Claire is 6!

Claire turned 6 two days ago! Next year, she will be in Primary 1 already! Boy does time fly! :)

So anyway, it fell on a Monday, so the day before, Sunday, we celebrated at Sarawak Club. The usual swim then early dinner with family.

Claire, Eva and Solomon usually celebrate their birthdays together, because they all fall within a period of 20 days. But I thought it would be nice that once in a while they celebrate it on their own. Maybe they can take turns to celebrate solo, while the other two celebrate together, cause I don't think I have the energy to organize three birthday parties in a span of three weeks every year!

It was a last minute thing, as Hubby didn't know he was coming back from Bintulu until Friday, so I didn't have time to make a cake. I bought one instead from Secret Recipe and Claire requested a 2D Powerpuff Girl, so I just stuck on some fondant. The cake was Pecan Butterscotch, which sounded really yummy, but turned out to be just okay only. I still love their Chocolate Banana and White Chocolate Macadamia Nut the most... 

Heavenly...

The next day at school, I brought a cake for her to celebrate with her classmates and also party packs full of teeth-rotting junk food to give out! :)

This time she wanted Hello Kitty and did not want fondant. So I ordered a cream cake from Taka instead. It did not meet my standards at all, in fact it was far from it, but Claire loved it, and that was all that mattered! :)

So, Happy Birthday Claire! Mummy & Daddy love you!

Scrambler

And with that, Hubby came back with a scrambler!

He claims he needs it for work... to survey jungle where cars cannot access... Hmmm....

Mid-life crisis?? Hmm....

Well, better now than later! :)

Solomon enjoyed a ride...

Singapore June 2011 - Good Food!

So we went  to Singapore again end of last month for Hubby's follow-up eye appointment. Other than that, our mission this time round was to try out 'high-end' dining, as opposed to the hawker food stalls we love! :)

heh... yup, we do love our food!

So anyway, Big Sis and Little Benedict picked us up from the airport and we went back home for lunch. We got to see baby Dominic as well, and luckily his mozzie bite souvenirs from Kuching had healed pretty well!! :)

Then we met Sis no.4 at Marina Bay Sands. She managed to get a half day off but Little Brother wasn't so lucky! After a stroll round Skypark, Big Sis 'chia'ed us a spot of posh 'English afternoon tea' at TWG tea.

Gorgeous and yummy at the same time! The cakes I mean ;)

Anyway, the last time we stayed at Marina Bay Sands, we attempted having dinner at Sky on 57, a restaurant at Skypark, the hotel's rooftop. We were told that we needed to book way ahead of time! So, that's exactly what I did before going this time around. Yup, this is the place where the fine print at the bottom of the menu says, each person must spend a minimum of S$80!

So we had dinner there on the first night and ordered the, "Gastronomic Menu- Inspired By Asia". It consists of 8 dishes and you have the option of wine pairing, where they serve a wine that best suits each dish. Hubby wanted that, I however, would have been drunk by the second dish!

Clockwise from top left:
1. Fine Asian Crackers (a.k.a. keropok!)
2. Spring Vegetables
    Variations cooking of new season spring vegetables with slow cooked organic egg
3. Black Cod
    Miso marinated and baked until caramelized, spring vegetables, lime and ginger butter
4. Deep Sea Banana Prawns
    Tangy king prawns, mango, ginger flower with meslcun leaves

Comments:
1. is keropok lah...

2. presentation wise: very sad looking, but there was some truffle sauce in there somewhere which was heavenly!
3. gorgeous! The fish was delicious, with amazing texture.
4. lovely; the salad was nice and prawns fresh.

Clockwise from top left:
5. Maine Lobster
    JQ’s Singapore style “Hokkien” noodle
6. Dutch Milk Fed Veal
    Poached and served with Jerusalem artichoke risotto, Australian fresh black truffles shaving, poultry jus
7. Another part of the 'Symphony of dessert'
    wild berry compote and raspberry something... I think...
8. Symphony of dessert
    Opera cake, pisang goreng! and coconut ice-cream

 Comments:
5. the Hokkien mee was okay, nothing extraordinary...
6. oh the veal was scrumptious, with a creamy risotto tasting of black truffles... yum...
7 & 8. I'm a bit biased when it comes to dessert... I love dessert *fullstop*


All this, plus:
Santa Vittoria Gourmet coffee and fine Gryphon tea Selections
cost $180 per person

Wine pairing additional $98++ per person
Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut NV
Domaine Perrin Reserve Côte du Rhône, Southern Rhône
Cloudy Bay Chardonnay, Marlborough
E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône, Southern Rhône
Emilio Lustau East India Solera, Jerez

So we ordered one portion of the above and added on another two dishes:

This is the Chef's Appetizer Platter which consists of 4 of their best creations. The top corner is something like Japanese Chawan mushi with caviar. Now that was really good...

