CNY Dinner With My Buds

We planned to have a CNY Lo Hei with our peeps but ended up only 3 of us available for this date while the rest are busy with their own engagements.

Well, with the love for food, we continued to have our Lo Hei even just the three of us. Haahahahah… okay, we are greedy and we have been craving for the food at East Ocean for a long time so, we are here today to satisfy our craves… hahaahahahahaah

We left it for Vivian to place the orders as she is considered the regular customer compared to both Theresa & myself. We always trust her choice of food and indeed, she ordered pretty tasty food besides the healthy Yusheng.

East Ocean served up quite a delicious Yusheng which is very healthy too. They used organic ingredients for the Yusheng and everything is vegetables… okay, like a salad but with smoked salmon. Something different from the usual Yusheng and it was really appetizing which I can’t stop taking more servings even when other dishes were served. 

Besides the braised duck and pig intestines, we ordered vegs and the oyster porridge was super tasty! This is my first time trying the oyster porridge and man… I simply fell in love at first spoon. It tasted so good though it looked normal.  

I am definitely coming back for the porridge soon and I hope to bring along my family as I trust that they too will enjoy this dish as much as I do. Thumps Up!

My Sister, My Friend

Lady Faith volunteered to accompany me to pick her sister today and was all excited to see her lil sis. She was asking me if I can imagine how happy her sister will be when she sees her big sister picking her up from school.

Indeed, Emma’s face lighted up the moment her sister surprised her at the gate. Little Em gave a wide smile as she called out for her sister. It was quite dramatic but super sweet when they hugged immediately when Emma stepped out.  

I love the sight of them loving each other as they can be really sweet. However, there are often when they fight and told each other off over a toy or something else. It can be quite a nightmare whenever they fight or have cold war for a couple of minutes. :)

I really hope that they will grow to love one another as nothing is more precious than family. Love you girls…

Lady Faith’s School Swimming Lessons

It’s been a few weeks since they started this swimming lessons organized by her school. I have been wanting to pay a visit but I wasn’t able as I was at work and tied up with CNY preparations.

Today, hubby & I made it to the pool to show her some support and indeed, she was thrilled to see us. We sat by the side of the pool watching her enjoying her swim in the morning with her school friends was a real joy.

On this fifth lesson, the coach was teaching them the life saving technics and testing them if they can trap water and correcting their strokes when they swim. Though he was very calm and lenient, I do hope that our child will learn some skill out of it. 

We were glad that Lady Faith introduced some of her classmates to us and they were a bunch of cuties. They were more than happy for pictures when I held up my phone… hahahahaah… super cute bunch of girls! Mmmh…. Guess that’s the beauty of a all-girls school.

It reminded me of my school days... 

Lion Dance Visit Star Learners

Little Emma has been telling us about the Lion Dance which will be performing at her school and today, she appeared to be a little worried as this day has come.

We brought her to school and we waited outside her school as all parents or family members are welcome to watch the Lion Dance. When the lion dance tropes arrived, all were asked to move into the school for the performance and we managed to stand near where little Emma was seated.  

She was excited to watch the lion dance performance but showed some concerned on her face at the same time. She is someone who is afraid of Lion Dance and we believed she can get through this. We saw her covering her ears when the Lion Dance performance started and she seemed to be calm though not really enjoying it as much as her sister.

I am not a Lion Dance lover too but I hid behind hubby to watch the performance and it was pretty much nice overall. I was happy that Emma was picking up sweets when the Lion threw them out and she gave it to me right away after her collection.  

After the performance was over, they gathered the kids to have pictures taken for the school and parents are welcome to have photos taken with the mascot too. It was quite an enjoyable performance and let’s HUAT ahh…

CNY Visitation To Athena’s Place

We were really happy to be invited to join the CNY fun at Athena’s place. She is one of Lady Faith’s best buddy during her childcare days. I am very glad that she learnt to treasure all her friends and from time to time, she talks about them too though they are now in different schools.

This would one of the best gathering for the kids as Regena invited most of their K2 pals whom I would say friends that they grew up with. Lady Faith was really excited about this CNY visitation as she can’t wait for see her friends again.

When we arrived at Regena’s place, only a few of her friends were there and the kids went to one of the bedroom to play while waiting for the rest to turn up. The kids need no catching up and they were playing happily with whatever were given to them. 

As more of her friends arrived, the food came just in time for lunch too. The kids need no directional advises to where to eat etc.. as they took their own food and sat at the area where they were supposed to eat their luncheons. It was so natural… 😊 

While the kids were enjoying their food, they also chatted and those smiles on their faces were PRICELESS! I could see how happy they were when they are together and they were smiling throughout their meals.  

