Madonna Rebel Heart Concert 2016

MADONNA!!! You are really coming to SINGAPORE!!!! I am thrilled by the news when they announced that she will be performing here FINALLY!!!

My friends & I was great fan of hers and we have been waiting for her to perform in Singapore since the day we know she existed. She is such a great performer and of course, through the years, she became more daring and provocative…

We wanted to go for her concert as a group but somehow our friends were busy with their own stuff so, only Theresa & I made it instead. We bought the cheapest tickets as it was too costly to watch.

When we arrived at the beautifully built National Stadium, I was filled with excitement and I couldn’t believe that I am really attending the concert! The National Stadium is really beautiful with comfortable seats and I simply love the snack counters. It was organized, clean, well-managed though snacks were costly.

The moment we set foot into the stadium, we took selfies just to remember this historic moment! There were many news reports by religious not to attend her concert but we went with an open mind… we were not here to worship or any of that sort, just purely enjoy her songs and performances. 

There were reports stating that concert goers waited at least 2 hours for her show to begin but we the lucky ones waited for an hour. It was worth the wait as she started the concert with a bang. I was so thrilled when she set foot on stage and hearing her voice LIVE was a dream coming true!

She sang a mixture of her old and new songs but many songs she sang reminded us our old school days where dedications were a hit on the radio. She was really entertaining as she walked to the center stage and spoke to the audiences and even played some games too. I thought her concert was great and I will definitely go for her concert should she EVER perform here again!

My Little Pony Friendship Run

I have often seen my friends joining Big Walk, Standard Chartered Run, Sundown Run etc… on FB and I am happy that I am joining My Little Pony Friendship Run with my daughter for the first time.

Though I was down with fever during the same week but I wouldn’t want to miss this wonderful opportunity to bond with my little lady. She was feeling so excited that she woke up pretty early this morning and got herself prepared to run. She even hurried us so that we can arrive at the venue on time for the race.

When we arrived at Sentosa where the race is held, it was really overcrowded with the early crowds but we were lucky that we managed to park our car at the nearest carpark. As there is no registration necessary on that day, we were free to join the activities at their booth while waiting for our race.

Faith was happy to get a seat at the activity booth to do some drawing and coloring while I waited for her at the side. After she was done, we walked about snapping pictures with the pony standees which were placed on the field. We were surprised that we bumped into her classmate who also signed up for the run.

When our race time was called, we stood by and waited for the key to start. It was totally overcrowded and was rather difficult to run… therefore, we started walking for the first part and started running when we had the chance.

Little lady was really happy when she got to run a bit as she mentioned to me that it was supposed to be a Run and not Walk! I was really surprised that she is quite a runner… hahaahahah… though complaint that her leg felt painful after a short distance. We managed to finish the 1 km race in about 13 minutes plus and I am really proud of her.

As we crossed the finishing line, we queued up to receive our water and medals. She was overjoyed to receive the medals as she felt the sense of achievement. This would be our very first medals achieved together and I do hope there will be more opportunities to join different activities.

My Happy But Unwell Emma

After the busy CNY weekend, my little baby Emma finally fell sick. I trust that it could be due to the visitations and the hot weather that caused her to develop high fever.

Her fever started off on Sunday afternoon with a high of 38 degree and we fed her with her fever meds but the stubborn fever did not subside. On Monday night, it rose up to 39.3 degree and she woke up crying feeling uncomfortable.

Tried to cool her down with the cool pad and meds, she went back to sleep. Mum monitored her condition during the day and told us that her fever did not subside. On Tuesday night, we decided to bring her to Mount A for a second opinion since her fever shot up to 39.9 degree! I was in panic but remained calm of course.

We were thankful that after the visit to Mount A, her fever finally came down to a decent 38.6 degree. We monitor her condition and though she was feeling feverish in the day, she was still somehow active.

As for me, my body could not take it anymore and I broke down too. I was down with fever though wasn’t that high but I wasn’t feeling good… (you know what I mean…!!)

I was home, sick but relieved to see baby Emma recovering from her fever that was lingering for the last few days. She was entertaining herself with the toys though she has not fully recovered. I was happy to see her smiling and running around despite running on slight fever.

Sighz… it is truly a nightmare when your baby is sick! I am sure all mothers would not want that happen to their child and would prefer the suffering party is us instead…

I thank God for the speedy recovery of Emma’s stubborn fever and may the Lord continues to watch and protect her always. Amen!

