YIONEUNOICHIEIN1

Yah, the title may look gibberish but the super observant can quickly discipher the meaning behind it all.
Cutie Charlotte is 1 year old!!
A year ago, Cutie was torturing Darling inside her tummy. She refused to come out on her calculated 9 June birthday and decided to stay 2 days more. It happens that Charlotte’s birthday is the sum of Darling’s and my birthday.. Darling’s birthday is 6 Dec while mine is 5 May, so Charlotte decides to come out on the 11th. Lolz. Darling had to go in and out of the delivery suite a few times, undergo a few rounds of the uncomfortable cervix assessment and the anxiety of childbirth before Cutie decided to make a grand entrance. And what a REAL GRAND entrance involving almost everyone on call that night at the delivery suite! She wants everyone to be present on her birthday, so decided to make it a CODE GREEN emergency caesarian entrance, getting nurses, gynaes, neonatologies and paediatricians all around to receive her! A year on…. she is still as attention seeking as the start! Haha. She grabs the attention of everyone with her presence, be it in a good or bad way. She can amaze you with her motor skills (suddenly standing up when you least expected her to, and then walk towards you unaided!), she can suddenly utter gibberish and start clapping when she sees something interesting, she can dash towards a corner of the room only to pick up a strand of hair to lick, she can cover her mouth with her little hands and break out in a howling cry that can make you think she was trained by a Korean drama actress. Yup, that’s Our Cutie Charlotte and she turns 1 year old!!!

We decided to have a celebration for Cutie a few days before her actual birthday as her birthday is on a Thursday. Darling has been planning for her birthday party in March and April, spending hours browsing through numerous websites and images of 1-year-old birthday parties happening in Singapore for ideas of theme and venue. She shortlisted this cafe which fits the bill of being in a central location and “specialises in birthday parties for babies and kids” and it won awards being a child-friendly restaurant. EatPlayLove Cafe is a cosy cafe situated in Kampung Glam area, near to Bugis, located in the Aliwal Arts Center. It’s a Thai-fusion cafe with vintage decorations and dedicated areas of the cafe for kids to do craftwork while parents dine. We didn’t personally visit the cafe and the FB pics were all we had to decide this IS the cafe we want to hold Cutie’s important milestone birthday party.

Cafe settled, next up is the theme. “Sesame Street” was the initial plan since Cutie loves her Big Bird and Elmo hand puppets so much and there were so many kids party photos with the Sesame Street Theme. So we spent a few weeks browsing through google images, getting ideas on decorations etc before we felt that Sesame Street may be too “common” as a theme. We wanted something more personal, more special, more Charlotte. So I decided to put a search on Disney princesses. I wrote down a list of Disney princesses and decided to analyse each princess’s characteristics and see which one will fit our Cutie Baby the most. It is a very interesting research I must say, haha as I realize that each Disney Princess does indeed has 1-2 unique characteristics. There’s a few comparisons online done by other like-minded people which I can look through and it makes my job in searching for a fitting theme easier. Alice emerged as the leader with many characteristics similar to our Cutie Baby! Alice is a curious little girl who loves to explore the world, sometimes not realizing the dangers involved. She has no fear of the unknown and the unknown made her more curious to explore and experiment. She is rebellious of sorts, going against public opinion, wanting to do things differently. She can be feisty, going against authority, even speaks back at the Queen! Alice dares to try weird concoctions and food, resulting in her growing and shrinking, while Cutie will dash towards scraps of paper, strands of hair and never hesistate to put them into her small mouth and shutting it tight. There were elements of Alice in Wonderland that we find coincidental to Cutie as well, such as cats and 10/6 on the Mad Hatter’s Hat. Alice loves Cats and there’s also a Chesire Cat that she talks to a lot in the story. Charlotte, likewise, will get all excited when she sees the stray cats at the void decks. The price of the Mad Hatter’s Green hat is 10/6 (ten shillings and sixpence) while Cutie’s birthday is 11/6, the 11th of June. The Alice in Wonderland theme fitted Charlotte almost too perfectly we feel, so decided on this theme!

Theme settled, the next important thing is the cake! Again, Darling is the one with the connections to this wonderful artisan baker whom her friend engaged. She was impressed by her friend’s child’s birthday cake and wanted something as amazing, if not MORE spectacular! The cake has a moving component, something we though we will only see on Food Network’s Amazing Cake challenge. Well, this friend of hers managed to get her child a moving cake. How can Charlotte get something inferior?? Cutie deserves the best! So we decided to engage Jill Patiss to be our Cake designer. This will be her first Alice in Wonderland themed cake as well, so it’s equally exciting for her. We had to come up with important elements of the story to be incorporated into the cake. Darling searched the web, finding similar designs to show Jill Patiss, hoping to inspire her creativity. We never saw the cake’s design blueprint and the first time we saw the cake was at the actual birthday party itself!

EatPlayLove Cafe is also doing the Alice in Wonderland themed party design for the very first time as well! So we had to come up with the colour theme we wanted to show the cafe as a sample. We brainstormed some designs by looking at similar parties done elsewhere and consolidated the ideas to give to the cafe. Gayle was the person in charge of coming up with the designs of our ideas and she did not disappoint. She tried to incorporate everything we asked for. The colours, the food labels, drink labels, banner designs, quote cards etc, hoping to make this party a success as well. We paid for the dessert table and decoration package and everything will be set up for us before the TEA PARTY started. This saves us a lot of stress, because I wanted us to enjoy the party together with Cutie and not to get stressed over unnecessary things. The final design was amazing!

Pictures speak a thousand words… …
The birthday dress was bought during one of the EXPO baby fairs and is very well matched with the headband and ribbon! Lucky Darling is good with matching colours… … if I was the head designer, it will be fashion disaster!

Birthday Girl getting ready for the Party!

The cafe has done many birthday parties over the years and Tristan is very fast in setting up the macarons, cupcakes, stands and arrow banners. They even have colour matched table decorations and balloons. The next picture will showcase the details of the decorations, matching the Charlotte’s ONE-derland Theme.
“DRINK ME”, “EAT ME” are classics from the story and we loved how the colours combined to give a cheerful vibrant atmosphere.

