The Road to 40 Day 256/365: Kitchen Cooking Day

With a day of rest, we were ready to get back to our regular days. However, Che chose to work from home because she still had a bad cough.

It was quite difficult for her to sleep the night before, as her cough kept her awake. By the time I woke Vino up, she said she was going to stay at home instead of running the risk infecting people in the office.

I was planning to walk along the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. A friend’s brother got a bag while we were in Manila, so we just brought it with us. He offered to have it couriered via Grab or whatnot, but I said it’s a chance for me to walk around Bukit Timah, which I’ve been meaning to go to anyway.

As I walked, I noticed some monkeys trying to break into a building across the road. It’s a peculiar sight for me, but I guess living near a forest, the people in that building are used to it.

After I dropped off the bag, I went out and saw a couple more monkeys, this time, closer than the previous ones.

I’m not sure if I should be scared of them or not, because I really don’t know how they would react, but he passed by like how a regular guy would pass me by. I realized I’m the visitor in this space.

While I wanted to walk the nature reserve, I thought I’d just go home and cook something for Che. I thought kimchi soup might help her – no scientific reasoning behind it other than I felt like it could maybe give her a hearty and refreshing soup.

I took the bus all the way to Bukit Merah, which was near our place. I also took some ingredients for Pineapple Fried Rice, which I told Vino I’d make for him. I read somewhere that pineapples were also good for treating cough.

Che was working when I arrived home, so I got to working on the kimchi soup.

I put in some pork belly, tofu, spring onions, and enoki mushrooms. I used a combination of kelp and anchovy stock together with this Korean beef stock that is apparently used in a lot of home-cooked Korean meals.

It was great with rice, but Che chose to have it by itself. Later, I cleaned up before picking up Vino from school.

Upon returning home, I asked Vino to do his activity book. He’s good when he’s locked in, but recently, play has been more of a priority for him. Now that we’re back from a long vacation, he should be getting back to his regular routine of honing his math skills.
I went to work on my pineapple fried rice. So when Vino eats it outside, he usually removes the prawns and the nuts. So, I went the non-traditional route for it and used pork instead of shrimp, and did away with the cashews.

I got pork floss to top it all off for a finishing touch.

Vino ate a lot of it, while Che didn’t finish her food. She said she liked it, but I guess her appetite’s not back, and she still doesn’t know what she should eat.

I rested a bit and cleaned up while Che and Vino went to the room. It takes a while for me to clean up, and it took even longer today because I used a lot of plates to prepare the dish.

The kitchen has been my area of the house. All the rest of the house is an “ours” kinda thing, but the kitchen is where I’m usually at. I try to make it a point that I leave it clean, whether while I’m cooking or after I finish eating.

I hate dealing with insects and pests, and thankfully, I’ve never dealt with them too much in the places we’ve lived in here in Singapore. I plan to keep it that way, so I try to keep our home clean as much as I can.

Vino was able to sleep relatively early by his standards, as he was asleep before 10pm. He found it a bit difficult to sleep since it’s not his usual sleep timing, but my arm remains his comfort spot for sleeping.

Che and I watched Taxi Driver for the rest of the night, with me drifting in and out of sleep. Cliffhangers kept us wanting more episodes until we decided to call it a night at around 1:30am.

It’s like we’re back to our habit 10 years ago, only this time, it’s not 4am anymore because I’m out by 11pm.

It was a tiring, but fulfilling day. I was able to cook meals for Che and Vino, and we didn’t need to order food outside. As a house husband, this is my best way to take care of them. It’s nice that they enjoy the food even if I chose it for them.