Last Lo Hei For 2016

Today, being the last day of CNY for 2016, hubby went to get Yusheng as our dinner tonight. 15 days of CNY just passed so fast and I am already started to miss the Yusheng while I am having it.

This year, I managed to complete 20 times of Lo Hei thanks to my colleagues, friends, and family for making this happen. J

Let me try to ‘Lo’ more next year… woohoo!

CNY Visitation Part II

After an enjoyable afternoon visitation at Koko’s lovely nest, we went home to refresh ourselves and the kids for a short while and speeded off to Theresa’s place.

It was a CNY cum a surprise birthday celebration for her first born Ethan. We were all tired but filled with energy when we arrived at their place. Looking at the delicious spread of food reminded me of our school days where we visit her place almost every other week for party and good food.

The spread tonight was our childhood favourites and she added the school days Wantons… YUMS! The kids were happily playing with each other while the adults enjoyed the food and wine served by the great hosts. We also enjoyed the movie and small talks at the living area with the elderly.

As it was CNY, they prepared the Yusheng for tossing. Vivian & I were asked to prepare the Yusheng with good phrases. We did it for the fun of doing and managed to remember each phrase for the ingredient. J

I would wish that I could stay for the surprise birthday party but I was surprised by Emma who vomited on me while I was trying to rock her to sleep. It was all too fast for me to react and I was drenched with her vomit!

After cleaning her up and part of myself, we decided to go home since we were in a mess… it was a pity that we weren’t able to join the celebration for Ethan but we do wish him a very Happy Blessed birthday!

Thank you Tans for having us today!

CNY Cum House Warming @ Koko’s Place

We were warmly invited to join CNY & House Warming party at Koko’s new nest located at Pasir Ris. I remembered during my school days, I had quite a few visitations to go during CNY and weekends are never enough. Now, we hardly get invitation to visit during CNY as many preferred to be overseas during this period.

Koko did most of the cooking like Gohan, meat balls, salads, fried chicken and bought roast duck while Leng contributed the steamed chicken, Yuki prepared the Takoyaki while I made the muffins as desserts. Yes… you can say that it was a fantastic spread of food on the dining table.

Her new nest is SUPER BIG! I was immediately blown away the moment I set foot into her house, the simple yet beautiful design of the house, the sea view from the hall and the breeze from every corner was superb!

Faith was obviously happy to have such huge space to run around with her friends while baby E was left playing by herself with some guidance from my colleagues occasionally. While the adults were busy at the dining table, the kids were happy playing with the exercise ball in her son’s room.

I too was very surprised that Baby E was really friendly today and allowed my friends to carry her around. She was all smiles and even posed for a picture when we told her to smile. J Thumps Up!

There was a moment when we noticed that all the kiddos were gathered in her daughter's room and when we entered, we were shocked to see the kiddos playing with cards... nay... they weren't gambling but was messing around with the cards. :) That was quite a funny scene....

It was such a great afternoon gathering for all of us and we thoroughly enjoy the food, the company and the conversations exchanged. Hope to visit this beautiful nest again in the near future. J

Thank you, Koko for being such a great & warm host!

Farewell ‘Mr. Bond’

There are many Jap bosses come and go yearly and we do cross path with some really good ones and MANY horrible ones…

Today’s farewell dinner is for a really genuine Mr. NICE man! Though we don’t get to work closely with him but by his actions, gestures, words simply attracted us to notice him. He is the DH of Metal Dept. and man…. he is such a warm and sweet guy. Yes… I am all praises for him as he is one of the most gentlemen I have ever come across with.

I had the opportunity to chat with him during our 60^th Anniversary party and he was really nice and REAL. That’s what most people like isn’t it? No one likes a FAKE person right? He was also very polite and appreciative when we invited him for today’s dinner.

He was generally shy but was warmed up after the Lo Hei. I thought it was a great dinner to get to know him even better and he seemed more like a friend than one of the bosses in our office. He treated everyone warmly and even to his driver. His driver & staff had all the praises for him too for being a very considerate, sweet and warm boss to work for. THUMPS UP!

At New Ubin Seafood, we ordered most of their signature dishes like the beef cubes, rice, bee hoon, 3 types of crabs cooked in different ways, special crispy vegetables & our favourite baby squids. The food was simply delicious and everyone had a great time. 

After dinner, I was even more impressed by his personality that he instructed the driver to send all of us home while he takes a bus by himself. We rejected the offer and told the driver to send him home and dropped us at the train station instead. He insisted but we were on a stronger ground… hahahahaahah….

