Tara's Crocs and Reasoning

I totally give up on Colettee. Just cannot make it! Within a few days after my post on shoes for Tara, I went to Colettee and bought her a pair of mary janes. I was skeptical that it will last, but I was crossing my fingers maybe it will last like 3 months at least, until I get a better pair. Boy, was I wrong! The shoes last only 1 miserable month! The stitches broke and one of the shoe got a gaping hole now. And she don't even wear it that often, only on outings and a couple of times, to school. I'm totally giving up on Colettee. Unless I need disposable shoes.


So I had to shop for shoes again. Last night, we trotted off to Vivo for dinner and to get a new pair of shoes for Tara. I decided I'm still going for Crocs. Durable and odor-free. We got 2 pairs for Tara from our Hong Kong trip last Dec and they still in good condition now, except that she's growing out of it very soon.

Little girl wanted the Disney versions but I find the prints a little too cheapo so I steered her towards the mary janes side. She was easy to please and promtly chose a fushcia one. Tried and bought a slightly larger size, so it will last her quite a while.



Crocs fuschia mary janes with old charms.

While we were at the cashier, she saw the wide array of charms on display and asked Daddy for it. The way Tara tried to reason with Bob was hilarious! The little girl trying hard to convince her Daddy that her new Crocs must have new charms and Daddy kept giving a curt no. He don't see the need to get new charms since she can use those old charms from her old Crocs and he told her that. Tara refused to give up and kept reasoning some more, saying the Princess ones are nice, she want them and it will go with her shoes blah blah blah. Even the staff there was amused by how adamant Tara was.

Bob still refused to get it for her. Citing reasons like waste of money, not necessary etc. I told him his little girl might grow up to be a salesperson some day, since she was like making a sales pitch when asking for the charms. I gave in actually, and asked Bob if he's okay that I buy for her instead, but still, he said no. We do have this understanding that when we said no to Tara, we don't give in. So, I had to give up too. Anyway, Tara knew she lost the fight and just trailed along with us when we walked out of the shop. She's didn't bawl or sulk though. And I'm really glad on that.

So far, I never had to deal much with her tantrums when she don't get buy the things she want. I guess she understand that crying for things is useless, because Bob and I will never give in. So she tried to reason nowadays and it's really cute to watch. I guess once a while I do have to give in, or it might be just too harsh for the little girl, always hearing nothing but NO.

By the way, I just threw out a pair of running shoes I bought from Kiddy Palace. She still can wear them but the smell on her feet when she took the shoes off was "FWAH!!". Tara herself can't take the smell. It was so bad we can smell it a distance away. Even 2 washes can't take that smell off so I had to do something about it. I gave her a dettol feet spa!



And she enjoyed it a lot. And the smell eventually came off.

4 days 3 nights stay at SGH

SGH = Singapore General Hospital.


Yep, was hospitalised for 4 days last month. Had really bad rashes and swelling lymph nodes after my 3-day fever. Went back to the doc when I saw how swollen my groin was. He gave me anti-biotics and told me to go home and monitor.

Woke up the next morning to find rashes and swells got worse. Doc gave me 2 choices, either to take blood test or to go to the hospital. I chose to go hospital to have everything done together. Kind of no point taking test and getting admitted after that. I actually ask to delay the admission as I had to attend a food tasting session for my bro's upcoming wedding dinner that night. Called up bro to check if I can be excused and he said might as well, since the rashes so bad and I also didn't want to scare anyone.

Bob drove me straight to SGH. Even though it was a direct admission, I was still kept waited for 3 hours. The last 1.5 hour by myself as the guy had to go back to work. Waited at the ER by myself. While everyone has some relative inside the ER, I'm the only sitting by myself waiting for my bed to be ready. The aunties sitting beside gawked when I was put on a wheelchair, strapped with patient tag and pushed away. I guess nobody was expecting me to be the patient.

I'm not one to be confined so staying 4 days there was pretty torturous to me. I'm just glad that the medicine I took 3 times a day got me groggy and sleeping most times. My doctor was a professor, but he always came with 3 other doctors who did the checks.

One of them stressed me out the most. She's a lady doctor from Malaysia, can see that she just graduated not long ago. She came by one morning to take my blood for tests. Tried 2 locations before she managed to draw blood, said couldn't find my vein. The first time, she actually tried to find the vein while the needle was INSIDE. Fortunately, I was feeling numb from the rashes, otherwise I might just die from the pain and watching the process.

