SES Reunion 2011

Had ourselves another SES reunion today, this time at Caprice's condo.

As we left the house, Nat got to try out the buggy board I bought for her, she loves it, phew! No need to lug her around at the malls anymore! We bumped into Sham and Rufus downstairs, Sasha had her first up close encounter with a dog and was freaked out.



Caprice and I co-organised it this year, I sent out the invites and she provided the space, renting a little function room at the clubhouse. Instead of a pot luck, we individually ordered meals from the next door cafe.

Nora and Joyce were again in town at the same time, their visits overlapping by a week and we all got to meet Caprice's little man, Scott. There were so many kids but they didn't really play together, although everyone did head to the kiddie pool to dip their feet.




Nat and Sasha wore matching outfits. There were some new junior additions since the last reunion, namely Sasha, Benjamin (Joyce's) and Scott and a number of people who did not make the last gathering.




Altogether there were I think 14 of us, excluding kids, spouses and maids. There was me, Caprice, Joyce, Nora, Yus, Michele, Jenesta, JoAnne, Emily, Adrienne, David, Terh Ling, Susan, Melinda.





It was great to see everyone...until the next time!

Nat and Gigi the clowns

Went to visit Wendy at KKH this evening, who is being hospitalised for a few days after a surgery which was supervised by none other than my gynae, but we found out only after the deed. She didn't get to meet him though because he showed up after her GA had kicked in.

We brought Nat along and Gigi wanted in too as we left from Membina. She asked her daddy nicely if she could follow and he said yes.



The two of them were a source of constant amusement the minute they stepped into the ward, Wendy tried hard to control her laughing because of the pain. They just rattled on about anything and everything, trying to outdo each other and singing songs and dancing. Such clowns they are but I think they helped cheer up the patient.

When we got back to Membina, Ma whipped out a monster pomegranate, it was practically the size of Nat's head!

Table for 1

There was a restaurant I had been meaning to check out as a potential venue for Pumpkin's party and during lunch today, I boarded a bus to Alexandra and headed for Hosted on the Patio.



I figured I might as well try their food since I was there and requested a table for 1. Had myself a grilled snapper that was served with a tomato basil sauce, it was alright but perhaps a little undercooked. A little fishy too since the sauce was made from fish stock but their prices are reasonable and the space is nice, good enough outdoor area for kids to run around plus there is a little fountain nearby.





Their minimum spend for exclusive use during lunch was about 2.5K, too much for a children's party I feel plus haven't added the decor cost and cake etc so probably have to give it a miss.

I will go back again though, they have live music on Fri/Sat nights and are planning to introduce Sunday brunch so I think it's a good date place and kid-friendly.

He speaks!

Just came back from Suresh’s wedding, he’s Sham’s brother and while I’ve known him since primary school, I’ve never had a conversation with him so I was curious to see him in a social setting.

All the times we visited Sham’s house in the past, he largely ignored us i.e. me, Swana and Sherene, keeping to himself. Even when we called the house to ask for Sham, he would be monosyllabic or when we bumped into him downstairs, he would not acknowledge us in any way.

But I attended because of Sham and Aunty Malar, who has become one of mummy’s BFFs after they spent countless evenings gossiping downstairs or going to Mustafa together.


The wedding was held at a ballroom within Serangoon Gardens Country Club, it took over where the Jumbo used to be. We arrived just in time to get seated before the bride and groom made their appearance, the wedding actually started on time!



The bride is an Amazonian Chinese named Vivian, she’s actually taller than him and he’s already pretty tall. She wore a sari and immediately upon getting on stage, Suresh made a thank you speech. Sherene and I joked it was the most we had ever heard him say. We were also tickled by the cheesy poses on his photo montage, showed some of his personality.


Food was an Asian buffet, Sham came over to say hi a couple of times, she decided to wear a wig for some strange reason, says she was too lazy to get her hair done. Her sari was nice though, so was Aunty Vas’.




