Bread Making

It’s almost the end of school holidays and we were wondering what to do before the kiddos return to school next week.

 

Lady Faith suggested that we should bake together, and I agreed as I do enjoy having some bonding time with the girls. We prepared all the ingredients and started making bread. The girls had their own ideas of what to put in the bread and they suggested Nutella, raisins and even chocolate chips.

They started rolling the bread after proofing and I am surprised with the designs of bread they came up with… hahahaahahah… anyway, it’s a good activity with the kids if you run out of ideas to keep the girls active. 😊

Lemon Cupcakes

I am super stoked for this repeat orders of Lemon Cupcakes from my cousin BG. I am very happy that she and her colleagues enjoyed my bakes and continued to place orders with me. :)

Thank you guys for your continued support. :)

Cycling With The Kids

School holidays is almost coming to an end and before the kids head back to school, we brought them to cycle at Punggol Settlement once again. This time, Uncle Berry joined us for the fun.

We set off early in the morning and yes, the kids were excited to get on their wheels and when we arrived at the park, it was not as crowded as the weekends. After getting our bikes, hubby and Lady Faith rode together with Uncle Berry while I kept little pumpkin company as she is riding on 4-wheels.

As baby girl and I took longer to get to the destination, it was certainly an enjoyable slow ride as we can keep it slow and take time to enjoy the nature. Lady Faith experienced a longer ride and different views from us as she rode a longer distance with her dad.

Little pumpkin wanted to go further but the crowd stated to emerge, and it was not too safe for her to ride further. We decided to return to the starting point where crowds are lesser and waited for the rest as our 2 hours ride were up.

We thoroughly enjoyed the morning cycling, and I am happy that the kids got up early to exercise with us. Well done girls!

Braised Pork Bee Hoon

I have always enjoyed braised pork cooked by my mum when I was young, and I remembered she added noodles when she cooked for our family celebrations or on a special occasion. I remembered the taste of this dish and the pork was really soft and blended in so well with the bee hoon. It was so yummy that you would want a second or third servings.

This dish has been lost for decades since I grew up and especially when my dad left us. That was one of his favourite dishes too as far as I remembered. Recently, I saw this familiar dish surfaced on the internet and it brought me back to my childhood days immediately. I took my mum and she taught me how to prepare it.

I wasn’t confident at first as I am not the best chef for Chinese dishes as they can be complicated due to the ingredients and the sauces. The time management for the temperature is equally important too. Mum stood by me and taught me to cook this lost dish step by step.

I was really surprised that it was actually easier than I thought and managed to have it done in 20 minutes. My kitchen was so aromatic with the smell of this beautiful dish and I was glad that it turned out well. My family and I enjoyed the braised pork bee hoon. Yums… now I can cook this dish whenever I want. Woohoo!!!

Singapore Jurong Bird Park

I cannot remember when my last visit to this cool park was. I only recalled that we often visit this park during our school days on excursion. Though school organized it, but it was fun.

 

Little pumpkin has been requesting to visit Bird Park for the longest time and yes, we are finally here today. When we arrived, the park was not crowded and started to drizzle. We were happy that it is a cooling day to walk around the park, but we would like to have the sun back too for certain bird shows were cancelled due to the rain.

The girls were fascinated by the Emperor Penguins as they did not expect that they are so tall compared to the normal penguins. As we continued our tour in the park, we saw flamingos, eagles, hawks, vultures, and many other rare species.

We managed to catch one of the Bird’s Show under the sheltered theatre and it was remarkably interesting. The parrots were taught how to sing songs and even sang a birthday song to one of the audiences who celebrates his birthday today.

It was unfortunate that the children’s play area was closed today due to the rain as well as covid restrictions. It will be great for the kids if the play area is open as they are able to have water play and will get to feed the birds too.

 

This beautiful park will be moved to Mandai soon and guess we will be visiting the new Bird Park after it’s move. 😊

Super Park Singapore

We were happy to know that Super Park Singapore is opened again. There was news during the Covid that Super Park was closed due to the pandemic and was not able to sustain the rental etc and ended up closed. When the restrictions eased a little last month, we were happy to know that they are back again! Fantastic news to the children in Singapore!

Initially we were supposed to have playdate with the kiddos’ cousins at Super Park, but we did not manage to book the same timing as them so, we visited the park on a separate occasion. When we arrived this morning, you can smell the clean air in the premises. I am glad that we booked the first slot for the day and at least I know everything is cleaned before opening to the public. There is also a limitation of crowds per session so the kids will get to play more stations.

 

The girls did not waste any time and dashed to their favourite station before it gets crowded. Hubby and I headed to basketball, shooting station where it was less crowded. Little pumpkin enjoyed the trampoline most while Lady Faith was mostly seen at the Zipline station. 

