Happy Birthday Cobby 2010!

It's Cobby's birthday this morning! It's a Tuesday, but he took leave all week, so I thought it would be nice to make him a hearty, Happy Birthday breakfast!



After breakfast, we dropped Jolie off at MIL's place and headed to Marina Square for some one to one time with each other. We bought tickets to the movie, Meet the parents: Little Fockers. For lunch, we decided to really pamper ourselves, so we had some crunchy, spicy, sinful, KFC for lunch! Always felt guilty after eating, but it's been so long since we had some of those yummy, oily, fried chicken!

And then, as if our arteries weren't clogged up enough, we settled down for a cup of coffee at Starbucks, with a slice of this surprisingly delicious peanut and chocolate slice. I never ordered it before, but Cobby wanted it, and it was YUMMY! It's got peanuts, chocolate and nougat. Cobby reminded me why I love it so much, it tasted like a giant SNICKER bar on a plate! My all-time favourite!



It was still early, so we had a little fun at the arcade. Cobby beat me at Initial-D driving game!



We finally finished off all our coins playing this old game, Raiden X. Remember this game?



We were screaming, shouting, putting in more coins to revive ourselves when we were blown to bits. It was really fun!

The movie was not bad, not as good as the 2nd one, but not as bad as the reviews say it! Anyway, we headed back to MIL's place and went for dinner at a nearby Teochew Restaurant called Swatow restaurant.

It's pretty good! French bean with crispy fried eggplant, toufu and sharkfin soup!



This gorgeous deep fried fish with sweet and sour sauce. Very fresh and delicious, but obviously too much for us. It's so big!



Hope Cobby had a great time today. Wrapped up the day by spending time with his family. How nice. :)

Christmas Party 2010

Planned the annual Christmas party at Char's place this year. This year we planned a potluck on Boxing day! Marl couldn't make it at the last minute, so on the morning itself, I offered to make some chicken curry. So we had breakfast at Chong Pang market that morning to buy the ingredients. It was a bit of a rush, but I managed to prepare the dish and Jolie's lunch before heading out to Char's place.

We were 30 minutes late! But thankfully only UJ arrived. Heehee. After awhile we got hungry, so we tuck in first. I also ordered Bro's Rite Pizza, which was, ahem, FOC... Haha, Thanks Bro!



Felt abit paiseh. Since there were other food, I only ordered one hawaiian and one vegetarian. Turned out the Hawaiian was so yummy that it was mostly polished off before everyone was there. Haha...

Jolie entertaining herself while having lunch. Think she's trying to build a maze...



Last year Jolie sat in the very same chair! She looked so different within a year...



Later everybody else started to arrive and enjoyed the food. Glad that they enjoyed my curry too! :)



After a full lunch the guys just relaxed on the couch and watched The Karate Kid DVD that Zinc brought.



Jolie made a new friend that day as they bonded over a game of "tossing the monkey".



Gift exchange time!



Jolie was my representative...



UJ was very sure of what HE wanted! He's been eye-ing the cushion since he got there!



Everybody happy with their pick!



After that Char made us draw cards to either KEEP the present, SWAP with someone else, or just DRAW another card again. Jolie also wanted to join in the fun...



I got Mickey Mouse towels - useful for Jolie!



Zinc got Cobby's present in the end (which was prepared by me anyway). It's a daily mood chart - to tell the world how you're feeling now. Everybody's looking at the definition and use of the words - useful for a blogger! Haha...



Zinc got Jolie a "Angel" singlet. She couldn't wait to put it on!



After awhile we still had to go to MIL's place, besides, it's almost nap time for Jo, so we bade our farewells. Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas 2010! How to start the day? Opening presents of course! We've been hiding Jolie's present in the store room for almost a month now, and I'm glad that we can finally give her the gift!



Her very own bicycle! I added the tassel myself. :)



Seemed like too soon for her, but she proved us wrong and was half peddling the moment she got on her bike! Felt a little emotional watching her peddle around. My baby's growing up so fast! One moment she's in my arms, fragile as a rose, next moment she's riding her bicycle!

