The Soup Queen

I've been making this simple tea for a few times already. Not sure if I had shared this before but all it needs are 3 ingredients - dried goji berries, dried red dates and dried chrysanthemum bulbs. This sugar-less concoction is good for health especially if you want to maintain immunity. It's even more important these days what with the pandemic and Covid-19. But it is also a pleasant brew - no boiling needed. All you need is a handful of goji berries (washed and soaked for 5 minutes in water), 3-5 large dried red dates and a teaspoon of dried chrysanthemum flowers (these are the small heads of flowers, not the usual type for making chrysanthemum tea). Put all the ingredients in a teapot and pour in boiling water. Let it sit for 10 minutes and voila, you have made yourself a healthy tea without sugar. It has a natural sweetness from the red dates and goji berries. And once you have drunk all the tea, you can continue adding more boiling water for a second b...

We've been in partial lockdown due to Covid since 18 March in Malaysia. Nic and I were lucky as we had just got back in time from our trip to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Meeting Uncle Ho at the HCMC Post Office which is still in use!  We had gone for a week to visit friends in Vietnam and just chill a bit. It was also my post-birthday travel - a little bit of me-time that I try to take once a year. Each year, I try to visit a new country that's one plane ride away. Nic and I went to the Reunification Palace or Independence Palace.  Inside, there were lots of old, stately furniture but nothing much. If you're in Saigon, just skip this.  More old furniture. A bit ghastly to me.  Food was great though! This was at a popular bistro named Propaganda. What a name.  I don't like transits and last year I did one major solo trip - Penang to Narita for a transit and then Narita to Honololu. It took me almost 30 hours each way including all tho...