And Finally We Meet

The email first went out in the beginning of the year, titled "1st Gathering of 2008". 3 cancellations and postponement later, all of which were the fault of the Jemej, the blog babes (and some with their better halves) finally convened at our humble abode for some popiah this afternoon.

V did the honour by being the first to start wrapping the popiah. And there were bee hoon and curry chicken to go along, ending off with splendid cakes, courtesy of Squarenails and gelato, thanks to Olimomok.


There was so much food to go around, that only after everyone left, then I realised that we didn't get round to Candice's kuehs and Pigypat's fruits. To think that Squarenails and I were saying thank god we didn't go overboard with the spread of food today, like the last potluck gathering a year ago!

The award for being the life of the party went out to 2 special people - Jayden, whom everyone was fascinated with how he naturally dodged every corner of table that we thought he would bump into, and of course, Squarenails. Beanbean's hubby, DD, must have been quite amused, meeting Squarenails for the first time today. Or is "amused" an understatement?




With all the catching up, yakking and laughter, we had a great time. If only Lilsnooze and Baby Nat were there too!

Looking at this picture below, The Boy asked how come the guys didn't take one together? But it was funny how he noticed that still, he was the only guy who made it into this picture, haha.


Till the next gathering!

The Parcel Arrives

And so, the kitchen pipe has been fixed. It turned out that I made it more drama than it seemed. But hey, there was water seeping out everywhere that could be detrimental to the wooden cabinet.

Learnt that we need to open up that "cap" at the bottom of the sink pipe and clear it every 6 months or so. This "cap" traps all the dirt from the washing.

I've always been paranoid that one day, the sink will get choked. So I try to make sure that every plate is wiped clean of any food bits, even a couple of grains of rice. Otherwise, these get washed down and get stuck in the "cap".

On a happier note, this arrived today. Thanks to Chloe, we found the ingenious way to gain access to their clearance items. I felt like a hacker when I was ordering my loot.


Am so glad that the sizing is A-OK! :D

CRISIS!!!

CRISIS IN THE JEMEJ HOUSEHOLD!!!

The cup at the bottom of the kitchen sink came off earlier. The water started seeping out from the cabinet to the surrounding floor area, causing me to freak out. All these while I was cooking pasta for lunch.

So I threw a couple of rugs around to soak up all the water and continued cooking, albeit with a very distracted mind. True enough, the pasta turned out a tad too salty. =p

Since we moved in a couple of years ago, there have been cases of breakdowns along the way, but nothing as major as this! :(


I've always taken extra care around the house, because I believe that regular attention and maintenance is fundamental to keeping the home in good condition. Spending that extra minute or two in taking care of something properly will go a long way in preventing any future "mishap".

Like how I spent an hour with half my body in the oven last night, obsessively scrubbing off every tiny blot of grease. (No, I don't think it's OCD.) I had to, because my oven is my precious, and spending this little extra time now is less dreadful than finding it in a worse off condition the next time.

Now waiting for help to fix that pipe - Heng-daddy to the rescue!!

No Sauces Please!

Made a mess of the Jemej Kitchen this evening, made it really oily with the Pan-fried Spring Chicken with Sauteed Potatoes & Vegetables. Coupled with the Prawn & Vegetable Broth with Saffron on the menu, we had the pleasure of Heng-parents over for dinner.

These 2 dishes were actually the first 2 that I learnt from my basic cooking course at Palate Sensations almost a year ago.




Considering that since then, I've not tried cooking them at home before, think I did well today. They loved both the chicken and the soup, even foregoing the chilli and ketchup accompaniment after their first mouthfuls, with me also going, "NO CHILLI OR KETCHUP OK!!"

Now I understand why chefs are so uptight against customers opting for sauces other than what's on the dish, they should just enjoy and appreciate the flavours of the dish as it is! Adding chilli sauce etc masks the original flavours, which would only make me think "then I marinate so well for what?!"

By the way, for this shot below, I didn't make them pose this way. No, even though they had attempted to ask for chilli sauce at first, I wasn't the "terror chef". Heh.

The Housewife Speaks

Sometimes, the weekend is so short, that we have no extra time to squeeze in for grocery shopping. And even if we do so, it would be very rush, and we only make it to those that open 24 hours.

