Brunch and Fun

We have never been to Riders Cafe on a weekday for brunch before, and it was a good day to go al fresco since it wasn't a blindingly hot day. But the food was nothing to scream about; even the simplest brekkie of eggs, bacon, and beans was lackluster, and Chubbs would rather eat his Os than the pancakes that I ordered. Anyhow, it was still a great morning because Chubbs got to see many horses trot pass the restaurant on their morning walks. He was most thrilled, busily shouting out, "horse!" everytime one passed. His excitement and mad waving definitely made a few minders smile.

Chubbs also made fast friends with the resident cat. And he made sure to tell the horses about his friend when they looked his direction, by shouting, "cat" and pointing at the cute little furry.

He also saw a rooster and heard it crowing on our way to the car; which was great, since I've been trying to teach him about the rooster and the sound it makes for some time. It never really struck a cord until he saw the real thing for himself. He remembers it very well now :)

I heard about the indoor playground Polliwogs from my friend, S, and planned to bring Chubbs after his nap since it was a weekday, and the place would probably be emptier. We love how the floor is padded, and most of the equipment is too. So even though the boy isn't quite of playground age yet, it was relatively safe for him to venture into obstacles he wouldn't normally be able to, in other playgrounds. One of the things to improve about the place was the temperature in the play area. It was way too warm, and the ventilation was inadequate. The air was very still and stifling. Plus, they should provide hand sanitizers at the door, since HFM is going around again.

Had a blast sliding down the extra slick slides.

His favourite part was playing in the ball pits. It was funny how he ran around the place, picking up stray balls, and tossing them back into the pits.

I decided to surprise Fuzzy by suggesting Korean food for dinner from the barbecue restaurant,Ju Shin Jung, just next door to Polliwogs. To be honest, I do not like Korean food. Come to think of it, I don't quite fancy Korean anything. Not Korean food, nor fashion, nor music, nor movies, nor men, nor cars, nor plastic surgery, nor TV serials; the list goes on. But to make a bold statement that I am not a bore (no sireee!) I courageously said, "Korean bbq it shall be!"

Gamely trying some garlicky spinach while waiting for the meat to cook. I do not like raw garlic.

Pork collar.

Marinated beef rib.

The meat was excellent; fresh, succulent and very tender. I thoroughly enjoyed the tasty morsels wrapped in the selection of lettuce leaves provided. However, the rest of the side dishes did not do it for me. This is why Korean food doesn't do much for me; everything tastes the same. Every dish is either smothered in the spicy red chili pepper sauce, or in spicy bean paste. Be it cabbage (kimchi), squid, cold tofu, noodles, green leafy vegetable, dried anchovies, etc., its the same sauces, i.e. same tastes. There is no variation; it's always sweet, salty, spicy, sour all in one. Furthermore, our meal came up to $100, which I felt was steep for raw vegetables, and meat that we had to cook on our own.

Nonetheless, it was a wonderful day spent with my family, and we especially enjoy ourselves when we see Chubbs laughing, playing and having a great time. Makes everything we do, worth it.

Restaurant Week- Magma

In case you haven't heard, 22nd-28th March was Restaurant Week in Singapore, when top restaurants create lunch and dinner set menus and charge patrons less than usual. The more renown restaurants charge $50 for dinner, and the cafes/ bistros/ more mass market restaurants charge $35 for dinner. Because we only learnt about the event right before it started, most of the top-notch restaurants were fully booked months ago. However, I managed to snag us a worthy reservation, on a weekend no less, at Magma, a German wine bistro at Bukit Pasoh Road. Fuzzy and I held the wedding dinner for our families at Majestic Hotel just down the street, so this area is very fondly nostalgic for us :) Magma was also the place where my brother-in-law, Ev, sprinted in to buy wine from, when we ran out of reds during our wedding dinner. Who knew 110 guests could empty 12 bottles of wine, and 80 bottle if Heinies halfway through dinner?! Anyway, we have always wanted to try Magma, since we grabbed German pretzels from them the day after our wedding, and we love the quaint, laid-back atmosphere of the place.

From the moment we stepped in, we knew it was going to be a great dinner. A popular and well-known Aussie jazz pianist, Aynsley Green, was performing that night, which was romantic for us, and greatly entertaining for Chubbs. He played old jazz tunes and maybe even a few of his own compositions. It gets better... once we were seated, the waitress immediately brought Chubbs a whole selection of story books, crayons, and colouring books. Although the stories were all told in German, the illustrations were beautiful, and Fuzzy felt compelled to put whatever German he knew to good use by translating the simple, light-hearted stories to us. Chubbs also got to practise colouring on the animals in the activity book provided, using their fabulous Faber Castell crayons. He was thrilled.

