Happy Halloween Birthday, Mother/ Grandmother

Happy Halloween Birthday, Mother/ Grandmother!

Wishing you a day full of surprises, treats, fun and love.

Lots of Love from all of us in England and Singapore

Ouch!

I returned for my second dose of my chicken pox vaccination today. As my family doctor was busy conducting a medical examination, I saw the other elderly doctor who works part-time at the clinic. I was reluctant to do so but I was pressed for time as I needed to get to school for counselling before 10am. I wished that I had waited! :( 
After mixing the vaccine, that doctor did not change the needle into a finer needle which my family doctor did for my first dose of chicken pox vaccination. It was so painful when the needle went in and it also bled after the needle was withdrawn. Ouch!
Now the area where the injection was given is sore, red and swollen. That didn't happen with my first dose of chicken pox vaccination. :( I hope the soreness, redness and swelling goes down by tomorrow. 

THe Birthday Cupcake Test

The Birthday Cupcake Test - I chose my favourite green colour. :) Fairly close to the truth. :)

You Are Well Grounded

You are a people person and very community oriented. You never forget where you come from. You notice how people react and behave accordingly. You want to make everyone feel comfortable. You have an intricate and accurate memory. In fact, you wish you were able to forget some things. You dislike working with theories. You are more concerned with the practicalities of life.

The Birthday Cupcake Test

Happy Birthday, Yeun Yi! :)

Happy Birthday, Yeun Yi!

 Eat lots of CAKE, open plenty of presents and have a BALL!! :)

Lots of love,
Ah Ma & Ah Gong,
姑妈, 姑丈,
Marieann and Juliane 姐姐
Singapore

Triple Celebrations

First celebration - Dessert from O'Coffee Club

Strawberry Vanilla Millefeuille - light and not too sweet :)

Had to do some unexpected work with a colleague on my birthday! :( But I was satisfactorily compensated with the dessert as the first of my birthday celebration lol. :)

Second celebration - Dinner at Wings Bar

Don't worry, I didn't drink, can't anyway, allergic to alcohol lol. I had the Japanese Zero (Teriyaki flavour) Wings 6 pieces meal set that came with coleslaw, fries, vegetable sticks and cheese dip. The wings were quite good, juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside.
I was more excited with the bar itself because it has a WWII aviation theme. I love the movie, Memphis Belle, one of the very few war movies I love, and Wings bar reminds me of "Memphis Belle" with its airbase hangar decor, aircraft runway, sandbags under the tables, and aircraft memorabilia all around the bar. :) There is also a replica WWII aircraft at the entrance of the bar. Within the bar are two Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII flight combat simulators (sitting arcade games). Darn, I ran out of $1 coins or else I would have played a game or two, maybe three haha. :P

Third celebration - Cake at Home

When I came home, the girls quickly brought out my birthday cake! They were more excited than I am to cut the cake haha. :) I later Skyped with my brother, my lovely sis-in-law and my three handsome nephews in UK. My sis-in-law led the birthday song singing with lots of laughing from the kids. It was great fun! :)
What a great birthday I had - celebrated it with my colleagues, my friends and my family!
Thank you to all for your wonderful birthday wishes!! :) Can't wait for my next birthday haha. :P

Best Cure

I was feeling a little unwell in the morning. It could be the atmospheric pressure creating havoc with my body system or it could be the sudden release of tension after the girls' exams. 
I only felt better after having slept the whole afternoon. 
Sleep is the best cure. 

Celebration of "Memories"

After work, I met up with a friend to celebrate my birthday in advance. :) Being nostalgic, I decided to go to a place which held some of my childhood memories, Shashlik Restaurant! A side-effect of growing older haha. :P
For a restaurant that has been around for over 40 years, I am surprised to see quite a number of youngsters at the restaurant lol. Thought only oldies like me would go to Shashlik. :P By 7:30pm, the whole restaurant was almost full. 
I loved the soft bun with lots of butter and with my Fresh Oyster soup ($7). :) If you are not a fan of oysters, I would suggest you try some other soup. Like my friend who tried the Borshch which she claimed was good. I didn't try because it was made from beef stock.

