Treats or "Tricks"

Don’t be mistaken, the aces family does not celebrate Halloween…

Anyway, the ace family received a good TREATs on Halloween’s eve…

Uncle Louis was our “TREATER”, he came along with whole load of goodies for everyone.

Anthea – received 5 Story books - Courtesy of Yeye, my father in law. (on Saturday evening after dinner, he wanted to bring her to Borders to buy the books. As our dinner ended quite late, we did not go Borders. He went on Sunday to buy her the books..so sweet of the granddad.)

Anders – received a Transformer VCD – courtesy of Uncle Louis & Aunty Eve. (he has been eyeing on this VCD for the longest time and now his wish comes true.)

Daddy & mommy – received Chocolate & Banana muffins – courtesy of Aunty Eve. (the muffins were really yummy and anthea told me to learn how to bake them…hee.)

We are so Blessed and Lucky that our family member always have us in their mind. I always remind Anthea and Anders that they are very lucky and must never take all these things for granted.

Discovering Dempsey Hills & KFC..

The latest “Eat of the town” must be Dempsey Hill. Last Saturday we had dinner at one of our family favorite seafood restaurant – Marina Seafood restaurant. They had shifted from Marina South to Dempsey Hill and last Saturday was their 1st day of Business Operation. What a coincidence.

Every new set up will face some kind of setbacks and we had our 1st experience at it. When Adrian ordered white rice (2nd round) the waitress told us the the kitchen had ran out of rice and they were cooking a new batch so it took a while to get the rice.

The waitress was serving us Chinese tea. I was shocked that she poured Chinese tea into a soup bowl in front of me. When I pointed out to her that it was a bowl, she still gave me a very confused look…ha-ha.

Anyway, all these didn’t dampen our mood and luckily the standard of the food was still as good. Both Anthea and Anders had a good time eating the Steam Crab.

The new design are into Zen and overall effect are quite good. As usual, our favorite Manager, Ms Priscilla, is there to serve us ,with her trademark smile.

On Sunday morning, Adrian fetched Anthea and my MIL to the CSC for their morning swim. They had a nice lunch at Tim’s café. This place will soon become our family regular hangout at the rate that we are visiting the café.

The children had their afternoon nap. Dinner was at Kentucky Fried Chicken as Anthea requested for home delivery. However, we decided to dine at the restaurant since we wanted more orders and also need to top up some groceries after dinner at the NTUC Extra.

This is the 1st time Anders had KFC and I was surprised that he truly enjoyed his meal. Finger licking good and both of them kept saying “we enjoy life hor...”

I love this kind of moment when the family eat together and share all the joy /fun of having a simple meal.

After dinner, we went by to the NTUC extra to stock up on the children’s stuff. Then we headed home to have an early rest as Adrian need to take the 4am ferry to Sudong Island this morning.

Tag : Shopping Tips

Opps...i think this time i am gonna get an "F" for this tag which was given to me by Joyce & Happypig. I am not a SHOPPING PERSON.

The 2 main reasons are :

1. With Anthea and Anders tagging along with me all the while, i have no chance to shop for anything. The only place that i can shop with them is NTUC or any supermarkets.

2. Time is very precious to me and i find shopping a waste of time... : P Unless really necessary, then i will shop with objective.

~ Start copy ~
It’s very simple. When you receive this tag, copy the whole list and add your own shopping tip to the bottom and pass it on.

1. Wear comfy clothing when you’re shopping. You don’t wanna fuss with too many laces and buttons when you’re trying clothes on. http://rinnah-marketplace.blogspot.com

2. When buying pants or jeans, try to try them on with a pair of heels so you know its the right length. If you don’t and wear it with heels later, you might find that it hangs at an awkward length. http://www.all-aboutshopping.com

3. Don’t just buy a designer brand because everyone has it or just to show it off. The best way of dressing is how to make a 50 bucks outfit looks like it worths more than 500 bucks. My Fashion World

4. Don’t wait until sales if you really like that particular piece of dress or shoes, as your size could be sold out sooner than you realized. Just buy if you really like it, cause there is nothing much we can do once it’s gone, especially when you shop abroad. Everyday health and beauty

5. Buy something that can mix and match with the rest of your wardrobe, or something that can adjust to your body size as you change. That will make sure you get more mileage for your purchase. Just My Tots.