I thought that was all but it was not. She came back 30 minutes later and said she need to put me on drip as my blood pressure was low. I felt my heart skipped several beats. Same thing happened, she couldn't find my vein. And when she finally found it on a 2nd location, the blood spurted! Literally! Then formed a pool of red on the bed. Her hands were all bloodied and I just watched the whole spectacle in a daze. She tried to stop the flow and kept apologizing for the mess. The whole time I was thinking, mess!? These are my blood!!

I think I lost quite some blood there.



I have to say thanks to all the people who came to visit. My friends and colleagues. Thanks to Nico, Sally and Jaime for coming twice. And thanks to Angela for the magazine. My sis and bro came too, but I was too groggy and sleepy when my bro was there and I didn't talk to him much. Dad brought porridge my Mum cooked, a special order from me. Some ask whether I inform who and who, and why didn't I inform who and who. Erm, I wasn't exactly looking my best, with my angry red rashes from top to toe, finger tips to toes, so I didn't really want anyone to see. Those who came just happened to call/sms me when I was getting ready to go hospital.

I'm not used to getting fussed around and was really awkward when my friends/colleagues were helping me cut up my food (I'm crippled by the drip on my left hand), take my things, get my water, pushed me the meal tray etc. But come to think of it, it's quite enjoyable wor. Haha.

Thanks to my sis, Jaime, Angela and Cindy for the hamper too. The flowers really cheered me up. The delivery guy might not think so though, as he actually woke me up from my nap to sign for the hamper.



I got 3 days of hospitalisation leave after my discharge so I spent these 3 days watching dramas loaned from others and catch up with friends over meals. 4 days being confined was enough for me, so I was running around during the 3 days of leave. Hope no one in my office is reading this!



My bed for 4 days.

It's been slightly over a week since I've discharged and I have almost recovered. Just that my skin is still slightly red, patchy and dry after the rashes. Swells have all gone on the 4th day of my stay. Now I still get patches of rash here and there but other than that I'm totally fine.



Pix taken on my 3rd day when I was much more alert and super duper bored.

Now I'm just waiting for my appointment with the allergy clinic to find out what exactly was wrong with me. They took 4 tubes of blood in the hospital but nothing conclusive, thus the professor sent me to see the allergy doctor. My diagnosis was viral fever with suspected drug allergy. Now just have to find out what drug I'm allergic to.

Beef Stew again..

Oh yes, I'm crazy over beef stew.


It's now 9.21pm and I'm still cooking my pot of stew. We've had our dinner of claypot rice already. And since there are still some beef in the freezer, I thought I will cook the stew today, dump it into the fridge and warm up for dinner tomorrow. I'm using a different recipe this time. No beef stock, less wine. Hope it tastes as good. It sure smells good now.

Cooking eastern and western in one night, my legs are tired, back aching. I'm glad I don't have to do this often.

My dreams

In my old blog, I have this line on my banner that says "My thoughts, my dreams, my life, myself, my child, my man"... When I wrote my dreams, I don't mean my dreams about the future or whatsoever, I actually meant the dreams I'd have every night I sleep.


I seldom have dreamless nights. I don't know why. And out of all the dreams I've had, 30% are comical and nonsensical, 20% forgettable while 40% are blood, gory and death.

The bloody and death dreams used to be more, almost like 70%. Someone told me I might be a deeply disturbed pervert and all these are subconscious thoughts which might just materialized when I'm in a highly stressed mode. All crap lar. Lucky that bloke was laughing while saying it, if not, he might just be my first victim. (I'm joking...)

So far, I dreamt of people being killed, killing themselves, tortured to death, burnt beyond recognition, executed etc. Some are really disturbing and have since been permanently imprinted in my head. Most victims are people I don't know, only once I dreamt of an ex-colleague leaping off the building and her head smashed on the water fountain right below, causing the fountain to flow bloody water. And all this while, I was watching it from right across the building.

Just 2 days ago, I had another suicide dream again. It happened right across my block. An old lady was standing precariously near the window ledge, contemplating on jumping down from the 6th floor. Only after some persuasion from the people behind her did she gave up the idea. But the next minute, another woman just walked out to the ledge and leaped off. I was in a dazed and kept staring at the dead woman at the foot of the block, no blood and nothing gory though.

