Numb Nymph - Life after Metamorphose

Trying to get a decent photo of Grayden for his Passport

2010-09-29T17:55:00.003+08:00

Aahhh!! Terribly Geeky.

Looks Like we have a decent one.

Grayden's Birthday Cake by Cheryl Shuen

2010-06-23T23:25:00.002+08:00

Thank you Cheryl, for fleshing out the Noah's ark so perfectly! :)

Grayden Turns O-N-E -1!

2010-06-23T22:16:00.009+08:00

Grayden turned one this month.

The fortunate little one had 3 mini parties and a blast of a time. Not so good for mum and dad though, who had to have Guan Hoe Soon Catering 3 meals in a row!

(A) Party 1 - Celebrating with Grayden's and Our Close Friends

Managed to source for a Noah's Ark theme.

Grayden and his 1st birthday Noah's Ark Theme cake and cupcakes

And of course what's a birthday without cake!

With Uncle B and Godma :)

(B) Party 2 - A leisurely private affair with Family

A Pair of Smiling giraffes to welcome the guests.

A Centerpiece from the Noah's Ark Party theme decorations

The Noah's Ark animals line up!

Grayden intrigued with balloons.

With Nei Nei and Ye Ye

The Whole Family

GodMaMa and GodYeYe

"Look Here Grayden!"

"Don't be Shy! It's your Birthday!"

"That's right, Say Cheeze!"

"Alright, alright, I'm done."

"Alright, we'll cut the cake already! And you can have your piece."

Happy Birthday my little one. :)
Your first real taste of cake with sugar icing on the top!
We thank God to have had you.

The New Things He Can do This Month

2010-06-06T18:55:00.004+08:00

The milestones come fast and furious!

He can stand on his own now.

He plays 'Peek-a-Boo' now in his adorable little way.

And he's learnt how to wink!

A Whole New Perspective of Life

2010-06-06T18:21:00.005+08:00

Imagine that moment in life when you realize, for once, you don't need someone to move you from point A to point B.

That proud moment of every parent as their child takes their first step and these moments so quickly turn to silly wishing that they didn't grow so fast and reminiscing the days where you left them on the sofa and THEY STAYED THERE.

That immense freedom of independent movement for the first time.

Wow, it's a pity they'll never remember that feeling...
My Baby is growing up.

Before He Turns One...

2010-06-06T18:11:00.004+08:00

The milestones of Little Graydie before he turns O-N-E.

More responsive

His priceless pearls of laughter

Finally, he can fit into the huge t-shirt Uncle and Auntie B bought him!

Sharing the Chinese drama serials with Mummy and Daddy

And walking!

Uncle B's Surprise Birthday Party

2010-05-16T16:02:00.006+08:00

BJ and Marv with the B-boy's birthday banner.

"S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E!" :)

Uncle B and Auntie B

Party's theme colour is green... Can you tell?

Chef at work, the rest salivating, ready to pounce on those truffle fries!

Yums!

Tempting Grayden is easy with truffle fries!

Bruce's Birthday burger - specially made by the Chef.

Karen trying to steal it!

Time to make the birthday cake! Baked Alaska

Nothing beats the nice fuzzy warm feeling of cake baking in the oven. Heavenly smells.

And of course chilling out by the oven waiting for cake.

Happy Birthday Uncle B!

Aww, come on birthday boys, a little closer!

Haha, that's better...

Grayden's Walking! :)

2010-04-29T20:33:00.003+08:00

Grayden Takes His First Step!

2010-04-29T18:05:00.002+08:00

He tries...

He does it!
Grayden takes his first few steps! With a little incentive from Daddy of course.
And then stops to applaud himself :p
Well done Graydie! Mummy and Daddy are so proud of you.

Grayden and His Funny Antics

2010-04-29T17:40:00.002+08:00

He's actually laughing, gleaming over with esctasy.. Can you tell?! Ha Ha

Grayden Goes "Moo!"

2010-04-24T17:09:00.001+08:00

Does this count as his first word? :P

GoTo Japanese - My Birthday treat from Q

2010-04-24T16:03:00.006+08:00

My experience with GoTo was good. Somehow Q and I can't seem to top the experience we shared at Tomo. Maybe it was the over-indulgence of sushi till the point of convulsion, maybe it was her virgin omakase, but some how, Aoki and Tetsuya left us both wanting and yearning for such an experience again.

So for my big 3-0 this year, "I must find something to top TOMO!" Q exclaims with determination. :) With Ryugin in my culinary history, it must have been pretty challenging to find.. well my dear sweetie did me proud with this. :)

GoTo is neatly tucked away in the secluded Ann Siang hill, just a stone throw away from the hustle and bustle of the business life. It seems that all Japanese Omakase restaurants like to be fronted by a simple entrance, hiding their ability to blow that hole in your wallet behind it's deceptive like simple and humble entrance.

Once passed the single doors, it's like you've entered into another dimension and you just know, you are in for an extraordinary journey.

I won't even attempt to recreate in words what we were served for the main course. But the monk fish liver was excellent.

The crab meat dumpling in a clear broth had clearly non-subtle recollections of Ryugin for me.

The sashimi course was excellent. Each slice of fish was expectantly fresh and the Ika was delightfully crunchy.

The grilled river fish was well executed too. But Q didn't really like this course. Too many bones probably.. right Q? :p

The chawamushi was different. Quite yummy.

The tempura was a unique highlight. By this course, it was clear that the Chef of GoTo was going to ensure that his customers experienced every aspect of Japanese cuisine - steamed, soup, raw, grilled, and now fried - to it's possibly imaginable perfection. Savoring tempura with salt, is a first for me, and I must say, is rather ingenious. The simplicity of flavors marries the complexity of each petite tempura so harmoniously. And to make crisp tempura out of a lettuce leaf?! Amazing.

By the last course, we were both absolutely stuffed. But I still had room to be impressed. The eel on glutinous rice was delicious. My only gripe - too many bones! But nothing a good warm bowl of home-made miso soup can't fix.

Finally, dessert. The pudding was yummy.

The fruits were sweet but I so didn't enjoy the grapefruit jelly.

But we shared an immediate consensus on the black sugar mo-chi. Ooo, I could have this any day. Superb!
Thank you again Q for my lovely birthday treat. I think we will remember this one together with Tomo up there in our books. :)

Till next year's chart-toppers!

Grayden's Cake is on the Blog! :)

2010-04-24T15:59:00.000+08:00

http://cherylshuen.com/blog/blog4.php/2010/04/21/cupcake-cake-4

Grayden's Baptism - Easter Sunday 2010

2010-04-04T20:50:00.006+08:00

Grayden's baptized!

Pastor Q wasn't around during the Christmas Baptism so we made little Graydie wait till Easter to get baptized. For sentimental reasons, we wanted Pastor Q to baptize him. Pastor Q had gave me my unique name when I was born, baptized me and Hubby G, married and solemnized our holy matrimony. He has played such a big role in our family unit so he was the natural and sentimental choice of course.

You can't see from this angle, but Grayden's actually placing his hand on top of Pastor's hand. So cute the little boy. :)

And so, this Easter Sunday, HG and I dedicate our little sunbeam to the Lord, we promise to instruct him in the principles of our holy faith as found in the Scriptures of the Old and New testaments and as summarized in the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms of our Church.
We solemnly promise to pray with and for him, to set an example of piety and godliness before him and to endeavour by all means to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

And thank you Auntie B and Uncle B, for organizing his wonderful Baptism party to commemorate his special day! :)

Cupcakes ordered from Cheryl Shuen in a lovely Blue Baptism theme. Thank you Uncle Justin for picking them up.