For me, a uber cool Marc by Marc Jacobs watch. Bling bling...



I got Cobby a ear piece for his phone. Now he can safely receive calls when he's driving. He can't wait to use it, but so far no one has called him while he's driving. He's disappointed. Haha...



Had lunch at a Japanese restaurant at Suntec.



My new watch and my bag is the same brand! Matching!



For tea break we had waffles and ice cream. I just love waffles!



Dinner was takeaway from our favourite Thai restaurant, Bei Sheng Seafood Restaurant. A yummy meal to end a relaxing day!

Christmas Eve Dinner 2010

We stayed home on Christmas Eve, so we thought, maybe we'll make something special for dinner to make up for it. Something I love, but never tried before, rack of lamb.



It seemed so fancy and difficult, but somehow I managed to pull it off and was super impressed with myself! I even made lamb crackling with the excess fat, which went beautifully with our rocket and cherry tomatoes salad with parmesan cheese and balsamic dressing.



Total cost, minus the wine, less than S$50.00 for two. The wine by the way, was a very good bottle of Penfold, 2001, Bin 389.

Cheers and a very Merry Christmas!

过冬 Dinner 2010

When Jolie woke up from her nap today, I got a shock!



Don't know what happened, her lip was swollen! I sort of panicked and called Cobby, and he sort of panicked and said that I should send her to the doctors. But after awhile, the swelling seemed to be going down, so I decided not to go to the doctor's and headed to MIL's place as planned.

By the time we got there, the swelling had almost subsided, so I guess it was just something minor. Heng ah... Anyway, we were celebrating 过冬 that night, so we had steamboat at MIL's place. After dinner we had 汤圆, sweet soup dumplings, which weren't very good... they were frozen, pre-packed ones you buy at the supermarket.



I missed my Mom's dumplings, which had gula melaka fillings inside. YUMS...

Miscellaneous Updates

Just some random updates...

I bought this mug from Ocean Park Hong Kong, I thought it was so beautiful! Unfortunately it was quite thin, so I didn't realise that it was cracked when I was stirring hot coffee one morning. A piece of the porcelain broke off and pipping hot coffee poured onto my thigh like hot larva. -_-



We bought this 招财兔 from Shanghai for my mother-in-law. Since it's the year of the rabbit next year, it's a hot item! She has already struck 4D once. (consolation prize) :)



Gave Jolie a haircut when we got back.



Us enjoying a fresh, hot pizza made by my brother one evening. Delicious!



One way of knowing that Jolie has grown taller. She was able to paddle when we got back from our trip. She couldn't do it before!

Pre Xmas Lunch

Met up with some ex-colleagues for a pre xmas lunch at Centre Point shopping centre. Almost couldn't find the place as it's been so long since I've been to Orchard with my friends. The weather's not too hot today, so I wore my boots for the very 1st time in Singapore! It's not so bad, not as hot as I expected them to be. Maybe I could consider getting the knee high boots. :)

The restaurant is a Korean BBQ, so we ordered the food while waiting for Jinah to arrive. I think we need a bigger table...



Photo taking time! Sweet Chew Bee...



Me and Poh Ling with my bean soup that was too salty...



And our Miss Jinah, who was always ready to pose for a photo! (she just arrived...)



A group photo of the girls.
Girls: Why didn't you take a photo of us with the (Christmas) tree?
Me: Can lah, can lah, see? There are lots of trees behind.



After checking out a new shopping outlet opened by BHG (where we used to work), which was very sad and quiet btw, we said goodbye to Chew Bee who had a manicure appointment. Then we had coffee at Spinelli's, which had a great Al fresco location.



I'm always surprised at how much I enjoy going out with them. We seemed to have a never ending stream of conversation flowing through us, even though we weren't even in the same click when I was working at Seiyu.



Hours passed and I felt a little guilty leaving Cobby at home taking care of Jolie himself. But I was so unwilling to leave! It's so nice to be in Orchard Road on a Sunday afternoon with a few girlfriends. The weather was sunny but yet breezy enough to be outside. Since Poh Ling wanted to take some photos of the Christmas decorations, and Jinah's meeting her hubby at CK Tangs, we could slowly walk together!

