Faith’s First Hair Cut

I have been Faith’s hairdresser for the past two and the half years and usually was scolded by friends for cutting Faith’s hair though I thought it looked alright…


Anyway, we finally brought Faith to the REAL hairdresser near our place. Initially she refused as she was used to having me to trim her hair instead of some stranger. But after much talking to her, she agreed to sit enter the saloon. There was a children’s corner for haircut and special seats & entertainment too.

We were happy to see her seated happily and cooperating with the hairdresser while she was watching Barney. The hairdresser did quite a good job and she too told us that Faith was cooperative enough to have it done faster than the other kiddos.

Faith was happy with her hair cut and told me to take pictures of her. We asked her if she would want to go to the saloon again and without any hesitation, she answered ‘YES’.

CNY Gathering@Jessie's Place

It has been quite a tradition that we will have a CNY gathering at Jessie’s place every year and this year, though not many people could make it, at least some could.
This is one of the gathering I wouldn’t want to miss as I will get to meet my ex-colleagues whom I probably only get to meet once every year. When we arrived at her place this super sunny afternoon, I noticed that she has prepared home cooked food rather than buffet she catered the last few years.

I was pretty blessed that Faith was able to hang out with her God-ma Linda while I hurried to have my lunch. Not long later, I noticed that she was playing by herself with the toys at Jessie’s place. After luncheon, we did not waste any time and started playing cards like the good old days. How can CNY do without card games!!

Before heading home, Jessie’s prepared Yu Sheng for us and it was a great tossing session though only a few of us gathered at the table. This Yu Sheng has finally marked my final toss for the year…

Thank you Jessie for inviting to your cozy home every year… it has been a great gathering!

ADM Dept. Reunion Dinner

It is a yearly affair that our boss will invite us to CNY dinner and this year; it will be his last year. He has been here for 5 years and it’s time for him to leave. We have a new boss and he seemed pretty nice and warm. I really do hope he will stay the way he is.


Linda & I were given the honour to pick the restaurant while boss chose the menu. We decided to dine at Tung Lok Signature located at Vivo City which was quite well known for their good food and services.

When Linda & I arrived, we were given a table right at the corner of restaurant. We requested to change the table as it wasn’t a nice area and squeeze for 10 persons. We were then led to another more comfortable table where we were seated at the heart of the restaurant.

The dishes were served almost immediately when everyone arrived. The first dish was the Yu Sheng where it was one of purpose we came for the dinner. We certainly had a great ‘Lo Hei’ though we were not as loud as the uncles on the nearby table who shouted at the top of his lungs to HUAT!

Our bosses kept us drinking beer and wine… Leng was spotting enough to drink up with both the bosses. The rest of us too had our rounds with the bosses. It was a great ‘get to know’ session as our new boss introduced himself and we found him really witty. He was a total different person at work and at play. While he was in the office, he was really serious about his work and I could see the passion in him. As for play, I believed he is a fun person when it comes to having fun.

We totally enjoyed the dinner and the fellowship we shared. We too also noticed that someone at the table was ‘feeling sour’ like a pot of vinegar! Hahaahah… anyway, not like we are bothered about that.

Leng was really tipsy after all the drinking and mixing of drinks during dinner, despite having tons of lemon slices to keep her sober. On our way home, Leng was really noisy and I do understand as she was high on alcohol. It was quite hilarious when she spoke loudly without knowing that she was somehow the center of attraction on the TRAIN! I was thankful that we have MRT and we were home rapidly!

Site Inspection At Gallery Hotel

This hotel has been around for quite many years and I have always wanted to visit boutique hotels but never had a chance to.


Finally today, sales manager Dervyn invited us to view his hotel and it was quite an exciting trip as he arranged a van to pick us from our office.

The hotel is not big and I did not have high expectation on the hotel as it’s a boutique hotel. We started the inspection by viewing the rooms and though the rooms weren’t big but they were nicely decorated.

After a fun room inspection, we went to their coffee house for dinner. Dervyn kindly arranged their signature ‘Peking duck’ as well as the prawns. Can’t recall the prawn dish but it was very tasty.

We too had Yu Sheng and it was my 10th for this year and still counting. The Yu Sheng surprisingly tasted good as some hotel’s sauces were too sweet. This was pretty good I thought.

As for the buffet spread, you really can’t compare to those restaurants in the five stars hotels. The spread were limited but I would say some of the dishes were pretty nice. This is one hotel that I believed we can recommend for leisure stay and guest who are on budget.