Though we were given 2 hours of play, but the kids maximized their 2 hours and had fun of a time. They visited most stations multiple times, and I really admired their energy. I wished I had the energy like my younger days…

Cycling At East Coast

I used to cycle very often when I was little as well as during my secondary school days but somehow this sport is forgotten after I entered the society and later became a mum. As parents, we tend to be busy with things around our children and forgo things or hobbies that we used to do.

I would say that I am quite happy that we are able to do some outdoor activities with the kids even though we have covid restrictions to follow. Since we are unable to bring the kiddos to indoor playgrounds, theme parks or even hang out with friends, we brought them out to do some of our favourite stuff – cycling. 

 

Lady Faith recently learnt how to cycle and loving it while the little pumpkin is still trying to cycle. East Coast Park used to be my buddy Susan & mine’s playground where we met up for cycling on Saturdays. I love cycling at East Coast as it gave you a sense of freedom, layback and of course, the sun! My girls were happy to cycle along with us though little pumpkin was slower. 

After 2 hours of cycling under the sun, we returned our rented bikes and head off for a sumptuous brunch. I am sure we will be back again soon for the girls enjoyed themselves so much.

Outdoor Adventure

Sungei buloh is a fabulous nature reserve. A place where if you heighten your senses, you can see a lot of creatures that lives amongst us in their natural habitat in one of the last mangrove swamps in Singapore. 

We heard so much about it from the news, pictures that was posted by friends on FB and decided to bring the kids out on an outdoor adventure of a different kind. It was quite a long car ride from our place, and I would say that it wasn’t very accessible if you are travelling by public transport.  

The kids were pretty much excited about the trip when we set off but when we finally arrived, they were worried about how it will turn out. Given the fact that it is a nature reserve, and you will be expecting to see insects, worms, birds or even a chance to see the well-known crocodile that reside there.

We started walking around the area and managed to see a crocodile in the water, heron, monitor lizard, mud crabs, mud lobster beds, fishes, bats, spiders and webs... the kids were happy to feel the nature but it was the hot weather that they are not happy about. Well, it is after all summer and it’s outdoor right!

After an hour or so exploring this beautiful place, we decided to call it a day as it was too hot for the kids to carry on the walk. This is one good place to visit if you are looking for something different from the normal activities and outings with the family.

Fragrance Rice

Fragrance Rice would be one of my favourite childhood dishes made by my mum. I think this is much tastier than the usual fried rice. This simple looking rice consists of Chinese sausage, mushrooms, char siew and shrimp. This is so easy and I am happy that I managed to replicate this recipe.

I was able to make this dish under the supervision of my mum though she was only instructing from afar. Hahahaahah… I was attentive and managed to follow the steps and we were happy that it turned out to be so tasty. This is another recipe to be kept and passed down to my kids.

Our Little Chefs

School holidays can be boring when you are not able to travel or even have any outdoors activities due to Covid restrictions. Well, I guess the only thing to keep the kiddos occupied will be giving them some stuff to do on some days.

Well, today will be one of those planned activities days and we are making bread from scratch. I am happy that I bought the Thermomix before the covid and now we are able to make full use of it to make some bread. 😊Using the Thermomix to make bread is such a breeze. It will do all the kneading for you and all we needed was to put all ingredients and proof and baked it. 😊

The kiddos were happy to get their hands sticky to create their own bread. I prepared some fillings for the bread and I guess the most popular filling would be Nutella. Hahahaahah… the girls made some nice Nutella bread and I made some with pork floss, kaya and black sesame.

The girls were super excited and were seen at the oven checking out their bread. When they heard the oven alarm, they ran to check out the bread and cannot wait to take a bite. Hahahaahah… they finally got to taste their own bread after a few minutes and yes, it tasted really good. The texture was soft and nice though the filling was overloaded.

Now I have two trainee chef in the house and I am sure they will gets better with more training… hahahaahahh

Ban Mien

This is one of my favourite local hawker food which I used to have for lunch back in those days when I was working. I do miss this when I quitted and became a homemaker.

I cooked this for dinner today and introduced it to the kids. They were not convinced at a glance but did not mind giving a try. When they started digging in, their eyes lid up and gave me a thump’s up! Hahaahaah… that moment, I know I have succeeded.

This simple and stomach warming dish is easy to prepare. You just need to prepare the anchovies soup base, add in your own noodles, vegetables and an egg. 😊 Simple and yet super tasty. Woohoo… another dish in the house menu for dinner… Yippy!

School Holiday Activities

School’s out and kids are at home. The girls were given homework and projects to be completed during this summer holiday and Lady Faith was excited to get her hands to it.

The moment the terrarium set arrived this morning, she was all ready to get it done. She took time to read the instructions, prepare the items and started assembling them together. Though it wasn’t difficult, but I was happy to see how creative she can be with her hands. 😊

Once it was completed, she had pictures taken and did not waste any time to upload her project to the school portal for submission. She told me that it was really fun creating a terrarium and it was indeed therapeutic. Mmmh… maybe I should order a set for myself and create one too. 😊