A separate set of cupcakes ordered from Janiviy of Delectable Delights. Wanted to try both sets of cakes to see which garnered more votes for his 1st Birthday Cake.

"Thank you all my lovely Family and Friends for making my Baptism a special Day. I know I am superbly Loved." :)

9 Month Old Grayden - A Whole New Ball of Expressions and Responses

2010-04-03T19:30:00.003+08:00

"Boo!"

"Ooh?"

Look Ma! No Hands! I'm going to walk soon. :p

I got my hands on forbidden fruit! And it tastes good! Ha ha

The things Kong Kong gives to get a pose.

Grayden Goes Swimming Again.. Alone This Time..

2010-04-03T18:34:00.002+08:00

And so it seems, he prefers to have time to himself.

Long Overdue Post @ Xi Yan: HG's BDay

2010-03-19T10:23:00.004+08:00

Thanks Lin and B for being such a great brother and sister! :)

apple and roast duck salad - interestingly yummy. Refreshing despite the dauntingly huge bed of lettuce.

grilled pork cheek - soft and tasty

shredded dried conpoy with choy sum - *shudder* way too much veggie

Salivating chicken with century egg, konnyaku noodles - my favorite of the evening

Fresh peppercorn prawns

beef brisket in Sichuan hot and spicy sauce - I was bursting by this course to fully appreciate it. But the beef was tender and the sauce was a full-bodied, super spicy sauce. The you tiao was a cute twist.

water chestnut sorbet with sugarcane crystals. I liked this palatte cleanser. Not your usual tart fruit sorbet, but a refresher nonetheless.

black bean paste fish with rice noodles - Seriously bursting by now.

Chef's lychee ice cream with osmanthus flower wine - BURST.

Grayden and His 8 Month Milestone

2010-03-19T09:47:00.008+08:00

So fast he grows. You always hear the old folks count off in their dialect chants:

"6 months - sit, 7 months - teeth, 8 months - crawl, 9 months - stand"... What is rattled off in a matter of seconds is actually 4 to 5 precious months of watching him grow every day and achieving all these mini milestones in life.

It's sad that a human's most carefree and happy moments in life, are the times we will never remember. Those early months of his life, are ones he will only recollect and vicariously live from these pictures and videos.

Graydie...here's mummy's wish that you will occasionally live life as happy and worry-free as you do now.

As for me, the painful first few months are now but a blur memory. The times where I vehemently insist He will BE THE LAST! NO MORE!! seem almost like impossible to repeat now.

Perhaps this is God's way of preserving the procreation of man - by making memories of pain fleeting in a woman's mind, programming the human brain to place joyful and happy memories over the hard trying ones when it comes to our little babies; making us such adaptable creatures adjusting as those hard initial months fade away as time progresses and we see the little one blossoming and developing into such an independent little Rugrat.

So just for now - I'm content living in the moment:

His smile melts away every frustration or anger bubbling over from the last mischievous act.

His face is the funniest when it scrunches and crumples when the waterworks come.

And a mess on his face made by his lunch, seems like the most adorable thing...

Just for now. I'm grateful to be content living in this moment.

Grayden goes to Bathe!

2010-03-19T09:41:00.003+08:00

My First Liver - Daddy must be so proud!

2010-02-09T13:12:00.004+08:00

Gone Swimming

2010-02-03T14:06:00.004+08:00

Grayden getting ready to go swimming! I bought this cutest tiny swimsuit ages ago, for the day he would be ready to take to the pool. 4 months later, he stands, excited and ready. For sure since swimming for him is sitting in a float and Mummy does all the work!

At the pool side, GrandDaddy gets him all ready - float and all for the first plunge. :)

Protective mummy slathers on the sun-tan lotion. Didn't really work in the end because the pool boy got a super sun-kissed head the next day.

And in we go! Check out the face.
Don't see what he should be grumpy about, he gets pushed around in his little An-Pan float!
I also want... :p

Now we get a little more ambitious and put Graydie in front of a mini fountain. See how engross he is with the water. Haha, probably more cautious that the water doesn't get to his face!

And the relax disposition after the morning dip in the pool. Ah, tired!!

And Dazed... :) Time for my nap!

Grayden's First Word!

2010-02-03T13:59:00.002+08:00

Ok, ok, clearly a presumptuous Parental Moment...
It's probably more like his first attempts at "wow". But at least he's mouthing the word! ;p

See What My Little Monkey Can Do!

2010-01-19T10:28:00.004+08:00

Such dangerous stunts attempted!

Ah! Forbidden fruit!

Nothing like good old Daddy's stomach to climb. :)

Ryugin Tokyo - Our Most Expensive Dinner by Far

2010-01-06T14:46:00.000+08:00

We heard so much about Ryugin when planning our second Tokyo trip. We wanted to ensure we had at least another special Omakase night. It felt naturally right, to end the trip this way - so I called 2 months in advanced and made the reservation.

2 Months later, here we are, toasting to the holiday and to friendships and travelling companions.

Ryugin - means singing dragon in Japanese. The place was not difficult to find. Tucked within a small road, off the main road in Ropponggi. Our waiter was a pleasant smartly dressed Japanese named Arimasa, speaking good English as he described our menu for the evening. It's absolute thanks to him that I got the food descriptions correct tonight.

After our bubblies, we started with the first of 4 appetizers. A combination of abalone, steamed for 6 hours with the abalone liver sauce and seasoned potato from Kyoto in a rice ginger sauce.
The abalone was juicy sweet and the potato lightly pan fried provided a lovely contrasting texture.

Next was an Uni Chawamushi. Plump creamy uni from Hokkaido with a jelly sauce made from shrimp and crab roe sprinkled generously with mountain potato. The result, mouthfuls of creamy sweetness with occasional crunchy bits and refreshing jelly.

The 3rd appetizer was a monk fish liver with pinenuts, fresh seasonal vegetables, and squid in a white miso sauce. The flavour was peppered with mustard and vinegar. An interesting course, but not my favourite since I never am a fan of vegetables.

The last of the appetizers, was my favourite of the four. A crab soup, made from Matsuba crab. It's kind of like snow crab but we were dutifully informed by Arimasa that this is supposedly the best crab in Japan (and they have the tag to prove it). The crab meat is grilled gently on charcoal and the meat generously stuffed in a crab meat dumpling. The roe is extracted and concentrated in the soup with Ichiban Dashi, making it a rich, yet uncloying clear stock. The dumpling was so soft and the skin so thin that the moment you bite into it, you only get the sweet taste of crab.

And that's our crab's name tag - proof that he has been served to us. Now on to the mains.

First main course was sushi. The plating is fantastic. The symmetry and the neatness in presentation was perfect. The fish, needless to say, was absolutely divine. The lobster was crunchy fresh, the Hiramae and Flounder had no fishy taste, the tuna melted in my mouth and the Ika was super fresh.

Next was a dish served with 2 kinds of clams. I would say it's 3 kinds of clams since it came in a bowl shaped like one! :0)

Then, came my personal favourite for the evening. Sea Perch with a skin done so crispy and light it resembled rice bubbles. It was paired with chestnut, potato chips and a small cube of persimmon. I don't understand the pairing but it worked. The different textures just came together and the sweet fruit gave it a sublime and delightful completion.

By the 3rd Main, I was almost done. But the sight of red juicy wagyu beef, sets me on auto-pilot to pick up my cutlery and dig in. The wagyu was from a Kushu grill on charcoal with a simmered turnip in miso sauce. The tomato and water jelly with yogurt and tea was to help wash the heaviness all down, but I didn't really fancy it.

