Look Ma, I'm on TV!

The clips the girls filmed on Sunday have been edited and Gigi, Nat, Sasha and Riley all appeared in today’s episode of Zoom Zim Zam. 

Sasha said ‘V for Van’ and “W for Whale’, while Nat said ‘Watermelon’. They got so excited seeing themselves on TV, tomorrow they will be on again for XYZ. 

 

 

 

Ramen King

Followed my colleague to Orchard during lunch time today and while she ran an errand, I wandered to Laduree to try me some macarons.

At $3.80 a pop, they are pricey but I had to see what all the fuss was about since there was no queue on a weekday. Laduree is a French patissier renowned for their macarons…I did see them in London but opted to try a Pierre Herme one instead.

The verdict? Nice crunch but they started melting when I got back to the office so best to keep refrigerated. But honestly, they taste like all other macarons out there.

Had a quick dinner with Nick at the Ramen Keisuke Tori King in Amara, he says if I hadn’t dragged him there, he would never venture to such a place. Our table was very cramped, they like to put a lot of condiments and cutlery on the small space.

The ramen was good, the chicken was especially tender but after a while the soup started getting very salty, so note to self, opt for less salt in future.

When we got home, Gigi was dressed in her Doughworkz apron and chef’s hat. She and Nat had an excursion today where they got to make their own pizzas and she was so proud of her uniform!

Gigi is officially 4!

My rascally niece turned 4 today and to celebrate, the Spicy Girls watched a play and had a little party at Membina.

I took half day to accompany Nat to “The Cat in the Hat” at SRT, along with Jeanette and Riley, Swana and Gigi, Kenny and Sarah & Kavi and Ananya.



Sat in the cheap seats, the play was very short, just over 30 mins so I was a little disappointed. But the kids had fun though I think Nat wasn’t very impressed.

Afterwards we took a walk along the river in search of ice cream for the kids but many outlets were closed. Ended up at Laurent Bernard Chocolatier where the kids satisfied their ice cream craving.

I ordered a coconut and hazelnut doublescoop for myself but couldn’t taste a damn thing thanks to the lingering flu. I heard the coconut was really good, all I tasted was sugar. Swana and Jeanette ordered some delicious-looking lemonades which I must try when I recover.




At Membina, I tried to take a quick snooze and it turned into an hour’s nap! Woke up just in time to see Gigi cut the first of her 2 birthday cakes, a Tinkerbell chocolate mint one, the kids played musical chairs before that. Sasha was determined to feed herself her cake and did a very good job of it.




Other adults started arriving, Aunty Diana made cutlets and I managed to get the rough list of ingredients from her so I can start experimenting soon. Ann brought her boyfriend Richie, they had missed the McDonald’s party because he was sick. He seems like a nice guy, those two are so cute together….ah, young love.


Gigi cut a second cake for the adults, this time a Belle one and the kids then played Passing the Parcel. For some reason, Ma boycotted the party after Swana offended her earlier in the day…she must have been really miffed!

Gigi's Mc4th!

To usher in Gigi’s 4th birthday, her parents decided to throw her a McDonald’s party at Queensway and there was an unofficial yellow theme, which of course I took seriously!

I was in a lemony mood and decided to bake some lemon shortbread cookies too, using a recipe from here and following the instructions for the lemon melt-in-your-mouth variation.


I overmelted and overbeat my butter though and my dough didn’t form properly, leading me to add extra flour to get the texture decent but losing some sweetness.

Decided to go ahead and try baking the batch, but because of my cold, I couldn’t really tell if they had any taste and added some lemon icing just in case. But the texture was melt-in-your-mouth, but could have done with more lemon flavour. Overall quite pleased.

Joanne and Rayhan came over before the party to hitch a ride, Sasha and Rayhan were so matching!



Aunty Sarda made it to the party, she’s really starting to get a bit more active, which is swell!


Aunty Susie brought her 3 Govinden grandsons, haven’t seen them in ages…they’ve grown so much! Lukey has a earring, Troy has put on weight! At one point, Nick was chatting with them and then Luke asked aloud who Nick was, only for his brothers to inform him Nick was his Godpa! That’s how long we haven’t seen them, they don’t even remember us!



The party itself was a bit chaotic, the facilitators from McDonalds were a bit flustered and stern, not very smiley as they took orders and I think a bit scary for the kids! Still the kids mostly behaved and listened to instructions. Nat didn’t want to take part in the games but I helped Sasha along, getting quite competitive to ensure she won prizes!




There was a Rapunzel cake from Bengawan which the little girls oohed and ahhh-ed over.


