Lunch date with 3 babes

I only realized today that I have a backlog of posts to update. While the girl is at swim class, I have taken along my laptop to catch up on them. This outing happened over a week ago but Princess, together with 2 of her friends, attended the same creative writing class last week, but at differing times. Since there was a lapse of an hour between both their class timings, I arranged with the 2 girls’ mums to take them out for lunch at the same mall where their school was. I have not arranged any playdates this June thus princess hasn’t seen her school/classmate since school closed at the end of May. It was lovely to see the girls again and even though they had an hour together, they had fun. We had lunch at Pizza Hut. It was cousin who took us there the week before because we only ever order pizza in. I have never eaten at the restaurant before. Found out that they do a nice set lunch menu where you can have your choice of main course from the main menu. There is a kids menu too, which included a drink and an ice-cream mouse. Yes, you heard right, they decorated a scoop of ice-cream to resemble a mouse. Very cute.

There are 5 choices of main course for the kids...

The smart choice lunch promotion.

My choice of main course was curry chicken baked rice, their house special. It was not too bad, rather spicy.

We spent an enjoyable hour in great company. :)

K2C Graduation Party

My daughter's class is the only class that has birthday invites all year round. I once asked the Chinese teacher if the other classes were the same. Apparently not. As a result of these parties, the parents have gotten to know each other pretty well. And without a doubt, the entire class will be invited if anyone in class is celebrating their birthday, unless if it's a sole girls' party then the poor boys are not invited. When we found out that the end of year celebration was a joint picnic with the entire school, we decided to have a party specially for our class. And after much emailing to and fro with over 18 sets of parents, we finally decided upon a date - 30Nov. It was not easy, I can tell you that. Just arriving on that date alone gave me lots of headache. People were travelling or had this and that thing on. At the end of it, someone said for me to just decide a date and people just had to change their schedules around. But luckily I didn't have to make that difficult decision as we manged to agree on that one day. Phew!

The dessert table. One mum ordered these beautiful agar-agar (see the graduate as well as the word 'congratulations'?). They were so beautiful no one could bear to cut them and they were there for a lonnnnggg time.

This pinata was handmade by one of the kids' mums. What a fantastic piece of work!

Jacob Ballas Childrens' Garden

We had a outing to the Botanic Gardens with two mums and their kids. It's only my second time visiting Jacob Ballas but it was too crowded the first time round, as it was some special occasion, opening of the park of something. Maybe KY can jolt my memory. We didn't get to explore a lot of the park the last time as the weather was hot as well. However, on this day, the weather was fantastic! Not much sun and a little cloudy but no rain either. But even so, princess came home with sunburnt shoulders. I had forgotten to bring along the sunblock.

A mini suspension bridge.

Our picnic food - brought by one of the mums. I only brought along the fishballs and can't remember what the other thing was. We had a brunch feast. I didn't even realise food was not allowed in there if I hadn't read about it in Camemberu's blog.

This is the highlight of the park - the water play. They had loads of fun and refused to go home.

A date made a year ago...

Plain lotus and some with red bean and a little piece of Oreo hidden within...

Red wine and cranberry snow skin...

The mooncake festival is just round the corner, in approximately 2 weeks' time. Last year at this time, I had only started blogging not long, and was introduced to a whole new world out here on blogger. I've learned a lot in this short time, and marveled at all the wonderful food creations people around the world come up with. There are so many so many talented bakers and cooks out there who don't even do it professionally. Where I used to only bake once in a few months, I suddenly got caught into this baking frenzy with recipes popping up everywhere, some so interesting I just couldn't wait to try them out. It was during this time that I discovered so many people actually made mooncakes at home. I was intrigued. Curiosity got the better of me, and I actually tried it out. Alas, I was unsuccessful. One lady in particular caught my attention and she is none other than Cranberry. I love to drool over her beautiful bakes. She is very talented and when I casually mentioned that maybe she could teach me to make those beautiful snow skin mooncakes, she agreed and we made a date for this year. Time sure does fly by so fast, don't you agree? I can't believe one year has passed.

The mooncakes turned out great and we had lots of fun making them, princess included. J is so super patient with her and allowed her to play with the flour. Mummy couldn't help telling her to stop it and not mess up the place. Hehe. It was really wonderful of her to open up her home to us and let us learn from her. Thanks very much, J. I do so appreciate it.

