2020 Week 22 Update

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Singapore will start easing up on the circuit breaker from Tuesday. This first phase of easing up on restrictions will be proceeded with caution and we have been told that instead of one month as it was initially said, it can even be eased earlier. After that will be the second phase which can last several months, followed by the third phase which will be our new normal which will remain until effective vaccine or treatment is found.

Companies have been told they should avoid having their employees in the office as much as possible and those who will be coming in to work will have to maintain social distancing, they can’t socialise with colleagues in the office and should not have lunch and coffee breaks together and a face mask or face shield should be on the face at all times.

Schools and junior colleges will also reopen on Tuesday and except for the graduating cohort who will go to school daily, the others will have one week of school and one week of home based learning. S still will have to work from home for now, though it may change when the country moves to the next phase. As for the children, they will finish up their term with home-based learning and after we will know if they will go back to school after the term break which should be in mid-June.

Singapore now has around 34,000 positive cases, most of whom are work permit holders who reside in dormitories. Singapore’s mortality rate is 0.067% which makes it one of the few countries with such a low mortality rate.

We are now a week without R, my helper and without sugarcoating things, I can say, it has not been very easy. I became used to not doing housework all the time for a long time now and to suddenly do everything, became a bit hard, especially while balancing work and the home. Of course, S and the children have been a huge help. Getting the children used to housework was one the biggest reasons I gave R my blessings and sent her off with a smile. She is still adjusting to a new place and new people but she should be fine in a few weeks or a month or so.

That’s pretty much my update for the week. Stay home, stay masked and stay safe people!

In My Hands Today…

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Salaam Brick Lane: A Year in the New East End – Tarquin Hall

After 10 years living abroad, Tarquin Hall wanted to return to his native London. Lured by his nostalgia for a leafy suburban childhood spent in south-west London, he returned with his Indian-born, American fiancee in tow.

But, priced out of the housing market, they found themselves living not in a townhouse, oozing Victorian charm, but in a squalid attic above a Bangladeshi sweatshop on London’s Brick Lane. A grimy skylight provided the only window on their new world—a filthy, noisy street where drug dealers and prostitutes peddled their wares and tramps urinated on the pavements.

Yet, as Hall got to know Brick Lane, he discovered beneath its unlovely surface an inner world where immigrants and asylum seekers struggle to better themselves and dream of escape. Salaam Brick Lane is a journey of discovery by an outsider in his own native city.

Recipes: Methi Matar Pulao

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During this lockdown when we can’t go out much, sometimes, you have pretty much nothing left in the fridge to cook with. Last week was one of those times. I was staring at a an empty fridge and still had to make lunch. So I decided to make this Methi Matar Pulao with what I actually had which was an onion, some frozen green peas and dried methi plus some spices. It actually was super delicious and GG even said that this could have been eaten on its own though I paired it with some onion boondi raita and some potato chips or crisps. Do try and let me know if you liked it!

Methi Matar Pulao

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup basmati rice, washed well and soaked for 20-30 mins
  • ½ cup frozen green peas
  • 1 onion, sliced finely
  • 2-3 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves or Kasuri Methi
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 4-5 cloves
  • 4-5 cardamom pods
  • 1 inch piece of cinnamon
  • 1 green chilli, chopped into 1 inch pices
  • 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tbsp oil or ghee

Method:

  • After the basmati rice has been soaked for 20-30 mins, drain the water from the rice and keep aside.
  • Heat the ghee or oil in a pan and when the fat heats up, add the cumin seeds and let them pop.
  • After the cumin seeds pop, add the cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and stir for a few seconds.
  • Then add the green chilli and ginger and stir for a few seconds. After this add the onions and stir until the onions are translucent.
  • Now add the frozen peas and stir. Once the peas have been coated with the oil, take the dried fenugreek leaves in the palm of your hand and crush it lightly to release the oils. Sprinkle this dried leaves over the peas and stir.
  • Add the drained rice and salt and stir well.
  • If you are using a rice cooker, pour this into the rice cooker, add the appropriate amount of water and cook until done. I generally use slightly less than 1 cup of water for every cup of basmati rice, but you can play with this depending on your rice.
  • If you are cooking on the stovetop, add slightly less than the water needed and cook covered. If you feel you need more water, add towards the end when the rice is almost cooked so you can control how much water you add.
  • When the rice is cooked, let it rest for at least 10 minutes before you fluff it up with a fork. Serve hot with a raita.

In My Hands Today…

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A Dissection of Murder – Felicity Young

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A woman. A doctor. A beastly science. At the turn of the twentieth century, London’s political climate is in turmoil, as women fight for the right to vote.

Dody McCleland has her own battles to fight. As England’s first female autopsy surgeon, she must prove herself as she also proves that murder treats everyone equally…

After a heated women’s rights rally turns violent, an innocent suffragette is found murdered. When she examines the body, Dody is shocked to realise that the victim was a friend of her sister – fuelling her determination to uncover the cause of the protester’s suspicious death.

For Dody, gathering clues from a body is often easier than handling the living – especially Chief Detective Inspector Matthew Pike. Pike is looking to get to the bottom of this case but has a hard time trusting anyone – including Dody. Determined to earn Pike’s trust and to find the killer, Dody will have to sort through real and imagined secrets. But if she’s not careful, she may end up on her own examination table …

Pinterest Humour

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It’s the middle of the week and most of us are still working from home. Truthfully, there are quite a few days when I wake up in the morning, I need a few minutes to think what day of the week it is because each day looks and feels like the day before and the day before that. So I thought what better way to get past hump day than to do a post on all the funny memes on Pinterest. So see, read and probably have a small chuckle as you get on with your day and the week!

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