HAPPY BIRTHDAY To 奶奶 ！！

My mother in law celebrated her birthday on Saturday evening. We had a family dinner at Bar & Billiard Room in Raffles Hotel. Being a Raffles card holder, she had some certificates of discount, for this dinner, she get 50% discount off food. At the same time, we had a bottle of complimentary red wine for dinner.

It was a buffet dinner and needless to say, the spread was simply FANTASTIC!! I think it should be a Lobster theme cuisine. Every counter has a lobster item. There was a grilled section at the patio of the restaurant.

Anthea and Anders wrote a birthday card for 奶奶，wishing her Happy Birthday and anthea even wrote: I LOVE MY GRANDMOTHER.

We bought a small present for my MIL and hope that she will like it.

It was a lovely dinner.

"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.

迎新春

“财神到 。。。财神到 。。。财神到我的大门口。。。“

Everyday when I send Anthea and Anders to childcare, I will have the pleasure of listening to the children singing this Chinese New Year song. They are practicing for this Friday celebration. I always feel the joy, especially when it comes from the children. There are other songs that they sang and each day, when Anthea and Anders walk home with me, they will sing the songs over & over… : )

We are exactly 1 week away for the 1st day of Chinese New Year. So far, the Ace family are pretty updated with our spring cleaning tasks despite Anders Fever saga. I am keeping my fingers all crossed that the viral will be gone by this weekends, so he can has a good Chinese New Year celebrations.

So far, tasks accomplished:

- washing of curtains
- washing of blankets
- decoration of the home
- change of NEW notes for Ang pows
- bought mine & children new year clothing
- change of sofa covers

Things to do:

- change bed sheets
- clean the kitchen cabinets
- clean the windows
- sweeps and mops the floor
- buy mandarin oranges

Now I am looking forward to our reunion dinners next week. My parents have been very kind to accommodate my request and have our reunion dinner on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, we will be eating with my In Laws – I will keep my stomach for the special dish – Braised Abalone (recipe by celebrity chef Sam Leong). Yummy ...!!

Then it will be time for 拜年and having feasts after feasts. . : )

“每条大街小巷，每个人的嘴里，见面第一 句话 ， 就是 “恭喜恭喜“。。。。"

Viral Infection

Last Friday, i received a call from the childcare teacher informing me that Anders was having fever. So i took half day off from work and brought him home for medication and rest. His temperature was about 38 degrees celsius. I fed him paracetemol and he slept. The temperature went down to around 37.5 after medication. I assumed that it was just a normal fever and we did not bring him to the clinic.

During the night, his temperature rose to around 38.5 degrees, so immediately i gave him a dose of Nurofen and started to cold pressed him. Then his temperature started to go down a little. I stayed awake almost the whole night, sponging him.

1st thing on Saturday morning, i brought him to the doctor. He was dignosed to have tonsil and that caused the fever. The doctor prescribe some medication for the illness. I bought extra Voren Suppository to standby, in case of high fever.

In the afternoon, his temperature rosed to 39 Degrees, i was a bit worried that his fever was still high after the medication and after some consideration, i inserted 1 voren. This helps to bring his temperature down to almost normal. I knew this may be temporary as his fever may still returns.

In the evening, his temperature was still ok. Then it started to rose back to 38.5 - 39.5 degrees. It was really demoralising to keep seeing his temperature so high but i just need to keep agilent in sponging him.

In the middle of the night around 1 am, the temperature was at highest of 40 degrees. I was really worried that he may get fits if his temperature keep going up. So i inserted another voren, just to keep his temperature down.

On Sunday, we decided to bring him to KKH A&E for a check up. After the blood test was out, it was confirmed that he had Viral Infection. According to the doctor, the fever will last for about 5 days. Important thing is to ensure that medication was fed and to sponge him when body gets too hot. Overall we paid $75.00 for this visit.

The doctor prescrition was - 7.5ml paracetemol / 6ml of nurofen (times frame advised very carefully by the doctor), chlorimine (1.5ml).

After hearing the doctor explanation, i was quite relieved as i was worried it could be other causes to the high fever. With the medication, Anders fever subsided quite substantianly.

Since birth, Anders has had fever when he falls sick but never had it hit such a record. From his sickness, i learnt a new lesson about fever and will definitely benefit from this episode.

Inspiration..瘦得了

Yesterday was my last session with my Personal Trainer. After the session, she did another overall assessment for me. The result was very positive and inspiring. After 8 weeks of training, my Fat Loss analysis was 2.5%. She said it is a very good overall result.

