Jolie's 1st Racial Harmony Day 2011

Jolie didn't go to class until Wednesday due to the flu, so on Wednesday the teacher told me that they will be celebrating Racial Harmony Day on Friday. How am I suppose to find a traditional outfit for Jolie and prepare a traditinal snack in 2 days? So I just had to let her wear her Chinese New Year outfit and prepare something simple, like cornflake clusters.

This was the full outfit. Personally, I didn't like it cause it looked a little like pyjamas. Mother-in-law bought it, so out of respect I only let her wear the top with a pair of jeans during CNY.



When we got to the school, the entrance was like a Hollywood red carpet! Parents were praising each other's kids on how cute they were and snapping pictures, children were shouting in excitment. Jolie was actually quite excited when we left the house, but she got quite nervous with all the comotion. She wouldn't go into class, and when I got irritated, she started sobbing! What a party pooper!



The teacher had to carry her into the class...



Parents were asked to come back nearing the end of class for the party. All the kids were dressed up!



Some of the treats the kids had, my cornflake clusters, home made spring rolls and polar sugar rolls. Yumz...



Jolie really liked the home made tofu spring rolls! I liked them too, made by one of the mamas. Unfortunately, my cornflake clusters were a little too hard, so not very popular with the kids. :(



My pink Chinese princess. Wanted to dress up in my CNY clothes too, but I think I would be overdressed among the other mamas.



It's pretty cool, some of the Indian mamas also made their home made traditional treats, like this chickpea salad. All the adults love it, but only some kids knew how to appreciate it. But I think it's great to expose kids (and parents) to other culture's dishes.





OMG the classroom was so noisy! Kids screaming, parents chatting, teacher shouting...







The teacher also brought some henna and started to draw for the kids. But the Indian mama kindly offered to do it and soon, all the kids crowded around the mamas, taking turns to have their hands drawn.



Jolie's first henna! Well, this was actually her second one. The 1st one was destroyed when she accidentally smeared it. Later she would have her 3rd one as this one would be destroyed it as she swiped it onto her legs during the group photo. -_- (I understand it's educational, but seriously!? Henna and hyper 2-3 year olds don't mix)



A poor attempt to take a class photo. 2-3 year olds just wouldn't sit still!!!



Oh well, time to dance!



We stayed way pass her usual class time, so when she started going all quiet, I know it's time for her to go home and rest.



Our 1st class party. Quite fun, but my ears were really tortured by all the noise in that enclosed space! It felt instantly comforting when we left the noisy classroom into the peaceful void decks. Next year, I'll get nicer outfits for Jo and more kid-friendly treats!

2 X Party!

Busy day! Got 2 parties to go to today. At lunch time, we're going to Zinc's baby full month party. In the afternoon, we're invited to Cobby's friend's son's 1st birthday party. So after breakfast, Jo picked a dress all by herself and we head out!

Check out my new heels from Taiwan! Very sweet and comfy!



We finally got there, but Jolie was too distracted by the playroom next to the function room and pulled me there.



So while Cobby was enjoying his buffet lunch at the function room, I was next door with Jolie. My stomach was growling as I watch enviously at the party through the glass windows. How I wish I could eat and hang out with my friends, but I guess I could only wait for Cobby to finish.



Finally I got to eat! Check out Zinc Dad's creation.



Baby Vivian was busy sleeping. She looked like an Angel.



After hanging out for awhile, we headed home so that Jolie could take her nap. The birthday party was 3-6pm at the Temesak Club, but Jolie slept so long that by the time we got there, the party was about to end! Thankfully we got there just in time for the cake cutting. The parents hired party coordinators to make it a Mickey theme party. Check out the birthday cake!!!



Balloon scupture!



The happy family.



There was also a balloon sculptor to make balloon creations for the kids there. He made an adorable lion for Jolie. Cobby and I were thinking of hiring one for Jolie's next birthday party.



The birthday boy. What big round eyes!



There was also a colouring station where kids can colour Mickey mouse pictures.



