Year End Feasting With Best Buds

We were so tied up during the Christmas Season that we missed the opportunity to celebrate the festival together this year. However, we will not let the year end without meeting up for a good feast!!!

Theresa booked Basilico at The Regent Singapore for us and I was really excited to visit as I heard so much about it but yet to try. The restaurant is really classy and the spread was VERY GOOD (for someone who loves cheese, ham and other appetizers).

Hairon and I were early and we decided to start eating since the rest were late due to losing track of time while shopping. I was happy to see lots of different types of cheese, ham platters, rock melons, salads etc… it was an amazing spread indeed. Without hesitation, I took almost a whole ball of buffalo mozzarella cheese with Parma ham and their super sweet rock melon. It was truly heavenly!

Though it was buffet style but it only includes one main course for each diner. We decided to order different mains so that we can try all of them. The risotto was not too bad but I preferred the Wayu beef which was really tasty and juicy!

Before heading for desserts, we took a breather and had a short X’mas gift exchange session and it was really nice to receive souvenirs of Holland from Tricia who travelled recently. It was really sweet of her for remembering us even during her holidays.

The desserts spread were simply fantastic! I was really confused as there were too many types of desserts I want to try but the space I had in me was limited! Though I was so stuffed, I managed to have my favourite bread & butter pudding which was a champion! Totally DELICIOUS!

It was indeed an enjoyable and fun gathering as usual with lots of laughter! Wishing my best buds a Happy and Blessed New Year ahead! Love you guys to bits!

Christmas Party At Linda’s House

X’mas party or gathering at Linda’s place has become a yearly affair after we had such an enjoyable time on the first session.

She kindly prepared a fantastic spread of food for us as always which we enjoyed so much and of course, I brought cupcakes for everyone as desserts. This is one fun gathering as we are usually relax and it’s always great to hang out with colleagues not only in the office but at our own time with the family.

Though some of the ex-colleagues did not manage to join the party but I am sure we will be meeting up soon again. Thank you Leng for the wonderful arrangements as always!

Boxing Day

Boxing Day has been a tradition for me to open up all the Christmas gifts from pals all these years and with that, I would like my little one to follow with this practice too.

Now that Faith is 3 years plus, she could understand the reason why she has to wait till Boxing Day to have all her gifts opened. Even before Christmas, she has been asking if Boxing Day is near so that she can open up some of her gifts that were lying in our study room.

Overall, I am really happy that she is patient enough to wait till Boxing Day to have all her gifts opened. We brought out all her gifts after dinner and she happily placed them on the floor; asking me to take a picture for her with all the pressies.

After which, she started to open the gifts one at a time asking who those gifts were from. I am happy that she will say ‘thank you’ to the giver’s name after every gifts she opened and she will let us know what the gifts she received.

Christmas Luncheon@Ka Yun’s Place

We are delighted to be invited to cousin’s place for Christmas Luncheon today and we thank Florence who prepared all the good food. It has become a yearly affair that we celebrate this beautiful season, Christmas as a family at Cousin Ka Yun’s place.

Not only it bonds the family members but also allows Zoe & Faith to get to know each other better. They seemed to love each other pretty much that they would want to be play together or even wanted to arrange a sleep over.

Florence prepared a wonderful spread indeed for lunch which includes pan fried salmon, party sausages, real mushroom soup, bacon asparagus wrap and egg mago salads. I brought muffins for the desserts as usual and drinks were home made by Cousin Lai Kuan too.

After luncheon, we set down around to discuss on the menu for both CNY eve’s dinner and CNY 1st day’s lunch. We always discuss what to bring and who to be in-charge though usually there are always hip cups at the end.

Thank you for having us for this wonderful session. Merry Christmas!

Year-End And Christmas Dinner

My super generous boss Yatomi-san kindly invited us to celebrate Christmas and at the same time, to close year 2013 in advance.

