Nature walk

Given that Baby Justin has ample of energy almost all the time that he is awake, we always try to think where can we bring him during the weekend, to let him expend all his energy, and of cos, at the same time, be able to learn new things through natural experience.

A friend recommended us to go to Botanic Garden because there is ample space over there for kids to run about. At the same time, the greenery and fresh air are good for all and it definitely makes a great place for photo taking with the natural lighting.

So 2 weeks ago, since Justin was recovering from a week of flu and fever, we decided to bring him out to the Botanic Garden for some fresh air.

The sun was scorching hot that day.. but when we arrive, we saw lots of people busking in the sun. People were having picnic, children were running about having fun, adults were relaxing on the grass, chatting and fellowshipping. Some are busy taking photos of nature.

See the happy boy!!

Very hard to get him to stay still for a photo, because he is ready to charge off any time!!

I love greenery.. always give me serenity and peace.

After 45 minutes, we could not stand the heat anymore.

Decide to make a u-turn back.

But apparently, Baby Justin loves the grass!!! Here is the beginning! of actions…  

A mother came over and gave us the star wand and a bottle of bubbles cos they were celebrating birthday for their princess earlier on, and these were leftover party flavours.

I love the smiles!! Yes, i am biased.

After a good 1.5 hours of workout and fun, we all went back and had a good nap!

Looking forward to the next outing at BG!

Nice zichar in an old neighbourhood

We recently found another nice zichar place stacked away in an old neighbourhood at Commonwealth Crescent.

Believe that this place has been around for more than 20 years at least. I think its not easy to find an old coffeeshop that is still being preserved in its original state and most importantly, the quality of food here is much better than many of those served in newer coffeeshops.

Check out the old design..

Even though the place look old, it definitely still maintain its hygiene quite well.

As only 2 of us went, we could not order many dishes.

So we ordered a couple of the chef recommended dishes.

Hot plate tofu. One of the most tasty hot plate tofu that i have eaten so far.

Seafood bittergourd soup.

One of the speciality: Salt and pepper pork knuckle.

I personally think that this is a must try.

Apart from the tasty-ness, the chef has also deboned the knuckle… making it a lot easier to eat.

To me, thats great cos its child-friendly! I can hold Justin in one hand and use the other to continue to savour the dish. =)

We were so full by the end of the meal!! And the total bill cost less than $40……Good deal isn’t it?

So one week later, we went back again, and this time, we tried their claypot fishhead.

The fish was fragrantly fried and served with lots of vegetables in the pot.

So one dish was enough for the 3 of us and once again, we left with a full and satisfied appetite.

If you are interested, you can find this coffeeshop at Blk 118, Commonwealth Crescent.

They are opened from 11am to 2am everyday.

Training starts young

I am not a musically inclined person, whereas my husband plays the guitar well.

So we had long decided that once baby Justin reaches 3 years old, our wish is to send him to the Yamaha music school to learn music. Children are most mouldable at that age for pitching, according to Dear’s research.

But Justin is a super inquisitive boy. So seeing his daddy playing the guitar often, he also fell in love with the guitar. For the record, he already has 1 guitar at home and 1 at popo’s house. Almost every day when daddy comes home from work, he will take his guitar and drag daddy to the room, and make him sit down and take his guitar and start playing together.

So the other day, while daddy was practising, he guai guai sit beside him with his guitar for about 10 mins and i must say my boy really hold the guitar with some “sey” and he really could do a bit of strumming! Hahaha… really quite hilarious looking at him .

Nice Dim Sum Brunch

This restaurant is humbly located at a quiet neighborhood behind Gerald’s old house. It is at the bottom of some old HDB flats, but it definitely does not have humble beginnings. Did a google and found out that the owner is actually a Hong Kong-born chef who made his name in 1990s at Empress Room in Raffles Hotel and later Xin Cruisine Chinese Restuarant at Holiday Inn Atrium Hotel.

The restuarant now occupies the entire ground floor of the a HDB block at Lengkok Bahru and It is divided into two parts: an open area dedicated to zi char (home-cooked fare) and an air-conditioned area for more upmarket stuff like bird’s nest and abalone.

Last weekend, we had the cravings for dim sum, and i remember this place do serve dim sum as well.

So off we drove there for a nice dim sum brunch.

Don’t ask me why the grouchy look on Justin’s face. I guess it must be the cap. :p

And we reached the place. Nice yellow signboard. Best is that it is not crowded. Good way to spend some quiet family time over meal.

The nostaglic and original deco of the coffeshop.

Here comes the menu. They have a limited dim sum menu, but to me, quality is more important than quantity.

Since we only had 3 of us, and Justin cant eat most of the items except for the congee, so we could only order a few dishes.

Gerald’s stewed Beef Ramen. Which i think pretty good for $3.80.

Traditional Siew mai

Har gao… a must have.

And i recommend this. Pan Fried Gayoza. My first time trying, but the filling in it is sulcent and not too much.

And it is cooked to the right texture. =)

Ordered some cha siew pau for Justin.. but totally untouched and we had to dabao home.

And i must have this every time. Black bean sauced chicken feet.

Century Egg Porridge. Lots of ingredients in it and it is so smooth that you can just swallow the congee. Typical HK style.

So that marks the end of our dim sum brunch, colourful and sumptuous.

If you are interested, they even have 30% discount on Mon to Friday for their dim sum menu. :-)

Zi Yean Restaurant (自然海鲜粥面夜市)
56 Lengkok Bahru
#01-443 Singapore 150056
Tel: +65 6474 0911

a date with hubby

I am sure many parents with young kids will agree that once your little one comes along, the couple will have to purposefully find time to go out and spend quality time with each other, without the kids. To me, that is an important factor to keep the marriage going strong, bearing in mind that our soulmate will be the one to accompany us till the very end of our days.

So after a busy month, or should be months, i decided that i would just take an afternoon off and go pak toh with hubby. Has been such a busy year so far, since Jan 11 till June 11…. time literally zoom past, not even a breeze. So to take stock of the remaining half of the year, we have to do something!!

Always enjoy paktoh days, where we can just chill out and take things slower, without having to run after the kid or trying to control the kid from messing up the dining table.

And so, off we catch the new Transformer movie. I am not a transformer fan. But my hubby is. Thankfully, the entire movie was pretty interesting, enough to keep me awake for the whole movie (given the fact that we had a tough night the previous night as Justin woke up at 5am to play!!!)

After dinner, we decided to go for steamboat!! Something that we both enjoy and definitely wont be able to go if Justin was with us.

So off we went to Bugis 鲜得来火锅！！

Actually this is not one of the cheapest and best buffet around, but at least its environment is rather clean as compared to the rest.

And i love the special chicken prepared by the chef. 香辣子鸡。Good and delicious appetiser!

The fried dried chilli that will go into the soup base later on.

My concocted sauce.  

and these are some of the items that we ordered…

Dory fish fillet

Golden mushroom

Big head bean sprout

Fresh crab

Fresh prawns

Beef fillet

Quail eggs

 

Luncheon meat

Vegetables

and many more… but too busy eating and forgot to take pictures…

Has been a long time we have a peaceful dinner….. but we both agree that we felt weird without Justin around. haha.

Guess we are too used to having Justin around us already. =,=

But nonetheless, so enjoy the dinner!!!

actually wanted to go for dessert after that, but both of us were full to the brim!! So decide to shelf that for another day. =)

looking forward to the next paktoh day….