"Before We Say Goodbye" + Jariel’s 1YO bday bash & board games @ Galv & Joan’s + “Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials” + Gwen's belated bday lunch @ Oriental Kopi

26/4/26 Sun: PotaTOHs went to Kwan Im Thong temple and Paris Miki at Bugis Junction this morning. I needed to clean my lenses after so long and change the nose pads because the glasses had been slipping down my nose bridge a lot recently. We shopped for Jariel's 1YO birthday gift at Bugis+ before having chicken rice and popiah ($15) at Albert Market and Food Centre~ then took a Grab home since I have an expiring $25 Grab ride voucher. 

He cooked Mille-Feuille Nabe but added gochujang for that spiciness~ taste came out good for us!

27/4/26 Mon: Attended PL's deep stretch yoga class after so long. It was a good stretch as usual. Ian came over in the evening and had a good catch-up with PotaTOHs at night since his work trip back from Melbourne.

28/4/26 Tues: Intermediate reformer class with Phoebe this morning was a good workout. They were not tough moves, but enough for me to push myself more than usual. Chatted with Linh at the Pullman Bakery at JE library with a Yuzu Calpis drink ($6) before we ended the nice meet-up with yong tau foo for lunch nearby.

Potato cooked curry udon for meatless dinner tonight with egg, carrots, onions, Japanese cucumbers and potatoes~ very delicious!

29/4/26 Weds: Delivered meals to the elderlys this morning and it was a nice stroll~

30/4/26 Thurs: After two weeks of non-stop working, finally back to my parents’ for dinner! Mum cooked黄鱼, 莲藕珍珠豆淮山汤，煎蛋and五香~ 

1/5/26 Fri: PotaTOHs went to Yishun community hospital to see MIL, who also discharged today after about a month since her spine surgery on March 30. FIL went to pick her up and we had chicken rice at home and spent some time with my in-laws. It’s always nice to spend time with family.

Finished reading "Before We Say Goodbye" by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

Four stories that happened in Cafe Funiculi Funicula in Tokyo once more. First, it was the husband Kadokura goes to the past to visit his wife for he had been guilty of constantly leaving his wife while he travelled the world for work and wondered if she was happy? Then, Sunao felt guilty for being asleep when her dog, Apollo, passed so she wants to say goodbye to him. Woman Hikari felt like she should not have rejected her boyfriend's proposal and wanted to resolve things with him before his death, and lastly, the daughter Michiko who wished she had not been so harsh with her dad at his last visit with her at the cafe and was also guilty for thinking she indirectly caused his death in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami later.

Letting go is never easy, but humans have to.

Rating: 4/5

Potato taught me to make pork patties with minced pork collar meat (about 260g), egg, soy milk, salt, MSG, white and black pepper, Italian herbs, onions and bread crumbs~ fun time smacking them flat haha! He then seared the patties before  adding cabbage, cherry tomatoes, shimeiji shrooms, enoki shrooms and king oyster shrooms into a Teriyaki soup base with the patties~ patties could have been saltier but still was yummy nevertheless!

2/5/26 Sat: Went to Alinea’s studio for Jariel’s 1YO birthday bash at noon. It was a spacious studio and the buffet lunch from Neo Catering was not bad. Also had guava juice and blueberry ice-cream with bread~ so full! HT and her husband joined us later at 1pm for the cake-cutting session~ 

Took a bus to Galv and Joan’s later for some board games in the afternoon. They had fun playing “The big book of madness” and PY learned weiqi from Mervyn too. We ate Obba Jjajang for dinner and the kani gimbap was not bad really… albeit a bit sick of it towards the end haha. Potato had jajangmyeon and I thought the sauce was not bad.

3/5/26 Sun: Potato cooked salmon with brocolli, but he thought one component in the Italian herb he added into the Teriyaki sauce this time was a bit too overpowering. The miso soup with onions, enoki, king oyster and shimeij shrooms was delicious though!

We also finished watching the limited series of “Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials” on Netflix.

It follows Lady Eileen’s (Mia Mckenna-Bruce) investigation of Gerry Wade’s (Corey Mylchreest) death at her mansion’s party. Interesting discovery of the seven death’s society and how it was linked to Eileen’s dad but we did not expect the mastermind to be her mum.

Rating: 3.5/5

4/5/26 Mon: Accompanied dad for his hip x-ray and consultation this morning at NTFGH. According to Dr Kang and his apprentice doctor, his x-ray scan this morning has revealed his left femur fracture is better than before, and so it is most probably an old fracture. So the good thing is dad can now continue with his stationary bike exercises and long walks with less concerns there.

Also did advanced care planning for him and understood what his wishes are in times of emergencies in the hospital mainly. It's not easy to get dad to talk because he usually doesn't answer someone's questions directly. But at least now, as at this morning in the discussion, he would not want to struggle with tubing etc should it come to a point something serious happens and he cannot be saved.

