Cold, so...

The weather has been very cold and wet. Today, the temperature drops to 4 deg C and we are expecting snowfall the next two days. The kids have all been 'caged'. It is just too freezing cold (not just cold) to go out and play. And dear mum has to keep them occuppied.

The kids' uncle Moses have been mailing books to the kids since the day we arrived.


This children's cookbook is the kids' favourite. I decided to just do baking using one of the recipes.

Ann has always been asking for her own apron. We saw this in her favourite colour and bought it. Only USD1.00!

Yeap, she is a baker in training...and a very good one. We made...

Chocolate chip cookies

We made healthy ones of course, instead of the normal white flour, we replaced it with wholemeal flour. So these are wholemeal chocolate chip cookies!

Buy, buy, buy....

America is indeed a buying country. People just love buying things and gosh, there are just so much to buy!


This is only a fraction of what we receive in the mailbox.

Everyday, there are some catalogues sitting in our mailbox...not forgetting the never-ending advertisements which we also receive in our email box. Also there are lots of outlet shopping malls where you can get designers' labels at 60% to 70% off. If you think Singapore is a shopping paradise, you haven't seen anything yet! If you are a shopping freak, this is THE place for you!

...but fresh meat

We have frozen fish here but lots of fresh meat!

I love going to the farm to buy my farm-reared lamb. It is simply delicious. Also, the pork here is very fresh. Succulent, juicy and tender. I find the pork back home kind of hard and dry. I don't like to use meat tenderiser as I find them artificial. Most of the time, I would season my meat overnight, even then, the meat is not tender enough.


This is a grilled pork steak. I just seasoned it with teriyaki sauce and minced garlic, place it in the fridge for a few hours and grill it in the oven.
It is very succulent, juicy and tender. Fuss-free, oil-free and easy to clean up!

Frozen fish

For some strange reason, we just couldn't get fresh fish in our little town.

There are frozen fish, fish fingers etc... but no fresh fish. Often we complain about the fish monger in our wet market for not selling fresh fish. When you have no fresh fish to eat, you will be thankful for what you can get back home.

Here, the fishes are also of strange species for us coming from Asia. There are tilapia, mud fish, monk fish, flounder...where are the 'song yu', 'ang ko-li', 'ikan kuning'....

...when I finally saw a familiar fish, I was most glad altough it came frozen...bought it and went home to make...


...grilled garlic mackeral

Pastor's appreciation day

Yesterday was Pastor's appreciation day. After the service, before the congreggation was dismissed, there was a short time of appreciating what the pastor has done for the church.

Weeks before, each family was given a little card to fill in their words of appreciation and love offerings for the pastor could be attached to the little card too.

It was nothing fanciful but it was definietly a very nice gesture.

I think all churches in Singapore should have this practice too. To give up everything to serve God is really not an easy thing to do. On top of that, as a pastor, there certain level of expectations which the people often look up to. Often, the position up there is lonely.

More sneaky bakes

Remember I wrote about my zucchini cupcakes? Well, I found more recipes about adding greens into my baking and cooking. We were browsing in a shop when hubby spotted this wonderful cookbook


Yes, deceptively delicious! Chicken Nuggets with spinach, chocolate findue with avocado and carrot,
brownies with carrot and spinach....the best part was the book only cost USD5 !


This time, I made baked doughnuts. The healthy part about this doughnut was that it wasn't fried but baked.


YUM...MI, healthy with greens and dark chocolate powder!

With the busy schedule of working parents, a good, healthy meal has been pushed to the lowest priority. In exchange, we go for convenient food, fast-food and often, these food, in order to prolong their shelf life, have lots of additives, preservatives added into them. Often, as parents, it is so easy to give in to our kids' wimps and fancies. We allow them to eat anything not understanding the ill-effects which can follow.

Able to add in healthy ingredients into their food will enable their body to fence off some of the germs and bacteria that invade their bodies. As parents, we are made stewards of our children, look after them well.

Fire department and autumn walk

The beautiful thing about living in a huge country is that there are just so much to do. Even for school field trips, the teachers can easily bring the kids to anywhere and lessons can be conducted. Children can learn so much through all these visits.

Ann's field trip for this month was a visit to the fire department and an autumn walk. In the autumn walk, the children were introduced to various types of leaves. It was a fun outdoor lesson!


The fire captain of the Alburtis Fire Department


Explaining the various types of fire vehicles and equipments which a fireman can use


Listen and learn. Important for all kids to have all these extra knowledge. Remember the Asia Tsunami in 2004.
How an eight-year-old girl managed to save hundreds of people on the beach when she remembered what
she learned in class about the signs of a coming tsunami. Knowledge goes beyond the four walls in a classroom.
That's Ann's best friend in class, the little girl in green jacket


Climbing into a fire engine, pretending to be firemen


Snack time at the park


Autumn walk starts. Picking up the various types of leaves and stuffing them into a bag


Some kind of berry tree. Not sure if they are edible


Leaves-tracing


Project done!

They were in SINGAPORE!

"Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations" was on TV last night. Bourdain is a bestseller author and chef. He travels extensively to savour the various food of the world. And last night, he went to....SINGAPORE!

