foods – trippingdifferently

January 17, 2024

Big Trip to Singapore, Nov/Dec 2023

Yep, it’s 2024! Perfect time to look back on the last 2 months of 2023. LOL!

We did, what I consider, to be a BIG trip to Singapore.

Big in more ways than one; big in length of time (at least for me, it was 7 weeks). I think the last time we were there for that length of time was when my son was born. And what a lovely bookend this is because on this trip we usher my son into a rite of passage for any Singaporean male; into National Service (NS). Big also because I had so much I wanted to get done. I think I managed just enough for now. More to do next time… lol.

So what did I get done?

There was a wonderful primary school class reunion, lots of drawers and cupboards to clear out in the living room, loads of items to sort through, furniture to get rid of, new furniture to build and then fill with the items which we decided to keep. My brother also had emergency gall-bladder removal operation just before I arrived so there’s trying to make sure he recovered well.

Of course, there were visits to our family and friends, with lots of yummy meals to digest as well. It’s with a little bit of sadness that I realised lots of my relatives are really getting on in years. While many of them are still in fairly good health, the health issues that are there is affecting their daily lives slightly. Yet I have hope as I also see that they do have good family support and also the health care in Singapore is quite good.

Here are some pictures (quite a lot are of food, which tells you how much we ate… lol):

This new chapter of our lives has began and we are all adjusting; my husband and I to being empty nesters, my son to life in Singapore with his grandma and uncle and my family to having a young adult in the house again. I sincerely ask God to help us so that we might find this a fulfilling and blessed time for all of us.

syc

August 12, 2020August 12, 2020

Pandemic Bakes…

Yep, it’s about food… and it’s about yummy baked treats… and all made and eaten during lockdown and the weeks after.

i love baking but in the time before the pandemic something else always took up my attention and availability. Plus my family are not sweet-tooth people. But when we went into semi-lockdown (Switzerland never fully locked down – see this post), i decided i should be making more stuff at home and not depend on store-bought stuff so much. Of course, i had a couple of captive diners who had to eat the bakes 😉

It was also great to be able to share photos of my bakes with my friends who are also into baking and made for great conversation during the lockdown period.

i started baking from the middle of March. Here are photos of all those bakes for you to enjoy (i took a 3 week break from baking during the summer holidays and only started up again last week):

If you are interested getting the recipes for any of the bakes, drop me a message.

Do you bake? Care to share a few pictures and recipes?

syc

August 16, 2017

Summer Holidays… Not quite… 2017

Yes, we are back from summer hols and today was the first day of school.

The first day my boy steps into a new chapter of his school life! My teenager! More about that in another post… maybe.

Usually, i fill this post with all the sights we have seen and the things we have done and the food we have eaten while on holiday. But not this year.

This year was spent dealing with the long-term medical needs of both my in-laws who were in the hospital from May to July. We spent 2 plus weeks as their full-time, 24/7 carers, the rest of the time training the 2 hired helpers/carers. It was what we needed to do and we did it with as much love and patience as we could. Only God and the support of our family and friends around the world helped us through it all.

summerholsnot20170816a — We spent tons of time learning medical stuff and dealing with medical stuff and buying medical stuff etc…

Only God and the support of our family and friends around the world helped us through it all. i thank you all for all your kind words of encouragement, your support, your prayers and just your friendships.

Thank you to family who put up with us being unavailable and for your never-wavering support in all ways; big and small. Thank you to my parents for being understanding and caring for my boy so i could care for my in-laws. Thank you to friends who helped lots, including being drivers and bringing yummy home-cooked food to us. Thank you to friends who just dropped by to visit, just because we could not go out to you.

i apologise to family and friends whom we have missed out on seeing and spending time with. We will make it up to you next year.

summerholsnot20170816b — Thankful that we were able to attend a dear friend’s wedding (congrats again, my dear!) and we did get to eat some lovely and much-missed foods, even though we were home-bound most of the time.

i also wanted to thank my dear friend who has helped to hold the fort down in Switzerland.

summerholsnot20170816c — Because of a friend’s care, i am able to return to a flourishing garden. Thank you ❤

You all have been just wonderful! Thank you. We love you all.

While it has been a trying, tiring and stressful time, it is also our duty to care for our parents and parents-in-laws. And because we live so far away from them most of the year, this was the time we could show our care and love to them. This has also brought our little family closer together; closer as husband and wife, closer as a family, closer to God too. i am also grateful that God has arranged such patient and caring people to be the long-term help for my in-laws. Thank you, God.

syc