Noisy Serenity Christmas Dinner

Merry Christmas!

Busy with spring cleaning for most part of the day, we could only find time to go for Christmas dinner. We took a chance as we didn't make any reservation for Christmas dinner, deciding to go with the flow. We went to Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant at Vivocity and we were lucky to get a table. :) Unfortunately, we were seated in front of the stage where live entertainment was performing. So it was kind of noisy.
We ordered the Coca de Quesos (flat bread with cheese), Tortilla Espanola (Spanish omelette with potato and onion), Crema de Marisco (Seafood cream soup with mussel, prawn, dory and squid rings), and Suckling Pig, Turkey and Ham Platter for 2-3 Pax.


It looked kind of miserable, considering its price ($128++) but the suckling pig was good!


We were quite full after our Christmas dinner but there is always room for dessert lol. We packed desserts to go from Hong Kong Honeymoon Dessert. :)

Christmas Eve 2011

It is a really wet Christmas Eve. Nothing will be better than snuggling under the covers reading on my Kindle with a hot cuppa. Unfortunately no such luck for me. The long weekend is the perfect time for spring cleaning! I was supervising and helping the girls in clearing and packing up the place since Chinese New Year is less than a month away (falls on 23 & 24 January 2012). Especially since my parents will be back soon after being away for 3 months! :P

The Hobbit

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey trailer is out! :) I read Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (3 volumes) before I watched The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. But I always enjoyed the first Tolkien book I read, The Hobbit. :)
It is going to be a long wait though for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (part 1) as it is scheduled only to be released on 14 December 2012 and The Hobbit: There and Back Again (part 2) will only be released in December 2013. Long wait. :( Might read The Hobbit again.

(uploaded by ColliderVideos)

Wedding Request

My mother's goddaughter's mother called up today with a request. My godsister who is getting married in March 2012, would like Juliane to be one of the two flower girls at her wedding.
Not a problem with me lol. I think Juliane will be excited about being a flower girl. :) Marieann and Juliane were flower girls at my friend, Theresa's wedding a few years ago but I think Juliane was too young to remember it and she didn't finish the walk lol. :P I am sure Juliane will do better this time. :)

Unexpected Surprise

I received an unexpected surprise today. I was informed this morning that my revised dissertation has passed my academic group's internal review and has been submitted to Graduate Studies for the final review. I was absolutely delighted to hear that. Now I wait... hopefully for news of when my oral defence will be.

Saboten Japanese Restaurant

We had dinner at Saboten Japanese Restaurant when we stayed at Ritz-Carlton on 17 December. We were lucky to get a table when we arrived because 15 minutes later, a queue had formed at the restaurant entrance.
Juliane ordered the Pork Katsu sandwiches, Marieann Tonaktsu, and I had the Tonkatsu tenderloin and oyster set. The katsu was really juicy, tender and delicious. :) But it is a tad too oily to eat regularly. :P

41 years and Counting

Today is my parents' wedding anniversary.

Happy 41st Wedding Anniversary, Ma and Pa.

Weekend Staycation II

While the family was fast asleep by 12.30am, I didn't sleep until much later as I was uploading the photos of our Ritz Carlton staycation onto my blog. There was a kind of serenity with the night view of Marina Bay before your eyes. It was by virtue of staying up late that I caught the light displays on the Marina Bay and on the office buildings close to 2am. It might be some sort of practice and preparation for New Year celebration.


I slept the latest but awoke the earliest. I managed to catch the sunrise, with it rays reflecting on the buildings along Marina Bay. By 9.15am, we were having our buffet breakfast at Ritz Carlton's Greenhouse restaurant. The buffet spread has both international flavours and local delights. We had a good hearty breakfast. :)



After breakfast, we lazed around in our room. I was looking up information on the Canadian Rockies while waiting for my spa appointment at 12pm. The girls were watching tv while waiting for the rain to stop so that they could go swimming. Their father was napping all these while.

At 12 noon, the rain had stopped and Marieann went to the pool for a swim. At 12 noon, my milk bath was prepared by the butler. :) Ah, it felt really nice and indulgent soaking in my milk bath for 40 minutes and overlooking the breathtaking views of Marina Bay from the 3 square metre octagonal window! :) My skin felt really smooth and moisturised after my milk bath. :) I finally know how it feels to be Cleopatra in a milk bath and I finally know how it feels to be in a bathtub in front of a huge window haha. :P


We checked out around 1.30pm. We enjoyed our staycation very much. The girls wanted to come back again next year and to stay longer the next time round lol. We shall see. :)

Weekend Staycation

We treated ourselves to a staycation holiday at Ritz-Carlton Singapore with their overnight package, 12 Joys of Christmas. We checked in just before 4pm. We were wowed by the view from our window. Our room (upgraded) is facing the Marina Bay. :) The view from the bathroom/tub is even better (same Marina Bay view) lol. :P Often wondered how it would be like taking a bath with a huge window like that. I will know soon enough haha. :)



The Marina Bay view from the window





The walk-in wardrobe

The reflection of the famous bathroom/ tub window in the mirror

The famous bathroom/tub window


The Marina Bay views from our window






Welcome gift from the hotel

We lazed around in our room. The kids were playing on their father's notebook, I was updating my blog and their father was napping. We left for dinner just after 6.30pm. We walked to the nearby shopping mall, Millenia Walk and had dinner at Saboten Japanese Restaurant. Will say/ show more about dinner in another post.
After dinner, we walked around the mall for a while before returning to our room. The night view of Marina Bay is really beautiful.

