Casual Dinner With Buddies

We did not plan the dinner ahead but only decided to meet up two days ago. As we are staying around the same area, we went to have dinner at Pietro located near Yio Chu Kang area.

Pietro without any introduction, you guys whom have been following my blog knows that it is one of my favourite Italian Restaurants. The food and service are great which is the best reason why I am going back often.

My ex-colleagues whom have been there before enjoyed the food too but we also enjoyed our fellowship too. Meeting up good friends for dinner are always a privilege as everyone is busy with their own stuff but sparing time to meet up is simply an effort. 

Okay, back to the food, we ordered the calamari, seafood aglio, risotto and their truffle pizza (which is my all time favourite from this restaurant). Though our table was filled with food but we managed to finish them and even adding another spicy wing after noticing the dish passed us by… hahahahaha 

I am really happy to have this wonderful and enjoyable evening with my two besties and I do hope they will be happier after pouring out their stressful work issues over dinner. Jia You Buddies… 

Brunch With Besties

It is very rare that I am able to meet up with friends for brunch on a weekday as usually, everyone is at work. Today, we finally made it! Yes… met up with my besties for brunch and I was so happy to see Edelyn whom I seldom meet as she is such a busy mother.

We headed down to Kith at Millenia Walk which is one of my favourite joint. It was like going back to work but a different agenda. Having brunch near the old office but not working is such a great feeling… especially when you are meeting up with your besties.

We ordered their sandwiches to share and it was too much to finish in the morning. We chatted and had so much to catch up with each other. We remembered those school days when we usually hang out till late after school at each other’s house or at our favourite café at Raffles City. Those were the good old days which we have them kept in our hearts.

The café manager Jaq kindly treated us with a banana cake as our desserts and it tasted pretty good though I am no banana fan. It was a short meeting as we have our own commitments but we will definitely try to meet again soon.

Tiger Sugar

Well, I am a big fan of Tiger Sugar and whenever I am in town, I will not miss the opportunity to get my favourite drink. After my cake’s delivery, I took a slow stroll down to Capitol just to satisfy my craving.

I am not sure about you but I am loving this drink.

Brownies And Muffins

I had a surprised call from my ex-colleague last week to place an order with me. I did not expect that to happen but it was really sweet of them to think of me whenever they need to order cakes.

Ainsles, one of the most respectable employees in my ex-company will be retiring from MC but hired as a contract staff for the new subsidiary rang me up to order muffins and brownies to thank colleagues and friends.

To me, I think it is really a HUGE LOSS to MC to let her go as she is one of the most experienced staff in the accounts department and without her presence, I think the account department would be a floating island. I remembered back in those office days, I used to seek help from her coz’ other managers can’t help or perhaps not confident to help. Sighz…

Anyway, I was really thankful that she thought of me when she wanted to get cakes for people in the office and I was happy and grateful to everyone who has supported me.

Dinner With Yatomi-San

I was overjoyed when I received the email from Yoyo inviting me to have dinner with Yatomi-san! He is one of my favourite bosses whom I have worked with for 4 good years. I remembered seeing him for the first time in our office was such a joy as he loves to crack jokes in the office to lower our stress level which works for us most of the time.

During his tenure in SIN office, he saw and supported me through my pregnancy and very kind of him to arrange my favourite wines as a gift for me. Truly a great boss to work with and I have learnt a lot from him in terms of business. He was the one who gave me the opportunity to attend meetings with other gas companies in Singapore and coached and guided me to learn more about the gas industries in Singapore.

Today, I am really happy to meet him again for our fun night and it certainly brought back many good memories. He still looked as good as ever and always putting on that smile. His jokes are still weird and funny and it was such a great reunion tonight.

We had dinner hosted by Onishi-san & Tanaka-san at Golden Spoon, Yatomi-san’s favourite restaurant. The boss Alfred prepared Yatomi-san’s favourite dishes and also sponsored a bottle of pretty good red wine. We had so much fun chatting and catching up with each other with good food and wine on the table. 

Yatomi-san also announced to us that he will be retiring this month after recontract with MC for a few years and it’s time to go. 😊 I am feeling sorry for the company once again for loosing another talented individual who contributed so much to the company. 

He took this opportunity to visit SIN to bid his farewell as a MC staff to business partners and of course to see us. I was happy for him that he can finally rest and enjoy life with his family after working hard for so many years.

Yatomi-san, wishing you the very best for your retirement and hope to see you in Tokyo or Singapore again soon.

Yuan Xiao Jie

Today, CNY has come to a close after 15 days of celebration, greetings and visitations to family, relatives and friend’s place.