Finally, the mains ended with a miso soup and pickles and a small portion of rice with sardines and yuzu. The miso soup was probably the best I have ever tasted. None of that instant soup crap, this tasted like true quality.

Then comes Arimasa, "More Space?" he asked? We looked at each other and shrugged, why not?! So he gave us a small portion of homemade soba with yuzu. Pleasant.

And so, the night goes on and it's time for dessert. We started with a Japanese mandarin sorbet to cleanse the palette. Very tangy and sweet.

And the piece d resistance. Soft pillowly cakes that were as light as air could ever be. So soft that we had to use 2 spoons to eat! one to scoop and the other to roll each morsel onto the spoon. The combination of green tea, soybean and coconut was interesting. But of course I liked the coconut one best.

Next were chestnut cakes filled with cream and yellow sweet potato and lemon. Quite light and yummy. A nice way to end off the evening.

And finally, a nice warm matcha froth. To wash down the entire meal, to recharge us before we march out into the rainy cold and to leave us with a warm fuzzy feeling in the stomach and in our hearts.

Hidemi Sugino and Pierre Herme Japan

2010-01-06T14:08:00.006+08:00

This trip to Japan, I was determined to try the must reputed Hidemi Sugino.
So determined was I to make it up to my repressed cake demon, I was even mentally preparing Hubby G for the supposed snaking queues that appear shop-front even before opening hours at 9:30am.

But when we arrived shortly after 11am, there were no queues. In fact, it was so quiet, we stopped and had a cup of coffee.

There were 2 sections of cakes - one that could be taken away and one that had to be eaten in-house. So we packed 5 away and stayed for 3:

Mariee (raspberry w alcohol)

Aradis (strawberry, cranberry, orange peel)

Arabique (very strong coffee)

The cakes were pillowy soft, hence explaining their inability to last outside of the refrigerator homes for more then 10 minutes. The mousse melts in your mouth and the flavors come real and distinct.

The ones we took away were a little more interesting.

Ambre Noix (walnut coffee cheese)

Pomme d' Eve

Cuppaccino

Chatain (crispy tart shell)

Amethyste

I would have to admit, for the most of the cakes, we were devouring them blindly. The cake descriptions were in Japanese and none of the waitresses could explain to me what we were eating.
I was unfortunately, for most of the selection, disappointed. The quality of the ingredients were certainly unmistakably fresh and top-notch. Unfortunately, I would have traded any of them for a Pierre Herme vanilla tart in a flash...

Which brings me to my cake craving satisfactions!

Ooo, my heavenly vanilla tart - I drool as I reminisce of your creamy rich center and crisp fragrant tart...

Pierre Herme - still my no. 1 Patissier.

Reminiscing Japan - Sushi Mitsutani

2010-01-05T17:04:00.002+08:00

The sushi experience in Japan we will always remember for...

1) The exquisitely prepared excellent sushi I will remember for life
2) The Tamago - to borrow the expression from Joone - that is absolutely 'out of this WORLD'.
3) House Mackerel that melts heavenly in your mouth.
4) Ika so fresh unlike another rubbery textured, it has a firm clean crunch with every bite.
5) Hotate and Uni so sweet and generous.
6) And of course, the chef d' extraordinaire himself - the stern-faced Chef who looks like the cartoon character Gargemel from Smurfs. Such dedication to his craft, passion to serving up good sushi and pride in his art that his only English utterance throughout the dinner - which we will truly always remember- .."NO SAUCE".

After a dinner of 13-fine sushi, to continue in the spirit of all things FISH, we stopped at a little kiosk selling our favourite 'Fish cakes stuffed with red bean'. Yums!

Grayden's First Taste of Real Food

2010-01-05T15:55:00.006+08:00

Heh Heh, actually it's his second. The first attempt ended up on the floor.
Mummy was too negligent...

Second try!

The second mouth made it successfully from bowl to mouth. But check out his priceless expression. :)
The first of many he's going to bestow everytime he tries something new!

6 Month Grayden - Another Set of Milestones

2010-01-05T15:50:00.000+08:00

Tetsu - A New Found Treasure

2009-12-30T10:39:00.007+08:00

Ok maybe not so new, but new for us.
Yes yes, it is only after soo many years that I pay my first visit. But it was a good one.

They had my favorite puffer fish.

The tempura was quite yummy. One of the rare places that changed all my vegetables to sweet potato and pumpkin, no questions asked.

Aburi and Hotate sushi

The grill items were quite pleasant too. The beef tataki was flavorsome and juicy.

The garlic rice was fragrant, simple and tasty.

The tonkatsu and grilled kurobuta pork were unfortunately not very nice.
The pork was too dry and tough. The tonkatsu was also dry and too chunky.

Fortunately, I had great dining company. :)

Tetsu
163 Tanglin Road
#03-18 Tanglin Mall
Singapore 247933
6836 3112
www.tetsu.com.sg

Golden Spoon - Good Zi-Char and Good Prices

2009-12-24T09:46:00.006+08:00

If you are like us, early-bird dinner types, this place has parking right at it's door-step. Makes parking a breeze, and super convenient, especially if it rains.

My good old favorites with new twists- you tiao with salad cream and pork floss and rojak baby squid

Prawns in herbal soup

Crab beehoon

Golden Spoon Crispy Chicken - done in 2 ways, one phoenix style and another diced with black pepper and capsicum in a potato basket

Home-made Tofu

My favorite of the night - Panfried cod fish with cereal and pumpkin sauce.
Not as dry as it looks. Seems heavenly and the pumpkin adds a nice creamy touch.

Coffee ribs - came too late, too stuffed, but still yummy though.

Golden Spoon Restaurant
62 Seng Poh Lane
Tel: +65 6536 2218

Grayden: "Now That I'm Older..."

2009-12-24T09:24:00.006+08:00

I am a wee bit more sociable. And I realize I have soo many people to love me!

That's my mummy - I believe I got my complexion from her.

That's Auntie B - trying to kiss me...

Godma!

My Ye Ye and Nai Nai

My GrandDad a.k.a Kong Kong

And my Auntie Delia - the very first wedding I attended and got to touch the bride.

Don't Know Whether He Loves it or Hates it

2009-11-25T09:13:00.003+08:00

The poor little guy caught his first cold a few weeks ago when the weather turned cold.
He's got to take 2 cough and allergy medications and 2 nasty saline shots up the nose every day which gets him screaming bloody murder.

But this greedy boy can't decide whether he likes or hates his medicine. Maybe because it's new, or because it's sweet or maybe because he's just so darn greedy... he opens his mouth for it. He balks but still wants it...

Looks like he's ready for life - sucker for punishment.

New Discoveries at Marmalade Pantry

2009-11-19T09:27:00.003+08:00

Just when the cupcakes were starting to lose their ability to brighten up my day, I discover 2 new yummy reasons to go back to Marmalade...

The fluffy coconut cake

And lemon meringue sponge cake.

Since I grew up with my mother's homemade lemon meringue pies, I fell in love with this sweetie pie just from the menu description alone. A clever twist to the traditional dessert, MP leaves the tried and tested combination of sweet tinge of pillowy soft meringue and tarty lemon zest, and incorporates generous layers of soft light butter sponge. Yummy!

Another 5th Month Milestone - Rollie Pollie!

