Randoms

29 June 2011 - Attended Amanda's Malaysia School trip briefing today...

teacher-in-charge doing the briefing presentation to parents...

30 June 2011 - Randoms...

we have not been dining at this coffeeshop for at least 10 years... when we first shifted here, we loved having our meals here... the place is neatly tucked in a corner of the private estate and it's just so peaceful and serene... 

we tried this frog with essence of chicken dish... first time trying it, and absolutely loved it... i'm so going to try out this dish at home... 

oh just a little sharing....  amanda has always had phobia of eating frogs... apparently when we were ordering this dish, she was dozing off at her seat and didn't hear us mention the word "frog"... so when we placed the frog on her plate, we told her it was a kind of fish... and she believed! she happily ate it and even enjoyed it so much! lol!  daddy suggested telling her immediately after she finished the dish, but i warned him against it, fearing that she might throw up.... i felt it was safer to tell after her food has slightly digested, maybe on the way home...  thank goodness, she just laughed it off after we told her and then she told us that she has overcome her fear for frogs! yippie!!!

my friend recommended me this brand of mosquito patch... she told me this is one of the best so far... tested and proven...

Another funny incident to share on this mosquito patch...  Apparently a few of Amanda's classmates bought other brands of mosquito patches and we mummies just happened to be talking about the Malaysia trip....  One of the boys pasted 8 patches (another brand) all over him but he was still bitten by mozzies... Another boy who happened to be in the same group as Amanda, pasted 6 patches... He pasted everywhere on him but the face... and guess where he was bitten when he came home? 

Yes, he was bitten excessively all over the face, while Amanda had none eventhough she pasted 3 but 1 one dropped off shortly, leaving her with only 2 patches.  LOL!!!  Looks like my friend didn't make the wrong recommendation to me...  :)

First Day of New Semester

School reopens today.... Amanda, having relaxed and waking up late the whole month, was of course unable to wake up at 6.25pm this morning... Had to nudge her for a very long time before she scrambled out of bed...  After sending her off to school, it's couple's time for Daddy and I... We went for walks and thence for breakfast...  What a lovely way to start the new term... :)

amanda looking zombified...

daddy on the other hand, looks so awake and happy here... lol...

Darren's Birthday and the Last Fling!

24 June 2011 - Celebrated Darren's birthday together with Mama, Kongkong and Ee Poh's family...  it was a small celebration but all of us enjoyed ourselves....

The last weekend before school reopens... 25 & 26 June 2011...

drove to bedok food centre (the one opposite bedok camp) for some tea time... our first time there and the food was surprisingly very good!

水饺 and Mr Popper's Penguins

Last week, my little darling went over to her friend's house for a little playdate and she learnt to make dumplings (水饺) from her friend's mummy... She enjoyed the dumplings, so she memorised the ingredients she saw and repeated them to me when she got home.  She said she wants to teach Kakak how to make dumplings. Since it is still the school holidays, I thought, "Why not let her have a go?"  So off we went to get the ingredients.  I was surprised the dumplings came really delicious!  Well done, darling!

amanda showing kakak how to make dumplings...

look at her.... attentively folding the skin....

the dumplings tasted really delicious! well done amanda!

Top left 2 photos in the above collage - We went to Vivo to watch Mr Popper's Penguins tonight.  Brought Kakak along to watch the movie and she was really appreciative of our kind gesture.... She thanked us profusely and told us it was one of the most memorable movies for her as she thoroughly enjoyed the movie and lauged from the beginning to the end.... Hmm, glad that she appreciates.... :)

Jurong Birdpark

Ee Ee suggested bringing the kiddoes to the Jurong Birdpark today.  Amanda has recently gone there, but I thought it's more the company than anything else coz kids tend to enjoy the place and remember things more vividly when they have company...  Lots of photos to share... Thank goodness for this collage thingy... :)

front seats for all shows, as usual...

stopping for lunch break... and taking the monorail...

bird feeding at the loryloft was the highlight of the day and which amanda enjoys most...

and finally, resting for ice cream over we called it a day... very enjoyable outing.... :)

Prima Revolving Tower Restaurant

Daddy wanted to bring Kate and her kids out for dinner... A pity Keith was away for a school trip in Spain.  Dinner location was left to Kate to decide and she chose Prima... A good choice, and we have not dined here for years.... 

no change since our last visit more than 10 years ago... but of course the view is much nicer now with resorts world sentosa...

we ordered a set meal for 6 pax... sharks fin, peking duck, prawn, scallops, fish, zhajiang noodles, caramel banana dessert... and decided to to order extra hashima for each of us after the banana dessert... lol!

daddy looking like a pro....  amanda certainly was enjoying the good food...

we were amazed by the way they prepared the banana dessert right in front of our eyes... can you see amanda's amazed look?

we adjourned to henderson wave after dinner...  amanda looks so liberated in the second photo... lol!

