"Losing Out "

Today I had lunch with a few colleagues at the Original Sin. This is a mediterranean vegetarian restaurant and the food was quite impressive. On top of it, the restaurant has a very good promotion for American Express card holder: 1 for 1 set meal. For Citibank cardholder, there is also a promotion on the main course – 1 for 1 as well.

I had a set meal and it’s served with a soup of the day, main course (tofu burger / tortilla wrap with some special vegetables), dessert and coffee/tea. The set meal cost $24++.

My colleague chose a set meal and so we order one main course each and shared the portion. I like the tofu burger and it was very delicious.

During lunch, we had small talks on works and families. One of them, who are in the legal industry, had twins whom will be starting Primary School next year. This means that they are of the same age group as Anthea.

We were chatting about short listing primary school and he voiced his opinion on the MOE system of selections. As his twins is a boy and a girl, he is in a dilemma as to which house address he should use to register for his girl (aiming at MGS) & his boy (aiming at ACS).

Then also he commented that his children week days and week ends are packed – Mondays to Sundays.

Both his children attended K2 classes at Cambridge. Then following by Mathematics Tuition, English Classes, swimming, ballet, piano, squash, golf and his daughter is even in some modeling classes.

When I heard of his children curriculum, I felt so “lose out” for Anthea. So far, she is not taking any enrichment classes and for swimming, she is doing on her own leisure. I can’t help but felt a sense of guilt toward Anthea. The reason why she is not taking all these lessons is also mainly because we can’t afford all these extra $$.

I do hope that we can start her on some enrichment classes to better prepare her for Primary school. In NTUC childcare, they don’t do Spellings and Hanyu Pinying. So I think this we will need to train her little to get her gear up a notch.

There is a Chinese saying: “人比人，氣死人“! Well, I guess I just need to console myself by thinking positively – 知足常樂.

Let’s hope when she starts Primary school, she will be able to progress well.

大舅六十 大壽

On Saturday, my eldest uncle had his 6oth birthday dinner celebration at Li Bai, Sheraton Tower. His son-in-law hosted this dinner for him. There were 2 tables being reserved for the dinner.

One table was for my uncle and all his siblings. As my parents could not make it for the dinner, naturally my eldest brother and I were asked to be the representatives.

Honestly speaking, I have never been to Li Bai for meals and having read so many accolades of the restaurant, I was simply thrilled to be invited for the dinner.

In the evening, my dage fetched me and we headed to the restaurant for the sumptuous dinner.

Dishes include:

- suckling pig
- double boiled soup with shark fins
- steam fish
- king prawn with spicy sauce
- scallop & prawn with asparagus
- abalone
- dumpling soup with noodle
- papaya boiled with fungus and chuan pei (川貝)

I enjoyed all the dishes very much and each dish is special on it own way. I also had a good chance to chat with all my uncles and aunties. I picked up a lot of tips on TCM since my aunt’s family is in the TCM business.

At dessert time, the waitress brought out the birthday cake and everyone started to sing the birthday song for my uncle. His 3 grandchildren surrounded him and were very eager to blow out the candle on the cake.

It was a very memorable dinner for me and I always look forward to such family gatherings, somehow as age mature, I am starting to appreciate my family and relatives more & more. Not forgetting friends too!!

While I was attending the dinner, Adrian brought the children out for dinner with the extended families. By the time I reached home around 11pm, they were home and both of them were full of sweat. It seem like they had a good time at the McDonald’s children playground.

福禄寿三星 - 齊拜年

On Tuesday, our company had the annual Chinese New Year Lo Hei lunch in the office premise.

This year, we had 3 Special Stars (三星) to celebrate this special occasion with us. They are 福禄寿.

福星 - 民间传说之神。象征能给大家带来幸福、希望的人或事物。

禄星 - 顾名思义，是主管功名利禄的星官。

寿星 - 为白须老翁，持杖，额部隆起。常衬以鹿、鹤、仙桃等，象征长寿。

With these 3 special Stars among us and giving us Ang Pows, we are sure the year of Rat will be a prosperous year for all of us.

We had the usual Yu Sheng and guess what? The God of Fortune was with my table during the Lo-Hei, so hopefully, he will bring us good luck in our Fortune Dreams!!