Traditional and modern Chinese families observe Yuan Xiao Jie by having a simple family gathering where the young and elderly meet for a bowl of Yuan Xiao (元宵 as called by the northerners) or Tang Yuan (汤圆 as called by the southerners). Tang Yuan is the sweet version commonly filled with walnuts, red dates, black sesame, red bean or peanut pastes. The more exquisite ones have Osmanthus flower filling in light sugar syrup. My personal favourite would be the black sesame. Yumz

Tang Yuan meaning reunion, harmony and happiness for the family. I wish everyone a happy reunion and harmony all year round!

Last Round Of LO HEI

Time passes extremely when you are enjoying or celebrating the festive season. Before the CNY comes to a close, we decided to do another round of Lo Hei in a smaller group.

Vivian kindly booked East Ocean restaurant for our Lo Hei tonight and I was really happy to be back to this restaurant for dinner after hangout quite often for lunch with family. I am missing those delicious food they serve for dinner. 😊

I was also happy to catch up with long time classmate Ramona whom I have not met for a long time! Once everyone has arrived, we started the yusheng and we were so happy to toss the healthy salad! Yes, you did not hear it wrong… HEALTHY. This is the Teochew style yusheng and it was really very healthy and tasty at the same time. Though I am a great fan of the traditional Yusheng, but I really like the healthier version of it, just like tossing a salad.

Well, the ironic part is… after eating the healthy yusheng, we ordered some unhealthy food… hahahaahahah… but those were the best! We ordered the pig big intestines which is our favourite, the braised duck, clapypot seafood with glass noodles and the mixed roast meat. It was super yums and having a great company who enjoys the same type of food is a PERRRRRFFFFEEECCCTTT thing!

Toast to a great year ahead everyone!

Mui Kee

I have heard about this Hong Kong Mui Kee porridge joint from friends and they have given it thumps up.

Brought mum to try out this porridge joint after her eye check up and there was a short queue when we arrived. This restaurant is located at the Shaw Center but along the Claymore Road opposite Pacific Plaza.

The shop is pretty small, similar to those you find in Hong Kong but cleaner. We waited for about 5 minutes for our table and we sat down to browse through the menu. Mum did not hesitate and ordered her sliced parrot fish porridge while I tried their Pork Innards. We ordered the sliced raw amberjack fish and peanut and sesame sauce chee cheong fun.

The shop was very crowded and there was also a queue outside. It must be good, I told myself. Our food was served shortly and the boss of the shop was really warm and friendly. Mum gave a huge smile after her first spoonful of the porridge and I too was loving the taste and texture of my pork innards porridge. 

I enjoyed the raw amberjack fish while mum did not like it raw but she loves their chee cheong fun. It was so soft, smooth and extremely TASTY! This is one good lunch place to go when you are in town. However, the price is not very cheap compared to the price in Hong Kong. I believe we are paying for their rent due to an expensive location but with good food in the house, it’s worth the wait and money to fulfill your crave for porridge. 😊

I will definitely be back again for more porridge. Woohoo!!!

CNY Lo Hei With Ex-Colleagues

Since we did not get to Lo Hei during our reunion dinner in January, we decided to have it today. It’s not only Chinese New Year period but also St. Valentine’s Day! How romantic to Lo Hei…. Hahahaahah

We had our lunch gathering at Paradise Inn Suntec as most of our friends had to work and it will be easier and more convenient for them to do luncheons. As usual, Linda will prepare everything including the ordering of the dishes. 

We began the Lo Hei when everyone arrived and everyone tossed their wishes and greetings for the year and it was pretty loud… hahahahaah… but who cares right! It’s CNY! We had so many dishes and it felt like another reunion dinner but without a private room with karaoke. 

After the luncheon, my best bud Rie was so sweet to prepare a birthday cake for me for celebration and also as our dessert. It was a delicious cake and we managed to eat it up. 😊 It was not only a great gathering for the CNY but a lovely way to celebrate my birthday. 😊

As it is St. Valentine’s Day, I too made a Jello Cheesecake and brownies for them as their Valentine’s gift. 😊 

Thank you KK for the thought and everyone who took time out to join this yearly Lo Hei celebration.

Lo Hei With My Crazy Bunch!

We make it a point to have CNY gathering yearly and despite everyone’s busy schedule, we always manage to meet up for the Love of FOOD…. Hahaahahah

This time, we are happy to try out the new restaurant recommended by Hairon. She is my one and only Malay friend bestie and we are happy that she is able to join us for CNY celebration. We went to Home Of Seafood is which located at Joo Chiat. Home of Seafood is a Halah restaurant and a subsidiary of House Of Seafood.

