Let's get the party started

The two cousins (Joshua, left; Kai, right) having fun together before the fight over the birthday ballon.

I've never been to a party hosted at McDonald's, and I've always wanted to attend one ever since I was a kid. So I was probably more excited than Kai when BIL hosted my nephew Joshua's 2yo birthday party at McDonald's.

Kit slept through the whole party.

While Kai ate fries to his heart's content.

I think I quite enjoyed it. Terence and I could warm our seats long enough to eat our lunch, while other people get paid to entertain the kids. Not bad at all.

Not so ordinary

I was packing up Kai's toys yesterday when I found these Casuarina fruits on the floor. He picked them up from the beach, and he calls them his 'cocoa beans' which he'd load onto his trucks for play.

I love it when children change ordinary objects into something special.

Mai Thai Restaurant

One day MIL whipped out her mobile and showed me a sms from one of her tai tai friends. It was regarding their lunch date at Mai Thai Restaurant, a new Thai restaurant at Chip Bee Gardens. "You must go," she said. "It's really good, and this is the address."

Being a dutiful DIL, I acceded to her request, dumped both kids and helper with her, and hauled Terence to Holland Village on a lazy, humid Saturday afternoon.

I must say, the restaurant really surprised me, in a good way. Other than the usual Thai fare, they have taken a few interesting twist with their dishes. I love the fried kway teow with chicken and chai bor^, which the chef added for extra crunch to the dish.

Another signature dish to try is their prawn salad^. Calling it a "salad" is a misnomer as there's really nothing healthy about eating the fried prawn fritters. But eat them with the fresh lettuce and douse it with the green mango and nut dressing, and you'd get an explosion of flavor and crunch.

Where:

Blk 44, Jalan Merah Saga

#01-58, Chip Bee Gardens

Tel: +65 6474 3108

My 4mo

He giggles when we tickle him.

He grabs both his feet with his hands.

He smiles the widest, gummy smile in the morning,

And drools all over us.

And so, how goes the Durian Kaya?

Following the discovery of the yummylicious durian kaya from Sedap Corner, I decided I would attempt to make the sinful kaya spread myself. I found a recipe online, pestered Terence into getting all the ingredients last night, and ta-da.... made my first batch of durian kaya using the jam setting of my Breville bread machine.

The jam setting of my bread machine overcooked the eggs, which made my mixture looked more like custard than jam. But after I blended it, it tasted surprisingly ok. It isn't as smooth, wet, or pulpy like the one from Sedap Corner. I'm ok with it. It's edible. There's still the taste of the durian, and I think I'll go make myself some durian kaya toast right after this.

LOMO trail: Foreign workers' quarter in Geylang

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Kit's makeover

Here's my shaolin monk after his first hair cut.

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I'm going to have the best job on earth

Kit's gonna be Daddy's future caddy

Personally, I like kid's t-shirts with clever (sometimes annoying but funny) quotes on them. This one that Kit is wearing says^: Daddy's future caddy. It gives people a few laughs before they wonder what kind of parent buys these Ts.

Kit's going to inherit a few other quotable-quote Ts from Kai that says:

- Grumpy without chocolate

- Trouble's my name

- Chicks dig me (I'm still wondering what possessed me to buy this.)

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Going LOMO

A friend on Facebook commented on some cool iPhone LOMO apps, and I decided I had to try it for myself. Our wedding photographs were cross processed (i.e. taken using slide film and processed into photographs), giving it the LOMO look but obviously being commercial, it isn't a embracement of the LOMO-philosophy.

Then as I looked at my first feel attempts at lomography, I just realized something--2010 will mark our 10-year anniversary.


Ten-years. Wow.

Ah-coo-coo-ra-cha!

Babies have a knack of turning perfectly well-composed, mature women into giggly school girls babbling baby speak, and who might break out into song and dance suddenly. So there I was minding the baby when the twinkle in Kit's eyes caught my eye, and I started singing and dancing to entertain him. Judging from his expression, he looked suitably pleased!

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His comfort 'blanket'

Out of the many soft toys he owns, I don't know why Eeyore has such a special place in his heart. He drags it out of his room near bedtime and immediately, his thumb goes into his mouth. (A habit that we are trying to stop.)

I am sometimes reminded of my (dirty) pink xiao shiong (little bear) when I pick up Eeyore. I outgrew him, I can't remember when. And I don't know where he went. I suppose Kai will outgrow Eeyore one day. Maybe then I'll have a chance to give Eeyore a well deserved wash, give him one last kiss for a job well done, and keep him safe in the cupboard together with the rest of Kai's childhood memories.

Durian Kaya. Sedap!

A perfect 10 breakfast: Coffee from Nespresso with our homemade bread lightly toasted and spread with durian kaya

Don't turn your nose up at the durian and kaya combi just yet. The durian kaya from Sedap Corner at Bedok Shopping Complex is creamy, boasts a good dose of durian flavor, and some durian pulp. I did feel a little ripped off initially though. It is packed in a small, plastic container, and costs S$4.90. But I forgave them after I sank my teeth into my breakfast toast this morning.

Unfortunately, the mains I've tried at this restaurant 'just cannot make it'. So don't bother with anything else in the menu.

Kai's Thomas empire

Kai's train collection started with just Tidmoth Shed (train station with turn table) from the metal train set^. Then it exploded out of proportion when grandparents fuelled his Thomas obsession with even more trains and train sets.


Then it proceeded to the wooden set^. For the uninitiated, the wooden train tracks are not compatible with those for the metal train set. This meant that grandparents once again invested in another set of tracks AND trains when Kai showed his preference for the wooden trains.


Now, the Japanese has their own systems for Thomas paraphernalia that--not surprisingly--is not compatible with the wooden or the metal sets. I say "systems" because Tomy, the Japanese toy manufacturer, actually has different types of train set that are not compatible with one another!

So one day, grandma bought a small plastic train set^ for Kai and the rest, as the cliche goes, is history. That separate Tomy set is now an ecosystem of its own. As parents, we now have the heavy and back-breaking responsibility of fixing broken tracks and building new scenarios for Kai. The set you see here is now wound AROUND our sofa with the tracks leading to under the TV cabinet. (It's a cave, you see, claimed the father.)

While I'm glad I don't actually have to spend money on Kai's obsession, Terence and I pay in other ways. Guess who have to fix the complicated roller coaster set every time he tears it down, which he does a couple of times with glee everyday?

And oh, did I mention that there's also the toddler-sized track that can ferry a kid around? That one, I hide it in the store.

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Happy 2010!

Kai at the zoo's water park now (and Kai at the same park two years ago).

It seems that we always herald the New Year with a trip to the zoo, and comparing the pictures of Kai then and now well... gives me a sense of wonder. He was only a babbling baby then. Now he's a 3.5yo with a mind of his own, doing and saying things that makes him an unique individual.

It's nothing out of ordinary, I suppose. But as a mum, I look back at in amazement and wonder. Is this really the small crying babe whom we held in our arms 3.5 years ago? When did he become a happy, chirpy boy who loves to eat prawns, hates to drink water, loves it when you read to him, and who asks for his donkey soft toy every night before he goes to bed. I made him? Really?

And now, I get to go through that whole miracle all over again with Kit.

Happy 2010 everyone. Miracles do happen. I've come to realize that very often, we don't have to look very far for them.