My special Valentine's Day at A for Arbite

The hubs has been travelling a whole lot since the beginning of 2014. Ok, to be fair, since CNY. It has been his 4th trip thus far i think and the most recent one saw him packing up for KL for a week and calling up on Thursday to say he's arriving back on Friday but leaving at midnight again for Japan! I've a stewardess as a husband! Geez!

So he has missed Vday What's new. In fact, even if he's around, he doesn't shower me with extra love or surprises. He doesn't give chocolates (thank goodness I would rather have ba kwa over sweet stuff now). He doesn't buy me flowers. Think to date I've only received 2 or 3 bouquets from him, including the one used for our wedding! Well, in all honesty, I'm not too big on flowers. Though it'd be really nice to receive my favourite blue roses, it's really quite silly to spend that kind of money on a day of commercial exploitation. So i said," My dear, you are DARN LUCKY!"...his reply, " that's what makes our vday so special!". -_-. Indeed, it was really special. This year's Valentine's day coincided with the last day of the Lunar New Year. Thus we went over to his granny's place to have dinner with his extended family. Mind u, there weren't big fish and abalone this time. It was their traditional "thunder tea rice" ie. 雷茶. Essentially, thund.er tea rice is about herbs, vegetables, tofu and more vegetables. Yup, it's vegetarian! It is low fat, low cholesterol thus ideal if you are detoxing or doing some kind of weight management. All of which I was not! In fact, again, I would rather MEAT anytime right now. But the extended family precedes our lovey dovey time, if any. Almost immediately after dinner, we left coz Lil K was tired and restless. Headed home, made her sleep. He packed and left. Yup, that pretty sums up my Vday.

The mood wasn't dampened just because the hubs wasn't in town. In fact, i was determined to make things fun for lil K and I. So we headed to A for Arbite at Aliwah Street. 

"Arbite" is actually "work" in german. In fact, their philosophy is Work Hard, Live Well. Something which I hope to instill in my dictionary as well. I'm still working on it. Anyhoots, the place is creatively decorated with a big chalkboard which features stuff that aren't on the menu and the whole ambiance resembles that of a school. Well almost. It is nicely peppered with lego bricks at its counter and the nicest bit, they provide a jar of Lego and stacker toys for the lil one to play while mommy chills! How nice is that! Only problem, some of the Lego bricks were previously glued together, thus wasn't stacking really well. Nevertheless, Lil K had fun!

This really entertained her for long! hmm wonder why she can't sit still to play whilst at home.

Truffle Fries but can't quite taste quality Truffles

My Egg Benedict

The bff's French Toast. Really pwetty!

Kid's Meal. Quite a good portion but pity Lil K only managed to finish the eggs and sausage and a wee bit of bread. Good by my standards.

There was an Aliwah Arts Centre next door but it wasn't the usual centre filled with exhibitions. instead, there were several dance studios, so nothing interesting.

Between the bff and I, we had French Toast, Egg benedict, Truffle Fries and a kid's meal for Lil K. I wasn't too impressed coz the egg bene was too lemony for my liking and the truffle fries wasn't quite up to standard either. The bff found her French Toast to be pretty nice but after a while she got sick too..coz it was too sweet by her standards. Thereafter, we wanted desserts and ordered Edith Mess. But we waited and waited and probably coz of the lunch crowd, it took an awfully long time and after a 15mins wait, we cancelled the order coz Lil K was restless. Nevertheless, I was really glad how coorporative my lil bub was and how understanding that mommy can't carry her at the moment. She walks 99% of the time and repeats incessantly that mommy can only carry her when sitting. What a darling. I'm truly blessed.