We sort of took our time, checking out some stores, buying silly Xmas hats, enjoying the moment before finally saying goodbye!



Nowadays my visits to Orchard were always through the comforts of Cobby's car, so it was quite a shock to the system squeezing through the Sunday crowd. So many tourists, locals doing their Christmas shopping and foreign workers and philippino maids enjoying their day off. There were people everywhere!!!

So it was a welcoming sight when I finally got back to Sembawang, my little 'village', quiet, peaceful, children and Mothers relaxing in the park on the way home.



Sigh... as much as I enjoyed my little girl's outing, it's good to be back home. :)

Jinah's Housewarming

Went to Jinah's housewarming after Jolie woke up from her nap. Her place at the famous Duxton was finally ready! I must say I was really surprised. Cobby and I actually considered Duxton during our house hunting before we got married. Looking at the show flat then, I just felt that the rooms were too tight and the price too steep for a tiny place like that.

But looking at Jinah's place really made me felt a little envious. The place looked very stylish, very modern, very clean and very neat. Even with the giant live Christmas tree taking up half the living room floor space. Suddenly my place looked like a dumpster, buried in toys and dust that I just can't seem to get rid of. It's like each time I put something away, something else would be placed there.

Anyway, the place looked great. I think she combined 2 rooms together, so the master bedroom looked very spacious. The place was quite windy too! I was sneezing away after standing in the windy corridor for 15 mins.

Apart from the disgustingly beautiful home, (Jinah, If you're reading this, I meant it as a compliment)it was great catching up with some ex-colleagues / old friends. Gillin and family was there, which totally caught me off guard as she's always busy being a full time Mom to 2 girls. Brenda was there too with her handsome little round-eyed prince.

We didn't even have the time to go up to the top deck as we have made reservations for dinner, to make up for the crappy dinner we had yesterday. So we just took one photo with the hostess and bid our farewell.



That night we ate dinner at Bistro Du Vin (finally) and called it a day.

Happy 5th ROM Anniversary

Its a special day today, Cobby and I have been legally married for 5 years! Yup, 5 years ago we signed our fate at our home and started being Mister and Missus Tang. :) How time flies!

So what did we get each other this year? I got him a brand new belt, to "tie" him up to me! :) He got me a very nice new watch from BALMAIN, which is a Swiss made watch under the Swatch group. Nice, just what I needed as my Guess watch was falling apart. :)



Before we went out for breakfast at our favourite prata place, I thought that it would be a good idea to take a family photo to commemorate our anniversary!



After a very filling breakfast we went home and hung out. I think we ate lunch at home, let Jolie take her afternoon nap before heading out for a nice dinner in the evening. We planned to dine at Bistro Du Vin, where I ate with my friends recently. On the way to Orchard Road, we got stuck in traffic! And since Jolie got hungry, I had to feed her her dinner in the car. By the time we got there, Jolie was done with her dinner. Haha...

Just when we thought that we could finally have our dinner, the restaurant was fully booked for the whole night! I didn't realise that they would be so 'hot', so I didn't make any reservations! So disappointed! But since we're in Orchard Road, we should be able find food right? So we just wandered around and soaked in the Christmas mood!




We walked pass The Coffee Club just outside Wheelock Place and thought it would be a great place to dine! The evening was quite cool and Orchard Road was so pretty, the Al Fresco restaurant was perfect!



Our dinner... Well, it wasn't very good, but the place was quite nice...



Jolie's dinner. No lah, it's her Dad's.



Enjoyable anyway...



On the way back to the car, we couldn't resist the gelato store outside shaw. YUMZ!





A sweet ending to a special day...



Our car was parked above Shaw House, and our lot was overlooking the Orchard Road junction. Pretty right?



So ends our day, a simple family affair, and it's the 1st time we celebrated together with our baby, Jolie. I wonder how we would celebrate next year, and with who? :)