It wasn't the scariest dream I had but I just wonder, how come I'm having such dreams again? It's been quite a while since I last had one. Is it stress? Or I'm getting depressed? Or I'm really a disturbed pervert subconsiously?

I wonder..

Beef (Oxtail) Stew

I love stews. And the best stews comes only from those home cooked. When I think of comfort food, stews are the first thing that comes to my mind.


I have this awesome website, http://www.epicurious.com/. This is one place that I go to whenever Bob gets his craving for anything non-Chinese. And through here, I found the best recipe for beef stew (beef replaced with oxtail). What I love about this website is the reviews from people who tried the recipe. I just need to compile those feedback, makes my life easier so I can skip the trial and error part.

I cooked this once before, and received rave reviews, even from my bro who seldom eat beef. I cooked it last night again. Didn't came out as good as the first. Feedback was the stew wasn't beefy enough. It was okay for me though, I'm more than happy to have the rich, dark, flavourful gravy. Yeah, I'm a sucker for that. Ooh, salivating again.

The recipe calls for almost 1 bottle of red wine though. And Bob actually passed me a bottle of Grey label last night. The last round, we used a bottle I got from my company D&D. So imagined my jaw dropped when Bob told me the price of the bottle. I told him, you just made this stew costs 3 digit! (On top of the oxtail lar.)



We served the stew with home made mashed potatoes and garlic bread. Bob managed to find this great brand of garlic spread that's fragant but not over pungent with garlicky taste.



By the end of dinner, all the oxtail were gone, leaving lots of gravy and some vegetables. Can't bear to throw them out (usually what we did, since we always forgot what we kept in the fridge), I stored the leftover gravy in the fridge and told Bob I will eat that with spaghetti for dinner some day.

And today was the day. 10 mins job. Cooked spaghetti, microwaved the gravy and voila! Dinner's ready. I can eat this everyday! I was just thinking how perfect this will be if I have some Ikea meatballs.



This will be my number 1 recipe for beef stews. And I'm thinking of cooking this and freezing them in batches so when I need a quick meal fix, I can just pop them into microwave.

By the way, the recipe's here, if you wish to try. Add more shiitake mushrooms, they go perfect with the stew.

Learning Phonics

Tara is learning phonics in school now. She's still at the stage where she's sounding the letters and as per her teacher, they are now at the F letter. (Don't think otherwise yah?)


Tara came home asking me things like, "Mummy, what letter is the word 'window'?" She meant what sound does 'w' makes. I looked at her, dumbfounded, not knowing how to answer. Phonics is something new to me. I have no idea how to make the 'w' sound!

Bob has been thinking of letting the little girl take some enrichment classes. So I was taking note of the things she's interested in. All the while, it was singing and dancing. Her teachers said she loves to sing and dance, especially to fast music. And she loves to perform too. But she's also very interested in phonics now. So I looked around for some phonics classes instead. Dancing will come later. I'm not going to overload the little one now.

2 weeks ago, I casually mentioned to Tara that I will send her to phonics classes and she has been asking for it since then. When we were on our way to breakfast yesterday, she asked if we were on our way to her class. So enthusiastic!

Anyway, while going through the websites, I shortlisted a couple of centres that I'm going to check out tomorrow, including a speech and drama centre. But then I also came across this wonderful website. This is one cool website that teaches phonics right from basics, for free (that's the best part). A mummy from one forum mentioned that it's good to try this website before sending the kid to classes, especially if it's a fast paced one. So I thought, I give this a try first.

Thus tonight, I sat Tara down in our study for our first lesson. I kept it short, only 15 mins on the laptop and 15 mins on the worksheets. I'm quite against young kids spending time in front of computers so I felt 15 mins is more than sufficient. And when I said it's our first lesson, I meant it because it's my first lesson too.



I wasn't comfortable with the distance of the laptop and her eyes. But I guess we will make do for now until Bob has the sound card of the desktop replaced.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed the lesson tremendously. This was Tara's first time using the mouse and she took quite a while to get used to it. And when she finally managed to do a drag and drop, I was ecstatic and so was she. I gave tons of encouragement, and applauses when she managed to get a right answer or drag the item to the right places. And so happy was she that she gave me bear hugs after each praise that I gave her. This was one moment that I felt truly bonded with her. I'm going to keep up with the lessons for as long as I can. And I will try to keep to a routine so Tara knows what to expect every day.