Not just that, she even made us lovely peach and mango marshmallow cakes. Wow, that was a surprise, but I do so loved it. It wasn't sweet at all and the biscuit base really complimented the marshmallow and fruits. Yum! It's the one thing I've seen countless times on her blog and often wondered what this marshmallow cake is. Now I know and have tasted. :)

Here's the one we brought home. :)

BBQ

It's been a long time since we had organised a bbq and hubby thought it'd be great to get a few of his colleagues over for one. It was all very fun when we first planned it, but at the end of the day, the bulk of the preparation rested on my shoulders. To make matters worse, on the day of the bbq, there was a major storm at noon while we were leaving ballet class. B was supposed to pick up little princess to a classmate's birthday party, and hub's friend and wife were to collect her after. So they were very late for the party as we waited for the rain to die down. Thanks very much, B, I do so appreciate your help, and also the mothers who are ever-so-willing to lend a hand every time. The rain delayed the precious little time I had going around to buy food. I called up the hubs and said why not I just buy ready satay and otah from the supermarket, and his reply was 'Huh?!'. Ok, so he wasn't satisfied with just normal frozen stuff then, but what was I to do when a storm was going on?

When the rain finally came to a standstill, we rushed around getting otah from the famous Mackeral Otah in Joo Chiat, and satay supposedly from Haig Road market. Unfortunately by the time we made it to Haig Road, all the satay had been sold out. Goodness! What was I to do?! I had to think of an alternative quickly, and remembered City Satay which was very near to where I was then. Hurried over and got what we needed.

D arrived early to help me with the preparation of the bacon/asparagus sticks etc. Both she and C also picked up some food stuff such as snowfish satay and salmon teriyaki sticks. She got scallops in shells specially for me. So sweet of them. I enjoyed them very much, all the food she brought.

We had some unusual food that evening. Portobello mushrooms with butter/garlic seasoning, and scallop shells with the same topping. All tasted heavenly, especially the scallops which were so sweet, no other seasoning was needed. But of course, there was the chicken wings which is a must at every bbq, and that was pretty popular, I'm glad. ;) And surely, there were sausages, garlic bread, and sweet potatoes and stingrays. The last two of which weren't very popular. :P

A special thank you to those who brought food and drinks, you know who you are. And also to the couple who babysat our little one.

It was a lovely gathering and the 3 little girls had fun in the little waddling pool.

But it had been a tiring day and we were all exhausted by the end of it. Unfortunately I've been laden with loads of food stuff which we'll have to feed ourselves this week.

The party - part deux

We had the second party last evening at Safra Toa Payoh. Princess was really excited about it. All her classmates were invited. Some kids had to cancel last minute as they had fallen ill. It IS flu season and the latest bug is one which attacks the throat, and that is what princess succumbed to last week. Apparently now, me and hubby are both coming down with it. I'm glad party season is over, well, at least on my part. Hehe. And after this year, I am not going to do anymore large scale ones. It's too tiring. A sign of aging? I shudder at the thought. People who know me well, know that I love parties, planning them, and having them. There are simply not enough occasions to have them and maybe it's because I am unwell but I really can't imagine planning another party. Haha.

It was with regret that I had to pick a Friday evening to have the party but it so happened that it was the actual day yesterday. The traffic jams along the PIE, and rain made it worse. And being a Friday, people were rushing out of the office or heading into town to shop, party, etc. I had initially planned on a weekend party but I missed the booking by mere minutes. I was calling the wrong number till someone eventually answered the phone and some parent who called before me got the Saturday slot. Shucks! I'd like to thank K for getting me the booking using his membership. Thanks much.

There were 3 caterers to choose from and we went with Kate's Catering who had 'party packs' on their menu. I made some pasta for the kids, fried broccoli & corn, some fishballs courtesy of Aunt Nana, jelly made by mum. Thank you all.

On the menu, we had -

1. Traditional Fried Rice with Crab Bits
2. Fried Bee Hoon garnished with Lettuce
3. Fish Fillet in Sweet and Sour Sauce
4. Mild Curry Vegetables
5. Japanese Tofu with Vegetables
6. Chicken Satay
7. Macaroni and Cheese
8. Broccoli, Baby Corn and Crabsticks in Oyster Sauce
9. Fried Fishballs
10. Konnyaku Jelly

Baked cuppies in the morning and had P and her boy J over for breakfast so no time or energy to prepare lunch. Cooked some Japanese rice, and put some seasoning in it and put them in mould to shape. So that was princess' lunch.

