A JIGSAW LIFE

18 Sep.  Eunice and I departed for Taipei.  Went to eat at KaoChi 高记 for the first time in 10 years.  Sadly, the branch on Section 2 Xinyi Road did not serve 蟹壳黄, which I missed very much.  The restaurant manager confessed that her kitchen is too small to fit an oven.   I still enjoyed the 生煎包 (10 pieces for NT$250 is pretty inexpensive) and 葱油饼.  There is another KaoChi about 6 minutes' walk away.  I was just too hungry (and lazy) to venture further.

Took Eu to Nanmen Market 南门市场.  We bought pork jerky from KuaiChe 快车肉干.  My favourite is the 梅酒炙燒肉乾 which is made by pre-soaking in Choya Umeshu.  They were sold out and I had to pre-order!

‘Twas 8:30AM on Wednesday.  The queue at Qingdao Soy Milk 青岛豆浆店 was extremely short this time, with only about 8 customers ahead of me.  (The last time I was here, the wait was one hour!)

We loved the flaky croissants and quality coffee at Muhei Bakery 暮黑烘焙.  We came here for breakfast twice.  Day 1: apple pie with bottarga, and creamy cappuccino.

Apple pie with bottarga.  Sweet and savoury.  I shall be thinking about this for a long time to come.

Today's coffee bean.

Day 2: Eunice is buying me breakfast!  Today I'm having cinnamon roll, paired with a fruity Americano.

Today I chose coffee bean No. 2.

We also ate two times at Dongmen Dumplings 東門餃子館.  No taxes or service charges on the bill.  

猪肉锅贴 NT$210

韭菜鲜肉水饺 NT$110

鲜虾蒸饺 NT$240

酸辣汤

Eu wanted to try local breakfast.  We went to the legendary Fuhang 阜杭 on a Sunday morning and the queue had already formed round the block.  So a couple of days later (on a Tuesday) we tried out 永和豆浆大王 instead.  There are a few shops in Taipei with the same name.  We were in the one on Section 2 Fuxing South Road, near the Da'an MRT Station.

烧饼油条 NT$40

肉松夹蛋饼 NT$40

萝卜糕 NT$20

温豆浆 NT$25

Went to Dihua Street 迪化街 again.  Eu said she wasn't interested in buying iconic Taiwanese Gaji tote 茄芷袋 but she couldn't resist buying just a few in the end.  She was looking forward to having a strawberry daifuku but I told her 'tis isn't the season.  Then, guess what she found at the end of our walk on Dihua Street?!

I wasn't counting on having seafood noodles on Dihua Street.  Was just walking passed 

, caught a whiff of scallion oil and yelled at Eu (who had already walked ahead), "I want to eat these noodles!"

I'm having 小卷面 NT$110

Eu is having 海鲜米粉 NT$190

Ate sashimi twice too! #affluent

Wed 23 Sep.  Thought it'd be fun to end our trip with McD's at Taoyuan Airport hahaha!

Arrived back home at around 11PM.  Said "hi" to my neighbour yesterday afternoon. Mentioned to her my "busy" schedule.  

7 Sep - sent Mum to the nursing home
8 Sep - sent the maid off to the airport
18 Sep - went on holiday
23 Sep - I came home
24 Sep - had the whole apartment cleaned
25 Sep - Mum comes home
26 Sep - the maid comes home

"Your life is just like a jigsaw!" said my neighbour. "You fit everything in nicely."

HOME ALONE

Nana, our domestic helper, has to return her home to Indonesia for three weeks.  I convinced my mother she'd be better off in a nursing home while Nana is away.  She was admitted into Bright Hill Evergreen Home in Punggol just yesterday.  Of course, we had already checked the place out last month so Mum knows what she's getting into. 

Nana's Scoot flight was due to depart at 5:55am today.  I had booked us a taxi for 3:30am to take us to the airport.  When I woke up at 2am, I saw a message from the airline informing us that the flight has been rescheduled to 12pm.  Luckily, there were no further flight delays after that.

Even at 62, I'm very seldom left to my own devices so am feeling kind of surreal.  To celebrate my newly found liberation, I picked up a mini speaker from Muji while I was in Changi airport!

I MISSED YOU QUIETLY TODAY

You crossed my mind again today.

Not in a dramatic way.

Not with tears
or heavy sadness.

Just quietly.

In the middle of something ordinary.
A song.
A memory.
A moment.
I instinctively wanted to share with you.

And it's strange
how some people
continue living inside you
even after life moves forward.

Not every connection ends loudly.

Some simply become
a quiet part of who you are.

And maybe that's why
certain people never fully leave us.

because pieces of them
still exist
in the way we remember,
feel,
and love.

Unsaid Bonds

THE ROCK BUN STILL RANKS NUMBER ONE

 

Made Lemon Yogurt Cake a couple more times.  Gave one to Mayz.  

Mum, who seemed to enjoy the cake just a few days ago, doesn't like it anymore.

This morning she said, "I think the cookies with the dried fruits (she means Rock Buns) are SO MUCH nicer!"

Then, a friend gave us a few slices of butter cake.  Unfortunately, Mum wasn't impressed. "They aren't as nice as the yogurt cake that you make!"

I guess this means that the Lemon Yogurt Cake now ranks Number 2?

YELLOW = ORANGE

Had lunch at Wild Coco with Eunice and Eva yesterday.  Baked them each a small lemon yogurt cake.  It used to be one of my mother's favourites but she has now forgotten about it completely.  Dementia can turn out to be a good thing because there would come a point when everything you come across is new and exciting.  My mum's most common phrase in recent years: "I've never eaten this before in my life!"

Yesterday she wanted to know why I was putting orange zest in the batter.  When I informed her it was lemon zest she asked, "But isn't lemon supposed to be green?"

This morning, I baked a second batch of cake.  Mum asked, "Is that orange you're using?!"  When she tasted it her comment was, "It is VERY GOOD!  Adding orange is a brilliant idea."

"I used to make this cake quite often.  Don't you remember?" I asked.

Just as I expected, she said "I've never had this before in my entire life!"

A few weeks ago, my mother insisted that she has diabetes.  Even the doctor wasn't able to convince her otherwise so she was sent to the lab to have her finger pricked.  The result was negative.  Mum came home a happy bunny.

Mum makes every single day a drama.