We learnt 'a', 'o' and 'w' today. And she's pretty good at it!



Tara on her worksheet.

Tara was asking for one lesson tomorrow too. And I will keep to the 30 min routine until she's ready for a longer lesson.

Oh ya, I finally know how to sound 'w'!

Shoes for Tara

I'm looking around for good shoes. Tara's grows out of hers very fast and I'm constantly looking out for nice and comfy shoes which will not hinder the growth of her feet.


I used to buy Clarks, but the designs are getting so mundane and no longer attracts me. But I love the fact that the shoes are good for growing feet. Are there more of such brands out there? I lost touch of all things kiddy during the months of depressed mood, thus I need some help here.

I used to buy the loafers from Colettee, because of the soft fabric, but they just wore out even before my kid grew out of them. Even though cheaper, I rather spend more on better shoes.

Bought 2 pairs of Crocs for her in Hong Kong last year, but those just aren't dressy enough.

I was looking through Startrite shoes just now. Love the pretty designs! And most importantly, they are good for growing feet. But sad to say, there are no outlets in Singapore, or so the website says. I have sent them an email to check for the nearest location.

Are there anymore? Can anyone help me? Drop me a comment yah?

Potting Around

I have a few pot of plants along my corridor. I bought them when I first shifted here. However, over the years, managing the plants became my MIL's responsibilities. I can't even remember if the plants out on my corridor are still the ones I bought 6 years back, I guess not.


MIL would spend time changing the soil, trimming the dead leaves and re-potting them. Of course, this got the little one interested. She would insist on watering the plants every morning, and helping out in whatever way she can.

The other day, Tara was trying to water the plants again, then I thought, maybe, I can get her some potted plants to instill some responsibilities on. So I told her I will get her 2 potted plants the next time we go Ikea. Tara was ecstatic, no doubt. And I told her, the plants will be under her care and she must water them everyday.

The other day, we had to get some stuff from Ikea and we didn't forget to let Tara choose her plants. Both Bob and I thought she would choose flower pots but she just went ahead and chose the leafy ones.



It took her quite a while to decide on the final two.



She even chose a spray bottle for watering the plants.

Bob got her a shoe rack to place the pots and once we reached home, the little girl got me to fix up the rack. Daddy helped to transfer the plants into the pots and Tara happily filled up the spray bottle and went about watering her prized pots.



And I'm relieved to say that the interest hasn't waned. She's still tending to her pots every morning before school. The other day, while shopping at Daiso, I came across these pretty windmills at the gardening section and bought her 2.



I also bought a mini shovel.

Now, I'm wondering how long the pots will last.

Tara asked..

Tara: Mummy, will you (grow) old?


Me: Of course, we all will. And Mummy will grow old just like Grandma. And you will grow up just like Mummy.

Tara: No! (Wailed slightly), I don't want you to (grow) old!

Me: Why not?

Tara: Because I don't like old. I don't want you to be old.

After a while...

Me: Tara, if Mummy don't grow old, you won't grow up too you know?
 
And Tara gave me a knowing look after that. I guess she can't wait to grow up?

My New Love..

I'm in love with someone new. And I'm introducing him to you all. I know I love him from the minute I set my eyes on him. Absolutely adorable! And he is...
 
My nephew! I'm Yiyi of 3 nephews/niece already. Oh gosh! My new nephew, born in Thomson Medical Hospital on 12 July afternoon. Don't know what is his name yet. My sis hasn't name the boy. Guess when you have 3 kids, you tend to lose the excitement of naming the child? I went to visit the both of them on Sunday. Had to wait an hour as all the babies were taking their jabs, so the lot of us went for our lunch. The minute my sis text me saying the baby was with her, I literally sprinted up! My first sight of my baby nephew is the back of his head, as my sis was feeding him. And that was enough to melt my heart. And the sight of him sucking for milk, absolutely sweet! I didn't have such feelings for my first 2 niece and nephew, most probably because I wasn't a mum yet. Guess being a mother makes all the difference? Baby took a pretty long milk feed and I couldn't cuddle him, didn't take a proper look at his face either. Was getting a little bored until he stuck out his right foot from the cosy swaddle.