6. Don’t shop alone. There is a possibility that you might spend more than you expected. MamaTang’s Tip.

7. Shop on weekdays to prevent the crowd and shop want you need so that to prevent overspending. Joyce

8. When you see something you like, try to resist digging out your wallet instantaneously. Walk away for a while (or even wait till your next shopping trip) and if you cannot get the item out of your mind even when it is out of your sight, revisit the shop to confirm you REALLY like it before you buy it. This would minimise your implusive buying. -- Angelcow

9.Getting hold of VIP's card is so important. Why pay the full price when someone else is paying 10-15% lower than you for the same item?--happypig

10. Don't waste time...hee - Astee

~ End copy ~

"Star Kids" Club

Recently Adrian mentioned that we should plan a short getaway as he had some leaves to clear.

Well, with budget constraint and also saving for our Australian tour in 2008, we decided to go on a cruise. Thus we have booked ourselves on SuperStar Virgo for a 3D2N Cruise to no-where.

There are 2 main reason for chosing the Star Cruise :

1. Anthea and Anders have not travel on a ship before, so it would be a good chance for them to explore something different. (ps: i have never been on a cruise as well...hehe)

2. In conjuction with the School holiday, Start Cruise has a special program - A HOLIDAY SPECIAL WITH 'MR. BEAN AND FRIENDS' ON SUPERSTAR VIRGO . Since Anthea and Anders are BIG FANS of Mr Bean, this will be a good time for them to meet their Star onboard.

Today, i went to Star Cruise office to make the payment for our package. There is a 15% discount for SAFRA card holders, so for adrian and myself are entitled to the discount. As for Anthea and Anders, they get to cruise for FREE as Star Kids club members. So overall, we had a very good deal for family of 2 Adults and 2 children. To pamper ourselves a little, we have booked a Balcony Class room with Oceanview.

I am looking forward to a cruising fun time in mid November when the Captain shout " ahoy - all on board"...hee.

As i took the afternoon off to do the payment, i decided to do another round of muffins - Chocolate Ricotta Muffins. This is my 1st time (again) using Ricotta cheese for muffins. This ricotta cheese has a very smooth and nice taste. I got it from Carrefour hypermart in Plaza Singapore.

The muffins turn out very well and i am really surprised and pleased with them.

Thank's god it's Friday.

Where do i GO from HERE

I am on the CROSS ROAD…

Few week back, out of frustration, I wrote in for a Frontline position.

Reasons why I wrote in for the position:

1. Work location is where I have been dreaming about. (Direct at MRT)

2. Working hours meet my requirement ( 9am to 5.30pm)

The agency called me and I went for the interview. The session was quite terrifying as the potential employer stressed on PUNTCUALITY. I know this may be a bit tough for me, especially my morning hours are always a “mad rush”.

After the interview, I thought I would not get the job. So I did not think about it.

Last Friday, the agency asked me to call in to the HR Manager for a phone interview. The reason was she was not around when I went for the 1st round of interview.

Anyway, I called her and we had a nice friendly chat.

Yesterday, I received an email from the agency on the job offer. The offer is about 30% increase from my current salary.

Now I am in a dilemma, as much as I would like to take on the new job. I have some reservation that is holding me back…sigh!!

a) The job is on a contract term, so benefit wise, it is not comprehensive. According to the agency, usually the company will add on once I join them, however, this is not GURANTEED.

b) Must report to work 10 minutes before 9 am..Gosh…I am really worried about my mornings.

c) Lunch time exercise – now that I am happily enjoying my lunch time exercise regime, I am worried I may miss this if I join the new company, though the new location also does has a big gym outlet.

Time to sit down and put on my thinking cap and consider really….CAREFULLY.

Muffins Sunday

Today adrian is on his Sunday work duty.