We shared a table with some other Spottiswooders including the Haridas’, who are my neighbours and parents of my primary schoolmates, plus Viswa Sadasivan’s sister Aunty Rajam. Maybe the family should have considered chartering a bus since there were so many from the neighbourhood!

Long time no see

Met with Puni and Chris for dinner last night, think we haven't met since they came to visit Sasha after she was born, it's been too long!

We gathered at Holland Village, I had not been there in ages but because we didn't make any reservation anywhere, we wandered around a bit looking for somewhere not too crowded. I was hoping to check out Everything With Fries but they were full, so was La Nonna and Amici. In the end, we settled at Fosters.


Shared some cod and pasta, we found all the dishes a bit on the sweet side. There was a lone musician singing in the corner, mainly oldies and at one point he came up to us to chat and check if we had any requests. I named a couple of songs but they were out of his range e.g. Till There Was You but he sang other Beatles' songs.

Chris is just 2 months away from her wedding and appears to be feeling the stress but I'm sure it will all go well. She did me a huge favour by bringing back some of my purchases from Amazon.

She had an LA flight last week and I ordered and shipped some more potty training stuff to her hotel, comprising 2 foldable potty seats and a piddle pad for the car, so Nat can go out diaper-less. Essentially she only wears diapers now when she sleeps or when we go out but I want to completely cut it for the day within a month or two.


When dinner ended, we adjourned to Everything With Fries for dessert, so I got to try them out after all, though we didn't have anything with fries!



Shared a Nutella tart and a butterscotch banana pudding with ice cream, their prices are reasonable however the Nutella tart had no taste of Nutella or hazelnut at all, which was a let down.



Came back past 1 am and this morning Nick dragged us all to East Coast where he had futsal. Check out Pumpkin with her shades, they really suit her!


While Nick played, us girls watched and snacked on Burger King breakfasts. Wendy then took Nat to the beach to build sandcastles, and I tried to make Sasha nap to no avail, she was busy watching her daddy play footie.

8 years on...

It would seem we've survived the 7 year itch, as yesterday we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. Ok, maybe celebrate is not the word because we didn't actually spend it together.

He had to entertain colleagues for a post-NATAS thank-you dinner while the rest of us celebrated Aunty Sarda's 72nd birthday at the folks' house. Nat and Gigi were again on hand to help with the candles!



Nick came home just as Nat fell asleep, bringing me a single red rose. I was secretly pleased because I wasn't counting on any flowers. Never mind that he had swiped it from one of the new office's congratulatory floral stands - something he confessed after I wondered aloud why the base of the stalk was so grainy. At least he spent time to pick the nicest one, or so he claimed.


We had a belated dinner today, even though we had initially said we would celebrate in the Maldives with no gift exchanges. Think he felt guilty for being M.I.A the past few days and missing dinner with me on the actual day.

He was in a meaty mood and we agreed to check out Lawry's, partly because it's located at the Mandarin Hotel where we held our wedding dinner so it would have been nostalgic. However, when I asked for feedback via a FB status update, I heard negative things from friends who knew people who dined there recently. I told him about it and he decided on Morton's Steakhouse instead.

I managed to get a last minute 6.30pm reservation and rushed down after work. It was dark and noisy, he was there before me, along with a huge onion bread roll. We had a server named Raj who 'presented' the menu to us, explaining the different cuts of meat available and showed samples of their gigantic vegetables. Everything was up-sized in the restaurant!


As we were perusing the menu, Raj produced a customised menu for us to keep as a souvenir, one with 'Happy 8th anniversary' printed on it after he found out what we were celebrating. That was a nice touch.


I was all psyched to try their crab cakes but my eyes nearly popped out when I saw the prices on the menu. It was $35 for 1 crab cake as an appetizer. They had a main course option at $90+. The steaks started from $85 onwards!

We decided to share a baked seafood platter, substituting the oyster with extra crab cakes. The rest of it consisted of a jumbo prawn and bacon wrapped scallop for each of us. The crab cakes were full of crab lumps though, and so fresh...not the canned or frozen type. It was all crab, hardly any flour. I was a happy camper.