Mummy and baby posing for a photo!



Like I said, we were so late that we only hung out for awhile and we're off! Haha, but it was quite a fun occasion. Pretty inspiring too, gave us alot of party ideas.



We were suppose to go for dinner, but Jolie wanted to go play at the playground, so we let her play a little. It's the weekend anyway, let her have a little fun!




For dinner, we headed to SAKE sushi at Holland Village. After dinner, we pampered ourselves with a little Häagen-Dazs!



We couldn't finish, but it was a great way to end a day. Shiok!

Taipei Trip 2011 - Part 4

Last day in wonderful Taipei! Like I said in my last entry, we have made reservation at the Hello Kitty restaurant. So the plan was to check out, have lunch, hang out awhile before heading out to the airport. But Sis suggested that we ditch the Hello Kitty restaurant and go to Danshui(淡水) instead. The Hello Kitty restaurant looks very interesting, but I wouldn't mind seeing another side of Taiwan. Besides, it's very convenient, just take a MRT train straight to the end of the line.

I really like how the scenery changes slowly from the grey city landscape into a lush and green sea side town. Our MRT definitely don't have a view like that!



We had to walk a distant to the 淡水老街 (old street), where there were plenty of tourist stuff like food, drinks, and souvenirs. On the way there, we saw a local restaurant named 大块牛扒(Big piece steak). Well, with a name like that, the food couldn't go wrong! Haha... So we thought we go settle our brunch there. It's pretty cool, the uncle would cook all sorts of steak at the entrance, so you place your order there and go sit inside.

It's awesome! It's like our coffee shop style western food, so it's a real good deal! One price for a steak with vegetables, pasta, soup and even free-flow of drinks! The stall was very vintage, filled with locals eating there before starting their day.



The soup was some sort of mystery vegetable soup, but pretty tasty. Oh and they serve warm mini croissants with the soup that literally melts in your mouth! My god, I wanted to eat the whole basket, but Sis told me to control myself!



Sis ordered lamb chops. Oh I forgot to mention that they add an egg on top of everything else. I think you wouldn't need to eat anymore after you clear the whole plate. -_-



I ordered their beef steak. It wasn't like restaurant standard, but it was pretty tasty. I could eat more, but Sis kept reminding me that there would be more food later at the 老街, so we just ate about half and headed out.



We didn't take much photos as we were busy shopping and walking. We were also a little concerned, as we were running out of cash. Haha, so we had to keep reminding ourselves that we had to control our spending. But it proved quite difficult as there were so many interesting shops! After walking awhile, I almost screamed and dragged Sis across the road because I finally spotted a cafe! I need my daily fix!

Check out the store owner's overweight golden retriever! He didn't even bother to move when I sat down next to him. It was pretty hot outside, so he chose the coolest spot in the store (under the ceiling fan) and just lay on the cool marble floor. Damn dog sure knows how to enjoy life.



When my order came, I frowned at how fancy my cappuccino looked. Then I checked the order form and realised that I ticked the wrong box and ordered a mochaccino. ARGH!!!



GREAT. The last time I had a mochaccino, I was 18 years old. Now my 1st coffee of the day was ruined! Sis asked me to order another, but I didn't wanted to waste more money. So I just drank sulkily. >_<

Anyway, we quickly drank and continued to explore the area. Maybe we shouldn't have eaten the steak, because there was so much snacks and food, but we were quite full and didn't feeling like eating more! But after walking awhile, we turned to the street facing the sea!

The place was very crowded with the Summer vacation folks, but I find that very festive. There were lots of people eating giant ice creams, so I wanted to try too!



Looks good, but its actually very bland, like watered down milk, and very icy. Not creamy or smooth. Threw it away after a few more bites. :P Sis ordered spicy grilled squid. I thought that they would be rubbery, but they were surprising soft, and quite good!



Ai-yu and lemon drink. Super refreshing and shiok on a hot day like this!