An enjoyable evening well spent... Dinner was good and company was great. 

However, service could have been better especially since the bill doesn't come cheap... We paid S$500 for dinner but Daddy said it's worth it and Kate deserves it... haha...

Our Very Own Little BBQ at Home

This BBQ at home to celebrate Father's Day holds very much sentimental value to us...  Firstly, this BBQ set was given by my good friends Rosie, Christoper, Patrick & Jenny 13 years ago when we first shifted into this house...  but can you believe we are only opening the box now, after 13 years!!!  Sentimental also because this is the first time we are having a BBQ in our house after so many years...  Hence we decided to have the "opening ceremony" just with the 3 of us...  All other BBQs can come later....  :))

By the way, this BBQ was an impromptu one which was decided only at 2pm the same day when we were brainstorming where to go for Father's Day dinner, when Daddy came up with this ingenious idea of having a home BBQ.  We quickled fixed up the set, rushed to Fairprice Finest after fixing to shop for the food, charcoal and tongs...  and returned home at 4pm all excited to prepare food for BBQ...

figuring how to fix the bbq set.... and it's finally ready...

amanda helping to marinate the chicken wings while kakak prepared other stuff... daddy was busy starting the fire, while mummy was busy taking pictures.... hahaha!!!

It was quite a feast considering that there were only 4 of us... We had chicken wings, satay, otah, lamb shanks, mussels, sausages, corns and sweet potatoes... the lamb shanks were delicious but quite expensive at S$7 per piece... 

daddy took a while to start the fire but in vain... thank goodness we had kakak who has experience starting a fire... by the way, we bought the special charcoals which didn't require any starters at all...  interesting how charcoal has evolved...

amanda and kakak were responsible for the bbq and both of them stood there watching over the fire throughout the whole bbq...

eating and BBQing at the same time...

daddy and i idled throughout the entire bbq leaving all the work to kakak and amanda... anyway, both of them enjoyed doing it... hehe...

(left) daddy enjoying himself....  (right) taking a break for her food...

and finally, BBQing the sweet potato and corns...  can you see the ash collected at the bottom of the pit? we later used it as fertilisers for the plants...

We had a really enjoyable and meaningful very own family Father's Day celebration this year...  It was fun and relaxing having a BBQ in your own home and the entire BBQ lasted 5 hours as it ended around 10.30pm...  Ahhh....  Sense of satisfaction....



An All Ladies' Father's Day Lunch (except for kongkong)

It was a weird Father's Day lunch today.... Weird because only 1 MAN was present while the rest were ladies... Now, isn't that funny?  LOL!

ah ee nancy loves the pendant deb and i bought for her... amanda giving kongkong her very own made presie... and she had pressies for all the men who were absent... how sweet of her...

as usual, meals at ah yat has never disappointed us....  thumbs up!

We had an enjoyable time chatting and laughing throughout the lunch... what a great lunch it was today!

Ray & JP's Visit to Singapore...

Ray, JP & Gu Zhang came over from NZ.  Bro in law directly from NZ, whereas Ray & JP were in Europe on a 1 month holiday and stopped over Singapore...  We brought them over to visit Ah Zou and before dropping them off at the airport for their next holiday destination...

Buffet Lunch at Fairmont...

The restaurant has recently undergone a change of management... It was a refreshing change as the chefs changed the menu..  Food was excellent! Seafood, Japanese, Korean, Nonya and Local foodfare....  Best!

look at our spread of food... my favourite sashimi as usual.... mmm....

can you spot amanda helping me get a cuppa tea tarik?....

Nom Nomsss...

Fun at Mama's house on 15 June...

16 June 2011 - Set lunch at Grandma's followed by dinner at Baystreet and DURIANS for supper....  muahahaha...

ahhh... shiok!!  *burps*...