My MIL came in the morning to fetch Anthea for their weekends swimming sessions, thus i am home alone with Anders.

Anthea has been looking forward to this Sunday where she can stay at my In laws place during the day. Louis, Eve & Faith are doing their weekend relaxation trip in Bintan. So my MIL need not babysit Faith.

After lunch, Anders had his usual afternoon nap. Without any disturbance, he slept quite immediately.

This leave me FREE to do my own chores. So i baked a dozen of Blueberry Muffins. This is my 1st attempt at Blueberry Muffins. I realised my mistake - too much sugar. The recipe asked for certain amount of sugar and Blueberry. Overlooking that i am using Blueberry fillings which are already sweetened, i should have 1/2 the sugar content..hee : P

Well, overall the Blueberry muffins turned out nice on the texture. For this round, i used cake flour which i think helps. I bought cake flour for the cheese tarts recipe and since i still have balance of the flour, i thought might as well used it. Glad that it was a right choice.


Baking without my "sou chefs" are so much relaxing and faster. When they are around me, i tend to be a bit off focus as i need to keep watching out for them.

So this baking session was quite an enjoyable moment for me.

Anthea was so cute, yesterday after eating the Blueberry cheese tarts, she said : "mommy, you bake more and sell them for money." What a compliment..haha.

i told her mommy's baking standard is only good for self consumation and not for sale, people will asked for their money back. : P

We had dinner with my in laws at 香港珍街 near our place. It was another nice and simple dinner. Father in law shared his experienced on property with me at dinner table. Hopefully, one day i can be just liked him...(Daydreaming again...)

Cheesetarts & Meeting Tom

In the morning, after settling lunch for the children, i went to NTUC Extra to get some ingredients for my 1st attempt to bake Blueberry Cheesetarts.

Since the last time i baked muffins, i have been thinking to do cheese tarts. Reason being Anthea love the Blueberry cheesetarts that we bought from SL II from Golden Mile Hawker.

I googled and managed to find this recipe which was quite easy for a beginnner like me. So with this recipe, i bought the ingredients. I was not able to get the Blueberry fillings from NTUC, so i went to Phoon Huat and luckily there was 2 can left on the shelf. I bought one of them and also at the same time, i bought a muffins tray.

When i reached home, i started preparing the pastry and both Anthea and Anders busied themselves as my "sou chefs".

After preparing the pastry, they had their lunch. I started preparing the fillings while they were having their lunch.

Then i started baking the tarts. The final results came out like these :


I am quite happy with my 1st attempt on Blueberry cheesetarts and now i have some Blueberry fillings leftover, i am considering to bake some blueberry muffins.. : )

We had dinner with my in laws at Tim's Restaurant & Cafe. It was recommended by one of my MIL's colleague and i had also read from some blogs about this cafe.

When we reached the cafe, we had a sweet surprised. The owner Tom Shretha, is none other then the restaurant Manager of a restaurant that our family always frequent at Novena Villa. It was meeting a good old friend... : )

Of course, we were served by Tom and his friendly staff. His recommendation of his food was excellent and we truely enjoyed our meal.

I know i will be back for more goodies since this place is near to my workplace..haha.

After dinner, my in laws went for their two-some time. MIL said it was a rare opportunity..hee : )

( always envy my in laws for being so loving and romantic, after all the years that they are married)

Happy Birthday to Terence !

My youngest brother in law , Terence, birthday falls on 24 Oct. The family decided to have an early birthday celebration for him.

Terence had preference for Spanish food, so the restaurant that was shortlisted - Streeters on 35 Keong Saik Rd. This restaurant was recommended to us by my Dage, a few years back. We were there before i had any kid, so can imagine how long it was since we last visited the restaurant.

We ordered a few starters and paellas, according to Louis & Eve, they said that the paella are closed to what they had eaten while holidaying in Spain. This means the food is good. They order a Spanish drink - Sangria which tasted a bit like fruit punch with a real PUNCH..hee : P

Dessert was the birthday cake - Lychee Martini cake from Pine Garden's cake. True to it's recommendation, the cake was soft and tasted good with Lychee Martini. Eveyone love the cake.

