GRANTED

A realization just dawned upon me a few days ago, and I realized how easy it is to take loved ones for granted; even if unknowingly or unintentionally. Even despite repeated reminders to yourself never to. It just sneaks up like that.

And how, sometimes, it takes an outsider - or so, to say - to put things into perspective.

Thank goodness, more often than not, it's never too late... To love.

PICTURES = THOUSAND WORDS

 

I simply luuurrve this picture.

A mischievous Dad play-bullying our family dog.

A poor Tofu looking all comical and supposedly pretending to cry.

And a happy me grinning broadly because I find it all too awesomely cute.

Poor Tofu. Oh, my baby, he must be feeling absolutely bewildered, if anything. 

COLD

It is sooo cold today at -3 degree celcius. Even though I've been indoor today - wearing track pants and long-sleeve sweater and socks - it is STILL icy cold. It would be worse tomorrow, as the predicted weather forecast is -7 degree celcius. We're probably staying in tomorrow too, because of the unforgiving weather. Just as well, since when our Taiwanese friends arrive on the 22th, our daily schedule will be packed like sardines!

This is our dinner for tonight. It was purchased from a chicken shop near the hostel. Underneath my outer coat, I wore 2 pullover sweaters and a thermal innerwear; and topped off the whole assemble with a skinny jeans, beanie, shawl, and arm warmers. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'VE BEEN TO THIS MUCH TROUBLE JUST TO BUY DINNER! And despite all the thermal precaution, I can feel my mouth practically freezing off as soon as I stepped out of the hostel building!

Anyway, this chicken is fantabulous! The chicken is crispy but not too oily, the rice cakes are springy with every bite, and the sauce is thick, sticky, and tasty! Even thought it's nowhere comparable to Kyochon's, the less steep price thoroughly compensates for it. This chicken meal costs 6000won (~SGD$7), as compared to 15000won (~SGD$17) from Kyochon. AND the best part? I ate 1/3 of it for dinner tonight and am keeping the rest for tomorrow or the day after!

Now I feel like a hibernating bear; storing up all the food indoors and hiding under blankets!

WINTER AND FOOD

Am currently on a 2-weeks holiday to South Korea! Will be back on the 28th!

We're planning to stay in for tomorrow. I guess it's getting a little boring already. Afterall, this is already our 3rd time visiting this country and state. In addition, it IS winter right now; therefore shopping is kinda restricted (if only it snows in Singapore too!). 

It seems like there's natural air-con wherever you go. And I am still finding it amusingly entertaining; seeing all the mist forming out from my mouth as I speak and breathe out.  Meanwhile indoors, even with the heated flooring system, our dorm room feels cold, especially as night falls. Overall, the weather is chilly, the wind is strong; even the tap water feels icy cold. Thank goodness for water heaters. Showering is becoming a torture, and heck, even my skin is starting to feel dry! I'm going to start slapping lotion on myself from tonight onwards!

Grouses aside, the food here is simply awesome! For one, their fried chicken from Kyochon is absolutely out of this world! Even their ramen (instant noodles) are a notch higher! I just had one pack of kimchi ramen for dinner, and it is sooooo thoroughly satisfying. Sigh! I AM GOING TO BE FAT! 

P.S. There's still no sight of snowflakes yet!

POTATIFIED

Last night, I had a meetup with this odd-pair long-time old friend of mine, Xu. We met at 5.30pm, and spent an amazing 4.5hours together. Despite the passage of years, it is still absolutely amazing at how starkly different we are in almost every way possible, but are yet still very very very good friends; and how we still click like old chains in spite of seeing each other once in a blue moon. And the best part? We're meeting again TOMORROW for some art and crafts! YIPPIE!!!

Anyway, I reached home last night at 10.30pm. Took a refreshing bath, had a quick snack, and surfed the internet to read up on a recipe which I was intending to try out. By then, lo and behold, it was already 11.30pm! I took out the cooled baked potatoes (I baked 2 medium potatoes before going out to meet Xu) and cut them into halves lengthwise. Scooped out the flesh pulp, and followed the steps as per instructed. When all was done, I left the four-halves potato shell to bake for the final 15 minutes.

Sadly, there are no pictures here because the products did not turn out as expected. The topping was a tad too runny! I consulted the recipe again, and - to my disgust - realised that the gravy topping was supposed to be mixed with a HAND MIXER until WELL-BLENDED and CREAMY. In my haste, I had (conveniently?) overlooked this little fine print of a detail. All I did was beat the mixture until it appeared fairly homogeneous - with a SPOON! Arghhh!!! There goes the potatoes! All because of a slight overlook! And because it is such a waste to throw both the potatoes away, I ate one of the halves, kept one of the halves overnight (experiment : to investigate how well the taste holds up when reheated in microwave), and threw away the remaining two halves. I am sooo stuffed with potatoes now. POTATIFIED! TOTALLY!

Anyway, the moral of the story?

Don't attempt any culinary tasks dead at night.