Thank you Bro for the site inspection and the dinner too. *winks*

CNY Gathering At Mummy Florence’s Place

It’s almost a yearly affair that Florence will try her best to open her place for CNY gathering for us. This year, she did the same but it was a pity that majority of our colleagues were unable to visit her place due to their personal engagements.


After mass today, we went to mother in law’s place for Maggie’s 12 days childbirth celebration and we stayed for luncheon. We left for mummy Florence’s place when most of the relatives left in-law’s place after lunch.

When we arrived at Florence’s place, we were welcomed by her and her family members who were already there. She prepared so much food for everyone and it was really nice to see an old friend/colleague. Joanne, Florence’s niece who used to work in my company many years ago… we used to be quite close, heading out to KTV, hanging out for drinks etc…

I am very glad that we still managed to have many topics to talk about even-though we lost touch and only keeping in contact via FB. She certainly made very good Kueh Lapis… really YUMMY!

Faith was pretty shy at first but managed to warm up after quite a long time. In the late afternoon, I was so glad to another familiar faces… Yoshiko and her kiddos… I was happy that she came and at least managed to catch up during CNY.

Thank you mummy Florence for the food you prepared and the warm invitation.

Lo Hei Dinner

Hubby decided to have a Lo Hei dinner with the family and we decided to go to Red Star Restaurant since it’s convenient for our in laws.


I was surprised to see my sis-in-law Maggie who just given birth to her 2nd baby 10 days ago to join us for dinner. Super Power! We decided to order a-la-carte menu instead of their set dinner menu which was not really favouring to our choice of dishes.

We wanted something simple but yet tasty. We had Yu Sheng, braised E-fu noodles, mixed roast meat, Lo Han Zai, sliced fish with vegetables and prawn rolls. They were all tasty especially the E-fu noodles which Faith finished the whole bowl on her own.

After her dinner, it was time for her to bond with her cousin. They hang around the table while we continued our dinner. They were really happy to see each other and can’t seem to get enough of one another.

After dinner, we went for desserts at People’s Park where we completed our Lo Hei gathering.

Goodbye Port Dickson

After breakfast, we went back to our room to do the final packing before we head back to Singapore.


Faith seemed to be upset about us going home after an enjoyable 2 days in this relaxing resort. She wanted to swim for the last time before we head home but we preferred to be home before the weekend traffic.

It was a very smooth and pleasant drive back to Singapore as the traffic was smooth and weather was good too. Faith behaved well and slept almost half the journey and I managed to keep hubby awake by talking to him and feeding him with tibits and snacks we brought from Singapore…

Home Sweet Home

Day 2 At Port Dickson

The breakfast at Grand Lexis was okay compared to other resorts we have been to. They had the normal spread like other breakfast spread and they added some biscuits (those biscuits that I used to eat when I was a child). That was the only thing that was interesting about their breakfast.


After breakfast, we went back to our room for a dip as Faith did not enjoy the fun pool for children. I was happy as I did not need to prepare or move to the common pool for a dip. We had our wine and some tibits by the side of our private pool while Faith was enjoying her swim.

Honestly, there wasn’t to do at Port Dickson except for a very relaxing time at the resort. Hub & I spent our time at the pool under the not so hot sun while Faith had her nap. It was such precious time for us as it has been a while since we spent some time alone.

We found a Mexican restaurant near our hotel but knowing that it’s St. Valentine’s Day, we believed it might be crowded. So we decided to return to Glass for our dinner but unfortunately, the set dinner was so costly that it put us off. Instead of wasting our time driving around the area, we settled our dinner at the hotel’s main restaurant Fresh where they served dinner buffets. Their spread weren’t as good as our local hotels but it was pretty tasty for a cheap price.

Though I did not have a romantic valentine’s dinner or date with hubby but I thought it was much better as I got to spend it with two of my Valentines. They are none other than my hubby and little Faith.

Happy St. Valentine’s Day everyone.

Our Get-Away Trip

We are all set for the road trip. Faith woke up early excited about the road trip which we told her about. After her morning milk, she quickly went to get changed, carrying her back and very ready to go.

We set off at around 8am and planned to have prata for breakfast at Pasir Panjang but it was already sold out when we got there. We drove around and finally settled to have prata at West Coast where I met Linda’s friend Fahiza and found out that is her dad’s shop.