Gummies Tier. Personalized Birthday card. Water with the “Drink Me” labels. Cupcakes with the “Eat Me” labels. Giant flasks to hold mashmallows and Cookies.

No Disney cartoon has as many memorable quotes as Alice in Wonderland, so I selected these few quotes, 1 from each character of the story, to make the themed decoration more complete. Darling was very satisfied with the end result.

Memorable Cute Quotes

The centerpiece of the dessert table is Cutie’s Birthday Cake. It makes a superb dessert table decoration PERFECT. The cake is an amazing piece of art! The detailed elements of the Story can all be seen on the cake. The cake is such a joy to watch! Every part of the cake is filled with details that it’s almost IMPOSSIBLE not to have a Jawdrop reaction when you look at it. The girl on the cake was supposed to be Alice but we decided to let Charlotte own the cake by having her own figurine on the cake! Notice the dress of the girl’s figurine?? YES!!! It’s modelled after Cutie’s dress. Darling has sent a pic of Cutie’s dress to Jill Patiss so that she can create an almost perfect replica of the dress. We replaced the 10/6 on the Mad Hatter’s hat to 11/6, to reflect on Cutie’s actual Birthday. There is a revolving Tea party table as a cake topper with miniature cakes, teacups as well as a teapot. We were told that the entire cake is edible, except the battery operated revolving tea party topper. Lolz. We absolutely love this cake. Darling is absolutely delighted that this shall be the best cake amongst all the 1-year-old birthday parties she attended, and it will stay number 1 for a very long time we feel.

Mr Rabbit, Mad Hatter’s Hat, Caterpillar, Chesire Cat, Charlotte, directional signs, complete with a revolving tea party table cake topper.

Wonder how it all looks when pieced together?

The final setup of Charlotte’s ONE-derland Tea Party

The Tea Party is a success! Kids were entertained with the crafts corner. Adults have ample tables and seats to have a chit chat, catching up over yummy food. They can even have an eyefeast on the POWER cake. Almost everyone has a group photo together with Cutie Charlotte and brought home some cakes and cookies. Darling looks very very very happy and satisfied with the ONE-derland party and we get to keep all the decorations. Next time when Cutie is old enough to have her own room, we can use them to decorate the room.

On Cutie’s actual day birthday, we ordered a cake for the infant class to celebrate with the other classmates and her teachers. A pity we could not take leave to join her but teachers were kind enough to give us soft copies of the photos taken during the birthday celebrations.

Josiah celebrations

Cutie even had a birthday gift from the school!

Birthday Gifts from School and her favorite teacher Ms Angie

We also held another sing-song cake-cutting ceremony together with Darling’s family. The tart is super yummy!! It’s supposed to be a “snickers” Tart and it tastes exactly like a Snickers Bar! Lolz, super delicious. The cupcakes are Mint-Chocolate, which tastes like the “After-Eight” Mint chocolate.

Mini Birthday celebration on 11 June

She drank from a bottle called “DRINK ME”
And up she grew so tall.
Grow Curiouser and Curiouser everyday our Cutie Charlotte.

Alice: “This is impossible!”
Mad Hatter: “Only if you believe in it.”

Believe in yourself Cutie Baby and You can achieve Great Things.
This is a land full of Wonder, Mystery and Danger our dear Cutie Charlotte, but Mama and PaPa will be with you every step of the way.

Happy Birthday Our Cutie Baby

Well, since my darling took a while to decipher the title…I shall provide the answer. Haha
YIONEUNOICHIEIN1
It’s the way to say “1” in different languages…
YI = mandarin
ONE = English
UNO = Spanish / Italian… coincidentally UN = French
ICHI = Japanese
EIN = German

Well, even more coincidentally, they all happen to be from the countries we have travelled to before!

Birthdays and outings

April and May came and gone so fast! So many activities during the last 2 months that I have yet to record in here. Lolz.

April:

Darling and I brought Cutie to her first “indoor playground” trip. There are so many indoor playgrounds springing up everywhere to cater to different ages, such as polliwogs, cool de sac, hokey pokey etc, I thought Singapore has a low birth rate?? Well, most of our generation parents think that the old-fashioned HDB playgrounds are dirty, not fun etc and it does not help when the weather is so super duper hot these days! Indoor playgrounds is the answer to all these! And if you have a maid, can even leave the maid with the kid in there while husband and wife can have some me-shopping-time! At Cutie’s age, there’s not much playgrounds that offer a play section for < 1 year olds. Cool De Sac happen to have a small section for infant play, so we decided to check it out. The area is quite big, but older kids will enjoy it more for it’s slides and bouncy obstacle course. The infant section is small but the users are small too mah, so it’s ok. There are many toys there, ranging from building blocks, to miniature animals and vegetables, to plastic rocking horse and the foam slides and foam blocks for climbing. Cutie takes a while to warm up to the slide and toys but after a while, she started to enjoy. She loved the pool full of colourful balls and especially the yellow rocking horse! Haha, maybe it’s because she love yellow stuff.

Go Yellow Horsie!

She loves the Freefall feeling, so the see-saw is one of her favorite HDB playground installments, see how much fun she has with Darling! Darling is having lots of fun too!

See-Saw Up & Down. U go up and I come down

Cutie is becoming more mobile and it’s getting harder to get her to sit down in her high-chair for meals. We have to put distractions on her table such as toys, blocks, remote controls, cold packet drinks etc before we can get her to sit down to finish her food! We try very hard to instill the idea of having to sit down in the chair during meal times and she can only get out after eating. So far it has worked when she is in our own home and when she’s outside. =) She will quietly sit down in her baby seat when we feed her the puree or cereal.

Big Boss Cutie Charlotte

May:

May is an exciting month with many important events! I love May as we have lots of opportunities to go out!