During dinner, yeye brought the children to the car to pick up some toys that he had bought for them and Anders was so happy to receive his favorite toys.

Finally at dinner, i had the chance to take a photo with my 6 months old niece, Faith. Usually at dinner, i hardly had the chance to carry her because i had to keep my focus on Anders, just in case, he create any troubles.

My niece is so cute and i must say, she has the potential to become a model..because she looks at the camera when we are taking the shots...so CUTE & LOVEABLE...can't have enough of her.

Tag : An Idol You Were Really Crazy About When You Were In Your Teens..

Wow...teacher Angie is giving me more "tag-work" after i scored A++ on one of my TAG..hee : )

Well, since it is now raining at lunch time and no where to go, might as well finished my tag fast, so i can "tag-it-forward", otherwise everytime get tagged last, nobody to tag liao.. : P

I was young once and in those good old days, i had so many idols but my all time-favorite is none other than the Diva - MADONNA.

During those days, Tea Dances were our regular frequent places on weeekends. Also many birthdays parties held either at friends house or HDB Area office Multi purposes hall. Needless to say, i grooved whenever i am at these places.

The DJ will always played MADONNA songs, withour failed. Those days, her Hits were so many - Into the Groove, Crazy for You, Like A Prayer, True Blue, Like A Virgin, Material Girl, Borderline, Who's that Girl, VOUGUE...and many many more.

VOUGUE is one of the song i like most because we always mimmicked her ACT when she sings:

"Ladies with an attitude,

Fellows that were in the mood

Don't just stand there,

let's get to it

Strike a pose, there's nothing to it

Vogue, vogue.

(At this point, must STRIKE A POSE...action action..)

Now, i will like to know your teenage IDOLs:

1. Happypig

2. Joyce

Tag : My Desktop View

Another Tag shared by LZmommy (she is like my twin, so her tag, die die must do..hee : )

*************** START COPY ****************

My Desktop Free View Instruction:

A. Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop.It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun. You can do a screen capture by:

[1] Going to your desktop and pressing the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key).

[2] Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and do a Paste (CTRL + V).

[3] If you wish, you can “edit” the image, before saving it.

B. Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of icons. Things like that.

C. Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktop as well.

*************** END COPY ****************

This is my workplace desktop view.

These are some of the lastest photos that were taken during our KL/Sunway trip. I will update the photos as and when we have chance to take new one.

Okie..this should be right for now. As usual i have no more blogger friend to tag as almost 90% of them has done this.

Island Princess & Little Treats

Anthea is very into Barbie shows. I think we have almost all the collections of Barbie shows - Fairytopia, Mermaidia, Princess & the Pauper, 12th Dancing Princesses, Rapunzal,Swan Lake, Nutcrackers - you named it, we have it...haha.

So the latest addition to her collection is - Barbie as Island Princess. She had been eyeing on this show for a while and kept saying that she viewed the show on Computer while at my inlaws house.

Yesterday, while we were at a VCD shop, my colleague was purchasing VCD/DVDs for work purposes. I was browsing through the VCDs when i saw the words - Movie Musical on Island Princess, i knew i have to buy it. We enjoyed Princess & the Pauper very much because it's a musical and the songs are all very mesmerizing and i love them. So i hope that this musical will be as good as that. When i showed Anthea the VCDs, she was elated and kept jumping up & down. After she cooled down, she said "Thank you, mommy." I am really glad that she is appreaciative of this small kind.

At the same time, after buying the VCDs. I discovered a new Muffins/Donuts shop. The name of this shop is - The Little Treats. I bought a box of 6 muffins - Apple Cinnamon, Chocolate Delight, Blueberry, Strawberry and Cheese. They shop has a promo card for stamping and i believe the challenge is to collect 6 stamps to get 1 FREE box of muffins or donuts.

I must say or admit that the muffins were really, really GOOD. After eating so many different brand of muffins...hee.

I had the Apple Cinnamon and the apple was well cooked to the taste. My only complaint is too little fillings. The chocolate delight was just nice and the chocolate is not too sweet.

