What's for dinner? - Make a guess

Black olive fried rice! Recipe from Sunday Times. But mine has no chilli n parsley n I only used 2 tablespoons of the black olive veg. Seasoned the minced pork with abalone sauce for extra flavour. RA had second helpings. Hee.

Slide at T3

We have not been to the airport for a very long time cos we did not bring the gals on any flights this year. Mostly short trips to Malaysia. Today, we went with the gals to T3. Wanted to let them try the T3 slide because RA's swim mates said it was very fun but we never knew where it was. Quite paiseh to be so 'suaku' since we stay in Tampines, so near to the airport.

After a quick dinner at Ramen champions, we went straight to look for the slide. Had to refer to floor plan n turns out we were at the opposite side since we parked at 3A. After walking over to the slide, I realised why we never noticed it. From far, it just looked like queue posts leading to a lift. N the slide was just a metal tubular enclosed slide with narrow curvature. Quite compact, no bright colours n furthermore, the slide view is partially blocked by the revolving gantry gates.

The slide was two storeys high and meant for kids 5 yrs n above with a minimum height of 110cm. There was a much higher one to be taken from level 3 or 4. Even though RA fit the minimum height but it took me a very long time to convince her to ride on her own. She was scared n the 2 storey slide with its gantry gates looked quite forbidding.

But once she overcame her fear n went down on her own, she was ok. We saw younger kids riding the slide so decided to bring Mei mei along for the second time. The fearless gal went down the slide lying on her tummy though it was her first time. She went down 2 more times after that but I get RA to accompany her cos she has problems pushing the exit button n opening the gantry gate.

They still wanted to slide but we convinced them to go to the viewing gallery after that. But I must say T2's viewing gallery is much better cos we are closer to the runway n planes. We could not see any planes taking off or landing at the T3 aviation gallery at all. The gals were quite disappointed but at least they had fun eating their mini dunkin donuts, climbing n sliding down the displays. After today, I think they will start asking to go to the airport more often. haha.

Hurry up! 快点!

Aunty Windy, one of my forum mummy friends, shared an article with us. It is a meaningful reflection of a mummy with 2 gals who always say hurry up to her kids because she is always rushing from place to place. Something her elder daughter said finally made her stop saying these words. It is such a nice story with pics so pls do read it.

After reading this article, I felt quite guilty. Especially since I just beat RL's hands a few days ago because she refused to wear her uniform after 3 verbal warnings from me. I was rushing for work and a 915am photoshoot so I already warned them the night before that they need to wake up very early in the morning. I warned her 3 times to quickly start dressing up while I was washing up and getting dressed. But when I came out of my room, RL is still half naked, her shirt beside her and reading a storybook on the floor. She looked like she had all the time in the world and she ignored all my warnings. That made me mad.

With hubby leaving the house by 7am everyday, morning rush is always something that I have to deal with the two girls. Even when I was not working, I will always say to them 快点,快点! 迟到了! 不要慢吞吞。 不要做梦。 It is not that I am super kancheong but they really take a long time to wake up, drink milk, brush teeth and get dressed. 1 hour in fact from the time they wake up until the time we leave the house.

Inevitably, they 'waste' time asking for extra milk (RL's fav delay tactic cos after I made more milk, she hardly finishes it), asking me to tie hair (RA & RL), choose hair tie (RA & RL) negotiate to bring dress instead of PJs (RL), choose dress (RL sometimes RA), choose which soft toy to bring to school (RA sometimes RL), negotiate to bring bb bites or biscuits to school (RL), choose shoes (RL & RL). If they wake up at 8am, we reach school at 9am thereabouts. A bit late for BF sometimes cos the other kids have eaten and my gals are lazy to eat separately from her classmates unless it is BF that they like eg. cornflakes or French toast.

Nowadays, morning rush is worse because I accepted my ex colleague's request to help work temporarily part time for a few months to tide them over. I accepted the job mainly they allowed me to work part time and I wanted some adult company. Lunching alone on weekdays is quite lonely so sometimes I even skip lunch. My working hours are 10am to 4pm so most days I can afford time to send the gals to school at 8+, 9am, go home change, have BF before I go to work.

But sometimes, there are meetings, early starts to the day and I end up having to wake them earlier and earlier. Since they are such night birds, they sleep only at 11pm on most days. It is really hard to wake up at 745am. RA's classmates Sihan reaches CC at 7am cos her parents are both teachers. And her other good friend, Valerie reaches school at 730am everyday. I know there is no excuse. My kids have the luxury of time. Reaching school between 830-9am is considered late. So nowadays I got more reason to ask them to hurry up cos I need to take 2 buses to get to work and I don't want to be late.

