Monday, August 31, 2009

Back at the Same Spot


Got a new post out quickly to overwrite the one before :/

One of the reasons why I think our family is boring, is because we ate at Riders Cafe yesterday again. Of the millions of restaurants in Singapore, we choose to go back to the same place over and over. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it right? Well, the primary reason why we eat there so often, besides the fact that Chubbs loves seeing the horses up close, is because it is just across the road from us, and this bunch of friends that we met live around our area too.

Fuzzy's Purdue pal, Nick, his wife Suet, and 13-month old Caitlyn are in town for a couple of weeks. We joke that sweet Caitlyn is Chubbs' ABC (American-born Chinese) "girlfriend", as the family resides in Washington D.C. So we caught up with them and another Purdue friend, Eve, and her boyfriend, Eric.

The food was good as usual. I devoured a stack of very decent pancakes with berry compote, maple syrup and butter. Fuzzy had his second favourite order of steak sarnie with fries. But the highlight of the afternoon was definitely when the babies played together. We put them side by side to interact, and as to what happened next? I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


In short, little Caitlyn wanted out. Fast. And Chubbs thought that was hilarious. I pulled him aside, told him sternly that he had to treat Caitlyn gentler, like a young lady, and gave him another shot.

He learnt his lesson. They stood togther, hung out and chatted to Caitlyn for a while. It was adorable hearing them babble to one another. Very nicely done, buddy!


Anyway, I think Chubbs is getting cheekier/naughtier as he grows older. When the waitress came by with our food, he reached out to touch/squeeze/pinch her bum-bum (to my shock and horror). This was repeated a few times over and he did it with a squeal of joy at every instance too. He even tried the move on darling Caitlyn! Gasp!


Fuzzy just sat back with a smug look on his face, going ,"That's my boy." I'm starting to wonder what my husband has been teaching my son when I'm not looking. And is Chubbs following an example? If so, who's? I'll give you one guess.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Quinoa


I cooked some organic quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) for Chubbs today. It is a an ancient seed/ grain, and believe it or not, it is related to spinach and beetroot. Known as a superfood because of it's high protein content, it's gluten-free nature makes it especially easy to digest.

When cooked, it becomes light and fluffy, with a slightly nutty taste; like a coarser, bigger, grainier version of couscous. I mixed it with Chubbs' beef stew for lunch and he enjoyed it at the beginning, taking huge mouthfuls of it.


But he got distracted by we-don't-know-what, all too soon, and stopped eating completely :( This happens a lot. Humph. So bowl of food was emptied into the sink, and Chubbs got half an organic Emerald Beauty plum with brown rice cereal instead. These plums have a lovely light green skin, and bright yellowish-orangery flesh. They are twice the size of regular black plums and are much sweeter. Baby loves them.

Unfortunately, Chubbs' reluctance to eat is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to feeding him quinoa. I get a violent physical reaction everytime I see swarms of maggots, ants, small irregular-sized holes in the mud, the suction side of bathtub mats... you catch my drift? I break out in rashes, feel nauseous, begin shuddering, get goose-pimples from head-to-toe, start scratching etc. Cooked quinoa looks somewhat like maggots when cooked. I know this sounds revolting, but it's because their bodies turn translucent, and you can clearly see a curved white vein inside each one. Put a whole bowl of quinoa together, and the resemblance in uncanny. I actually like the taste of it, but I just can't look at it. I never had issues with eating quinoa previously, because it was always tossed in a salad, masked by all the veggies.

I remembered some stuff about phobias and the like, in my old Psychology texts, and tried bravely to tackle the problem head on. I fed Chubbs as much as I could, at the same time, feeling sicker and itchier by the moment. I wouldn't call this a fear; because I'm not afraid of worms and such. It's simply a physical reaction, when I look at them, that I cannot control.

This must be the quickest I have ever taken to churn out a post, because just typing this, and thinking about Chubbs' lunch has got me goose-pimply and scratchy again. This is bad; need to find some way to nip this in the butt. Till that happens, I don't know if I can cook this again for Chubbs :(

Friday, August 28, 2009

Lunch with Old Classmates


Through the amazing world of IT, I have become re-acquainted with some of my Secondary school classmates, Pearl and Mich. Pearl and I used to hang out in Uni and after, but lost touch over the past few years. Why Pearl? I still don't know what happened. Anyway, she's 6-months preggers now! How exciting! And Mich has a gorgeous 14-month old baby girl, Audrey.

