Knock knock, who's there?

Is it a skinny monkey?

No, it's Mother Hen!

Yay, I'm going to see her again after one long year of waiting. She's coming to my house tomorrow and I'm getting all flustered!

While you all know her as the funny and witty skinny monkey (she said it herself), I have always known her as a very dear friend and someone whom my kids love very much. And mind you, they don't love that many people...

Like a real Mother Hen, she is always so caring and thoughtful. When we visited her in Oregon, she and hubby gave up their roost for us. Not only did they let us sleep on their big comfy bed, they dragged in another one so that the kids and I could sleep together in their master bedroom. During that week, she and hubby crashed out in the guest room until I could hear their bones creaking from the discomfort.

I mentioned that I liked the black pepper that she uses at home and guess what came in my mailbox a few weeks after we returned to Singapore? Black peppercorn in a grinder. She actually bought one and mailed it to me.

When she came back to Singapore last year, she lugged back loads of goodies for my family. Stuff that we 'oohed and aahed' over when we went shopping together in Oregon. Amongst the stash was a big tub of candied cherries that YK loved so much back then.

I made her promise not to bring anything this time. Her presence is already a big gift! I can't wait to see her smiling face again. I assure you she looks nothing like a skinny monkey (the slim part, yes) and she did mention that she's got some new acrobatic moves to show me, something about yogic twists and contortions that can relieve pain. Oh wow. I'm not exactly in any kind of pain right now but who knows what the future holds?

These new moves will be great for my mom to try out though. My mom's another skinny one who's really flexible. I'm neither skinny nor flexible... so watch me get stuck!

I'm also going to ply her with some traditional dishes. From the 8-treasure duck stuffed with glutinous rice, to glutinous rice balls stuffed with peanut and sesame seed, she's going to be so stuffed, you can call her chunky monkey.