Right after lunch, we headed back home, but alas, her nap didn't last more than half an hour! in other words, I got no rest as well. I was knackered max but somehow, the optimism in me that day kept me going and we managed to do some crafting and I got my mountain of laundry folded! Trust me, that's really a feat coz it has been there for 2 whole weeks! The excuse -- I was sick! Truly i was but since I'm better now, I had better buck up! Coz time is really running out! i didn't realise that I'm already in my 24th week and that we have approximately 3 more mths before things really gets into high gear. I've been taking things as it is, one day at a time and telling myself there's time. But now, i'm really getting a tad anxious. There are tons of stuff I've yet to organise and many friends I've yet to meet up. I really don't know how things are gonna be like with two kids and a travelling husband plus minimal family support. Not forgetting work. I've not even plan for child care -- something we are all assuming that the MIL will help in. I honestly don't wish to bother and rely on family coz lessons have been learnt from no. 1 but family is afterall the best. However, these few months have been excruciatingly painful with the lack of initiatives and lack of concern. It's really different having no. 1 and no. 2 and I'm quite puzzled. In the past, no matter how late I return home, at least once or thrice a week, i'll have a thermos of soup on my dining table waiting for me. And at times, a tupperware of dinner as well. Homecooked no less. However, since the beginning of this pregnancy, there had been none. No special soup for me let alone special delivery of the homecooked tingkat. Something's amiss but i can't quite point a finger to what. Last minute requests and let downs have been one too many and even the hub who is constantly depending on his mom has come to realise that all might not be as rosy. Perhaps it's due to the fact that her DD is not feeling at best with regards to health. N though nothing much she can do about it. Psychologically I suppose she's not up to looking after her DIL. And afterall, blood is thicker than water so which mom wouldn't be anxious over their kid? Oh well, I shall rant and move on! Afterall, I'm a fighter and believe I can do it!! errr Right?

Sniffing and Coughing on CNY

I don't get it. Whilst everyone else was happily preparing to usher in the year of the Horse, I was and still am taking care of a very whiny and clingy sick 2yo. Since last Sunday, Lil k had had the fever. it's like a roller coaster ride and I'm sure it's every mother's nightmare. Waking up in the middle of the night to sponge her and to take her temperature is the least to say. We went to the PD prior to CNY and were prescribed some antibiotics. Upon completion, her fever was still random and now it's the cough. Great. just great. I thought and was furiously boasting that I'm the strongest in the family. The hubs took ill the week before before Lil K but alas, I'm sniffing furiously and coughing like a broken recorder as I blog. So Why am I not resting when I should? I CAN'T! Being in a sitting up position seems to ease the congestion and I've stopped sneezing. The moment I lie down, the sinus headaches and everything else comes back. 

So here I am, googling on natural remedies on how to rid that. Am so gonna do the following:

Stay clean as much as you can. 

Take care to be as clean as possible while you have the flu; it will help you fight the illness as well as reduce the risk of it spreading.

Take vitamin C.  

Since my daily diet (which at this moment is highly packed with junk food and bah kwa - yes i know, i'm trying to cut down but it's once a year you know!) is terribly un-nutritious, am gonna get myself those 500mg tablets! 

Steam orange with salt. 

Ok was told that i shouldn't be taking oranges due to the cough so am not quite sure if this would work. But many people have sworn by it so I'm gonna try!

Step 1: Wash then soak an orange for 15mins

Step 2: Create a cap and sprinkle some salt on the flesh

Step 3: Prick it and mix the salt

Step 4: Cover and steam for 15minutes

Step 5: Eat and drink the juice

Plenty of rest

This is definitely on my agenda but it's not an easy one to execute. Not when Lil K still wakes up once or twice in the middle of the night for her dream feed and the Daddy has selective hearing towards his daughter's cries. But yeah, i'm gonna try harder to rest whilst I can, even if it means to sleep in an upright position!

Here's wishing everyone a Healthy Horsay 2014!!!

Happy New Year

This is terrible! ! It's day 14 of the new year and I've yet to post a thing! !! Where has all the time gone? I'm always puzzled ever single day. well, better late than never. I guess when you have a 2yo and another bun in the oven,  you can't help feeling exhausted every single day! It's no joke.  With lil K hitting two,  suddenly the world has turned upside down!  Her focus level has dropped and I'm constantly having to watch over her,  worried that she'll fall off the table and what not.  On top of that, homeschooling took a backseat coz I was simply too tired to prep that many activities for her. imagine,  we've to change activity every 5-10 minutes!

Oh did I mention that there's a bun in the oven?  yup! u heard me right.  I'm in my incubation period and hybernation (1st trimester) was just over!! That is the primary reason for my MIA on cyberspace. It has been tremendously trying. Help from nearby want quite within reach and year end long haul business trips for the hubs had been fast and furious! He could be gone for a stretch of 2.5 Wks, back hm for a bit and leaving on a jet plane again within  24 hours.  At one pt he merely came home to take a different luggage and off he went to another destination. The first trimester hasn't been easy though I think comparatively I was puking much less. But less doesn't equate to none.  I had no appetite much less to say and whatever I ate it just messes up my guts and spills out thereafter. There was no favourite food and even if I had the cravings,  there were no deliveries for them.  but thankfully empress dowager has been fussing over me,  cooking lunch for me daily and getting daddy dearest to deliver to me from one end of Singapore to the other.  Touched max! because of them,  i an much better now and constantly ravenously hungry.