2009-11-19T09:07:00.003+08:00

Grayden's Laughter

2009-11-14T10:46:00.000+08:00

T-shirt from Gramsies - $24
Panasonic Lumix Camera - $699

Rarely heard pearls of laughter from my little Graydie - PRICELESS.

Guest-starring Daddy G, providing the even more priceless entertainment. :)

Graydie and his Gramps

2009-11-14T10:43:00.001+08:00

The Chronicles of Grayden's Chairs

2009-11-12T16:55:00.000+08:00

Grayden loves his chairs. I realize this boy really loves to sit. He sits alot...

From his super cool high-chair from cousin G to socialize at dinner...

To his observatory pram from Godma to snooze or chill comfortably in...

To his 2nd month Disney play-gym-cum-chair...

To inflatable smiley Hippo... to sit and ponder.

And of course our big cosy sofa in the living room to play with his M & D.

Today was another new chair experience. We had lunch at Taste Paradise again but it's his first time 'chairing' at a restaurant. :)

Hee hee, check out the paranoid parents and the little runt.

Gregory provides some side-line entertainment to his little cousin

And loses his specs! :)

"Revenge I eat your feet!"

Chalk @ Mount Sophia

2009-11-11T12:06:00.007+08:00

...And that's exactly what we devote our precious Saturdays to...selfish brunches, lazy lunches and family dinners. Since last week Chalk lost to District 10 - and such a poor victory it turned out to be, we thought we should give it a chance this week.

One walk in and I already like this place. Perhaps it's the large dining room space, or the chalkboard specials or the open kitchen concept or friendly owners Marcus and Laurent. We settled ourselves at our table, tripping over the fact that there were only a combine total of 2 filled tables for lunch. An empty restaurant means private and efficient dining - me like.

Jumping straight into the menu, we ordered a few appetizers - the mushroom consomme, smoked duck breast and the beef carpaccio from the specials that day - to share.

The appetizers were pretty average. The soup was a clear and light broth and the carpaccio was as predictable as day in what we expected. The smoked duck salad was interesting and the pear with raspberry dressing gave it a nice refreshing twist.

Lunch moved on at a leisurely pace. Our hearty mains were dished out as we chilled with cold beers and relaxing conversations.

We ordered another 2 items from the specials - the duo of pork and lamb parmentier. Normally I wouldn't recommend walking into a restaurant and ordering the specials since they tend to be what the kitchen needs to have thrown out. And this is the case for the lamb. But for the pork, it should be a main stay.This was lovely. Done in 2 ways, the pork was tasty and tender. The lamb wasn't so great though.

Sadly, that was about the only fantastic main we had. The rest failed to impress. The braised duck pappardelle wasn't that yummy.

The duck confit that came highly recommended was a little on the dry side. The sweet potato mash was really nice though. Refine and smooth.

Although the mains were not terribly impressive, I was still rather eager to move on to dessert. There were 3 items that had already screamed out to me when we first stepped in and I couldn't wait to sink my folk into them: sticky date cake with ginger ice-cream - Marcus laments that Laurent loves to dapple with everything ginger. We think it's yummy! - champagne sorbet with strawberries and fried banana with coconut ice cream.

The cake was warm and so homely. The ginger ice cream was a nice touch compared to the usual french vanilla ice creams normally served.

The champagne sorbet was light but the essence from the bubbly was apparent. Decently generous but not loud enough to cause drunkenness.

My absolute highlight was the fried banana and coconut ice cream. Fancy 'she-bang' for goreng pisang, I would still come back just for seconds. I don't like bananas actually, in fact I detest them to the point where I barf the minute I put a morsel in my mouth. But my dining companions confer that they are yummy. Coated with dessicated coconut and drizzled with creamy caramel - the pipping hot bananas are superb. And the coconut ice cream is perfection. I begged Marcus before we left to find a way to sell his ice cream by take-away tubs. Sadly, it's so yummy because they don't use stabilizers and that means that the ice cream melts in 10 minutes. It's never going to make it home with me... Sigh, such are life's ironies.
But Marcus makes it up by serving us another treat on the house - vanilla pana cotta with berry compote.

The pana cotta is so smooth and velvety creamy. So rich, yet so light. So sweet and tart at the same time. It was an extreme delight.

So will I come back to Chalk?
Like District 10, the food is nothing to rave about. The bulk of the menu is about average food. Like owner Marcus purports, it's meant to feel home-made and rusty.
But will I come back? Certainly!
If anything, it's for the yummy dessert and the chatty owners, Marcus and Laurent, who made lunch such a simple joy on a hot lazy Saturday afternoon.

Chalk@ Mt Sophia
11 the Old School at Mount Sophia,
#01-03, Singapore 228461
Tel: 6883 2120
http://www.chalk.com.sg/

A Day in the Life of 4-Turning-5 Month Old Graydie

2009-11-10T14:34:00.002+08:00

In the mornings I play with my mouth and tongue on my Mummy and Daddy's bed...

In the afternoons I lie by myself or sit and watch the world go by...

In the evenings, I rule the Household with my chair...

It's me and my chair - no one can take away my food or my toys.

District 10 - My first and My Last

2009-10-30T18:26:00.006+08:00

Yes, their expressions says it all. It's a scorching Saturday afternoon and already first impressions are marred as we step into the poorly ventilated bistro. The heat and the food left much to be desired and I probably speak for everyone at the table that we would probably not be returning for encores.

The salmon pate was bad, with a capital B. Fishy pate should just not be one of those things that a restaurant decides to serve generously.

It's hard to go wrong with deep fried calamari. I suppose any good restaurant shouldn't get this wrong. Thankfully the batter was light and the calamari wasn't too greasy.

The home-style ribs probably saved the meal, albeit it's pretty boring. The meat was tender, well marinated and served in a generous hearty portion.

The duck confit was one of the few dishes recommended but I felt the meat was a little too dry and it wasn't as impressive as I had hoped for it to be.

The wagyu meatballs unfortunately sounded much nicer within the menu than in picture.

The 2 pizzas we ordered were also pretty decent at least.

The crust was wafer thin and the greens were fresh while the ham - tasty.
Although we normally almost never stay for dessert in a bad restaurant, we thought we should because the chocolate sundae had quite a few dazzling reviews.

Ok, I'll admit the sundae is pretty yummy, chokeful of freshly roasted almonds and generous scoops of ice cream laced richly with luscious chocolate.. it's almost a shame I am not a choco-lunatic. The profiteroles were not to bad either.

All in all, the food was just borderline average. Needless to say I was very much disappointed since this was suppose to be the latest establishment from the Bonta group. I had been so eager to get the lunch reservation. Sadly an hour and a half later, I had almost wished we didn't....

District 10 Bistro
10 Winstedt Road
#01-17
Tel: +65 6738 4788

Grayden and Simba Mini @ Brunch

2009-10-30T18:12:00.004+08:00

It's yet another barrage of Graydie's photos as a proud and gushing mummy goes trigger happy every time the little runt learns a new trick or achieves another milestone.

4 months in and I forget the days he had the ugly baby acne and freaky cradle cap. He's got such envious porcelain fair skin (pregger mommies out there, bird's nest fortnightly works), I so want to steal back my youth!

We're back at Marmalade Pantry for brunch before lunch @ District 10 with Auntie and Uncle B. Grayden's showing off his new talk as he discovers he's got lips...

and that he can illicit laughs from mummy with his goofy expressions...

and a loyal friend in Simba Mini. :)

4 Month Old Graydie

2009-10-30T09:27:00.000+08:00

Itacho @ Ion Orchard

2009-10-24T20:43:00.006+08:00

Ok, I won't claim it's fantabulous sushi, but it's pretty reasonable and decent quality Japanese fare for the price you pay and for the location it's at. Plonked at one of the hotspots within the Ion, Itacho adds up to the several Japanese food outlets within the Ion that will certainly draw crowds streaming from Isetan, or intercept the trendy young kids MRT commuters passing by for a Dunkin donut or on their way to Borders or Sakae Sushi at the Wheelock.

