Yet Another Year Older

I've haven't been into birthday celebrations recently because I don't like to be reminded that I'm inching towards the big 3-0! The past birthdays have been kept very simple with just dinner with the immediate family (if at all). But this year was strangely but refreshingly different. I had:-

1) Dinner with my dad, brother (my mum was ill), Fuzzy and Chubbs at CMPB- great wine, the yummiest mushroom and truffle oil pasta, crispy deep-fried chicken wings and huge desserts.

2) Dinner No. 2 (after dinner with my dad and brother) with girlfriends at P.S. Cafe-lots of laughs over drinks, a cheese platter, truffle fries and rich chocolate cake. What more can we ask for?

A very thoughtful gift from my gal, Shu; Nigella's newest cookbook! Woot!

Cheryl and I.

The girls thinking of what to order for dinner, at 10.30pm.

3) A lovely, quiet lunch and ice-cream by the river with just Fuzzy and Chubbs (literally, because we were the only ones in the restaurant).

Waiting for our food.

Pointing out to a boat.

Chubbs and Buzz checking out Christmas displays.

Ice-cream!!!

Then he moved on to the cone.

4) Lunch with Fuzzy and Chubbs at Chiharu- the best Japanese a la carte buffet in town. The sushi is outstanding.

5) Dinner with Fuzzy's family, plus cake-cutting at home. Chubbs was practising singing, "Happy Birthday to Mommy!" all day :)

Fuzzy very happily made sure that the many, many candles could be seen clearly.

Chuubs loves his Great-GrandAunts; playing with No. 5.

Hugging No. 4.

Caught licking off the cake knife.

It was a full, but lovely weekend of good eats and great company. Thank you everyone, for making this birthday a fabulous one.

Food Poisoning

Chubbs vomited five times last night. The first time was in his sleep, and he actually threw up his entire dinner all over his face and hair while lying face up. It wasn't a pretty sight. And through the mess, and him still puking, we had to get him to lie on his side as quickly as possible, so that he doesn't inhale any vomit. Kids have actually died from vomit getting into their lungs. We changed the sheets so he could lie back down to rest, and he puked again 5-min later. We repeated this sheet-changing "game" three more times over within the next hour or so, until we ran out of bedsheets. At the end of it, he was so exhausted and spent from throwing up, that he collapsed on the bed and passed out cold for the next few hours. Only to wake up again, and start retching. But his system was really empty by then, and he simply didn't have anything more to throw up.

He was feverish through the night, but we thought the worst was over. Until this morning. He had really severe diarrhea from the moment he woke to past mid-day. He complained of pain in his abdomen and demanded to, "See Dr. Chan now!" I told him that the earliest we could bring him to the pediatrician was tomorrow, he wouldn't have any of that and he repeated his request firmly. He was in great discomfort, to say the least. Partly because his bum was so sore from the diarrhea that he found it impossible to sit, and spent most of his day standing or squatting.

Despite being in pain, and completely fatigued from purging, he was still at least 70% of his chirpy self, and even humored us by trying on his new school uniform (to be used in January next year). I couldn't believe how adorable he looked in it :) There's my grown up baby!

Very sweaty, with hat.

Sans hat.

Asher's Whaley Two!

My good friend, S, invited us to Asher's whale-themed, second birthday brunch at The Pantry at Loewen Gardens. It's a cute little place with simple, but great cafe fare, and it's especially suited for families with kids as they have playgrounds and toddler "rides" to entertain the little ones while the adults eat.

It was a fabulous party with lots of balloons. And as expected, the kids started the balloon fights very early on!

Birthday boy, Asher, made off with Chubbs' balloon.

Chubbs gave up chasing to get it back, and was determined to score himself some other kid's balloon.

"Mission accomplished!"

Chubbs was happy to be zooming around on a blue Bobby Car that was too small for him, for most of the morning.

Then he graduated to riding a bike.

Looking very professional, but he actually took quite a few tumbles on the asphalt and acquired inevitable scrapes on his knees. Battle scars!

Asher's birthday cake was a gargantuan creation that could have easily fed all of us for days and days to come. It was a chocolate sponge cake with very sinful cream cheese icing layers, topped with Asher's favourite fruit of the moment, blueberries!

Before leaving, we tried to get all the kids on one big chair so a kiddie group shot could be taken. All were cooperative, except for one boy...

