I love strawberries!

Went to NTUC yesterday for the usual grocery shopping. The Bukit Merah NTUC is the biggest one near my area and there is always so much to "see", that we spend quite some time walking up and down the alsies. 

As I was not in my best form, I just wanted to grab the stuff and head home. So as hubby and mother-in-law were leisurely shopping, I decided to laze at the "corner" with the children- as they entertained themself with servings of chilled drinking water. There was even a small bench to rest your foot. 

We hung around the area for quite some time and i noticed NTUC's implementation of wheelfriendly facilities (from an elevator to buttons that you can press to call for assistance at the lane you are at. The call button area also features a manifying glass which is good for elderly who forget their glasses). 

#2 as usual was keen in Strawberries! A punnet cost a whopping $7.20 (there were 12 South Korea strawberries in the punnet). I shoke my head and said no, too expensive. But when she said "mummy i want these strawberries please?" in such a sweet voice, heh... Ok la buy lor. Tsk tsk... Hubby must be shaking his head as he reads this... 

The strawberries were really sweet and fresh. They smell really good! We tried them when we reach home and it was really really yummy! 

This was the last serving of three strawberries shared between #2 & #3... Luckily #2 was willing to part some of her favourite fruit to #3. 

Ignore didi's face. Didn't know why he was even grimancing... :p

Happiness in a different form...

I am very sick today with chills and aches running down my body... Returned home to find that I was running a high temperature... 

After bringing #1 and #3 to the doctor's with me, we came home for some "fun". Birthday cakes and candles always brings smiles to the children faces. And nothing beats the excitement (though I wish I could be as excited as they were with the fever). 

The candles were lighted (one per kid), the birthday song rehearsed, the candles blown a few times... And the whole cake was gobbled up by the kids (too heaty for me, guess its really good since #1 had 3 pieces!)...

 

快乐就那么简单。

Shanghai 2015 day 1

IWas very happy to be flying SQ again this time. Yeah yeah SQ is my favourite airline with better service and food. This is our second trip with my in-laws and all three in tow. As usual the number of luggages we have is "astounding". 8 pieces of luggage and 1 pram. 

M helping with one of our luggages... ;) 

This time round the staff was very nice- dishing out lots and lots of drinks, food, ice-cream. The kids had their freebies. N and M enjoyed their children's meals. 

The kids had a little fun before take off. 

L and M also manage to get their beauty sleep on the plane. ;) 

Me coaxing didi to sleep in the carrier...

Papa looking stylish with the kids headphone...

We reached Shanghai Pudong airport at around 6pm. It was late and dark outside. We had a quick meal at the aurport and headed to take bus #2 from the airport to the residence we were staying at (Le Residence- review in part 2 of the blog). The bus ride took about less than an hour and cost us each RM22  per adult. Kids were free if they sat on our lap. ;) 

Pork Rib Soup with a twist

After loads and loads of chicken soup, it is time to balance it out with some pork based soup. Dearest #3 is not a fan of vegetable stock. *boys...* 

Anyway, I decided to do a twist for the pork based soup - what is available in the fridge and what was missing from the fridge (yeah ran out of carrots!). Out of "bo-bian-ness", I put the best of ingredients I had... 

Ingredients 

Pork bones with some meat (it was the cheapest bones that I could get that was not that BIG bone) 

Scallions (sliced thinly- 1 stalk) 

Tomatoes (2) 

Potatoes (2)

Yellow onion (1 medium sized) 

A small bunch of ikan billis (stomachs removed - abt 15pcs) 

Red dates (1-2 without pits)

As with soups, dumped all of them together and then add water till all ingredients and covered (+a bit more). I slow cooked in my rice cooker for abt 7 hrs and let it soaking in the ingredients "warmed" overnight. The next day the soup really smell and taste more flavorful. 

Forgot to take photo of ingredients. But here is the final product... ;)

CNY 2015

This chinese new year is a quiet one for us. Hubby's grandpa passed away so we are not able to 拜年 or give hong baos. 

The cny eve dinner was at my place for convinience so that I did not need to travel with my three kiddos in tow. Instead of the usual steamboat, we had western meal. Which makes up of BBQ pork rib, roasted corn on cob & vegetable and classic cabonara. The minestrone soup was a frozen pack from Fazzler. ;) 

The kids enjoyed the classic cabonara and of course the chocolate fondue which followed. The dessert was unplanned so there was very little strawberries to go around... 

According to my mil, the kids can still wear nice CNY clothes. I did very last minute shopping at chinatown (alone) and landed with clothes for the two girls, nephew and hubby. The highlight for me was of course 日日红麻辣香锅！lolz. Hey it's addictive and I love it to bits! 

Prior to buying gai gai clothes, there was shopping around for didi's very first set of  CNY clothes... 

This was bought from Giant. ;) very nice looking set at not very cheap price... Haha but it's his first so it better look good! On first day of the new year, he got his first angpow from the 老板娘 of hubby's favourite wanton noodle store. 

The remaining days of CNY were spent with more eating... @ Radin Mas CC for a grassroot gathering. 

Chicken soybean stock

The yummy smelling chicken stock meant for didi... The scallop makes the stock even sweeter and more flavourful. ;) In the pot, there is 

Chicken bones ($2 worth the spine area + neck - abt 6 strips) 

1 carrots

1 scallop

1 handfull of soy bean (washed and soaked)

What's left of the stock ingredients. Even the carrots are tasteless... Haha.

The yield which is suited to be kept in the freezer for up to 2 wks. 

Cute max...

Perhaps its a second child's cuteness - learning things from the elder sibling...

M is now talking, mostly in bits and pieces or jus babbling some incoherant phrases... Recently (@ 21 mths) fwe noticed that instead of expressing herself in words, she will use sounds or actions: 

When something is nice to eat... She will shake her backside and go "mmmmmmm.....".

When something goes wrong or she "spoilt" something or we go "horrrrr...", she will say "ohhhhh oooohhhh".

When we ask her something and the answer should have been a "yes" (eg did you drop your pacifier?), she would go "mmmm hmmm".

When she is duly impressed with something, she goes "wowwwww" or "wahhhhh". 

Cute max ain't it - learnt all these from non other than sister dearest. Am savoring every moment of this for as long as it lasts and while its still cute...

Didi's first swim! :)

This time round hubby was the one who kept asking me if L was reading for the "swim" at BabySpa. He had signed M up for 20 sessions and we used up about 10 sessions so far.

Luckily, we could pay to extend membership and add L in to use up the sessions. Last week, L had his first "spa" experience at 14 weeks old. His first session was a full "non-stop" 10 minutes worth of kicking session, pausing occassionally for a rest. 

Actually, it's quite difficult to get him full and well rested for the "swim", his naps are so short and sometimes I do wonder if he drinks enough! Looking a little unsure about what is happening...

Apparently he is also very much in love with this chinese staff who would speak to him and he smiles readily in return. 

And yes the big friendly smile... 

This week we return for a second not so successful session... About 5 minutes into the swim, the boy is tired and wants to sleep... The same lady attends to him and guess what! He fell asleep! That's a first! 

Quite impressive and back breaking to bend over to keep rocking this boy in the water so he won't cry... Sheeezzz... 

Hopefully the next session would be a better one! ;)