My time

Starting to love the smile Sidney has, just planted a kiss on that huge silly nose :)

Simple breakfast of tea, toast and spread but good enough. At least, I know I can take my own sweet time to enjoy every part of breakfast, silly lazy gal :P

No alarm clock, no sounds of vehicles, no sounding of horns, no screaming kids, no conversations, no schedule to follow...the surrounding was really quiet as I woke up, it was a real lazy Sunday morning. My parents were already up, XF was still sleeping like a piggy. Still in my PJ, went to wash up and fix myself breakfast, sat near one of the windows and enjoy the late morning fresh cool air as I slowly enjoyed my tea and toast. My parents were talking about the time Didi is gonna arrive here in Basel and how to fetch him tomorrow. Looked at Sidney sitting near the table and couldn't help smiling :)

Living in Basel, really living

XF bought two tubs of ice cream, both of us had one for dessert with strawberries :P

Spinach with carrots (my parents love this so we were having it for two days :P), bittergourd with eggs and chicken with lotsa ginger, garlic and dark soya sauce

This was the second homecooked meal that I had prepared in Basel. We went to an Asian supermarket on the other side of Rhine river to get some foodstuff, oh boy, things were kinda expensive. How could one actually charge almost 10 bucks for a big packet of bean sprouts?? I could probably get that packet for about 2 bucks back home :P Okie, silly auntie, stop comparing. Well, gave up the idea of buying bean sprouts. Mummy decided that we should get bittergourd, good to reduce heatiness, kinda a weekly must-buy for my family back home.

After dinner and dessert, decided to take a walk with XF, needed to burn some calories, couldn't be eating and lazing around all the time :P We took a real long walk all the way to the river, went over the other side of the river. It was a weekend and there's World Cup so many people still filled the streets although it was pretty late into the night. It was a nice walk, the river was lovely at night. When we reached home, it was near midnight. Took a quick shower and went underneath the blanklet...:P

Idling, idling and idling

This trip to Basel has been kinda a pretty relaxing and slow moving one so far. My parents are taking their late afternoon nap, XF reading her magazine and me...eating potato chips, drinking ice lemon tea and blogging at the same time, what a wonderful world! XF just gave me a glare for binging on two of her 'shitty' snacks, ha, I guess every one of them must be precious to her :P Well, I think I should be preparing dinner soon...

A river runs through it

Ha, my sis asked if Mark and myself did take a walk along Rhine river when we were in Basel last December, hmm, ??? Really had no clue at first and after taking a walk across the bridge after lunch with family today, realised that yup yup, we did take a look at this river and bridge last winter. But it's kinda different in summer, there were more people walking along the streets and dining outdoor, enjoying the wonderful weather in summer. We had lunch in one of the restaurants along the bank river today, had pasta, pizza and salad. A great day to have a meal outdoor, I love summer!

sIZe

Does one size fit all? ...Put on my sis's comfy bootie (well, at least that's wat I call it :P) and started walking around the apartment in it. It's so soft like a teddy bear, would be great to wear during winter. Both of us have the same shoe size so can share shoes, hee hee! Well, one size does not fit all but one size does fit us both sisters :P...It was a real lazy morning, we took our own sweet time to wake up, to have breakfast, laze around before we finally decided to get out of the house near noon time.

Tea and time with my parents

Well, not exactly tea with my parents coz I had a cup of sinful hot chocolate while my parents had coffee. Actually, back in Singapore, I wonder how many times have I really sat down with my parents, have a cuppa tea or coffee and chatted...It's summer in Basel, cafes and restaurants had tables and chairs placed along the streets, good to get a cup of drink, sit outdoor and kinda people watch. Well, that's what we did when we took a walk near XF's place. Basel has definitely not changed much since I was here last December during winter. Hmm, except that it's summer now and the weather is certainly much better, at least no thick layer of clothing :P You get to see the sun setting only at about 8.30pm but shops still close quite early.

Basel, here I come again!

Ya Kun kaya, shrimp rolls, BBQ pork, small sack of rice, olive oil, dried mushrooms, spices, Japanese noodles, milk tea, Milo, herbal tea and lotsa instant mix...There was a whole suitcase containing all these stuff for XF. Mummy was kinda worried that we could have exceeded the weight limit, that suitcase was real heavy! I felt like we were gonna operate some kinda mini provision shop in Basel. You name it, we have it, the Singaporean grocer :P

Pinkie and Purple got to meet Sidney again! Sidney has still got that silly big nose and huge fat tummy, well, not to forget, that pair of silly looking eyes...the perfect "Gotta Getta GUND" teddy bear...gave him a big hug :) What a great reunion!

XF couldn't wait to binge on her 'shitty' snacks and show off her photography skills. Pinkie, Purple, myself and her favourite snacks became her subjects :P ...Great to see her :)

First homecooked dinner in Basel, simply love cooking in XF's kitchen, Mummy let me take over the whole kitchen :P...Simple three dishes with porridge: Stir-fried spinach with lotsa carrots, egg with onions, tau gua, red pepper and Chinese mushroom with XO sauce. Hmm, what would be the next recipe for our next homecooked meal?