After the lo hei, there was a buffet lunch. The spread was sumptuous and we had a good time. During the event, we were even being taught how to make “旺梨”out of some simple handy craft things. It was really fun and hopefully we will all be “旺！旺!” on this coming Thursday.

和气生财

It has been a practice with my own parents that we eat Reunion dinners before the 1st day of Lunar New Year. Also a reunion dinner on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year (元宵).

With this in mind, I would also like to extend this practice to my extended families as this symbolized a good start to the New Year (团团圆圆) 。

My MIL is going to Beijing with my 2nd BIL & family on Saturday and will return to Singapore on the next Friday, which means the 15th day is already over.

So I managed to arrange for a reunion lunch on this Saturday with my In Laws and my 3rd BIL with his fiancée. My 2nd BIL and family can't make it for the lunch as their baby girl is down with fever and also my SIL need to prepare the baby meals for their trip to Beijing.

I booked a table at Gim Tim restaurant at AMK Ave 4. We ordered the Lunar New Year Set menu for 6 people. This is also a Thank You lunch from the Aces Family to our parents for all the care and concerns that they had given to us for the past year.

The menu was very good and auspicious:

1. Prosperity Raw Salmon Fish ( 鸿运发财鱼生)
2. Braised Superior Shark’s Fin with Brown Sauce (宏图大展翅)
3. Deep Fried Soon Hock Fish with Thai Sauce (年年有余)
4. Fried Prawn with Green (嘻哈丰收年)
5. Boneless Duck with Sea cucumber (福气满满)
6. Fried Thread Noodle (富贵连绵)
7. Double Boiled Hashima with Red Dates (雪湖奇珍)

It was a very prosperous lunch and everyone enjoyed the food very much. When we were paying the bill, there was a Lucky Draw Box and my MIL picked the lucky draw. We WON a bottle of Red Wine and can consume it for our next visit. So we have good excuse to go back to the restaurant for a meal.

After lunch, we headed to my 2nd BIL house to help him to off load his luggage and then we left for Changi Airport Terminal 3 for their SQ flight to Beijing.

This is the 1st time we went to Terminal 3 for departure. Well, it was BIG and spacious but not as busy as Terminal 2. Seem like the Check in counters are all very empty and the staffs are all pretty free...hee : P

After saying good bye to my MIL, Bil and his family, we had tea break at Wang café at the terminal. Anthea and Anders had the set meal – 2 eggs, kaya toast and a cup of tea. Both of them enjoyed the tea so much. Then we went home for their power naps.

In the evening, we had dinner with my FIL. We tried a new café – 上海人家, 906B Upper Thomson Road. We managed to try 2 dishes – the pan fried shanghai buns and the noodles. The shop was very short handed as 2 of their chefs went back to China for holiday. The kitchen could not cook up to the diners requests. So in the end, we went to Hans Café, which was just next to this restaurant. We had Sirloin steaks and my FIL had lamp chops. All ends well.

After dinner, we brought Anthea and Anders to the AMK Mac Cafe to have desserts. The children had good fun at the children play area while the adults were relaxing and having a good chat. At the same time, since we were so free, we decided to check on the 4D via SMS. To our sweetest surprise – my FIL strike 4D, the number he bought on Friday came out on Saturday. Even though it was a consolation prize, I am still very happy because to strike during Lunar New Year means it is good fortune – 开年生财！！

Probably our Lo Hei today had helps too…hee : )

After sharing his joy, we headed home for the children to change and rest. It has been a long day for us but it was a beautiful day.

Now i am looking forward to 元宵 to have a nice reunion dinner with my family and hopefully we have a bit of luck on the TOTO ANG POWS Draws on this SPECIAL DAY!!

"发 ！发！发！"

Lo Hei on 人日

Today is the 7th day of the lunar new year and it is also known as人日 (means everybody birthday).

Our department decided to do our company Lo-Hei on this special day. With recommendation from a colleague, we made a reservation for lunch at this restaurant – Sha Tin Kitchen, 8/10 Lorong 3 Geylang Singapore 388861. Tel : 6747 2483.

We ordered their Chinese New Year set for 10 person, we had a table of 11 person. As one of them is a Muslim colleague, he just joined us for the fun and we ordered a special fried rice for him.

