Fresh Food Boxes Delivered, At 5.30am

I wanted to give myself a break from cooking and food prep. It's more of me being unable to cater to the husband's wants to eating 4-5 meals a day; and they must all be different things. OMG. We could buy it, we could be judicious, but my gawwd. So I decided to try out fresh ready-made meals delivered to the door. Opted for Nutrition Kitchen for two weeks. 

I wouldn't bother subscribing for a month since we don't need to. It has to suit our timings and meal schedules for the week. There're many of these 'healthy boxes' caterers around. I just wanted to delve deeper to ensure that it's indeed separate entities and brands instead of one corporate company owning several brands, or one central kitchen shilling out their menus to different brands. The tiffin caterers have got a bad name doing this sort of stuff.

Some people we know didn't have a good experience with Nutrition Kitchen, and would recommend other brands. But for us, at this juncture, it has been going decent so far. The husband likes the flavors, choices and quality of food. The macros are properly counted, of course. 

At $20.20 per meal (more if sometimes you swap out items), they don't come cheap. But it is cheaper than if I buy ingredients to prep meals for two persons. The economics don't work out. We could buy, but it's too much of a fuss too. Decent quality ingredients cooked for us always come at a price. Fish is always an issue. It's like they didn't indicate where their salmon comes from, but it's likely Tasmanian (gosh the controversies...). It's not what I would prefer, but it would have to do. But of course many wonder how tough the steaks would be done this way. Well, the husband ain't complaining. Food is already delivered to the door.

I don't leave the food in these environmentally-friendly sugarcane boxes. I transfer them to a glass container. They seem to keep well enough. At least some of the 'lunches' became dinner for the husband when he's got a couple of calls and late nights at work. 

Nutrition Kitchen indicated that since we chose the morning delivery slot, the food boxes would arrive daily for the week between 5.45am to 10am. We got a delivery dude whose route put us on a damn early arrival timing sial. Well, he has been consistent and dependable; he also texts me daily the moment he drops off the bag. For the first week, the boxes arrived by 5.20am. This is the second week, and he's been driving through the estate's gantries at 5am. I'm more or less awake by 5am too. YAWN. 

Contemporary Co-Living Arrangements

This is not a genre I'm keen on reading. However, with all the hype, I decided to have a quick browse. This is 'Two Women Living Together' (first published in Korean in 2019) by Kim Hana and Hwang Sunwoo. This is translated into English by Gene Png and published in January 2026. 

It's a memoir, about the lives of two single unmarried women in their 40s living together. These are real people. They had a career in advertising and magazines. They're writers, editors and hosts of podcasts. They are friends who got to know each other as adults, and on Twitter. They were both born in Busan and separately, went to work and live in Seoul.

As a practical arrangement, the two women pooled resources to buy a home. They chose to live with each other. They are friends, not partners or in a romantic relationship. They have common interests and passions, and also share similar outlook on life and the philosophies of living. (Reviews here, here, here and here.)

49 chatty essays invited readers into the life Kim Hana and Hwang Sunwoo share with four cats — Haku, Tigger, Goro and Youngbai. You hear from both women, and you get to know them a little more. Sure, there's something to be said about chosen companionship, creating a life together in a home when you're not romantically or sexually involved, but closer than roommates. I suppose we could call it a platonic partnership then. They still form a family unit, albeit not a traditional model that society understands. 

The more I think about it, the more I realize how good Sunwoo and I have got it. If each of us were to get married, would we be this comfortable with our husbands' families? I feel like sons-in-law are always treated well while daughters-in-law are expected to treat other people well. In fact, Sunwoo and I enjoy a much more comfortable status than a son-in-law - as 'the friend our daughter lives with', we are free to accept kindness and hospitality without feeling obliged to the other's parents. I can savour Sunwoo's mother's delicious yeolmukimchi without worrying about planning a filial piety trip or whether I should buy her a new home appliance to show my thanks. All I have to do is say, 'Tell your mum the food was great!' Sunwoo and I adore each other's parents. We're always happy to see them and are always thankful for their kindness. And that's probably because our relationship doesn't come with strings attached. Thanking our own parents, though — that's self-service. 

