.: SQ 321 :.

It’s been 3 hours since I landed and the first thing we did was drive down to Amoy Street Food Centre to satisfy my craving for Thunder Tea Rice!!!

I have been thinking about it since the beginning of this week so what a joy it was being able to fill my tummy up with brown rice, an assortment of leafy vegetables and thunder tea soup!! The greens seem to be doing their work already because I can feel my system starting to work. =x

Anyway, I’m sure you’re all probably wondering how the flight went. Let’s just say being stuck next to a guy who kept smacking his lips three times after each sip of orange juice and after every bite of food was not the most comfortable of experiences, although it helped that he seemed to have a penchant for airline food since he polished off every bit of food on his tray. And I mean every bit of food. I have never seen the food trays one planes so clean they almost looked as if no food had touched it at all! Hehe.

I find mealtimes on the plane to be daunting experiences generally because of the inability for me to know what may be served. I ordered the vegetarian meal (ovo-lacto) but still, having had a good dinner of half a butternut squash with BBQ fillets, a huge mound of yoghurt and mushrooms, I was afraid that supper on the plane would be too good to pass and end up making me feel overindulgent. Actually, the plane food this trip was a whole lot better than the half-undercooked, half-overcooked spaghetti and pasta I had on my flight to the UK. I had expected a light meal once the plane took off but instead, a full-on meal came delivered to me:

Dinner #2 consisted of a pineapple salad which I didn’t really touch because I don’t really subscribe to canned pineapple and there were some unidentified objects in it that I tasted and didn’t quite like. I did finish off the 4 large, succulent, juicy strawberries, as well as the sweet blueberries! But after eating one blackberry and finding it too gritty and slightly bitter, I left the other one untouched. Oh but the strawberries were so delightful! I can just imagine them once again right now…

But I shall proceed to the main meal itself. There were 3 measly cubes of pumpkin which were hardly as sweet as my butternut squash from dinner #1 at home, but I had them anyway just because they were pumpkin! Haha. I tell you, anything pumpkin and I’ll have it, especially if the skin is on and cooked until crisp. Of course, the cubes of pumpkin served on the plane were simple the flesh itself. There was also a small dollop of blanched spinach which I couldn’t pass on, as well as kidney beans and black eyed beans in a pasta-like sauce which I had some of and was quite passable. And for carbohydrates, there were about 4 slices of pan fried potatoes with shallots on top. I tried some but they turned out to be quite a let-down with their powdery texture.

I ended up falling straight to sleep after supper even though I mentioned to TY that I was determined to stay awake the whole trip so that getting over the time difference may be easier. I slept so much that by the time I woke up, it was 6am and then I slept some more until the smell of breakfast came wafting into the cabin! The ED part of me was totally screaming at me to start moving about more since I had fallen asleep right after eating but I guess I was too lazy to be bothered with it. Oh but if I did start walking up and down the aisles the whole night, I would have had a great reason! I swear the person in front of me must have eaten a gigantic bowl of chickpeas or something before boarding because the smell of fresh wind exiting his/her body through a back cavity (sorry, I have no idea how to better phrase it!) kept sweeping up my nose every so often. It was so strong I was afraid people were going to think it was me so can you imagine? While I slept and woke up each time a fresh fart came, I’d wave my hand frantically in front of my nose just so that the other passengers would know it wasn’t me. But then again, maybe it would verify their thoughts since the guilty one always tends to deny their deed the hardest. Lol. I promise you though, I wasn’t the culprit. And if I was, I assure you that my fart smells just like English roses!! Ahhh…

On to breakfast! Breakfast came once again with fresh fruits although they could well have been more generous. I got 3 smaller than ping-pong ball-sized rock melon that were gorgeously sweet and not to mention, full of juicy goodness! And I got 2 wedges each of already peeled orange and grapefruit. It’s been ages since I last had grapefruit and I quite liked the bitter-sweet taste of it.

The mains consisted of 2 rather large potato croquettes that had a few bits of mixed vegetables (i.e. formerly frozen corn and peas) embedded. I had some of that, as well as the blanched spinach and button mushrooms. The tomato was rather sour for my liking so I ditched that although I usually like grilled tomatoes.

I had about 2 hours to pass after breakfast before the plane was due to land and guess what I did? I napped some more! Planes tend to be able to lull me to sleep and while I tried to watch the Pink Pather 2 and Broken Flowers, I could barely even watch 10 minutes of the starting of both movies before I found myself nodding off. So I guess Mum and Dad can send me off to the UK on Easyjet next time or something since all I do is sleep on the plane. Lol. Althoughhhh, I did manage to play 30 minutes of tetris before we had to stow away the handsets for our landing in Singapore soil. I wanted to play Mario but they don’t seem to have it anymore. =(

There’s a tinge of sadness I feel having departed from the UK but well, there are more things to look forward to here now that I’m back. Tomorrow, I head to the zoo with JX and we’re gonna have a picnic there as well! x) And then I want to do a little shoes, bag and clothes shopping some time next week. And then I’m meeting Pea, Christine and Col although those are still not confirmed yet. And then Pea’s birthday is next week so I have to settle her present. And then JX’s birthday is also next week so that’s another present that has to be settled. And then Uni’s starting soon so I have to get my modules in order. And then Bundung will be end of next week as well. My my, it feel good to be occupied with so many things other than food!

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On a more serious note, I was having a little chat with Dad just now about my eating habits in the UK and I am starting to suss out ED’s latest tactic is trying to get me to succumb to its calling. You know how when say, you’ve not exercised for ages and then one day, you decide to go for a jog. So you jog for say, 2km, and you take 20 minutes. Subsequently, as the week goes by, you find yourself being able to cover that same distance but taking 18 minutes instead. That achievement then leads you to want to better your timing and keep attaining personal bests.

In a way, that is what ED is asking me to do albeit in a very twisted way. Oh and it is so very very cunning. I realised that from the start of my holiday to the end, ED had gradually been trying to make me achieve my own personal bests in terms of the amount of food I eat, with each week showing a small decrease. Of course, it didn’t seem like much but reflecting on it now, in the long run, it will amount to a lot. Thankfully, I did not cut my portion size like mad but had I stayed on for longer, that could have very well been the case. The thing is, my personal bests should instead be about increasing my food intake rather than lower it. How stupid of me to have let ED get a grip of the competitive side of me and twist it to its advantage.

Talking with Dad helped me to make some sense of the situation I was fast falling back into and I am glad that I am still able to think rationally enough to know that this path is not one that I want to take. Henceforth, I will be putting myself back on track. I mentioned not long ago that the fight now is more on the issue of control rather than the fear of being fat which is why I so believe now that giving up this sense of control is what’s vital for me this moment. Being able to understand yet another trick of ED has enabled me to at least build up a defence against future attacks. It will take a while for my protective wall to get strong enough so I know that there will be days when that defence may crumble a little at the stones ED throws at me. However, I am prepared and I will make sure, together with my support network, that I have the necessary equipment to rebuild and reinforce it each time.

I know that Mum and Dad are already proud of the fact that I have managed to eat all my meals and snacks without anyone having to egg me on while in the UK. That is step 1 conquered. Now, it’s time for me to manage portions and choose foods that are not always safe when I am alone. This shall be my current challenge but I think… I think I’m ready. =)

Now I’m off to savour my dear Mr. Bean biscuits that Mum and Dad got for me before I came out of Arrivals!

One green tea and one salty bean biscuit! They just changed their paper bags in lieu with National Day coming up next month which also means… OMG! I’m turning 22 in a month and a bit’s time!! HELP MEEEEEEEEE… What happened to being forever 21?!?!