Weight wise, I lost about 4kgs. I am very happy with the result. Besides feeling healthier, I can also feel that my stamina is getting better. Also I am more familiar with the usage of gym equipments and not be intimidated by those heavy weights zone…hee : P

All these are very inspirational to me and I will encourage myself to continue with the effort and trainings. Hopefully, in another 8 weeks time, I can be closer to my ideal Fat percentage.

Currently at home, Adrian is also very into weight management and he does regular exercises. We kept each other motivated.

Food intake wise, we also cut down on fried items and carbohydrates. Previously our tingkat delivery includes 2 packet of white rice, since mid January 2008, I have reduced it a one packet.

Now our family of 4 is surviving on 1 packet of rice. The children still eat their normal portion of the rice. I will share my portion with Adrian... : P

So far, we are doing quite well with the new rationing…ha-ha.

With Chinese New Year just round the corner and all the feastings coming up, must really be very discipline.

Chinese New Year Kueh

Chinese New Year is exactly 2 weeks from today. Usually at home, we don’t buy New Year goodies because we have no visitors. Also I do not want the children to eat too much of these stuff as most the food are quite heaty. We will, however, do a bit of decoration this weekends as both of them kept asking to buy New Year decoration items.

The children childcare will be having a celebration on 1 February 2008. Parents are requested to bring CNY goodies for the celebration.

For Anthea Class – it is Kueh Bolu and for Anders class – 5 mandarin oranges.

It’s quite a task to buy the kueh bolu as it needs to be Halal as there are Muslim teachers in the school.

I was chatting with a colleague about buying this kueh bolu and she mentioned that there is this Malay store that sells this particular kueh and she shows me the name card.

Warisan Recipe Pte Ltd – Bendemeer (Boon Keng MRT Station), Blk 25, #01-591, Bendemeer Road, Singapore 330025. And on the name card, there is a MUIS certification.

I was so happy and with this in mind, I went on island chase for this Kueh Bolu.

It was quite easy to get to from my workplace and I managed to find the shop quite easily. I bought 1 big container for the home and I small container for Anthea’s class.

At the same time, I found an interesting stall that sell 莆田 炒 面线 and bought it back as my lunch. It was a HUGE serving and I make it into 2 portions.

I know I will sure go back for lunch or dinners as there seem to be so many nice stalls around.

This remind me that I will need to do my Spring Cleaning this weekends…little by little... : )

GAP Girl and Moo Moo

Last Saturday Anthea had the chance to shop at GAP and my MIL bought her some clothings - a blouse, a pant and a sweater. This Saturday, my MIL passed me the loot. I was shocked when i read the price tag, luckily i heard my SIL mentioned that the shop was having some discounts, i hope at 50% and above. I know for the kind of salary i am drawing, i cannot afford to get her all these.. : P


So needless to say, i must get Anthea to model her new clothes since it is branded and so expensive.. : P


This Saturday, i had the chance to babysit my little niece for about 2 hours at my BIL's house. My SIL attended a cooking class conducted by celebrity chef - Sam Leong @ Tung Lok groups. He is my idol...i always like to see his cooking shows, always so entertaining. Now back to my babysitting experienced.


Well, i reckoned that each infant is different and each has their own style and characteristic. I discovered that my little niece like to "bully" her daddy/mommy when it's feeding times. I saw my BIL tried to bottle feed her and it was quite a task for him. I tried to help him but i failed too..sigh. Think only the 2 grandmothers can feed her with ease... : )


After the 2 hours, i went home as my MIL was with my BIL. Having been through this experience, i told Adrian that i was glad that both Anthea and Anders were easy babies during their times. Their feeding and sleeping routines were easy to manage.. : )

Dinner was at Tai Seng restaurant, a yearly treat hosted by my FIL's 3rd sister. As the resturant was in Chinatown, both Anthea and Anders had the chance to see mini fireworks from the restaurant. It was the Light-up ceremony for CNY in Chinatown.


On Sunday, we rested at home as Adrian was down with some stomach flu. For dinner, we met with the extended families. My MIL recommended us to a new place and i must say - it was a GOOD discovery. The name of the restaurant is called Vittles and it serves western cuisine. There were a few recommended dishes - Pistachios Herb Crusted Lamb, Baby Back ribs and Burgers and many more. I had the ribs and Adrian had the lamb. I actually preferred the lamb more to the ribs..hee : )


The portions served were generous and the highlight of the restaurant is - it has a POPCORN Machine. If you are a diner, you can get FREE Servings of the popcorns...how to resist !!