Having said that, grocery shopping remains one of my favourite ever since I became a Mrs. And those that know me well would know that I ONLY shop at either Cold Storage or Market Place. The bigger, more swanky NTUC could make it to my list, but Shop & Save is out. And I would NEVER step foot into Sheng Siong unless I have to go save a life there.

No, it's not that I'm atas or what. To me, grocery shopping is not just getting what we need for the house. It's about the shopping experience that I look out for and value. The way the shelves are arranged, the way the products are categorised and the flow/sequence of product placement.

Even the lighting places an important role - white glaring lights are a turn-off. The range of produce available differs too, I NEVER find any fresh basil or oregano at Shop & Save, only flies hovering over the "fresh" seafood and vegetables.

Much as I would like to, we sometimes really cannot afford the time. And since shopping online is so absolutely convenient, I thought the auntie in me would check out Cold Storage online.

It would have been a very viable alternative, given that the whole idea is actually quite neat, if not for the limited range of products available. There could even be some savings, some products being slightly cheaper online than at retail. More so, the brands that I usually trust and go for are not available.

In the end, I could only find these necessities, whilst the rest of the things I needed were not online.




So, until they are able to put the entire Cold Storage store online, I would still stick to visiting the supermarket in person. This actual experience of seeing and touching the products, reading about them, contemplating whether or not to buy cannot be replaced by the mere clicking of the mouse and convenience.

The Heng Killers

Heck, I just killed a lizard. Come to think of it, I not only hate ants. I detest anything creepy crawlie!!

It was there on the window sill. I ran faster than I did at gym today, to grab my buddy, Baygon. I sprayed at it like nobody's business. I was quite surprised to see that it didn't move as fast as its counterparts usually would.

Upon closer inspection, which was actually a very hair-raising moment, I realised that it was bai-ka-bai-chiu - it had only 1 arm, 1 leg and no tail left. I swore my hair was standing by then, as I shrieked for my partner-in-crime to come clean up the mess/evidence.

Good thing that it was next to the window, so The Boy nudged it out quite easily. All these while I was crinching in half fear, half disgust in the background, swearing away.

After the deed was done, The Boy turned around and said, "I saw him trying for a last ditch attempt to cling on for life with his only arm lor." And I actually felt quite guilty and went, "HUH?! Really?"

Am I going to bed, imaging the lizzy crawling back up the window, with its scaly arm reaching out to me, screaming "Nooooooooooooo!!!"? Damn. Now, not only would I be afraid of the ants taking revenge on me at night, now I have to worry about one-arm lizzy.

P for Popiah, P for Party

Over the weekend on Saturday, as a mini gathering of both our families before The Boy's in-camp training and in celebration of my dad's birthday, we had a little popiah party at the Jemej's.

It was an "off day" for me, no cooking that day. Just simple da-paoded food as afternoon tea - popiah, kueh pie tee and soon kueh.

With some kopi and tea, I made good use, for the first time, of the tea set that we got from our honeymoon in NZ back in Nov 06.

We had this set custom-made with our name painted on, from a little pottery house which we randomly found while driving along in Wanaka. That's one of the loveliest treats being in New Zealand - you never quite know what you are going to chance upon during those long long long long drives from one town to another.




Think our mums did more of the popiah wrapping than anyone else, while the rest of us just enjoyed the eating, followed by watching the movie 881 - which I can't quite figure out whether my hokkien-speaking 90-year-old grandma understood. Nice way to spend time with loved ones at home, I'm gonna do this more often.

Feast #2

Round 2 on Saturday night, with the Superheroes & Friends.

As it was a bigger group of 10, I sought "extra help" with some purchased turkey and ham to add to the festive feasting.


For a starter, there was Greek Salad and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes, all recipes courtesy of Jamie Oliver. The potatoes were a hit - looks like I stumbled upon a gem of a recipe, and "founded an EJ Specialty"!! :D


Roasted beef was very flavoursome this time round, think I got the doneness right. Coupled with some simple sauteed spinach and mushrooms.


And Christmas dinner would not be complete without bubblies and desserts!


Best part of the evening - the great company of great friends. And the sweetest? The Boy you-tubed "How to carve a turkey" beforehand, just so that he could help me with the serving! :)


More pictures of the crazy night over HERE.

Feast #1

Took Friday off, and we had the BBs over for dinner that evening, the first of our festive feasting at the Jemej's. It had been a while since I last cooked, and coupled with a few recipes that I was trying out for the first time, started the preparations earlier than usual.