...who realized that, with all the kids on that chair, it was prime opportunity to snag the wire wagon he's been eyeing the whole morning, but couldn't get his hands on. And so he did.

He was mighty pleased with his newly acquired prize.

We had a lovely time, eating yummy scrambled eggs on toast (it was so delish, that Chubbs surprisingly finished an adult portion), drinking coffee and catching up with friends. The kids were very sweaty and smelly by the time the party was over, but they sure had lots of fun.

The Simple Things

Recently, I've been craving for simple things to eat. Not that I've ever longed for the opposite, but more so nowadays, chomping on a thick slice of good bread, thoroughly soaked with the best fruity olive oil one can find, makes me more cheerful than I'm genetically inclined to be in the late afternoons.

I've long gone by the yard stick that the best foods are those made with five ingredients or less (without counting salt and pepper). Think for instance, pizza margherita, spaghetti aglio olio, scrambled eggs on toast, a piece of salmon belly sushi, the perfect steak, a wedge of butter cake, and my home-made granola.

Everybody has a granola recipe to share, and for me, it's all about finding one that is fuss-free, and creates granola that is crunchy, nourishing and not cloyingly sweet. So after a few trials, I've finally come up with a recipe that makes me the best granola.

Nourish with Five- Granola

Ingredients:-

3 1/2 cups whole rolled oats (not quick-cooking)

1/2 cup honey

3 tbsp light brown sugar

2 tbsp canola oil

100 grams slivered raw almonds and/or 100g sunflower seeds/ pumpkin seeds/ chopped pecans/ chopped walnuts...

50g sesame seeds

a pinch of salt

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 150degreesC.

2) Mix oats, almonds (and any other nuts/ seeds), salt and brown sugar in a big bowl.

3) Mix in oil and honey and stir till everything's coated.

4) Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

5) Pour mixture onto baking sheet, flatten out evenly, and bake for 30-40 min, until the granola's a deep brown. But be sure to take the granola out of the oven every 10-min to give it a good stir around to ensure even baking.

6) Cool completely before storing it in an airtight container and use within two weeks.

You could of course jazz this simple recipe up to suit your taste. Try adding a teaspoon of cinnamon, stirring in some butterscotch chips/ chopped dark chocolate at the end (I like!), or throwing in some currants/ cranberries/ dates. But the simplicity of this basic granola really does it for me. I eat a bowlful of it with plain Greek yogurt and a splash of unsweetened soy milk, and a fruit on the side for breakfast, and it keeps me going all the way till lunch; no icky hunger pangs in between! I pack a little for Fuzzy to munch on throughout the day in the office, since it keeps well, and is also wheat and gluten-free, and full of good fat from the almonds and sesame seeds. I really hope you enjoy this.

My bucketful of bird-food-looking joy.

Chubbs at 2-years and 2-months...

... is a complete bundle of energy. He wakes up at 7am every morning, and doesn't stop running around, singing, fixing stuff around the house, playing cars, assembling puzzles, etc, until around 7pm at night. That means I'm his care-giver for at least 12-hours straight every day. I love spending this time with him, but it's super challenging finding ways to occupy and entertain for such long periods of time, since toddlers have a rather short attention span. Thankfully, he's really into books, so he can sit for at least 30-min per stretch reading. We keep his books in several large boxes on the floor in his play area, and on his own, he goes through at least one box of books per day.

He speaks well, and his vocabulary is vast, I think. I'm not really sure how many words he's supposed know by now, but he impresses me with the many four-syllable words his knows, and by being able to tell between octagons and hexagons, for instance. He knows every tool in a toolbox, and knows when to use which tool. He'll look at the screw to decide whether he needs to employ a Phillips or slot screwdriver, he uses a wrench to loosen bolts, pliers to take nails out, etc. His eye for detail seems rather amazing to me (I admit I'm a little biased), but it could very well be the case with every other kid out there and I just haven't compared notes :/ He also knows the tunes and lyrics too all the cartoons he watches, and entertains us daily with his cute renditions. He loves animals and we show him interesting creatures like narwhals, monitor lizards, otters, and he surprisingly remembers them all.