The menu is perpetually flooded with chef recommendations, specials and promotion. The sushi offerings are abundant and they are priced as per piece. That's good for single diners or for greedy foodies such as ourselves who want to try everything. But it's naturally confusing for regular Sakae and Sushi Tei diners who think the prices indicated are standard for 2 pieces of sushi per plate.

Of course I had to have my otoro - one of every kind, with tendon, with less tendon and aburi. All of which I would say is pretty decent.

The single servings for sushi worked out well for Hubby who loves an occasional Ebi sushi.

It's rare to find pumpkin tempura in a Japanese menu. The cubes of pumpkin were soft and piping hot within, light and crispy on the outside. I would have liked the pumpkin a little naturally sweeter.

The soy sauce salmon was interesting, but I guess I am only ever really interested in otoro in any Japanese Sushi menu. :)

Although this is the first time I saw wagyu beef - raw and aburi being offered. Raw wagyu beef is a little too hardcore for me so I took the aburi while Hubby went for the raw. The beef was indeed tender and marbling was visible, but it was disappointingly bland and lacked the punch of a good wagyu.

The jumbo scallop sushi was yumy and so was the unagi which came in a pretty generous portion. Unagi is normally too sweet and 'boney' for my liking, but Itacho served it well - lightly seasoned so that the sweetness doesn't overpower the fresh natural sweetness.

We had sweet potato endings while Grayden polished off his dinner. This was utterly disappointing, any donut from Dunkin donuts next door would have satisfied my sweet tooth instead of this. I expected it to come warm but instead it came stone cold and the potatoes had turned hard. I would recommend to skip dessert. You can get your sweet fix at the Marmalade pantry or even bread society next door.

Itacho Sushi (ION Orcahrd)
2 Orchard Turn
#B2-18 Ion Orchard
Tel: +65 6509 8911

Grayden's 4th Month New Talk

2009-10-23T16:11:00.000+08:00

It's month 4 for Graydie and the little runt's mastered a new talk!
Hee Hee, he's starting to teeth and he's discovered his lips and tongue. :)
Put that all together and we hear the funniest sounds!
Check out the little shiver at the end (according to reliable sources - it's cause he peed!) Haha

Free Hugs! Who wants one?!

2009-10-23T16:07:00.002+08:00

Come and Taste Paradise at ION!

2009-10-13T11:38:00.011+08:00

Did I tell you that I have fallen in love with the ION? It is officially my favourite mall. And now with Taste paradise and Marmalade Pantry both open and offering new delectable yummies, I am loving it even more.
On a saturday afternoon, Taste Paradise is already packed with hungry patrons as early as 12noon when they open doors for business.
Melvin, an old friend and the manager boasts that the dim sum is only freshly made as orders from tables pour in. Nothing is prepared overnight. This attention to dedication and detail can be felt, and in this case, very much tasted in their custard buns.

I don't normally fancy this traditional sweet dim sum. But here, I always order 2 servings! The pipping hot custard flows out richly with the first bite, threatening to burn the most delicate of tongues. Yet this rich yellow filling is not as sweet as it appears. The salted egg yolk sedates the sweetness and makes every bite such a yummy delight.

The egg tarts are my second favourite. It's hard to find a good egg tart nowadays. The tart is thin and crisp, and the egg custard is so freshly out of the oven, it's almost molten liquid!

The roast pork isn't as good as Peach Garden or Crystal Jade. A little too salty and not as crispy as I would have liked it. But it's got a good amount of meat and fat.

As the rest of the dim sum arrive on the table, we are lost in a sea of good traditional streamed dumplings, and new interesting fried items. I won't bother to pen down the names of the variety we tried, you can probably guess from the pictures. We did make it a point not to try the usual siew mai and chicken feet, etc, and we were definitely not disappointed.

We tried the foie gras xiao long bao since it had been strongly recommended by several other foodies. But we were rather disappointed. We could barely taste even a hint of foie gras. It tasted pretty similar to their regular xiao long bao.
But a passing complaint to Melvin and the next order came bursting with foie gras! Now that was more like it! *drool*

We also wanted to try some of their new signatures just to ensure that the quality of their flagship at Mosque street was not lost in transition. And I am only too happy to shift my alliance to the Ion branch. Parking is easier, shopping is certainly more accessible for after-meal digestions and the food is definitely up one notch.

The carrot cake is still offered in the Ion and rightfully it should. Their XO carrot cake is pillowy soft and fragrant still.

We also tried their baked kurobuta pork, flavoured with tang gui. The herb provides the unique fushion without any of the medicinal stigma that comes with dishes cooked with herbs. The pork is soft and baked to perfection.

The sister had to have her wasabi prawns and its nice to see some familiar classics on the table.

We always ordered the baked lamb rack whenever we come to taste but we heard they had a new signature. This is better since the lamb rack had seen better days and has some how dropped in standard in the last few orderings. But I won't say I was extremely 'wow-ed'.

From the seafood, we ordered one from the new and one from the old. The chef recipe for the cod fish has always been a must. And we also ordered a new item - salted egg york crusted scallop on a bed of avocado and sweet corn. The fish never fails. Even when we bring guests here, never once has the fish failed to garner solid superb praise. This was no exception.
The scallop on the contrary doesn't give good first impressions. But as you continue with each bite, the flavours grown on you and the avocado and sweet corn adds a light and interesting new dimension.

By this time we probably should have stopped. :) But being the greedy people we are, we also had to fill up on the carbs. We got the usual fried rice and tried the lobster noodles. No complaints for either. The lobster noodles was excellent. My only complaint - we shouldn't have order it last.

All in all, it was a superb leisurely Saturday lunch. Taste Paradise definitely ranks one of the top best restaurants in my books. Now with them open and look set to stay in the Ion, I'll probably be succumbing to temptation fairly often now!

Taste Paradise at ION Orchard
ION Orchard #04-07
No. 2 Orchard Turn
Singapore238801

Tel: 6226 2959

Opening Hours
Mon – Fri
11.30am- 3.00pm (last order at 2.30pm)
6.00pm - 11pm (last order at 10.00pm)

Sat, Sun & PH
11.00am – 5.00pm (last order at 10.30pm)
6.00pm - 11.00pm (last order at 10.00pm)

Weekend Buffet at Jing

2009-10-12T10:00:00.007+08:00

After a few attempts to make a reservation at the much hyped, fairly new establishment of Chef Yong from Majestic, we finally got a table for the weekend lunch buffet.

For $36++ per person, the weekend ala-carte dim sum buffet is quite a steal. Dessert lovers though might be better off at an International hotel buffet spread.

Fruits and very simple Chinese pastries is about as sweet an ending you're going to get. The main highlights, are within the menu.

The Barbecued meat station also had simple but tasty offerings. The classic Peking duck was juicy and not too stingy with the meat and the soy sauce chicken was rather yummy.

We drove quite quickly into the wide dim sum selection, ordering the must-have raves, the familiar good-old favourites and some healthy steamed items for the parents.

