Thursday Dinner - 4 January 2018

Since the start of the new school term on 2 January 2018, my life has been even more hectic than in previous years with an extra two school runs each day.  Last year when Drama Queen was still in primary school, she would leave the house at 6:20 a.m. and only return at 4 or 5 p.m.  For the next two years, she would be in the afternoon session. School starts at 1 p.m. and dismisses at 6:50 p.m.  Before she goes to school, I will have to settle her lunch.  I either dish up something very fast and simple for her or bring her to the nearby coffee shop.  I drop her off in school 15 minutes before 1 p.m. and rush home to wait for Cass who returns between 1:45 ~ 2 p.m..

When Cass is back home, I have very little free time to do my own stuff. I cook dinner at 5:30 p.m. and only have an hour to spend in the kitchen before I zoom off to school. Traffic leading to and out of school is horrendous. By the time I reach home, it's already 7-ish p.m.  I have a quick dinner, do some chores, have my shower and before I can even sit at my desk again, it's already 9:30 p.m. and I have only half an hour left to do my work. I drag myself to bed at 10 p.m. and rise at 4:15 a.m. to get Alycia and Cass ready for school and do some chores.  Their transporters pick them up between 6 - 6:10 a.m.

This is the dinner that I whipped up yesterday in exactly an hour:



Pork Pongteh (Nyonya style slow braised pork), saute 'lai park' veggie with garlic and saute shiitake mushrooms with garlic and butter.  Despite  9 months of cooking hiatus, I still haven't lost touch of my cooking skill and the quality of the dishes. The girls still love my cooking 💓

I saved a small portion of pork Pongteh for Drama Queen's lunch today and I have porridge cooking in the rice cooker now.  The porridge will be lunch for Cass and myself as well as dinner for everyone tonight! 😜  Fridays are busy for me and besides school run in the evening, I have tuition run too. And oh yes, on Fridays I get our week's supply of fruits from the night market, after dropping off Alycia at the tuition center.  When I don't feel like cooking on a Friday, I still have the option of getting food from the night market but that will be my last option.