Walk and Dim Sum Chinatown

Sometimes, it's quite ironic that we travel the world to explore far flung places while we  have not explored so many places in our own backyard. A mental note to myself to check out more places in Singapore and share them with you #ilovelongvacationsg

It was Dim Sum time with the family last Sunday #throwback Been a while since I have been to Chinatown and I took the chance to walk around after lunch. Feels like a tourist in my country and don't get me wrong - it feels good.

Kind of bring back good memories of Jonker Street in Malacca and Georgetown in Penang. Definitely a good place to hunt for vintage stuff -  saw some metal posters going for $6 each (think they will cost double in the shops). So fascinated by the find that I forgot to take pictures of them! Haha. Anyways, sharing some pictures I took below

Didn't knew we had a visitor center in Chinatown! Visitor centres are usually one of the first places I visit when I travel, especially if I did not do much research. Good to see one at home - go check them out, friends of Singapore！

So we have these floor markers in Singapore too! Very apt to use rickshaw on the floor marker in Chinatown as in chinese, 牛车水 literally means 'trishaw pulled by cows'.  

Spotted our very own ice-cream on rickshaw before entering Buddha Tooth Relic Temple for the first time.Was asked to leave as my dress was 4cm above the knees. Oops. Do take note of attire if you are planning to visit. 

Dim sum at Tak Po was OK but considered good for the price - less than $100 for 5 pax. The frog leg claypot porride was good - must try! :)

Morning detox drink and mid-life crisis

Just came back from an evening walk to the supermarket with some ingredients for a morning detox drink which I have skipped for a week. I started on this diet because my flat belly is disappearing - not sure if it works but I definitely feel healthier. 

Cut up some lemons, oranges, cucumbers and mint and dumped them into ice water and voila, ready to drink the next morning! Feeling good - it can be quite therapeutic to be domestic sometimes. Guess I'm getting old.

Been thinking about how I can spent my weekends better these days. Do think that I spent my weekdays doing meaningful work. As for weekends, well, it's great to just rest after 5 days at work but it does feel like a waste of time sometimes (maybe I'm a workaholic haha).

While I like what I do for a living, it can feel quite meh at times. After all, it's working (and living) for a paymaster. And like it or not, there are times when I wish I am living for myself a bit more. Maybe mid-life crisis came early? Do fellow Gen Ys feel the same? Or is it just me?

Well, time to set some goals and to work towards them in the next 4 years (till my 5-year HDB MOP is up) on weekends. Even if I only spend 4 hours each every Saturday and Sunday on achieving them, that would take me closer to living for myself, right?

Feeling good that I have set the goals. Gonna make some SMART plans to achieve them!

My first one-pan pasta

Been trying to use the kitchen in the new place more. After all, it was half the renovation cost and the kitchen next to the entry way turned out nicely :) Quite ironic for someone who does not cook and lives to eat. LOL.

There's a first time for everything. So today, I made my first one-pan pasta and tried this one-pan pasta recipe by Martha Stewart which I read in The Straits Times a few months back. Quite an easy recipe and pasta turned out quite tasty too. Did not read that it was a recipe meant for four though. Cooked too much although I halved the ingredients. What a waste of food! Lesson learnt - got to read the recipe more carefully next time.

News clipping of the recipe for reference and keepsake.  

Other lessons: for some reasons, it took more than 9  minutes to cook till al dente and the water did not evaporate. Maybe too much water or the pot was too small.  Well, practice makes perfect!

Appetising colours!  

Prepared a mini salad too. That was easy and the third time I did it. Just a toss of some greens, corns, cucumber, honey ham, sesame dressing together. I like the $2 sesame dressing from Daiso - really value for money. Today, I decided to put the honey ham (frozen) into the pot pasta and it tasted much nicer than when it was 'raw'. Maybe cooking it enhanced the taste of the honey? Lesson learnt : Cook the honey ham in future.  

Cooking for one can be quite challenging. Ingredients are usually sold in bigger portions. Take for instant, the basil leaves bought more than a week back. It has turned brown by the time I got down to cooking the pasta. The bag of mini cucumbers are turning mushy too. So perhaps need to pack a homemade salad to office on a weekdays should I decide to cook over 2 weekends...