Most hated fruit

There is a stink in the house.
The sickening stench permeates every corner, in particular the dining area where the source, an ugly brown mishapened lump AKA the jackfruit, is perched quite smugly in the fruit basket, as if in mockery of this ONE person who hates it. (Well, not exactly one, since the last check revealed the babes to find it obnoxious too.)

Mummyji hates jackfruits. Have always and still do.

And the ILs apparently adore it, so much that there seems to be one of these putrid-smelling thing in the house every other week.

C’est unbelievable, non?

Found this on wikipedia:

One of the earliest descriptions of the jackfruit is to be found in the 16th century memoirs of the Mughal Emperor Babar, who was not much enamored of it:
"The jackfruit is ugly and to some people is bad tasting. It looks exactly like sheep intestines turned inside out like stuffed tripe. It has a cloyingly sweet taste. Inside it has seeds like hazelnuts that mostly resemble dates, but these seeds are round, not long. The flesh of these seeds, which is what is eaten, is softer than dates. It is sticky, and for that reason some people grease their hands and mouths before eating it. The fruit is said to grow on the branches, the trunk, and the roots of the tree and looks like stuffed tripe hung all over the tree".

Mummyji can only say, Way to go, Babar!!

More from wikipedia:

The jackfruit is something of an acquired taste, but it is very popular in many parts of the world. An unopened ripe fruit can have a unpleasant smell, like ROTTING ONIONS. The light brown to black seeds with white innards are indeed about the size of dates. People often oil their hands with coconut oil, kerosene, or paraffin before preparing jackfruit, as the rest of the fruit is a loose white mass that bleeds a milky, sticky sap often used as glue.

Goodness gracious, it bleeds glue too?! Wonder what that does to the intestines… or even worse, how about the remains that come out of the other end… will that clog up the sewers as well?? WTF?!

Eeeuwh! Can’t wait to have the offending lump quickly consumed by the rest ASAP… in the meantime, Mummyji’ll just have to bear with it, and light lavender candles… sigh…


It’s already April, and it’s Yiyi-ji’s birthday! Happy 38th , dear sis!! (She is a jackfruit hater too, all of mummyji’s clan is, thank Heavens!)

There were quite some pictures taken in March, Mummyji and the babes were pretty busy grooming their room but Mummyji’s been too tied up with other stuff since and haven’t updated this blog for a while.

Perhaps later tonight, if the pong doesn’t give Mummyji a headache first…
Till then, shall have to appreciate the good clean air around before reaching home to the nasty “poison gas” at home…

nostalgia

It's almost a year since we've moved out of our old apartment. Time really flies!
Mummyji was just reminiscing how we'd walk to the market every sunday morning when we were living in the old apartment. After we moved, we'd drive to the same market on sunday mornings too, until the market burned down some months ago.
The vendors were then given a temporary site in the carpark to set up their stalls to continue with their business, but some of them chose not to. And so the marketing experience wasn't quite the same anymore. Mummyji n Daddyji then moved our weekend marketing to the nearby Cold Storage.
This morning, we decided to check out the old market again, having heard that the cooked food vendors have a temporary food centre to house them now. It was a pleasant surprise to meet the fruit stall holders there and it was even more pleasant having them greet us like old friends. They'd been one of those stalls who did not resume their business in the carpark, but the good news is, they'll be back this weekend in this temporary market!
It was indeed a nostalgic trip to the market today. All those familiar faces manning their stalls.... it's just not the same at the supermarket. Granted, you might get the same cashier some days, who'd also recognise your face, but at the market, those familiar faces everywhere are like old friends. Like the young fella who mans the vegetable stall, he is still entertaining folks with his wacky sense of humour...That's hard to come by at the supermarket.
Mummyji's just glad they're back in business!
We'd still need to drop by the supermarket now and then though, cos the babes need their Ben & Jerry fix...


and here's another batch of muffins made with Mamaji's lucky oranges..... today's lot has fresh blueberries added in, another item which is not easily available at the market.

love the light citrusy fragrance, can't wait for breakfast!

From the offspring... such a sweetie!




world-class fencer in the making, in her newly-acquired competition gear...



and finally, a batch of cakes made with tangerines from mama-ji's lucky CNY plant... yielded a dozen cupcakes topped with melted white chocolate tinted a pale orange, as well as half a dozen of them in muffin size.

