Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck Restaurant

***310515***

Winnie was telling Cassie and me about how yummy the Peking duck was at the Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck Restaurant Paragon. Hence we decided to organise a brunch date there. According to her, we would have to make early table reservation as the place is rather crowded especially during the weekends, at the same time, the Peking duck have to be pre ordered too. So after firming a date, she immediately did the bookings.

The restaurant looked posh and we wondered if the food tasted as good as its appearance. Haha! Indeed the food and duck lived up to its name, Super Peking Duck, Super Delicious! Well at least the whole group of us thought so and it was to our liking. Thanks to Winnie’s wonderful recommendation. I told Papa Yap that we will have to revisit this restaurant again! And he agreed with me. 🙂

After our hearty and satisfying brunch, we headed to TCC for our coffee and tea time. The Jiejies and korkors never fail to entertain Double Ds. In fact, I’m also glad that they adored double Ds very much too! Likewise double Ds totally love their company and are always asking for them. 🙂

So the #Jiaklimnuagang had yet another great date. Double Ds even went home with new clothes and puzzles from the jiejies and korkors.  The only shocking part was when we left the Paragon Carpark. Haha…

<<<>>>

Red star Sunday

***170515***

Dim sum has been always my favourite and I can have them everyday. It has been two years since we last went to Red Star for dim sum. Hence I didn’t hesitate at all when the #jiaklimnuagang suggested for a dim sum brunch there. It was such a brilliant idea.

The restaurant is usually crowded during the weekend and the queue is constantly long. But we were willing to queue for the dim sum even with a baby bump. 😉 Anyways it’s always better to go there early as some of the food would run out by afternoon and the kitchen wouldn’t replenish them again.

I love going for dim sum in a group because we could order a table full of variety to share. And indeed we did achieve that! The brunch was simply satisfying. 🙂

In my opinion, food at Red Star is perhaps above average, not fantastic, but it’s the place that attracted me. The old school nostalgic ambience and traditional dim sum trolleys made our dining experience a more interesting one. As much as how special it was to have dim sum carts moving around, it’s best to hunt down the specific trolleys yourself especially when it’s crowded or if you are seated at the back. It’s almost certain that those popular dishes would take forever to reach you as people in front would have already taken them away.

After our satiated brunch, we headed over to Robertson Walk for our coffee session. Like what our hashtag #jiaklimnuagang says: Jiak-eat, lim- drink,  nua- slack, it’s a sequence that we had to complete. Haha 🙂

<<<>>>

From Marina Barrage to Garden by the bay then back to Punggol

***010515***

Since our previous weekend plan was unsuccessful,  Papa Yap and I decided to fulfill our family outing at the Marina Barrage during the Labour Day holiday. At the same time, visit the Tulips Mania exhibition at the Flower Dome which was about to end soon. When the #jiaklimnuagang heard about our outing, they were keen on joining us. I thought it was a great idea for our second gathering. The more the merrier right? So when I told the duo about it, they were very excited!

Surprisingly the carpark was almost full when we got there at 9ish. Kenny and Winnie who only reached at 10am weren’t that lucky. They had to park at Satay by the Bay and walked over to the barrage. We found a spot and laid out the mats and stuff on the ground while the duo were already excited to start playing around. Picnic was potluck. We bought finger food and curry puffs from Old Chang Kee, Steven and Cassie cooked spaghetti while Kenny and Winnie had prepared sandwiches. Food was definitely more than enough for all of us.

Despite the hot weather, the kids had a fabulous time snacking away, flying kite, running around, blowing bubbles and playing the ball and Frisbee with their daddy, korkors and jiejies. If only there were some big canopy or parasol to shade us from the hot scorching sun! We were literally melting away. Steven even brought along his drone. He tried playing his toy but Mr wind was too strong at times, moreover there were too many kites in the air. Seriously it wouldn’t be nice to be cutting people’s kite. 😉

After more than an hour of play and ‘sun tan’, we decided to continue with our picnic at the ground level of the Barrage. Without much hesitation, we packed our stuff and proceeded below. Apparently weather was a little too much for us to handle. At least we were all under the shade for the second half. 🙂

We stopped by Satay by the bay for some cold drinks and desserts before heading over to the Flower Dome. It was definitely very much needed in such a hot weather. Over there, the duo were happy to feed the fishes at the pond too. Cassie bought them a packet of fish food at 2 bucks each which really kept them well entertained throughout.