Poached Pork Dumplings “Beijing Style”

Pan-fried Homemade Carrot Cake

Steamed Crystal Abalone Dumplings

Steamed Dumpling with Prawn and Dou Miao

Steamed Fresh Scallops Dumplings

Baked Flaky Honey Pork Puff

Steamed Pork Siew Mai with Fish Roe

Pan Fried Dumpling with Minced Meat

Crisp-fried Prawns Dumplings

The dim sums were good, nothing to complain about. Each portion was of a decent standard, wanton and dumpling skins were not too thick, prawns and meat fillings were fresh and abundant, the quality of Chef Yong's dim sum were certainly not short-changed just because it was served at a buffet.

But I would say the main dishes in the menu were much nicer than the dim sums.

The black vinger pig trotters were absolutely yummy. Felt so reminiscent of my confinement days!

Wok Fried Cubes of Beef with Black Pepper Sauce

Sweet and Sour pork

Sautéed Prawn with Szechuan Sauce

Stir Fried Pork Belly with Garlic in XO Sauce

The dishes come in neat manageable portions and that means wastage is minimized. Buffets typically bring out the tragically ugly side of us greedy people and I must say the main dishes in small but no-less adequate portions are a welcoming sight. Plating and presentation was definitely not compromised, I pity the dish washers at Jing.

To scintillate the Asian taste buds further, Chef Yong includes Chili crab with fried man tou, live prawns E-fu noodles and a steam fish in the menu, limited to one serving per table. In my opinion, these 3 items alone already makes the price tag on lunch worth-while.

Chili Crab

Steamed “Ba Ting” Fish in Minced Ginger

Stewed E-fu Noodles with Live Prawn and Chives
After a lunch so heavy and satisfying such as this, who can't help but feel sedated and take a nap! :)

Jing Weekend Ala Carte Brunch Buffet
Adults $36++
Child $20++
One Fullerton, #01-02/03
1 Fullerton Road
Singapore 049213
Tel: 6224 0088
http://jing.sg/downloads/JING_WeekendAlaCarteBrunchBuffet.pdf

Simba Mini and Grayden

2009-10-12T09:38:00.005+08:00

Can't wait for Graydie to grow up and play with the real Simba. :)

RidersCafe at Green Fairways

2009-10-12T09:12:00.004+08:00

I'm probably one of the last few people to have heard of the Riders' Cafe at Green Fairways since this place is apparently packed during the weekday brunches and impossible to get a seat on weekends.

Tucked deep within the greenery near the old turf club and within interesting sights of magnificent horses in their stables or fairgrounds, this little cafe has done good for itself. Probably meant to be a resting place for the riders, this little cafe now serves out plate after plate of eggs, pancakes, burgers and pastas to diners that hardly own a single piece of riding gear.

We came a little too late for breakfast which was a shame cos their eggs are better. So I ordered the Rider's burger and hubby got the Gorgonzola ravioli.

Nothing spectacular, the burger comes with either steak fries or kettle chips. If like me, you absolutely detest fat fries, go for the kettle chips instead. The patty was average, the cheese and mushrooms added only an expected taste to the burger. The bacon was fried to an excellent crisp though and I love that they served pickles as well.

The ravioli was way too hardcore cheesy for my liking. It becomes too heavy and one-dimensional after one or two pieces. But the garlic prawn starter we ordered to share was pretty decent.

Since the ravioli failed to live up to expectation, we tried the crab meat pasta as well.

The pasta was laced pretty generously with juicy chunky crab meat and mushrooms. But again, it was also pretty average.

So my conclusion is the lunch menu is pretty boring and disappointing. All the good reviews they received were mainly for breakfast and desserts. So unless you can make it for brunch or tea, lunch may be better grazed else where.

Riders' Cafe @ Green Fairways
51 Fairways Drive
Tel 64669819
http://www.riderscafe.sg/

Grayden and Grams

2009-10-02T09:04:00.004+08:00

My little monkey has bowled over his Grams and absolutely won over her heart.
She goes absolutely nuts over him. :)

He's slowly winning over his G-Dad,

and Queen B too!

2009-10-02T08:54:00.002+08:00

Mini Push-Ups!

2009-09-30T09:47:00.004+08:00

My little Graydie has hit another milestone! Mini Push-ups!
Since he sleeps on his tummy, he's learnt to bear a little weight on his shoulders and arms.

Now the little curious monkey lifts his head so often when he's suppose to be sleeping, to stare and pose for the camera....

...to say hello to Pooh bear and friends,

...and to roll over!

...to look for toys,

...and to roll over and stare at mummy! :)

HATCHED!

2009-09-29T10:42:00.006+08:00

Haha, Nooooo, not referring to Grayden the little hatchling!
But the relatively new cosy establishment at Evan's Lodge.

Tucked away in the small corner of Evan's Lodge, it's certainly easy to drive by, ambivalent to this cute little hang-out place for weekend brunches along the way to either Cluny court for Da Paolo's or Relish or Botanic Gardens for Au Jardin.

As it's name implies, the main staple on every item in the menu, you guessed it, is eggs!
Hard boiled, poached, scrambled, fried, they were in any form imaginable on the extensive menu.

Sis L and I shared the Le Rossini - classic scrambled eggs jazzed up a notch with truffle oil and foie gras and the Burly Benedict - poached egg with corned wagyu beef decked on a traditional English muffin.

The truffle scrambled eggs was the yummiest. Simple, so easy to make and yet we never thought to put truffle oil in eggs! I am so going to try this out for my next breakfast. Never really a fan for poached eggs, the Benedict left much to be desired. The wagyu beef was a little too salty and the combination just didn't cut it for me.

The others tried the Cowboy and the Croque Madame. The cowboy - a simple fried egg on top of a juicy steak and the Croque Madame - Kurobuta ham and Emmental cheese served with a fried egg on Ciabatta bread.

By the time we had sampled all the orders, I was starting to get the feeling that this little nook was merely giving cute fancy names to traditional classic ham and cheese sandwiches and simple eggs on bread dishes. The sad thing was, we were paying over $14 to $20 for brunches that we could probably recreate in our own kitchen, and I would hardly hail myself as a chef.

The eggs were well executed, but as the Hubby always says, it's hard to go wrong with eggs for breakfast. In fact when we travel, the safest things to eat during breakfasts were eggs! Cos they almost taste the same on every continent.

So Hatched was a slight disappointment. Though I had expected the food to be like so after all most times we have brunch, it's almost always eggs with meat on toast, and seriously, how much variety can there be?
At least we had a nice outing for Graydie with his Uncle B and Queen B. :p

Hatched
Evan's Lodge #01-06
26 Evans Road
http://www.hatched.sg/
67350012

Saraceno - The Best Italian I've had in Ages

2009-09-29T09:12:00.006+08:00

Tucked away in the most unlikely corner of the Berjaya Hotel along the buzzling night-life of Duxton Road, this Italian restaurant promised me a great Friday evening dinner and delivered.
Owned apparently by a Czech and boasts of chefs that had previously worked along side Gordon Ramsay, the food is indeed commendable. It had garnered numerous reviews on Hungrygowhere.com and passed most with flying colour. I was only amazed that it wasn't packed on a Friday night.

The bread basket arrived on the table expectantly warm and freshly baked. The spinach and Parmesan bun was super yummy. I don't mind loading up on my greens in such a fashion ever!

We started with a beef amuse buse served with a creamy sauce which I was shamelessly scraping off every inch of Hubby's and my serving with the bread.

For starters we got the Fresh loin of Tuna tossed with fennel and orange vinaigrette and the Parma Ham with Porcini, simply because it had truffle oil in it and that is must 1 true love.