Having him giving the rights to call the shots, I am happy to book Ristorante da Valentino for our celebration. It is first time for my boss and pals while it’s a new location for me. I knew Valentino many years back through Zen’s cousin, Danny.

When we arrived at the cosy and homely restaurant, the warmed and friendly gestures from their staff truly made us felt so comfortable and welcomed. Once seated, the waiter whom we believed to be assigned as our ‘butler’ kindly informed us the special of the day and introduced some wines to our boss.

We browsed through their menu and as usual, boss being a gentlemen as he is, he gently asked us to order anything we like from the menu. After checking with everyone at the table, I bravely ordered a selection of ham with Burrata, Valentino’s selection of gourmet olives and grilled octopus tentacles sprinkled with sea salt flakes as our starters. It was simply heaven!

I particularly enjoyed the grilled octopus tentacles not because I am a great fan of octopus & cuttlefish but it was really so tasty that I couldn’t stop eating. It wasn’t salty but was really chewy…. YUMS!

As for pastas, after hearing the recommendation from the waiter, we ordered squid ink Fettuccine with crabmeat in creamy sauce and Risotto with porcini mushroom. As for mains, we had the whole fish baked with salt which was pretty delicious and their pork chops. The dishes ordered were given two thumps up!

We did not have space for desserts but since we were there, we ordered their Pistachio dessert to share which was pretty good too. While enjoying our desserts, we were also greeted by Valentino himself at our table and am surprised that he actually remembers me though we have not met for so many years.

Everyone was happy with the food and wine of course and I am sure I would want to be back with hubby the next time. I would like to thank my boss Yatomi-san for this wonderful and sumptuous dinner!

Germaine & Aaron’s Wedding

I remembered I was overjoyed when she shared with me that she found someone that she would truly want to spend her life while we were serving Café in BSC Church. The news of her tying the knot with the love of her life came to us early this year.

With that announcement, she requested us to sing for her church wedding and we were really honoured to be part of her big day. Though we were all busy with our own stuff, we managed to get everyone together to practice and today, here we are in church singing praises to the Lord Almighty during the wedding.

I would say that this would be my first time singing for a wedding and with the limited voices we had, I thought we did quite well though there were some small hiccups here and there. Overall, we did our best and it was one beautiful wedding ceremony indeed.

In the evening, we went to attend the wedding dinner of the lovely couple at NUSS Guild House where it is totally new to us too. It was really happy to meet some friends whom I hardly see. The dinner was buffet style which is new to us as we do not get to attend Western Style weddings except for this one. The food were pretty good to be honest especially the desserts. YUMS!

At one of the dinner, Germaine dedicated a song to her hubby and requested Emily and myself to be her backup… man… that was really embarrassing but I was happy to be party of it. To my surprise, I was told that Faith was crying so hard while I was on stage singing with Germaine & Emily as she did not want me to leave her side.

It was all a beautiful and enjoyable evening and we are blessed to be witnesses of this wonderful event. Germaine & Aaron, wishing you a blessed and happy marriage and may the Lord always watch over you always.

MC Dinner & Dance 2013

This has been a yearly affair that everyone looks forward to and I am happy to be able to attend this event after two years of absence due to family vacation.

Back to School, theme for this year’s D&D is one of my favourite themes. In addition to that, it will be the last D&D for our beloved GM and it will be an honour to receive the 20th Years Long Service Award from him.

When we arrived at Parkroyal on Pickering, the venue for our event this year, I was really happy to see many colleagues dressed up as students. Being a proud student of my school, I wore my school uniform too and many of them were happy to know that I was wearing a REAL uniform compared to some.

After the opening speech from the ‘Principal Yasuno’, the party officially began with a bang. Started off with a fantastic MTV by Philip (D&D committee chairman) and montage of pictures of school days, we followed up with the Long Service Award. My name was the first to be called and it was really such a great joy to receive this hard earned award from Yasuno-san whom I had high respect for.

