Grubbs n Critters

January 6, 2013

The fearless one

It was such a joy to have been able to spend some one-on-one time with Spud for 2 consecutive half-days in the last few days before I am officially due to go back to work next week after a self-imposed holiday season.

We had lots of fun, Spud and I. The first day, I took her for a little excursion to Siam Ocean world (again!). Needless to say, the penguins continue to be her favourite exhibit. She has warmed up to the giant crabs (she refused to come anywhere close to it before!) but is still apprehensive of the moving light projections on the floor which seemed to scare the living daylight out of her. (I have no idea why.)

She had her lunch of home made fried rice which I packed, and because she behaved so well, I figured there was no harm to share a little bit of my chocolate milkshake (she finished most of it!), some chicken tenders and french fries from Burger King.

Spud closing in on the giant crabs’ exhibit

The penguins remain her favourite!

Day 2 of our day together, I took her to a newly opened play centre called Kidzoona. It is such an awesome place that I think it would need a separate review on its own. It is a huge play area, and it is of no surprise that Spud’s favourite station is the one with the big giant slide!

This little tot is just fearless – she just goes, and goes and goes; each time with a big massive giggle when she hits the bottom. A few times, she actually bounced a few times at the bottom before she stopped. Quite hilarious to watch her in this video:

For once in a long, long time, she was a really pleasant child to be with. I really did enjoy our day together – something which I haven’t done with Spud for a while. It is heartening to know that she is able to behave and listen really well. And most of all, she was actually very nice and kind to me!

She was so tired out after our day out that she fell asleep almost immediately when I put her to bed for her afternoon nap.

It was 2 half days worth spending with my one and only daughter. Watching her go was just priceless and there is no doubt in my mind that she enjoyed herself thoroughly.

Chocolate heaven

Category: Food

This is when I died and went to heaven…

What I am trying to say is that this chocolate Swiss roll is just bad, bad, bad. So bad that I would advise Silver Bullet against putting one in his mouth. So bad that Silver Bullet is willing to sacrifice himself to eat half of the portion on my behalf so I would not be subjected to its awfulness. So bad that I think this should not be shared…

There is just too many problem with this Swiss role I recently discovered. It is so disgustingly good that I think by far, it is the best I have had. It is soft, it is light, it is cholatey-ly flavourful, it melts in your mouth and it is heavenly decadent.

This is bad.

The one with the ant bait

Category: Stories and Anecdotes

While we had lodged in a complain several times to the management of the apartment with regards to our ants infestation problems, we have also tried to find solution on our own – simply because the solution which our apartment provided was not working too well.

Sure they provided pest control – but that did not seem to deter the ants from coming back. With the last complaint, instead of trying to get to the source and eradicate their nests wherever they may be the apartment, the technicians came back to our home to instead plaster up all the holes in which the ants may have come from. Needless to say, the ants found some other holes to come out from!

The influx of ant population out of nowhere to our residence has since resulted in Silver Bullet’s near obsession in trying to find that perfect bait to create an ant holocaust. Finding a near-perfect type of ant-bait he did, and we are finally seeing those ants taking the baits to bring them back to their nests – quite an intriguing sight to watch!

Then came the pest control once again – with their ever willing attitude to help us kill those pests. (Bless them!). When I got home in the evening, the resident manager of the building stopped me short in my track as I was about to take the elevator up. She was so full of enthusiasm and wanted to update me on the pest-control deed they had administered in our home whilst I had been away.

She then declared that the technician, had this time found the source of our ants’ infestation and, “K. Sleeping Dragon – many , many, many ants came to this box and they go to the wall and bring this back into the wall. Many, many ants come here and they like this. So technician give me this and I show you”, said she.

She then proudly showed me the evidence they found to be full of ants – the very ant bait (which took us days to find!) removed from the spot we had placed for the ants and all kept in a ziplock bag.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

I tried to keep as straight a face as I could when I saw that, while trying to explain to her that those things are poison and that we are using that to try to kill the ants. And that, yes, the ants are attracted to that and each ant would then bring a little piece of those into their nest, which would be fed to the queen. We hope that they would eventually die.

She seemed shocked at my explanation and then offered me the ziplock bag with the bait already scattered all over within it. I had to decline and told her that it probably would be best if she makes sure that she washes her hands clean because those things are poison. Again she seemed a little bit surprised.

For the second time, I couldn’t decide if I should laugh or cry. So I smiled and thanked her for her effort, and went on my merry way up the elevator with a silly smile on my face as I shook my head as I could not wait to tell Silver Bullet what happened.

This…is my Thailand.