On the weekend, the kids and I sometimes like to look for new places to eat. So happens Bubba Gump, a restaurant themed after the movie Forrest Gump, opened at the Curve.

We were curious. We were drawn to its unusual decor. We heard they have free iced lemon tea refills. That was enough to make us want to check it out.

We like to try everything once even though we’re not big on shrimp which is their main feature. The ambiance was kinda nice but I can’t say the same for the food or the prices they charge though.

But now that we’ve tried it, we won’t be itching to go in there again whenever we pass by the restaurant. I doubt we’ll be going back there any time soon.

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I’ve gone from doing my groceries on the weekend to doing it on Friday instead. I work from home which gives me all the flexibility in the world to shop whenever I want.

So there’s no need to compete with the working folks on weekends. It drives me nuts to stand in checkout lines that don’t seem to move. I really don’t have the time or the patience.

Having said that, I seem to notice more promotions on the weekends to cater to the crowds. They have kiosks set up for you to sample food before you buy. There’s lots more markdowns and choices.

Well, sometimes you have your cake and eat it too, I guess. So I’m going to send the kids off to school tomorrow morning, go to the gym, then try to get my groceries done.

My eyes are getting tired. My eyelids are growing heavy. I’m starting to feel sleepy. No, I’m not under hypnosis. I’ve been up since 5 this morning. I’ve been running around all day, and it’s beginning to show.

On days like this, I wish I could just wish myself away from the rush hour traffic and the incredible heat and humidity.

What I need right now is a steaming cup of coffee the strength of kava root. Such an exotic name for a herbal supplement that grows in the volcanic regions of Hawaii. It’s guaranteed to revitalize me instantly because it’s so potent.

I’m so glad that McDonald’s has this chicken porridge for days when I just couldn’t bear to look at another hamburger!

Granted it’s not the best jook (porridge) in the world, but I can’t complain ‘cos I don’t have to cook it myself, hehe.

Just sit down and eat. No need to cut up anything, wash anything or cook anything. Heaven.

I’ve never made sushi at home before. But since DH brought home stacks of nori (seaweed) sheets, I have no choice but to find a way to use them. They’re big sheets, not the little ones you can crunch as a snack.

So I decided the quickest way to consume them would be to make California rolls and sushi. I’ve done California rolls before. But I don’t have a sushi mat. So I figured I’d be sushi-challenged because of that.

To be honest, I prefer to buy ready-made sushi than bother rolling them myself since we don’t eat it very often anyways. So I really didn’t want to go out and buy a mat that I’ll probably use only once or twice.

So I went ahead and rolled my sushi without a mat. It’s not that difficult and it didn’t come undone as I’d expected. I just pressed it a little harder and it kept its shape very well. I didn’t cut it into smaller pieces but left it the length of the nori sheet.

The kids found this long roll to be quite a novel idea and came back asking for “another sushi cigar please”. Haha, sushi cigar mommy, that’s moi. Happy Tuesday tooting, y’all!

Just a while back, I was totally dry on lunch ideas. I was basically cooking the same things over and over, and although the kids didn’t really complain in so many words except for “again??”, I knew it was time to get creative.

I have to do some quickie homemade lunches and this is what I’ve got going so far:

• Yesterday - hamburgers with onions and tomato
• Today - store-bought curry puffs and tuna (leftover) sandwiches
• Tomorrow - fried rice with ham
• Thursday - pan-fried fish fillet with pasta
• Friday - ham and cheese toasties

See, I’m not doing too badly, am I?

I was rummaging around in my kitchen yesterday looking for some inspiration for lunch ideas. Skye stays back in school several days a week and she prefers me to bring her lunch.

I have some seaweed sheets, or nori, that DH bought from a recent trip to Japan. I was thinking of making my own sushi at home but then I’d have to buy a sushi mat just for that. I don’t want to do that so I might just make California rolls instead.

When the days get unbearably hot like they are now (we’re talking about the 90’s here), I have to keep reminding the kids to drink plenty of water.

‘Heatiness’ is a term we use here (I don’t know if the word actually exists in the dictionary but it should, honestly) to describe internal body heat which frequently manifests itself in fever and flu.

We guzzle plain water like nobody’s business in this household. My kids have been trained from the time they were babies to drink lots of water. Or barley if your kids will drink it.

But I know there are some kids who balk at the sight of colorless, tasteless fluids. So the only way to get them to drink is to sweeten the deal a little, like so…

Honey has cooling properties, or so I’ve been brought up to believe, and everybody loves it. I mean, can you name me one person who doesn’t like honey?

A few squeezes of lemon or lime and it becomes the honey-lemon/lime that restaurants serve. Then it becomes even easier to ’sell’ this to your kids.

I don’t think many of us realize this but being a mom is a very mentally-challenging job. I lie awake at night planning tomorrow’s lunch menu. Skye has to stay back after school a few days a week so I have to bring her lunches that can be eaten cold and won’t get soggy.

When I do my weekend groceries, I got to make sure I get all the ingredients for next week’s meals. I’m not really good with planning meals and making a grocery list ahead of time. I tend to rummage through the fridge and fling whatever I can find into my pots and pans.

Now having to actually be thinking about what I need for a week’s meals tires me out tremendously :lol: . I haven’t quite gotten the hang of it yet but I hope it gets easier with practice.

So far, I’ve made Skye ham and cheese toasties, roast chicken with potatoes, carrots and broccoli and stir-fried rice noodles. These have worked out really well as long as they’re eaten within an hour.

We’re not big rice eaters in this family. We prefer bread, potatoes and pasta which works out really well seeing as they’re so easy to put together.

I just discovered I have 10 packets of spaghetti in my pantry, haha. That’s the bulk shopper in me hoarding a dozen packets of spaghetti when they were on discount, then conveniently forgetting about them, and then going out to buy some more.

So guess what we will be having for lunch for the next 2 months?