Dear Lockdown, thank you!

On the last day of the "lockdown" in Singapore, or what we call the “Circuit Breaker”, I’d like to take a moment to recognise the opportunities it presented. 

1.    Time to figure out all things food, cooking, and grocery shopping

I do enjoy being in the kitchen, but I’ve never had to figure what to eat at home for 2-3 meals a day for more than the weekend. So having to figure out what to eat every day for weeks-on-seeming-end required an entirely different frame of mind! 

At first, I’d go to the supermarket and buy vegetables I recognised, and could imagine being “useful” as an ingredient for cooking… but with no plans of how to use them. I love pumpkins, so I remember buying 3 types of pumpkins on 1 supermarket trip. By the time I finished 1 of the pumpkins, the other 2 were growing mould!

I also had an incident where I had a brief discussion with my mother about what to eat for dinner, then realised we couldn’t have that meal because we had all the vegetables, but not the actual pork we were planning for the pork chop dinner. #lame

That’s when I gained a lot of respect for home makers and helpers who do the grocery shopping and cook all the meals – wow, the arsenal of recipes they have in their memory bank! To buy just what you need, and to be efficient in using the ingredients, it’s a skill I aspire to master! I’ve since pivoted to using an excel sheet to plan my meals so that I can buy only the ingredients I need, without wasting food or money… it’s definitely still a work in progress! But for the chance to live a more “balanced” lifestyle, one in which I get to up-skill my life skills, I am thankful!

GARLIC BREAD

One of my earliest snacks – I thought ha! I’m sure it’s super easy to make garlic bread, so I shall!

It was truly very easy to make… but be sure to have those garlic bits properly toasted, otherwise the toxins from the raw garlic will make you feel like you are choking + about to vomit + need to purge, and incredibly all at the same time.

It felt like death was descending upon me… I am most serious!

Guess who was trying to cook pasta for lunch... and forgot to cook the pasta.

No prizes for guessing!

I couldn't find the polenta flour to make corn muffins, and cream cheese was sold out in all the supermarkets I went to.

I had just watched a cooking show on Netflix about food hacks and how you can prepare quick meals at home – the Caramelised banana puff seemed like a fantastic pivot!

I even bought a new frying pan so that it would be entirely made of mental and be "oven friendly" (the frying pan I had at home had a plastic handle).

The moment I made the dessert, I realised I could have easily made it with my existing tools, and done it in a way that would have looked prettier, and probably tasted better too.

I stopped watching that cooking show. #dumbhacks

2.    Time to exercise

When I first started working from home, it was slightly before the country went into a “lockdown” scenario. I was feeling quite comfortable working from home - it was a pleasant change. I loved that I was saving at least 2 hours every day from not having to commute. Aside from that, I could wake up later, so I had a lot more energy… which I could use for exercising, now that I also had the time! It was also around this time that the team I was planning to go to Mt Everest basecamp with started on a 9 week stairs climbing challenge – this kick started my stairs training programme, and I was climbing close to 200 stairs every other day!

Even though my work load soon overwhelmed my schedule, it was a good thing that I had started my work from home routine with a clear workout routine and even though I never managed to hit my target during the 9 week challenge, it has led to a consistent and regular exercise routine which I am maintaining. For the time to build a healthier self, I am thankful!

3.    Time to learn

I was also excited about the extra time I now had over the weekend. I thought – this is not going to last forever, so while I do have the spare time, I’d better use it to my advantage and to do things I wouldn’t normally have the time for. So… I signed up for the Masterclass subscription. I downloaded the training materials on my phone. I completed several training courses… I even caught up with recordings of past meetings that I didn’t dial into! Just in time for the lifting of the “lockdown”... and for the extra time to upgrade my knowledge, I’m thankful!

I was jogging when I received the article which announced that the "lockdown" was being lifted as of 2359 on 18th June (today) - I had to hold back my tears (I know, again?!). It was a little bit of a shock for me - I wasn't expecting things to turn around so soon. But it will be, again, a new era, tomorrow, and before we get swept up in all the changes coming our way again, I thought it'd be nice to pause and be thankful for the silver linings of the lockdown.