These are pics of cuppies in case I couldn't get them photographed in the evening. My camera doesn't do well indoors. So I wasn't taking the risk.

Time for cake... thanks Uncle Joe for lighting the candles.

Here's the birthday girl blowing out the candles on her cakes.

Last but not least, thanks to everyone, for making the effort to attend the party. Thanks to P for ferrying the drinks in the boot of her car. ;P and hope all the kids had a great time. I know princess did. Thanks, too, for all the wonderful presents.

For those who had posted comments in the past few days, I'm sorry, I will try to reply soon. And little corner of mine, thanks for the award. Will claim soon. Meanwhile, I need a break to rest a little after all the upheaval of the past two weeks. See you soon.

THE party

I can't believe that I am sitting here at 3am and doing a post! Why I am awake at this ungodly hour is because the princess woke at 2plus coughing and I couldn't fall back to sleep after being woken. Thus I am here now. I should be snuggled up in bed recovering from the excitement of the past few days, with the princess falling sick the day before school started, on Thursday, and all the buzz with preparing for her party happening at the same time. It was a test of my endurance to the limit. I've never been so challenged before, taking care of a sick child and surviving on very few hrs of sleep a day, and doing such a huge amount of work at the same time. She seldom falls ill, and hardly this bad. And it had to happen now of all times. Since Friday, she was waking up in the early hours of the morning - 3am, 5am, and then on Saturday night, after baking the entire day, I was all ready to rest early so I'd be up bright and early, and all rested for Sunday's madness, but no, our friend had other ideas. She was coughing continuously we all couldn't even go to sleep till after 12am! And considering I had to wake at 6am to prepare the food, I was in bits! I just have to thank the good Lord that I was in good health and able to accomplish loads.

I am never EVER going to have a noontime party again! It's crazy! I just have to say I'm VERY relieved it's all over. But then again, I have told her that this is the last big party we are having. She has agreed to it. From next year, we will only have a few very close friends, and I do mean it. I know of poor G who said that, when her girl turned 6, but still has no choice but to have big parties. Haha. Speaking of which, I'm sorry G and her family were not able to make it due to family commitments.

Preparations started earlier in the week when I made the pasta sauce to freeze, then baking of cuppies on Saturday all day. And finally on Sunday morning - baked chicken wings, prepared sushi rice and ingredients, iced cuppies, rolled sushis, etc.

I almost abandoned the sushi last minute as I was very rushed for time. However, I'm glad I persevered and was rewarded. My shifu, Minako, says I did well, that they were nice and round, and not like mountains this time! Hurray! That's what stress produces? Haha. Perfect round sushi! Yay!

Photos didn't turn out too well. Most were blur. Sad, as I used 'auto' on the camera. I usually do 'manual'. I mean how bad can 'auto' turn out? Beats me!

On the menu we had sushi, pasta in bolognaise sauce, chicken hotdog, some little salad, baked chicken wings, which were prepared by moi. Then I ordered fried beehoon from the market stall downstairs my place; curry chicken from a hawker stall in Suntec; canape and chocolate coated strawberries courtesy of princess' godpa from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf; pizza from Canadian 2 for 1; some fruits. Am glad all the pizza were gone, and pasta too which had half a pot of sauce remainder. I panicked and quick thinking me got godpa to check if he could help get some from the outlet. Thank goodness he managed to get us more pasta. I can't thank him enough. And also the lovely coffee which was a hit.

The curry chicken was loved and devoured by all. Lovely with the beehoon or the crusty baguette.

Time for cake. I would like to thank Cranberry for showing in her blog the icing printouts and eagle-eyed me for spying them. I was actually looking a few months back on the internet for these, and Cranberry directed me to her friend Zu who printed them. Thanks to both you ladies, and it was a real pleasure to meet Zu who so kindly met me closer to my home during her lunch hour. Thanks very much.

The icing I did didn't turn out too well as I was truly pressed for time. I whipped it too stiff so it was a little tough to pipe them out, but still managed in the end. No time for perfection. Looking at Cranberry's really put me to shame. Such perfect stars.