After breakfast, we set off to our road trip. It was quite a smooth drive but too bad, I wasn’t able to help much. I managed to put Faith to sleep on her child seat and I took over the wheels from hubby as he was feeling sleepy after about an hour of drive. It was my very first time driving our 2 year old car as we bought it when I was then pregnant with Faith. The feel of driving this car was great till Faith woke up! She found my hubby seated at the back seat with her and she was furious! She cried so loud that she almost choked!

I couldn’t concentrate as she was crying so hard that she ignored my hubby totally. I tried to talk her out but she refused to listen and insisted that I sit her with. After driving about 10km, I finally found a rest area at the expressway to return the wheel to hubby. Faith stopped crying the moment she sat on my lap. She told me to hug her tight and kept telling me ‘I want Mummy ONLY, mummy cannot drive!’ Win already lor!!

We arrived at Grand Lexis Port Dickson at around 2:45pm but our room was not ready. We were told to move around the hotel or head out as the hotel staff will contact us when our room is ready. We took the chance to check out the hotel surroundings and it was not too bad. After about one and the half hour of waiting, I was fed up as it was such a waste of time waiting for our room.

I approached the Front Desk and demanded for a room immediately though they told me that the house-keeping are trying their best… finally, I received a call from the hotel and went to get our keys. When we arrived at our room, I was unhappy again as I clearly requested for the 2nd floor with an outdoor pool but they gave me the one with indoor pool. I went back to the Front Desk and told them to change as my request was reflected in their system too. Finally after much fighting with the Front Desk, we settled down at the room that we requested.

We did not waste any time as Faith wanted to take a dip since we arrived. She quickly changed into her swimming outfit and started swimming with her dad outside our room. The room was really big and nice with private pool. Simply love it!

I did some research on the restaurants in Port Dickson and we decided to try the Italian Restaurant in another hotel. We took a drive to Thistle Hotel and had our dinner at Glass since we are not planning to have meat today as it was Ash Wednesday. Thistle Hotel is very new and nice hotel. Glass was great too though it was a very small restaurant with less than 20 tables.

We browsed and ordered calamari, mushroom soup, baked fish with pasta, spinach pasta with pesto sauce, soft shell crab risotto. The dishes tasted pretty good and we enjoyed it thoroughly. Faith too loved the spinach pasta with pesto sauce and we were happy that she ate quite a portion. *winks*

Third Day Of CNY

Today, it’s basically a visitation FREE day! This year, having another day of holiday is a bonus to us as this would usually be our rest day. Hubby & I went to watch ‘I Love Hong Kong 2013’ at Orchard Cineleisure. It’s been a while since we last went for a movie together.


After movie, went to do some quick shopping for my birthday pressie and rushed to Chinatown to get our Yu Sheng as we requested porridge for our dinner. The Yu Sheng from Zhen Jie at Chinatown is our favourite and we will usually try to have it more than once every CNY. Yes, this would marked my 8th time today.

Though Faith can’t take Yu Sheng but she certainly loved to get involved in the tossing and clearing those crackers while we finished the raw vegetables. After dinner, we began our packing for our short get away.

We are all excited for the road trip especially Faith who helped out during out packing by putting her pillows and toys in our luggage!

Day 2 Of CNY

Chinese New Year visitation ended on my side but we continued to visit hubby’s aunt’s place today. We headed out to luncheon at his aunt’s place and when we arrived, it was already overcrowded though they were staying in an EM at Bishan.


We stayed for a while as more relatives are arriving and there weren’t much space for us to sit or hang around the house. We decided to leave after our lunch and went to visit Maggie, my younger sister in law whom just delivered her second princess.

I was really excited to see baby Shevelle for the first time and she was soundly asleep. She looked so much like her sister Shevaun and a very good size for a new born. The big sister Genevive entertained the two young ones to distract them from disturbing the baby. They were happily playing chef a corner while the adults sat around to chat.

As for dinner, hubby brought us to La Pizzaiola to celebrate my birthday. It was my mum’s first time there and was worried that she might not enjoy. We ordered our favourite dishes like Burratina with Parma ham, mixed pizza of Diavola & Tuna & Onions, squid ink risotto & roasted cod fish.

We are very glad that my mum enjoyed all the dishes we ordered and she even mentioned that she would like to visit again to try other pizzas. It was a co-incident that I bump into my colleague Linda Peh who visited with her family too and they were given the seat behind us. Though I have been to this restaurant many times but I am happy to spend my birthday dinner there as I managed to have my favourite food on my special day.