There was an uncle selling CDs of himself playing the aboriginal porcelain flute. There were classic Taiwanese songs and also newer songs. He even played the flute on the spot and he was so good! Sis bought his CD, saying that she likes to buy local music from different countries that she goes to.



We walked on a found a store selling local egg based cakes, but in Spongebob Sqaurepants design!



I bought these four designs. We were already going home, so I thought it would a nice breakfast for Jolie!



Cannot tahan, really curious how it tasted, so we decided to sacrifice Patrick the starfish! He was delicious! Very crispy on the outside, spongy and egg-gy on the inside! YUMZ~!



By then we have over-shot our time there and quickly took a MRT back to Taipei city. I think there's more to the place, but we didn't have the time. Their official website was quite boring, so I think this blog best describe the place. :)

So when we got back to the hotel lobby, I changed back into my jeans and we quickly headed to the bus station. On the way I bought two of those yummy rice dumpling from 7-eleven for my flight tonight. :)

When we checked in at the airport, we found out that Sis's flight was postphoned from 8pm plus to 10pm! So we headed to the cafeteria for dinner, and surprise! They have Hung Shifu Beef Noodles there! Cobby had asked me to bring Sis to eat the most wonderful beef noodles ever, but it wasn't in our itinery, so we didn't go. Imagine my surprise when I found out that they were selling it in the airport cafeteria.



Erm, well, it was quite disappointing, because the standard definitely wasn't as good as the one we ate at Maokong. That's the problem with franchise, the staff don't care that they were destroying Master Hung's reputation! Luckily Sis didn't order. :p So after dinner, Sis went into 'work' mode and killed time by going to the duty free stores to spy on their prices. She also found out that they have an executive lounge she can go to clear her work emails while she waited for her plane.

So when it was time for me to say goodbye, I felt a little sad. When will we have this chance again to spent time alone with each other? Not in the near future really.

This time round, I really enjoyed my flight alone. I had a great holiday, I'm going back to my family, this was great! But during the flight, my dinner didn't sit well with the shaky plane, and me watching movie on my netbook. So I threw up all my dinner! Thankfully I still had my rice dumplings, so while everybody slept, I was munching my dumpling and watching my movie. Sounds strange, but it was a great way to end my trip.

Taipei Trip 2011 - Part 3

This morning we planned to go to MELANGE CAFÉ for breakfast. The popular cafe in Taiwan was well known for it's awesome waffles, beautiful interior, but also long queues. So we wanted to be there right when they open. Unfortunately, the exhaustion has finally started to catch up on me, and I was having some difficulty waking up in the morning. So by the time we headed out, it was almost 10am.

The place wasn't very far, a few MRT stops away. But when we got out, we went the wrong direction and ended up wandering around for 15 minutes before getting our bearings right and finding the place. Our happiness was short lived. The place was already full and there was a crowd hanging outside, waiting to be seated! -_- So we just took some photos while we waited.




Their menu was designed to look like a newspaper. Since we're waiting, might as well decide what we wanted to order 1st. There were SO many types of coffee, tea, drinks and yummy looking dishes! How to decide??



Most of the people wanted table seats, but we didn't mind counter seats, so we managed to get seated before many other earlier than us! Whoo hoo! The place looks so nice and chic!




Cannot tahan liao, let's order! Sis ordered this Iced Coffee Malange with Jelly (NT140)Yumz...



I ordered this Iced Dutch Water Drip Coffee (NT140). It's delicious! The coffee may be iced, but it's still very rich and strong. I think it's the iced coffee cube that made the difference. YUMZ YUMZ!



We also ordered this beautiful Smoked Chicken and Ham Pizza (NT130). It's yummy! It's cheesy, the meat was nice and juicy and there was a thick slice of tomato in the middle. Sis didn't like tomatoes, so I ate hers too. It's sweet, not sour like the ones in Singapore.



The single scoop of egg salad on the side was very yummy too! I think if they sell it by itself I'll order it too! Next, the highlight of the day, waffles! We ordered the Caramel with Ice Cream Waffle (NT130).