 

At the flower dome, there was a huge crowd and a long ticketing queue. Luckily, we managed to purchase the tickets online via mobile and got inside shortly. Yeah that’s the thing about being IT savvy! Still, we really shouldn’t have visited the place on a public holiday. It was hard for photography with the number of people there. The consolation was that the tulips were absolutely beautiful! I love seeing the assorted vibrant colors and their pretty display. Simply gorgeous! In conjunction with the upcoming Mother’s Day, there were free tulips distributed to the visitors inside. We followed the crowd to queue for it and it didn’t take us long before we got it.  Dyann fell asleep in Papa Yap’s arms shortly so he had to carry her throughout while we continued with our walk.

Having done with our outing about 4pm, the gang decided to pop over at our place for some rest before continuing with Part 3 for the day. Dinner was a last minute plan when the rest of the friends found out that we were together at Garden by the bay. So we ended up meeting more friends at the Punggol Settlement for dinner. Then it was back to our humble abode again… As beers and cards have been always the way to end the night for this group of old time friends!

It was indeed an amazing full filled, long day for us.

<<<>>>

The first #jiaklimnuagang outing at Coastal Settlement

***April 15***

After having several meet ups with Steven and Cassie, they organized another dinner date, this time round, with another two more couple from our secondary school clique. However only Kenny and his gf, Winnie, were able to make it.

We decided to do dinner at The Coastal settlement on Friday night. We ordered quite a bit of food. Food tasted alright but not exactly fantastic. I actually thought the price was a little steep. However the ambience was undeniably good, not to mention the company too! The kiddos had a good time with all the big brothers and sisters!

After dinner, we headed over to the CSC bowling center nearby. Darian was totally estactic to find out that we were joining the group for late night bowling games. His sense of road direction was really good. He could recall the route to CSC Changi and that was how he discovered that we were going there. Amazing!

The guys, Cassie and Darian played a few games while Winnie, Dyann and I were audiences. The last time when the guys played together was more than a decade ago. It was such a good time reminiscing our teenage’s life. Those were the days when we could stay up the entire night fooling around. Seriously, right now any time after 11pm sounds really tiring and sleepy already. Haha… 🙂

As usual the kiddos were full of energy when they were at play. They didn’t show any sign of tiredness at all. Yet they dozed off almost immediately after we start the car. Kids!

So this was exactly how team #jiaklimnuagang started! Our first outing and of course more to come! 🙂

<<<>>>

Saturday at East Coast Park

***April 15***

Usually we would meet up with Richard and company for some indoor lunch or dinner dates. That Saturday however, was the first time we arranged to meet up at East Coast Park for some outdoor activities instead. Hence my initial plans to the Marina Barrage was flopped. At first, I wasn’t exactly very keen on going to the East Coast Park until the thoughts about dining at the Food Centre enticed me. Well you know this is the time when one could ordered a table full of yummy local delights with all the friends whereas it’s almost impossible for just Papa Yap and I to do so.

The adults and kiddos started off with some games of frisbee and soccer on an open field. I bought Dyann a ball from the nearby kiosk when I realised there was nothing to keep her occupied. It was not a bad idea after all. She was happy. 🙂

Somehow the older kids became a little bored and requested to go cycling. It wasn’t of any issue for us as we had brought along Darian’s bicycle and the glider for Dyann while the rest rented a bicycle each. Darian had fun cycling along with them while Papa Yap and I guided Dyann on the glider and took a gentle stroll to and fro the jetty.

We were all tired and hungry after an hour of cycling and walking. Before heading over to the food centre, we took some pictures of the sand castles built in memory of the late Lee Kuan Yew. It was indeed nicely done.

The food centre was already packed at 6pm. Fortunately we managed to secure a big table, to accommodate the 10 of us, pretty fast. While the five adults went off to get the various food, I stayed behind to watch the kiddos. Well that’s the advantage of having young kids! Haha…

We had a table full of yummy food. There were satays, bbq chicken wings, oyster omelette, braised duck, fried rice, bak kut teh and sambal sting rays. Somewhat we really ordered too much food and ended up having lots of leftover. The thing about being in this group is that no one actually has the habit of taking photos of our meals. And that explained why there wasn’t any photo of our palatable dinner.

After dinner, we bought some old school ice cream from the ice cream vendor on our way to the car park. The cold and sweet dessert was certainly a good treat to end our day! 🙂

<<<>>>

CNY 2015 – Year of Sheep

Woah! My last blog entry was actually in April… Since the June school holidays have just begun,  I finally found the energy and time to do some updates here. Obviously I’m going to have quite a bit of backlog posts coming up.