This is a glimpse into Kim Hana and Hwang Sunwoo's slice of life. Readers see how they reconcile household chores, and other responsibilities that come with being a home-owner, a pet-owner and as rather grown women. They had to navigate finances, and also support each other through career changes and personal loss. They have also built rapport and a community with their neighbors in the estate. 

At the end, they wrote a little about now, five years later from 2019, the year the book was released. The women are still living together now. They have lost Goro, Haku is on meds for her kidneys. They have paid off their mortgage on the apartment. They're co-hosting a podcast on Spotify, Apple and Podbang. Yeah, it's in Korean, and obviously I don't bother since I don't understand the language, and ermmm have no interest in acquiring any sort of proficiency in it.

This book and what it revealed about cohabitating with a platonic partner created a stir in the staid and stodgy Korean society. The memoir resonated with a generation of Korean women defining their own paths. This type of co-living arrangements in platonic and romantic LGBTQIA relationships challenges the patriarchal and chauvinistic familial structures in South Korea. 

I grinned. This can be quite the norm in Singapore nowadays. It is an extremely practical arrangement when we have many elderly who live alone. Well, some are cranky and prefer to live alone. But many would like some company, if they can figure out how to live amiably together, sharing chores and not shirking and basically not being a moron. Remember the ma-jie (媽姐) of the olden days? Many of them band together to live in a flat together, as bonded sisters who never married, looking after each other till death comes. We need to be able to freely talk more about chosen family and the evolving definition of partnership. 

I was right. I didn't like it. Try as I might, I couldn't get into it. I recognize that this book holds great themes and ideals. It's a pretty good read, but it's not my cup of tea. I do push for the ideals it represents. We must be able to celebrate different kinds of life when they've been built on friendship, trust, mutual respect, and a solid moral compass — a kind of life and living arrangement that might not require a romantic partner or the structure of a traditional marriage, and still equally fulfilling. 

‘Dracula' As Classical Ballet with Theatrical Flair

'Dracula' is a production by Australian ballet company BIG Live, choreographed by co-founder and artistic director Joel Burke. I was quite tickled by the music. Sure, there are new compositions by Emmy-renowned electro-acoustic Jason Fernandez, but the rest of the music selected is rather cliched. 

BIG Live took so many artistic liberties with the storyline. There weren't Renfield, Quincy, Dr Seward or Van Helsing. There was no Lucy Westenra. Instead of the Trio, we have four women who are either ghosts or vampires. I have no idea. I was soooo confused that Dracula let Mina go. He turned Jonathan Harker into a vampire, and Mina Murray was killed by her husband instead. Then I had no idea whether Mina was now a ghost or a vampire. She staked Dracula and Jonathan, and herself. I was like... WHAT. Since when did Mina die in the book? 

Joel Burke himself was Vlad the Warlord, and Dracula. The corps were a bit messy, but the principals were pretty good. The ending was soooo annoying. The show closed with Dracula sitting up. Walao. It's a ballet, not a television series that could have a sequel titled 'Van Helsing'.

I got some shots of the ballet because at the start of the show, the announcer seemed to have made a mistake to say that photography and short clips were allowed. But they said these wouldn't be permitted in the second half. Oops. 

This is still classical ballet done with contemporary theatrical storytelling, blended in with goth. I was rather tickled that people dressed up for the ballet. And by that, I mean, dressing as a vampire, with full theatrical make-up almost as if it was Halloween. It was dramatic, and honestly very fun. 

These are commercially successful productions. Traditional ballet companies wouldn't do say... 'Dracula', which has been called a "second rate ballets". Our own Singapore Ballet would never do it as long as Janek Schergen is at helm. There's also a very good reason why I'm not very keen on watching Singapore Ballet's productions. How many times do you want me to watch 'Giselle', 'Coppélia' or 'The Nutcracker' or 'Swan Lake'? I have watched it multiple times presented by different companies. I confess, I'm bored. It has nothing to do with whether it's local or foreign. It has everything to do with the vibes of a company and that particular production.