Four Days?

Have we figured out the way to "extend" our weekends? Hmmmm I think we might have! The last 2 days was a perfect mix of activity and laziness, without feeling overly rushed. In fact, it feels like we've had a four day weekend!

Woke up early on Saturday morning at about 530am. Had a quick glug of lemon juice and was out of the house by 6am. Walked all the way to Old Airport Road and had breakfast there (mmm lor mee).

Took the train back, showered and napped. This was about 10am? Woke up at about 3pm, had a late lunch (Din Tai Fung you are so yumz) and headed to Vivocity where we ran into Shiny outside Toys R Us. Hehe. Bought some toiletries, hung out at Starbucks and went back home, showered, did some laundry and napped again hur hur.

Woke up and made begedil for a night time snack and then to bed afterward.

We had breakfast at Maxwell market on Sunday, then headed to China Square, Emporium, OG and Sheng Siong. Got back home, cleaned up our fishtank (2 tanks in 1!), did some laundry, then showered and napped.

Took a stroll to Robertson Quay and had a late lunch at Red House where we had Chilli Crab slurp. Browsed around Great World City after, did a spot of grocery shopping then went back home to ... (make a guess) ... nap. Was too full to have dinner hehe.
Monday was a public holiday (yay) so we cooked a nice breakfast- sausage, pan fried potatoes, grilled portobello mushrooms and a cherry tomato salad. So delicious. Lazed about at home, falling in and out of naps, and at some point I think we may or may not have had lunch. Lol.

Met my parents for dinner at Vivo and ate at Madam Kwan's. Walked around a bit despite the haze, and then home again.

Such a brilliant long weekend! I think the key is to go out in the mornings, have more naps, eat late lunches and nap again. Hehehe.

Begedil / Perkedil / Fried Potato Patties

Oh happiness! We had some potatoes sitting around and I had recently read a recipe on how to make these oh-so-delicious begedils and thought, why not? The ingredients are simple enough- potato, shallots, spring onion, salt and oil for frying. You can add some mince beef to make it extra tasty but I was too lazy to get some and didn't want to waste any meat in case my experiment went wrong.

Made 8 small patties with this recipe.

Ingredients:
3 large potatoes, peeled and sliced
4 shallots, sliced thinly
1 stalk of spring onion, sliced thinly
oil for frying
salt to taste
1 egg

Method:
Fry shallots in oil till golden brown. Remove from oil and fry potato slices till golden brown. Once potatoes are cooked, remove and mash. Add shallots, spring onion and salt. Mix well.

Roll into patties, coat with egg, fry till golden brown.

One tip I have to prevent too much splatter when frying is to dry the potato slices / shallots on a paper towel. Less water = less splat.

Our New Setup

We've got a new set up for watering our plants. The last time we went for a 2 week trip to London, we tried to buy those gel ball things and cover our pots with them. Didn't work too well and we came home to three pots of very dried basil plants.

The recent trip to Indonesia was only four days, and we tried a new method to keep our plants watered. What we did was to set our pots in a shallow basin and fill it with water, and let the soil absorb the water. It was a gamble but when we came back, not only were our plants still alive, they actually looked happier!

We decided to keep this system of watering the plants but now we had to worry about whether mosquitoes would breed. +3 then suggested keeping tiny fish in the water to eat any mosquito larvae/eggs, and the fish would also fertilise the water to give our plants added nutrients.

He also suggested adding plants in the water to provide oxygen for the fish (I think).

Finally got some fish and plants and the set up is perfect. The fish were a little stressed at first and kept trying to jump out of the basin, but they calmed down and were much happier after we added the plants to the water.

Plus we have breakfast at the table and can also throw in some bread crumbs for the fishies. Hehehe.

I'm so happy we have this set up and it makes me really thankful to have a partner like +3 who does these projects with me. As my sister rightly said, this guy's a keeper!

Booked!

Wah, I really am quite efficient. We managed to secure someone to conduct the solemnization for our wedding. Yippie!

It's interesting what people look for in a solemnizer. There are tonnes of wedding forums where people discuss all sorts of random stuff relating to the planning of their wedding. One of the more interesting things I read was of a bride-to-be (who is probably married already) who wanted her solemnizer to have a grandfatherly look. Heehee.

Anyway, I am happy that we managed to confirm our solemnizer (one with a grandfatherly look too haha). One less thing to check off the list!

Efficiency Is My New Middle Name

Hur hur I'm quite stoked that we managed to confirm a venue for the wedding within a week. We managed to find a place that was conveniently located, had gorgeous architecture and within budget (ok we bust the budget by a couple of hundred bucks but considering most other places were either fully booked or way exceeded our budget, we were happy to confirm our booking).

Next to finalise the guest list, and find someone to conduct the solemnizations. Things are moving along!

Venue Hunting

I forgot how much trouble it is to find a venue for an event that is within budget, to my liking and also available on the date I want. Lol.

Been emailing a number of places and still looking for a wedding venue. Eeks!

Aaaand We Have A Date!

For our ROM, that is. +3's eldest sister got back to us with some auspicious dates, and the best date for us is perfect! My brother and family will be in town, +3's second sister will also be in town, and it falls on a weekend (so I don't need to take leave hur hur). Too bad my sister and BIL will already be back in the US. :(

Anyway, we're thinking of a small do with family and close friends only. Easier to plan and more intimate and hopefully, enjoyable. Amazing how everything is falling into place.