After lunch, they continued to play some video and board games together while the parents chatted in the living room. It was a pretty good chance for the parents to get to know each other better and we are already planning for another outing. 

Thank you Regena for having us to this wonderful CNY party and Lady Faith considered this as her favouite CNY visitations!

Day 2 Of CNY Visitation

Our day 2 of CNY is usually more relaxing as we only have 1 place to visit. We took rest at home and taking time finish up Lady Faith’s homework before heading out.

We went to hubby’s cousin’s place for the visitation and it was such a great idea to book a function room to host CNY gathering as his family is so big and it will definitely be so cramp to hang in anyone’s house. 

Having a function room can be a difference. Not only we catered for dinner, we had space to move around and even programs for the kids to keep them occupied. While the bigger kids were preparing for the program, I brought the kids to the playground to keep them occupied while my other half had his dinner and also some bonding time with his cousins.

When everyone arrived, we gathered everyone to take family pictures and this year, they arranged the couples, elderly, children and the youth to have pictures taken. It was really fun to do so and it's something we can keep for a long time. 

While I was having mine, the kids’ programs started and they were really enjoying those games lined up for them. They were asked to do some art & craft with a little help from the elderly and at the end of it, every kid gets a prize. The games continued till the end of the party and Lady Faith really had a great time playing the games organized by Cousin Serena. She is one super talented girl who knows how to entertain kids with her games and balloon sculptures. The kids simply love her! I am pretty sure she can be an entertainer for kids in the future. 

After we arrived home, we were invited to our neighbour’s place for a drink. Joseph & his family were really nice and we had a great time chatting with them as to get to know them better more than just ‘hi & bye’ neighbours. Joseph & Rena, thanks for having us!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

OMG! It’s the first day of CNY! Gong Xi Gong Xi!  

As usual, we foresee a tiring day ahead as our visitation starts from late morning. We set off to my cousin’s place for lunch as our first stop. She whipped up a cool spread of dishes for luncheon while my mum prepared her signature vegetarian and my mango pomelo desserts to join the table of plenty. 

While waiting for the luncheon ready to be served, the kids hang out and we started our ‘Pai Nian’ with the elders and exchanging wishes to each other’s family. We were happy to welcome Charlie to join us for luncheon and he got busy hanging out with the kids.

Luncheon was fantastic indeed and what’s good about it was… they were all home-cooked with love. I would say that my cousin’s culinary skill improved by the year. Thumps up!  

After lunch, we headed over to our Gu-Jiong’s place which is just across the street from my cousin’s. We were happy to meet our elder cousins there and it felt like a real family reunion altogether. We only get to meet once a year or perhaps some special occasions and truly treasured the times we spent together though it was merely a short time.

We continued our visitation to Leslie’s auntie’s place and the kids were happy to greet their grandparents and aunties. They enjoyed more playing with their cousins as they had lesser time to meet ever-since Lady Faith took up her ballet exams.  

I always looked forward to the Lo Hei prepared by Aunty Suzie coz’ it was home-made and man… it is really DELICIOUS! We gathered around the table and tossed the yusheng with well-wishes for everyone and it was great fun for the kiddos too. 

While the house got crowded, Maggie took the kids down for some playground time and they were overjoyed indeed having fun with the slides and swings. The kids also had loads of fun bonding with their other cousins whom they get to meet only once a year! 

As the evening drew in, the kids were tired and knocked themselves out in the car while we were on our way home. It was indeed a tiring but it was simply great meet up with the family and relatives.

Happy New Year everyone!

Family CNY Reunion Dinner

It is a yearly affair that we will have our CNY reunion dinner at our Gujie’s place and the young generations will be the ones who does the preparation while the elders take their rest. This year, we are happy to welcome cousin’s church friend, Charlie who is here alone during this festive.

We prepared all the ingredients and brought over to her place and started to prepare for the dinner.

Florence prepared the Yusheng nicely and recited those nice meanings of each ingredients. We gathered everyone and then we started tossing and wishing everyone well wishes. The kids were happy to join as this would be the time to get messy without any scolding from the parents… hahahahaha 

After the Lo Hei, we cleaned up and prepared for our main dinner – Steamboat. This has been our tradition for our CNY reunion dinner since we were kids. I remembered sitting in the 2^nd hall with my cousins while the elders were at the main dinning hall during those days.

Dinner was great and it was a great time chatting with the family members and updating each other on what has been happening in our own lifestyle. This is one good opportunity for the family to gather though we tired to create other opportunities to meet up.

After dinner, we sat around and enjoyed the ‘kids’ friendly tiramisu I made and I was happy that they both kids & adults were enjoying it. Charlie was so tied up entertaining the kids and they had so much fun hanging out with him. 

