Gigi is 3!

Precocious Gigi is 3 today and there were 2 celebrations over the weekend.

Yesterday was the kiddy party at Amazonia, another indoor playground at Great World City. Nice and new and clean, a bit pricey on their playtime rates though. But the staff are friendly and attentive and the food provided was pretty decent, better than some other indoor playgrounds I've tried and I had lots of helpings!




The main highlight of the space is a giant slide, it was pretty steep and looked intimidating from the top but the kids loved it. Nat however was too chicken to try, Sasha went once with Wendy and I went a few times just for kicks.




Gigi wanted a yellow birthday cake, it's still her favourite colour and since she loves mice for some reason, Swana went with an Angelina Ballerina cake. Too cute!



Unfortunately Ananya, Riley and Reagan could not make it because they were sick, but Gigi still had some pals at the party, with BFF Nat ever ready to help blow out the candles.



Today was the family celebration at Membina where Ma made roti jala and curry, yum! It was a small intimate gathering with just immediate family along with Aunty Diana's sister from Kerala, Baby Aunty.




Gigi and Nat donned white floral dresses and blowed out the candles several times. Sasha wanted in on the action too...just 5 months till Nat is 4, gotta start planning soon!

O is for...

...Orchard Cafe.

The boy won a dinner buffet for 2 at Orchard Hotel a few months ago at a travel industry event so we saved it for O.


As he was having gastric pains, I ate for the 2 of us! Had chilled crab legs, scallops, prawns, chilli crab, durian pengat, drunken prawns etc. My favourite dish though was their fried beehoon with cabbage and pig trotters. The bee hoon bore the ‘wok hei’ fragrance which made it especially tasty.





I had booked us tickets to 'Crazy, Stupid, Love' at Lido after dinner. We both enjoyed the show, there was a twist towards the end that we both didn’t see coming. The new renovated Lido is looking good, wouldn’t mind watching shows there again.

Sassy Sasha

Sometimes I feel Sasha is older than 17 months because I find her quite smart and advanced for her age but that’s probably the result of having Nat and Gigi around to play with.



She’s taken to saying ‘mabuk’ whenever she falls down plus beating the floor, when she pirouettes she says ‘nina’ – short for ballerina, she can articulate when she wants something i.e. ‘I want’, ‘No want’, ‘Mine’. She also says ‘No more’, pulls my blouse and looks in and says ‘boobies’.

She can say ‘sticker’, ‘ohpopus’ (octopus), ‘diamond’, ‘square’ and a few other 3 syllable words like ‘triangle’, ‘rectangle’. Sometimes she babbles ‘Abi-amu’, and for a while I couldn’t figure what she meant, until someone pointed out it was for ‘Abby’ and ‘Elmo’, she says it so fast.


Ask her what colour something is and her answer is ‘pink’. Everything is pink!

She’s getting better at her shape sorter, finding the correct slots on her own. She’s been trying to dress herself, pulling down her shorts and trying to put it back on again.



When she wants to complain about Nat bullying her, her tone changes to a whine and she pouts and calls out Nat-nat in a distressed tone and looks to an adult for help.


She’s pleased with herself that she can jump, she drools incessantly. She can recognise Mummy’s block, she calls Kevin ‘gappa’ for Godpa, she’s quite attached to Wendy, she’s been coughing a lot the past few days, non-stop falling sick these bubbas!

Nat is 3yrs 7months, and has a tiny tiny mole growing above her lip, like mother like daughter! She’s sleeping more in her own bed, especially while Nick was away...am easing off the diapers during naptime and when we go out to places with decent bathrooms and the plan is to go diaperless to school when term starts.

Selamat Hari Raya

Today was Hari Raya Puasa and we had lunch with the in-laws at Traders Hotel. There was a wide variety but with all the binging of late, I wasn’t really into trying everything. Plus had 2 active toddlers to feed and we didn’t bring Wendy so I couldn’t really eat in peace.