Our set menu includes :

- Yu Sheng with Salmon
- Braised Shark’s Fin Soup with Crab Roe
- Sauteed Prawns with cashew nuts
- Deep Fried Soon Hock Fish
- Braised Slice Top Shell & Mushroom
- Deep fried chicken with Salad Sauce
- Lotus rice with Preserved Sausages ( we changed to E-Fu Noddle)
- New Year Cake

The Yu Sheng was good and it seemed they added fried salmon skins to the Yu Sheng. Everyone love the Yu Sheng. The food was also delicious and the portion that was served was big. We had an enjoyable meal.


祝大家 ：人日快乐 ， 事事顺利 ！！

Aces Family – Lunar New Year 2008!!

It has been a good 4 days of Chinese New Year, especially for Anthea and Anders since they need not go to school... : )

除夕夜 - Reunion dinner :

As usual, we had steamboat at my Parents in law home. This year we had a special dish – Braised Abalone and it was delicious, I truly enjoyed this dish.

After dinner, my MIL’s siblings came over and joined us for dessert. We had a good time chatting till almost 11 pm. Both Anthea and Anders had a good time, playing with their uncle MK.

We stayed awoke and watched the Chinese variety program and joined them for the countdown. Both Anthea and Anders were excited and started singing the Chinese New Year songs. I always enjoy counting down, especially with all the Love ones. Also as the traditional practice, when the children stay awake as late as possible; their parents will enjoy Longevity (守岁). We slept around 1 am.

大年初一 ：Day 1, 07 Feb 2008:

Early in the morning, Adrian went to the temple and pray because this year he 犯太岁。 At the same time, he also prayed for Anthea, as her zodiac is also on the list. May this year be peaceful for them.

Our 1st stop for visiting was my Parents In law house. We had lunch at their place. After that we headed to my parent’s place. My eldest uncle (大舅) happened to come by my parent’s place. We chatted up a little and then went home for the children to have their power nap.

In the evening, we went to my MJ kakis gathering at Mag’s house. She bought a resale property near to her parents place and her new home is very nicely done. Both Anthea and Anders had so much fun at her place because she had a room full of children stuff. Both of them liked the whiteboard so much that they kept asking us to buy for them.

It was really good to be able to catch up with all of them and knowing how each and everyone is progressing. We are looking forward to our next gathering when our “老大” celebrates his 2nd baby full month, his wife is currently expecting and EDD is August 2008.


大年初二 ：Day 2, 08 Feb 2008 :

In the morning, we brought Anthea and Anders to the swimming pool for a morning swim as the weather was very nice and sunny.

We met my MIL at the pool and while she helped to looked after the children, Adrian and I did our laps.

After a good round of workout, we met up with our extended families at Man Fu Yuan @ Intercontinental hotel for Dim Sum lunch. We had 2 tables in their privates’ rooms – Jasmine & Begonia. My MIL’s siblings and families also joined us for the lunch. We had “鱼生” and with our uncle HT around, our table were full of “發! 發 ! 發 !” . May all of us have a prosperous year ahead. We had an enjoyable meal with the relatives and especially Anthea; she requested to be seated with her uncle Kiat... : )

After a hearty Dim Sum lunch, we went home to rest. In the evening, we went to my 大舅 open house. It’s a tradition that we meet at his home at every Chinese New Year and it makes giving 紅包easier when all the cousins are together.

For dinner, my 舅母ordered a 盆菜 (pen cai) from Old Hong Kong restaurant. This is my 1st time sampling this dish and I find it quite nice. However, my aunties, who are experts with food, all commented that the dish was so – so and next year, my aunty said she will cook her own food...hee. Dinner spread was very sumptuous – steam garoupa, oyster with “fai choi”, special double boiled soup, fried vegetables and a special fried pig heart dish.

At the dinner table, there were so many primary school registration information/tips shared by one of my cousin as she had twins who just started Primary 1 this year.

It was a very meaningful gathering, especially for the children to know of these relatives whom they will meet once a year. Of course, they had a good collection of “ang pows” from the 舅公and 姨婆.

The children had a chance to play with “firework” (烟花) and they had fun playing with the twins, Samuel & Daniel and their younger sister, Sarah.