As I was going through my account, I realised I still had my Chinese New Year 2015 draft pending. Like seriously, Chinese New Year had already past for 4 months you know! But I feel that this significant occasion certainly deserved to be remembered. To me, it is not exactly about the goodies, yusheng, steamboats, liondance, the new clothes and redpackets but more of a yearly affair where everyone makes the effort and time for each other. You get to see those people who you hardly see in a year time. So how can I not love celebrating such a happy occasion in Singapore. Hence CNY 2015 would be my first post for the start. 🙂

***February 2015****

This CNY had been quite a crazy tiring one, given that the first day of CNY was on a Thursday, we had the luxury of having four continuous days of visiting all over the island. Although I love having the four continuous days to visit our friends and relatives, it was really tiring.

In fact, Wednesday seemed like the start of CNY already. As usual, reunion dinner was at my in laws’ place. Now that we have kids, having the reunion dinner at home would be more ideal for us. She had pre-ordered a set deal from Soup Restaurant and we thought food was mediocre only. Anyways it’s our custom for married woman to be having reunion dinner with the husband’s family. Though I miss having my mom’s steamboat, she can prepare anytime if we want. So it’s seriously not of an issue.

 

As usual, CNY Day 1 was spent at both the parents’ house where all the relatives gathered around. The first half of the day was at the in laws’ place before we popped over to my parents’ for dinner. The good thing is that they are both living few blocks apart which really made travelling so convenient. So the entire day was all about poker cards, foods, foods and more foods… Oh ya my mom cooked a feast! Her cooked from scratch, Deluxe Treasure Pot (aka Buddha jumps over the wall) was marvellous! We were totally amazed at her superb cooking skills. It was a pity that we didn’t take a picture of our delectable dinner. My father was telling us how early my mom woke up just to prepare the dinner all by herself. Yep we definitely appreciated her efforts and hard work but I guessed we appreciated her yummy food more. heehee 😉 With that, CNY day 1 ended nearly 12 midnight!

 

The next three days and the following weekend, we went around Singapore, from the west to the east, visiting our relatives and friends. It’s always such a joy seeing them during CNY. We even attended baby Tyler’s mini first birthday party. I’m sure double Ds were both elated throughout the festive period. I could see that they were totally immersed in the festive mood. Now, I’m already looking forward to the next CNY with new little ones coming. 🙂

<<<>>>

Dyann turns 2

***010814***

Dyann celebrated her second birthday on the 25th July and officially turned two on 1st August. Alright this is a very late post for Dyann’s second birthday. I have not been religiously blogging since we returned from the States. The kiddos, the endless house chores, blah blah blah, just tied me down. Every time when I thought of blogging, either I was too tired or got mind blocked. So I ended up with a lot of back dated posts which I am trying my best to clear. Papa Yap aka my number one fan hasn’t been too pleased with it. Haha. I can skip some of our life updates but definitely not this. Our precious girl absolutely deserved a write-up about her little birthday party for memory keepsake!

We had wanted to book the SAF chalet for her birthday but the ballot was unsuccessful. Looking at the some of the venues I had in mind, they were either too far or pricey. In the end, through my mil’s recommendation, we booked a room at one residential corner in Tampines to hold her birthday party. As I wanted to try a different caterer, the buffet was ordered from Four Seasons instead of the usual Neogardens. Food was decent. Nothing to boast or grumble about. We wanted to get the Swensons Minnie mouse ice cream cake for Dyann’s birthday but they do not have any Minnie mouse in red. So alternatively we chose Bengawan Solo and bought her the baby Minnie mouse in red.

Dyann has been showing quite a bit of love for Minnie Mouse. We realized she gets really excited whenever she sees Minnie Mouse prints or toys. Hence her birthday theme obviously got to be Minnie Mouse. I simply got plenty of ideas for Minnie Mouse DIY decoration. Due to the space and budget constraint, I did a simple set up for her.

Alright let’s look at the stuff I made for the party. I spent a lot of time doing all the crafts but I really enjoyed myself. Yeah! If you have been following my Instagram, you would know that I love doing craft work! 🙂 Also thanks to the hubs who has been driving me around to get the stuff  I needed for the set up.

Actually we wanted to hold a mini celebration for her second birthday mainly because she didn’t get to celebrate her first birthday with our family and friends. At the same time, Papa Yap and I felt that it would be a great time to meet up with our relatives and friends who we missed for a year.