Our first outing in May is the River Safari! Cutie loves small animals, esp those that are very active with lots of movement, just like her! So cats, dogs, birds, monkeys are her favorite! She was so excited to see a monkey up close and personal, lolz that she keep pointing and laughing to herself when she saw the small monkeys jumping from branch to branch and walking on the railing. Cutie loves hide and seek as well, and she loves to look for monkeys hiding in trees and in the shrubs and will get super duper excited when she spots one. If she points into the bushes, there’s sure to be a monkey hiding there if we look hard enough. Her vision is perfect! She loves big animals as well but tend to lose her interest very fast because large animals usually move very slowly…. The appearance of the Pandas JiaJia and KaiKai got her interested for a while but cutie will lose focus once the pandas sit down to eat their leaves. Haha, but she don’t mind staying in the panda enclosure looking at other tourists while she enjoys the air-con.

Mama, I see a Monkey!

MaMa, what’s that Black & White Bear?

The Black & White Bear is YUMMY!

My birthday falls on the first week of May so Darling has planned a surprise trip for Cutie and me on a Sunday. She drove using iPhone Apple Maps for the first time while I was in the backseat entertaining Cutie. Yeah! I love surprises!

Darling brought us to Sentosa RWS and the secret Birthday lunch will be at OCEAN Restaurant by Cat Cora, located within S.E.A Aquarium. We are having lunch in the Largest Aquarium, haha. Eating fish with fishes swimming around us is a wonderful experience. Cutie saw lots of fishes swimming around while she’s having her puree too. She enjoys seeing the schools of fish more than the single Manta Ray or Shark and points non stop too!

Birthday SEA Aquarium visit

On my Actual birthday, Darling gave me another surprise! She ordered a rainbow cake for me! I always wanted to try a rainbow cake. so YAY I got 1! This rainbow cake is special, the colours are all made using natural ingredients and it’s supposed to be a natural rainbow cake. Colours not that vibrant but natural things are good! And it’s super yummy too! I love you Darling! Cutie enjoys singing the birthday song and keeps pointing to the candle flame rather than blow it out!

See How Excited Cutie is!!! Pardon my Fat Tummy. =p

The following week is another exciting event! It’s Darling’s First Mother’s Day!!!!! We had a combined celebration with my mum at Prima Tower revolving restaurant. Cutie again loves the cake cutting. She does not know how to blow out the candles yet but she sure is attracted to them!

3 Mummies having Mother’s Day Cake

Initially we planned to go Mount Faber and the Henderson Wave bridge but I guess Cutie is too tired so she slept while in the car. So we ended up chilling at the Vivo starbucks! Cutie had a fun time too, playing with her light sabre bubble stick. =p

The actual mother’s day was a real surprise treat for Darling! It’s her first Mother’s Day after all, so She deserves a special award…This prize is awarded by Cutie. She had her First Stand on Mother’s Day!! Can you imagine how excited we were when Cutie suddenly stood up on our bed?!??! We were like “WOWOWOWOWOW WOW!!!”
We applauded Cutie for her effort and she felt so proud! Then continued to attempt standing for longer durations, just to impress us and earn more applause! Haha We love this Hao-Lian behaviour of Cutie, it spurs her on to achieve new milestones!

Standing performance on Cutie’s playmat

Cutie amazes us and amuses us as much as we amuse her I feel. She is such a curious girl! She is a naughty cheeky girl as well! Sometimes we really dunno whether to be angry or amused when feeding Cutie Charlotte. She can really seal her mouth tight and no matter how we push the spoon, it will not go into her mouth! Sometimes it’s the last scoop of porridge that we can’t wait to put into her mouth and declare a Beautiful Victory but she will just seal her mouth tight and deny us that temporary gratification! How irritating! Lolz. The end result of the battle? Cutie will be transformed into a “大花猫”!

MaMa, Did you REALLY pick me up from the Rubbish-Bin?? ;p

Amused by her own reflection before bedtime

Darling and I used to go for several running events a year, but since her pregnancy and the arrival of Cutie, we have stopped doing so. The last one we went to was the StanChart marathon last year. So when the opportunity came for the baby-friendly running event, I immediately signed her and Cutie up!! Haha, I am talking about the Cold Storage Kids Run 2015 on 17 May 2015 @ The Meadows (Gardens By The Bay).

Baby Champion

Darling and Charlotte in action!

Cutie Charlotte loves vibrant colours and she loves her Elmo and Big Bird puppets! Every night without fail, she will give the puppets to her favorite Puppeteer to bring them alive…..And that favorite puppeteer is none other than…. ….

MaMa can always bring Elmo to life! Notice Barney on TV? Dunno why kids just love Barney… …

I want to bring Cutie outdoors often, to let her feel the wind blowing in her face, to smell the scent of trees and the morning dew, to touch the silky smooth surface of a leaf and to see people of different ages engaging in activities. I hope this stimulates all her senses, to engage her enough to hopefully make her smarter. Hahaha, which parent do not want their child to be smart? So we decided to try out a new activity on 1 of the May Weekend. It was one of our favorite pak-toh activity too but too dangerous to try with a baby. Lucky they came up with this new vehicle so we can have some family fun time! This vehicle has no gears and no brakes! It moves really slowly and the speed is constant despite our maximum effort…so it’s a good workout for us parents too, while Cutie baby enjoys the breeze first hand in the front seat. Hahaha.

Happily driving the vehicle, enjoying the sea breeze on her face and hair blowing in the wind

As mentioned in the earlier paragraph, Cutie’s favorite cartoon DVD is “Barney in the Zoo”. Hope she likes the animals more than she likes Barney. She loves some of the animals featured in the DVD, essentially the Meerkats (Top Top favorite), Monkeys and Tigers. Everytime these animals are featured on the DVD, she will be glued to the TV screen and her index finger will start pointing to the animals on screen. She will even clap when the Meerkats appear! So we brought her out to the Zoo during the last weekend of May to show her the REAL deal! Haha.

Meerkats Live

We ended the zoo trip with a visit to the KidsWorld waterplay playground and she enjoyed the jets if water spraying onto her face and body and the huge water bucket pouring water over her head!