We had a nice and satisfying dinner and i told Adrian that we must go back and try their steaks and fish dishes...yummy !!

新朋友

After my meet up with Idy, we have been keeping in touch via sms/msn and emails. It was very kind of her to initiate another lunch meet up and this time, she introduced 2 blogging mommy/daddy to me.

The 2 bloggers cum forumers are – Clement of Kinigu and Stardust of All that Glitters about Vincent.

We arranged to meet in Toa Payoh for lunch as both their offices are nearby.

It was a choice between Botak Jones & Tim’s café. As I had been to both places, I would think Tim’s café is a better place for meet up. Botak Jones is set up in a factory canteen, so may not be easy to get seats.

So with this in mind, I made a table reservation at Tim’s for 4 of us.

This is the 2nd time I am meeting Idy and 1st time for Clement and Stardust.

As usual, it was of no surprised to me that we chatted as if we knew each others before. The main reason is because we have been following each other blogs quite closely.

It was childcare information exchange session and there were so many tips that we shared during the one hour lunch.

For lunch, I had the house special – Nepalese special oven roasted chicken, food was nice but due to shortage of time, we can’t really order more.

I had a very good time and glad to know new friends and i look forward to the next lunch or forums gathering.

真开心能够 认识 新朋友！！

(ps: hi guys, you can now LINK it up...hee : )

Farewell lunch @ Hanabi Restaurant

Our Business HR is leaving the company for her own fulfillment. She said she needs to spend some times with her mom whom she neglected for a while because of her job.

Also her hubby commented that her dress sense is getting bad – like HDB Tai Tai. So she may decide to join a company in the CBD area to regain her glam.

Honestly speaking, she is always well groomed and dressed whenever we see her. However her hubby is more critical...haha.

Well, after 5 years with the company, she said she is leaving the company with a mixed feeling.

On Monday, we had a farewell lunch for her at Hanabi Japanese restaurant @ Odeon Tower. We had the Ala Carte Buffet lunch - $29.00 ++ per person. The 100 plus dishes menu was a “killer”. We ordered the usual sashimi, tempura, grill items and some teppanyaki dishes. The food was good value for the monies. Only complaint is the place is a bit too open and quite noisy, so it was hard to have a decent conversation.

Comes next year, it may be my turn for farewell…if …: )

Craving Saturday & Extra$ $unday..

On Saturday, we were planning to go by to the Travel Agent to pay the deposit but as Anders was suffering from food indigestion which resulted to vomitting, we stayed home. Luckily for Anthea, my MIL came by early in the morning to bring her to her place and they went shopping in the afternoon. Heard from SIL that MIL bought her some really good stuff from GAPS.



Dinner was at Craving Thoughts located at the Imperial Court, 200 Thomson road. We discovered this place by virtue of the new FOOD street directory that i bought from my colleague. She managed to do a Bulk Order for this 2008/2009 Street Directory called Venues and i bought a copy from her. No REGRETS because there are so many discount lobangs in this new street directory.. : )



The food at Craving Thoughts are nice but not that fantastic. I like the interior decor and its ambience and most importantly - NO CROWDs. Basically we had a nice, simple dinner and chilled out slowly at the restaurant. The price of the food was very reasonable - a set meal cost only $15.90 include a soup, main course, coffee/tea or soft drink and brownie with New Zealand Ice cream. Also, i must comment that the service at the restaurant was good.



This morning, i went for a 30 minutes survey session, organised by a survey company. For this effort, i earned some extras $$..hee, how nice if every Sunday i get to make EXTRAs monies.



In the evening, i went for my weekends jog. Since i started with my gym, i "missed" my weekends joggings because i kept my One and only pair of jogging shoes in the rental locker, for convenience sake. This week, Adrian was back in the office and he managed to used his entitlement to change another pair of Brookes running shoes for me..yippy. So now i can resume my weekend exercise routines.

While i did my jog, Adrian brought Anthea and Anders to the park for their much requested cycling session. They had an hour of fun before the heavy thunderstorm started around 6pm. Luckily they reached home before it poured.

Dinner was at 皇廷 located at the Central shopping mall. They have a special promo - Peking Duck @ $8.00. How can we missed such a SPECIAL offer ..haha. The restaurant even gave diners free appetizers and a welcome cocktail...sound like some kind of resorts. The interior decor is very grand and Cherry even commented that some of us may be under dressed for the restaurant. Ther service staff was well groomed and professionally dressed..hehe.

After dinner, we went to coffee club for dessert. Another weekends of good food and companionship.

