Natalie's Flower Power Party

The munchkin's party went well, more or less. Frankly it's all a blur to me now, was so busy running around etc that I didn't get a chance to talk to everyone properly, which I feel bad for.

I got to Hort Park about 12.45pm, which gave me about an hour to get ready everything. Swana, Ma, Kevin and Gigi were there to help. I almost didn't get the projector I requested for because of some mix up but NParks came through in the end.

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We hustled to stick my cut-out flowers on the walls, blow balloons and hang streamers and were almost done by the time the first guest arrived. At first, it was pretty boring with everyone standing around talking but once more kids arrived, we started playing some games and that perked things up a little.

I'm so grateful to Jamie who stepped in to conduct them, she was really patient since she is a primary school teacher and all, so getting kids to obey instructions was second nature to her.


We played Simon Says, Passing the Parcel, Musical Chairs and the Pinata. It was hard to eliminate players from Simon Says because all the parents were helping their kids. Swana's godson Mikey stormed off crying each time he was eliminated from a game though...he takes them so seriously!



I was pleasantly surprised by the cake I ordered from Jin's Cakes. I was a little apprehensive after she told me how she was going to decorate it because I could not envision it, but it turned out really pretty. And tasted good too, if a little sweet. It was still a hit though!


The food catered was also better than expected, I had not tried eCreative before, but decided to try them because they were one of the few who were not charging extra during the festive period. I just don't believe in paying a festive surcharge for a non-festive occasion. Considering the price per head, the number of dishes was pretty good value, 10 items altogether including chicken wings and large prawns.


Nat was pretty excited during the cake cutting, she clapped when everyone finished singing however I didn't manage to teach her how to blow the candle in time, so I had to do it.



She received a lot of great presents, I loved the educational ones and Nat especially loved the Phonics Bus from Aunty Puni. It was the only one she wanted to play with after everything was unwrapped. Her ang pow collection also added up to a nice number, I shall have to buy 4-D!

The only downside to yesterday is that we got nagged at by Mildred because Nat was wearing a sleeveless dress with her nose still running. It continued till evening because she kept ringing Nick to complain that Nat was undernourished, too skinny, she wondered why her nose was still running, why are we not keeping her warm, where was her sweater, blah blah blah. She was of course comparing Nat to a 9-month old baby that was much chubbier than her grand-daughter.


Nick told her off in Teochew but I had no idea what he said! I also caught her red-handed feeding Nat some Ferrero Rocher and she was sheepish after that. One thing, it's chocolate, which I have not exposed Nat to and secondly it contains nuts which might cause allergies and choking. Grandmothers!

Counting down to Nat's party

The munchkin's birthday party is just a few hours away and I am surprisingly calm. Hope it's not the calm before the storm. I think I'm more or less ready, have packed whatever I need to bring down and I can only hope that everything runs smoothly later but somehow I know it will be chaotic.

The theme of the party is Flower Power, partly inspired by the venue Hort Park which is a horticultural hub, and the spring season that was ushered in with Chinese New Year. I booked a meeting room called Fruit Room, it only accommodates 50 pax, but I have 70-80 pax coming so I booked a second room called Seed for the friends to chill out in.


I've prepared some party games, but will gauge the mood of the kids before deciding what to play. I definitely will do the Pinata one, since I managed to find a flower-shaped Pinata and have stuffed it with goodies.



Have spent the last few days getting ready for the party, buying supplies, twisting streamers, cutting out flower shapes to decorate the walls, buying fresh gerberas to lay on the buffet table, wrapping prizes etc. I even made a slideshow of Nat's pictures from the 1st year to run in the background but will probably not play it.

I know Nat will not remember a thing, but I still wanted to do this for her. I only hope she stays awake long enough to cut cake and mingle a bit because the timing of the party coincides with her regular nap time. But what to do? The room had set-timings to book, if I did lunch it would have to end by 12pm, and dinner would just be too late and dark.

Nick is a sick puppy, he contracted Nat's flu bug and has a killer sorethroat now and has been coughing away. I myself am coming down with something so will OD on the Strepsils, Vitamin C and flu tablets to keep a full-blown flu at bay.

Have to go get ready now...I feel a little restless, as if something's not done. I still haven't decided what to wear, I have a ton of floral outfits, the problem is deciding which one!

Wanton Woman

I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it....