So, I'm back! ! err I hope haha.. seriously there are so many milestones to record and things to pen down but there is just that lil time.  with my nesting instincts kicking in,and with lil K in N1 (will blog about that separately) it's worse! I've been rendered breathless! But things r getting into a routine and we are settling well so let's up I can keep up with life's pace and have a fantastic year ahead!

2013 has been a tumultous year for me.  with me sinking into the dark abyss. Thankfully God gave me strength n hope to go on.  Through this stellar period,  I've got to better know the people around me and am particularly grateful to the hubby who showed me the light at the end of tunnel and flew back on plane for 20hrs to be by my side.  was touched by the many kind gestures from people i don't even know! i will never forgot how a gp of mummies I've never seen dispatched a hamper filled with love during my darkest moments. all these made me stronger and hope finally came.  my prayers are finally answered.  the lil blessing has been bestowed to me. I have braved through this wave and know that the worst is over.  Here's to a great 2014!! Cheers everyone!  xoxo

The Festive Period

So it's here. Christmas, New Year then soon after, Chinese New Year. But somehow this year, I'm least excited about all the festivities. Hard as I try to focus but the body just won't coorporate. All I want is to lie down in bed or be in a horizontal position the entire day. Nausea aside, I'm just flat out exhausted for some strange reason. Sluggish and unproductive are all appropriate adjectives for me. Nevertheless, some level of excitement has to be shown to the lil one for her to understand that it's a season to be jolly.

Here's letting the photos do the talking....I told you i'm plain lazy..........

DA FOOD

Xmas themed breakfast for the little one. It has been a while since I did food art, but her appetite has been horrid thus I had better buck up

Da dinner. Yup. It's steak. The hub's specialty as he likes to call it.

We didn't have turkey so the least I could have was turkey ham!

The galore of food below are from the party we had at Grace's house. Yums!  The truckload of food was only for 8 adults and 4 children and 1 toddler and a baby! It's an amazing spread!

Wanton Skin Pizza anyone?

Korean pizza made by Grace

I made this!!! Yum Woon Sen! Super easy but somehow still not up to the mark.

Making New Friends

HAPPY 2014!! First breakkie of the year. How original.

Giving myself one last chance to baking and what do you know! I managed to bake this no-brainer strawberry cheesecake! No brainer coz it's a pre-mix so if i failed, I'll probably just give up trying to bake for the rest of my life.

Mentaiko! My current fav! first time trying to make agadeshi tofu and it's darn simple! just coat the silken tofu with cornflour, fry till golden brown. I added some dashi soy sauce and bonito flakes and Viola! Restaurant standard!

Steak. Again. A must-have for him on every special occasion.

Home baked cookies. not by me of coz! I can't bake for nuts!

DA HOMESCHOOLING ACTIVITIES

You'd think I'll be all sluggish and not entertain Lil K right? Think again. I did. Well, more like I had to. She simply didn't allow me to even lie down. Each time i did, she'll say: Mama, wake up. Leaving her with toys didn't work too coz she wants me to play with her but even when i do, she gets bored after 5 minutes. So here we are, doing some stuff together:

Our Xmas trees! The one of the left was lugged back from Bangkok some 4 years ago and it has been my Xmas and Chinese New Year tree every year! The little white tree on the left was a gift when I was perhaps in Primary Three, aka, eons ago! Mom and pops didn't believe in Xmas and more importantly, didn't believe in buying me silly things like a tree which we'll only take out once a year! So i totally treasured this baby and was over the moon when that certain aunty gave it to me. The leaves have turned yellow since and some have dropped off but heck, it's still usable! Coz, I'm not gonna splurge on some tree that i'll only bring out only once a yr! haha

Say Hello to Frosty!

Waves to Rudolph and Rudy! Made from toilet rolls, these adorable creatures were Lil K's fav for the season.