My colleague tried a double chocolate donut but she said it's too sweet to her liking. I will try one the next time i buy my next batch of muffins... : )

(sigh..how to lose weight like this... : P )

Happy Boss Day

On Tuesday, 16 Oct, while driving to work, I overheard on radio that it’s Boss's Day on this day.
Upon reaching the office, I spoke to a few of my department colleagues and we decided to bring our Boss out for a lunch.

After doing some research, we got this recommendation from a colleague from another department – PS Café.

Her recommendation was good. When we reached the place, all of us were like “mountain tortoise”…because everyone was saying – they don’t know there is such a café hidden in the woods.

We ordered 2 salads as starters – Beef & Tuna salad and both the salads were really good.

For our main course, we ordered our own portion and I think it was a mistake. The portions that they served were BIG.

Main courses that we had – club sandwiches, steak sandwich, Fish & chips & an Udon broth.

All the food was very well done and tasteful and because the serving was big, we had no more space in our stomach to try the desserts, which looks really good. We had made plan to return for desserts….heehee.


Happy Bosses Day to my GM.

Tag : 2 Things about me

LZmommy share this tag with me...

Two names you go by: astee & ah cheng-jie jie (by all my younger cousins)

Two things you are wearing right now: wedding ring and my one & only dress watch - Guess.(bought from san francisco airport - duty free )

Two things you would want (or have) in a relationship: Romance & Honesty

Two things you like to do: Baking & going to Gym

Two things you want very badly at the moment: Good Full Body Massage & Lost Weight

Two things you did last night: Iron clothes & watch a variety programme on CH8

Two things you ate today: bread & slice of mooncake

Two people you last talked to: Anthea & Anders (while walking to school)

Two things you’re doing now: Planning for lunch & doing this tag

Two Favorite Day of the week: Saturday & Sunday

Two Favorite Holidays: Chinese New Year & New Year Day

Two favorite beverages: Latte & Cuppacino

Two things about me! Things you may have known: True Blue Hainanese & Food Lover

Two jobs i have had in my life: Vacation Planner & Inbound Tour executive

Two movies i would watch over and over: Annie & Mama Mia(the play)

Two place i have lived: Sembawang & Ang Mo Kio

Two of my favorite foods: Homecooked Hainanese rice & chicken pie

Two places I’d rather be right now: SPA resort & GYM

Two person I would like to tag : Nobody & Anybody (i think by now, most of the people that i know have been tagged on this)

Tag : 任意门

This tag is a very creative one by Angie and i need to take a few days to ponder over it before deciding on the place that i want to be.


******************Start Copy******************
1. Dokodemo Door (任意门) literally means "Anywhere Door", and is a gadget that is often used by Doraemon and his friends, which allows the users to travel to anywhere simply by walking through the door.


2. Strictly speaking, the dokodemo door doesn't allow the user to travel to other dimensions or fantasy worlds, in this tag the taggee is free (and encouraged) to choose your favourite place from any world that exists in any books or movies, fiction or otherwise.


3. Choose your desired destination that you'd like the dokodemo door to bring you to, and indicate why you'd like to go there.


4. Forward this tag to whoever you'd like to extend this magical journey to.
******************End Copy******************


For me, i would like to experience the world of 大长今.


The reason being she is a real Heroine of her time.


I love her romantic link to 闵政浩. ( 帅呆了!!). Wish i can be in LOVE again.. : )



Of course being a food lover, i am especially attracted to all the Korean specialities that were prepared in the show...yummy!




Last but not least, it is not easy to overcome so many obstacles in life and in 大长今, i know nothing is impossible.

Okie, i am done and would like to share this tag with :

1. Jean
2. Jamie

Enjoy the tour, ladies..

Our Hari Raya Weekends

For the last 3 years when Siti, our helper, was with us, Hari Raya is a BIG Affair for the family. We will usually bring her out for a good lunch during this special day and she will dressed up pretty in the Baju Kurung that we bought for her...sweet memory.