When we browsed through their menu, it was like a wedding album with beautiful pictures of the food they recommend and it was really easy to order. After placing orders for our dishes, we were all ready for the Lo Hei. The lady who attended to us tried her best to say all the auspicious phrases for the Yusheng and thereafter, we were so happy to toss! We tried to keep our volume down but when you’re in action and filled with excitement, it was pretty hard to keep it down… hahahahaahah HUAT AHHH!!!!!

All the dishes we ordered were delicious especially their pepper crab which is their signature dish. It was really good, spicy, tasty and juicy! I enjoyed their steamed prawns with garlic, the hotplate tofu and the crab noodle soup! They were super good!

After our sumptuous dinner, we walked to Awfully Chocolate café for our 2^nd round. It was my first time walking along Joo Chiat Road and it was indeed an interesting journey to Katong. 😊 There were many happening stuff going on in the night on the streets of Joo Chiat and it was quite an eye-opening for me.

When we arrived at Awfully Chocolate, we were given a seat almost immediately and guess it wasn’t that busy as it was a Monday night. We ordered our coffee and desserts to share and chat the night away. 

Honestly, we haven’t hangout till late for a long time. I remembered during our school days, we used to hangout at each other’s place till late and at times, stayed over. Some crazy nights, we will go for midnight movie, go supper at Newton and then chat till morning so we can take the bus home. Really missing those carefree days… 

Happy Birthday To ME!

I love birthdays celebrations especially when it is celebrated with loved ones. Yearly, friends and family will surprise me with birthday celebrations during CNY period and they are usually fantastic.

This year, hubby planned to dine at La Pizzaiola for dinner instead Pietro which is our usual hangout restaurant for special occasion. It’s been a while since we last dined at La Pizzaiola. I remembered hubby and I used to dine at this restaurant weekly before we had our first born. This restaurant is recommended by my bestie as it is owned by her cousin in law. 😊

The food is great there after so many years and I am happy to be back again. The menu somehow changed a little but taste standard is still there. I am really happy to have my birthday dinner here today with my loved ones to share the love for food. 😊

Thank you B for the dinner and it was simply great and blessed to be loved by you!

Lion Dance Performance At Little Pumpkin’s School

What a splendid way to start my birthday! Yes, it’s my birthday today and I was happy to be attending a lion dance performance at Little Pumpkin’s school this morning. When we arrived at school, the troupe was not there yet so, mum and I went to hang around in Little Pumpkin’s class where the performance will be held.

Little Pumpkin was so happy to see us and ran over to sit with us. After a short while, the lion dance troupe arrived and began to performance the moment they stepped into the class. The kids were so excited and thrilled to see the lion dance troupe right in front of them.

There was a section that the lion dance performers threw the oranges and sweets towards the kids and all the kids rushed to pick them up. During that period, the ‘Cai Shen Zhu’ came to greet everyone in the classroom and there were giggles and laughter when the mascot shook hands with the kids and teachers.

It was a great experience to be up closed and personal with the lion dance performance and I was glad that little pumpkin was brave enough to last through the performance and even touched the tail of the lion. 😊

I felt so HUAT after the performance and I hope I will strike TOTO tonight... hahahahaahah

Surprised Birthday Celebration

We planned to have Lo Hei dinner together with the family and this time, we decided to have it at in-law’s place since it was pretty much difficult to get a table at the restaurant. Hubby ordered suckling pig and we take out some good food from Chinatown before they closed for renovations.

As it was a Friday night, we waited for everyone’s presence before having the lo hei as our main celebration and then followed by the dinner we bought from Chinatown. The suckling pig was not too bad but I would prefer the rough skin than the matt skin texture. This was one good dinner gathering for the family as we too have Chee Meng’s mum with us today too. 

After dinner, my lovely sister-laws prepared the cake for me and had a little birthday celebration for me and we had the cake as our desserts. Super yummy cake indeed. Thank you, Maggie for the delicious cake and the thought.

2nd Day Of CNY

We are usually pretty much relaxed on visitation on the 2^nd day of CNY. We only need to visit hubby’s auntie’s place yearly for a simple gathering. This year, the gathering will be held after lunch as they did not want to cater food like previous year where food wastage is considered the main reason to scrap the catering.

We had our luncheon at home and headed out for visitation. The kids were happy to be out since it’s a holiday and they can hang out with their cousins again. We arrived at hubby’s aunt’s place and their cousins has already arrived. The adults sat around the living room to chat while the kids headed upstairs for play. 

