Cavalock and That Nut Butter Buffet

Hope everyone is hanging in there during this latest lockdown. This here is something the Baker-at-Home does once in a while. Figured this lockdown is a good time to share this, it's something most anyone can do too in their kitchen. It's some sticky yummy homemade nut butter! She bakes the cashew nuts and almonds first in the oven before tossing them in her Magimix food processor. You can use your other favourite nuts too. When it's all done, I guess it's a healthier alternative from store-bought nut butter. Cos of the lack of preservatives and we don't any other weird crazy stuff in there. Hah! 

More bird (and one squirrel) pix taken by me 87-year-old Dad just before the lockdown. These were taken at West Coast Park as well as Pasir Ris Park. Yah, he would criss-cross the damn island if he knew there were decent pix of birds there. 

Cavalock and The Baby (Lamb) Got Rack

Well, it finally happened. Like most people predicted, the government announced a lockdown of sorts last Friday afternoon. No dining in but you could go shopping. Problem is no one's going shopping and the malls are open but pretty much deserted. And businesses are now pleading for a 'real' lockdown so they could at least close their shops and receive some kinda government assistance or support measures. 

Anyway, the Baker-at-Home and I were fortunate to had an amazing lunch at Les Amis just before the lockdown. Been ages since we were at a fancy French restaurant. Favourite dish has to be teeny tiny little baby lamb rack, each no larger than the size of my thumb. But they just taste so good. We wondered how small the cute baby lamb was before it ended up in the kitchen. Hah! The wait staff was extremely tentative and the best ever. The Baker-at-Home asked them bout the upcoming lockdown and they did mentioned that the restaurant was due for some upcoming renovations. Hope it all works out for them.

Taken by me 87-year-old Dad couple weeks ago over at Bishan. That's way before the new lockdown began and right now his travels are limited. Or are they?

Cavalock and The Oyster Magnesium Max-Out

Achievement unlocked! I do believe I broke a personal record of 12 oysters in one seating when me and the Baker-at-Home had dinner at Kakiin Oyster recently. Definitely not a lot by most people's standard but I was never a big oyster chucker. So this is another one of them tiny little Japanese joints at Orchard Plaza that we kinda started exploring since last month. Specialising in fresh (not frozen!) oysters, they got oysters all the globe and done in just as many ways.

My favourite has got to be the the above dish, oysters grilled two ways, with garlic butter (left) and sake (right). Sake wins garlic butter, 'nuff said. All the other oyster dishes are winners as well, and we had a fun time time deciding what else to order again when we make a return visit to the place. Also enjoyed some their chicken dishes like chicken fillet with wasabi sauce, and sautéed chicken cartilages.  

Alight, so how are we prepping the inevitable lockdown? I know I need more paints as I'm running low on some colours. Painted these bases before I attach the figures to them. Some artillery pieces for my Stormcast army, two mow ballista units to give my guys more range options. It'll take awhile to finish them although I don't see myself playing them anytime soon.

Cavalock and The Phase Two Deux: The Sequel

Whew! Just got back from a lockdown toilet paper run! Nah, just kidding. But it is time again for a (semi)-lockdown as we return to Phase Two. This time we all kinda got a little practice on what to do and expect as we hunker down for another 3 weeks. Well for starters, my gym will be closed so I reckon that'll free up some of my mornings. Three times a week at the gym, that's the minimum the doc recommended after my last medical. Plus I always try to grab a 'healthy' lunch at either Daily Cut or Kepos at Raffles Place after a session. I guess it's back to char kway teow! Hah! 

I guess one thing to look forward out at Phase 2 Deux is more home-cooked meals. The Baker-at-Home has perfected these amazing potato and beef croquettes. They are kinda like the ones that we had in Japan. And she also made some soba to go with it. The fresh leafy veggies that our friend gifted us are from a local farm. They are from Backyard Fresh and they came hand-delivered in a nice big box, like one them cake boxes.

Now if you are gonna be stuck and don't what to do, I strongly recommend the TV series Resident Alien. I believe it's on the Syfy channel or if you are ...er... resourceful enough, you could find it online. There are only ten episodes in the first season and the second season has already been given the green light, so you know it's good! About a less-than-friendly alien who crash-landed on Earth and has to disguise as a small town doctor. It's suspense, comedy and murder mystery all rolled into one, starring the talented Alan Tudyk who is no stranger to sci-fi roles. Remember this song when you watch the season finale, that scene is hilarious! 

Cavalock and The Lunchtime Beef Overload

It's almost impossible to make dinner reservations at Wa Don-Don over at Duxton Hill these days, Fortunately they have started with lunch servings recently so there we were having sake and grilled beef on a blazing hot afternoon. We made sure to order our usual cuts, tenderloin, ribeye and ox tongue. The generous staff still remembered us even though its been awhile since we were there stuffing our faces. Hah! Oh, and watch out their half price ox tongues on Mondays, that ought to really pack them in.  

Now it's not becos I was too busy to blog but these days I can't think of anything spectacularly new to write about. I guess when you get to a certain age, you just wanna chill after doing your chores. There was a time when I wanted to write a best-seller, save the whales, make a gazillion bucks before 30 and all that crap. Not anymore. Now I'm just grateful to be out of the rat race and doing what I like even if it's not something most folks would consider 'productive'. I still got my caregiving duties to consider and after that, I do the little things that bring me joy. Seriously, my advice is just do the things you like, the stuff that gives you the greatest joy and satisfaction. If that's saving the world, more power to you. But call me 'jaded' or whatever, I'm just tired from caring bout too many things.

Speaking of little things that bring me joy, I'm back to playing Warhammer Underworlds again. Not to be confused with Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Heh. Underworlds allows me to paint smaller war bands and therefore paint factions or creatures that I would normally not. The game Age of Sigmar lets you field dozens and dozens of figures from similar factions so like, if I'm not playing a huge Lizardmen army, I won't be fielding or painting them. Whereas Underworlds are you playing with smaller bands of figures, a skirmish game instead of a massive war game, and it takes up only fraction of the time too.

So below are my Lizardmen Underworlds war band and my Underworlds Orcs war band. Just those figures, and I get to paint and experiment with different colour schemes and techniques. It's so relaxing and therapeutic to sit there and just paint.