The turtle and fish pond provided some entertainment for the kids but there was a moment when Nat tripped and nearly fell into it, which totally freaked her out and that called our evening to an end!

A walk in the parks

Me and the boy were on leave today to spend some time with the bubs during the school holidays.

The zoo was on the cards but we got lazy and decided to just go to East Coast for breakfast followed by Botanics for lunch.

I was all set for a KFC breakfast only to discover they open at 11 am on weekdays. We ended up at Carl's Junior where breakfast was still available. Their bacon and egg burrito is not too bad.

After breakfast, Nat played with the sand for a bit, while Sasha refused to walk on it and insisted on being carried. National Day rehearsals have started and we saw the fighter jets flying past, and the helicopter with the state flag in the distance.




A lady noticed me and Sasha on a bench and struck up a conversation. She was waiting for her son who was attending Chiltern House. She was curious as to how old Sasha was, and when I told her she said Sasha was tall and spoke well and clear.

We talked a little bit about plans for Primary 1 and then I had to run when Nat started crying due to 'injury'. Miss Drama Queen was complaining her foot hurt, she had some scratches that stung after touching sea water. Seriously need to toughen her up!


Anyway, we went to pick Gigi and Lita and next stop was Botanics. Though it was close to 12pm and the sun was hot, there was plenty of shade in the gardens and when the clouds blocked the sun, it was relatively cool.


Kids got to see a squirrel playing with a ball, they fed the fish, we saw a baby monitor lizard, lots of pretty butterflies and dragonflies. Wendy even caught one.





Walked one round around Swan Lake so we could find the swans who were hiding and then we headed to Food for Thought for lunch and playground time. Simple pleasures...


In the evening, we took the kids to Marina Square to see the Madagascar meet and greet. The show was disappointing though, only 15 mins and limited characters.

Got to say hi to Joanne, Tarek and Ray who were having lunch there. Poor Ray was a little quiet but he was feeling under the weather. Still he could muster a smile when the kids posed for a picture.


Gigi then decided to cam-whore in the Puma store, she fell in love with one of the mannequins and struck so many funny poses.

Chinese Saturdays

Man, I’m stuffed. Swana and I just treated ourselves to a seafood supper at Sin Hoi Sai. We shared a crispy noodle, salted egg squid and a black pepper crab. The bill was $120 for 2, but at least my crab craving is satisfied.



It’s been a long day, starting with a visit by Ben and Wendy early in the morning. Felt like we hadn’t seen them in ages, since Ben has been traveling intensively after starting a new job, and so has Nick.

They were heading to Orchard after our place so at the last minute I decided to hitch a ride with Nat, and left Sasha at 110. Me and Nat wandered around Isetan Scotts where she made me buy Levis hats for her and Gigi, they were on sale at $9.90.

We hooked up with Mummy, Lita and Gigi at Takashimaya where I was told at the Fendi boutique that my sunglasses were beyond repair. A few weeks ago, Sasha had twisted one arm off…never let your kids play with your designer sunglasses!

Popped into the Marc by Marc Jacobs boutique and fell in love with a new print in the Pretty Nylon collection. I am SO getting this...you know I'm a sucker for blue prints!


As we walked from Taka to 313, we came across some Visit Japan billboards and Nat and Gigi had fun sticking their faces in the cutouts. We also saw a Tamil movie or music video being filmed…don’t know if the people rehearsing their dance scene was anybody famous but there was a large crew.




Had lunch at the Food Republic at 313, even though it was Saturday, it was easy to find a seat. Swana met us at H&M after that, Nat and Gigi went wild in the children’s section trying on sunglasses and shoes. Nat spotted a princess costume she said she liked but I had to turn her down. Ended up with some dresses for Sasha, a fairy skirt for Nat and some hair clips.



The elder girls were supposed to start a Chinese class today but Nick changed his mind about Nat’s attendance a few days ago after learning there was a HFMD epidemic in Singapore and he wanted to minimise any exposure.

But Gigi was still going to go ahead and Nick eventually relented so we all tagged along. Nat was under the impression that it was only Gigi attending today so didn’t feel as scared as Gigi, who was at first reluctant to enter the class.


But we managed to persuade them to try it out, promising to stay with them and it turned out to be a good trial lesson, they had very personal attention as they were the only students! We don’t know yet what second language they will take in primary school so if they show proficiency for Chinese then good for them. Else we can still switch to Malay come Primary 1!


Our Saturday afternoons will now be spent at Yong Siak Street, it’s the new ‘in’ place with funky shops and hip cafes. Saw a boutique called Nana & Bird which had some nice though pricey pieces.