I took about 10 shots just on this foot alone. So tiny. But baby still wasn't done with his feed. The next thing I did?

I kissed the tiny foot. Cute. Not me. The foot. Close up shot of my beautiful nephew. With my sis at the background.
 
Look that this face. What's there not to love? Aww...

The Change in Tara

Weeks leading up to Tara's 3rd birthday, which was last November, my sweet little girl suddenly morphed into this pesky little kid. It was really hard handling her. Especially when Bob and my PILs wasn't in town and I have to do it all alone.

I gritted my teeth and hope for the day where the tantrums will be over, the fights, the screamings and her unreasonable behavior. I'm the kind who always see the light at the end of the tunnel, good days will come after bad, and sun will shine after the rain. So for a while, I managed to keep my cool and patiently tried to discipline my little baby.

But it went on longer than I can take. And soon, I lost my cool, my patience wore thin, and exasperation took over. It didn't help that Bob travelled more often and it was even worse when my PILs weren't around. I have to handle the little pesky one all by myself.

I dread every day that comes. Trying to get her ready for school became a challenge. Getting her to wear her shoes became a 15 minutes affair, coupled with screaming and crying. It was a lot of "I don't want this, I don't want that" from her. Even if I tried waking up earlier than usual, I'm still late for work in the end. She refused her milk, refused to wear her clothes, don't want panties without princess, and don't want to wear shoes all. There are times she tried leaving the house with just panties on. Try to get her to wear pants? Be prepared for at least 15 mins of meltdown and lots of shouting (by me) before she finally relented.

By the time I dropped her off at school, she already zapped 60% of my energy. I went to work feeling frustrated, weary and totally puzzled at her behaviour.

Then the time for me to pick her up from school. Tantrums start the minute she stepped out. Bringing her out for dinner alone was a big challenge too. I would ask her umpteen times if she needed the toilet and her answer was always no. But the minute the food was served, she wanted to go. When I told her later, she would go into a major prissy fit. I was finally one of those mothers who can't handle her kid and let her roll on the floor and scream while I look on helplessly. And I thought that would never happen to me.

When we finally reached home, I already felt my energy all gone. But that was before making her take her shower, and putting her to bed. More screamings, cryings and resistings. And when I finally got myself ready for bed, it's already 1am in the morning. And I'm totally drained out.

It was really amazing how I got through all that. I almost gave up. I questioned myself if I'm a good mother. I asked what I did or what I didn't do that caused her to behave like that. And finally, I asked, when would all these be over.

Slowly, I dreaded going home. When my PILs around, I literally went missing. There was even once I was home around Tara's bedtime, and I sat down at the garden waiting for her to sleep before I dared to venture home. I look at Tara as though she was a stranger, some kid left in my care, and I slowly felt detached from her.

For a few weeks, I lost my appetite and took little food. I was depressed, completely stressed out.

There was one night, when I tried to put Tara to bed, she went into one of her many prissy fits again. Asked for milk then not wanting it when I gave her the bottle. And I completely lost it, I hurtled the bottle at the wall, screamed at the top of my lungs and finally broke down. I sat there crying. Not knowing what else I can do, I sat on my bed, totally helpless. And what did Tara do? She cried, saying I broke her bottle. But after a while, sensing something was wrong with Mummy, decided it was best not to agitate me further and left me alone to sob while she fell asleep. I look at her sleeping soundly and tears flowed even more.

The next night, I asked her if it was okay Mummy don't go home after work. As in literally don't go home at all. She don't understand what I meant. And I don't really mean what I said.

Bob couldn't stand her behaviour anymore and bought a cane. I had bad caning experiences as a child so I hate the idea of discipliining with cane. I was even angry with Bob for buying that cane. But what I didn't expect was, I was the first one, actually the only one, to use it on Tara, on a day where she insisted on going out barefooted. When I saw that red cane mark on Tara's leg, I regretted already. And my heart broke into a thousand pieces.

Still, the pesky behaviour went on for another few months. Bob finally saw that I was getting depressed. I asked for a vacation without Tara, he agreed immediately. And he would arranged for his parents to be here when he had to travel. He didn't even complained when I went out almost everyday and neglected the house and the kid. I guess I was in a bad shape then. My colleague even recommended me a counsellor. I stopped all plans of making baby 2. I know of people who questioned at my ability to handle the kid, I doubted any too. But I guess not all women are made to be mothers?