We bumped into my ex-boss Stephen and his family, they were seated at the very next table! Mildred knows them too from church, and Nick was pretty chatty with the elder son because they were from same youth group in church, plus of course from his SES days.

After lunch, we dropped the kids at home with Ma and went car window-shopping. ‘Angan-angan’ stepped into Audi and Volvo, don’t think we’re getting anything from there, although the V60 is LOVELY.

The cousins came over for dinner, I made mee goreng and Kavi also tapaued some food. It was ‘Spicymonium’ with 6 screaming little girls, but Nat had a ball, and so did Sasha who insisted on joining the action!



We cut an ice-cream cake from Ice Cream Gallery for Gigi, it was actually leftover from Swana’s birthday. Cookies and cream – yums!

Cowboy Nick comes home

The boy came home this morning and for once I received a gift I actually liked! And I wasn’t even expecting anything, so this brown Coach wristlet was a pleasant surprise. He was given an iPad over there so we have a new toy too.


The kids were mightily excited to see their daddy, Nat has been pretty well-behaved i.e. sleeping in her own bed, walking on her own etc while he was away but regressed to being a clingy koala bear the moment he stepped in, insisting she wants to sleep next to him, be carried etc.



And he lets her get away with it so he can only blame himself when at 3am in the morning she kicks him out of his own bed and he ends up on the sofa.

I made him a Laksa La Mian for lunch, courtesy of Prima. It was not too bad, but the noodles take ages to cook and I prefer chor bee hoon for my laksa.

Dinner with a different Nicolas

It’s been a looooong day. It was polling day for the Presidential Elections, I cast my vote for the first time, but alas, Dr Tan Cheng Bock came in a very close second, a difference of less than 0.5 % from Dr Tony Tan, whom I don’t mind being our head of state lah.

Voting was ‘bawah blok’, at Blk 105 so that was convenient. The whole process took less than 5 mins from queuing to checking my name against the electoral roll and casting my ballot.



I joined Swana, Rachel, Monica and Yvonne for dinner at Nicolas le Restaurant. It’s been on my list of places to try and it was an excellent meal I must say, although service could have been more attentive.


They only serve a set menu which changes every 2 weeks priced at 98++ each for around 6 courses. We had:

Organic Hen Egg ‘A La Coque’ with Crunchy Pastilla of Blue Prawn and Light Orange Reduction

Confit Hokkaido Scallop with Ravioli of Chuka Wakame, Light Crustacean Consomme and Scallop Chips

Wild Catch Atlantic Cod Fish, Crusted with Masago, Spanish Iberico Chorizo, Asari Clams Bouillon

Homemade Tagliolini Pasta, Ragout of Organic Vine Tomato, Piment D’Espelette and Quail

For my main, I opted for a Slow Roasted Tasmanian Rack of Lamb with Warm Quinoa and Lamb Jus infused with Rosemary and dessert was a trio of raspberry parfait, chocolate gelato and pistachio panna cotta.


Everything was tasty, I especially liked the crustacean soup which didn’t look appetizing with its greenish gray colour but the tiny shrimp lent a nice crunch.

During dinner we kept using our phones to check on election results, TT and TCB were neck and neck and all 5 of us were rooting for TCB.


After dinner, we walked down Keong Saik and decided to head to Clarke Quay on foot. Ended up at Madama Butterfly, no crowd but music was decent. Seems to be a hangout for escorts and ladyboys though, we had a good view of a tranny trying to pick up an ang moh, don’t think the guy could tell the difference!

Sick bubs

Joanne and Ray are in town, and we managed to meet for lunch yesterday, along with Germs and Aunty Susan. Ray was a tad quiet though, he's been having stomach flu.



Pigged out at Skinny Pizza, as usual we over-ordered! Am a little sick of their food now!

Worked from home today, Nat and Gigi are both hacking away.



When will they stop falling sick? It feels like every 2 weeks they come down with something! I bought Nat vitamins but she refuses to take them, though she does give in to the cod liver oil. Need to constantly remember to give her fresh OJ.