On the right is foie gras. It was superb!! I think this was the best thing we had the whole night! Now I know why there's so much hype about foie gras! It is indeed justified!! It has an almost crunchy outer shell and a luscious, buttery soft, yet firm interior! *heavenly*

The bottom oyster and left white asparagus was just okay only...

This platter was S$60.

"Live" Sri Lankan king crab with rice vermicelli in ginger broth... a.k.a. world's most expensive crab meehoon! I've had better...

Definitely not worth the S$65...

This was an experience, to say the least... :) It took a whole 3 hours to finish the meal!! Some of the 'good things in life', like foie gras, caviar and truffles are really worth the price, but all in all, I think fussy fine dining is overrated and over priced. Maybe once in a while it would be nice, but we are hearty food people anytime!

The next night, we had pizza at another celebrity chef place. Mozza or something. You see, our favourite t.v. channel is Asian Food Channel (but of course!), and they always advertise these 'Celebrity Chefs' and obviously we had to grab the opportunity to have a meal there, since we were staying at Marina Bay Sands.

The squid/ calamari was the best I've ever had! Pizza was okay and wings were good. And the banana ice cream pie was *sigh*....

Now to diet until the next trip...


P/S: Hubby's eye is making good progress... now pass the food...

Testing...

I've 'privatized' my blog and sent out the invitations for friends and family to my blog. I hope it works and you all can access my blog to read it!

*fingers crossed*

Bersih rally

Today is an historical day for Malaysia. Right now, there are tens of thousands of Malaysians marching on the streets of Kuala Lumpur towards the national stadium to attend a peaceful rally. The rally is organized by an organization called Bersih (meaning clean in Malay) which fights for clean and fair elections.

Although Bersih has been recognized by our King, it has been declared illegal by the ruling government! Imagine that...

Anyway, these brave souls are facing arrests, tear gas, as well as chemicals and dye shot from water cannons! It has slowed them down, but they are nevertheless still marching strong towards their destination.

Although the government has tried to turn this into a racial issue, a lot of Malaysian are not falling for it and the people marching today are of all races!

This, my friends, is the true 1 Malaysia.

I hope their bravery does bring about change.

I am truly proud to be a Malaysian today.

post laksa gym frenzy

So Hubby enrolled us into a very nice gym which is just a stone's throw away from home and right next to Solomon's school. Thus eliminating any excuses I have of not going to the gym, e.g: no time, traffic jam, very far, lazy...

He enrolled us around a couple of months ago, but I only started going regularly about 3 weeks ago, after the school holidays. The tragedy that spurred me into action was a petrifying 2kg weight gain over the holidays, after having laksa for breakfast almost everyday!! Sis no.4 is a Sarawak Laksa fan and since it is very rare back in Singapore, we went laksa hunting whenever we could! The Secret Recipe cakes didn't help much either...

By the way, after trying laksa at many different coffee shops, we decided our current favourite is the one at Mei Mei coffee shop at Chong Lin. Yumz...

This one was from Chong Chon, Central Park.. also very good.

Okay, focus... focus... gym...

So, about the gym. I try to go after sending the kids to school in the morning. I aim to hit the gym every weekday morning for at least half an hour. I believe regular short sessions are more beneficial than once in a blue moon marathon sessions. The most important thing is to inculcate the habit. Also, I don't have much time to spare as I never seem to be able to have an empty 'to-do' list...

Right now I'm doing cardio exercises, I usually start out with the bike for 15 minutes, then use the other machines like the steps, treadmill, etc. My favourite is the rowing machine. It's fun!...... for like the first 5 minutes or so, that is...

Anyway, hope I can keep this up!!

Slimy slug

So we were in the car (most conversations seem to be in the car, where mummy cannot run away!! hahaha...), and Claire started telling me about her day at school.

Claire: Today we watched t.v. at school. The t.v. was about animals!


Mummy: That's nice...

Claire: Got one animal is a snail but don't have shell!!


Mummy: Oh?

Claire: Ya, it's called a slime!!

Mummy: (chuckling) Oh, I think it's a slug dear.

Claire: Oh yes, a slug!


But she wasn't far wrong was she? Slimy slug... sluggy slime?? Same difference... :)

Baptisms, Birthdays and more...

Besides going to the beach, there was plenty else happening over the holidays:

First there was Baby Adam and Baby Dominic's baptism done by Fr. Richard at the beautiful St. Peter's College Chapel. Hubby was appointed Baby Dominic's Godfather! :)

After the baptism, we headed to the club to celebrate Amelie, Amanda and Ethan's birthdays!