This is the 1st year we DID NOT celebrated Hari Raya. On Saturday, i cooked a simple meal of prawn noodle soup for lunch. While the children were napping, i took a nice & relaxed swim by the pool nearby. I like Public pool on a public holiday - no crowd and plus it was drizzling.. : P

Dinner was with our extended family at a new discovered Teochew restaurant - Mong Hin Teochew Restaurant. Nice home cooked spread with a bottle o good white wine. I told adrian that ever since i married his family, i have been eating a lot of TEOCHEW cuisines..hehe. One fine day must learn to cook some speciality.


Aunty SK recently tour Hokkaido and she shared with us some goodies from Hokkaido. I brought some for my extended families to sample. My parents in law will be going for their Hokkaido tour in December. They can help to buy back nice goodies stuff.



Today Adrian is back to work, so i am home alone with the 2 children. In the morning, we had breakfast at the market place and then brought them to the playground for them to sweat it out. The children had a good nap in the afternoon.In the evening, we had Macdonald's for dinner.


Today i missed the opportunity to do an assignment for an event company because of Adrian's work. What a pity. I have always enjoyed doing this kind of major event during my days in the Travel Industry. Even after i left the industry, my closed friend will still invite me to join her on ad hoc basic.

Tag : Autograph Book

This is my 1st tag from Angelcow aka Angie and i know there will be more to follow..hee. As what Angie mentioned on her blog, the tag reminded her of those school days where everyone had an Autograph Book for friends to sign on when you are leaving the school for the next phase of life.

My deepest impression of a well known autograph verses is:

Roses are red
Violet are blue,
Sugar are sweet
& so are you...(this mean me lah...haha.)

Here goes the tag:

#1 What is your favourite movie?
Annie

#2 Who is your favourite singer?
Group - ABBA

#3 Which song gets you grooving in the morning?
Dancing Queen by ABBA

#4 What is your favourite fruit?
Durian

#5 Who is your best friend (excluding your family)?
wow..i am stuck with this.. : P

#6 Name one activity you would like to indulge in, in your free time.
Spa Massage

#7 When was the last time you laughed so hard till your sides hurt?
Recently was watching the Chinese drama serial - Passion & what.

#8 Do you recall your last dream?
No..because always day dreaming..hee/

#9 What is your all-time favourite hobby?
Baking

#10 When was your last holiday without the children?
15 to 18 August 2007 - KL/Sunway Lagoon

I want to share this tag with the following mommies:

1. Idy
2. Joyce
3. LZmommy

Farewell Lunch @ Man Fu Yuan - Intercontinental Hotel

One of our colleague from another department will be leaving the company and her last day of work is this Friday.

Together 5 of us went for a lunch in "celebration" of her farewell.

Thanks to my MIL once again, we managed to have a good dim sum lunch at Man Fu Yuan at Intercontinental Hotel. My MIL bought the hotel membership with the Priority group and she named me as a supplementary holder. So for this lunch, i am entitled to a 20% discount + using the $40 vouchers + a Complimentary Chocolate cake + an In-house White wine...so we had quite a feast.

The dim sum here is very good. The ingredients are all freshly prepared and all done to the best taste. We had a wonderful time with the food and the chat.

As we were too full after the dim-sum, we brought the cake back to the office and also the white wine (which i will share with my extended families during our next makansutra).

We had coffee at Starbuck cafe after our lunch and it was my 1st time trying a Green Tea Latte - Verdict is not too bad.

On our way back from the hotel to office, one of my colleague recommended that we go by a muffins shop in Sunshine Plaza to try the muffins, she said they are really good. When we went to the shop, i can smell the strong aroma of chicken pie and true enough, the shop sells chicken pies too. I overheard a customer talking to the shop owners and realised that they are "suki" too - means they are Hainanese. I started to conversed with the owners in our language and they were pleasantly surprised. I bought a chicken pie (left 1 only) and 6 muffins to try. (hmm..soon, i will become a muffins expert at the rate that i am discovering muffins over Singapore..haha.)

