You know, it's a little funny, but whilst sorting through my pictures, I have only just realized I have yet to write anything about the meals we have had here at home.
Could it be because of everything that has happened that I have felt unready?
Could it even be that, despite living here from January to now (early April) I have yet to feel comfortable enough to call it a home?
I don't know.
What I do know is that the meals here differ greatly from the ones we have had before, and to be honest, I know not what to make of them even at this point in time.
But life is such that you take the picture- never mind how you feel- and then- when you get the courage- look at it again.
We have had a good number of meals here at home.
Some, out of necessity, others, because it seemed wiser to have a meal at home with no service charge than to go outside and have to pay for this and that.
If there weren't so many interesting places close by, we might have dined there, but since Parkway Parade and i12 have no shortage of interesting foods, not to mention the hawker center and the coffee shops opposite the road, eating tapaoed meals at home have now become a normal, pleasant thing.
Three months now, and there have been a good menu of foods we have had here at home, all of which I am very thankful for.
Amongst some of my favorites we have had here at table are the salmons and the fast food.
That doesn't mean I don't like the skewers or all the other foods we've eaten at this table.
It just means that it has always been my (childhood) dream to have fast food at table at home.
That, from a long time back I had always wished to have McDonalds or KFC or Burger King at my dining table, or in my room, comfortable, being able to eat what I want and drink what I want in the environment that I am at ease in.
Except that maybe that sort of ease never got permitted, and so never came.
Until a couple of years ago when we started having Burger King breakfasts and McDonalds breakfasts around the coffee table in Ceylon- and now here.
To have the Filet O Fish, the Buttermilk Chicken burger, the chicken nuggets, and the curly fries all in their opened boxes has made for a very happy albeit (adulting) meal.
I loved the quiet joy of spreading over the burger bun an additional layer of Hellmann's mayonnaise straight from the jar.
I loved the ability to dip the chicken nuggets with mustard and ketchup from packets saved over the years.
Same too it is with the salmons.
I have missed having plastic trays of them salmon sushis and salmon sashimis at table.
Seeing these bright orange slices brought back a memory both pleasant, and precious, where tapaoing food was the norm, and you either ate at the void deck, some park, or at the dining table in your home.
Not to mention, eating at home means one gets the unique taste of sashimi dipped in very good sesame oil, accompanied by a little bit of soy sauce.
Other dishes that have been just as great at table include them on big blue plates, most of it, I think, have been frozen minced chicken that got marinated with oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, and then stir-fried in the pan.
Even if some aren't homecooked, we also have had roast chicken bought from the supermarket downstairs that we cut into half, eat what we want, and save the remainder for another day.
The meat sans chicken skin actually does last quite long and whilst it might be all cut up and shredded, it still does taste very well.
Of course, there can't be any homecooked meals without the presence of instant noodles.
Since coming here, I haven't had them a lot- only two times.
The first time was, I think, Chinese New Year Eve, and I had somehow accidentally tore open the packet of seasoning and dunked it inside the water where my noodles were cooking.
The second time, however, I was more conscious, and I made my noodles the way I like them- dry, without seasoning, and with the blessing of meat skewers plus quail eggs that my friend had tapaoed from Mainland Chinese place Thumbs Up on East Coast Road downstairs.
Can I just say I have come to like this combination?
The marination from the well-marinated skewers gets all spread out over them noodles aka a more natural taste than MSG, and I get to have a bit of carbs with the meat.
I'll stop writing for now, but certainly there'll be more pictures as time goes by.
After all I haven't written about the Lu Rou Fan, nor the Pad Thai noodles from Killiney that my friend has, more than once, bought for me.