Wishing upon a star

Ok, my system is going into shut down mode. Going to lie down now. 

Happy Feasting everyone!

Food art is all in rage

Many a times, the vagaries of life would cause me to feel wound up. One reason why I'm always finding that time is not enough, it's because I'm highly ambitious. Very often, after lil bub sleeps, I'll be busy catching up with work or preparing learning materials for lil K. This gets a little stressful. The house is in disarray and I'm constantly shoving lil K aside. Coupled with my unforgiving schedule, i might have unleashed some harsh words on the lil one. Well, not quite harsh words but rather words (if any) of nonchalence and exasperation. Dealing with a clingy and demanding toddler who has turned two is stressful at times. The relentless mothering gig was putting a toil on my work as I do want to be as professional about work as possible. When I tell friends who have no kids, I get dissed. I know it's just a phase coz such episodes of outburst happen mostly during exam periods. Such is life and and i just have to soldier on. That's what I need to do. I hear myself apologising to Lil K one time too many these days. I decided to redemn myself and realign my priorities. Thus the birth of a new hobby -- FOOD ART. Focusing on pretty things keeps me zen and is thearapeutic even though it takes up tme sound. It is certainly helping me as bimbotic as it may sound.

Was terribly inspired by Samantha Lee's masterpieces and decided to try some of my own. Besides being a babe, Samantha is a mother of two and has recently been in the limelight for her food art pieces which she whips up for her children. LUCKY Kids! I don't know where she finds time but she probably is having help at home and in the kitchen and it certainly helps that she doesn't have a full time job.

Below are some of my works. Some are pretty sloppy and it certainly varies with mood. But HEY, I've to tackle other aspects of life too yeah? I'm all human who is a jack of all trades and master of none:

This was my first ahem masterpiece. Made up of beetroot noodles, minced pork, broccoli and nori.

This technically can't be considered "My masterpiece" coz it's bought off the shelf during the Mooncake festival. 

 

These visually appealing and ahem elaborately styled (haha no shame) works have encouraged Lil K to self feed. In fact, her intake of food these days has increased and I'd like to credit it to food art which melts even the hardest of hearts. These certainly help fickle eaters so if you have a lil one at home who doesn't quite love food, why not try making some kawaii stuff for him today?

My Baby is officially a toddler! Happy Birthday, Darling!

In the blink of an eye, the lil bug is no longer a bug. She has completed metamorphosis and bloomed into the the next stage -- The Terrible Twos! In the past, I've never believed in such a thing as the terrible twos. I mean, it's all due to the parents' teachings right? Well, I suppose to a certain extent I'm right coz I must say I'm very grateful that Lil K is becoming very sensible and understanding. Take for example, as this is a difficult period, I can't carry her and have explained to her that I'm tired thus can't lift her. She understands and would always say: Mama is tired. mama can carry only when sitting. Awww such an angel!

Since last yr, I made it a point that her birthday would be a day when the two sets of parents will come together for a get together. I mean what better day right? since they don't meet AT ALL! Empress Dowager will make the effort to visit my mil during Chinese New Year or once in a blue moon, when she's over at my place, she'll tag along with Lil K to the mil's. But I can't say the same the other way round. Maybe a difference in culture? Heck it. I do my part and on this day, every year, i told the hub, like it or not, we are gonna have them seated together and dine. It's like an appreciation dinner as well as a celebration. A way of saying thanks for helping this lil bug bloom. 

 The hub doesn't like me to splurge and make a big hoo ha with regards to party, but I on the contrary am a creature who loves beautiful things! So since I can't have a function room complete with photobooth and DIY party packs, I can only spend on cakes for the family. Above is the lil bug's favourite character of the moment. And she absolutely adores it!

 The Mil's birthday was just 3 days apart from Lil bug and the BIL was also within the same month, thus I had to show my generosity by giving them each a little something as well. Customised 3D cake and cupcakes from the talented Charlotte Grace. 

 Lil K really enjoyed the cake so much that few days following, she's still asking me to show her photos of her big day and her elmo cake! 

I bought this balancing bike some time back from a sale and was hoping to give it to her on her birthday, but alas! She's still too short. Currently standing at the 3rd percentile. 

Couldn't get a better picture but nevertheless, a gorgeous one!

Happy birthday my darling! Hope you'll grow to be a healthy and wise girl. May you be blessed, Always.