It took me quite a long time before I was able to sense any enjoyment in Tara's company. And after 7 long months, I finally was able to look at my kid with some adoration.

I still didn't know what causes the change in her behaviour that time. My mum told me might be the bad chi in my house. And of course I dismissed that.

The days of prissy tantrums were finally over. And Tara had become this sensible little adult, witty and funny, and I can't help falling in love with her all over again.

It's been a long time....

Since I last blog! I haven't even touch my scrap in months! Did this today though. Love my new desktop background! I used a picture of Tara when she was 4 months. Miss that cute doe eyed look.

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!

Wall Decor

I absolutely love displaying photos all over the house. Got this pretty wall decor last year, and stuck several 4R photos on the spiral coil but the coil couldn't hold the photos well and kept falling off the decor. Besides that the photo curled up and collected tons of dust too.

So one fine day, I finally did something about it, I cleaned up the dust, dump the faded and curled up photos, sat down and spent a few hours using my scrap stuff and made this.



Until the mood comes again, or until I got tired of looking at this collage, it will be up beside my TV for the next 1 year. At least.

Tara's 3rd Birthday Part 2

We held a party for Tara the next day after the school's celebration. This one was held at home and only family and Bob's close relatives were invited. We wanted to keep it small.

One month before her birthday, I had already started sourcing around for cakes. And I got cupcakes for her home party. Actually, it wasn't my initial intention to buy cupcakes. I wanted to get the cupcakes for her school's party actually, but after looking at various websites, I realised that a nice cupcake would cost me quite a bit for a class of 27, 4 teachers and 2 helpers, so I thought of getting for her home party instead.

And the cupcakes, oh man, they are so pretty! I got them from Cupcake Momma by the way.

Pictures first:


The cupcakes, still in the box.


The birthday banner painstakingly made by me, my fingers almost went numb trimming the paper off the greyboard.


The food. Almost the same as last year, but with a touch of my comfort food, cooked by my Mom. The noodles and popiah fillings all cooked by my dear Bob, with the help of the experts though.


Me with my little girl.


Goodie bags for the kids. I got the same bags for Tara's friends in school. The cousins got some extra stuff though.


The cupcakes sitting on the 2 tier stand I made out of grey board. It doesn't turn out as pretty as I thought.


Tara with her birthday cupcakes.


Tara holding on to the knife waiting to cut her cake while we were all singing the birthday song. This year, I made the "candle" myself, using my usual scrap stuff, I stuck the candle at the back of the number 3 and adhered a satay stick.


The little girl going around giving out the cakes, Bob made sure she gave out the cakes all by herself, it's a way of thanking of the guests for gracing her little party and for the gifts.


Tara eating her cake. When she first started giving out the cake, she kept holding on to this particular one on her left hand, while giving out the cupcakes one by one with her right hand. She was trying to "chope" her favourite cupcake!


I had thought this will be her favourite! It's mine, no doubt!


Turns out that this was her favourite! She liked the little worm sitting on the grass.


The only non-monetary gift she got for her birthday. My bro and his wife-to-be bought this for her. A musical instrument set, with harmonica, recorder and many other instruments inside. By the end of the day, almost all of us were playing with the set, doing an orchestra performance, albeit a out of tune one.

Tara absolutely loved her cake! And I'm so glad. When I wanted to order, I was so worried that she will throw a prissy fit when I opened up the cake box and she didn't like what she see. The little kids loved the cakes too!

Bob commented I enjoyed the preps this year and was also much happier. Of course, last year, one of the important person in my life wasn't able to celebrate with us.



Yep, my dear Mom. She got a mild stroke and was in a rehab hospital when we celebrated Tara's 2nd birthday. I still remembered how down I felt when I ordered Tara's birthday cake from Patissier. Time really flies, one year has passed. My Mom cooked 3 dishes for the party too, and when she was slicing up the pork in the kitchen, I looked at her and had this overwhelming feeling. Very happy, and very touched that I almost had to sniff back my tears.

Alright, I will end the part 2 of Tara's birthday entry with a video of her, blowing the candle and cutting the cake.