But even though I am guilty of asking them to hurry up on weekdays mornings, I relax after school hrs n on weekends. We bring them to the playground before the sky turns dark, let them cycle or play. After parking our car, they take turns to jump off the kerb or staircase if there are no cars. As we walked home, they search for snails in the dark garden pathway especially if it rained that day. If not they shout with glee if they spot a cat or a dog. Sometimes, they point out the moon and stars in the night sky. On fri night, I let them both sleep in the same room knowing that they will take longer to fall asleep. Read as many stories as they want instead of the usual 2 per night. In the weekends, they play at the playground, look for caterpillars in my limau perut plant (they love caterpillars), spot heart shaped leaves, birds or feathers on the ground.

It will be a tough battle not to say hurry up at all in hectic Singapore. I even say it to my hubby before we had kids so I won't set resolutions that I cannot keep. But what I will try to do is try my best to stop saying 'hurry up or 快点' on weekends. I will try out 'what will you like to do? No need to rush. Take as much time as you want' instead.

And I will like to see their reactions too. ;)

Hari Raya Puasa and NDP Long weekend - ECP

We have a 4 day break due to the two PHs. But did not jet off anywhere since air tickets were very exp and hb needs to mark. So yesterday, we spent the afternoon at Kidzgo, the indoor playground at Tampines1 because RL loves it there.

RL is coughing a little so I am not keen to bring here to air con places again. Decided to go ECP for a picnic since we have not done that for a long time. Also wanted to try out the new 6 men tent we bought early this yr.

At first, RL was not keen and she insisted on wearing a dress to the beach. She does not seem to be an outdoor kind of gal. Always into pretty dresses and high heel shoes. Faint! Finally persuaded her to wear a short skirt instead so that she can do sand play without getting all wet.

Packed ham and cheese sandwiches and a salad but the food they liked most was the strawberry n milk popcorn I bought from Daiso yesterday. My gals have a sweet tooth or rather sweet teeth.

Weather is very good. Cloudy so it was not hot and the weather stayed that way except in the afternoon there was a constant slight drizzle. We hid in our tent thinking the rain will get heavier but it never did. The gals had a happy time rolling and wrestling in the tent with Daddy. But when the sun come out, I was feeling v hungry so we had a late lunch at Brussel Sprouts. Yummy mussels but lousy wait staff except for a guy with tattoos. The rest of the staff were impatient and can't be bothered with questions or recommendations. The guy with tattoos was the friendliest and respond the fastest. After a v heavy tea, we went cycling to burn calories. Me, not the kids. -_-

Along the ride, we saw a jetty so we stopped for a while. RA was fascinated to see the anglers. One of them caught a small mud crab and a flower crab in that short 5-10 mins we were there. But by 7pm, can tell that their energy levels were v low with no afternoon nap today. I suggested having dinner there so that we can watch the fireworks from the jetty but they were not keen. Guess they had enough fireworks since last week. They wanted to go Nai nai house instead so we ended watching the rest of the NDP on tv. haha.

Birthday celebration at Serenity

Hb surprised me with flowers to my workplace this yr. I am temping part time for my ex company cos 3 staff resigned on the same day after getting their bonus. He picked me up at 4pm n brought me to Serenity at vivo city for my birthday dinner cos he read from hungrygowhere that the food was good. I like vivo city cos there is a nice view of Sentosa n the sea front plus lots of international branded shops that I don't usually find in Tampines. Had time to walk around before dinner started.

Food really is good at Serenity especially the grilled squid, no wonder it is a best seller. It looks simple, just grilled squid with olive oil n salt. But it was so tender and juicy, so aromatic with the right smoky flavour n slightly crispy tentacles edges. If it did not cost so much $18.80 for 3 squids. I would have ordered 3 plates and finished all by myself. I wish I can replicate this at home. Squid is not expensive but how did they make it so nice. Yummy....

Another house specialty was the spanish suckling pig. $98 for a 1/4 serving for two to share. It was just a small plate so I consider it very steep. The meat was tender and moist n there were 3 types of sauces to dip it in - roasting sauce, brown sauce and tomato jam. I like both the brown sauce and tomato jam most. But it was the crispy skin that was to die for. I forgot all about counting calories after eating the first piece.

The paella was also highly recommended, we tried the normal version which was $50+. The crayfish version recommended by the waiter would have cost $70+. This is the one dish that did not wow me. Maybe it was the spices used that did not agree with me or maybe cos I had higher expectations for paella. But I did not feel that the price was worth it. I think Fish n Co seafood platter with rice was better. Smoky n v generous with seafood. Hee.