We met at Simply Bread at 6th Ave yesterday, and chatted about mommy stuff, and mused about how time flies, over large sandwhiches, while the kiddos got to know each other. The had a ball exchanging toys and taking turns to throw them on the floor :( At least I amused Pearl and Mich with my germaphobia as I scrambled to clean every toy that touched the floor, before giving them back to the babies :/ I brought a pack of buckwheat puffs for Audrey to try, but she was more keen to play with the bag itself!


Chubbs recognized his snack and wanted the bag back :/

Audrey was very kind to share some puffs with Chubbs later, when he finished the snacks that I brought him. She's walking very steadily now, and was showing Chubbs the ropes by pottering around the cafe with Mama Mich. She walked right up to Chubbs and posed for pictures too. Clever girl!


The party came to an end when the babies got tired. But it was so much fun watching them play together. And Chubbs has a lot to learn from Audrey too. She's such a sweet and intelligent girl. Way to go, Mich! Till your next holiday...

Monday, August 24, 2009

A Refreshing Morning Walk and Riders Cafe


Chubbs woke up earlier than normal yesterday, so the three of us set off for a walk around the estate before it got really warm. The air was cool after the downpour and the smell of rain still lingered. I love these walks with my family!


Unfortunately, exercise also makes us extra hungry. Truth is, the virtuousness I feel after exercise sets off greedy signals in my brain. This lead to the talk of beef burgers after breakfast, which lured us to Riders Cafe again, to satisfy our cravings. Between Fuzzy and I, we had the burger with bacon, mushrooms and cheese, eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and asparagus, buffalo wings, and scones with cream, butter and jam. Too much food! But we finished everything... plus coffee and chocolates when we reached home :/ So much for walking.

He likes watching the horses go by.

As usual, Chubbs sat in his special seat and eyed the horses that trotted by. There was also this adorable (Korean, according to Fuzzy) baby girl at the next table. Chubbs was sneaking peeks at her throughout the meal. Baby girl's mom and I starting talking, and that evolved into a mini play session for the kiddos.


The most amazing thing was when Chubbs was playing alone at home later, he started making clicking sounds with his tongue, together with trotting movements with his hands. I have never outrightly taught him the sound of horses' hoofs or how the animals moved. Babies absorb and learn from their surroundings so much more than we know!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Watermelon, Agua Fresca and Red Bell Pepper


Fuzzy gets watermelon cravings (???), so we hunted down a really good one at Finest yesterday morning. My dad taught me early how to choose the juiciest fruit. But it's still difficult to land a sweet, bright red watermelon because there's no way (that I know of) to tell that. Does anyone have pointers for me? But this time, I was so pleased with our purchase that I decided to let Chubbs have some after he finished his chicken stew lunch.

I cut up small cubes for Chubbs to feed himself. He loved the flavour but the pulp was too fibrous for him. So I gave it to him as juice instead. I'm glad that he really enjoyed it :)


With the rest of the fruit, Fuzzy made a delicious watermelon, mint and lime agua fresca for us. We were supposed to bring it for a picnic at the Botanical Gardens, but Chubbs woke up too late for us to catch any light. So we sipped half a watermelon's worth of the cool drink at the kitchen island while feeding Chubbs his beef dinner instead.

I included an organic red bell pepper with his beef stew last night. I don't usually introduced two new foods to Chubbs at once, because in case a sensitivity develops, I won't know which the culprit is. But since Chubbs is almost one, and he has tried melons before, I took the risk.

Chubbs meal. Barley cereal was also added to round the meal off.


He liked it but didn't quite finish everything because he seems to be on a food strike (again) these days. He gets too distracted by everything else around, and is (naturally) more interested to play than eat. Feeding him gets trying at times. I never knew I had this level of patience in me.

Friday, August 21, 2009

1,2... 5,6 and a Nosebleed!


Chubbs took his first two unassisted steps last night. They were teeny tiny steps that I would have missed if I even thought of blinking... but I caught them! He's standing very steadily on his own and clapping for a week now, and after last night's preview, I'm sure he'll be up and running in no time because the exponential rate at which babies grow and learn is startling.

"Why walk when I can crawl? I get around faster!"

Lately, Chubbs has been eating quite well, but he refused all his meals yesterday. Fussing in the highchair seemed out of the ordinary. I was getting very frustrated throwing all his food away :( Then as he was playing and laughing later, I caught a glimpse of them! Two new teeth crowning! Numbers 5 and 6! So far, his teeth have been popping out on the dot as Chubbs grows a month older. When he turned 8-months, we got the bottom two incisors. When he turned 10-months, the top two incisors appeared. We are just shy of 12-months, and these decided to come out of hiding early! Good on you, Chubbs! You got this teething nonsense out of the way, and you'll have the appetite to eat your birthday cake when the time comes.