Food-wise, I began to completely wean him off breastfeeding about a week ago (up till then, he was still nursing at least twice a day). He was naturally very resistant to it at first, considering he has been nursing for over two years. But I repeated that I had not much milk for him anymore, and he's already a big boy who doesn't need Mommy to give milk. I could see the hurt in his eyes when I refused him. But I need to stick to my plan because the main reason I'm weaning him off is so he can learn to be more independent now that he's older, and be able to be in control of his own emotions. Breastfeeding was a source of comfort and it calmed him down before bed, etc. Since he's much older now, he needs to start mastering emotional stability and regulating how he's feeling. To compensate for the breast milk, I give him two feeds of about 8-ounces of formula milk, and one average cup of fresh milk (with his morning cereal) per day. With his, he also eats about two servings of cheese daily.

For breakfast, he takes cereal in the morning with fresh milk, fruit and sometimes a wedge of cheese. I give him organic whole grain cereals such as puffed buckwheat, puffed quinoa, honey-coated cornflakes, cocoa-coated puffed brown rice, etc. I love Nature's Path and New Morning cereals because they are made with whole-grains, usually gluten/wheat free and are 100% natural. Great for the body, and these cereals cost the same as Post or Kelloggs!

Lunch would usually be pasta/ soba/ sandwich, depending on which he chooses, with a protein, some vegetable, and finished with a fruit. Tea time for him is some biscuits/ home-made cake or muffin/ ice-cream and maybe some more fruit, together with his formula milk feed.

He eats dinner with us, and I'd normally prepare him meal with with soup of the day (watercress, lotus root, chicken, pork rib, etc.), put some rice, shredded steamed chicken and chopped vegetables in.

So that's what my little 26-month old boy's eating and doing. I don't realise how fast he's growing up and he catches me off guard when he uses sarcarsm on me, or when he chuckles at witty humor on TV. My baby is most definitely no longer a baby :/

Faking a smile for the camera.

Playing with Toy Story lego, and making up voices for the characters.

Our Adventure-Filled Weekend at Marina Bay Sands

Of all the new hotels/ resorts/ casinos built over the past couple of years, Marina Bay Sands is the one that stands out the most to me. I'm impressed by the design of the hotel; three elegant towers with an astronomically large surfboard balanced on top. It's so beautiful to look at.

The first thing during the stay that stopped us in our tracks (literally) was the hoards of people in the lobby. It was so crowded that there was a jam in the driveway. We jostled to make our way through the doors to face even more people, and there were no busboys to give you a hand with luggage. It was like being at a very noisy zoo. Good thing we got our keys quickly enough and we hurried upstairs to serenity.

Our room was spacious, well designed and I appreciated the quality marble finishing in the bathroom and the rain shower. Pity there isn't a bathtub, because it makes showering Chubbs much easier. It also makes me very happy to find my favourite TWG tea in the coffee drawer and hand-made chocolates on the dresser.

Chubbs digs the marble sink too.

View from our corridor.

Hazy, but still great, view from the room.

Getting ready for the first dip.

Having a snack before hitting the pool.

The main attraction of MBS is the Skypark. It basically spans the entire "sail" of the hotel on the 57th floor. It houses observation decks, a 150m long pool, a cafe, a soon-to-be-opened restaurant, and a bar. Pretty swanky place, and since it's also opened to the public, it was also extremely crowded. I almost tripped a couple of people because I stepped on their shoes. It was that bad. But the view from the 57th storey was glorious, despite the haze, and Chubbs had a great time paddling around with us.

The pool looks empty from the pictures, no? But I actually kept them framed and had my finger on the camera for a total of 30-min, waiting for the opportune time to snap a good shot without too many bobbing heads in the photo. It was so packed that I couldn't swim a few metres without bumping into someone.

The winds were so strong! And needless to say, it was a rather chilly swim.

View from the observatory area.

A nice warm bath was indeed necessary after the swim, and we prepared to go for dinner while Chubbs watched TV alone in the big plush bed.

We took a 15-min walk through the casino in search for the food kiosks at the basement, so that we could grab a quick dinner.Though tired, Chubbs had a lot of fun during the walk.

Admiring the interior design of the casino wing.

Watching dancers on 5m high poles.

Gondola ride through the shopping mall.