The dinner began with ice-breaker game where it made everyone move around the packed ballroom to get their missing puzzles. It was great fun and it indeed brought everyone on their toes. Great Job!

After the first performance by our very own staff, we thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment session by this lady who called herself ‘Dim Sum’. She was really hilarious and her segment certainly brought the house down. There was loads of laughter with every move she made with her volunteers on stage. Totally entertaining!!!

When it came to the best dressed session, my name was called out to be on stage as one of the contestants. We were asked to do sexy dance moves for that segment and yes, I went all out to do so… haahahahaah… just for the fun of it! I really thank all my ‘fans’ and supporters for clapping so loud for me that won me the Best Dressed for 2013! Hahaahahaahah….

Though I was eyeing for the I-pad Air as one of the lucky draw prizes, my number wasn’t called… guess I have to buy that out of my own pocket… overall, I think the committee especially Philip has done such a great job to put this event together. Thumps UP!

Congratulations To Patrick & Richelle

I love attending weddings and I am very honoured to be invited to Patrick & Richelle’s wedding at Marina Bay Sands.

It’s my first time attending any events at MBS and indeed, the place is huge… there were so many weddings and events like D&D going on. The events were so close to one another that they were only separated by the wall. MBS housed too many function rooms and it made it quite inconvenient for elderly to get to the venue with too many walking involved.

The food for once wasn’t that bad compared to the reviews from some of my friends. In fact, we were more interested in our own conversation with friends whom we don’t get to meet often.

It was a simple, pleasant and sweet wedding for the couple and I am very happy that they found true love. Wishing you a blessed and happy marriage!

Movie World Australia

Waking up to another exciting day as we gets ready to head down to Movie World. The kiddos were really excited as they will get to meet some superheroes, cartoon characters like Tweedy Bird etc…

When we arrived at Movie World, it was pretty crowded as usual and the sun was scorching HOT. We could see many changes compared to a decade back. There were many new rides like the Superman advantage which seemed to be the scariest ride so far! The rest of it was intact and this time, I found the batman kind of FAT… hahaahahahaah while Robin was missing.

We went straight for our first show at the theatre for car stunts. It was really interesting and totally an eye opener for all of us on how good the stunts were.

The kiddos totally enjoyed most of the rides and our little Faith took some of the rides on her own too. She even tried the children roller-coaster with her dad while I stood to take pictures. I did not try out the adult rides as it was too crowded but I enjoyed the children’s rides instead. Hahahaahaha

After luncheon, we went to the game stalls for some games and it was really enjoyable for both young and old. The elderly joined us for the games too such as netting the basketball etc. Faith tried out the ballooning bursting and to our surprised, she managed to burst 3 balloons at one shot. With that, she won herself a tiara. It was truly an enjoyable time for everyone.

The parade was really interesting as that was the best time to view all the characters when they walked out to greet everyone. Totally cool!

Paradise Country

I remembered we have been to some farms in Australia on some of our trips in the past but this one would be a different one.

Our little one woke up early and really excited about the farm trip today as she is really looking forward to feeding the kangaroos, touching the Koala and seeing the sheep. She told me that she wants to take pictures with all the animals and asked if she can carry the Koala!!

When we arrived at Paradise Country, I was pretty happy that there were only two coaches parked at the side (which means it’s not going to be crowded). When we walked through the gift stores towards the Koala viewing area, I saw a HUGE crowd of Chinese dashing towards us…. We were thankful that we were already in the queue for Koala photo-taking. I was very upset by one of the China tourist as she tried to sneak through without queuing and I told her off when I spotted… hahaahahah…

Hubby carried the Koala while I had Faith in my arms this time as the last time the Koala peed in between my fingers when I carried it. Hubby was really tensed and with that, the Koala got a little frightened and grabbed hubby really tightly… hahahaahahah… in addition, hubby kept on complaining that the fellow really stinks!