Did his blood test after that instead of Weds morning and I bought him lunch at LE congee and noodle house at Westgate. He enjoyed his century egg and minced pork meat porridge, but I will avoid the dry prawn dumpling noodles in future because the taste of cumin is so strong omg~

Cooked meatless dinner but the tom yam soup was a bit too spicy for Potato oops~

5/5/26 Tues: Went for my second scalp treatment and I got the Chinese stylist to trim my hair because the layered ones were irritating and messy lol. The whole session took only 1.5 hours today, way shorter than my first trial experience. Had the Burmese young girl do the treatment and after hearing what she shared about poor electricity and her sister having to queue to buy oil for their hair salon, I think Singaporeans are really lucky.

Also visited the renovated NLB at West Mall. Sound Scape is cool and it's conducive and spacious for working and studying.

6/5/26 Weds: Saw Dr Wong with dad and it’s good that his stomach ulcer issues are all cleared, and last biopsy showed no signs of the H.pylori bacteria anymore. His blood level and iron has also increased, but probably because he has Thalassemia, so it would not be at the same level as normal people. Now, he can finally stop taking the  Esomeprazole and just finish his iron pills and calcium tablets. However, Dr Wong did point out he has signs of infection in the area (think it’s due to the previous existence of the bacteria), so he wrote a memo for dad to bring to the polyclinic when he goes back for a check again in 2028.

Potato cooked pork belly don and shimeiji and shiitake miso soup for dinner! Vinegar taste a bit strong for the sushi rice but otherwise all good! 

7/5/26 Thurs: A new therapist Han did my body massage this afternoon. She used the wooden stick to massage again but before that, she used hand massage to soften the筋络. I could feel the obvious soreness on my lower back and after the treatment, it’s also much reduced. She said my right hip is obviously higher than the left (although my issue is not that bad) because I had the tendency to cross right over left last time, so I can do it the other way round to balance nowadays lol. She also mentioned a chiropractor would bring the bone back to its original position but they will also recommend me exercises to do to maintain it.

Had a very good dinner at mum’s!

8/5/26 Fri: Did tower intermediate this morning with Linh in Phoebe’s class. The class was easier than last week’s but I still enjoyed the “calf almost cramp” pose haha~ 

Had a bit of sore throat since the middle of the night so Potato made me liang teh~ he also air-fried the chicken wings from Don Don Donki which was not bad.

9/5/26 Sat: Woke up a few times due to the bad sore throat alamak~ He did a comfortable set-up in the study for me to laze around and listen to my他她星球app~ 

 Chicken aglio olio with shimeiji shrooms was yummy~

10/5/26 Sun: Working Sunday for me and he cooked cabbage, carrots, sweet corns, onions and potatoes soup with chicken rice! He bought Golden Chef's chicken rice paste from NTUC this afternoon and cooked it with the brown rice in the cooker~ smelled great and the taste was okay too.

11/5/26 Mon: Did similar moves in PL's deep stretch class this morning.

12/5/26 Tues: Barreless-barre class with Linh this morning and Rainne covered Esther's usual class. She gave us breathers in between which was nice but we still worked out quite a bit after all haha.

13/5/26 Weds: Dad forgot about his physio appointment so he was late. The physiotherapist said his butt muscles are weak, so she asked him to do bridges and to raise his legs to train glutes muscles every day. He also held his walking stick the wrong way and on the wrong side when he should hold it on his left. *Don’t know why and how but I dread and am afraid of aging for a moment. Maybe the fact that we all could get weaker and could be dependent on others.* Decided to go Koufu at basement but wrong decision because the food there’s even more expensive than Kopitiam’s. My salmon don ($7) from Sushi Express was actually cheaper than dad’s yong tau foo ($7.6)! 

Potato tried a new recipe tonight! He blended garlic, miso paste and pumpkin with olive oil to make the sauce over udon. We had tobiko and raw salmon as protein~ It was nice but got jelak towards the end for me, and the pumpkin sauce overpowered the salmon as I mixed them together.

14/5/26 Thurs: Met Gwen for her belated bday lunch at Westgate's Oriental Kopi after her gynae appointment at NUH. We planned to go town, but it was late so we had a simple lunch in the west and catching up! This girl is so talented I'm envious of her seriously haha~ I wish I could be more productive and have the will to learn new things too.

15/5/26 Fri: Cooked my usual pork belly wafu spaghetti with black fungus and bok choy while Potato made use of the tobiko and Japanese cucumber to make a side salad~ nice!

16/5/26 Sat: Poor Potato probably pulled his lower back muscles while mopping the floor this morning~ There's also some sort of sudden ant infestation in our place, and he was worried about that too. 

He tried a new recipe using mashed prawn meat and rice paper and pan-frying them. The sides of the rice paper turned out quite crispy at some parts but some others were still a bit tough, albeit the prawns we bought from Sheng Shiong that afternoon were fresh. The old cucumber and sweet corn soup was yummy!

17/5/26 Sun: Potato brown-ed both sides of the minced pork collar patty and it tasted so good because of the Maillard reaction~ good pork, celery and shimeiji penne pasta tonight!