Mummy's Birthday

Mum's 70th birthday! A time for celebration.

I've known my mum for 39 years. The time I spend with her has far exceeded the time I spent with my natural mum (deceased). She cares for my sister & I since we were little. Always giving & feeding us the best she can, even after my dad has passed away. A virtue I've learned from her is to always be sincere to others & do not expect a good deed done to be rewarded in kind. She is always so contented & joyful . I know she is the kind of mum every child will wish to have & cherish.

Although it was just another dinner with her, I wanted this dinner to be a little special for her. I know she likes novelty eating places, so this time round, I chose a table at Gallery by the Straits, to dine by the seaside.

We could see the sunset & feel the sea breeze while enjoying our dinner. That's definitely something I believe she would have enjoyed & will remember.

I pray & ask for God's grace & blessings in watching over my mum with good health & happiness, always.

Reminiscence of the Past

Hi, my dear cousin,

Those were the happy kiddie days when you & I would meet often whenever I stayed over at grandma's place during the school holidays.

Your house was just right behind grandma's, divided by a small field. Because of the easy walking distance separating the two houses; for easy access, a footpath was crafted out by clearing a tidy stretch of wild grass in the field just right between the two doors of the houses. Over the years, with all the many frequent steps on that footpath; interestingly, no grass could have a chance to re-surface on that stretch of soil, ha ha ha ...

So easy & convenient was the accessibility that I did not have to worry about sometime having to stay up a little late at your place to finish watching a TV program together with all my other dear cousins (of course, I am referring to Pat, Victor & Sylvia). For the sake of my safety, you would stood by your back door to make sure that I have safely walked across the pitch-dark field back to grandma's house & shut my door behind me before you would shut yours. Thank you for that thoughtfulness - I appreciate that deep down in my heart.

I believe you will remember, one of our favourite past-times was to stroll the shopping area around the Hollywood Theatre along Tanjong Katong Road. That theatre was situated next to the Lion City Hotel. The site is now occupied by Sheng Shiong Supermarket. In those days, there wasn't any such hip places like those we can see along the Orchard Road belt now. Anyway, that was our hip during that time, ha ha ha.

We, the two cousins, would spend many afternoons window shopping in the Chinese Emporium & buy our favourite yummy snacks with our savings from school pocket money. Oh! I really miss the fragrant spicy chicken curry puffs. Hmmm ... those chunky chicken meat & not too mashy potatoes inside. That kind of flavour nowhere to be found these days. Not even the now famous Old Chang Kee has fight for it. I loved to bring back a piece for our grandma as well whenever we patronized the curry puff store. As a kid,I truly enjoyed watching her carefully sink her teeth into the yummy afternoon snack I brought back for her with my pocket money.

I am glad my recent day out with you to the Holland Shopping Centre was a fruitful one. Not only have you added to your wardrobe many pieces of cheery & comfortable tops but also we had time to enjoy our lunch at the newly opened Sushi Teh & also leisurely had our tea-break at the Holland Village Food Centre.

Although time has moved forward, but to me, you are still the same cousin I will always remember.

Dining Out on a Stormy Evening

After our unsuccessful attempt shopping for a set of headphone for my boy's ipod touch, we decided to go for our dinner.

I started asking my children what they wish to have for dinner tonight. They had no suggestions. The only idea my boy gave was to have something piping hot & spicy. I asked them again. This time I said, "Rice? Noodle? Non-rice? Non-noodle?" They said, "Let's have rice & non-rice. But my boy added, " It must be spicy, ok" "So, what do all of you want???" We laughed.

We got into our car. Papa asked, "So, mummy, where are we heading now?" I thought for a little while & told him to drive along Beach Road. I remember there are many interesting eating places out there. My boy reminded his dad to drive slowly along Beach Road so that we could take the time to choose which restaurant we would like to stopped for.

Finding nothing we liked, so Pa made a left turn into one of the lanes, still nothing enticing, then he made another turn. Finally, we landed somewhere near Haji Lane. Looking for spicy food in that area surely will not be a problem. They always have many Muslim, India-Muslim, India & Turkish restaurants around there. We parked the car along the side of the lane & walked into Haji Lane. Before we could get into the next lane to start our search for a restaurant, we felt rain drops & more rain drops. Without a second thought, we agreed that we had to quickly get back into our car & go look for another place to eat. The moment we got into the car, rain poured. Gosh! we were fast. We laughed again.

So, we started driving somewhere again. The rain poured more heavily. The criteria then for our eating place must be somewhere with a sheltered carpark. It would be too wet even if we would to get out of our car with our umbrellas. We headed to the eastern side of the island & still could not settle for anything there. We passed by Mountbatten Road Food Centre. We knew there were many good stores we would like to patronize but the rain was too heavy for us to make it there. Still raining heavily, in fact more heavily. My boy said we must have been driving into the eye of the storm. He suggested we should drive away from that area. Papa suggested why not drive to The Swissotel the Stamford & eat at Kopi Tiam. "Yes! we all agreed. Why didn't we thought of it just now so we didn't have to drive away from that zone." We like their roti prata fried hokkien mee & beef hor fun.

We headed back to the central. True enough, the rain got lesser. But instead of heading straight to the second floor of the hotel, we passed by Market Place & detoured. Looked at my watch, it's 9pm & still walking around looking for somewhere that would stop us from searching on. Thai Express? Shimbashi Soba? Sapporo Ramen? Out of the Pan? The Soup Spoon? Ben & Jerry's? Finally, we stood at the entrance of Aerin's. The waiter was about to bring us to the seats & we apologized because we changed our mind. We knew that was not what we wanted although we always love the food there. We walked further & saw some people queueing outside Din Tai Fung 鼎泰丰 . Arh... that's the place & all finally agreed to settle for that restaurant. We would have rice & non-rice; and spicy food as well.

