THE KING

I do not like to wait.  I hate standing in line even more.  But Dad had been craving for his favourite soy sauce chicken for the longest time. Funny how Singaporeans tend to make a beeline for the food places that has the longest queue. Like that darn fish porridge in Maxwell, for instance. Or the rojak in HDB Hub.  Anyway, The King has spoken and his subjects must oblige.

And so I stood in line for exactly one hour in Chinatown Market while my mother made herself comfortable and munched on Harm Chim Bang (咸煎饼). After that we queued for fish porridge, then again for you tiao (油条) before hastily making our way home.  Heads will roll should the king not be served his lunch by 12 noon.

Sure enough, my phone rang not long after we boarded the bus.  It was The King demanding our whereabouts.

忙

又是圣诞。虽说是放假12天 但在家也绝非闲着。

母亲最近皮肤敏感，昨天陪她到 National Skin Centre 一趟； 跟了母亲近十年的煤气炉最近常闹变扭，所以下午就去订了台新的；明天得跟老爸到 polyclinic 复诊；星期六有wedding lunch；母亲要我星期天和她一起去牛车水买东西；母亲还说：趁你放假找一天我们去Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre 办干货！

实在忙碌得很。

想吃 McNuggets，又不爱跑快餐店，要吃”麦金鸡”只好自己动手啦。

自己下厨其实一点也不会麻烦。把鲜鸡柳切成小块，用海盐、mirin、橄榄油调味，放进冰箱两小时。炸前依序为鸡块均勻抹上面粉、沾上蛋汁、接著再裹一层面包削。因为母亲爱干净，怕油烟所以我没下太多的油，用半煎炸的方式把鸡块煮熟。从为鸡块沾上面粉至鸡熟，过程若20分钟。不但吃得安心也很有成就感。

连续几个下午都下雨，今天难得阳光普照，照片拍得特别的好看。

雨天 | 午餐

公司里的“女儿” 向我撒娇，说好久没吃到我做的Mac 'n Cheese。说G 是女儿是因为某天她提及要给自己的父亲庆生，我好奇问她父亲的年龄。原来他比我小一岁，我心想：我有女儿的话，她会和G年纪差不多吧？ 

就做了简单的 Mac 'n Cheese。觉得有点 guilty，为了图方便所用的材料都是ready food。用罐头浓汤、罐头蘑菇、还有冷藏的mixed vegetable。 

只预备了3份，怎知其他的同事看到了Mac 'n Cheese觉得“似乎很好吃的样子”，也吵着要尝尝。外面下着雨，我们五、六人挤进 pantry 一口接一口地。看着大家吃得乐呼呼 我心里暖洋洋。

“女儿”自告奋勇弄的 double toasted ham and cheese sandwiches。 很美味！

SLIP-RESISTANT BATHROOMS

At the advice of the Home Assessment team on Nov 28, I applied for EASE (Enhancement for Active Seniors) with HDB.  It was a Saturday morning when I submitted the online application and they called me in under two hours to acknowledge it.

EASE offers three types of improvement items to make the flat more friendly for senior citizens:

- Grab bars within the flat (up to 14 pieces x 45cm)

- Slip resistant treatment to the floor tiles of two bathrooms

- Ramps for wheelchair (up to 5 in each flat)

Government subsidies makes everything affordable.

Understandably, Dad was keen to start on applying slip-resistant treatment right away.  He also wanted grab bars installed around the flat.  But as soon as the appointment had been made, he decided he wants to hold off the work, saying he wasn't ready. After a short argument and some coaxing he finally agreed to give the non-slip treatment a go.

An appointment was then confirmed for today, between 3 and 6PM.  At 3:20PM, when the contractors hadn't showed up Dad started pacing the living room floor mumbling, "They cannot locate our place, surely they are lost!"

Then it had began to rain heavily.  The contractors hasn't turned up still by 4:30PM and Dad's face was growing darker by the minute.  "They said 3PM!" Again I had to redefine the meaning of "Between 3 to 6PM".  In fact I had to repeat it several times until the contractors finally appeared at 6:05PM.  By then Dad was visibly upset and was rude to the workers.

The chemical treatment was applied to the floor tiles of both our bathrooms.  The entire job took exactly 20 minutes.