I’m returning to work next week! Meanwhile, Elijah started daycare the week before.
The weather’s been swinging between warm sunny days and cool previews of autumn, meaning my plants are quite stressed. Ben’s red maple has lost most of its leaves again. Like last year, the leaves simply wilted and dried without turning into its namesake colour. My ginkgo’s about to put on a show.
Elijah took to daycare well. Every time I pick him up, the educators keep telling me about how good he was. How he crawls everywhere. How he ate his vegetables and is mostly chill.
He does cry and show distress at times, but it never lasts long. I feel a tinge of guilt every time I drop him off in the morning, thinking of the long, long hours he spends away from me. But to be honest, once I get home, I’m able to relax and get excited for chores, errands, and the like. And when I come back to pick him up, we’re always happy to see each other again. When his schedule permits it, Ben does join the pick-ups and drop-offs.
Ash Wednesday is next week. I’ve already planned what I’ll do for Lent, with constructive feedback and inputs from Ben. I no longer push myself to extreme penances, like cutting off social media, because it makes me feel disconnected to the people in my life. I’ll do a separate post about this.
How I’m tracking so far with my resolutions:
- I’m about a quarter of the way through Middlemarch. It’s an 800-page tome, so I’m not kicking myself for making slow progress in the number of books read. I’ve become invested in the story, and love the style of narration of that time period. It even quite reminded me of Rizal. George Eliot’s a prodigy. Or should I refer to her by her real name, Mary Ann Evans?
- Walking every day, weather permitting. I’m pleased with this.
- Working out twice a week, too.
- I still compulsively open social media on my phone when I wake. But once I’m up, I do wait an hour to indulge in my phone. Same with bedtime. I still steal glances at my phone, but once I’m tucked in bed, I don’t look anymore.
- I allowed myself to snack while in Brisbane. Now that we’re back in Melbourne, I’ve been quite good! Exceptions are finishing up the banana bread I made last month, and helping myself to the banana bread Ben bought for me as a treat because I politely refused breakfast and coffee from the local café when he offered.
- I’ve resumed the Friday abstinence from meat, to the point that last Friday, owing to a lack of ingredients in the fridge, I had scrambled eggs with leftover vegetables and rice for lunch.
- Finally, here are some new recipes I’ve tried since the new year:
- Chicken curry ramen, from the book ‘Ramen’ by Makiko Sano
- Carbonara ramen, as above
- Poached chicken with ginger scallion sauce from The Woks of Life
- Shepherd’s pie from RecipeTin Eats
I’m thinking of making anko and dorayaki for Shrove Tuesday, to change things up, also to get rid of the two tins of adzuki beans I have in the pantry, which I bought to make tangyuan for Mid-Autumn Festival last year. I missed the opportunity again for the Lantern Festival, but it couldn’t be helped because we were in Brisbane then. Oh, and I’d love to make the recipe for Australian curried prawn. I had a taste of it when Sue made it for dinner one night. Apparently it’s one of the dishes that Leon has a huge appetite for. Honestly, it’s a revelation. It’s a curry dish that combines the flavours of Asian curry and Western chowder—think diced capsicum and celery. It really works!
The photos from Elijah’s baptism should be ready in a few weeks. I can’t wait to post ’em!
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