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone and wishing one everyone a prosperous 2018!

Gou Gou Performance

I remembered the day when she came home and told me that she was chosen for the CNY performance this year and they will be dancing ‘Xiao Gou Gou’ song and requested me to check it out on YouTube so that she can practice.

I was puzzled and went ahead to check but somehow couldn’t find anything with that title. She mentioned to me that her teacher said it’s on Channel 8 and we definitely can find it on YouTube. I checked with friends and none of them knows anything about this ‘Xiao Gou Gou’ song!

Sighz… finally I browsed through the channel 8 on YouTube and found the song titled to be ‘Ah Gou Gou’ instead of ‘Xiao Gou Gou’! haahahaahah…. Eh… honestly, the song and the dance were pretty cheesy in my opinion but it’s Channel 8 right…. So, guess that’s why!

She has been practicing at home and trying her best to remember those steps and today, on Chinese New Year’s Eve, she is all ready for the performance. She set off to school happily and excited about the performance later.

I was really happy and thankful to her form teacher Mdm. Fiona Foo who took some pretty nice pictures and shared with us. I am so proud and happy for Lady Faith performing on stage though I wasn’t there physically.  

I do hope that with this experience, she will be able to boost her confidence on stage and that will come in handy for her ballet exams in future.

Thumps up darling! Well Done!

Yu Sheng

Who doesn’t enjoy Yu Sheng right… it’s the season to enjoy this yearly dish for the next few weeks and yes, we are not missing out too.

I headed down to Chinatown to get some stuff for mum and went to the market to get our favourite Yusheng for our dinner tonight. As CNY is still a few days’ away, I was happy that there was no queue at this stall.

The kids were so excited to recite the yusheng greetings and they repeated after me when I started the ceremony… hahahaah… We tossed gently and spoke of well wishes for the family and you can’t avoid messiness after the toss but we were well prepared.

Now, this would be my 4^th Lo Hei for the year so far and I will be counting…

CNY Reunion Dinner With Best Buds

Yearly, we tried to meet up for a reunion dinner before the CNY begins and this year, we are missing Tricia as she was busy.

We proceeded the dinner and headed down to Bali Thai located Suntec City. I dropped by at the office to drop off some homemade goodies to my ex-colleagues since dinner venue was located nearby. Though I have physically no longer working that office, I am still with my friends in spirit… hahhahaaha

As usual, we ordered tons of food whenever we meet and this is no exception… our first dish was the Yu Sheng and we tossed with good wishes for each other but we did it in a lower volume compared to tossing it in a Chinese Restaurant… hahahaahah… 

The dishes are Bali Thai were great as usual and my favourite would be the crystal noodles seafood pot. It was so delicious that you can’t resist the 2^nd serving and I think I had 3 servings… hahahahaahh the other dish was BBQ squid… SO YUMMY!!!!  

It was not only a great dinner but a super good gathering with my best buds. Though we are missing one member, we trust that she is with us in spirit… ahahaahahahaha…

Well, we will definitely arrange another gathering with everyone available and I can’t wait for our next food adventure…

CNY Celebration At School

Baby girl is so happy to be in school this morning as there will be a CNY celebration in the morning. She was so excited that she woke up early and reminded me that she needed to put on her CNY outfit as there will be a party.

I packed her the CNY goodies as a potluck for the party and she gladly held it to school and passed it to the teacher.  

When she returned home this afternoon, she told us that the party was really fun and she managed to try other goodies besides the one we brought to school. Her favourite would be the egg roll brought by some other kids and she requested us to buy her some next time.

CNY Family Reunion Dinner

We had my birthday celebration last night and here are we today gathered as a family for our CNY Reunion Dinner at Peach Garden located at Miramar Hotel.

We pre-ordered our set menu for this evening as we were worried that it will be crowded but to our surprise, it wasn’t full housed. As we were about a week from the actual CNY eve and guessed most people will prefers to have it on the actual day. 

We started off with the Lo Hei which looked really yummy. We tossed and made good wishes for the year ahead and wishing everyone’s dream come true. It was pretty huge for our family but it was so tasty that we couldn’t get enough. This would be my 2^nd Lo Hei for the year and I believed more to come… 

The dishes we ordered were super tasty and even the kids gave their thumps up! I guess our family’s favourite will be the braised duck that was super delicious and it was cleared to the bone… truly nice! Unfortunately, I did not manage to have its picture taken as I was too tied up with the kiddos.

After dinner, my family kindly celebrated my birthday. My two-lovely sis-in-laws bought the cheesecake with my name printed on it. It was so beautiful and I was really happy to have this little celebration. 