Borshch with sour cream and Fresh Oyster Soup

Being my birthday (or soon it will be lol), I went for the Lobster a la Russe ($45, grilled lobster with cheese) while my friend tried Steak a la Russe ($26). Although my lobster looked rather plain, it was tasty and the lobster was cooked just right. :)

The highlight of the dinner was the dessert, Baked Alaska. It was a special treat when I was a child. It still is a special treat when I am now an adult! I don't believe that I still get all excited seeing the blue flames when the waitress poured rum over the ice cream cake and lit it up lol. :P

Blue flames all over the Bake Alaska

The memorable evening passed really quickly - Talking about old days in a restaurant from another era and enjoying delicious comfort food and fabulous dessert. :)

"Historical" Event

Our favourite boss, David is back in town. :) He is only here for a week and will be returning to Brisbane tomorrow. We had dinner with him at 1 Market. 

It is a "historical" event as it is the first time I am invited to the boys' gathering lol. I think I added colour and fun to this evening's gathering haha. :P

Hideout in Kallang

Went to this cafe a while back. It is situated in the Kallang industrial area. Backstage Cafe is a spacious, unpretentious, bright and relaxing place to be. The food are not too bad and the prices are reasonable.

Potato Salad

French Toast

Simple and unpretentious decor

I don't mind going back to try out its mains as I only tried its snacks (and cakes which I bought home for my family to try).

Anxious Times

Examination results are slowing streaming in for the girls, component by component for the various subjects... :S Anxious times.

Away Again

My parents came home from UK three weeks ago. And this morning, my mother left for Taipei. My father will also be leaving in mid November for Xiamen where my mother will go over to join him from Taipei. My parents are regular globetrotters. 
My mother has gone to Taipei to keep her eldest sister (whose husband passed away when my parents were in UK) company. My mother would later bring her sister to Xiamen to take her mind off things.

Braised Duck Noodle Soup

The girls requested for my mother's braised duck before she goes away again tomorrow. She acceded to their request. When they came home from tuition at 1pm, piping hot braised duck noodle soup was waiting for them. :)

The girls finished the duck noodle in no time. :)

Methodical

Actually, I seldom take ketchup with my food, not even fries. But if I do need ketchup (usually in the event that the food is really bland or dry), I would put it by the side of my plate. 
However, this quiz is pretty accurate, especially with regard to my work. 

You Are Methodical

You are slow and steady, but it's only because your mind is constantly working overtime. You like to figure out the best way of doing things, even if it takes you a while on the first few tries. You have a very systemized and structured life. People may not realize it from the outside, but you are good at minimizing errors. You're the type of person who loves to organize and put things in their proper place. In fact, once you get started, it can be hard to stop!

The Ketchup Test

Early Birthday Celebration

As my mother is travelling out of Singapore again (before her birthday on 31 October), I bought a cake so that we could celebrate her birthday in advance. We managed to surprise my mother. :)

Movie Nights

As a reward for my girls for their hard work (revising for their exams), I allowed them to watch a movie in the evening after a whole day of revision. I found that watching movie is actually a good motivation for them. Over the past few nights, the girls have watched Pacific Rim, Epic, World War Z and Monster University. :) It is okay that it is extrinsic motivation for now, hopefully they will find their intrinsic motivation soon.

PSLE Marking Week

Thank goodness for PSLE marking week! I was able to do two solid days of revision with my girls. I hope it helps them... Why am I more anxious about my girls' exams than they are? I am not expecting Band 1s from them but only that they pass. Sigh.

Happy Hari Raya Haji

Here's wishing all my Muslim friends a Happy Hari Raya Haji! :)

I am really glad for the bonus day of a public holiday because I am able to supervise my girls while they wrote the notes for their Science revision. :) They are almost done with their notes. Just need another day and they can start to work on their online Science activities.

Group Birthday Celebration

My workplace celebrates our birthdays every three months. Today we had a group birthday celebration for the October, November and December babies. It was fun celebrating my birthday with a whole bunch of people. :) It was quite timely as I had my lunar birthday yesterday. :) 

My fav photo of me - looking so lovingly at the mango cake! :P

UQ Friendship

I met up today with an old UQ friend, Shiggy whom I have not seen after our graduation from The University of Queensland! :) There was a bunch of us who used to hang out together after our Psychology classes - Shiggy, Angelique, Lachlan, Zarinah, and Clare. :) Shiggy looks exactly the same as when we were in UQ! He is currently here on holiday from Gold Coast, Australia. It is really wonderful to see him after all these years. We met for morning tea and chatted about our lives. It felt as if we only left uni yesterday lol. :P We have made plans to continue catching up when I go to Brisbane next month, together with the other UQ friends. :)