February's coming to an end, it's been a whirlwind since school started.
Yiyi-ji's out of her 5-star stay in the hospital, and boy, that was one long stay. The bug's not quite cleared yet, but she's definitely looking better than she did a couple of weeks ago. Bet mamaji will have her fattened up back to original size ASAP.

As for the babes, well, S is rather disappointed her malay trip's been postponed due to the malaysian elections on 8 March.
Ah well, that's the way things happen sometimes....
Anyway, we're working on revision intensively this week, it's CA week!
Mummyji's gotta be honest, the babes do seem to be putting in more effort this year... so way to go, Babes! Mummy's proud of y'all and love you very much!

CNY 2008

traditional family picture on CNY Day 1... minus poor yiyi-ji this year, who was quite ill... (she's currently recuperating in the hospital now)... samyi-ji and samyijiong don't normally spend day 1 with the rest of us.


3 pretty maids all in a row



kids sending a hello to their mummy in hospital...


cheeky boy squeezing into picture


Ivan's 5th birthday present


cupcakes for our party!


Ivan's Spidey cake

mummyji's version of Yu sheng, with smoked salmon, rocket leaves


can I cut my cake now??!


birthday boy with the grands


birthday boy with the cousins

And we're set to start school tomorrow, after a long break, sigh...
poor yiyi-ji's still in the hospital, so we continue praying for her speedy recovery..
Lord hear our prayer!

Goodbye piggy, hello rat!

The Police concert was great... other than Sting who's looking fit and trim, you'd never think the other 2 could've lasted the concert.......but they did, and with such passion and energy too! Mummyji's really impressed!

and there's a correction to be made to the previous entry, Mr Sting said that it was the first time Police had ever been in Singapore, so that can only mean Mummyji's demented memory's got it wrong- it was Sting 14 years ago.... oops...

Nonetheless, mummyji'll like to state for the record that the four hundred bucks paid for the concert was worth the while. Not only was the band brilliant, it was also for the charity organisation WaterAid...

Lastly, Mummyji'll like to wish one and all A Happy Peaceful and Blessed Lunar New Year, 新年快乐, 年年有余!

Police Concert & halal Bak Kwa

Daddy- and mummyji at the concert

It's been 14 years already since Police performed "live" in Singapore. Back then, Mummyji and Daddyji weren't legally married yet.. ;p
Fast forward, 14 years later, with 2 beautiful babes, we're going to attend Police "live" in Singapore, again!
The concert's tonight.. and Mummyji's counting down to it. The last concert we attended was a couple of years ago, when Sting performed solo.

On a different note, mummyji's found the halal bak kwa she's been pining for! After searching online for some weeks, mummyji finally chanced upon this blog, got the address down and dear Daddyji took Mummyji there yesterday. Bought 3 x 500g packs of the Ayam Madu.
It's called Daging Dendeng Halal Sedap, but it really is a misnomer cos dendeng's quite different in texture and mode of preparation. But it doesn't quite matter to mummyji.... what's important is that it's authentic in taste, and CNY does feel more real with it! The babes love it too!

Have forgotten to take pictures of it in the ecstasy of finally getting to chomp on bak kwa! ;p
The stall is at Teh Tarek Coffeeshop in Haig Road, opposite the Malay Village and next to Darul Arqam. The coffeeshop looks like its got some promising local food too. Shall make it a point to eat there one weekend.

And oh yes, mummyji's really grateful to have found Putri Berendam's blog, hers is one mighty noble quest - the quest for halal food! She deserves a medal for her efforts! All that sacrifices, trying out all the food joints, regardless of taste.

3 cheers for Putri! Hurray, hurray, hurray!

paris vacation

We are in Paris right now, so no cooking or baking for a while..
some laundry for mummyji to do though, hmmm, here in the apartment which we've rented for our stay here..
no big deal there, cos no ironing to be done, hahaha

ok now, that's all there is gonna be for this week, a brief respite from all that walking, shopping, eating..

hey, Mummyji's on vacation now!


cheers, everybody! Check out our vacation photos @web.mac.com/mummyji