It was a craft party, namely t-shirt printing. I don't have photos to show as I was too dazed to even take photos of the kids at work. At that point, I was just working on autopilot. Friends who spoke to me during the party, I'm sorry but at times, nothing was going through my brains.

I had wanted to do cupcake decorating with the kids but no time to even prepare the icing so that activity was abandoned. And besides, quite a number of them had to leave by 2pm, so there wasn't really much we could do.

The other activity was nail art done by princess' friend's mum, Daph. She was all prepared, with a portable fan to dry the nails, and one mum guest even asked if she was a professional. Hahaha. The birthday girl gets special stickers on her nails - her favourite butterflies.

I was, however, disappointed with the tattoo artist. I had booked her for 1pm, partly my fault, as I thought it'd be nice if she came after they had all eaten. But when I heard that some kids were leaving early, I messaged her to come at 12plus. Unfortunately, she came too late, at almost 1.30pm. I feel really apologetic that some kids didn't have a chance to have paintings done on them.

However, this artist is really talented. I mean I have seen my fair share of people doing body art, but not this kind of standard. While speaking to the artist's mum, I found out that she was the one at the recent EA Christmas party we attended just last month. No wonder, when I saw the girls at the party with tattoos, I said it to G that hey, that looks like the work of the artist I hired. These are her signature works.

She did a Rosella. For those who are not familiar with Rosella, she is Barbie as the Island Princess, in the latest Barbie movie. Rosella was a favourite pick among the girls.

Ariel was the second favourite choice.

She also does beautiful fairies.

In ending, I would like to thank so many people. This would not have been possible at all without my group of trustworthy friends and cousin who constantly help me out each time. For putting up with all my nonsense, very high standards, and all the last minute things I throw out at you. For the message that came through last night, saying, 'do you need me to come in early to help you set up?'. That really warmed my heart. I wasn't expecting that as she has a new baby to care for. Thanks a bunch, Daph. Your little prince is very handsome. And even hubby thinks he looks ang moh. I don't know how you gonna convince others that Chak is the daddy! Hahaha. I think it's because he is too fair for a pure Chinese and also the light brown hair. Hey, you think that got to do with you always colouring your hair? Hahaha. Also, thank you for the echinacea you brought for little princess. That was really thoughtful of you. And thanks, Chak, for so kindly preparing them into syringes all ready for consumption.

To the godparents, I can't say thank you enough. For everything. I'm sorry I had to dump all the dirty work on you, K, and thank you for being one of my great friends.

To Jill & Sam, thank you too, for always picking up the pieces along the way. Sis and Lyn for tidying up after, carrying all the stuff back to the house, and Lyn for playing with princess after she woke.

You guys are my rock. :)

Also not forgetting the people I neglected as I was too busy or tired. Thanks for your understanding.

Ok, ok enough already with the Oscar speech. It is time to go back to bed. Hope I can sleep now.

That should satisfy some for my week of missing posts? ;)

Sushi Class

We finally found time today to visit Mina and Nao. I have been wanting to learn how to make sushi from her. Thank you Mina, for being so patient in detailing to me the steps involved, starting with the cooking of the rice. I shall try it soon, I think probably the earliest will be at princess' party as before that I will be busy with Christmas.

I hope to be able to make the egg too. It sounded a little complicated haha, but I'm sure when I actually do it, I will understand what you were trying to say.

Also thanks for tips on making katsuobushi (dashi) stock. That's a great thing I learned today.

The kids were hands on and they made their own kappamaki. They didn't bother with cutting them up into little pieces. They ate theirs like sausages haha. The poor girls were much too hungry to wait.

Princess loves her ebiko (prawn roe) so she had loads of it spread on her roll. Hahaha.

Ah... here's the expert at work.

Look at how neat her ingredients are placed.

The final result. Some lovely futomaki. Erm, ok, Mina's ones are the round ones whereas mine look like mountains she said. Lol. They were flat on the bottom and round at the top. Nevertheless they were yummy.

Sushi was coming out of my ears by the time we were finished with lunch. I didn't want to see another sushi today. Hahaha. But guess what my girl wanted for dinner??? Sushi!!!!

I couldn't eat another piece of sushi, so I had some takoyaki and gyoza, and she had all her favourites - ebiko gunkan, tamago maki (like those we made for lunch), fried tofu, cha soba, and also some takoyaki. And believe it or not? She was hungry like she said and finished everything. Boy was I surprised!