Pastamania

Had dinner with Puni, Kannaki and Chris this evening and since the stated preference was ang moh food, I suggested Peperoni Pizzeria. It’s been on my list of places to try and since the girls didn’t have anywhere specific in mind, I went ahead to reserve a space at Zion Road.

We took ages deciding what to order, mainly because we were catching up first but eventually we decided on sharing calamari, 3 pastas and a pizza. For the pizza we mixed parma ham with rocket, as well as a pepperoni garlic concoction.



The pastas we had were prawn risotto, amatriciana, and chicken & mushroom with a brown sauce. Portions were pretty healthy, we had trouble finishing. The risotto was not too bad, I would order it again if I went there. There were like 7-8 prawns and zucchini, my favourite.


The amatriciana was very sweet, very easy to get jelak. The chicken and mushroom in brown sauce was interesting, almost like eating with mash potato gravy. The chicken chunks were too big too, would have preferred them shredded.


For dessert we shared a warm almond cake and tiramisu. The tiramisu was a large portion and had a kick. We spent the evening chatting away about motherhood, labour, maids, pets etc till the restaurant closed but they didn’t kick us out because we were outdoors anyway.


Chris’ house will be ready soon, she has a job at the Dyslexic Association school too. Kannaki’s trying for a baby so we hope to have good news soon. I hitched a ride home in Puni’s BMW, nice!

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.

Blanco Court Fish Soup???

I'm not a big fan of fish in soups and make the exception only for the Blanco Court fried fish soup. There've been many stall claiming to be the original but I don't remember ever trying the original so I really can't compare.

I used to like the one at Raffles Hospital's halal foodcourt before they moved out, am not sure if they were affiliated with the original but at one point it was my favourite fish soup. The soup was clear with generous chunks of fresh fish and lettuce was used as the main vegetable. The icing on the cake was the fried egg.

Before they renovated the Far East Square multi-storey food court, I would get my fix of an identical fish soup there. They claimed to be the original Blanco Court fish soup and judging by the long queues, I took their word for it. After the renovation, they moved to Tanjong Pagar MRT but the outlet is run by PRCs and the standard seems to have dropped a lot.

Anyway, Joanne has been raving about a fish soup stall near her office that claims to be from Blanco Court and so I was all psyched to try it with her today. Nickypoo joined us too.



Located at the corner of Beach Road and Aliwal Street in a run-down coffee shop named Luk Lu Eating House, the stall is non-nondescript. Had to queue about 20 mins to get our order. Ee mee with slice fish and milky soup for Joanne, and chor bee hoon with fried fish for me, sans milk but with extra egg.


The moment I received the bowls I knew it was not the fish soup I was craving. Though my soup was supposed to be non-milk, it still had a cloudy appearance therefore different from the 'Blanco Court' fish soup I was used too. And the veg used was spinach and they had ikan bilis garnishing.

Still it was a decent bowl of noodles, but I found the fried fish bits rather small and not that many pieces were provided. Joanne's soup with milk tasted a lot better, maybe they added XO?

I would eat there again, but next time with milk.

After lunch, we walked down Haji Lane, stopping for frozen yogurt at Tutti Frutti. Their concept is self-service and they charge by weight. I had an apple sorbet and the boy had chocolate.



Haji Lane is interesting enough at night, but during the day you can really see how many cool shops they have, a mixture of bohemian, avant garde, vintage etc. Looks like a lunchtime exploration with Joanne is on the cards.

Nat's first movie

It's a month of firsts for Nat as today she had her first cinema experience.


Been waiting for the right movie to come along after she turned 3.5 and missed a couple of bubba outings for various reasons so Madagascar 3 became her first movie in the theater. She's quite a scaredy cat when it comes to the dark but for some reason she was not nervous in any way, she and Gigi were so excited before the movie started.

She opted to use the booster seats provided by GV at Great World and once the movie started, she was riveted. Had to 'shush' her a couple of times because she was talking and laughing out loud. Other than that, she didn't fuss in any way and we were able to watch the movie in peace, whilst munching on cheese popcorn from Garrett's.

The movie itself was short and sweet, I didn't find it as funny as the previous ones but the kids enjoyed themselves and that's all that matters! Can't wait to bring her for another movie!

The Macjini Temple Wedding

Watched my second movie of the week last night, "What to Expect When You’re Expecting". The reviews weren’t great but because I have the book and been through 2 pregnancies I really wanted to watch it before its run ended and the boy obliged with a late night show at Vivo.

It wasn’t that bad, there were funny moments from the ensemble cast which included JLo, Cameron Diaz, Matthew Williamson, Chace Crawford etc. Chace was especially hot! Mmm, if I was 10 years younger I would have a major crush on him.

No time to sleep in despite the late night. The wedding festivities continued today with a temple ceremony at Perumal. Was all excited to wear a sari, borrowed Swana’s one that she wore to Kavi’s wedding, but sari and kids are not a good combination!