“You scold me every time…”

Anders is growing and becoming more vocal and expressive. Sometimes I really wonder how such a small boy can show so much expression and emotions.

Anders is quite a mischievous boy and he tends to be more “rebellious”. Each time we give him an instruction, it must be repeated for at least 3 times before he act accordingly to the instructions.

At times, I will raise my voice to make sure he listens to me. He will become angry and turned away from me. Then he will say: Every time scold me, you don’t Love me.

I find it hard to control my laughter sometimes, because of the way he said it and reacted to the “scolding”.

Every time, I will explain to him that I am not scolding him, I am just asking him to do something. If he listens and follows the instructions, I will not need to repeat and raised my voice.

From observation, Anders is a sensitive boy and also quite a “crying boy”, he tears easily. I hope that as he grows older, he will outgrow all these and becomes a more understanding boy... : )

Anthea is very into her new game – Junior Monopoly. Everyday she will ask Adrian to play the game with her. It is a very good game for children of her age. It teaches her to count, especially the dollars value. I am happy that she is learning her Math’s while enjoying the game.

The next game that she will play is Junior Scrabbles; hopefully it will help her to learn more new words.

Now that she is in K2, it’s crucial that she start to learn all the basic. I am busy looking for more courses for her to attend as recommended by her teachers.

Eventful Start

Our 1st week of Year 2008 went passed so fast...partly because we're still in holiday mood.

On Wednesday, after school, i brought Anthea to the TCM near our place. Her throat has been causing us some concerns and Adrian thought that we should do something about it. I had read from BB forumn that there is a good TCM nearby but so far i have not taken any action to make appointment.

Anyway, near our own house, there is a medical hall which has its own physician, so i thought it would be easier for us to access for 1st time. Now Anthea is on chinese medicine and hopefully it will cure her throat.

On Thursday evening, Adrian went to the airport to fetch my brother and parents who came back from a 8 Days tour of Taiwan.

On Saturday evening, Adrian attended one of his colleague's wedding. The remaining 3 A's had dinner with the extended families at Zhou's Kitchen @ Far East Square. The dinner was good - we had Peking Duck, Glutinous Rice with Crab, Double Boiled soup, dumplings and meat roll.

After dinner, as usual, we adjourned for dessert - Swensen restaurant @ Marina Square. Both Anthea and Anders shared a mini volcano and after finishing their ice-cream, they started digging into the adults ice cream as well. What a Treat for them. We reached home around 10.30pm and the children waited for Adrian. He came home around 11.30pm.

On Sunday morning, Adrian brought the children to Bishan Park and they did cycling. Adrian said that both of them know how to control the children bicycle. I was quite pleased, next time, i will go along and see how they progress. They had 2 hours of fun time at the park. Then came home for lunch.

Dinner time, Adrian brought the children out with my In-Laws. I took the opportunity to do some shopping on my own. The precious 3 hours went by so fast and i had a "fruitful" time and some good catch. This is my 1st shopping in 2008.

The day ended with everyone feeling happy and satisfied.

美丽的开始。。

Today is 1st January 2008 and the very 1st blog for the year.

We woke up to a lovely morning and the weather was super beautiful.

Adrian woke up early to go to the temple with my sister in law mother. We met her last evening and she invited us to join her for this morning prayers. As it was too early for the children and me, so Adrian represented us.

Adrian packed breakfast for us after his morning session at the temple. Anthea and Anders requested to go to Bishan Park playground and Adrian brought them there. While they were out, I did my routine housework. Understood from Adrian that my PILs and BILs families joined them at the park. The children had good fun with their little cousins. Eve shared with me some of the photo that they took at the park. They were Lovely.

The children came home, sweaty and sandy, so they took a bath. We had pizzas for lunch. Anthea had 3 pieces and Anders had 2 pieces. At lunch time, Adrian and I also had the time to sit down and discussed our holiday plan for 2008. We may be doing our Australia trip in March rather than May as original planned.

The children had their usual nap after a good lunch. While they were napping, I went for my swim by the public pool nearby. On Public holiday, the pool is always pretty empty and I can swim my laps without any interferences.

Dinner was at Thai Village @ Kallang Leisure Park with the extended families. We had a GLORIOUS food to start up the year – Shark fin’s soup, Fried tang hoon with crab, claypot chicken & Dou fu and vegetables. Dessert was Yoguru – yogurt outlet that serve very nice, fruity yogurt. Both Anthea and Anders enjoyed it so much.

It is a beautiful First DAY for the Aces Family.