Surprise Shower

Last night felt like ‘The Last Supper’, I think it will be my last late night out for a while! Had dinner at Different Tastes in Siglap with the ‘UpperWatsappers’ chat group, followed by drinks next door at Quarubar.

I remember Different Tastes back in the day when they had an outlet at Cathay Building and SES was based there and since discovering they are still around in Siglap and Pasir Ris, I have been wanting to check them out.

Food was still good and reasonably priced. There were 12 of us and it was less than $20 per head. Almost everyone had a dessert too, their sago gula melaka was quite shiok.

 

 

 

 

Germaine made an appearance during dinner to deliver coconut candy from Glory she had purchased for me earlier in the day and Ajen brought my requested Pret A Manger brownies from London…such nice friends I have. 

The reason we all gathered in the east though was because the ladies of the group threw me and Swana a surprise baby shower at Caryn’s shop, Hands + Feet Studio before dinner. 

We had plans to meet there to pamper ourselves, something that was arranged quite impromptuly after Caryn had advertised a peppermint leg scrub a few days ago. But behind our backs, Vim, Flea, Kavi and Jeanette turned it into a shower and our treatments were on them. 

Plus Vim, the party planner extraordinaire even brought nibbles like nuts, a sparkling moscato, balloons for me and Swana and a gift too. So sweet.

I badly needed a pedicure, seeing as I could not reach my feet anymore to DIY my nails and I also did a 1hr pre-natal foot reflexology massage, and at the last minute added a manicure. So it was 2 hours of pampering and gossip, what a lovely way to spend an evening!

Bonsoir! Welcome to Poulet!

It’s Geraldine’s 40th birthday tomorrow and instead of having Sunday off, I gave her the option of not working on her birthday since it is also a public holiday for Vesak Day.

So we celebrated today instead by checking out Poulet at Vivocity. It’s a French chicken restaurant run by the same people at Thai Express and they have been opening branches all over.

Food is not bad and not overly expensive, a lot of rich creamy sauces involved…mmmm. The staff keep repeating, 'Bonsoir, welcome to Poulet' whenever a new customer comes in and the kids have picked it up!

Nick is away in Switzerland, and Kavi, Aunty Gowrie and Ananya joined us. After dinner, I got the staff to stick a candle in the tiramisu I ordered and that was Geraldine’s birthday cake. 

Hope she feels more settled in now, it’s obvious that she is not so used to the rigours of being a domestic helper, she comes from a middle-class family but financial circumstances forced her to come out and work.

The kids are comfy with her and I can see she tries her best. We’re still adapting to each other but I am generally happy with her work but I do wish she would be firmer with the kids, she’s too soft with them even when they have done something wrong!

Ladies Night

It was a ladies night as I caught up with Vig, Puni, Chris and Kannaki at Café Iguana’s for dinner and drinks. Vig is back in town, possibly for good so we had ourselves some fajitas, quesadillas and margaritas…another phase I am going through i.e. texmex food!

Was disappointed with the pork tacos I ordered though, the pork was rubbery and tough, unlike the pulled pork at MexOut which was really tender. I limited myself to one margarita and by the end of the meal we were so stuffed…we over-ordered!

It was great seeing the gals, we found out the sex of Chris’ baby! She’s due in Oct and she’s having a boy! Koko Krunch will have another playmate! Now that Vig is back, I hope we get to catch up more often.

Before I met them though, I walked to Chinatown to pick up my new glasses that I made earlier in the week. A pair of Betsey Johnson cats eye frames…nice or not?

Happy birthday Jayna!

Mildred stayed over last night after catching her and ma’s Mother’s Day pressie of a Julio Iglesias concert at RWS. We all went to church together followed by lunch in town, Geraldine was off today.

I had to collect the lucky draw prize from M1 and we ended up lunching at Fish & Co. Service was slow and they forgot Nick’s order so not likely to go back anytime soon.

In the afternoon while Sasha snoozed, Nick brought Nat to Cara’s 5th birthday party where there was a rainbow theme going on. Then they came back to pick us up for Jayna’s 3rd birthday at Aloha Loyang.

Ananya the Fashionista came with mismatched shoes deliberately, quite cool for a 4 year old!

There was a Barbie-theme going on and Jayna has grown so much…she’s missing out bonding with her cousins and friends here having moved to Sydney with Judy. Sasha, Diya, Reagan and her are all the same age.

Food was biryani, pretty good. There was supposed to be swimming involved but none of the other kids swam because the water was too cold. We saw a litter of kittens nearby the chalet, so cute.

It happened to be Mac’s birthday as well and he and Sajini made an appearance. Cake was from Aunty Yochana, so pretty. It was nice to see the Spicy Girls reunited! 

So long Phil!

More than a month after he left, we finally had a farewell get-together for my ex-boss Phil. I only invited a few people and some of us shared in getting him a Nautica watch which I chose earlier this afternoon.

Drinks were at The Bank across the road and I indulged in one glass of sauvignon blanc.

Nick came to pick me up after the kids slept and we had supper at Lau Pa Sat. As we were walking home from our carpark, we discovered lots of snails in an area that we usually don’t spot them. There must have been at least 50 along the stretch of drain!

Pops was finally discharged yesterday and currently recuperating at Membina. On Sunday, they had to do an urgent op on him because while removing his drainage tube in the morning, it broke. By the afternoon a doctor had operated under LA to remove the tube which had shifted. They’d better not charge us for this extra procedure!

Playground in the CBD

I caved and bought the boy a belated birthday present yesterday. Was out at Bras Basah with Jane and found a Kenneth Cole watch that matches a little the one he got for me for Christmas. Our first 'couple watches', ha ha. 

Remember the playground set up in Raffles Place I mentioned last month? This morning we brought the kids to experience the old-fashioned swings in the heart of the CBD, part of NParks 50th anniversary.

NParks staff were actually on hand to distribute flyers and document families out and about. They also had a booth dishing out free drinks and nostalgic biscuits, as well as stations inviting people to play with the old-fashioned toys like marbles, bubbles, tikam-tikam, aeroplane gliders and chapteh. Nick showed off his airplane assembly skills.

The girls had a ball trying out the different swings and so did I! Sasha hated the sand though and it was hard to get her on the see-saw.

Showed them the Singapore River after and then we headed to China Square for lunch at Hans.

Came home to find condensation droplets all over the fridge and luckily found a repairman who could come within an hour. Actually on Thursday the freezer was already not cold but I thought I had fixed it, but I was wrong! I bought 2 tubs of Haagen Dazs earlier in the week and they were ruined!

Scrambled to salvage whatever we could, we had a pot luck at Ajen and Vim’s this evening and I was supposed to bring a quiche and cupcakes, thankfully my ingredients were still usable.

It was a little crowded in the kitchen with me baking, 2 repairmen fixing the fridge and Geraldine cooking whatever was salvageable!

The chocolate orange cupcakes turned out well though, tried a new recipe from the internet and for once, my cupcakes were of even height and flat on top, just nice for decorating! The orange chocolate ganache frosting was so yummy, Nat couldn’t resist coming back for more. I even squeezed frosting directly into her mouth! I only substituted the Aero for canned oranges to top off the cupcakes.

 

 

 

The quiche had rave reviews, I do so love a good quiche and mine is pretty decent but not the most pretty crust. Need to work on that!

 

Ajen and Vim have sold their house so this is probably the last gathering there. The kids watched a screening of The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child while the adults chatted away. Lovely evening, lovely day!