It surprised me. First, the texture was crispy on the outside, but dense and fluffy inside, more like a cake than waffle. Not your typical waffle. Next, there was a very slight almond taste, like in almond tea, so it was a little turn-off for me. Was it IN the waffle? Or was it the almond powder they sprinkle on top? I'm not sure.



I wouldn't say it's uber delicious, but it's not bad either. I think I prefer the ones they serve at Geláre. :) It was a great place, great ambience. We loved sitting on the counter, watching the staff prepare the delicious drinks and food for us. How I wish we have an outlet like this in Singapore!

I asked Sis what role would she play in a busy cafe like this, and she said that she would like to be the manager, bossing people around. Me, I would like to be one of the staff preparing the food. Because I like the idea that people are happy and contended after eating my delicious creations! That says alot about our characters huh!

Check out their mission statement, simple and straight forward. I like that.



Oh I wish we didn't have to leave, but we gotta head to our next destination, 五分埔 (Wufenpu Wholesale Market). So exciting! I've never been there before, so I can't wait! But we ended up being too early. The stores only open around 2pm, so we wandered around and ended up eating lunch again...

When we got inside Farmosa Chang, I was thinking, "Oh my god, I just ate a cheesy pizza, waffle and coffee. How can I eat somemore?" But then the food came...



They looked sooo good! This is one of my favourite Taiwanese dishes, 魯肉飯. (Braised pork rice) How to resist???



We also ordered the braised pork trotters, which was ass-kicking good, but we forgot to take a photo. After the meal we were SERIOUSLY full. But it was still early, how? So Sis suggested something super crazy, she wanted to go for a foot massage. I resisted and resisted, I'm very sensitive to pain! I don't even go to spa massages! But she insisted, so we went.

As if my hell wasn't deep enough, they decided to be "generous" and gave us complimentary back and shoulder massages! I wished there was someone to take a video of us two. It must be hilarious. Sis was totally enjoying her massage, complimenting her Masseuse and stuff. Me, I'm squirming about, with a permanent grimace on my face, pleading my Masseuse to be more gentle and wondering when it's going to end.

Then comes the foot massage. >.< They have comfortable arm chairs with your personal TV sets, so it's a good way to distract you from the pain. But seriously, my face was constantly frowning. Only my amazing 忍功 was preventing me from screaming and kicking at my Masseuse. I was SO HAPPY when it ended. Finally we went to 五分埔. This is the one of the very few photos we took there because we were walking non stop in that labyrinth of shops.



They have clothes for everyone! Male, female, children, even older ladies and dogs! There's also accessories, bags, shoes and even dancing costumes. What really irks me was that the shoes were all very small size, and majority(or all) of shops have a NO TRYING policy for clothes, so I didn't buy much.

I got:

• 3 tops
• 1 bag
• 1 pair of heels
• 1 T-shirt and 1 pants for Jolie

I guess most of the time was spent looking for another shop that sells a pair of heels that I liked, but no size. Also, I was hunting for a nice bag to replace the one at home. We saw one at the beginning of the walk, but we couldn't find another one that was better, so we had to walk backward to the shop.

By the time we left, it was already late afternoon. So we decided to head to Hello Kitty Sweets Restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately, as it was a Saturday night, the place was fully booked when we got there! :( So if you want to go there, make sure you make reservations! Anyway, it's such a shame not to dine there, so we made reservations for lunch tomorrow, after we checked out. Yeah!

On the way back to the hotel, we saw this cute design on the MRT station walls. It features all the famous landmarks in Taipei. The Taiwanese are so good at making cute things!



So with our dinner plan spoilt, we decided to check out all the food outlets at the shopping centre below our hotel. It's pretty cool, like a giant food courts selling snacks, drinks and also restaurants. All the restaurants had long queues outside, so we decided to order our food to go and dine in our awesome hotel room. Tonight's dinner was Tonkatsu, Taiwanese carrot cake and Tau Huay for dessert. So we pigged out while we watched Glee. Shiok!