Let's pack and go!

Pinkie and Purple managed to find a space in the luggage bag, holding onto the tub of 'shitty' snacks which was for XF. They don't like long flights and were hoping that it would be a smooth ride, they just couldn't wait to run free in Switzerland :P Bon voyage!

There will be...

I wonder how many of us would bring along a travel journal whenever we travel or go on a holiday trip. Well, I guess some would be busy snapping pictures of the awesome sights, some would be busy shopping for and grabbing great deals, some would be just busy talking and chatting. I guess not all of us would want to write about our trip. I asked one of my friends who was going on a trip to Japan all by himself if he's gonna bring along a travel journal and pen down his experience and thoughts about his trip but he said no and that he didn't have the habit of doing so. I thought that it could be such a waste. When one is travelling alone, those moments of solitude could be precious, giving us time and space to think about many things as we travel...the sights we see, the people we meet or even the little things that we have always failed to see in our usual hectic life. I believe all these are worth keeping as memories. But I guess not many of us have the habit of penning down our thoughts, not everyone writes to express and not all thoughts can be expressed in words.

I was given my third black travel journal. Simple black notebook but lotsa space for creativity and imagination. Started packing my stuff for my trip, not forgetting my travel journal coz "There will be..."

A little note for my very good friend

Dearest Guiyu, thank you for that thoughtful text just now...You know, you always remember those little things, wonder how you do it. Most of all, you always have a way of caring for me, it's certainly something that I am always thankful for all these years. Before I go to sleep tonight, I just wanna thank you for always being there...not often seen, not often spoken of but always there...never out of sight and always shining like a star in the sky...

Beany Sunday

Pan-fried tau gua, minced meat with onions and spring onions, not forgetting the various sauces that made the gravy

bean sprouts, green pepper, carrot and button mushrooms...all my favourite!

In the mood to cook so decided to cook dinner. Craved for bean sprouts and tau gua so decided to make dishes out of them. Sat there at the table plucking the ends of the bean sprouts in the late afternoon, hmm, my mind was in a blank (kinda a brainless job anyway), felt a little like those aunties gathering together, plucking bean sprouts and chatting away loudly. But thank goodness, I kinda enjoyed the peace and quiet around me as I was doing my brainless job :P As usual, prepared all the ingredients and then got started. My mummy also steamed a slice of cod fish. Three dishes and porridge, it tasted like blissfulness in simplicity...

My father's birthday

Love to see them smile :)

deep fried fish with gravy...yummy!

Kailan with beancurd skin...a dish that we often order :P

Yam with slices of duck in between

Mummy said that we must eat noodles for our birthdays. So, we had Pu Tien mee sua

Cold dish...slices of pork, cucumber with garlic sauce

It's my father's birthday and we had dinner at Pu Tien (Marina Square) - his suggestion. It had been quite some time since we ate at Pu Tien. Pu Tien then was still the one and only at Kitchener Road but now, I think it has about eight other outlets in Singapore. It's no longer the little zi char place that we had our meals a couple of years ago. I think the food is still as good as ever, those signature dishes are still as authentic as ever. My father has never ever verbalised his birthday wishes but in my heart, I know that one of which is to be able to see the whole family getting together, maybe he does long for a simple family dinner together. Me too...will be looking forward to that...

It's all about durian

It's all about a sinful Wednesday and it's all about durian. There was durian cake (with no sight of sponge cake but just real durian, eaten with a waffle biscuit) and durian pudding with coffee. Thanks to Mark for sharing those sinful durian stuff, we had colleagues who were three workstations away from us asking, "Who's eating durians? Such a strong durian smell!" ...Oops, Angeline and I quickly gobbled the whole chunk of durian down and started spraying my workstation with room fragrance. But you know what, the strong taste still lingered much in our mouths :P

Came the question...Was it heavenly sinful or sinfully heaven? Well, it's both heavenly sinful and sinfully heaven :)

Gifts from...

Mysterious gifts have been left in my pigeon hole for the past two weeks, wonder who they could be from? Could it be from the guardian angel thingy that we have at our workplace?...Well, whoever that may be, real thankful for that thoughtfulness :) Ha, love surprises!

Birthday babies

Met up with ex-colleagues on Tuesday, celebrated Joyce's and Rene's birthday too. Great to see Julia, Jes, Chu Hwei, Shirley and Edmond! The crazy bunch of us once again created much noise and laughter in the restaurant. Warning: If you are having a romantic dinner with your special someone, never ever reserve a table next to ours :P That fateful night, almost lost my favourite pair of slippers :( Left my pair of slippers outside the private room that we booked for dinner and was shocked when I could not find it when we wanted to leave. Guess what, it was discovered that one of the waiters actually wore my pair of slippers! Can you beat that?! And it was also obviously too small for him! Well, he kinda got a scolding from his manager. Anyway, too tired to bother so much, just glad that I still have my pair of slippers :P