"I'll have more chompers soon!"

On a not-so-great note, I was woken by Chubbs this morning, tapping at my cheek, pointing at something on the bed. I brushed him off once, but he was relentless. I opened my eyes reluctantly, and was horrified to see blood streaming down his nose! He was pointing to more drops of it on the bed! I yelped, called for Fuzzy in the loo and tried to stop the bleeding. Chubbs thought I was playing peek-a-boo with him because I was putting a towel to his face, and he kept pulling the towel off and laughing. Didn't help matters. Thankfully, the bleeding stopped on its own after a while. Has anyone heard of a baby nose-bleeding? This comes as a complete shock to me; never knew it could happen. Fuzzy nosebled a lot (he got his cauterized), and I still nosebleed often (up to three times a day!). So I guess it's inevitable that Chubbs inherits this. Sorry, Little Love.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Cherry Tomatoes


Chubbs' chicken stew for this week includes a batch of organic cherry tomatoes, on top of carrots, and broccoli. I personally prefer cherry tomatoes because they are redder, sweeter and have smaller seeds. Fuzzy halved them and removed the woody part where the stems were, and I added them at the last minute to the stew; skins, seeds and all. Cooked tomatoes are recommended for babies, because they are highly acidic, and the heat takes some of the acidity away. Nonetheless, it is not advisable to feed tomatoes to babies below 10-months old, because their systems may not be matured enough to effectively digest the fruit, causing painful tummyaches as a result. Moreover, tomatoes have also been known to cause rashes around the lips, mouth and bottom.

Chubbs loved his meal! He took spoonful after spoonful without pausing, until he emptied his bowl. And it was quite a lot of food to boot; 1/4 of a carrot, one-inch cube of chicken, two cherry tomatoes, one large broccoli floret and two tablespoons of barley cereal! More than what his Tai-Gong eats at a meal sometimes :/


For dinner, Chubbs debuted a bib that my dear Secondary school swim team mate, Cher, sent from Down-Under. Thanks Cher! You know how medal winners always bite their medals to pose for photos? Check Chubbs out... he's starting out young!


To top it off, he had five cherries for dessert. Because I didn't want to ruin the new bib or the cute new shirt from Yee when feeding him the blood red fruit, I stripped him down to his shorts (much to Fuzzy's amusement).

His adorable post-meal tubby tummy.

He also had buckwheat puffs as snack during our dinner. AND managed a full feed of milk soon after. AND another milky nibble just before bed. He is truly my son :/

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Mum's Birthday Lunch at Au Petit Salut


Does it surprise anyone that this is yet another food-centered post? They don't call me glutton for nothing :/ Anyhow, my mum's birthday falls one day after my M-I-L's. I suggested the celebratory meal to be held at Au Petit Salut at Harding Road, since Fuzzy and I were well-impressed at our last visit.

For starters, all of us, except my mum had the escargots with tomatoes in herbed butter. It was as delicious as we remembered it to be. I mopped up every last bit of buttery goodness with my baguette. My mum tried the pork terrine, and enjoyed it with many slices of crusty bread too.

Taking a break from the food.

My brother chose the braised pork ribs and mash for his main course, Fuzzy and my mum had the onglet with frites, my dad ordered the braised beef cheeks, and it was the Scottish salmon (they ran out of sea bass) topped with a herb puree, on a bed of sauteed onions and peppers for me.





I liked my fish because it was done perfectly; still slightly undercooked in the centre. The sweet/ tart vegetables gave the dish a zing. The portion size was just right, everyone loved their mains, and were very full after finishing their food!

Do not put up your feet yet, guys... dessert awaits! I ordered profiteroles because they were out of creme brulee; my mum had the same. My dad and Fuzzy wanted to try the stewed plums with ice-cream, and my brother, who loves all things chocolate, had the 70% cocoa chocolate mousse.


I really liked the profiteroles. It was very rich, very sinful and almost too big a portion... obscenely large plates of dessert make me happy! The chocolate mousse went down well with Niel and Fuzzy thought the plums were a little too sweet, but then again, he was too stuffed by then to fully appreciate it (amateur eater!). Strong Illy coffee rounded the meal off nicely.

Chubbs was content at lunch nibbling at his snacks and spoiling the romance for the couple behind us, by constantly talking to them. My mum texted me later saying she was so full that she's skipping dinner. Was it really that much food? I was already deciding on what to snack on when I reached home. Hmmm... might actually consider Fuzzy's advice (since a long time back) to check my tummy for worms.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

More Food, More Cake, and Buckwheat Puffs


If you can bear the thought of this, we had another feast at dinner last night . It's my M-I-L's birthday, and my F-I-L is a firm believer of eating noodles on birthdays. So he bought home beehoon, yee meen, sang meen, and horfun (all pronounced in Cantonese please, because I don't know what these noodles are called in English) to give variety to longevity.