Hubby bought me a birthday cake to complete the celebration. The happiest person in the house would be little Faith. She happily sang the birthday song and wanted to cut the cake with me. It was indeed a simple yet PERFECT celebration!

Happy birthday to myself! Cheers!

First Day Of The SNAKE Year

Gong Hei Fatt Choi! This will be the greetings that many will be using from today till 24th Feb. As the first day of CNY, my family tradition will start the morning by greeting our parents over the phone before we visit them later.


We taught Faith how to greet us and we gave her ang pow as the start of the CNY. She received it with joy and passed it back to me asking me to keep for her. Then hubby called our parents to greet them and Faith greeted to her grandparents too.

We prepared and went to cousin’s place for luncheon this year and they prepared many delicious foods as usual. My mum made chicken curry while my gu-jie prepared Lohan zai. The rest of the dishes were prepared by my cousin in law.

After luncheon, we had an unexpected entertainment by Zoe. She kindly did us a lion dance performance with the help of hubby. We enjoyed watching the young ones performing while having our desserts contributed by me… *winks*

We continued our visiting to uncle’s place and it was great to meet with our cousins whom we get to meet only once a year. It is really nice to chat with them and kept one another updated on what we are doing. Our visitation did not end here.

We began the 2nd half of our visiting at hubby’s aunt’s place and though Faith was feeling tired and sleepy due to the visitations, she kept herself awake (though cranky) and treated herself to those CNY goodies. I always look forward to the Yu Sheng tossing at his aunt's place as it was homemade by his uncle's wife. The Yu Sheng is made with Love and truly delicious! Yes, that would be my 7th time... *winks*

It was indeed a tiring day for all of us and we brought dinner so that our little one could take some rest. After dinner, hubby decided to have a pre-birthday celebration for me as there was a cake in our fridge which was given by one of the hotels. Little Faith was happy to sing along with her Papa and wished me happy birthday in advance.

Hereby, wishing you & your family a very Happy, Prosperous & Healthy New Year! Huat ahhhhH!!!!

Reunion Dinner At Aunt’s Place

We had another CNY family reunion dinner at my aunt’s place. When we arrived at aunt’s place, we helped out to prepare dinner.

As usual, we had our Yu Sheng as our opening dish and this would be my 6th time. I am sure you guys are counting with me as you read. We wanted to get the Yu Sheng from Chinatown but unfortunately, we did not have much time after shopping for hubby's new year's clothes and decided to settle it from Soup Restaurant instead.

Anyway, as we did the tossing, Bryan read out the auspicious phrases via his iPhone and everyone had a chance to make their wish! It was really fun and even the two young ones enjoyed it. After taking the appetizer, we prepared for our steamboat which was more exciting. This year, we had new dish added to the table like Fish Maw, Beef Ball from Thomson Plaza & Baby Abalone. Cool Stuff!!

After a sumptuous dinner, I received a pleasant surprised from my beloved cousins. They prepared a birthday cake to pre-celebrate my birthday for me. I was truly touched and thrilled when I saw them bringing out the cake from the kitchen. They gathered to sing me a birthday song and the two young ones were the loudest!

The Mango birthday cake from Secret Recipe became our desserts. Everyone was enjoying it especially the kiddos.

Thank you cousins for arranging this special surprise for me and love you guys!

Double Celebrations

Yearly, I will receive ang pow from my buddies in the office and since CNY is nearing, Leng & I went to ta pao food back for the celebration. We went to Alexandra Village to get our favourite soon kuah and at the same time, I ordered zi char food for luncheon.


We had a small scale party in one of our meeting room and though it was simple but it was certainly an enjoyable one. We had Yu Sheng and that would mark my 4th for CNY. Yes, I am counting how many I will ‘Lo’ this year… after that, we enjoyed those delicious food on the table in buffet style… hahahahahah….

In the evening, I had another celebration with my buddies from school and went to Oscar’s. We love the buffet spread at Oscars’ and it has become a yearly affair to dine there in February. This year, Oscar’s did not include Yu Sheng to their buffet but I ordered it since CNY is near and it will be great to lo hei with my buddies too. Yes, you said it… that would be my 5th time.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day of celebrations with my close friends whom I treasure very much and I would like to thank you pals for spending time with me. Thanks for the lovely gifts and ang pow! Cheers!

Welcome Baby Shevelle

Congratulations to Maggie & Amos, the proud parents of Shevelle.