Since she likes waterplay, we brought her to another water playground at Changi City Point for another session of water fun! This time, we donned her with the Hello Kitty Swim Suit which darling has been DYING to let Cutie wear! Hahaha. Well, Darling got her wish and Cutie got to play in the right attire! And I got drenched too.

Proud MaMa with Hello Kitty Model

That brings us to the close of May. June is another big BIG month for us. It’s going to be Charlotte’s Birthday Month! How time flies, Charlotte is going to be 1 soon! We have planned a themed party for her and I will cover it in a blog post very soon!!

14 weeks and counting…

Charlotte reached several milestones the last 2 weeks.

She can lift up her head from week 10 and is ever so curious to turn her head from left to right, trying to take in as much scenery as possible with her black round eyes. Yes, she can track objects as well for a full 180 degrees if she is interested in it, even at a distance! Maybe I am fat, so more easily trackable… … Hmm…

She smiles more for us and seems to recognize faces too, especially appears more friendly by kicking her legs when she sees faces who will potentially indulge her by carrying her and pat pat her in their arms. (Me included… Lolz, guilty me…. How not to carry her when she shows you her ever-so-cute eyes with 2 drops of tears at the edges??? I will melt lo! But I will try)

Hahaha, Darling and I have been limiting Cutie’s carrying time so she will not get pampered too much. We are trying not to indulge her too much les she feels it is a norm to get patted or carried 24 hours a day, whenever she is awake. As far as possible, we seat her in a rocker and play with her. Yes, she loves to play, especially if she can hear different sounds when she is playing. I try to talk to her, in our language, in her language and in an alien language…she seems to like to talk! She feels entertained by me dancing in front of her and is super amused when I am imitating her cries. Hahaha, So cute! Sometimes she will “fake” a cry to get carried and hugged and I will irritate her by imitating her cry, such that she don’t know whether to laugh or cry…so she will wail a bit, then crack up a big smile and wail a bit more before giving up and continue playing by herself. It’ s such a joy to have her around and to play with her.

Darling is the more studious one, reading stories to her, singing nursery rhymes while I am the nonsense one, trying to entertain her, machiam a court jester trying to make a princess smile. We even got a puppet book to read to her, she seems to enjoy more of the puppet moving than the story read but that doesn’t matter, as long as she is happy and drinks her milk milk.

self entertaining Charlotte amused at her Cute Face

I got a chance for daddy-cutie bonding last week, when Darling and her mum went for Cavalia @ MBS. Quite an exciting experience. I was pushing the pram with cutie inside till the entrance of the white tent theater of Cavalia, then I am left alone with Cutie. Heehee, yeah! I pushed Charlotte around Marina Promenade, letting her admire the Singapore Skyline and night lights, enjoying the cool night breeze. She may be tired after so much lights stimulation, and started rubbing her eyes and yawning, so I drove her back home all by myself, with her in the car seat of course! Initially she was all cranky as I woke her up from her slumber and transferred her to the car seat. She was crying loudly while in the car, but after a short journey, she drifted back to sleep again.

Cutie with backdrop of Marina

Back in the air-con comfort of MBS

Settled down back at home, sleeping cutely again

Last week we went to celebrate TJ’s birthday! TJ is darling’s little brother AKA Cutie’s uncle or Jiu Jiu. It’s his 21st Birthday and we decided to doll Charlotte up with the dress TJ bought! She seems a bit small for the dress but still sweet nonetheless! We went to Diamond Kitchen at Marine Parade, place looks nice with good food at reasonable prices. Cutie enjoyed the outing, but she has to be contented with her bottled milk while we indulge in yummy food!

 

Charlotte all dressed up

Birthday Boy TJ with Bryan and Valerie (with Baby Joshua inside her)

Cutie also started to flip last week! She is able to flip from back lying to tummy proning position with a little bit of help at times, and she will be happily lifting up her head to enjoy the scenery from a different perspective again! But she cannot last long though, once she feels tired and yet unable to flip back, she will start to CRY for help! So amusing! Hahaha. Mummy Darling bought a new toy for her this week too! It is a gloved teether and also serves to prevent her from rubbing her eyes too much! It also instantly transformed her into CAPTAIN CUTIE HOOK!!

Captain Cutie Hook! Zap Zap you

We took her to the polyclinic 2 days back for her 3rd month vaccination this week. It will be her first dose of 5-in-1 as well as pneumococcal vaccine, 1 on each thigh. She screamed when the needle went in but settled down after a few pats, such a brave girl! Wonder if it’s more painful for Cutie or more painful for my Darling. Darling seems to be on the verge of crying when seeing Cutie scream, but Cutie put on a brave front and composed herself really quickly! Well Done Cutie!

She is growing taller but somehow her weight gain is slowing down… hmm… not the Michelin Baby darling is hoping for with the meat creases on her arms and legs and tummy. But hopefully Cutie can catch up on her potential of a big, tall healthy baby! She was born at the 90th percentile but her weight is only 10-25 percentile now, height at 75th percentile. Jiayou Cutie! Grow Grow Grow!

Poor Cutie had fever yesterday and was cranky after her vaccinations, drinking only 3/4 of what she used to drink. Darling has been taking good care of cutie with regular sponging and syrup panadol. Thank you Darling for everything!

Looking forward to more good things with Cutie Baby and eagerly waiting for her to do more new things! Having a baby is amazing! Thank you darling for giving me a chance to be a father! I love you!

Now eagerly waiting for Baby Joshua to pop out this week, and Cutie will have a new playmate!

 

Happy Birthday Darling!

A year has passed and it’s christmas season now. Christmas is coming soon but the biggest event in my mind during Nov-Dec is the Birthday of my Darling. It’s the one of the most important events in my life! Hahaha, yeah I am not joking!

6 Dec is the day my Wife came to Earth, without this day, I would have no wife! I would be alone and miserable and my very existance will be in vain! Oops, am I too Drama liao?