Pre-dinner fun... standing without support!

Chubbs got a new snack at dinner too. Organic buckwheat puffs, which he liked very much. These puffs are good because they are small, good for practising his pincer-grasp, and melt slightly in the mouth. Perfect for little Chubbs!


Dinner ended with our 5th birthday cake in four days (minus the cakes on the dessert table at the buffet). The default cake at any occasion is Anderson's Danish nougat ice-cream cake. But one cake never suffices. Last night, we had three; default + black forest + Belgium Chocolate ice-cream cake... compliment from our aunts, who jump at any opportunity to buy cake.

We sang Happy Birthday with Chubbs (the only Grandson in town) on my M-I-L's lap. Chubbs doesn't know how to blow candles out yet, so the cakes remained saliva-free, for a change.


They were delicious, and as usual, Fuzzy and I overate. In an attempt to erase some of our guilt, we went for another stroll this evening.... with my M-I-L in tow too. It was lovely when the breeze blew and Chubbs was entertained by our property-centered conversations the whole way. I'm really proud of Fuzzy... if this walking phase keeps up, I'm sure inches will be lost soon :)

Monday, August 10, 2009

Holidays Eats and a Much-Needed Walk


My Aunt, Yee, planned to take the Grandies out for a treat at the new Guild House's Chinese restaurant. I've heard much about the good food at this place, and have been wanting to check it out. Together with my Uncle Mike and wife, Chris, we met for lunch there yesterday.


Chubbs and Fuzzy were decked out in identical outfits. Levis, navy blue polo tees, and brown shoes.


The food was very good. One of the better Chinese restaurants we have been to in a while, comparable to the big names like Peach Garden and East Ocean. We ordered dim sum as starters. All the dumplings boasted fresh ingredients and were well-made. For mains, we had Peking duck, fried string beans with minced pork, deep-fried chicken with mango and Thai dressing, steamed catfish with green ginger, and Ee-fu noodles cooked the duck meat. For dessert, it was steamed buns with salted egg-yolk custard (Fuzzy and my favourite!!!) and mango, pomelo and sago cream. Overall, every dish tasted great. The only one we were not so impressed with, was the duck noodles. It lacked seasoning, and was bland even after adding soya sauce to it.

The family had lots of fun there, with Chubbs sitting beside his spiffily-dressed Great-Grandpa and playing with him throughout. He was also happily helping himself to the snacks I packed, eating non-stop till he finished everything. Yummy good times!


It has been a few days of endless eats, and we were feeling bloated when we reached home. So I suggested to Fuzzy that we bring Chubbs out for a walk after he has his early dinner, so that we can relieve our stomachs and get some fresh air before we resume eating later. We were due for a buffet dinner. Yes, you read me right. Buffet.

Anyway, we went on a trainer shopping trip with Yee some weeks back, and this was the debut for our new trainers. I needed a new pair (remember the hiking incident?) and Fuzzy wanted a new look to encourage him to start an exercise routine. It was one of the least hazy days so far (we could actually see our neighbour's house) and cloudy sky and light breeze was perfect for our walk-about. Fuzzy carried Chubbs in our hiking harness, and we walked for an hour, reaching Rebecca Road and back. It was so relaxing and fun that Fuzzy declared," I could do this everyday!" Yeah...

Back onto the topic of food. Dinner was at Swissotel Stamford's Plaza Market Cafe to celebrate my M-I-L's birthday; they are currently featuring Peranakan food for their buffet. Fuzzy and I are not buffet eaters. The quality and freshness of ingredients seem to always be compromised. But this time around, the food was actually good! Not so delicious that it leaves you longing for more, but it wasn't half bad. There was prata and Indian curry, popiah, wanton mee, laksa, fresh cold seafood, mutton rendang, ayam buah keluak, grilled pork belly, spicy sauteed frog's legs, etc. for main course. I loved the grilled pork belly and ate way too much of that. I surprised myself by enjoying some frog's legs too.

The star at the dessert table was the durian paste. Everyone loved it, and ate more than one serving. But I kept my distance because Chubbs isn't fond of milk that reeks of durian, and I generally don't eat anything made with durian, only durian itself. I'm a purist and I don't appreciate others handling the flesh before I eat it. The rest of the dessert was your regular Nonya fare and typical buffet cakes like chocolate mousse, etc.

