~ 'Ketchup" Rice ~

Getting tired of having normal rice for lunch lately and so I tried to make something different..Tomato rice.. Hmmmm.. but since I don't have any tomatoes at home, so I use Ketchup instead :p. I steamed my rice as per normal. Using another small saucepan, I put Ketchup, chopped hot dogs, carrots, crab meat, a bit of water, salt and pepper together and cook. After that, I mixed the ketchup sauce with my cooked rice and here is my "Ketchup" rice.. hahahaha :p. Taste not too bad la. Next time should get some greenly vegetables/peas.. will be more healthier and colourful.

~ Doctor Play Set ~

We took the children to Pasar Malam last weekend and they had fun playing with rolling the balls games. Points were collected in exchange for a Yellow Ball which Gladys wanted. Then we head on to play the "fish a frog" game. $5 for 3 tries and each frog has a prize number in it. Hubby spent $10 and all the mini-toys were in exchange of a Doctor set for Gladys and Snooker set for Denver.

Gladys was so happy with the Doctor playset and she can't wait to go back home and play. The kids started to pretend as doctors and their favourite kits are the stethoscope and the injection needle. I had to be their patient to let them 'inject' me and also listen to my 'heartbeat'. (i.e. if they can place the stethoscope at my chest. Most of the time they were placing it all over me..my tummy, leg, hand and even face. -___- Trying to be funny.. LOL)

~ Heat Wave! ~

The weather these days have been terrible! HOT HOT HOT! We have to turn on our Aircon every night to keep the room cooling. Electrical bills is expected to go UP again next month. :( Hubby's car air-condition is often running at high or full blast and I have been bottling myself with either water or cold drinks (felt so bloated). I'm also not really keen to stay outdoors for too long. Occasionally there will be rain, but then the heat starts to steam up again. I wonder how long this warm weather is going to continue....

~ Baby Ashton ~

There's a new addition to the family on 22nd April and he is Ashton Lau (刘宇轩). Big brother's first baby. Hubby and I went to visit that evening at TMC and am glad that baby is well and healthy weighing a good 3.1kg. Can't believe that I am now upgraded to Aunt Phoebe. From having my own children to now having a nephew.

Suddenly recall how I went through giving birth to Denver and Gladys. It was a painful process but an experience that I'll never forget. Given another chance, I will still go for natural delivery to bear the extreme pain to appreciate and treasure the wonderful children that I am blessed with. Considering myself a failure being a daughter, hence I don't have high expectations on my children. Being a mother, a parent is not easy... I can only do my best to love, provide and educate them.. hoping that they will grow up to lead a honest and happy life.

~ No bake Oreo Cheesecake ~

I had a couple more attempts on making other flavours of no bake cheesecake some time ago.. Tried pandang jelly and it doesn't taste as nice.. then I put peaches with the lemon flavoured cheesecake and felt something is missing. hmmmm..

Anyway, this time I made another attempt with Oreo. :)

The receipe is pretty much similar except I reduced the amount of sugar (since the cream within the Oreo is pretty sweet) and tried increasing the amount of Gelatine to make the cake firmer.

Steps:

1) Separate the cream from the Oreo biscuits. (I used about 14 cookies)

2) Crush the Oreo cookies into fine crumbs.

3) Mix melted butter with Oreo cookies crumbs. This will be the base of the cake crust.

4) Press biscuit mixture firmly onto the base of your container. Store it in the freezer.

5) Put cream cheese, yogurt, sugar, cream from Oreo cookies and dissolved gelatin into a large deep bowl. Beat mixture with electric mixer at low speed until well blended and smooth.

6) Separate the mixture into two portions.

7) Coarsely crush some Oreo cookies with cream inside and mix with the first portion of the mixture.
8) Take out the container from the freezer. It should harden by now. Spoon filling over crust. Use the back of the spoon to smoothen the surface of cake.

9) Let the mixture set for awhile before applying the 2nd portion of the mixture on top of it.

