Saturday morning Mike and I headed out for routine check-ups, or as a friend of ours likes to call it, decay management. Like most everyone on the planet, I really believe that taking care of our physical bodies is an important and worthy goal, but also like most people, actually taking the time to do so is another matter. We went to Union Hospital in Tai Wai, where they offer various wellness packages, with names like "gold" and "prestige." We chose the middle of the road plans, and were very impressed with the whole process. The English was very good, and you never know how that is going to be. We both had general health histories taken, and then the routine procedures like blood pressure, height and weight, etc. We had full blood work ups and a urinalysis. Mike had an EKG, a prostate check, and colon cancer check, while mine included a pelvic ultrasound, mammogram and pap test. What I have always appreciated about Hong Kong healthcare in general, aside from much more reasonable costs, is that you tend to get everything done in one place, and this was no exception. In the US, what I had done would have required 3 different visits in 3 different offices, not to mention countless separate bills. We were in and out of the same building in about 2 hours with everything done, and we paid for all of it on our way out. We will go back in a couple of weeks for a follow up to discuss the results.
We do have health insurance through our employer, however, it does not cover well check-ups. BUT, our school also gives us a certain amount per year to go toward this, and the amount can be saved up for two years, so this will be applied. In the end, we will end up paying less than $100 US out of pocket--well worth the cost.
I did the grocery shopping for the week. One trip to Park N Shop, our local grocer, where I spent $405 HKD (US 52). This should about cover the week, although I usually end up making a couple of stops on my way home from work to grab missing items. Here was the haul, minus a few items I had put away:
This included: 1L of olive oil, 8 apples, 3 oranges, 4 bananas, a pound of cherries, 1 head of broccoli, celery, 2 pounds of carrots, fresh cilantro, 4 potatoes, 4 tomatoes, 4 cucumbers, 3 avocados, 30 eggs, 1 loaf of bread, a pound of pasta, 1 pack of Oreos, 2 cans of chips, 1 box of instant coffee packets, 3 small containers of yogurt, and 3 packs of mints.
We also will be getting our meat order this week, which comes once a month. This is good, because I have been running low! On average I spend about 550 HKD ($71US) once a month on this, or about $18 US per week. This month's order includes: chicken breasts, breakfast sausage, bacon, salmon, stew beef, ground beef, cheddar cheese, brat type sausages, pork chops and sliced ham.
The menu for the week:
Sunday: homemade chicken noodle soup
Monday: chicken and cheese quesadillas with homemade guacamole
Tuesday: homemade pizza (I had dough leftover from last week!)
Wednesday: leftover chicken soup
Thursday: scallops, mashed potatoes, carrots and salad
Friday: out to celebrate Chinese New Year's Eve!
Saturday: traveling for the CNY holiday
I also found an old leather basket of sorts in the trash pile at our apartment. It was in good shape, and I have been wanting a magazine rack, After I cleaned it all up, it fit the bill perfectly. Yeah! Here's to repurposing!
Sunday afternoon, I had lots of housework to do, but a rare, beautiful blue sky and 70 degree weather beckoned, so my husband and I went for a 2 hour walk along the river/bay instead. Sigh. The housework never goes away, does it?
What have you re-purposed lately? Any great new menu items to share?
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