One of my favourite wanton mee stalls Lucky Wanton Noodles is back at Tanjong Pagar market! I thought I'd lost them forever when the stall disappeared after the hawker centre renovated a couple of years ago but yesterday, I saw the stall back in its original location whilst running an errand during lunch.

If Nick is known as Mee Pok Man, then I am Wanton Mee Woman. I used to eat it pretty often, the noodle soup variety was what I ordered all the time when younger but I've progressed to the dry version these days. I love wanton mee so much that I felt compelled to write in to the Straits Times a while ago when they had a debate over whether ketchup should be added to it. (My answer was a resounding, "Yes!" and my letter was published!)

But anyway, growing up in the Tanjong Pagar area, I used to eat Lucky's wanton mee almost every week when Ma did her marketing plus after primary school swimming lessons at the Duxton pool, I would sometimes tapau their noodles.

So I felt a little bereft when the stall moved out...but not anymore, we've been reunited! It's comfort food to me, and yesterday while queuing for my turn, the owner recognised me and smiled and nodded. That was gratifying!

The noodles are still affordable at $2.50 a plate and it still tastes the same., love their charsiew I shall be dragging Nick to Tanjong Pagar a lot more, maybe I can even walk over during lunchtimes. Joy to the world...

Last night after the babies slept, Swana, Kevin, me and Nick went to Ajen and Vim's place in Pasir Ris, or Paris as they like to call it. 11 of the 14 who went to Krabi in 2007 were there, ourselves plus Kavi, Siva, Ajen, Vim, Pinky, Kumar and John. Jalen and Judy were there too.

We played 21 and In Between, I lost $11 bucks...bugger! The In Between got really exciting, people got greedy and lost big, it was pretty suspenseful whenever someone would bet all from the pot and hilarious when they lost!

Big Pink Taxis

Was crossing the road yesterday when a convoy of hot pink taxis drove past, complete with bull horns. Love the colour, there should be more pink taxis I say. I have to get a ride in one of these!

Moo moo year

Very low key CNY this year, actually almost every year is low key...don't have that many relatives to visit on Nick's side, everyone just meets at his grandmother's house.

So there we were on Monday morning, waiting for the various aunties and uncles to arrive. Only get to see them once a year, twice or more if there's a wedding. Mildred's siblings are not so close, the 4 sisters don't meet the 4 brothers, but the sisters do hang out quite a bit so we see the aunts more often.

Nat was pretty quiet and wary of everyone, mainly because she was sleepy. All my efforts to make her nap were in vain because everyone wanted to carry her and there was no quiet spot in the house. She finally crashed for a bit though and her spirit was much improved. All that 'gong xi, gong xi' training went down the drain too because she was cranky.

I wore my new Delirious Divas cheongsam, had to suck the stomach in big time! Nat wore a Chinese brocade dress that wasn't exactly new, was a hand-me-down from a cousin but still very good condition and I figured she better wear it now before outgrowing it.

After lunch, we went to visit Mummy at Membina, to give her oranges and her ang pow. Me and Nick were so sleepy from the previous night shift and snoozed for a good 2 hours. Well, 3hrs for me.

Aunty Mala and Aunty Sarda came to visit too, along with Baba and Aunty Irene again, and Sham and her mum. Swana wasn't expecting so many impromptu visitors to congregate in her house!

Since the next day was still a holiday, the two couples along with another friend Nick Ramesh headed out for supper. We couldn't decide on where to park our butts at Holland V, so we got back into the car and went to Adam Road instead, where we were joined by Miguel and Winnie.

I had mutton soup and prata but by 1.30 am was struggling to keep my eyes open, so Nick and I left the rest and went home.

The next day, we went to Mildred's house for brunch with Ben and Wendy. It was Arlyn's off day so we were on our own with Nat.

Everyone had eaten by the time we got there, so me and Nick bought McDonalds for ourselves. I finally tried the McGriddles bugger, Nick thinks it sucks - he cannot comprehend combining sweet and savoury flavours together, but I kinda liked it!

We napped the afternoon away again, and then went to Great World for dinner at Fish & Co with Swana, Kevin, Gigi, Mummy, Sham and her mum. Marks and Spencer's had a few food items on sale so I bought me some frozen apple crumbles, and two tubs of ice cream...can't resist a bargain, you know that!