Along the way back, we made another stop at the famour Curry puff shop -SELERA FAMOUS CHICKEN CURRY PUFF. My colleague bought some snacks and our car was load with smell of pies / puffs & goreng pisang.

We had tea break in the late afternoon but i didn't managed to sample anything as i was still full from the lunch. Will try the muffins for tomorrow breakfast and chicken pie will be my lunch after my workout..hehe : P

In the evening, i passed some chocolate cakes to my parents in law, hopefull they will like it, which i think they will.

Another nice makan outing with my colleagues and also getting to know new foodies place.

Sacrifices..

Last night after dinner, Anthea requested with nai nai that she wanted to sleep over at her house. Sensing that MIL is tired from her day work and the whole day event, i told Anthea to go home to sleep, so nai nai can have a good night rest.

While on our way back in the car, Adrian told Anthea that by helping to make things easier for all of us, she will get to chose which swimming pool she would like to swim on Sunday. She was quite happy after hearing this. She chosed Safra Mouth Fable, so this morning adrian fetched both MIL and Anthea to the pool. He forego his badminton session and spend time reading his notes while waiting for them.

Now with the new weekends logistics arrangement, there are a lot of sacrifices we have to make. Sometimes as a mother, i feel sad to see her faces this kind of disappointment. However, i know this will slowly but surely build up her character and understanding - in life, we don't always get what we want. As a consolation - Anthea is now looking forward to the 2o Oct weekends as MIL assured her that she can get to spend time over at her place.. : )

Today dinner was supposed to be at Clark Quay, however, around 4pm, we got sms that venue was changed to Raffles City. My parents in law brought the new baby to Raffles City to walk around as the AMK HUB was too crowded..hehe.

Like i said, when thing change - there is always negative & positive sides to it. Negative side is since it is Thai cuisine, Anthea and Anders could not really take much of the food as most of them are hot & spicy. So we packed our own dinner for 2 of them. They had a bowl of fish maw soup with their dinner.

As for the positive side - we managed to buy some fruits that were required for Anthea Class project for this coming week.

Also, we bought DONUTS from donut factory...hee...no Q. Got them in less than 10 minutes.



Met a friend earlier who also bought a box of donuts, asked her how long she Q for them, she said : "1 Hour...".

Are we so lucky !!!

Newbies Day...

In the morning after cooking the fish porridge for lunch, we went to NTUC to stock up some of our groceries.

Also at the same time i was planning to change my current Nokia 6020 to a new mobile. Both my Sil's are now using the Nokia E65 model with comes with the WLAN function, this is useful when you have wireless at home. I was contemplating to get one too. After much consultation with the Hello Shop assistant, i finally bought a Nokia 6120 Classic. The main reason is budget..hee : P



With my discount voucher and trade in, i only need to pay a balance of $38 compared to $208 if i were to buy the E65. Now i am a happy owner of a new mobile. This new mobile has many functions and i am slowly learning all the new gadgets. The shop assistant was of good humour, when he took over my old mobile, he asked me to bid my phone GOODBYE : P

In the evening, Aces family had dinner with Ye ye and Nai nai. MIL had been following the HDB Tai Tai variety show and the latest show, the hosts (Chen Liping & Kym Ng )recommend a chinese restaurant Tian Jing Restaurant @ 80 Pagoda Street (天津楼). MIL suggested that we tried this place.

So we made a reservation for dinner at this restaurant. It was a 2-storey shophouse amid chinatown shopping area.

We ordered the set menu for 4 persons. It included their specialities :
- Seafood soup in coconut
- special spareribs
- scallops with brocoli
- fried rice with crab meat
- Hashima with red dates
(there was also a special stuffed chicken wings but was sold out)

The food was really good - the spare ribs was done until so tender that one bite will bring the meat out, both anthea and anders had a good times with the ribs.

Seafood soup in coconut was also a hit with the children. They were very generous with the seafood and Anders was happily eating all the prawns while anthea was busy scrapping the coconut meat. One soup is enough to make a full meal..hehe.

