28.10.04

Time at home

I'm so domesticated. One week off work and what do I do? Get a Teflon pan, microwave steamer, dish drainer, tea towels and kitchen floor mats (except that they're more towels than mats). The only thing we haven't done this week is get groceries, because Mondays in general aren't good day for grocery shopping, Tuesday we weren't going to be eating at home anyway, Wednesday Terz had a last-minute shoot, and today was spend-time-with-my-mom day. Maybe this weekend ...

Spend-time-with-my-mom day turned out to be spend-time-with-mom-and-her-sisters day. I shamelessly cajoled my mother into buying me a bit of bling bling --- definitely no iPod for me, because I can't in good conscience cadge jewellery out of my mom, then divert my own cash towards a new toy --- then we went to tea at Toast at Ngee Ann City. You wouldn't think a place covered in small, square pink tiles would be a comfortable nook to spend a quiet afternoon, but it is --- or rather, it was once the four loud Cantonese-speaking women in overdressed denim and capris left. In comparison, my table of Cantonese women was polite and poised, although I confess that we inadvertently hijacked the communal milk jug for our entire sojourn.

Mom decreed that she was sick of marsala anything, so I couldn't try the marsala chicken wrap recommended by umami. Instead, we had a roast beef sandwich with wasabi sauce (what a zinger), a chicken caesar salad sandwich (meh), chocolate truffle cake and carrot cake. I hope their mid-afternoon deal of coffee/tea with a slice of cake for $5.50 lasts, so I can take advantage of it next year when I revert to theoretically more flexible working hours.

It's surreal to play tai-tai with three women from a family least likely to spawn wealth, fame or fortune. Of course, the fact that they give me sound financial advice while I bemoan my dwindling bank account points to the fact that they can enjoy life now because they were wiser with their dollar when they were my age. I've inherited a lot of things from Mom's side of the family, but the gene for financial discretion must've flipped into recessive mode when it saw me coming.

Seeing Mom and her sisters always makes me wish I'd had a bunch of sisters --- unfortunately, that was just wishful thinking in my "Stop At Two" generation. A brother ain't bad, but four sisters would've been swell.

2 Comments:

At 11/02/2004 6:26 am , Blogger NARDAC said...

you got stuck with the other family money gene...I have it too. But more than you! Having a sister can be nice. But you know we're miles apart.

 
At 11/03/2004 8:03 am , Blogger stellou said...

Wait, were the four loud Cantonese-speaking women me? Oh, no, wait, I don't wear capris. Or speak Cantonese. And I am one. And I am here.

No, but, ohmygod, lucckkkkkyyyy. I loooooove Toast. I think they started to recognize me by the end of my month in Singapore this past summer. Then of course I left and now next time I go back I'll have to start building relations again. Still, who doesn't like building relations when relations involve cupcakes?

Speaking of which, how come you didn't try any cupcakes??? The Nutella cupcake is very, very good, but you must split it with someone. Or two someones. I've never had it on my lonesome, but I imagine one might fall over from the sugar. Whoa. This is me saying this. Good grief. So, but, yeah, actually all the cupcakes are incredible. The marsala chicken wrap is also a taste sensation. Also the sweet potato salad or whatever that salad is, that's like cubes of some orange tuber. It's maybe got, like, raisins or something also. They also make a nice green salad. Sure, you're thinking, "How good can a green salad be?", but it's just, the leaves are good and the dressing is good, and sometimes you just want something simple and good. The toasties (kaya and otherwise) are kind of a waste of time; too much bread, not enough filling. Oh, the tarts are very, very good. The strawberry tart especially. It's sprinkled with crushed pistachios. And the pastry is lined with chocolate on the inside.And then, of course, as you've mentioned. the pink tiles.

Yah!! Toast!!! Win!!!!

Um. Okay. I think I'm done now. And maybe I'm sorry, too. :-P

 

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