幸福的味道

。。。就是简单。

And truthfully, it's not so 简单。The effort that goes into preparing the dishes - takes planning, thinking, marketing, preparation, cooking, washing. 

We were truly blessed last night, with a taste of nostalgia. The food... I woke up this morning thinking about the cabbage and the peanut-lotus soup. Everything was so good. I loved the cabbage the most, but the rest - equally yummy. The "dir-ka-bee-hoon", curry chicken, lala, salted egg sotong - and having the peanut-lotus soup go along with it. 

And we topped this up with Orh Nee, and also with 2 bottles of red wine. At the same time, the oldies were playing in the background - 张学友，张国荣， 张昕泽。 hahah... how come I only remember all the 张s?

This is what 幸福 looks like. 

Little Lucas must have been feeling so happy too. The boundless energy and wanting to play and "go balcony" throughout the night. :-D

Truthfully, life gets better and more enjoyable with good SG food. We've been so blessed in the last 2 months by Lawrence. It wasn't just the foldie transaction. His generosity, warmth, kindness, and him being a great master chef - definitely brought a lot of tummy yummy to the SGPs around him. Steve and I are officially unabashed to say that we would return all the containers, so that there would be more to come! 💗

Me and my Dahon

This must be one of the best things that happened in the last 2 months - my silver 小红 Dahon. It's beautiful and sleek, and I've been bringing it out on rides with Steve and friends, and also - me-rides!

And I am just too happy with it. This morning, I woke up to the super-painful after effect of HIIT on my arms. It's so sore and so painful, especially on the right arm. I was thinking if I should run, but given that I woke up super early again, perhaps biking is easier and less strenuous. 

So, I did a me-expe!! So lovely - weather was good, early morning freshness, lone runners and cyclists passed me by along the pcn, and then, me with the worship songs, the sermons, and the audio book for "First 90 days". 

I love it. 

The feeling of having the whole day in front of me. The choice to bring the 小红 out to explore different parts of Abu Dhabi, knowing that if I am tired, I can just fold it and SOS. 

The sun was beating down on me gradually, and it was a superbly nice feeling. I pray - that I can continue to enjoy the outdoors - run, cycle, swim - for a long long time to come. 

And - a surprise pick-up to have morning coffee. :)) Impromptus are the best. 

And - tonight, looking forward to having dinner at the master chef's place and seeing little Lucas. 

F45 and Eid Mubarak!

Such a wonderful start to Eid!

I finally did my first HIIT at F45 with Ildico. Kinda nervous, after I looked at the videos last night, and then, thought to myself - 可以的。 While I haven't done HIIT before, I have been pretty active, and so I was also looking forward to the challenge. 

And then, I woke up like at 515am again. These days, strangely, I have been up so early. 

The F45 session was for 45 minutes - I did the Triple Double. And... it was tiring. Double (repeat), of 52 sets of 30 seconds each exercise, with 10 seconds break in between. I think I did ok, could still continue (not hiit, but i think cycle or run, no problem). I just followed the sets, and then, 45 minutes was up. :-D 

I can tell you - the after impact of the Double Triple - was on the arms. While showering - haha, I felt that even holding up the shower head was sore business. The rest of the body - seems fine for now, but I can feel my thighs acting up too. :}

And Ildico gave me a beautiful pair of gloves, and it's in my favourite colour combi - black-gold. And then a while back, she gave me a Lululemon waist pouch too. So blessed. :)

And.... then, I received yet another urgent SOS call from Daphne. It's so good to just see the folks, even for a bit. And drinks, at 10.10am my time. :-D 

Beautiful morning!

Arabic 101

The covid threat seems to be worsening, with the latest focus on India. There have been more cases in Singapore too, and just these last few days, it hit closer to home. We received an email from the school stating that our instructor was tested positive, and that all of us needed to get our PCRs too. 

So I did that earlier today. And the nose still felt pretty itchy even as I am writing this post. Thankfully, there was not a lot of crowd at the PCR station earlier. 

And therefore, the Arabic lessons will be suspended temporarily. :)

I have started my lessons just last week, and learnt the alphabet, and how to do simple greetings and introductions. It was fun and nostalgic, reminding me of those days where I would do my JLPT 1 lessons at Ikoma Language School in Orchard area. Then, I remember how after work, I'd take the mrt down to Somerset, buy a canned coffee and old chang kee currypuff and sotong balls, and then tried to concentrate in class. Well, I remember the crammed small classroom, the textbooks with the kanjis, and this time round, it's a similar feel. I had my canned coffee, and the textbook and jotter book. Instead of 漢字, it is now filled with scribbles and shapes and lines and curves, and the script is from right to left. 

So tonight, I am supposed to be in class. But because of the covid scare, I am at home now, thinking if I should do some Arabic learning and practice the script. And so, I shall do that, and then reward myself with some NF thereafter. :))