Wishing you Ikeda-san a pleasant trip and all the best to your new assignment!

ADM Dept. CNY Dinner

After the experience during last year’s reunion dinner, we are not comfortable of attending another dept. dinner but as usual, we have no choice but to attend afterall.

We were requested to organized the dept. dinner once again though both Leng & I were very much reluctant… we chose the venue and prepare the menu for approval. J Just a week before the dinner, we received news that our new DDH will be joining us for the occasion and how ‘exciting’ were in our thoughts…

We arrived at Ban Heng located at The Cathay and quite disappointed that the private room given to us was quite small and they were not able to put us on a bigger table or room as the restaurant was fully booked due to CNY.

We started off the dinner with the Lo Hei and that was everyone’s favourite and the first time for our new DDH. This business trip is considered her virgin visit to Singapore and she did not have time to move around as it merely a 3 days trip.

During dinner, there was some good conversation exchanged between the new boss and the staff but most of us somehow had our reserves too. What surprised us was our current sickening boss actually was generous this time to order 2 bottles of wines compared to 1 bottle to be shared among 12 pax last year!!

We just hope that it will be the beginning of a better year for all of us in ADM Dept. and may the bosses be nicer and create a more enjoyable & friendlier environment to work in.

My 11th Lo Hei

After an enjoyable trip to JB yesterday, it is our resting day today with the family. Hubby suggested that we should have Lo Hei again for dinner since CNY will be coming to a close soon.

I have always been a great fan for Yusheng during CNY and I do hope to achieve at least 20 this year… hahahaahahah On our way home from Malaysia, we dropped by at our favourite Yusheng stall at Chinatown before heading home to rest.

Faith who enjoyed Yusheng (the cracker more like it) was excited that we will be having Lo Hei tonight and she already told me about her wishes for the Lo Hei… hahaahhahaahah

I am happy that we taught them this tradition of Lo Hei during CNY and hope she will continue this practice when she is older. J

Huat Ahhhh…..!!!!

Our Water Jewels

After our breakfast, we headed straight to the pool for a swim before checking out.

Faith was so happy that she was able to swim before we head back to Singapore. She was looking forward to swim with her little sister again. Hubby held our little jewel as she plays in the pool while Faith was swimming by herself.

It seemed like baby E did not like to go too far away from the edge as she saw me chilling by the side of the pool with snacks and drinks. She wanted to join me but yet she was enjoying the dip with her dad & sister. J

Wished that I could join them in the pool but was down with a cold… L

My Birthday In JB

Baby girl requested to celebrate my birthday overseas and since we are on leave for the CNY, we decided to travel near for the celebration.

We set off after lunch and headed to JB. We arrived at Hello Kitty Town in less than an hour thanks to the smooth traffic. We left our bags in the car and headed to the theme park since it was still early for check in. It seemed like Faith’s birthday celebration instead as she got excited the moment we entered the premise.

She went for the rides, the shows and danced along while the little one watched. Baby E was little but thankfully there were some simple rides and area for her to play. We were happy to see her enjoying both the Bob the Builder & Barney shows.

After the enjoyment in the theme park, we headed to dinner after checking in at Hotel Jen. J Dinner was simple but enjoyable though it was quite crowded due to Malaysia school holidays.

Hubby surprised me with a cake after my shower and Faith was so happy and excited that she started singing me the birthday song while Baby E watched and clapped. It was indeed a simple yet memorable birthday celebration.

Thank you B for the wonderful arrangements and love you guys to bits. J

CNY 3rd Day

We were invited to our boss’ cozy apartment today as one of the CNY visitation. It was so sweet of my boss to prepare some light snacks and drinks to welcome us. I brought desserts to his place as a courtesy and we sat & chat at his little dining table. J

As part of the CNY visitation at his place, he even prepared an entertainment for us… he performed as Da Tou with the lion dance music playing as his music… it was super hilarious but was really fun to dance along with him. He too invited us to dance along though we are not in Lion Dance costumes… hahaahahh

After that fantastic entertainment, we went for our proper dinner at Golden Spoon, one of my boss’ favourite. We ordered the usual dishes with an additional of Yu Sheng. The Yu Sheng was really tasty and their sauce weren’t too sweet. As we are celebrating CNY, he prepared the Chinese Wine to compliment the dishes and for the occasion. Honestly, I am not a fan of Chinese Wine and thankfully, we switched back to red wine shortly…. Hahahaah

Thank you, Boss for the super entertaining Da Tou dance and the sumptuous dinner! Wishing you good health always!