10) Optional: you can add finely crushed Oreo cookies crumbs in the middle or on top of the mixture.

11) Cover and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours, or until firm.

Tata! Final output.. :) Not bad for first time attempt. hehehe.. The kids love it! Hubby says he prefers the lemon flavoured one. I like it both. :D

~ Cooking ~

I have been learning to make some really simple dishes.. looking at various recipes from the web and here's some which I made last week.. Nothing fantastic (limited resources as we don't have lots of food at home for me to 'play' with).. at least it still edible and no one has a bad tummy. :p

Steamed tofu with mushroom and carrots.

Egg rolls with hotdogs

I was working from home on Thursday and steamed my rice.. Being lazy... I put carrots, hotdogs, crabmeat and steam them altogether so that I only have to wash my steamer. Hahaha.. That settle my lunch and the colours still look pleasing for me to eat. :p

~ Good Friday ~

Ok, Good Friday is loooong over. This is an outdated post where we brought the kids to Jurong Point to 'window' shop and eat. It is not the usual spot that we'll go due to the long distance. Since JP has expanded to JP1 and JP2, it is quite a big area to roam about.

We later had lunch at "ZHOU's KITCHEN" and I consider it kinda expensive with the limited selection spread of food. The kids however like the porridge and the desserts of course. :) I like the salmon sashimi and some of their dimsum.

We went to the John Little Sale at Singapore Expo after lunch and OMG, it was a HEAVY DOWNPOUR and there is a loooong looooong queue for payment. We gave up on purchasing any items (cos it'll take us an hour just to pay) and went to the book fair at the next Hall. We bought a Learning to Type CD which Denver wanted and then headed back home...

~ Appointments ~

Took a day off today to bring dad to TTSH for his medical reviews. As he still didn't have strength on his legs, I do not want to risk him suffering from another injury or fall. Hence we'll call the ambulance whenever he needs to go to the doctors.

He had Physiotherapy early in the morning and was taught some basic movements to be done at home daily to help him strengthen his legs muscles. My worst fear came the moment I step out of the clinic... RAIN!! and it was a HEAVY DOWNPOUR!! Dad has another appointment at 11am with the Foot Care and Limb Centre which is opposite TTSH and there are no shelter!!! :( I only have half hour hoping that the rain will stop.... 15mins passed and it is still raining.. I figured I may have catch a Taxi instead... Luckily, 2 kind uncles ferry dad and I over to the FCL center out of good will! I am so grateful to them!

Dad finally reach on time and got his right leg fixture to assist him walking to avoid the tendacy of foot drop. The rain has stopped by then and I can wheel him back to TTSH to meet hubby who has just reached. We took Dad to have lunch at Pasta de Waraku for a change. Shop around before going back to wait for his last appointment with the ENT.

It's a very long wait... and I nearly fall asleep... Dad was tired by now and he took a short rest. We waited for an hour before it was Dad's turn to do his hearing test and see the doctor. I was glad that dad was willing to put on a hearing aid even though it's going to cost more than 1k. Scheduling him to see the doctors again next month and it will be another long day event. Glad that things are going well and hope that Dad will recover his strength and confidence again.

~ Creative Learn and Play ~

Denver has been attending his Creative Learn and Play class with SKCC for awhile now. It was his last lesson 2 weeks ago and the teacher has prepared the class for a short play on stage! The only BIG BIG disappointment is Mommy was not there to see it. :( Cos I was suppose to take Dad to see the doctor and hence have to give it a miss.

Lucky Daddy took pictures and video it down. I was very delighted and happy to hear that Denver did well on stage. The play is a well known story where the chicken needs help from the animals to make a delicious dish. However, all the other animals were lazy, giving excuses and refuse to help the chicken whenever he asked them. Denver played the role of a lazy Pig and I heard that he spoke very loud and clear such that the audience from below can hear. He also looked confident on stage and I am so very PROUD of him!