We ordered two clear soup chicken with noodle (non-rice)(recommended), one pork chop soup with noodle (non-rice), fried prawn pancake (non-rice)(recommended), 2 large trays of xiao long bao (non-rice)(recommended) & fried rice with prawns & eggs (rice)(recommended). Wanted to order the sour & spicy soup to complete one of the many items of request my boy listed for our dinner earlier but we found no more space in our stomachs. We laughed again.

While walking back to the carpark, my girl stopped us to buy her her favourite donuts at the Donut Factory. She picked her favourite Oreo, Double Chocolate & Hazelnut. My boy picked his Blueberry. Papa picked his Mocca.

We got into the car, tuned in the radio for our music, started talking again, drove on; still raining but raining lesser & lesser as we got nearer towards home. Along Holland Road, there was no sign of any rainfall at all. The stretch of road was dry, the signages along the road were dry & our carpark was dry.

Korean BBQ at Home

Nothing comes better than eating together as a family. Eating slowly & chit chatting about anything under the sun while enjoying our dinner. Steam boat & Korean bbq are two of our favourite dinner settings. In fact, both ways are good for me because everyone gets to cook by themselves. For this evening, the children choose to have the grill.

Cold Storage is just within walking distance from our home. My boy accompanied me there to pick up all the necessary ingredients such as sliced pork, porcini mushroom, Japanese fish cakes & difference types of lettuce & fruits. For this round, we shall skip the beef & instead have more sliced pork & mushroom. My girl likes lots of porcini mushroom. It is very meaty & is very good to be used for grills.

Home Flavoured Korean BBQ Dinner

It has been quite a little while, our family has not been to Da Zhang Jin Korean BBQ Restaurant for our favourite grill.

This evening, since knowing that my daughter was able to be home early to join us for dinner together, I quickly picked up some usual grill stuff, such as sukiyaki beef, pork belly, butterhead lettuce, tofu, Japanese fish cakes & fresh mushrooms from the supermarket to prepare a grill dinner at home. My fridge is always stocked up with all the condiments & sauces necessary to use for a grill, whether in Korean or Japanese style.

Whenever, we have our grill at home, my boy will always enjoy grilling the food for everyone. My girl will not mind not having to do the grill at all. She will happily layer her ingredients, dab it with the chilli sauce & miso paste; and wrap them in the lettuce then pop it into her mouth. As usual, she will cheerfully let her brother knows that she likes to have more mushrooms or pork belly or fish cake & etc. Her brother will just happily serve her. We will all slowly enjoy ourselves together over our dinner conversation.

I asked my boy did he prefer to have the grill at a restaurant or at home. His response is always warm & heartening. To him,in a restaurant, although we can choose to order many more other grilling ingredients & side dishes, it is never the same as having the grill dinner prepared by me because the flavour of the grill outside is never the same as when we eat together at home. He calls it "Home Flavour".

Mummy's 69th Birthday Celebration

Birthdays celebration with a little twist this year. Mum always like to try something new. She will not tell me what's in her mind but I know her well enough by now, to throw her little surprises every now and then. How I wish my dad is still living and can enjoy all these little happy moments together with us.
Since my dad is no more with us, my mummy will have to receive what I have to offer to her in double portions.

Instead of a traditional 8 or 9 course dinner which is becoming rather monotonous these days, we had a quick fun raw fish "Lo Hei" and porridge at the famous Chen Jie hawker store at Chinatown Food Centre and followed by a nice treat for her at tcc (airport terminal 3) to blow out her birthday candle. That's a surprise birthday celebration for her, arranged by my dear husband.


An upsized plate of parang fish salad "Lo Hei" for only $24.00


A bowl of pipping hot "tan chai" porridge for $3. It has sliced fish, fried peanuts and cuttlefish with crispy crackers and spring onion sprinkled on it.
A good combination to go with the raw fish salad which my mummy enjoys thoroughly during the lunar new year festive season.
Surprisingly, such a simple and appetizing combination is not available in upmarket restaurants and hotels.


Since the store owner's crowning of the SuperMummy title 全能俏妈妈 organised in 2008 by MediaCorp, "Pretty Girl" directly translated from the dialect Cantonese, has seen a jump in her fame in the Chinatown Food Centre.


Tossing up and cheering on for good health, prosperity, harmony and happiness, all with God's grace.





May the Lord keeps my mummy cheerful and healthy all the time.



















royal pumpkin cheesecake - very yummy! My mummy loves this best.


matchazuki dream - It has green tea. Very yummy too!



chocolate grottine - The rim is made of dark chocolate. My girl loves it!


tiramisu - Very well done. My husband's favourite.


Azuki coffee cooler - Mummy's order. It has the azuki beans at the bottom.


azuki chocolate cooler & chocolate raspberry frappe - Sis' and my girl's orders


Mango yoghurt frappe - My boy's order - Simple it may look but taste good! He loves mangoes.


I always like a hot black aromatic coffee to go with my cakes - So a Ethopia Harrar for me.
My husband likes black full-bodied coffee - He ordered a Brazil Santos.

Family Reunion 'Tunch' @ The Dining Room

The Dining Room, Sheraton Towers with its cascading waterfalls, rockpools and lush greenery provided an unforgettable setting and serene ambience for our family reunion meal. We were spoilt for choices by their splendid international spread. Not only did we had Asian exotics, Western cuisines and local favourites to pick from, there were also the tantalising sashimi and mussels; and also the exquisite desserts for the sweet tooths.
Since it was the eve of Lunar New Year, items for doing up a "Lo Hei", a chinese raw fish salad dish were also available for patrons who wanted to toss the dish in style.
Hmmm... truly a hearty reunion "Tunch" (lunch + tea).
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