He had an onion soup, it was good and hearty. And how can you go to Morton's and not eat steak? We shared a ribeye, they did his half medium well, and mine well done. I don't normally eat steaks, in fact this was my first time actually ordering one as a main but it was worth it. Grilled to perfection, and well-seasoned that I didn't need any sauces.


We ordered a side of fries ($17) as the meats did not come with any accompaniments. But in the end we were too full and doggy bagged the fries and bread roll, or perhaps I should call it a loaf!



Nick had pre-ordered a warm chocolate cake before I arrived and it was meant to be a surprise but the waiter let the cat out of the bag when he was confirming our order. It came with a candle and again, giant portion. One of the staff members came to take a picture of us and a few minutes later, she presented us the photo framed in a folder with all the staff's signatures.

I must say service was definitely excellent and personalized, except now I have 2 souvenirs i.e. the menu and the photo with 2nd March on it, when our anniversary is the 1st.


Towards the end, the restaurant manager came to check on things and commented we had nice tans. He then stumped me by asking if we had come back from the Maldives recently. How could he have guessed? He said he had a 6th sense, I believe it!

The final bill wasn't as bad as I expected, he paid about $260 in all as the dessert was complimentary and so was his Coke. Stomachs full, we ended the evening with the movie 'No Strings Attached' at Marina Square. A good day indeed!

Natasha at 11 months

Only a month to go till the pumpkin is 1 and today is also our 8th wedding anniversary! Preparations are underway for her birthday party, I should be able to sort the venue by next week.

She has learnt how to shake her head from left to right, not really saying 'No' but just for fun. She can make sounds like ba, ma, da and recently I heard wa or wow. She loves to blow raspberries, resulting in spit all over me, and she growls too.


r

She's making attempts to cruise around the house, taking baby steps while holding on to the sofa or other furniture. She'll take one or two steps in her cot and flop on her butt, or sometimes she'll let go of any support and just stand for a few seconds. However, when someone is holding her she doesn't put her weight on her feet and they turn into jelly.


She's a bit of a daredevil, throwing caution to the wind as she tries to figure out how to get down from a bed. She goes feet first or precariously leans over the edge of the bed so I try to demonstrate to her how to swing her legs over first.

An upper tooth has erupted so we are starting to give her chunkier textures. She seems to be more sensitive than Nat in terms of allergies, we tried fish and pork a couple of times which resulted in rashes so for the moment, she's still vegetarian.

Not much change to her daily routine, she has 3 solid meals a day, sleeps around 13-14 hrs a day including a morning and afternoon nap, drinks milk about 5 times in a 24hr period totalling 600-700ml. She likes fruits, having tried strawberries, banana, apple, grapes.

There was a spell where she started waking up at 5am impatiently crying for milk but it appeared to be a short phase because she's back to just waking up quietly around 7am and standing in her playpen.


A few days ago, she slept with me on the bed and after giving her milk in the middle of the night, she was quite awake but I was stoned. I dozed off and she grabbed my hand and guided it to her hip and started patting herself! So clever, she wanted to be patted to sleep! She does like to snuggle when she sleeps with us too, inching her way towards us and curling up to either one of us, which is nice despite the fact that it is 6 in the morning!

She has discovered the joys of the remote and mobile phone, mostly she'll just try to eat my phone. She's fascinated with how the sound comes out of it. She is starting to bop when she hears music, she swings her hands as if beating a bongo or if you remember the Visa ad with a man dancing in different countries, that's what she reminds me of.

She hates to be left out of the action, bursting into tears whenever you set her down in the cot or she'll stiffen up when you try to put her in the stroller. The pacifier is still constantly with her, especially for sleeping or when she gets too vocal in church.

Nat is increasingly protective of her, calling Sasha her baby and when people pretend they want to bring Sasha home, Nat will say, "I want my baby, I want my baby."




The other day as I saw a clip of Helena Bonham Carter in Alice in Wonderland, it struck me how Sasha bears a resemblance to her queen character! Check out that forehead, brainy baby in the making?