Still I managed with a lot of help from Wendy and Swana who did the carrying and toilet breaks! Nick had football training and didn’t attend.

Was afraid that Nat and Sasha would be freaked out by the loud music but thankfully they took it in their stride. I love Indian weddings, they are so colourful!



We watched the proceedings from afar but after a while I went to the front to take closer photos with Flea. We both had blue saris, so did Vim! Gigi, Sarah and Nat were also curious and joined me and Flea at the front for a better view.

Saj was radiant and glowing, Mac looked like he was having fun. I kinda regret not having a temple ceremony, I wonder how I would have looked like all dolled up? Hmm, maybe the 10th anniversary I could do something? Don’t think Nick would go for it though.

As soon as the thali-tying was over, we went downstairs to eat first before the crowds descended. During lunch, Sarah shared her bangles with Nat and Gigi who had bare wrists, such vainpots they are. Then we went back upstairs to wish the couple and take a group photo before disbanding.



In the evening, we went for evening mass at St Teresa’s followed by dinner at Jack’s Place in Great World. Gigi and Lita joined us, while the Dopes went for Mac & Saj’s after party.

1 down, 2 to go…June is really the month for weddings!

The Macjini Church Wedding

Sajini and Mac finally tied the knot today at St Vincent de Paul Church. It was held in the afternoon, so we decided to leave Sasha and Wendy at Ben’s house nearby and take only Nat to church.

Loved Gigi’s hair, Lita had plaited it all round her head.



Nat was excited to see the ‘princess’, and she, Riley, Gigi and Sarah occupied their own bench. Soon enough the bride arrived and she was visibly crying before she walked down the aisle, escorted by her mum.



The mass was presided over by Fr Michael Sitaram, he was very funny with lots of half-baked Tamil phrases thrown in. He had some gifts for the newlyweds, they formed part of his homily and when it came to kissing the bride, he made Mac do it again on the lips when the first one on the cheek didn’t pass his standards!

The couple were also made to profess their love for each other in Tamil, guess the priest was just taking the mickey out of Mac, who doesn’t speak it, whereas Saj is fluent.



There was a tea reception in the canteen, quite a spread it was. More lunch than tea, food was not too bad. Nat nibbled away on a cupcake and Ananya attacked a tiramisu, getting chocolate powder all over her face.





We left earlier to go back to Ben’s place. Sasha had woken from her nap and the kids went to the playground for a bit. Then we all went over to Amah’s house to visit Mildred.


Remember she fell carrying Sasha a couple of weeks ago? Well, she fell again on the same knee after that and fractured it. Last week she had to have an xray and MRI done to determine the extent of the damage and now she’s got a cast on her whole leg and walking around on crutches. Poor mama!

Nat's first play

Swana and I brought Nat and Gigi for their very first theatre play today and they loved it! There’s an ACE Children’s Festival going on and from all the productions, I chose “The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark” because I thought it was something Nat could relate to.


The show was at the Alliance Francais and I took half day leave. The tickets were with me and I ended up being late to meet them, blame the 101 traffic lights the taxi stopped at.

Nonetheless I still got there before the show started but the kids missed out on interacting with the cast beforehand. We did have one member in our seat when we got in, she was already in character and she introduced herself to Nat before climbing onto the next row.

The production was by the Blunder Bus company from London and there were 3 actors. The story is based on a children’s book of the same title, about Plop a baby barn owl who overcomes his fear of the dark through s series of adventures, learning that the dark is exciting, kind and fun.

It was told through a combination of role playing, live music, puppetry and storytelling and it was a hoot! Pun intended!


The show was just about an hour long and very interactive, with the cast running into the audience several times and picking on people to act out certain roles. They also sprayed us with water and threw fake furry balls of owl poop at us.



The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves and more importantly behaved themselves, so I think they are ready for more such productions.

Afterwards we took short MRT ride to Orchard and had a bite at TCC, Wisma. I shared some bolognaise with Gigi and Nat had some cheese sticks. Then we browsed Tory Burch, Forever New, Dorothy Perkins, Cotton On and Gap.


It was a little hard to shop in peace with them but we still managed to buy stuff. Am so going to get myself a pair of Tory Burch Reva flats, tried the 7 but need to go back and see if they have half sizes.

At Forever New, the girls started trying on accessories and admiring themselves in the mirror. Such vainpots! We had to buy them some cheap accessories at Cotton On.



I felt cheated at Gap, I had just purchased some stuff yesterday at 30% + 20%, only for there to be further markdowns to 50% today. The only consolation was that Wisma didn’t have all the DVF for Gap stuff.

Last stop was Wheelock. There was a dress I saw at M&S last month and I thought I would wait till it went on sale but it’s the sale period now and it’s not included so I caved and bought it. A smocked blue and white floral affair.