Our Happy Baby

Though after a few hours of visitation at hubby’s cousin’s place today, baby Emma was feeling tired and cranky but after her milk and bath, she was all energized again!

She was so happy to be home and be at her comfort zone, she was walking around, playing with her toys and even posed for photo when I got near to her with my phone. J

She is a REAL ADDED JOY to our family and never fails to bring smiles on our faces. J

CNY Day 2

I simply love the 2^nd Day of CNY as we only need to visit one place yearly. I remembered when I was younger; we will visit my grandma on the 2^nd day of CNY as this day is made for my mum’s side of the family.

I was even happier when I heard that the visitation will be held at hubby’s cousin’s house which is just next block to where we stay. J I totally had enough time to relax, lesser stuff to carry and only need to walk over. J

Faith was happy to see her cousins and started playing with them in the room while baby Emma was shy and was clinging onto me most of the time until her Yeye came to my rescue. J After that, she was happily playing with some toys in one of the room by herself while hubby & I took our lunch. It was pretty much a family gathering and each year, we see little kids grew so much.

As it was a catered luncheon, the package includes the Yu Sheng too, not one but 9 sets! We gathered everyone at the balcony for the Lo Hei session for the Pioneers and then followed by the young generation and the final one was for the YOUNGER Generation…. Hahaahahahaha

After the Lo Hei with the family, I brought baby Emma home as she was feeling sleepy and cranky while our little lady Faith stayed to play with her cousins. J

Happy New Year!

Today, being the first day of CNY, it is a tradition to greet our parents first thing in the morning and received ang paos. J I woke up slightly late today as I tried to stay up last night as Chinese believed that the later you goes to bed on the New Year’s Eve for the longevity of your parents.

Yearly, we will visit my cousin’s place for lunch and this would be the second time that my elder cousin BG prepared the dishes all by her while my mum chipped in the vegetarian and the mango pudding prepared be me. J

After a year of practice and learning, her culinary skills improved tremendously indeed and she even came up with some interesting yet very CNY dish like the winter melon stuffed with treasures… J Thumps Up!

After a sumptuous luncheon, we walked over to our elder aunt’s place that lived just a street away from my cousin. This year, there were no crowd at their place as they informed their relatives not to visit due to the recovery stage of my uncle who suffered stroke couple months’ ago. However, we were welcomed by them and we were happy to see our younger cousins as we only meet once a year.

Being a busy first day, we left to visit hubby’s relatives’ place where everyone gathered for this joyous occasion. When we arrived, together with my own family, we went to the host of the house and parents in law to ‘pai nien’. This is tradition and I want our children to carry on this tradition by doing it with them. J

I was really excited to Lo Hei as this is one of my favourite Yusheng. It is homemade by hubby’s aunt who does it so professionally. Everyone gathered at the table and started to toss with many good wishes for the Year of Monkey.

Gong Xi Fai Cai!

CNY Family Reunion Dinner

CNY is one of the most important festival or season for Chinese as we celebrate our New Year. Reunion Dinner is another must do for family in Chinese Culture or at least for my family. J

Yearly, we held our family reunion dinner at my aunt’s place where all cousins will gather for this exciting steamboat dinner. As our aunt is aging so, the young generation prepares the indigents and dishes for the dinner instead of the elderly.

As usual, we started off the reunion dinner with Lo Hei hopefully to toss for good fortune, good health and wishing a smooth year ahead for everyone. The kids tossed along with us too as that’s the time they won’t get a scolding if they messed up the table…

Steamboat dinner has always been exciting for me as I am a great fan of steamboat dinner. We bought many different types of raw food to cook such as fresh fish paste, wagyu beef, prawns, fish balls/meat/sotong balls, vegetables, scallops, shrimp dumplings, mushrooms etc… I simply enjoyed conversation with family members over steamboat dinner as we can cook and chat at the same time. J

After dinner, I received a surprise birthday celebration from my lovely cousins. They bought me a tasty cheesecake for the celebration and I was really caught by surprise. J

Thank you, cousins for the thoughtful celebration. J

Happy 14th Months

How time flies... our baby Emma turned 14th months old today.

At her tender age, she has started walking and in fact, running around on her own and at the same time, trying hard to talk to us in her own baby language. She does address us as Mama, Papa, Por Por, Jie Jie, Ye Ye & Maa Maa...