It was a simple yet beautiful and I had a great time today. Thank you, my family for making this day special. 

Birthday Celebration

As CNY has only 15 days of celebration, hubby thought it will be good to have an early birthday celebration for me as the family will be gathering for CNY Reunion tomorrow night.

We headed down once again to our favrouite restaurant for dinner and our kids were happy to have pasta & pizza for dinner. Though this is our favourite restaurant but we don’t visit as often as you might imagine.

Yes, we are here again for our family important occasion and this time, its mine. We ordered the usual favourite dishes and finally completed the dinner with their chocolate lava cake. The staff were so nice that they actually arranged the singers to sing the birthday song to me and that was one touching moment I would say. 

To me, it does not matter whether we had the celebration done before or after, but it’s the loved ones that you are with in this celebration that matters.

Cheers!

A Super Quick Get-Away

We planned this trip before I left MC and I am happy we stayed focus to this trip. This would be my virgin trip with Leng visiting Batam by ourselves.

Early this morning, we met at Harbourfront to board the ferry to Batam and we are excited for our quick getaway together. We never get bored with the conversation we had during the journey and in fact, we chatted till we arrived at Batam.

Our adventure began almost immediately and it felt like the AMAZING RACE… our decision to things were so quick and it’s almost a lightning speed. We did not waste anytime and we headed to the shopping mall after placing our orders for the lapis which was our main visit.

We did a quick walk around the shopping mall and decided to have our brunch since there weren’t much stuff to check out. We dined at Coffee Town which is quite similar concept as the Old Town in Singapore and ordered some food to share. We particularly like their fried kway teow which was pretty much tastier than the bee hoon. The rest of the food were alright but we preferred the food back home a thousand times.

We headed back to the ferry terminal to collect our lapis and cleared the immigration. We sat at the boarding area to rest and recalled back what we had done today. It was so easy to recall coz’ it was really short and quick. 

Love the super short get away and let’s do it again!

Baking Class

I signed up for this course before I left MC and I am really excited on attending this class. I arrived early at the venue finding myself the only student for the day which excites me even more as I will have full concentration from the teacher.

She started off the class by self-introduction and checking if I have any baking background. It was pretty swift and there we started the lesson. She prepared all the ingredients and handed over the recipe to me so that I could follow the instruction while hands on.

We went through the steps slowly and at the same time, she also explained the procedure to me which made me understands better. Although I was hands on, she came around to correct me here and there so that my cake will turn out perfect. It’s really not that easy to have a perfect looking or tasty cake.

When the cake was placed in the oven, I did the washing and started to prepare the icing for the cake which was pretty simple. The most challenging part of the course was rolling up the cake after icing it. It should be gentle and never to rush. She held my hand and showed me how I do so and left me to finish up.

I think I did great. Lastly, we decorated the cakes with caramel and nuts which made the cake looks prettier. This is one enjoyable class and I felt more like a private lesson as I was the only student. Perfect time for learning. 

Shared the cake with family and they gave me a thumps up! Woohoo... let me try to practice this cake again soon. 😋

Our Annual CNY Reunion Dinner

It is a yearly affair that we will have a get-together before the beginning the CNY and this year is no exception. However, this would be my first year of having the title of ex-MC staff to join this dinner and it’s quite a different feel. 

Anyway, as per our usual practice, we will have our dinner at our favourite hangout Spring Court as we were able to get a private room with karaoke which is perfect for us. As for menu, we ordered almost the same one every year except for some dishes might be different.

We usually turned crazy each time we meet for dinners like this as we are out of office and it’s time to have fun! When dinner was served, our first dish was the YuSheng and this would be my first Lo Hei for the year. It was really crazy as we tossed with good wishes for everyone and it was a total mess after the toss… it was like a tornado just came over our Lo Hei… hahahhahahahahah 

There came the suckling pig and this would be one of our favourite dish as we could witness the performance by Leng… hahahaahah… YES, tearing up the pig! This year, she recruited two helpers and they are Jessica & our mummy dearest… though they weren’t as experienced as the MASTER, but they did pretty well. It was one of the hightlight for the dinner and it definitely didn’t disappoint.

Halfway through dinner, Leng & I got up and danced to allow some digestion… hahahahah… NAY, we just wanna have fun… it’s Friday night and it’s a celebration, so, we should PPPPAAAARRRRTTTTYYY!! We input many songs so that we could dance since we have the room and the system all to ourselves and we should make full use of it yea.. c’mon, let’s dance the night away!

It was indeed a good few hours of fun and bonding with the friends whom I now regards them as and I will be looking forward to more outings with them to keep our friendship growing.