The tuna was fresh and texture-ly juxtaposed with the tangy orange pieces, aromatic herbs and the crunchy fennel.

The parma ham was of course my favourite of the appetizers. Though a common sight in many Italian restaurants, to serve it well requires more effort. Saraceno is generous with the Parma ham slices and Parmesan shavings.

The flavours came together beautifully on the bed of toasted bread laced with truffle oil.
The waiting time between our appetizers and mains was decent. Not too long that we would get impatient and not too fast that the taste of the appetizers were still lingering on our palettes.

We ordered the Beef Tenderloin fillet from the 'Carne' section and I would highly recommend this to any meat lover. This is probably the best executed tenderloin fillet I have ever encountered. Medium rare, just how I like it, but it was not overly raw and the knife sears through the meat like butter. The texture is so smooth. Together with the potato puree and red wine sauce - oooooh, I still think about it ever so often.

Hubby wanted to try the pasta so we ordered the Linguine con Aragosta which came highly recommended and the Pappardelle pasta with roasted bell peppers.

We changed the pasta to angel hair and with the first mouthful there was simply no regret. The cherry tomatoes were yummy and the fine pasta soaked up all the juices making each bite super yummy and tasty. The lobster was extremely sweet and fresh.

The pappardelle wasn't that fantastic though. The capers and olives, cheese and tomatoes certainly gave it more than one dimension, but this was only ok for me. What can I say, I must have some meat in my carbs. :)

The portions were decent, 3 of us shared 3 mains and we were all adequately stuffed. But of course that being said we definitely had room for dessert.
Like my sister says, we judge an Italian restaurant by the Tiramisu they serve. And I will say, this is the best Tiramisu I have ever had. Not just in terms of taste, but also in terms of novelty and creativity, Saraceno's tiramisu truly takes the cake.

The coffee infusion is not too overpowering, the cheese does not feel cloying and how clever to use a think crisp sweet biscuit basket instead of the boring finger sponge. I will come back here just for seconds.
We also ordered the pineapple ravioli. I liked this though my dinning companions felt it was too sour.

The tartness on the contrary completes the evening to every Italian dinner where we tend to overload on heavy creams and hearty meats. The pineapple sorbet cleanses the palette and just puts the finishes touches to the evening and the happy smile on my face. :)
I am definitely coming back here and bringing people!
Not only was the food good, but they were also very friendly and homely. Not many fine dining places welcome bulky prams and wailing babies. But they welcomed Graydie with open arms and a pot of hot water for his dinner. :)

What more can I say! Thumbs up!

Saraceno Ristorante
83 Duxton Road
Berjaya hotel Singapore
6438 9638

Grayden Flips!

2009-09-28T14:35:00.004+08:00

Graydie finally flips for the camera!!
Bright and early at 658am, our dear little monkey goes through his usual waking routine...
Lifts his head, kicks a leg and flips onto his back! Then, he mercifully plays by himself till his parents wake up.

The Marmalade Pantry

2009-09-28T14:03:00.005+08:00

They have moved to Ion. Smart move I suppose since the human traffic at the Ion would certainly be much heavier then where they used to be. Sad move as that would mean getting a table at any mealtimes would be murder. It's a good thing I'm having lunch at 11am in the morning.

The seating capacity has definitely increased, and so has their cupcake selection, of which I had the greedy chance to sample a few of the good old ones as well as the new.

I wanted to try something new apart from the usual suspects like the crabmeat pasta and falafel wrap in the menu, so I ordered the spiced grilled lamb and my dining partner had the beef cheek guinness pie.

The grilled lamb was excellent. They only had white sandwich bread but the toasty warm bread went well with the Iman blyaldt, radish and mint leaves.

The 300-day grain fed beef pie was nice but pretty plain vanilla to me. It had a warm, homely feeling but I would have preferred the falafel or linguini any day. And for the priciest item on the menu, I was seriously expecting more.

Of course no trip to the Marmalade pantry will be complete without dessert and a cupcake. My new favorite is the Geisha. It was a tough fight between this and the red velvet, but my penchant for pandan won.

We also shared the blueberry ricotta fritters, quite the pleasant change. If the portions during lunch left me feeling a bit peckish, these fritters sealed the deal. They were a little too starchy for my liking but the blueberries gave a nice dimension to the cheese and the cinnamon cream and dusting of icing sugar gave the fritters just the right sugary end to my lunch.

Unit 03-22
Orchard Ion
2 Orchard Turn
Singapore 238801
Tel: 67342700
http://www.themarmaladepantry.com

Flip in Motion!! Or at least Graydie's many attempts to...

2009-09-28T13:17:00.003+08:00

Grayden has reached another exciting milestone, he has learnt to flip from his belly to his back. Unfortunately since it's the beginning of this physical developmental milestone he won't perform on cue for me. :(
So after many many many failed attempts to capture his stunt on video, I was left with plenty of still pictures of his attempt to flip in motion and still no perfectly captured flip in sight!

Here's a mummy's take on what her little monkey's up to:

He starts always at his usual position, at the end of the cot, bottom-right hand corner...

Starts to leave his blanket behind as his bottom goes up...

Makes a right turn while navigating with his thumb in his mouth...

Bored of the view at the top, starts to lift his head to get his bearings...
And decides turning right is the next route to go, so off he goes again!

Pit-stops for a yummy snack...

It's time to kick off again...

Might as well go one full circle from where I came from...

Alas! When the journey gets too perilous, mummy has to flip the little imp over manually...

And that's when the show ends in a bawl of tears.

The little Fattie's Bathtime

2009-09-28T13:03:00.004+08:00

The last time I posted a picture of Grayden in the bath, he was afraid I was going to drown him. Now, 3 months down the road, he's still clucthing the bathtub for security even though his neck is firmer, head's stronger, and two times fatter!

"Is that a camera?! Cut Daddy!!"

"Shut-up, the camera adds 10 pounds"

"Ahh, I'm all fresh and clean! :)"

Hee hee, 10 years down the road, my son is going to kill me for posting his nude photos online.
Or his daddy and grandparents will blame me if he chooses to go into a career that promotes voyeurism!

Grayden's got a new chair!

2009-09-28T11:46:00.008+08:00

We got Graydie a 3-month of present when we were out shopping today. We saw this cute little chair in the window of a shop and just thought it was the cutest thing ever. G loved that it looked so comfortable! So we bought it for our little 3 month-er, and he loves it!

Of course this was a project that got the parents involved in some super hard prep work!

And we get the hippo float ring up...

And the finishing touches, before we put Graydie in... Viola!

And he rewards us with his repertoire of many activities in his new comfy hippo chair...

Meditating,

Staring at the yummy fingers,

Dazing and day dreaming

Staring at daddy,

Coming up with cheeky ideas! :p

Breakfast @ Paragon

2009-09-28T11:26:00.004+08:00

Oh how I missed these Saturday morning lazy breakfasts!Thankfully we can more or less resume our much treasured weekend morning munches, only and now it's become a much treasured family outing. :)

Graydie sizing up the place, his usual frown before it breaks into a big toothless grin. :) He loves Saturday breakfasts too!

2009-09-14T13:16:00.001+08:00

Finally fairly decent pictures of me with my little chunky monkey!

Little Graydie in the mirror

2009-09-14T12:52:00.001+08:00

S-MOTHERED!!

2009-09-14T09:14:00.000+08:00

Ok, Mummy, enuff now... Hee hee

3! Another Milestone

2009-09-11T18:33:00.000+08:00

My little boy turns 3 months today! How time flies, yet also how it seems to crawl.