I would say she is more of a faster learner than her sister Faith. She could alarm us that she has pooed by touching her own diaper, walked to the kitchen pointing at her milk container if she wants milk and walked to her room when she is sleepy... sighz... growing too fast!

Happy 14th Months Emi and we love you to bits....

Lo Hei @ Home

We too started the Lo Hei at the comfort of my home since CNY is near and our favourite Yu Sheng stall started their business on 3 Feb. J Hubby went to Chinatown and bought the Yu Sheng as he knows that I am a big fan of this delicious CNY salad… haahahahaha

As this is our 1^st Lo Hei at home, the cozy group tossed and wished for good health through the year. Even our little lady tossed and said well wishes too. Though she is too young to enjoy this Chinese salad but she is certainly a great fan for the crackers which represents Gold.

This will definitely not be the last Lo Hei at home and I am waiting for more to come… HUAT AHH!!!!

Lo Hei @ Office

You can say that we are a bunch of crazy people who loves to chill and enjoy good food together being it at colleague’s place or in office. Today, we specially ordered food to the office so that we can start have a Lo Hei together before the Year of Monkey arrives.

We ordered from our usual favourite zi char stall at Boon Keng and I am sooooooooo missing the Asam Fish curry and their prawn rolls!!! I can’t recall when was the last time we had that in the office for our lunch but today, we definitely enjoyed the dishes.

We invited Yatomi-san to join us for the Lo Hei and luncheon as he is very into Chinese tradition and given full respect to our culture. He was very happy to be invited to our lunch gathering though it was at our own humble dining room.

It was his time trying out the Asam curry fish and he loves it. I was very confident that he would enjoy as he loves spicy food just like all of us. J This is only the beginning of our office Lo Hei and I am sure that there will be more to come…. Woohoo!!!

With this Lo Hei today, it marks my 5^th so far… count with me yea… J Cheers!! 

My 1st Ang Pao For 2016

We were caught by surprised with the visit of our CRO Moriyama-san after lunch today. He came down from his office on the 20^th Floor and greeted us with a bright smile and handed CNY ang pao to all the ladies who were present.

Since his arrival to Singapore as our CRO perhaps 3 years ago, he has been following the trend of giving ang pao to all the lady staff in the office. We were really surprised by his generous gesture as he is the first boss who does that.

This year, being his last year serving as our CRO, he did not fail to do the same despite his busy schedule. He even took time to walk to each lady’s desk to present the ang pao… THUMPS UP!!!!

Thank you Moriyama-san for your generous ang pao!

CNY School Celebration

Yearly, Faith’s school organizes CNY celebration in school to celebration this occasion and at the same time, teaching them the values of CNY.

Today, students are allowed to dress in their CNY or party clothes and parents were told to prepare some CNY goodies for the party. It was great and I bought a tub of ‘Love Letters’ for them as that is one of the usual goodies we eat during CNY.

Faith was really excited about the party and insisted to wear her Cheong Sam to school for the party. I am happy to know that she can fit into her Cheong Sam which was given to her by my cousin. J

CNY Reunion Dinner With BFFs

We never fail to meet for our yearly CNY Reunion Dinner and no exception this year too. We organized and had our gathering at Bali Thai Suntec City which is near where I am working. J

Everyone arrived on time and we started to give each other gifts like ang pao envelopes, CNY goodies, advance Valentine’s Day gift and I presented to them the Photobook which I made for our Funtastic Trip to Batam.

We started our wonderful reunion dinner with Lo Hei. We simply love Lo Hei not only we are tossing for good health and WEALTH but we love this dish as it’s considered as a yearly dish for CNY. All the dishes followed pretty quickly but we too did not waste anytime but to clear the plates…

It was a very fun and sumptuous dinner though the dishes were not Chinese food. For me, I love the Tom Yum soup as it was sour enough to appetize me to eat more dishes and I love the crystal noodles too.

After our dinner, we went for a walk or should I say for shopping. Yes, nothing will stop us if there is a CNY sales going on in any shops we enter. J Whenever I we meet, we never leave for home without having to bring home bags of goodies. J

CNY Goodies

CNY is not too far away and yearly, I will try to bake something for my friends and relatives as one of their CNY goodies. This year, as I have not time to air fried the crab sticks; I made honey cornflakes for them instead.

It is one of the easiest goodies ever. It took me less than an hour to make about 10 tubs with the help of my mum. Woohoo!!! I guess I can make this every week should any request from my friends… J