Zoo Trip

We took Tara to the zoo today. I thought it's a good idea to bring the family together again. Not that we are falling apart, but we are simply living in the same roof but each doing our own stuff. Bob and I are kind of ignoring Tara, she's at the stage where the terrible twos revisited and won't go away. And now that she can talk, sometimes we can engage in a verbal war. And I can tell you, the 3 year old can really spar! It gets really tiring and super frustrating most times.

Anyway, last night I already told Bob we will go as plan and take Tara to the zoo. And if anyone of us gets impatient or frustrated with Tara, we will keep each other in check and cool each other down. We did it, I can see Bob trying to suppress his anger at some stage, but otherwise, Tara was in a pretty good mood to create much havoc today.

Every morning, getting her to wake up for school is a tedious task. But this morning, three magic words did the trick. Upon hearing "动物园" (zoo), her eyes sprang open and she willingly walked to the toilet to pee. It was funny to watch, and her good behavious increased my confidence that a good day lies ahead.


Tara's favourite breakfast. Soft boiled eggs.

Once we turned into the road leading to the zoo, Tara went all excited at the animal pictures hanging on the lamp posts. Her excitement brought a smile to my face and lifted my spirits. I almost forgot how enjoyable it was to have Tara for company.

I rented a carriage (aka wagon) for the little princess. I thought it's quite fun to sit in that, I would have loved to get one if I was a kid. And I thought Tara wouldn't want to walk for too long, she's a lazy bum just like her mom. When Bob saw the wagon, he sort of hinted that I'm spoiling her, and I should let her do some walking. I think he's quite right. The little girl sat in the wagon most of the time and only got out to look at animals. Besides that, we parents have to drag and pull the not-so-easy-to-manoever wagon while she sat inside comfortably and even chose who she want to pull that wagon. Yikes, although I rented the wagon in the name of fun, I later realised it was indeed a bad move. And it $15 by the way.



We visited most of the animals enclosures, and my MIL, being teacher most of her life, went about explaining what animals we were looking at and pointed out some distinctive features of the animals. It was a informative trip for the little one.

Tara showed interest in half the animals before going into a slight cranky mood, as she was feeling sleepy. She wanted to doze off but the wagon wasn't a place for napping. She tried various positions to take a nap but eventually gave up.





We watched two shows, one at the new splash amphitheatre. Which has pretty limited seats that were 60% filled 30 mins before show time. I always enjoyed animal shows, but I must say that both shows weren't as impressive as before. The other show we went to was the Animal Friends Show, where dogs and little animals performed tricks. By the way, they held their last show today as area will be undergoing renovation and only re-opening in Sep. The show today was quite a bore, the dogs did great though, but the host and her assistant kind of went into their 2-man show for longer than I can take. Bob commented in a far worse language.

I took a picture of Tara with one of the dog, can't remember his name. I'm glad I managed to find a nice angle.



Why? I wouldn't want this (see red arrow) to end up in Tara's photo album ya. Gah, so unsightly. I'm just glad Tara didn't notice and start questioning me. I'm sure I will be stumped big time.



We were there for 5 whole hours. And I'm glad we went.


I'm always attracted to white blooms. So pretty.


My favourite animal have got to be these fellows. Meerkats. They are s..o.. cute I want to take them home.


Me with my tired baby. Doing the "我们是清白的" pose.

Anyway, for those parents intending to bring their little ones to the zoo, be warned that there won't be as many animal shows as before. The one which is normally held at the big amphitheatre will only be starting in May, and the Animal Friends show will only start from Sep onwards. There will only be 2 shows as far as I know, the one at Splash Amphitheatre featuring the sea mammals and the Elephants Asia show. Not sure if they are adding more in the midst. Check before you go ya?

Claypot Chicken Rice

I rarely step into the kitchen nowadays. Just can't make the effort to cook. Tons of lazy bugs are biting me recently.

Anyway, Bob bought 2 claypots from Tangs the other day. He's a traditionalist when it comes to food. Food tastes better, he says. So he bought one pot for soup and the other for rice, when the babblemouth me pointed out the pot that is suitable for claypot rice.

Why I'm a babblemouth? Because, one, we have simple no more space for more pots and pans, and two, I will be the one cooking, surely!

But since we have the claypot, might as well use it right? I think he's craving for claypot rice also. So I decided to try cooking a good meal today.

I've done the rice cooker version, and we both liked it. I don't have the confidence of cooking in a claypot since I have never cooked rice without a rice cooker. How much water or whether rice will burn, etc. Only until my MIL does it over the stove, did I know that rice can actually be cooked over stove! Yeah, I'm a modern girl living in the modern world, ya know?

I had to search the internet for recipe as I really don't know how much water vs how much rice, and I would say I found a pretty good one here!

Armed with the receipe, I walked to the kitchen and head towards the unknown. Unknown how the rice will turn out, that is. I'm skeptical when it comes to cooking a new recipe, especially when I had to cook for my in-laws as well. Lucky my FIL went back home 2 days ago. He's quite hard to please when it comes to food.











My favourite were the crispy bits at the bottom of the pot, Bob made effort to scrape them out for me. And I'm glad I finally remembered to bring home the bottle of chilli my colleague got her mom to make. It's just so perfect with the rice!

By the way, I also cooked this super easy dish. I tried a similiar dish at Crystal Jade and was so taken by the tasty dish that I tried doing one myself. Of course it's not comparable to the restaurant standard, but I'm happy enough.



I used chicken stock and added just a bit of oyster sauce for extra oomph. I used Maggi Chicken Granules by the way.

Bob's verdict of the rice? It has all the right flavours, very tasty, but the rice was a little too soggy. Silly me washed the rice way too early and the rice was soaking wet for a couple of hours before I cook, so I guessed that's why it was too soggy? Or maybe I added a little too much water?

As for my verdict, the chicken was very tasty. I guess the 2.5 hour marinating helped a lot. The rice was indeed a bit soggy, I saw the rice almost mashed together when Bob was mixing it. The lap cheong we bought from Hong Kong were so good! One other bummer was the chinese mushroom, which I unearthed from my over-crowded cabinet. God knows where they came from. The mushrooms does not have that usual frangrance, I must remember to chuck them in the bin.

By the way, I took out all the ingredients, added more dark soy sauce and a little sesame oil for extra taste before serving up. And I also added a chunk of salted fish for extra flavours. I don't have rice wine, so I substitute with just a dash of shaoxing wine when I marinate the chicken.

I'm amazed at the flavours that can be acheived with the claypot. No doubt the rice cooker version makes my life easier, nothing beats the charred smell from cooking with the claypot. What can I say, I'm a convert now.

I will surely cook this again.

Bob's sense of humour

My husband is a man of few words. Unless necessary, he won't open his mouth to speak. But we do chit chat, albeit not on a regular basis.

And he has this sense of humour which can really leave your mouth agaped or you will drop on the floor laughing like siao.

The other day, we (my father, sister and a relative) were talking during our mahjong session, about another relative who had a child born out of wedlock. Eh, he's already married by the way.

So I turned and ask casually asked him if he has any kid or a 2nd wife that I don't know of.

Conversation goes like this:

Me: Eh, so you got any other wife or kids or not?
Bob: When I die you will know lor?
Me: When you die? Why leh?
Bob: When I die liao, you see got anyone come to my funeral and fight with you over my money lor.

SIAO!

Updates: Once in a blue blue moon

Oh my! I realised I haven't blog for more than 2 months!

I have lots to blog about actually, but I'm quite lazy (and busy) nowadays. Hehe.

I have 2 more journals to rush before I get some free time. So stay on for more updates yah!