For a bestseller chef to praise the food of Singapore, it really means something. He said, "Singapore is a culinary nirvana."

"So it was another day in foodie paradise. And that is Singapore's singular danger. It is easy to get sucked in, to get used to the little things on your daily table, the tiny dishes of sambal or chopped red chili peppers, the soy sauce, even the moist towelettes. You begin quickly to expect them, to take them for granted. And once you get used to the sights, sounds, smells and tastes, there is no going back. Western food becomes eerily bland and flat. You find your soul kidnapped by the memory of condiments". (http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/travel/tmagazine/24singapore.html?pagewanted=3&ref=tmagazine)

Yes, sometimes, I wonder why some are willing to pay so much for an ambience where you can only whisper to each other, use the ever complicated bling, bling cutlery sets... only to eat food that are served in amounts not even enough to fill the tiny corner of my stomach. When there are so much more to enjoy out there.

In the programme, Bourdain went to various food courts, kopitiams (coffee shops), zhi cha stalls (mini restaurants that operate out from a coffee shop)...to try the different dishes. Gosh, the food sure looked exceptionally good and delicious. There were 'tulang'(stewed lamb bone marrow), mee-pok (dried noodles), chilli crabs, roasted pork, beef and mutton rendang, satay, Maxwell Road famous chicken rice...

I can list no more, I am salivating (slurp, slurp)

Bak kwa (Bar-b-q pork)

Fellow relocated mum shared this recipe with me. Homemade bak kwa. Well, at least we will have one Chinese New Year goody to eat when the festival arrives in end-January


I think it desperately needs more fats!

And they were ice

This morning was exceptionally cold. We looked out from our patio, the green grass look white. Was it snowing? When we went out to have a closer look, it was actually ice.


It's just autumn, I cannot imagine what winter will be like...brrrr

We have been booed

It was almost 8pm and the door bell rang. Very strange, the kids don't ask Kai out to play at such late hour, no parcel will be delivered at such hour...

Kai took a peek and told us that a package has been left at our doorstep...




It was a Halloween treats by we do not know who. But it was really cute, there were lots of goodies and little toys for the kids. Without experiencing it, we have always thought that Halloween was all about all things spooky. It really need not be so. For example, the Halloween parade we saw, it was a family affair. It really boils down to how you want to do it.

Of kings and queens, knights and ladies

After travelling to the Charles Dickens era, we moved on to the Renaissance age.

They were having the annual Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire at Manheim, a one hour drive from our home.

Named one of the Top 100 Events in North America by the American Bus Association, it is a rollicking recreation of a 16th Century England county fesitval filled with jousting knights and over 35 acres of Royal delights! Over 120 Tudor structures set the scene for over 90 daily performances of various enchantments including Commedia Del Arte, puppet shows, sword swallowing and more by the Faire's 100's of colorfully costumed characters. (www.padutchcountry.com/member_pages/pennsylvania_renaissance_faire.asp)

It was a very unique experience. Everyone was having a fun time and even the visitors came in their special costumes. They mingled with the staff, entertainers, so much so, it was difficult to tell who were the visitors and who were the performers.

And yes, they addressed each other by 'my lord', 'my sweet lady'....



The journey to the Renaissance age begins...


One picture with one soldier




All the king's men and all the king's women...



...and all the little children

When there are kids..there must be rides. During the Renaissance era, the rides were not run by machines, they were run by man.

It was hard work for the men but the kids had FUN!

What did the people do for a living during the Renaissance era?

The popcorn man and the knitting lady


The bird-keeper and the sculptor


The hot chocolate lady and the pickle woman

There was art & craft booth where the kids could create their own mask.


A different kind of lady, a different kind of knight



You could select plays to watch. Unfortunately, we missed the Shakespear's play


The ladies were dressed in their Sunday best to watch the play...but where art thou, my lord?


A little puppet show caught Kai's and Ann's attention

Travelling through the Renaissance era was a tedious task. Taking a break, have a cup of tea and a slice of cake would be most ideal!

Hmm...look at those pastries...Kai was more interested in finding out what to do next. We had hot chocolate and choco mint tea.
and a slice of ...

...DEATH BY CHOCOLATE! Very rich chocolatey taste but not at all sweet. A mouthful of cake and a sip of mint tea...heavenly


More characters...and who was that lying in a coffin? (Better don't show this to kongkong and popo (the grands))

Time for more food..slurp

Grilled turkey leg. YUM...MI.


Strange characters such as a lizard man and a pumpkin man were found among the kings and queens, kinghts and ladies


Two strange figures pass by us, a white one and a grey one...

...it was Gandalf from Lord of the Rings

It was a great 'travelling back in time'. Bringing oneself to a different kind or era was a whole new experience. The kids and even us thoroughly enjoyed it. While walking back to the car, Kai came to me and said, "mummy, thank you for brining us here." It was really so sweet of him. My dear son is growing up each day.
(It would really be nice if Singapore could look into organizing such events where families could participate together).

So...that brought us to the end of the Renaissance age...