Denver already started his new lessons on the continuation of the Creative Learn and Play class last Sunday. I heard from the teacher that the children will be involved in a more difficult play this time. Parents will also be asked to help the children with the props. I hope I can watch him perform on stage for the on-coming play. Looking forward to it!

~ Relieved!! ~

It has been a terrible month of March! Finally April has come and I am seeing more light...

Dad's condition has improved.. Brother and I took him to TTSH for medical reviews and I'll be taking him again next Wednesday. Although it's tiring as we need to call the ambulance everytime, I am happy that Dad is well.

Another good news is Owen has just went through his surgery for his broken right arm on Wednesday and was discharged earlier today!! I am so delighted and really felt so relieved. Good to see him playing with his PS2 again and hope that he do not suffer too much pain in the recovery process.

I can finally have some rest and peace of mind. I have been falling sick since March and never recovered. My flu and cough has got worse and till now I am still having a bad cough, phlegm and a block nose. I didn't dare to take my medications as they will make me drowsy and unable to concentrate at work and home. So, every night, I will take them before bed and it'll make me so tired in the morning that I got to force myself to wake up.

It's Good Friday! TGIF!

~ Delirium ~

I have been physically and emotionally stress for the past week and was so exhausted that I simply had no time and mood for anything... Have not been keeping the kids company, not been doing housework, not been focusing at work, not been eating meals on time....

Ever since dad was re-admitted two Sundays ago, things havent been going well.. Dad went for another MRI scan and the inital diagnose was there are abscess at the spine area. Dad went for his 3rd operation within the month last Thursday. It was a very loooong operation.. We waited very long... from morning till evening. Finally get to see Dad at around 6plus in the evening.. he looked so tired and in a daze.. I thought it was the GA effect.. later did I figure something more serious were to come...

Started to hear news on Friday that Dad started to talk to himself and having funny actions unknowingly... I told Owen about this and he immediately went down to visit him that night. After observation, Dad is really behaving and acting very strangely... Despite a broken arm, Brother went down again early next morning to speak with the doctor and he says it's normal and Dad was discharged last Saturday.

But there are more to come... we try to get all the things ready for Dad.. Grabrails, bed, wheelchair, walking frame etc... Brother and I thought things will improve when Dad is home where he'll feel more comfortable and familiar with. Still, things seems to go worse..

Dad continues to have weird actions like taking his medicine out and eating them... drinking water. etc His eyes were always half or fully closed. He starts to mumble and talk to himself about stuff as though someone is actually there! He lost a lot of strength to walk too! 90% of the time he is in daze... I had to put my kids with hubby and my inlaws and stay back with my mum and brother to look after Dad.

That night was horrible! Lucky Owen was around as well... I was terrified and worried that we have to bring him to see a doctor at IMH early Sunday morning. Even when we manage to drag him to his bed and rest, he wasn't sleeping at all. Talking through the night..

All of us were in a bad state.. not enough sleep. Still we have to wake up and get ready as the ambulance came at 9am to take dad to IMH for checkup. Doctor says that he is having mild delirium and advice us to take him to A&E at TTSH to have a scan and check if there is any infection affecting the brain. Brother and I struggle for awhile on what to do next. Finally Owen decided to take dad home first to observe him for the night and if his condition didn't improve, we'll take him back to TTSH.

Later that day, we continue to observe him and it seems that he didn't have that much of the funny actions or talking to himself anymore.. This is a Good Sign! By noon, I am really exhausted... Big brother has arrived and I had some beehoon and doze off completely... Owen was also so tired that he slept on the sofa..

That night, I went back home to rest while Owen stay on for another night... I was sooooo tired that I couldn't do anything.. my whole body was aching and I am completely knock out.

Over the next few days, he improved and started to get walking with the walking frame again. The only thing is he don't want to see doctors and keep taking his 0ld medicine unnecessarily. I had to keep all his old meds... but no one can persuad him to go for the CT scan. Sighz.... I can only pray and hope and things will be better.