It started with a well timed bouquet delivered home. It’s the first time Darling actually received the bouquet straight from the deliveryman at the doorstep. Delivery was planned between 7-10pm. Went to shower at 9pm when nobody came ringing our doorbell. I was bathing (good timing) and the flower deliveryman came ringing! Darling seems flustered that someone actually came ringing our door so late at night and came to ask me if I ordered anything from delivery. Haha, she looks so cute! Of course I said YES, go open the door and you will see.

This is what she saw when she opened the door.

Flowers for Darling

Even though it came a few hours short of her birthday, I hope it’s still a pleasant surprise.

The following morning I presented the Birthday Cake!

SIDETRACK…. ….. ….. …. ….
The birthday cake was supposed to be a 6″ Mille Crepe from Lady M Singapore but due to some cockup on their part and some luck on my part, I got to have a free upgrade to a 9″ cake and free slice of green tea cake and a free cuppa.
I ordered a cake 1 week in advance with wordings to be written on the face of the cake but the waitress was shocked that my cake with the wordings is not yet in the shop when I went to collect.
The manager was called into action and he was nice and calm about it. He apologised and made me comfortable while he tried to arrange my cake to be sent over ASAP.
So I got to sit down and sip some coffee and enjoy a slice of cake while FB-ing.

Free cake and cuppa

SIDETRACK FINISHED… … … … …

So I presented the cake to Darling during breakfast!

Mille Crepe Birthday Cake

Make a wish my Dear

May your wish come true!

Yummy Cake served!

Look at the layering! Beautiful

The dinner was supposed to happen that night but darling was feeling unwell with a bloated tummy so we have to shelf the plans liao.
Tried changing the booking of my first choice restaurant but it’s fully booked for private event on 7th and 8th Dec.
No choice lah, shall do my Second choice Restaurant on 8 Dec!

It’s pouring since afternoon so it’s really tough getting a cab, more so when we are in Punggol!
After trying 20 minutes, finally a cab decided to take our booking. Heng ah!
Made our way to Telok Blangah Hill Park…heehee

Taking a pic with the Mansion

Alkaff Mansion Birthday Dinner

It’s a nice big place, a pity upstairs was reserved for a wedding dinner, coz they have nice chandeliers… … hopefully next time got chance to come back for their afternoon tea at the Terraces!
Downstairs was nice and cozy with christmas songs in the background. Nice ambience!
The separation between tables is good so we do not hear other people’s conversations.

Having the Bread with nice tabletop decor

This is the White Truffles Season and the White Asparagus Season too! So how can we miss out on these delicacies!!

Whole White Truffles

We ordered 2 Antipasti…
1) Pan Seared Hokkaido Scallops with Cauliflower Puree & ‘Avruga’ Caviar
It’s been a while since we had caviar. It’s such a delicacy that every piece have to be treasured. Haha. The scallops were huge and succulent and the caviar added the extra “taste of the seas”

Pan Seared Hokkaido Scallops with Cauliflower Puree & ‘Avruga’ Caviar

2) White Asparagus with shaved White Truffles
This is heavenly! The white asparagus were soft and moist with that little bit of crunch and the coating of cheese with the shaved white truffles enhance the flavour totally!

White asparagus with white truffles

Next we had a Zuppe del Giorno (Soup of the day)
It is Green Asparagus Soup with Black Truffle Scent. We ordered 1 serving but they were kind enough to help us separate into 2 bowls to share. Thumbs up for service!

Green is Darling’s favorite colour

The soup is full of asparagus flavour and they even added in a piece of asparagus which has the same colour as the soup. Proving to us that they use real asparagus to make this soup?
The black truffle scent is truly just a scent, maybe they use tuffle oil, but it tastes wonderful nonetheless. Asparagus paired with Truffles really is good.

We skipped the Le Paste and jumped to Secondi (Mains)
Darling wasnted to try 1 fish and 1 meat so we ordered 1 of each.
Fish (Secondi di Pesce):
Oven Baked Atlantic Cod with Leek Velouté & ‘Porcini’ Mushrooms Ragout

Oven Baked Atlantic Cod with Leek Velouté & ‘Porcini’ Mushrooms Ragout

The fish flakes off beautifully and every mouthful melts your heart. Add in a scoop of the mushroom and the flavours enhanced many folds.
Meat: Secondi di Carne
Slow Cooked Suckling Pig with Celery Root & Wild Berries Sauce

Slow Cooked Suckling Pig with Celery Root & Wild Berries Sauce

The skin is cripsy and the meat is unbeliveably tender. There’s fat underneath the skin but have to eat together lah, it comes in a set! Super Yummy!!!

Finally comes the Dolce della Casa (dessert)
What’s dessert without chocolate and ice cream? And it’s even recommended by the waiter
1) Valrhona Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream & Caramel Sauce

Valrhona Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream & Caramel Sauce

The chocolate flowing out with the warm chocolate cake, coupled with the vanilla ice-cream is like a 3 piece orchestra playing inside your mouth, the music soothes your soul!

How can we stop at 1 dessert? Haha
2) Their signature White Chocolate & Coffee ‘Parfait’ with Espresso Sauce & Hazelnut Meringue

White Chocolate & Coffee ‘Parfait’ with Espresso Sauce & Hazelnut Meringue

There is a layering of flavours, first the espresso taste hits you, within 2 seconds, the hazelnutty taste coupled with the small crisp creates the perfect fininshing move.
Even the red berry with the mint has layering of flavours. The sour straight away makes your face pruned up, then comes the sweet taste after 2 seconds, followed by the refreshing mint to complete the journey.
This is just so so nice!!!

3) Surprise Surprise!
They prepared a birthday cake for my Darling and even sang the birthday song together with me!

There’s even an “official photographer” that came over to help us snap a polaroid to keep as a memento

Sweet And Swee!

That completes our journey to Alkaff Mansion. A birthday celebration that spans over 3 days.
Hope my darling likes it and Hope she has a fond memory that she can keep forever!

I love you Darling!

