Volunteering works for the 2 boys

My 2 big As had been doing this kind of job since 2016... but for #3, this is his first... Normally hb will bring the kids for volunteering works during their school holidays... and this June holidays, Alvan join in the fun... I can't recall if he went last year... Anyways, these photos were taken by their daddy... so look at the fun they had... hahaha... Not sure why jiejie did not join this time... maybe she is busy with her school activities... Good job boys! :)

Khatib playgound

No matter how old my kids are, they still like playgrounds!!  Thanks to hb for taking amazing photos!!

As usual, we would normally do our grocery shopping after lunch on Sunday after our morning swim (partly due to #3 having swimming lessons at 11am on all Sundays)...  This playground had been revamped, not sure for how long... hahaha... this playground is the one situated at #1 & #2 childcare center at Khatib... but they can't remember much of it... so... left with OUR memories actually...

I wished the 3 of them can always find comfort and joy playing together... I do not know how long this will last... as they are always arguing with one another now... but I had always been telling them, they must love each other as they grow up together, as they are the ones left when we are not longer around...

 See what I mean by Teenager?!??!...  Always on her gadget... sigh...

Boys always remain as Boys... climbing... jumping... hopping... monkeying... hahahaha...

Guilty but not doing anything about it....

Hahahaha... my post title says it all... Yes, am feeling very guilty for not updating my blog as often as I wished I did now compared to maybe, 10 years ago??!!  Guilty for not penning down my thoughts of what my kids had been telling me or penning all the fun activities I had with my kids... They have grown at an amazing speed.... Comes next year, I'll be having 2 teenagers... my baby remains my baby till he finishes Primary school *I hope*

It's tough having teens in the household... why? They like to challenge adults, always trying to find ways around with our rules at home.. and seriously, I find it tough trying to reason things out with them... I try to channel all these to the master of our house!!  But it does not seem to work, as they would try it out with their head of discipline of the house, till the last minute when they can't get what they want! AND, sometimes I do regret asking them to talk to their daddy, as their daddy readily agrees to their request without much struggling! ARGH...  ok ok, back to my problem... somehow, I find it's due to the nature of my job, I do some Risk assessment for all jobs performed by the workers, so I guess I did some RA for my kids too when they request to go for outings with their friends!

Anyways, I hope to be able to still update my blog as frequent as I would have wished for... ok ok, am being lazy... I hardly takes photos now... even though all of us are using smartphones and the camera resolution is way better than my small portable handheld camera I had about 10 years back... sad... pls do something about this young lady! hahaha... I mean AUNTY! ok ok... I'll do something about it ok...

My cooking journey for 2019

** This was a post saved as draft dated 10 Sept 2019 & only realised it today, 22 Feb 2022!!! 2.5 years later!! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING????  I DO NOT KNOW! Hahahaha... **

Ok, I think this post is something I wanted to post back then, tracing what I had been doing for the year 2019!! 

So, this Ondeh Ondeh cake was my first attempt to bake... nice, but did not bake another time, cos I think abit too sweet for all of us!  But nice try! Hahaha...

This was a good Butter dinner rolls which I tried, actually I baked these a few times in the year (2019) and has not been baking this these 2 years (covid years!))

This should be a Japanese Cheese cake!! I really cannot remember which recipe did I follow.. hahaha...

Another noodle attempt in using my noodle maker machine, if am not wrong, I was doing the mee-kia for my wanton noodles, with my homemade char siew!!  Can't recall if the wantons were homemade too! Hahahaha...

This is the sous vide equipment hubby got me... Had tried a few things, but only took photo of this apple sauce pork loin which I tried, not too bad though... the thing I find troubling me is the ziplock bag which I need to find to use this equipment, it must be able to withstand the heat of the water bath and food safe!!  I find it difficult to find in Singapore, so end up I got some silicone bags for use in sous vide.

This is another breakfast dish I had finally mastered after 2 years of making, fried carrot cakes in black & white!!  We can always finished them all for weekend breakfast, so save us going to hawkers or coffee shops to buy back and my taste just as good!! Hahaha...  *abit of self praised*

I believe this baked pasta was created by me after learning to cook our own tomato pasta sauce from the TV program, Ah Gong can cook, and it's been our Tomato paste recipe which I only used now.  My niece & nephew only like my baked pasta now, nothing they had tried outside could make them happy!! Now am a happy chef!!!  Hahaha... But my kids had been quite 'sick' of this baked pasta...

Symphony @ Botanical Gardens

It's been a loooooong looooong time since we joint this event... I guess even #3 can't recall coming for one... hahaha...