Nat has a new trick that she mastered in the last couple of days, and that's climbing down from the bed. She'll crawl over to the edge, lift her butt and swing her legs down. I still hover around while she does it but with a bit more practice, I don't have to worry about her falling from the bed anymore. Also, she loves playing with Nick's cap, she looks so cute in it!


She's also taken to pointing to what she wants now, e.g. a book or a toy and she'll ask for it by pointing and saying, "Ah?". Oh, oh, and her two upper front teeth have broken through the gums so 4 teeth soon.

Her nose has been runny the last few days but somehow we managed to coax her into letting me use the nasal aspirator on her. Just 2 days ago she would yell and turn her head away but this morning she was whole lot more co-operative after changing tactics.

I think the easy days are over, the munchkin is starting to assert herself and be more vocal and demanding when she doesn't get her way, I need to be on my toes and make sure she doesn't turn out a spoilt brat!

Recipe: Chicken Tetrazzini

Chicken Tetrazzini

One and a half packets of spaghetti or any other pasta
2-3 pieces of chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 green pepper, sliced into strips
1 large white onion, sliced into half rings
1 packet of fresh button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 tsp of ground black pepper
A pinch of pepper
1 tbsp of light soya sauce
5-6 tbsp of butter
3 cans of Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup
300 ml of evaporated milk

1. Marinate the chicken with the soya sauce and pepper, then set aside.
   
   
2. Boil the pasta with some olive oil until al dente and set aside.
   
   
3. In a large pot, melt the butter and toss in the onions, stir-frying till slightly softened. Add the chicken and black pepper and stir until the chicken is opaque or 3/4 cooked.
   
   
4. Add the green peppers and mushrooms, stirring till both have softened. Add the Campbell's Cream of Chicken and mix well until there are no large lumps. Next, pour in the evaporated milk, 100ml at a time, stirring continuously.
   
   
5. Let it simmer for 3-5 mins before turning off the heat. Serve with the cooked pasta.

Serves 9

Goodbye Rat, Hello Ox

The Year of the Rat is almost over and in just 30 mins we will usher in the Year of the Ox, but don't expect it to be a bull run, the economy is going to take a while to recover from this current worldwide downturn.

Am super stuffed, because the eve of Chinese New Year always means feasting on that obligatory steamboat dinner with the in-laws. And as usual, there was too much food, I think we only cooked half the ingredients prepared.


With my own family, we had a reunion lunch earlier in the day. With Ma being the eldest in her family now, Baba and Aunty Irene came to eat with us out of respect to her. Mummy prepared buah keluak, kuah nanas, pek kueh soup (comprising gingko nuts with chicken, mushroom and quails eggs), fried kangkong, fried beansprouts with salted fish and salted eggs.


Swana and I were reminded of our childhood CNYs spent with our Amah in her old Bedok flat. We'd spend the night, watch the countdown on TV, sometimes venture into Chinatown to soak in the festive atmosphere and stock up on goodies. Our love for bak kwa was cultivated then, along with kua chi and an appreciation for Peranakan food.

Amah would make so many dishes. Pongteh, buah keluak, pek kueh soup, chap chye, ngoh hiang, everything would taste really good and I would have seconds and thirds and eat the same food for the next 3 days!

Sigh, those were the days. Hmm, thinking of Amah is making me tear right now. She was Chindian like me, but more Chinese than anything. She married 3 times (Ma is from Husband No.2), smoked like a chimney and was a garang old lady, but a doting grandmother. Unfortunately my memories of her before her stroke are hazy, because I remember her bedridden years more.

She died 2 weeks after Nick proposed on my birthday back in Aug 2001, at least he got to meet her a couple of times. I think she approved of him. In my final moments with her at the hospital, I did whisper that I was getting married, she knew before everyone else because we hadn't announced the engagement yet. Ok, now I'm just sobbing for no reason.

Anyway, since Amah passed away, there's a song from My Fair Lady called 'On The Street That You Live" that I hum whenever I think of her. It came into my head somehow either during her funeral or a few days after she died, and it's stuck ever since. I used to hum it to Nat too when putting her to sleep in her earlier months, maybe that was my way of linking up these 2 generations, I'm sure Amah would have loved having a great-grandaughter.

Ok, it's past midnight now so it's officially the Year of the Ox. Incidentally, the FA Cup qualifier between Liverpool and Everton has started so off I go. Something tells me I'm not going to like the result...