The boys reading German.

Then came the food; starter- mussels, main course- veal shank, dessert- a traditional German cake, and a complimentary glass of wine each. All for $35; excellent value.

The mussels were decent, but it lacked oomph, and was far from the best we've had. The Belgian places make this dish much better.

Us and our veal shanks; this is the epitome of comfort food. The shanks were meltingly tender, the accompanying dish of creamy braised cabbage was divine, and the potatoes were roasted to perfection. We greedily polished everything off.

While we tucked into our mains, Chubbs was presented with a Chef's special. Because the chef has a daughter about Chubbs' age, he kindly offered to make the little one something for him to nibble on so he didn't feel left out. Chubbs got a bowl of the most luscious mashed potato we've come across. It was home-made, and oozing with cream, milk, butter, cheese, and seasoned nicely.

But Chubbs hated it; Fuzzy finished it.

Dessert was interesting; the barely sweet, dense cake base was topped with caramalised almonds, and the whole thing sat in a berry coulis. I loved the intensely sweet and aromatic almond slices, but the texture of the cake itself, was a tad too weird for me.

The chef surprised Chubbs with dessert too; a decorated slice of apple (I think only parents of toddlers know what this means).

He loved it, and polished it off.

The main down-side of the meal is when the pianist was done playing his first set, he put the CD on, and out came jarring German pop. I felt the need for ear plugs, and judging from the faces of fellow patrons, I wasn't alone in this. Also, the waitresses should have provided wine recommendations for the meal (especially being a wine speciality shop) , because the wines we picked, although they were very good, were not full-bodied enough to compliment the lamb shank. Noentheless, it was a very pleasant meal, made extra special by the efforts of the chef and waitresses to make the experience fun for Chubbs too. Never thought I'd say this, but Magma, a German wine bar, is a great place to bring your kid!

After dinner, we couldn't pass up a stroll along the old ceramic tiled corridors of the shophouses to Majestic Hotel for Chubbs to see the interesting sights and have a run-around before getting into the car. He loved the challenge of the numerous stairs and ledges that he could climb on.

He was particularly drawn by the highlight of Majestic itself; the interesting and different chairs Peng, the hotel owner hand-picked from all around the world.

Testing for size.

Chubbs sitting the same chair the same way his Sam-Sook did, two years ago, while taking a break from the exhausting wedding dinner festivities. And there's the hubby, resting his feet while his bride was abandoned in the restaurant, entertaining their guests all on her own. Good one, Love.

Fun in the Park

Since visiting the last time, we've been wanting to bring Chubbs back to the Hort Park. Today, it was a great mild-weathered day to do so, and Yee came along for the ride. We love how empty the park is, even for a Saturday evening. It's a very family-oriented place, lovely big trees, herb bushes, well-manicured lawns and numerous playgrounds for the kids to expend their energy.

One of our favourite areas in the park is the huge lawn with gorgeous vistas of the forest ahead; Chubbs had a good run-around there with the new friends he made along the way. He became Mr. Popular because I brought two balls from home, and the kids were very drawn to them.

It was also a lovely spot to rest and picnic; which was exactly what we did! We enjoyed some organic strawberries, grapes, chocolate, baked sweet potato fries and biscuits... to me, picnics seem to make food taste better. It was time to hit the playgrounds after Chubbs fueled up.

Walking with a dried pod to the playgrounds.

Sliding.

Mushrooming.

See-sawing.

In need for some serious refreshment after all that strenuous exercise, we drove to an oldie but goodie, Villa Bali, for drinks and another nibble. The music, smells, and decor of the place reminded me so much of my honeymoon; really brought back wonderful memories that made me smile. The chicken and fish satays that we ordered were surprisingly very value for money and very tasty; hit the right spot. Because it was Happy Hour, Fuzzy and I had two ice-cold beers each, and Yee had two GNTs; did the trick of quenching our thirst and washed everything down nicely. Chubbs was very intrigued by the sculpture of an eerie Balinese creature, and tried hard to mimic the facial expression it wore; nostrils flared, teeth-baring!

The lush greenery and the unpopularity of the park makes this one of our new favourite family destinations. Also doesn't hurt that Chubbs is usually quite spent after running around for a few hours non-stop, that he falls asleep much more easily at bedtime. We will be back!

