Oven Experiment

Today I stayed at home. I watched some VCDs. Went to the market with Bevan. The wet one. Not only was it a wet market, we were literally all wet 'cause it was raining. So, me, modern tai-tai look with hair permed, pushing a stroller with an umbrella and a few wet plastic bags, stepping on water.

Then I reached home. I BBQed some prawns. The salted ones, and the cereal prawns. Then I cooked some pork chops and prepared some sardine sandwiches. The menu doesn't gel but gosh they were tasty. They were not at all presentable. You see what I mean from the burnt aluminum foil picture below. I only remember to take photo after we have finished everything except this piece of pork chop. (Can you locate it?)


My lucky friends who are coming to Bevan's party will get to try some of the dishes. Aren't you glad there is one thing call fast food delivery service? I am storing their number just in case I need to activate contingency plan.

The Event Organiser

Recently I am organising 2 parties. One for Bevan, and the other for my Father.

Bevan's First Birthday in September
The invitation is ready. The menu is magnetted on the fridge. The theme is Spaceship. It's a mini party at our small home. To get myself trained as a stay-at-home-mom, I am going to prepare all the dishes. Nope I am not kidding. I am going to
- cook the curry chicken (!)
- fry the noodle (!!)
- toast the sausage (!!!)
- bake the cake (yes read again).
And many more on the menu.
By the time the guests are enjoying my sweat and tears, I should be fainted in my room. Do visit me.

My Father's 60th Birthday in October
This is challenging. How many 60th birthdays have I gone to for idea-snatching? Don't include those in a Chinese restaurant with all relatives sitting down chatting about shares. None. I want to plan something hip. My Father is not the Chinese Orchestra type. Not the Saturday Fever type. Also not the Cow Boy type (definitely not). My 3 aunts (My father's sisters) and their entire families are coming back from San Francisco, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to surprise him. They don't expect to fly up to 18 hours to listen to me saying,

"Surprise! Hmm... let's eat at Tung Lok, and we will come back to cut cake."

Anyone notice that MY birthday falls in between?!!!

Good Old Days

I missed the time when

There was no maid at home
I received roses in the office
Leslie and I ate out everynight
I had 18 days of annual leave plus some in-lieus
I didn't have to work on Saturdays and Public Holidays
We could go for short trips over the weekends
We held parties at home almost once a month
I could eat anything and highlight and perm my hair
I cooked double boiled soup for just the 2 of us
And I could put prawn & pork & carrot in the soup
And he said I am a superb cook
I had to tailor-change my dress because the waistline part was too loose
And somewhere else too tight
Dressed up on Friday nights for dates/girls night out
Spa everytime there was a so-called promotion
Drank orange juice from a wine glass. At home.

I used to have a life.

My 11-Month-Old

11 Months 5 Days

My 11-month-old sleeps 10 hours at night 3 hours in the afternoon. Drinks 500ml of milk a day. Eats cereal for breakfast. Porridge for lunch and dinner. He walks holding on to furniture. Attempts to climb on sofa. Loves outdoor. Loves people. Loves laughing. Makes funny faces funny sounds. Blows big bubble with saliva. Kisses alot. Loves lights. Loves to eat whatever I am eating. New favorite words are Nana and Aiya. Tickles me alot (I am serious). Turns back when people call "handsome boy" (Can you imagine).

Forbidden City

We crossed all emotional (fearful of robbery) and physical (bringing baby + diaper bag + stroller) hurdles, drove through the 2 hour jam, and finally we reached the forbidden city.

Johore Bahru.

It was fantastic. Though we were only brave enough to stay put at City Square, which is almost half Singapore. It was fan.tas.tic. (Did I repeat the word fantastic?)

The Dim Sum at second floor was majestic. Though they did not have a large variety of Dim Sum. Once we gnawed on the Milk Bun/ Siew Mai/ Lo Mai Gai/ and more, we all went, almost together, as we crushed the fried prawn rolls in our mouths,

"Arh.. Malaysia’s food is definitely better"

and you are kind of willing to pay US 3 for one basket, but it was RM 3 per basket. The Portugese chicken was wonderful. The egg tart was terrific. The sight of people eating Tom Yam Spaghetti at Season's Cafe was impressive.

And you start to feel sorry that you only have one tummy.

Do I need to mention Vincci’s new variety of shoes? There is also a Factory Outlet now, and they sell Old Navy babies’ clothes. So we shopped till we dropped, and we took away some BBQ Buns home. And we watched Singapore National Day Parade, munching Malaysia’s BBQ Bun.

We just found out that our car insurance covers Malaysia. Touch wood. But isn't that a good news.

And finally. What’s happening to me? I keep blogging about food?!

We Have Not Disappeared

Just that we are a family with too many programs.

Look at Bevan's Saturday.

7am - 730am
Woke up. Scratched Daddy's face. Pulled Mama's hair. Wake up everyone! Drank milk.

730am - 930am
Strolled to the coffee shops. Watched Daddy and Mama have breakfast. Ate cereal. Played with the dogs. Shouted at other kids. Grocery shopping. Touched apples and oranges. Waved at uncles and aunties.

930am - 1030am
Daddy and Mama prepared for work. Played with toys. Ate cookies. Caught a nap.

11am - 6pm
At Mama's workplace. Played. Slept. Ate. Drank. Learnt ABC.

630pm to 830pm
Costa Sans Chalet. Joined Mama as she mingled around with her ex-colleagues. Ate porridge in the romantic BBQ smoke.

9pm to 10pm
Cousin's Birthday. Messed up the toys. Destroyed some of them. Hi-5 with cousins.

10pm to 11pm
Slept in the car. Reached home. Bathed. Insisted on practicing for standing a while more. Finally, Zzz..

Hot. Spicy. Chewy.

This uplifted my recent mood swings.

I met up with my girls' group (it's embarrassing that we once called ourselves the Singapore S.H.E + a Manageress). 4 of us sashayed into a Korean restaurant in Furama and pleased ourselves with Chuchun Dagatchi (definitely wrongly spelled). Which is a pot of sizzling hot pot with cabbage chicken and korean cake stirred with sweet korean chilli. You need to blow away the smoke before putting the food in your mouth. And chew a little faster because it’s hot and spicy and chewy.

Oooo. It's my type of gourmet.

We chatted about Work. About Marketing. About Phuket. About Burning Out. About Mahathir and Abdullah. About India. About the Toilet in Conrad Room. About Flirting. About Husbands. And we even sophisticatedly touched on Hot Sex. (Remind me to delete this)

I was supposed to leave early for my family day (go to Takashimaya 10th craziest toy sale, and then go home to let Bevan swim), but I stayed till the end of it, and was already longing for another chat in a quiet hotel.

The anti-climax. While waiting for me at the lobby, Bevan got bitten twice on his face, near his eyes, by one big fat mosquito, which was probably a guest of Furama. Naughty Moizzy.