In line with The Boy's invite cum menu card, he bought the red noses as well, as a form of "welcome shot" that everyone had to take.




My indulgences from iwannagohome! added a nice little touch to the festive mood. Made the roast beef for the first time, recipe courtesy of my chef. Turned out great, except that for the next time round, I would shorten the roasting time to make it more medium rare!!!


With the standard-sized remekins this time round, chocolate fondant didn't explode and came out perfect!!!! So this led me to believe, at least for this time round, that the last few times I had failed in the making the fondant was due to too large a remekin cup size.


Pictionary was hilarious, and I guess everyone ended the night with lots of gifts and loads of fun and laughter.

Illogical Buyer Behaviour

Finally, it's up!! Yes, gan cheong spider me had been excited all week, looking forward to this weekend, so that we can put up the Christmas decor around the house.

We bought the Jemej tree last year, and to be honest, I was initially dreading to take it out again, as the dismantling was pretty troublesome and messy.

But once the tree was up with the soft fibre optics lights twinkling away, I was immediately clapping my hands in glee. Isn't putting up the Christmas tree one of the simplest joys in life? :) Was tempted to buy more ornaments, or even change the colour scheme, but decided to keep to the classic gold for now, we love it.


Confession - I overindulged at iwannagohome! yesterday. I have been there a few times, and each time, I simply couldn't bear to part with so much money for so simple stuff. Yet, I succumbed to temptation yesterday. And bought these little things for over a hundred bucks.

Despite the fact that when I peeled off the S$29 price tag for that little pot of single poinsettia, to discover its first original price tag of 6.50 EUROS, I was still pleased and gleeful about my buy. Buyer behaviour, especially that of women, can never be explained.

Sigh.... aren't they gonna look so pretty on my dining table during Christmas? *dreamy look*

Guinea Pigs Batch #1

Yes, am starting to put my money invested into the basic cooking classes to good use - trying out the recipes at home. Given that there was no lesson yesterday, decided to have my family over and be the first batch of guinea pigs. Mum must have been very happy because this was one of the few occasions that I've cooked dinner for her. Haha.

As I've been rather tired from work (not from the load but the games people play), decided to go easy and try out a pretty simply recipe - the Braised Chicken in Red Wine with Mushrooms. Turned out that there was quite a lot of mise-en-place to prepare beforehand, lots of chopping chopping chopping! And I was a bit 心痛 with the whole bottle of red wine that went into the huge pot - it had better taste good!!


Thank goodness I didn't disappoint, the chicken was very fragrant and tender, with added punch from the bacon bits, onions and button mushrooms. And so, my #1 batch of guinea pigs went off with happy tummies... Not before my sista gave me a whole bag of kawaii Hello Kitty snacks from her recent trip to Tokyo. I'd have to remind her again - no more Hello Kitty snacks! Maybe other Hello Kitty merchandise la!


Anyhow, I'd just have to slowly build up my confidence in preparing dinner for more than my usual number of 6, as I can't handle the stress of "mass" food preparation. Slowly I'll get there. But first, I need to buy more pots, pots that are bigger in capacity compared to the ones I have currently. Oops, you didn't hear that. Oops, my husband is not reading this.

New Member in the House

Because I was so smitten with 小姐, I would stand in front of the painting each time I walk past, to admire and day-dream about how it would look in our Jemej home.


After getting to know and hitting it off with Justin in the course of preparing for his exhibition in the hotel, The Boy and I decided that we would act on it - buy the painting. One of the most "frivolous" purchases I've ever made. But we never looked back - from taking a pic together with the artist himself during the exhibition, to the installation (next to what Squarenails calls "The Mothership") over the weekend, we are mighty pleased with our new-found baby in the house!



Because the hubby bought me such a nice painting, I rewarded him with something he liked very much too - a painting of his favourite toy, Condor, since young!! Ok, only that this cost only a tenth of the big one. :D


Painted by Dyn, another artist, he's got another one which I loved very much but restrained myself from getting. This was definitely one from my childhood memories!


Oh, have I mentioned before, that Justin said he found it strange that whoever buys his paintings, especially that from his 大姐／小姐 series would become preggers. Probably due to his use of the word 喜喜 in his works - double happiness from buying his painting, AND getting preggers. Well well, I sure didn't know that in the very beginning!!!