soup almost dried up by the end lol.

31/1/23 Tues: Did some easy poses that are related to CNY in aerial yoga tonight… had some fun there!

1/2/23 Weds: Shared a table with colleagues from BCS department during STC’s prosperity lunch. They invited the same lion troupe from the CNY race meeting to do the lion dance again, and everyone from the Club did the “long table” lohei once again, a few years after COVID-19 hit.

I enjoyed the chicken broth a lot, as well as the prawn and mango sago dessert.

Yip focused on releasing the knots on the arms and upper back in yin yoga tonight. Challenged ourselves with another new pose in wheel yoga and I managed to do it almost nicely on one side of the body, but definitely need another day to perfect it and work on the balance on the other side of my body.

2/2/23 Thurs: Enjoyed delicious salmon, spinach, mushroom and sweet corn cream pasta cooked by Potato for dinner~ yummy!

3/2/23 Fri: Went for my first session of八爪按摩at Beaule Beauty and Wellness after the trial. I told Sherlyn to massage my back and my stomach this time. The massage this time wasn’t as painful as the trial session, but the八爪still caused bruises at some parts of the back. It was more painful on the left side of my neckline area when she massaged, but she also mentioned that the right shoulder blade area of mine protrudes more than the left, which could be a sign of poorer blood circulation in the right breast area. She spent 20 minutes or so on massage the stomach and womb, and there’s apparently a lot of“气”in me. Sherlyn also did the 20 minutes of头部拨筋for me which was less painful than when EQ did it, but I’m not sure whose was more effective, really. *However, I could feel that my head was much lighter after EQ did it though.*

4/2/23 Sat: Quite a busy race day for me. Came home to honey soy-sauced chicken, spinach, napa cabbage and shimeiji shroom, and watercress and carrot soup for dinner, albeit the watercress soup tasted a bit bitter for the first time tonight.

5/2/23 Sun: *Thanks to Potato who spent some time today to re-grout the tiles in the master toilet.* Watched《每一件美好的事》at the Esplanade Recital Studio with Ahna, Ning, Fran, her sis and PY.

讲的是一个贴心的小男生为了让母亲活下去而列下的所有美好事情的清单。他从七岁那年到医院到青少年到大学恋爱工作结婚离婚都坚持了，也想放弃了，母亲最后还是自杀了。

我作为观众也参与了互动，念了他第994条美好的事。钟达成讲的故事扣人心弦，演绎到位，我们笑了，但也难过了。

抬头总有阳光；美好总是你的paddle pop。这些美好不仅是存在过而已，它们也时时提醒活着的你能时刻再做！

Rating: 3.75/5

Ahna and I left for Buona Vista as she was heading to her mum's for dinner while I had dinner plans with Potato and my in-laws at Star Vista. We ate at the Thai eatery, Warm up. I found the pork boat noodle so-so only, but their tom yam soup was not bad.