At the Ritz Carlton retail shop

The Christmas tree at the lobby

Weekend Break

Looking forward to our break this weekend. :)

Surprises

Surprise 1:
The girls' father said that he would go on the trip to the Canadian Rockies too in June 2012. In addition, we would be going to San Francisco to visit his aunt and family.
Surprise 2:
The girls' father said he would drive while at the Canadian Rockies! This is a shocker, coming from a guy who has never driven in foreign land and much less left-hand drive and long distance driving. But it would definitely save a bundle when self-driving as compared to taking a tour, a saving of more than $1000 Canadian dollars.

Coloured Xiao Long Bao

We had lunch at Paradise Dynasty on Sunday. We got in just before the crowd lol. Lucky. :) We ordered the Coloured Xiao Long Baos ($13.80) sampler set - original pork dumpling (white), cheese pork dumpling (yellow), foie gras pork dumpling (brown), crab roe pork dumpling (orange), ginseng pork dumpling (green), szechuan pork dumpling (pink), garlic pork dumpling (grey), and black truffle pork dumpling (black). The xiao long baos were delicious. :) We also ordered other dishes such as original Shanghai Xiao Long Bao, Chilled Assorted Egg Loaf in Yang Zhou style, Duck slices, Double-boiled chicken soup, wanton la mian, etc. Desserts were Souffle Egg White Balls stuffed with red bean and banana, Chilled Aloe Vera with osmanthus jelly in honey lemon juice and longan almond jelly. It was a very satisfying lunch. :)

Soup Craze

Marieann is suddenly obsessed with cooking soup. She has been experimenting with various ingredients and cooking the soup with the help of the domestic helper. Guess who is the guinea pig? Poor me! Lol. :P

Christmas at the Gardens

Here are some photos of the Christmas decor at the Botanic Garden.

Happy Birthday, YM

Happy Birthday, YM.
Hope it is a great day for you,
fill with lots of love and great memories.

Love,
HM and family :)

Last Lunar Eclipse of 2011

Tonight Marieann, my neighbour and I witnessed the last lunar eclipse of 2011. I am really glad that I managed to see it because the next one won't happen until 2014. And knowing life, who knows what can happen in the next minute. :P
We didn't travel all the way to Labrador Park. Instead we camped at our "front yard" - The Botanic Gardens lol. There are plenty of wide open spaces at the garden and with zero cloud cover tonight, it was perfect for viewing the moon. Best of all, there was no crowd! We could watch the lunar eclipse in peace while enjoying the cool evening weather. :)





Maximum eclipse - the moon in darkness

End of total eclipse - the moon reappearing

Overdue Team Lunch

My team and I had our team lunch. Finally! :) It is long overdue because it has been so hard to find the time for our team lunch.
I would usually treat my RAs to lunch after a period of hard work in our project as way of thank you and also to build camaraderie. But for this lunch, besides the usual, it is also to celebrate my handing in of my revised thesis. :) We went to Swensen's for lunch. As usual, the highlight of the lunch was our huge Earthquake sundae! :)

My wonderful team!

Our Earthquake sundae with eight scoops of ice cream :)

Handed In!

I handed in my revised thesis today at 11.15am. Finally!! :)
Now it is a waiting game. I wait for news of when my oral defence will be.

New Windows Phone: Nokia Lumia 800

A new Windows mobile phone is out in Singapore today. It is Lumia 800 by Nokia. It looks really beautiful and sexy lol.
I am not someone who is into mobile phones but Lumia 800 is grabbing my attention because it is a Windows phone! I am currently using another Windows phone, HTC HD Mini. If I have to change my mobile phone, I would much prefer to change to another Windows phone as I am familiar with the functions.

Here's a Nokia Lumia 800 Overview and Hands On (uploaded by NokiaMobileBlog). I realised the video was recorded on my birthday. I think it is a sign lol. :P

Ariana Grande

The girls have been listening to Ariana Grande and the songs that she covered on YouTube. I am really impressed with her voice! Powerful vocals! Here are two of the songs she covered, Grenade by Bruno Mars and Love the Way You Lie by Rihanna. (uploaded by osnapitzari)

Hiccup

Met with a hiccup in the process of my dissertation revision. :( Hope the difficulty would be resolved soon!

Sarang Again

We went back to Sarang Korean Restaurant again, this time for dinner. We pretty much ordered the same dishes as before. In addition, we ordered Bingsu, Korean style ice kachang (red bean, orange slices, pineapple cubes, mango ice cream, etc). :)

Wild Game at Brotzeit

It has been a while since we last went to Vivocity. We decided to have lunch at Brotzeit, German Bier Bar & Restaurant. The current promotion is Wild Game Season. The parents tried the Wildragout ($38.50), game stew from deer and wild boar served with buttered spatzle, red cabbage and bacon wrapped fine beans. Marieann had the Pork Cheese Sausages ($18.50) served with potato salad and mashed potato and Juliane had the mini Pork Cheese Sausages. I really liked the wildragout. The meat was tender and the gravy went really well with the red cabbage and spatzle. :) Yum yum!

The Noose Christmas 2011

When I first saw this on tv, I was tickled pink by it lol. For those who are not Singaporean, The Noose is a Singaporean comedy series. It is a parody of local news programmes with fictional news reports and a presentation mimicking that of the real news.

(uploaded by mediacorpch5)

Tap Reef 2

OMG. There is Tap Reef 2! Juliane has asked me to kill off my Tap Reef and install the new Tap Reef 2. I am most reluctant to do so. I have spent too much time on my Tap Reef to suddenly give it up. Actually I have accumulated too much wealth (736,880,863 sand dollars to be exact) to let it go hahaha :P
So Tap Reef 2? No, thank you. I will stick with my Tap Reef.