But all in all, it was a great place to have a quiet dinner. Hb even dedicated a birthday song through the live band but I spoilt his plans a little by requesting to sit outside cos I cannot hear the dedication. But I did like the complimentary brownie cake. Haha.

We hardly splurge on expensive dinners after having kids. Always family dining or kids friendly restaurants. So thanks so much dada for our couple time together. :)

Art trial at crestar

RA is serving notice to end globalart classes by end Aug. She just told me she does not want to learn anymore. I tried switching her to another class with more of her cc classmates but she still wants to stop so i decided to let her take the lead on this. After all, globalart classes are not cheap since we still need to pay for books n materials.

Brought the gals for trial class at Crestar on Monday since they also attend ballet lessons there. The class is meant for kids above 4. Rl is 4 this yr though she is 4 months short. So both gals attended together. It was supposed to be a 1.5 hrs course but they changed it to 1 hr instead. The gals did some water colour n some tracing, colouring. But before they could finish finish cutting n pasting, 1 hr was up. Think it was too short because globalart class is 1.5 hrs though there is only colouring n blending. Not enough exposure to other media.

1 hr is definitely not enough for RL who did not even finish tracing. The other kids who were around 4 did not manage to finish colouring either. So the tcr said continue next week.

RA said she likes the art class n will like to continue but I find it too exp.$267.50 for 11 lessons. $24.75 per hr. Even more exp than globalart. I am also not keen to burn monday nights after getting rid of wed nights. So I think I will just ask hb to teach in the meantime. Save $ n Time. :)

First NDP fireworks show

The initial plan was to book 1 night at Marina Bay Sands on National Day so that we can enjoy the fireworks close up while watching the National Day Parade on tv in the comfort of our hotel room. But that plan did not come to fruition because there is a minimum 2 night booking for National Day and 1 night was $599++ for MBS. So two nights would have easily cost $1300? Faint! If I have that kind of budget, I might as well bring the girls on a short holiday.

So when I received an email on the NTUC U family 'Baby Day Out' on 3 Aug to watch the fireworks for NDP Preview, I quickly registered. The event was free anyway. We set off late cos after Yamaha music class and lunch, we were tired out and had a nap. We did not drive as there were road closures plus we weren't sure where exactly was The Lawn. Unfortunately, the taxi driver we engaged was equally clueless. When we finally reached the lawn, it was already almost 6pm. The place was crowded and no good spots were left for a picnic. So, in the end, we registered, got our goody bag and left.

We went back to Marina bay link mall, had dinner at Swiss bake. Then we bought water and chips at 7-11 and crossed the underpass back to the bayfront where we had seen some families with picnic mats when we were trying to locate The Lawn. The picnic mat included in the NTUC goody bag was very useful so we settled down nicely at around 7pm waiting for the fireworks.

Forgot that this year's NDP was extra long so instead of fireworks at the usual 8pm, it only started around 820pm. The gals were busy munching on their cookies and posing for pics at first. But when the sky grew dark with no fireworks in sight, they started to bombard me with the same question: "Mummy, why no fireworks?" Duh...




When the fireworks finally started, they went oohhh and ahhhh cos it was so beautiful to see them on close up. This is their first time. Since we did not ballot successfully for NDP tickets again this year, this is a cheap and good way for them to enjoy the fireworks. We had to walk more than 10 mins back to Raffles Place mrt station to take the mrt back but the gals didn't mind. They were thrilled that we were taking mrt train because we hardly take the train plus their favourite double decker bus.

Wish we discovered this way of watching NDP fireworks earlier. But better late than never, maybe we can go back again next Fri or next year. ;)

First Science project - Volcano

I must blog about this to credit 爷爷。Last fri, RA was given a project to do, to build a volcano model using recycled materials. I must admit that I was not very pleased when I read about the assignment on her comm book.

There is the usual weekend homework for eng, chi n maths every Friday. Why add on a project? Weekends are busy enough with ballet, music n swimming lessons. Really no spare time to do projects. This type of homework should have given during long weekend like next week's NDP long weekend.

When the gals wanted to stay over at ILs place on Sat, i jokingly told RA to ask 爷爷 to help her with the volcano model because we don't have time to do it with her since she does not want to go home. And 爷爷 really rose to the occasion. He did such a nice volcano model using recycled pet bottle and masking tape that RA got a message from Teacher Laila that it was a job well done. If I were to do it, I would probably have just moulded a volcano shape using crushed newspapers or brown paper. Definitely would not have bothered to cut up the plastic bottle. But now, all I needed to do was touch up with a red marker to show the lava. ;)

Whose drawing is this?

Looks so much like RA's drawing style but it is actually RL's. 她说: "这是姐姐。姐姐喜欢长头发, 姐姐不要剪头发。" she knows her sister so well. Haha.