While the house got crowded as the hour hand moved, we brought the kids out to the playground instead as there weren’t much space for them to run around. It was a super-hot afternoon but thankfully there were tall trees around the playground to keep us shaded.

As the sun began to lower its power of heat, it was time for us to set off to home as the kids has to return to school tomorrow. CNY is pretty much simple for us this year and we do hope that there will be peace on earth all year round.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Today is the first day of CNY and it is a day of gatherings, feastings and of course collecting ang paos (for the kids) and sharing your wealth (for the adults).

Yearly, we will follow the tradition of visitation and after the kiddos greeted my mum and us, we prepared them for a long day today. Our first stop is non other than my cousin’s place for lunch and we always look forward to a sumptuous meal prepared by her. This year, we were happy to have Rosana to join us as we were not visiting Gujiong due to his recent passing on.

Rosana has been our Gujiong’s helper for many years and now that he has returned to the Lord, she will be returning to her home town probably in April. As such, this would be her last CNY in Singapore. I will be missing her cooking too as she whipped up some pretty good dishes every time when we visit Gujiong’s place for dinner.

After our delicious luncheon, we never fail to take a family picture for keepsake reasons and it is always good to take family picture on CNY where you get to meet all your relatives in one day. We are happy and blessed that our family are still closed and we hope our younger generations will continue this tradition.

My family left to visit hubby’s aunt’s place as our second destination. We arrived at Bishan and saw many relatives already arrived and taking lunch. The kiddos were happy to meet their grandparents, aunties and uncles and most loved was their cousins. They did not waste a bit of time and dashed out to play almost immediately after greeting everyone in the function room. 

The weather was scorching hot and the kids came back to the room after 10 minutes of outdoor play sweating and can’t wait to quench their thirst with water. At one point, the kiddos were asking if they can remove their dresses and have a dip in the pool!! Geezzzz…. 

Our final visitation was at our own neighborhood. We reached home and took a short rest before we went over to our neighbor’s place which is just next door. They were really nice to invite us over for finger food and wine to catch up. We were really blessed to have wonderful neighbors which we considered our new neighborhood. 

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!

CNY Family Reunion Dinner

It’s the time of the year once again that we will welcome the lunar new year. As usual, my family will gather at our Gujie’s place to have our reunion dinner yearly and we are really glad that we kept this tradition.

In the past, Gujie, my late aunt and my mum will always be the one preparing the food, soup and sauces for us but now, we the next generation are the ones preparing everything that is needed for them. I always regard family gatherings, reunions or perhaps just a simple meet up are important for family bonding.

We, the younger generation always want to try out new dishes during the reunion dinner and this year, we added some new items like the fish paste prepared by my cousin in law, brussels sprouts, some different types of yong tau foo etc… My family loves steamboat and we never complain about the dishes but always welcome new items… ahahahahahaah

As usual, hubby and I will get our favourite yusheng from Chinatown though we queued for about 20 minutes for the yusheng, it is all worth it when the family enjoyed every bit of it. The kids enjoyed the “Lo Hei” as that would be the only time they get to toss food without getting yelled at.

After dinner, we gathered around in the living room chatting while the kiddos had their own fun in the room. Shortly after the clean-up, my cousins surprised me with the birthday cake and celebrated Florence’s and my birthday and the cake became our desserts and it was really delicious!

Thank you family for the wonderful arrangements!

CNY Celebration

Lady Faith was really excited about her CNY celebration at school today and as she was choosing her outfit, I was feeling a little depress that she can’t seem to fit into most of them anymore as she has grown so much!

I remembered I bought a few dresses for them (usually bigger sizes) but they only wore twice or perhaps 4 times before we hang them up or put them away. She has a few favourite CNY dresses but they can’t fit anymore for they are way too short. Finally, she decided to wear the cheong sam which I bought last year and thankfully it still fits her perfectly and I am glad that she can still wear this next year… hahahahaahah

Off to school she goes with the two mandarins for blessings and filled with smiles, she boarded the school bus!

CNY Celebration At School

Little pumpkin was so happy and excited about the CNY party to be held in school today. She saw the dress that I chose for her and the first thing she asked was if she looked good in that dress and will her friends like it. 😊 I assured her that she looked great and her friends will definitely like her dress.

She was all set to go to school and she reminded me to pack the goodies she supposed to bring to school as potluck. I took them out of the bag to show her that I remembered and she requested for a picture with the homemade goodies to be taken! Hahahaahahahah…

After double checking the goodies and her school bag, off to school we go.