Chubbs entertained himself by playing peek-a-boo with the lady who was manning the laksa station, and eating his snacks.

So busy watching the lady cook laksa, that he won't look at me.

A waitress handed him a flag too, and he busied himself smashing it around, whacking it against the side of his highchair, and trying to poke his, and everyone else's, eyes out.


During our drive home, I told Fuzzy that I felt full. He laughed and said,"You should be. We ate too much this weekend." That may just be the understatement of the year.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

11-Months and KKs!


My M-I-L carried two dozen Krispy Kremes back with her from London. Shan, Fuzzy and I were speechless after the first bite. We just sat down with our doughnuts (notice plural?) and ate in reverent silence. We are doughnut mad, and our local deep-fried flour company of choice is Donut Factory. But even after travelling 13-hours in the plane, nothing in S'pore can be remotely compared to KKs. Nothing.

Anyway, the main subject matter for today is... Chubbs! He is proudly turns 11-months old! When people ask how old my baby boy/girl is, I say he's almost a year. Time flies, doesn't it?

Seconds after waking up from his long nap. Could barely sit up :/

Pointing at me when Fuzzy asked him where Mommy was.

I was commenting to my friend, M, today that I'll almost be sad when Chubbs turns one in a month's time. He technically won't be a baby anymore; he would then have earned his stripes to be a toddler. Sigh. Fuzzy and I have one more month of enjoying every moment with our baby. Let's make it a good one :)

Spinning Bowl Salad+ Yorkies+ Creamed Spinach+ Prime Roast...


Where are we?! Birthday boy, Shan, my B-I-L, requested for steak for his celebration this year. So Fuzzy and I hooked up with our connection at Lawry's and I booked the private dining room for our party of 25 (immediate family and a handful of his friends). The room was beautiful; regal with chandeliers and paintings. Lawry's also added some special touches to the occasion by printing a personalised menu for us with Shan's name on it.


The menu I worked out for Shan started with either their signature Spinning Bowl Salad, or soup, which was cream of chicken and barley for today. The main course choice was prime rib with Yorkshire pudding, Idaho mashed potatoes and choice of vegetable (most of us chose the creamed spinach, some prefered the creamed corn). The non-mammal alternative was a seafood platter, which consisted of sea bass, salmon crumble and grilled prawn. I did away with the dessert course because we brought a cake along with us.

Dinner proper started past 8.30pm. The sourdough and limpa came warm in their baskets. I love sourdough, and could not resist devouring hunks of it with butter, despite still being full from having eaten at the wedding earlier :/ We ordered the Lawry's house wine, which was surprisingly delish; akin to a very good Australian Cabernet Sauvignon. It went nicely with the Spinning Bowl Salad. Chubbs had a blast watching the waitress work the large stainless steel bowl over the bed of ice, tossing the leaves in the sauce, and dishing out small plates of the cold, crisp salad. Think he picked up a few pointers from her.


When our main course trolley rolled in, he watched the chef load our plates very intently too; carving the beef and ladling the spinach and potatoes on.


Fuzzy and I ooohed and aaahed over the creamed spinach and the yorkies. The spinach was flecked with bits of bacon, which gave it a smokey aroma, but also made it a tad too salty for my liking. The yorkies were to-die-for! We have tried to make it countless times at home, when we have steak dinners, but it never even turns out 1/4 as good! Fluffy on the top, custardy at the bottom. Sloppy with gravy. How can you beat that? The beef was very tender and together with the mash and gravy... it is the death-row meal of many, I'm sure.


Because Fuzzy and I had a huge plate of food at the wedding earlier, we were way stuffed by the time we polished off our food. But I couldn't resist eating a tandoori-esque lamb chop that our aunt ordered. It turned out really well. Charred and nicely spiced. We were too full to have our dessert there (NYDC's oreo cheesecake), and Chubbs was starting to rub his eyes. He had done very well, despite having been awake and playing for more than 6-hours, and attended a wedding before this. He was content snacking on his Organix rice cakes and as many Gerber puffs as he wished for his dinner. What a treat!

Happy in his seat the entire night.

The Lawry's staff surprise Shan with a personal cake and sang Happy Birthday to him in harmony. It was indeed a memorable celebration, which Shan enjoyed a lot. I have to commend the service provided by the eloquent waiters that night. It was not intrusive, prompt, swift and polite. There's nothing one can possibly fault the staff for.

Fuzzy and I enjoyed a strong post-dinner cuppa before we left at 10.30pm. By the time we got Chubbs in his bath, it was past 11pm. He was sooo tired when he finally hit the sack a little before midnight. Poor chap.

A parting shot before we left... sans Ev's family :(