After the fun photo-session, I bought some food to feed the kangaroos. Though they were pretty big, Faith did not really care about it and went straight to feed them. At one point, the kangaroo rejected the feed but she insisted and continued to put the food to the mouth of the kangaroo. I was rather worried that she might get boxed by it for it refused to eat but the kangaroo gave up and hopped away!

Our journey in the farm continued with several shows like the cowboy tea making technics, horse riding, and sheep dog tending to sheep and milking the cow. It was quite an experience for Faith to go up and personal with the animals.

After all the outdoor at the farm, we proceeded to our shopping spree at Harbour Town where the outlets are. It was quite a big place to walk around but we did not have much to buy coz’ the sizes we found were pretty big for Asians… except for kiddos.

Sea World, Gold Coast

Today, we will be heading to Sea World, one of the 3 popular Worlds in Gold Coast. I am pretty excited about it as we were here 10 years ago just the two of us but now, we are back again with our little one.

When we arrived, there was a long queue at all the counters even the group lane was crowded but it did not take us long to get our tickets to enter. I would say that there were lots of changes compared to our visit a decade ago.

They had added many themes like Dinosaurs Park, Sponge Bob etc. The dinosaurs were pretty impressive as they looked really REAL and the sound effects from the sides were good too. It looked so real that it somehow scared Faith quite a bit. She was crying almost immediately when we entered the park but we tried to sooth her down and managed to walk through it.

On the other side of the Dinosaurs Park, it was an area for the kiddos. There were train rides, the carousel and other rides. We went ahead to take some of the rides while the elderly took rest under the shade. While riding some of the rides, it seemed like flashback to childhood days though they were pretty much different.

After lunch, we were having so much fun at the game stall where everyone including the elderly was joining us for some of the games like throwing rings to the bottles, netting the basketball, spraying target to move up dolphins etc… 

The dolphin show was really interesting and enjoyable to watch. I was very much hoping that Faith could catch the show but she was already alseep before the show even started.

Time passed really fast when you are having so much fun and it was time to leave the Sea World. The journey back to our hotel was pretty short and after refreshing ourselves, we went for an early dinner.

Hard Rock Café located near our hotel was our dinner venue. Though we were a group of fifteen, it did not take them long to get us seated but it took quite a while for our food to be served. Hubby and I enjoyed our fajitas very much while Faith had her macaroni & cheese. Everyone enjoyed HRC food including the elderlies. 

Thumps up!

Tangaloma, Australia

We woke up to a beautiful morning in Tangaloma and we were excited about spending the day at the beach. We got ourselves ready for our breakfast at the café which was so crowded while the food served there was simple. Among the breakfast spread, I personally enjoyed the sautéed mushrooms and their poached eggs which were one of their best snatch…

It was such a wonderful feeling having breakfast near the beautiful view of the clear blue sea with the cool wind blowing through your hair. I doubt we can get anything near such experience back at home. It was a bright sunny morning and the kiddos wanted to waste no time for sand castle building at the beach.

After breakie, we went back to our room to get changed and had our stuff packed as the check- out time was 12 noon. We brought along our hand luggage and got the elderly seated at the café while we headed down to the beach for a dip with the kids.

Though the sun was scorching HOT but it did not stop the kids to plant their tools to build the sand castle almost immediately. Hubby brought Faith to the sea shore just to let her have a feel of the sea water but she was hesitant due to the unpleasant sight of the seaweeds floating at the shore… hahahah… However, she still managed to get a short dip in the water.

The kids enjoyed building sand castles so much that we did not realized that we were at the beach for more than an hour. The adults were getting tired while the kids were getting hyper and energetic as the minute passes by. We also tried to distract them by getting them to swim in the sea as the sun was getting too hot. Faith became a little more daring and jumped into the water without any assistance!

Finally after about two and the half hours under the HOT sun, we managed to get the kids to get cleaned up and take some rest at the indoor café. We ordered some snacks and light luncheon while we waits for our ferry back to mainland.