Hb decided to bring the kids out this time... I didn't prepare food for this, as it was pretty last minute plus my helper is on off this Sunday... so am kind of handicapped! hahaha...  ok, really excuse is me being lazy...   But we brought some snacks along... still not enough for my ever hungry children!

Being kiasu locals, we were there pretty early, to 'chope' a nice spot to enjoy the symphony... and #3 is asking for more of such picnic like outing... I guess it's good so the kids enjoy some kind of outdoor doing nothing, so not too much gadgets and just enjoy some greenary since we are at the botanical gardens of Singapore!

A picture when the park is still not packed yet!

My super relaxed son... enjoying his snacks and waiting for the performance to start....

Look at the back.. where more people had arrive and starting to pack the park...

A super 'unglamed' ME plus a lazy hb...  😰

Performance ended... see people starting to clear the park... 

Midst of the performance... we have quite a nice pack of audience... trying to enjoy the greenary and performancce.... good!

Our looooong awaited dinner... Kids were so hungry and they pretty fast in clearing their food! Hahaha... Nice place but I think abit too expensive... ehm... can't recall the cafe's name... but it's the 1st cafe along Upper Thomson Road, just next to the Shell station... hahaha... know where??  I had wanted to load more photos of our food... BUT I can't connect my mobile to my laptop for transferring of the photos... argh... but wait, I just found out that I did not take any photos on the food we ordered! Hahahaha... :p

Our 15th wedding anniversary

We are finally reaching our first 15th wedding anniversary this year!!! Time flies... 15 years just past by so quickly... but to think of it, alot had happened and we have both aged *gracefully*, I hoped, but most importantly our kids are growing to be fine teenage and children... they have definitely enriched our lives and we have grown up looking at things in their perspective as well and learning many new terms and jagons which I have never heard of nowadays... it's fun and challenging but happy to see them happy and happy to see them loving us as much as we have showered with all the love and care throughout these years.  Definitely not easy to bring up a tiny baby to who they are today, whenever I see many newborns with their parents now, I would think back of my 3 little babies and wondered how did I manage to go thru those times, changing diapers, night feeding, taking care of them when  they are sick, witnessing their first sit, climb, walk and learning to talk & sing and when they first go childcare, primary school and secondary school. Its really a long way to where we are today, but I must say, thank you dear for all the times we been through, learning alot of things thru sweat and tears and arguments.  We have done our best to bring up the kids in what we believe would help them be better young lady and gentlemen.  Hope to see many more years of celebrations! 😍

Ehm, so much to say for our 15th anniversary... guess I may write alot more when my kids started bring home their boyfriend or girlfriends... cannot imagine what I would do when they decided to settle down... hahaha...

Thanks for arranging this wedding anniversary dinner at Ja-an since last December and our view and food was really amazing!!!

Our view at 7pm!

Our view at 8pm...

View at 9pm...

View ar 10pm... amazing how the night goes darker every hour... really love the view of our country... 

Our menu for the night...

Our appetizers with compliment from the chef... surprised and its was really food for the eye and they are really tasty... though it's all 1 mouthful food, but the taste is superb!!

Loaf of bread for the night with butter and sea salt from France!! 

Soup...

Oops! Realised I did not have the photo of our first dish, oyster, as I was busy on the phone with my contractor! Hahaha... 😝

This was our English garden... very fun dish!!! As we practically ate everything in a English garden!!!

Look at all our vegetables on our plate!!! About 30 of them!!! Hahaha...

We also have to water the plant before eating... it's a special sauce to go with the salad!

I believe this is some sort of crayfish... tasty and interesting...

Our egg in an egg dish... I was abit paranoid with this egg dish as I recalled our first valentines dinner at the Light House, which was at Fullerton (but I think it had closed many years back), there was an egg dish which taste truly horrible!!! Lucky, the egg tonight was appetising! Hahaha... and it comes with a sort of toasted bread with cheese on top...

Our pasta dish!!!  I took this so you can see how big is the portion of the angle hair given... it's just another mouthful served!!! It was again, very tasty... but maybe abit more given would satisfied us more...

My close up of the angle hair and a big pc of scallop!

And this is a pc of fish with pumpkin soup!

Our last, roasted pigeon breast meat and some tiny pcs of foie gras... ehm... super yummy...

Another complimentary cocktail here...

Our main dessert.. all chocolates!! But very nice to end our 8 course dinner!!

And, thanks to them for our anniversary celebration, another complimentary sweets and cake from the chef!

Us, after all the food and a bottle of champagne... thanks dear for the lovely dinner arrangement! 😍🤗