Overall, the party was a success. A simple and happy event for the kiddos and a nice meet up session for the adults! Also, thank you everyone for the presents, red packets and most importantly your presences. It was exceptionally nice to see all those who came in the mickey and Minnie theme too. So sporting! The Yappies were absolutely elated to see all of you! 🙂

Since then Darian has been talking about some themes for his birthday, Lego movie, Mickey Mouse, ninja turtles! Haha! Sorry son but we have other plans for you my dear… 😉

We love you meimei! ❤

Anyways Papa Yap was wearing a mickey t-shirt under his shirt! He thought it was a little too girly for him and so he hid it! Haha

<<>>

15 days 14 nights

***April***

Does the title sound like we are off for another adventure in US? Sad to say, it did not happen… It was actually Papa yap leaving home for an outfield exercise and we were literally homebound for 15 days. Boohoo… So the plan was to stock up 2 weeks of necessities and grocery and if I were to run out of any ingredients, I would have to get delivery orders from restaurants. The thing is that, it is rather impossible to get out of the house if I don’t drive. Unlike in Sg, I could easily walk out to get stuff from nearby. Even if I’m not driving, transportation would never be of any issues to bring the kids out. The fact that I’m a no risk taker and stayed firm with my decision not to drive during this stay in US. I really have to prepare thoroughly, at the same time cross my fingers that things would be all smooth sailing during this period.

Thankfully everything did turn out fine and that I have nice friends who made that two weeks better for us. Feroz got me some grocery on the second weekend and that definitely helped a lot. Those were the food I couldn’t stock up on. Also, Lourdes and Sarah had arranged for play dates which made double Ds very happy having visitors over at our place. The kids had fun playing around with their little friends while I had a great catch up with the mommies! 🙂

 

Within these few months, double Ds became much closer to Papa Yap. We were so surprised to see Darian feeling upset due to his absence. He woke up that morning Papa Yap left, looked at the bed, ran out the room and came back in with tears. He told me he was sad that Papa would not be home for many days. Oh boy! It has never bothered him in the past and he would not even ask for him. Yet for the first time, he actually cried. We really felt that he is now much attached to Papa Yap. Obviously that is a good thing! As for Baby Dyann, she is constantly blabbering about papa. Like how each time after shower, she would point at her wet hair and say “papa”. She really prefers her papa to blow dry her hair. Funny girl! And whenever Papa Yap called home, it is only like mandatory for them to talk to him and say goodbye. If I ever put down the phone abruptly without letting them bid goodbye to their father, that just meant disaster. Haha 🙂 Not only that, they both also sent many voice records through whatsapp to Papa Yap! Sometimes I weren’t aware at all until I browsed through my phone.

At last the two weeks had past and we are so happy to have him back home with us! He made the kids extra happy by getting them a toy each on his way back home. Well as for me, I’m just glad to see him. Really glad.

After this major exercise, we are into our last lap of this expedition already. It’s time to start packing, sort out the furniture, sell the car and settle some administrative stuff. Plenty of things to do but we are absolutely looking forward to return home! Counting down! Woohoo! 🙂

<<<>>>

Ornament Exchange

***14th December 13***

Finally some ‘me-time’ for myself. Yes it’s over at Lourdes’s place again. I’m so glad to have made such a nice friend here. She had organized a Christmas ornament exchange party for the ladies only and we were suppose to bring along a hanging ornament each. It has been quite a while since I last attended a function without the hubs or kiddos. Somewhat it felt really nice to have a 2 hours break from the family. Guess subconsciously I kind of need it. 🙂 Papa Yap brought double Ds to a McDonalds with an indoor playground and that really kept them entertained without missing my presence. According to Papa Yap, they had so much fun there! 🙂

The party was great with yummy snacks, desserts and coffee. And not forgetting the lovely company. We had much fun and laughter, sharing those juicy news and playing the ornament game. So how did we go about playing the ornament game? Basically the game started with everyone drawing a number each. We then took turns to open an ornament in that order. After the first person opened the chosen ornament, the next person could either ‘steal’ from the first person or open a new one. By the way each ornament could only be ‘stolen’ twice. And that was what made the game interesting. 🙂

My very first time attending such party which I thought it would be nice to organize one when I return. 🙂

What a wonderful Saturday morning with all the lovelies!  🙂

<<<>>>

A visit to Quantico fire station

***13th December 13***

All thanks to Lourdes for organizing a trip to the fire station. It sure made our mundane weekday morning much more exciting. Darian and I had a great Friday morning there. Coincidentally Papa Yap has no class that day so he volunteered to bring baby Dyann along with him to run some errands. No doubt it made everything easier for me. I could move around freely and take photos of Darian. 🙂

You know boys will be boys. Darian was totally enthusiastic going around the fire station and sitting in the fire trucks. He was all hyped up! 🙂 The demonstration and explanation by the firemen was really awesome too. The best part was that they actually had a mascot – firedoggy Sparky to wrap up the whole tour. How nice! 🙂 Darian was one absolute happy boy, coming home with a fireman hat and fun pack. Well I suppose it wasn’t only the fun part, ultimately Darian did learn more about the fireman and trucks. I totally love such trips! 🙂

Mommies and our handsome boys! 🙂

<<<>>>