At times it seems he is growing so fast, attaining so many physical and social milestones at one time.

He pulls our heartstrings with his responsive stares and million and one funny faces.

The number of funny and silly faces this boy has is uncanny! :)

He has perfected the art of crying. So pathetic he'll break his grandmothers' hearts.

He's found his thumb...

and the 4 other little piggies which he takes to sleep with him.

He's realised he has saliva and it's fun to bubbles with!

His head is stronger, he's exploring the world beyond.

His legs are even stronger as he kicks himself off...

Even at night this boy exercises!
'
He watches tv and goos and coos.

He 'communicates' seeming to comprehend our moods and our silliness when we are around him.

His look changes everyday as he gains cheeks, a tummy and chubby thighs.

He plays his special "the flying game" only with mummy,

and his latest development!...scaring us with his flip from belly to back.

Little Grayden's New Chair

2009-09-10T15:47:00.001+08:00

We bought Graydie a new chair! The baby fair was on at Taka again, so this time I thought it would be nice to get Grayden a nice chair for him to bounce on his own, to keep him occupied. We saw this Disney play chair that's kind of cool. It doesn't bounce but it's suppose to be functional and practical right up till he is 2 years old. So we bought it and he loves it! :p

The cushion is super comfy which was the most important criteria for Hubby. I'm envious of my son's playchair! I also want to sit.

Front view - soo many things to see!

i

Top view - look how he's eyeing baby Mickey...soon he will be pulling him out of it's seat! :)

Side view - deep concentration

Opps! Haha, had to share this candid shot.

The Many Faces of Little Gradie

2009-09-10T14:45:00.004+08:00

My little Grady in his own little world

The little imp attempting to bite Mummy, Then smiling about it!!

The changing faces of a bored little boy...no prizes for whose frown he inherited! :p

Outing with Queen B - House@Dempsey

2009-09-10T14:23:00.000+08:00

Maternity leave is starting to look up since Queen B started having her mandatory off-days. I have someone to have TTLs (tai-tai lunches) with!

We decided on Dempsey since she got me thinking about my truffle fries and it is kind of baby-friendly.
I must say the food @ the Barracks Cafe has generally improved quite a bit. Most of what we ordered were hits rather then misses. We shared a soft-shell crab with curry popcorn and Patagonian wagyu beef appetizer.

The wagyu beef was cooked to perfection married with a lightly salted sweet potato sticks. The soft-shell crab was well juxtaposed with the sweet corn puree but the curry popcorn was a little to wierd for my liking.
Queen B insisted on the mushroom risotto. Probably wanted to see how different it measured up to her version of it. It turned out to be a slight disappointment. I suppose expectations killed it.
And for our meat fix, we had the herb-crusted lamb rack. The lamb was juicy and the herb crust was a delight. Our only complaint probably was there were only 3 pieces and there are 2 of us. :(

Apart from the must-have truffle fries, of course any meal at the Barracks, isn't complete without their strawberry short-cake dessert. I was upset though, they took our order as part of their set-lunch promotion and our dessert portion came mega-small. :( The waiter sensed our 'eye-balling' in disbelief at the shrinkage and apologized sheepishly. Hmmph!

So we compensated with another dessert - the pandan lamington. This was G-O-O-D. Of course if you don't like anything coconut-y, or hate the taste of kaya, then this is not the dessert for you. The cheese toppings also didn't do it for me, but we easily scrapped that off to attack the soft fragrant cake below. Yums!
And oh yes! Graydie had fun too. :)

I was pleasantly surprised. The food has improved much since our last visit. I probably won't mind coming back again.

The Barracks Cafe@Dempsey
8D Dempsey Road
Tel:6476 6050
http://www.dempseyhouse.com/

Bonding with Graydie

2009-09-10T14:05:00.000+08:00

Playtime!

2009-09-10T09:46:00.000+08:00

Grayden on his playgym for the first time. Thank you Auntie Jas!

I can play by myself too! I'm self-entertaining...but only for awhile

The resemblance appears uncanny...
Grayden with the rest of his friends - Simba mini from Queen B and Uncle B

Dino from Uncle Vic and Auntie Ling

Show-down with Mummy and Daddy' live-in bed resident

Sleeping Grayden

2009-09-10T09:23:00.000+08:00

"People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one." - Leo J Burke.
But for the times he does, little Graydie is the cutest! :p

Here he is at MONTH 1

And @ MONTH 2

And the cheeky little peeking monkey at MONTH 3!

Grayden and SImba @ Pietrasanta

2009-08-06T10:13:00.006+08:00

The cousins first excusion together with the Grams and Pops! :)
We had a nice leisurely lunch at Pietrasanta. The Pops recommended this lovely Italian place down at Portsdown Road with a nice veranda for Al Fresco dining.

Pops with his Grandson oh so proudly. "Gimme food" Grayden seems to be communicating!

Simba also communicating her greedy intentions.

We ordered the specials - portobello mushroom with buffalo cheese, italian tomatoes and the risotto with Porcini mushroom and black truffle.

The mushrooms weren't fantastic. The risotto rice cakes were quite nice through with a thin crispy shell encasing moist creamy rice flavoured with the mushroom and a hint of the black truffle. I would of course have much prefered white truffle, but I suppose I can't have truffle with everything.

The tomatoes were a pleasant surprise. They were refreshingly sweet and juicy. Cheery red, they looked too cute to be plucked from their vines and chomped on, but as cute and cheery as they may seem, these little juicy reds were $14 a plate.

L and I shared the grilled lamb rack with rosemary and garlic sauce. The lamb was juicy and flavoursome. Our only complaint was there were only 3 pieces! :( How to share?!

So we also ordered the Tordelli - homemade Tuscan version of the Ravioli filled with meat and sausage.
B ordered the baked sea bream in a pizza crust which sounded yummy since both of us like pizzas. Unfortunately it didn't work out quite as well on a plate as it does on paper. The crust was a little too thick and the fish was just ordinary.

We don't normally order dessert at Italian restaurants. But everyone was just in such a great mood and this was probably the first time in family history where no one - not even the dad - was in any hurry to get the bill, so we ordered.

I had the pear tart with vanilla ice cream. It had a warm fuzzy home-made feel to it and the fragrant vanilla ice-cream was superb.

Sis had the tiramisu since she insists the only way to rate how good an Italian restaurant is, is by their tiramisu;

and the parents shared a traditional Italian dessert made with fresh ricotta cheese with Barolo Chinato (dessert wine). Interesting but I couldn't get to try because of the alcohol content and, well as much as I wouldn't have minded, but everything I eat, Grayden eats too.

Pietrasanta

5B Portsdown Road 0103

Tel: 64799521

Grayden's first month milestones

2009-07-13T19:32:00.005+08:00

The little tyke's able to see! He follows his Daddy with the camera with his ever alert eyes. :)

He frowns, or I would like to think..concentrates.

He sleeps

He dazes and plays

And boy does he eat! Had a bit too much to drink. Probably preparing me for the time he's going to trade the milk for a beer bottle with the same reaction. :)

We Are 1!

2009-07-13T18:06:00.010+08:00

One Month that is!
I've survived the one month confinement!

Most importantly... so did he. :) My little monkey.

He's now a healthy 3.5kg and 55cm long.

Thankfully, he didn't inherit my short genes.

We ordered his first month cakes from Gobi, a little touch of delicate finese married with the traditonal 'must-have' red eggs.

2 Week Countdown - I Miss Our Saturday Breakfast

2009-06-24T09:11:00.002+08:00