Tea and Kittens

My neighbour invited us to her new house at 4pm for a traditional English afternoon tea. It is the girls' first experience with tea time etiquette. :) Never too young to learn - which side the tea cup should be, how to place your fork and knife, eating the savouries first before the sweets,... :) Afternoon Tea was most delicious with savoury muffins, fresh berries tarts, and carrot cakes. :)
At the same time, we saw the three kittens that she has adopted: Magpie, Magnet and Mao. They are really adorable. They were really shy at first but slowly, Mao and Magpie got used to us and would stay in the same room as us. Marieann and Juliane played with them and being bolder, Marieann even managed to stroked Mao. Magnet is the most shy of the three and he only came into the room after his dinner at 6+ pm.

Mao and Magpie checking us out from the stairs landing

Magpie at his favourite spot - the hall way which he blends in well with :)

Mao

Shy Magnet finally appeared but still deciding if we are safe to be around with

Magnet looking at us from above

The girls and I really enjoyed the afternoon with the great company (with both humans and kittens) and the delicious afternoon tea.

My First Experience

of having a North Indian meal. Through conversation, a colleague realised that I have never tried Indian food due to my inability to take spicy food. My colleague decided to introduce me to North Indian cuisine which is less spicy than South Indian cuisine. 
What an experience it was for me. :) It was pretty surreal looking at the Indian food on the table! I would never have imagined myself eating Indian food. :P I was introduced to Paneer Palak (cottage cheese and spinach paste cooked in herbs and spices), Aloo Gobhi (potato and cauliflower), Butter Chicken, Garlic Naan and Basmati Rice. 

I really enjoyed the spinach and the butter chicken [which were NOT spicy! :)] with the naan and rice. The potato and cauliflower was delicious too but quite spicy. :P Now I know what dishes to order if I ever have North Indian cuisine again. :)

Happy Birthday, Yeun Song! :)

Happy Birthday, Yeun Song!

Wishing you lots of love, happiness and sweet surprises! 

Lots of love,
Ah Ma & Ah Gong,
姑妈, 姑丈,
Marieann and Juliane 姐姐
Singapore

Hello Again

I finally saw my P6 counsellees again after more than a month. I stopped their counselling just before their Prelims so that they could concentrate on their revision and prepare for their Prelims and PSLE. I must say the counsellees were pleased to see me again. :) All of them told me the same thing that their PSLE were relatively easier than their Prelims. I sincerely hope for all of them to do well. :) :)

Why I Even Bother Asking?

The girls are now having their examinations. Out of concern or anxiety or habit or all three, I asked them how they did for their respective examinations. They said, "Good". When I probed them further if the exam was easy or difficult, they said, "Easy".
A friend told me that kids will never tell the truth even if they found the examinations difficult because they don't want to get a scolding from their parents! Well, that makes sense. Guess I should not bother asking my girls about their examinations. 

Exams Started!

My girls started their written examinations today. The start of sleepless nights for me... :( I wonder why my daughters don't seemed to be anxious about their examination...

Year End Plans

Year end plans are finally being worked out.

Good Food@Symmetry

It has been a while since I last met up with my friend over a meal. We went to Symmetry for dinner. 
My first impression of the place is it's loud and noisy, and very dim. I thought it is probably more popular for its hip factor than its food. I was so wrong! Lol.
We ordered Pork Belly ($32) with mustard mashed, Chicken ($28) with asparagus and truffle mashed, and a Passionfruit Texture & Flavour ($16) - passionfruit ice cream, pearls, coulis, lemongrass jelly and sable breton. 

The Dinner Menu

Pork Belly with mustard mashed

Chicken with truffle mashed

Different textures of Passionfruit

Both our pork belly and chicken are tender and juicy. The crust of my friend's pork belly is crispy, and went well with the pork which literally melts in the mouth. :) I couldn't decide which mashed I like better, mustard or truffle. In the end, both mashed won. :) Although the dessert sounded simple, made only of a single flavour - passionfruit. It is definitely not a simple dish. There are many different textures - ice cream, jelly, butter cookie,.. It is a gem! 
I apologise to Symmetry for my initial impression. I now know that it is popular, not just for its hip factor, but for its food as well! I would love to come back to try out its other dishes and desserts! :)

Night and Lanterns

Night scenes around Singapore and plenty of lanterns.

Lanterns in Chinatown

Lone star above Pearl Bank apartments

Lanterns

Night Life by the River

CBD at Night

Standing Guard

Lone Light

MICA at Night