Then the fried rice with crabmeat was not a "crab". The fried rice was really FULL of real crab meats. We managed to finished the 2 plates of friend rice. It was really amazing as everyone was already quite filled up after the soup. My MIL was commenting we were like doing the show when we kept saying: "wow...so much crab meats"..haha. Just like what Aiyo-yo said in the show. The dessert was hashima cook with red dates.

During dinner, parents in law also shared more insights of their current properties market situation with us. My parents in law are very shrewd investors and i looked upon them. Hopefully one day, i can be like them, then i can really become a FT homemaker. Another of my many daydream...: )

We finished our dinner almost near to 9pm. We took a stroll along Pagoda Street and turn around at Temple Street. My main purpose is to buy the famous 味香园 desserts. I bought 1 almond paste and 1 walnut paste back home. MIL also bought 1 yam paste.



While walking back to the car at Chinatown point, we saw some "cycle-packers" and we were pretty amazed at their super high bicycles with all their travel staff.


We reached home about 10 pm. After changing the children, i tried the Almond Paste. It was really very good. So far, it's the best that i had eaten. Adrain ate the walnut and he said it was very smooth. Hmm...i will definitely go back for more.

It was a wonderful day of New Mobile/ New Discovery / New taste and i know we are on the road to more NEW discoveries.

Feasting @ Café Brios...Again...

Recently at work, my colleague renewed her internet contract with Pacific Internet. For this renewal, PI gave us a $300 Harvey Norman vouchers. My General Manager decided to do a mini department lucky draw and guess what … he drew my NAME…so I was the Lucky Winner.

The previous lucky draw winner bought department lunch for all the colleagues; so needless to say, I will have to buy lunch for my colleagues as well.

So on Wednesday, I brought them to lunch at café Brios @ Grand Copthrone Waterfront for the Buffet Lunch.

Seem like this is the 1st time that all my colleagues were here and they enjoyed the food & ambience as well.

The reason why I chose this place is because my MIL has a 50% discount vouchers for this restaurant, so it was a HUGE Savings for me…hehe. (Thanks Mom.. : )

Now, I will have to start looking around in Harvey Norman and see what to buy with the vouchers. (or if anyone interested to buy over at a discounted rate.. )

Happy Childrens Day !!

On Monday, 01 Oct 2007, it was children's day. Most of the childcares were closed for the day. However, the childcare that Anthea and Anders attended was opended and it even organised a small party for the children.

Children were advised to go to school in their home clothings for the day, so both Anthea and Anders were very happy and excited. In the morning, Anthea hurried me to get ready for school. If only everyday is like this...hehe.

When we reached the school, most of the children were there and all dressed in different colors and styles. It was quite a nice view. There were balloons all over the place and i knew the children were going to have a good time.

This is Anthea and Anders 1st Children Day Celebration in this new childcare. End of th day, both came home with load of presents from the teachers.

Anders Presents :
1. Mrs Deva - Color pens with small note book
2. Zhang lao shi - A Packet of Biscuit
3. Teacher Jessie - a Looney Toon Tee-shirt
4. Ms Alice - Toy cars
5. Luo lao shi - toothbrush set

Anthea Presents:
1. Mrs Deva - Color pencils
2. Luo Lao shi - Toothbrush set

Her english teacher, Ms Valentine, has been on medical leaves and so she did not get any prezzies from her.

Even the school aunties bought some sweets and chocolates for the children. Both of them came home with so many stories and things to share.

Recently, the childcare has given parents a notice of increasing school fees from 2008. One of Anthea classmate's mother called me and asked if i will be making plan for change in 2008. She claimed that the school fees are too expensive and almost equal to private. So her intention was to change her 2 children to those few hours kindergarten and playgroup sessions. Also she is planning to change to Part Time to spend more time with her children.

In the evening i shared with Anthea about her classmate's mother plan to change school. She said: "mommy, i like this school, i don't want to change."

I was happy to hear her comment and i told her that i will not change her school because she will be in K2 and it will be a special year for her and for Aces family too. Also most important, there is a team of dedicated teachers here and also a group of good friends.

May Anthea and Anders have many funfilled Children Day Celebrations!!