My Sexy Baby birthday Gift (Week 13)

My Sexy baby Darling is approaching her birthday soon on the 6 Dec and the gift is due. Haha.
Well, we had a combined birthday celebration with her mother at Imperial Treasure SUPER PEKING DUCK @ Paragon. Finally get to eat a genuine Peking Duck outside Beijing!

waiting for the rest of the pack to arrive

The one on the right is my Darling and the shy shy girl on the left is her big sis Val. Haha, she’s so camera shy!
The appetiser of honey-glazed cashew with sesame seeds was great! We finished 2 plates in no time! Haha, the benefit of arriving early!
When the rest of the pack finally arrived 45 minutes later, the culinary adventure begins!
First was the roast meat, which is almost heavenly! With so little fats, the meat almost melts in your mouth and the skin is SO SO cripsy! Eaten together with the mustard provided makes this an even greater dish. Mama was full of praise for this.
Next we had the double boiled chicken soup, which is full of flavour! and Surprisingly not oily at all!
Then we had the deep fried squid with prawn paste. Not too bad when eaten hot but can feel the oil when cold…

deep fried squid with prawn paste

The person eating is Bryan, Val’s hubby.
Next is the arrival of our SUPER PEKING DUCK! This has to be ordered in advance ok!
The chef was carving out the skin and meat in front of us.

Live de-skinning of SUPER PEKING DUCK

presentation of the sliced skin

Rest of duck stir-fried in Salt and Pepper

Then we had the Home made bean curd with spinach (Which finished before I could snap a pic), as well as the Broccoli with mushrooms and stewed E-Fu noodles. ALL YUMMY!
The last dish was the Cod Fish with black fungus, unique dish which actually tastes quite good too!

Cod Fish with black fungus

What’s a birthday celebration without the cake?
I ordered a Red Velvet cake from “Cake Literally”. Mixed reviews on the cake but I feel that it tastes quite nice when eaten together with the frosting.

Birthday Cake

Sing The Birthday Song

Blow out the candles and your Wish will come true!

Combined cake cutting

Birthday Girl Enjoying Cake

The dinner costs $440 for 8 pax, reasonable price for superb food, well worth it! But really have to place a reservation coz the queue was really long when we left the restaurant.

Home Sweet Home and I presented darling with her present.
This birthday gift was tricky… …
I wanted to get darling something practical, and since she has been complaining of aches and cramps, we have been looking at pregnancy pillows whenever we pass by Mothercare or similar shops but usually all we see are those pillow wedges, nothing comfy.
I scoured the net, looking at numerous reviews before shortlisting to these few choices…
There is the Comfort-U body pillow, the Leachco Snoogle pillow, the Dreamgenii maternity pillow and the Today’s Mom Cozy Comfort pillow.
My first choice was the Today’s Mom Cozy Comfort pillow! Found it on Amazon.com, only to realise that they do not ship to Singapore! WHY WHY WHY!!! Tried to order using eBay as well but can only find Comfort-U and still they do not provide shipment to Singapore. Tried to order through their official website but they do not ship outside USA. ARGH!!! Was going to give up after a few weeks of searching. Tried manipulating with different search terms, FINALLY!! The heaven do not disappoint those who work hard, AKA 皇天不负有心人, I found a Singapore company which actually imports these pillows and sell it here in Singapore!!
But they onnly have my second choice (Leachco Snoogle Total body pillow) and only in Ivory colour. Well, at least I found it!!
The delivery was arranged on the same day as the combined birthday dinner, hoping to give Darling a surprise when she gets home. =)
I guess she was surprised to find the pillow, but disappointed that it’s only a pillow. Sigh….hope I can make her happy with my choice of Restaurant for Darling’s Birthday Treat!!! (Fingers crossed…)

Pillow in wrapper

Comfy in Bed with her Snoogle Pillow

First year Wedding Anniversary

Today is the first year anniversary of our wedding. 17 March 2012, we walked down the isle of Grand Shanghai, waving to the crowd while they are cheering us on…the memory is still fresh in my mind.
Tomorrow is the 7th year anniversary of us being together. 18 March 2006, after dinner while walking home, I asked if she would mind allowing me to be the first man to hold her hand as a boyfriend…she said yes and the rest is history.

Memories are past events but they are happy events. The aim is not to hold on to past memories and pretend everything is going to happen just like last time. We will grow old, we will have new directions and new encounters in life, all these are part and parcel of life but the only thing that shall and MUST remain constant, is US holding each other’s hands, cheering each other on, creating new happy memories together.

I am not a good husband, I lied to my wife, I lost control of my emotions and shouted in front of her. I attempted to boast of my almost negligible contribution towards doing housework…

In this anniversary special, I shall attempt to re-visit the happy memories of the past 1 year, hoping to add on more new memories.

First up is Our Spain-Portugal-London honeymoon! Darling and I had many firsts during this honeymoon…First LIVE soccer match, First Bull Fight, First Europe trip.

Nou Camp

Spain

Madrid strawberry Bear

Having tea

Segovia castle

Sagrada Familia

Toro Toro!

Portugal Belem Tower

Big Ben

London Tower Bridge

We followed soon with our Part 2 Europe honeymoon at Italy. Shopping paradise for darling. And we conquered 1 Wonder of the World…

Colosseum

Mouth of Truth

Florence Duomo

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Milan Duomo

Gondola in Venice

We celebrated my birthday at the beautiful St Regis, thanks to darling’s recommendation.

St Regis birthday dinner

We watched only 1 musical last year at MBS as there isn’t any nice ones after Oz and the Lion King.

A Chorus Line

After which came our Part 3 Europe Honeymoon in France. We got to see iconic structures such as the Eiffel Tower and Lourve and iconic Mona Lisa.

Half Timbered Houses

Le Mont Saint Michel

Icon of Love

We saw the MBS Harry Potter exhibition.

Harry Potter

We celebrated Darling’s birthday at the Lighthouse @ Fullerton.

Post dinner Merlion shot

We visited the Gardens by the Bay this year, really quite a world class garden, well planned and beautiful.

Cloud Garden

Gardens by the Bay

Last but not least, we had a wonderful Italian Dinner at Buona Terra on Valentine’s Day.