Unfortunately, when we got to the food kiosks, we couldn't get any seats, and there were only about five food stands serving food that did not look appetising at all. So we scrapped the plan and headed back to the coffee house of the hotel, thinking of splurging and buying ourselves a buffet dinner. But we were told very rudely, that the wait to get a seat at the coffee house was about 90-min! What!? We scrapped that plan too. Next up, we tried the very posh Chinese restaurant, and was told that the wait to get a seat was 30-min! Double what!? In the end, Chubbs' dinner consisted of a whole wheat loaf from their bakery, SweetSpot, a bowl of blueberries, a wedge of cheese, and a big cup of milk (all packed from home).

The night view from our room, taken while Chubbs was having his dinner in his stroller, in the room.

Pretending the handle bar of his stroller is his moustache.

Fuzzy and I decided to take a walk in the light rain without an umbrella via the unsheltered Helix, to Millenia Walk, to have ramen for dinner. We expected Chubbs to fall asleep in his stroller during our walk, since he went without a nap and had an activity-filled day. But this, of course, didn't go according to plan. He was wide awake the entire time, and even had ramen with us :/

The 9.30pm bowl of ramen was so good that Fuzzy and I forgot to snap any pictures of it. It was a generous serving of well-cooked noodles, thick slices cha-shu, tamago that was done perfectly, and lots of shredded spring onion and beansprouts. Utterly delicious, and just what we needed after a long day and a long walk. And everything got washed down nicely with a few bottles of ice-cold Asahi. That hit the right spot.

Taken from the Helix on our drizzly walk back to the hotel.

Finally K-Oed. After being awake for 14 hours straight.

The next morning, I was crazily optimistic and give the coffee house another shot for breakfast. It costs $38++ per person, and there was a 30-person queue to get a table. That was the final straw; I gave up. We had coffee, tea, bread and butter cake in the comfort of our room before preparing for another swim. The water and wind was so cold, even at noon, that Chubbs' lips turned blue upon getting out of the pool :/ We wrapped him up in a towel, threw on a shirt for him, and roasted him under the sun on the observation deck for a while. It was a great view to end the stay with.

Dripping wet, in his swimmers on the observatory deck.

Very happy after his morning swim, in spite of the cold. We were very tickled to find tan lines on his thighs, biceps and forehead. My little tan baby!

After checking out; us, having a good cuppa and him, a madeleine, at their in-house cafe, SweetSpot, just before leaving.

For lunch, we checked out the very old, but quaint, Sloane Court Hotel, which supposedly serves pretty decent food. But my roast beef was way too salty, the oxtail stew was too bland, they serve Campbell soup, and the fish and chips came out of a frozen package. Disappointing :/ But Chubbs enjoyed himself exploring the grounds.

In all, we liked the stay at MBS, but the food situation has got to improve leaps and bounds before we would even consider visiting it again. I never thought that I'd be so hard-pressed to look for a meal in Singapore; much less in a 5-star hotel. They are simply not ready to handle maximum occupancy considering a bulk of the restaurants slated to be housed there, are not in operation yet.

My Favourite Lunch

I do not consider the process of making this recipe as cooking; it's simply an assembly job (just the way I like to "cook"). But it's fabulous. So fabulous that I eat this lunch every other day and would feel guiltily selfish if I didn't share the recipe. So I'm finally getting down to telling you about this jazzed up guacamole of avocado, salsa and tuna, that tastes delicious smeared on anything.

Ingredients for one person:

1 heaped tablespoonful of jarred spicy salsa (I use Tostitos- hot)

1/4 tin of tuna (I like chunks in water)

1/2 an avocado (finely diced)

pinch of pepper

a handful of chopped corriander/spring onion- optional

juice of half a lime- optional

Mix everything together as haphazardly as you like, and you have a healthy, nourishing, cost-effective lunch in 5-min! It's even great to pack as a work lunch, as long as you give it a generous squeeze of lime and leave the avocado pit in (prevents the avocado from browning). The Atkinites out there could scoop all the creamy goodness up with celery sticks/ carrot batons/ cucumber rings. But I'm a carbo fiend (I've long accepted the fact that I can never be a Whitney Port/ Cameron Diaz size 2), and my choice carrier of the luscious dip is simple wholemeal toast, or as featured today, a crunchy-toasted wholemeal pita. On top of that, I had half an ear of corn, a cup of white tea, and a just-baked chocolate cupcake (typing it all out makes it look like a horrific amount of food :/). The best part about lunch was that I ate everything on the carpet on my bedroom floor while Chubbs' napping; I'm currently a very happy Mommy :)