An Awesome Day

A few days ago, we went back to Au Petit Salut for lunch; same place we celebrated at last year. You see now that we are rather boring people, no? The waiters recognised us :/ Thing is, on important days like this, I don't take chances, and I don't like surprises. I would rather eat at a place where the food and service is consistently impeccable, than try somewhere new, and leave regretting my decision. But it's amazing the difference a year makes. We could thoroughly enjoy our meal this time around, because we didn't need to attend to Chubbs as much, and he sat happily in his chair, chomping on endless pieces of baguette, the snacks that I brought, and playing with the utensils. It was a refreshing change to be able to relax and appreciate every bite of escargot and onglet on our plates.

Before the food.

Feeding Daddy bread; he put the bread in Fuzzy's mouth, took it out, and then ate it. Mega eeew!

Fuzzy's dessert; financier with berry compote and vanilla whipped cream.

Cracking the sugar crust of the best creme brulee in town.

Chubbs fighting me for my creme brulee.

Happy to get out of his chair after more than an hour.

In the afternoon, it was off to the park for our favourite family activity. The wind was so good, and we released all the line in no time.

Daddy and Mommy showing the little one how it's done :)

Darting around with glee.

Ours was the only kite in that part of the sky.

Chubbs found it fun rolling the ball back and forth through Daddy's legs as he was flying the kite.

Chubbs' favourite part; when Fuzzy flew the kite low enough for him to chase it around. Endless squeals of delight.

The three of us strolled to the car under the amber rays of the setting sun, and capped off the day with a simple meal at our fave Thai eatery, followed by the best waffles for dessert next door. What more could one ask for?

In his cute PJs before bed.

Zoo and Brunch!

Last weekend was a fun and activity-filled one. We decided on Saturday, to pay a visit to the zoo, since we haven't been there since Chubbs turned one. We wanted to see if he will be more excited to see the animals, now that he is more familiar with them.

Again, Chubbs was put in the hiking harness, which was the best choice for trips like that, because he would have been too low sitting in his stroller to see much, and the Ergo harness meant that he would have to be facing backwards; not good either. He was a happy little camper toted around by Daddy like that, getting adult-height views.

Tickling Daddy.

Looking at mousedeers.

The main difference between this zoo trip and the previous one, is that Chubbs was calling out the animals to us; instead of the other way around. "Pig! Horse! Bird- fly fly fly! Monney (monkey)! Tiger! Oooar (lion)! Bear! Pish (fish)! Fog (frog)!" And on and on it goes. It was like a revision of the Animals 101 course for us adults. But it was great to see how much Chubbs has learnt over the past 6-months. And most amazingly, he can sometimes see the animals in the enclosures way before we could. We have to squint and make a huge effort to scan the space to be able to spot what he's seeing. He got a little frustrated with us sometimes :/

Chubbs was most thrilled by the goats and pygmy horses at the kids section of the zoo. He waved madly at the goats, and was very happy sitting and watching their antics for a while.

My favourite parts of the trip were the pygmy hippos, and the lemurs up close (a first for me). In all, the trip provided us with an excellent workout. Told Fuzzy that we should do zoo trips more often, because we would essentially be walking for more than two hours at a go. Plus, it's educational for Chubbs and us!

Lemurs all around!

Crouched low; hunting for peacocks and more mousedeers with Daddy. Those little ones are really cute.

Mommy hippo kissing baby hippo!

On Sunday, Fuzzy, Chubbs and I met my girlfriends S, and C, for a leisurely brunch at House. While waiting for them to arrive, Chubbs busied himself with looking at the colourful koi in the pond outside the restaurant. He even shouted out "turtle" and "tortoise" when he saw the terapins. I told him they weren't exactly turtles, and he gave me a look that said, "What are you talking about, Mom? Of course they are turtles." I wasn't going to argue. It really made me uncomfortable when he wanted to stand in the pond to play with the fish. We had to really restrain him because he was literally toeing the line. End of fish watching; he wasn't happy. So we proceeded indoors where he ran around, finding rabbits.

"Pish!"

"Rabbit!"

We tucked into poached eggs, burgers, truffle fries, and the like, while Chubbs had his first taste of fries... sweet potato fries. He liked them quite a bit, considering how I can never get him to eat any potato at home. He ate almost the whole basket-full!

Evidence of sweet potato feeding.

Fuzzy breaking the painful news to C, that her camera is well and truly broken. By the way, the blurred photos she has been taking with it are not intentionally artistic or lomo.

(Photos courtesy of S.)

For dinner, it was off to me parents', where Chubbs was presented with a wooden whistle, which he was expert at playing. He even did a duet with Niel. I think he's ready to be on Niel's next album.