Running around

I spent the entire day running around. It started with an interesting morning meeting in town with a bike boutique owner who is planning to set up containerised storage sheds so that people can bike into the city, store their bikes, shower and head to work. It's a great concept but we're only at the planning stage.

After the meeting, I got very excited while walking to a nearby shop that sells vegetable seeds. I have a new project in mind - growing vegetables in my patio. When I stepped into the old shophouse with jars of vegetable seeds lining the shelves, I was like a kid in a candy shop, I wanted to buy everything!

It's a good thing the shop owners are very friendly people who gave lots of good advice. I ended up choosing 9 types of seeds including carrot (yes carrot!), coriander, egg plant, tomato, lettuce and some green vegetables. I hope my little growing experiment will pan out well. I've even started a compost bin over the weekend and can't wait to start gardening right away but I'll need to get soil and pots first.

Various kinds of vegetable seeds.

Then I walked to the Korean supermarket nearby to have a quick look. Operated by a Korean man, it sells nothing but food and products imported from Korea. There were a couple of Korean housewives picking up groceries. It's so authentic, there were no English translation. I searched in vain for the spicy paste for kimchi soup until the shopkeeper came along to help me.

I walked out of the store with a small pack of freshly made kimchi, seasoned anchovies and 2 packs of soup paste. When I got home, I realised that I paid for 1kg of kimchi instead of the 500g pack I bought. I should make it a habit to check the receipt in future. I was overcharged by $7! These things are not cheap.


I rushed off for a business lunch followed by couple of company errands. I promised to bring the kids to the marine fish store today to check out their new arrivals. So I went home early to pick them up. Of course Rusty came along too.

While the boys were checking out the fishes, I sat at the coffee shop next door sipping coffee with Rusty by my side. In case you're wondering, it's not as glamourous as the chic Parisian ladies with their poodle in an alfresco cafe but still, it was a nice way to wind down after running around all day.

Now, we're back home and the boys are admiring their latest acquisition - a bumblebee snail, a mandarin fish and a cluster of mushroom coral.

It's almost time to prepare dinner. I think I'll cook fish and mushrooms. Ah, I wish we had some snails (escargots) in the freezer too.