Valentine Dinner @ Buona Tera

The year has been fruitful in terms of travel experiences and lots of firsts with darling. I hope to create more of such good memories with darling.

A year on, after a few bad quarrels, I have seen darling getting more and more impatient with me. Even though we are quarreling less, the main root of every quarrel remains constant…ME…
I need to change, I promised I will change but have not been able to do so.
I vowed to
i. change my bad habits of trying to prove myself (due to low self esteem and low confidence)
ii. not to raise my voice at darling again
iii. tell my feelings to darling more
iv. answer darling’s questions straight to the point
v. Any other things which can improve our relationship

Darling has not been happy today because of me.
I do not wish to be the root of darling’s unhappiness…
Worse of all, I do not wish to be chased away by darling…

Today is our anniversary darling, even though it may not be a happy one, I hope that we can re-live the memories 1 more time.
I love you.

You are my first love, and my only darling.

I love you.

http://vimeo.com/avpsg/weixian-zhiwei

Happy 2011 birthday Darling!

Time flies and it’s that part of the year again, drum roll….Darling’s Birthday!!
I Initally planned on giving a surprise to darling but she found out about it anyway…darling is too smart!
Darling sensed that the arrangement of the pillows on our bed has changed so she started to explore before she found the flowers!

Simple "Lego-style" Birthday greetings and fresh flowers

Opps, showed darling's age unknowingly

So flowers I gave to darling, what about the present? Haha, had it all preapred!!

What's a birthday without the present?

What did Dar Dar buy for Darling???

Au Revoir

So what did Dar Dar write inside that small small card, that resulted in Darling reading it with so much interest?? Well, you can only ask Xian to be sure.

Hmm...what sweet stuff did Dar Dar write??

Judging from the smile on Darling’s face, I think Darling likes the tiny surprise I had for her!! Yay!

Happy Happy girl

Next up is Darling’s Birthday treat =)
She had this strong desire to eat hairy crabs so she requested that as her birthday treat. Hmm…I initially had another place in mind which can offer great views and good ambience but since darling is the birthday girl, she gets the final say!
The dinner venue is the same as our AD dinner venue…which is…

Grand Shanghai

Taking a pic with what we are going to eat later..hahaha

We are always amazed by the setting of Grand Shanghai…the charm it exudes, the beauty it holds…

The interior of Grang Shanghai

Here comes the menu proper =)

The Menu

The hairy crab menu

We chose the set whereby we will have 2 hairy crabs each! Haha, it is our first time eating hairy crabs and since it is a seasonal delicacy, we must truly savour this creature by eating 2!

Our dish to share, the crispy eel

Our crispy eel does not taste like eel at all leh, but it does have a certain shiokness to it. Munching it while listening to oldies and sipping tea…quite a nice combi.

Black Fungus Salad

First up is the black fungus salad. The black fungus are big big pieces and really crunchy. The dressing is mild spicy yet slight sourish, really good appetizer.

Xiao Long Bao

The Xiao Long Bao is a nice size, full of savoury juices inside. The meat is tender and when taken together with the ginger and vinegar, is simply heavenly.
Next up is the nightmare of some support groups out there…but it’s a heavenly dish for me!!

Double boiled Shark's bone with Superior Shark's Fin

The soup is full of flavour, and the shark’s fin are really big pieces! Full of Shark’s fin in every mouth! This dish we must have in our dinner banquet menu! =p
Now the main highight of the night.. …The creature that is renowed over the world…all the way from China…these hairy things that are only available a few months a year…大闸蟹!

The cute little hairy yummy thing

If you are wondering how to start tasting these little hairy creatures, heehee, there is nothing to worry about coz the waitress will help us prepare the delicacy =)

The waitress is making bite sizes of the crab in the background. The sauce for dipping is in the foreground.

All ready to go into our tummy. Look at all those yummy roe!!

The roe is the main highlight of hairy crabs and the roe is really smooth and yummy. There is also this sticky stuff around the roe area and the waitress says they are all fats… (-.-”
They have these crab meat eating tool provided so it’s really easy to finish eating the whole crab with minimal meat left behind. There is not much meat in this tiny thing but the meat is quite firm and have a good texture. Lucky we ordered 2!!

Darling using the tool to extract leg meat

After the main dish, we are going to have some fibre to help in the digestion =D

Braised Abalone with Sea Cucumber and Spinach

The sea cucumber is nice and squashy, I like!! The spinach portion is big too.
Next up is something light, also made partly with the yummy hairy crab roe.

Steamed Dumplings with Crab Roe

The dumplings itself is quite nice but I really cannot taste any crab roe. I supposed they used it to make the skin of the dumplings since the colour is yellow too.
At this point we are quite full already so it’s about time we have dessert =)

Chilled 胖大海 with Lily Bulb

We have no idea what 胖大海 is but it does taste nice and chilled…haha. A refreshing dessert.
That ends Darling’s birthday dinner! Full and satisfied!
Hmm…are we missing something here? It’s a birthday right??
YES!! The birthday cake!! it’s at our Punggol Springs love nest =x

Darling's birthday cake during the combined birthday celebration with Darling's mummy

Darling's very own birthday cake from Awfully Chocolate

Make a wish darling, and may all your wishes come true!

Happy Birthday my darling! Hope you enjoyed your birthday and your gift. May all your wishes come true!!
I love you!

My 30th… …三十大寿

Time flies.
It has come for me to change the photo on my NRIC.
Sigh, 我老了.

Well, at least I have a lovely wife by my side now, and our love nest is coming to shape soon and my career is stable. Time to enjoy life! Haha.

My dear darling arranged a MOST special birthday dinner for me. She made an effort to research through the vast world wide web and found a MOST lovely and romantic place to spend my special day with me! Thank you darling! I love it! I love the thrill of surprises, and I do not know where we are eating until we got there! Good job My dear! =x

All Ready for My Birthday Feast

Birthplace of my Birthday cake

Place for My Birthday Feast

Ready to eat eat eat

We had a cocktail drink (their signature drink) at a Happy Hour 1-for-1 promotion. Man, it tastes like cough syrup! Maybe we are not used to the taste. Lucky the rest of the dishes made up for it! We shared a Tuna Capraccio, Foie Gras and grilled scallops with cripsy pork belly as appetizers =) The tuna is plentiful, foie gras was big, fat and juicy and scallops fresh amd pork belly skin cripsy and sticky. I like!