We left for home after a fun filled day of 拜年。

大年除三 ：Day 3, 09 Feb 2008

We had an invitation by my SIL’s mother for a steamboat lunch at the Bright Hill Temple (光明上寺庙). This is the Aces family 1st time to the temple for such an occasion and I must say　the experienced was very good. My PIL’s also joined us for the lunch.

We had a vegetarian”愉生” and it was good. There were different varieties of vegetables, bean curd and vegetarian wanton for the steamboat. We also ate the 面线 (mee sua) which was very good.

I know from now onwards, we will try to visit this temple more often since it’s quite near to our house. It’s a good chance to encourage the children to pick up the study.

After lunch, we went to one of Adrian’s buddy’s house for visiting. It was a good chance for them to touch base and update each other on the latest. There were so much goodies and food around the house.

We left his friend place in the late afternoon for the children to go home for their nap. In the evening, we had dinner with my PILs at Jack’s place. A nice and relaxing dinner. Then we went Popular Bookstore to buy the highly requested whiteboard. I bought 2 sets of the whiteboard. The children went home and started to do their drawings and writings.

大年初四：Day 4 : 10 Feb 2008

This is the only day we had no visiting. I did my household chores in the morning while Adrian brought the children to the swimming pool.

I prepared a simple lunch with a soup.

Then I asked my BIL to arrange for a game of Mahjong. I told Adrian Chinese New Year is incomplete without a game or two...hee.

Then my youngest BIL smsed me to confirm that we are all set for MJ session in the afternoon. I decided to prepare my “special dish” – 煎年糕.

I like this dish because it is considered good luck to eat nian gao during this time because "nian gao" is a homonym for "every year higher and higher." 年糕 - 年高

So for tea break, we had the nian gao with tea.

We had a very game of Mahjong this time and there were so many “thrilling” moments. I knew that my heart misses so many beats...haha. I lost about $15 and my Father in law was the sole winner. He even started the game with a十三幺winning…what a game to start the year. : )

After dinner, my FIL gave us a treat to Mac café for the desserts.

Another fun filled day for us.

This Chinese New Year has been a good start for the Aces family; we managed to spend quality time with all our families, relatives and closed friends. I am glad that Anthea and Anders are growing to appreciate this kind of occasion and enjoyed the festive as much as we do.

恭喜发财，万事如意！！

新年快乐 ！！

大年除夕，到处喜气洋洋。气氛好开心 ， 心情也很漂亮。

昨晚 在 父母家中 享用了一顿 丰盛 的 团年饭。吃的 好开心。 因为 和 心爱的 家人 一 起。

爸爸 煮 了 好好 吃的食物 ：

1．海南鸡饭
2．大虾
3．鲍鱼
4．烧鸭
5．鱼
6．青菜
7．鱼生

用过了晚餐，就是给红包。 也祝福 父母亲 ：身体健康！！ 两位个哥哥 ：事业顺利 ！！ 大家过个大 好年！！

祝 ：新年快乐 ！！万事如意！！

Call me

On Sunday, Anthea went swimming with my MIL and after that she went over to my in laws house. It seem like my parents in laws are now more confidence in handling the baby and Anthea.

Anthea is happy that she can go back to nai nai house, like she used to do before. However I kept reminding her that both ye-ye and nai nai are busy looking after a baby, so she must not caused too much problems while she is there on Sundays. She said she understood.

In the afternoon, my mobile rang and from the caller ID, it was from my In Laws house. I picked up and it was Anthea on the phone. She said: “mommy, I know your number... “ she read my mobile number to me. I was very happy that she can remember the numbers.

So far, she can dial our home number and now we are training her to remember my mobile number.

Simple reason - in the event of emergency or lost & found, she will know who to call.

On Sunday, we had dinner at Vines Steakhouse. Not sure if the chef had changed because the food standard had dropped. My salmon was so dried that it tasted like those “kunings” that are usually found in nasi lemak. My BIL also complaint that his mix grills also was not good as before. .. : (

Anyway, after dinner, we took a walk to Novena Square 2 to shop in the NTUC. To my surprise, the outlet is so small or am I too used to the Hyper mart... : P

After getting some grocery, we headed to Yumi Yogurt and we had a good time enjoying 2 regular cups of peach yogurt with fillings. Both Anthea and Anders Love the yogurt so much. I am really happy that they are enjoying different kind of food on weekends.