The mommies keeping an eye on the kids at the playground...

The birthday trio

No one told poor Amelie that she had to share her cake, so she got angry and took a swipe at Jie Jie when she also cut the cake! :)

Anyway, it wasn't all fun and games, there was also a Tae Kwon Do upgrading and a visit to the dentist!

Annie has since been upgraded to green belt! Well done dear!

This was a first for Claire and Eva. (Solomon escaped!) Annie has been to the dentist before and this time she just did some scaling and polishing. I also had my teeth cleaned and Claire had a cavity filled. Eva's teeth were fine and as I said, Solomon was out the door before it was his turn!! :)

There was one night when Bishop Dominic Su came to dad's house to say mass for mum. All the neighbourhood rosary group folks came over and after mass we had a simple fellowship. (ie: food!)

It also happened to be Uncle Kent's birthday so we celebrated with a cake. FYI the cake was a glorious white chocolate macadamia nut cake from Secret Recipe and NOT made by me! Apparently Dad thought otherwise and told people that if they wanted, they could order it from me!!

*ack*

 Thank goodness I haven't had any orders for white chocolate macadamia nut cake yet!! :)


Oh yes! there was also a cake baking session. We left the kids with a recipe and let them whip up their own cake!

Aspiring Junior Masterchefs??

Their Devil's food cake was not bad at all! It had  a great soft texture. I was impressed. It's amazing what kids can do if you let them try!

Also, we managed to squeeze in a movie! Kung Fu Panda II at MBO cinema. It was the first time Solomon's been to a cinema and till now, he keeps asking to go again!

So that was it! A jam-packed holiday! We miss the 'Singaporean boys' and can't wait till the next get together!! Christmas perhaps??

It was especially nice for Solomon to have so many boys to play with for a change!

Vampire Schampire...

Annie has a hyperactive imagination. Much like me when I was younger, she is afraid of the dark and imagines monsters and ghouls in open wardrobes! Scary movies are a definite no-no, as they give her nightmares and keep her awake in the night! At the cinema, I even have to warn her of scary movie trailers so she can cover her eyes!

So the other day we were heading home in the car, from a day of playing with the cousins.

As usual, everyone was talking to me at the same time and above the ruckus, I heard Annie asking softly:


Annie: Mummy, do we have lizards in our house?

I did not answer, as I was busy attending to the others, not to mention driving as well!!
So, she asked again:


Annie: Mummy, do we have lizards in our house?

Mum: Yes Annie. Why?

She did not answer me.
I persisted, because I could hear the tone of serious concern in her voice:


Mum: Why Annie?

After some hesitation, she confessed:


Annie: (Cousin) Timothy said that if there are no lizards in your house, it means that there are vampires...


!!!!!




Hahahahaha!!! I was laughing my head off when she added:


Annie: Uncle Polycarp told him one...



Lizards?? Vampires???
Uncle Polycarp???!!! What do you have to say about this???!! Hmmm???

Mid-year school holidays 2011

Wow! So I haven't updated my blog for way too long! I just wanted to leave my 'privatization' notice up for a while..... so I could collect more email addresses...... 'cos there aren't a lot right now..... actually, there are only like..... 6??!  

*sniff sniff*

So I shouldn't worry about over exposure should I? Since apparently, NO ONE reads my blog??!! Hahahaha...

Alright, so now I should warn you, there will be a 'diarrhoea' of blog  posts coming up, 'cos I've skipped blogging about so many happenings. And I'm a bit Obsessive Compulsive, so leaving out events would just really, really bug me!

Okay, anyway, the school holidays ended like 2 weeks ago. Sis no.1 and Sis no.4 came back from Singapore for 2 whole weeks! It was great fun! I don't think they've ever been back for so long before. Here, mid-year school holidays are only 2 weeks, in Singapore, it's 4 whole weeks!

The kids had plenty of time to play and bond with their cousins. While the mummies had plenty of time to gossip and giggle!!! (FYI: all the daddies kept their distance whenever possible! Noisy kids plus gossipy wives repel daddies like oil repels water!! Hahaha)

Here are the photos then...

Yup, we went to Damai Beach again... here's Kung Kung watching over his brood of 17 grandkids!

Needless to say, all the kids had a blast!

Asa said,"See, Annie jie jie make longkang!" :)

Ta Ee even entertained the kids with a fun game of Pictionary!

Daddy and his pretty daughters all in a row! Yedeh... Only Little Brother is missing here...

Even babies Adam and Dominic went out for a bit of sun...

Benedict teaching Solomon how to do sit-ups!

Our staple diet at the beach!!

Happy days....