Signature cocktail

Tuna closest to darling, scallops closest to me, and foie gras in the middle = a happy darling

The Soups that followed were not too awesome. Darling’s lobster bisque is not bad but my onion soup was not that great.
Next comes the mains. I had the tenderloin with a generous piece of foie gras while darling chose the 48-hour braised short ribs. Both were delicious! It is super shiok to eat foie gras!

Darling's short ribs braised for 48 hours

My steak with nice mashed potatoes and asparagus

After that wonderful meal, it’s time for MY moment! Really special to have the waiters and waitresses sing me a birthday song, But the most special is still Darling singing the Birthday song for me =) Sweet!

My lovely Heart-shaped Birthday cake

Making a wish (The same wish I make every year) haha.

Make a wish

Thank you darling for choosing the Lovely place.
Thank you darling for spending the Lovely evening with me.

2 flowers under the light of a romantic candle

One of The Entrance - Arched door

Post dinner shot

The Rabbit Hole we came in from

The White Rabbit from outside

Lovely Darling and the Lovely place

But a birthday is never complete without a Birthday present isn’t it?
My birthday present this year is a record breaking (price-wise) one! I must take great care of this treasure!

Presenting my Tag Heuer with Crizal Transitions Lens! Both a first for me!

Paris Miki

TAG Heuer with Crizal Lens

Another view of my gorgeous TAG Heuer

Thank you darling for everything! I love you!

A birthday celebration in the sky

It’s Darling’s first birthday celebration under a new status. Today we are celebrating the birthday of Dar Dar’s Wife!
We are yet to go on the Singapore Flyer, so what better way to go on our maiden Singapore Flyer flight than to go for a Sky Dining session on the SIngapore Flyer itself!
As mentioned on the Singapore Flyer website, ” An unforgettable birthday celebration awaits you: Indulge in a lavish dinner menu, with full butler service, in the comfort of a specially decorated capsule, as you savour breathtaking views of the Singapore cityscape glittering at your feet! ” We are so looking forward to the flight!

setting off for our sky dining

We were directed to the guest service counter and then we took a private lift up to the VIP lounge on level 3. A friendly waiter greeted us with all smiles and we feel welcomed instantly. =) Iced water was served together with assorted nuts in a champagne glass while we waited eagerly for our maiden flight and our first ever sky dining experience! I can see that darling is super excited and I cannot hide my excitement too!
Judging from the people in the lounge, I think we will be sharing the capsule with another couple as well as an ang moh family of 4. The 28 square meters capsule should be big enough to hold the 8 of us comfortably.

Coordinated clothes

Ang Pao gift is always welcome

Finally it’s time to board our capsule! We were ushered along a VIP route and boarded the decorated capsule, much to the envy of other Singapore Flyer tourists waiting in line for their turn to board their capsule. The capsule was well set up with the tables set up far from each other and near the sides of the capsule so we can have a full view of the bright Singapore skyline with the Marina Bay area all nicely lit up! The chairs are banquet cushion chairs and all come with seat covers and there is a small candle and a small flower decorative piece on each table. We have a personal butler serving us on the capsule and the butler is a very handy person to use as a cameraman! Haha.

Happy darling

We are going on 2 rounds, each taking 30 min, so we have enough time to slowly eat and enjoy the scenery.
During the first round, we were served our welcome drink of fresh summer berries (actually a raspberry) in ginger ale. Hmm, refreshing enough and I like the bubbly effect that makes it look like sparkling champagne. We were served the starter of hickory smoked salmon with vine tomato and mascarpon. There is also a bread shaped like a bird.

bird-like bread

I like the finger food of toast with olives and some seasoned stuff….dunno what it is coz it’s not described anywhere in the menu =p

Pose first then eat

Cheers from Darling

Cheers from Dar Dar

Birthday toast

I am amazed at the sight! Singapore indeed looks pretty good when lit up and the view high up at 165m is truly breathtaking! A lot of photo opportunities and a lot of postcard views. A pity I cannot hold my camera outside the capsule to avoid the reflections.

nicoll highway and Benjamin Sheares I think

Marina and Suntec area

Overlooking the Bay

Our very own Marina Bay

Going into our second round, we shall savour the sights again, while having our main dishes. Darling is having the Maple Soyu Glazed Cherry Snapper And Scented Ginger Served with Chef Accompaniments. I am having the Baked Spring Chicken Parmigiana With Tomato, Cheese, Seasonal Vegetable and Natural Jus.

Darling's main

My main

Singapore Flyer Christmas Tree

Enjoying each other's company and the scenery

A rare picture with good exposure

A kiss 165m in the sky

Life is good

Life is good

Of course what’s a birthday without birthday gifts??
Darling was given a small surprise when her dessert came with a lighted candle and out butler singing a birthday song while bringing out the dessert cake. It’s Mocha Fraiche Savoyodi With Honey Almond Crackers. Guess what she has for her birthday?

Cute darling

Look at my presents

pic with a capsule

Darling's birthday gift

Darling's birthday gifts

specially for my precious darling

Darling's Noir Tease and Tiffany

What Tiffany diamonds do darling have?

Happy Birthday Darling!

Guess what am I wishing for

Make A Wish

blow out the candle birthday girl

Hope that Darling’s wishes will all come true!
It’s a wonderful night out with a wonderful sky dining experience with my birthday girl darling. We still have a night hotel stay at Mandarin Oriental, courtesy of OCBC bank….haha, U can imagine how much the Tiffany earrings cost just by the free gift redeemed using that receipt. =p
Tentative date for our hotel stay….March 19…stay tuned…

Couple shot below the Singapore Flyer

A wonderful unforgetable Birthday celebration for darling

Our Singapore Flyer outing

The lovely Birthday Girl, My Beautiful Wife