Jay had an amazing past week at Little Big. It was a week of fruits, fruits and more fruits. Each child brought a type of fruit each day of last week, and the kids really enjoyed these yummy and healthy snacks.
The kids tried a great variety of fruits from longans…
to dragonfruits…
Even blueberries got in the act!
And mangoes!
What a wonderful, colourful week at school!
Feb 12, 2010 marked the Chinese New Year celebrations at Little Big. All the kids were told to wear their Chinese New Year clothes, bring two oranges and bring two food items for their special “reunion lunch” – steamboat! How fun, ya?
Looks healthy! Jayvon brought fishballs and crabsticks to his party – which are his two favourite items. Ms. Yun tells me Ms. Carol who was helping to feed Jay was having a hard time cos he kept refusing “strange” looking things! Haha… Oh man, looks like I have to try to introduce Jay to more foodstuffs soon!
“Gong Xi Fa Cai!”
Jay with his teacher and his classmates. How adorable they all look!
A shot of some of the other kids in Little Big, listening to Ms. Yi the principal. What a multi-racial, multi-ethnicity place this is, which I think is so cool! Haha!
If you’re a regular reader of my Mommy’s blog (which you should!), you’d know that we just had a great family getaway at Changi Village.
On Sunday, Daddy and Mommy brought me to Pulau Ubin.
Me no like noisy bumboat rides…
Me really really no like.
Daddy trying to cajole me to take a nice shot.
He tries hard, but the sun’s in my eyes, Mommy!
Mommy tries too…
And tries again…
They finally let me go, and decide to take some easier shots. You know. Non-challenging and non-squirming ones.
Finally we start our walk down the Sensory Trail… There are meant to be plenty of greens and herbs grown here.
Hmmmm…
Hmmmm…
Mommy…
Look! The gravel’s SO nice!
And I like it so much, Mommy lets me hold it all the way!
Till we reach the restaurant for lunch, and I decide to give it a lick to see how it tastes like. That’s when she got mad and took my new friend away from me. Sigh. But that’s a different story. On with the walk!
Do you see the yellow butterfly?
It’s eluding me too!
Apart from butterflies, there were also plenty of spiders as biiiig as my fist, grasshoppers (Daddy showed me how to catch them without killing them!), crickets and mosquitoes! We even went to the mangrove area, and saw some hermit crabs! Nice!
Mommy got more concerned with scratching those insect bites on her limbs, that she left the camera in her bag… so no more pictures of me and my insects…
Hungry, we settled down for some coconut juice, but the uncle gave us some lousy and old coconuts, so we barely drank the juice, and proceeded to lunch.
With my favourite… prawns! YUM!!!
Like I said… YUM!
Jayvon loves bananas!
It is one of his favourite treats! I am so happy he loves fruits – cos I do too!
I can still remember the days of mashed up fruits and vegetables… and basically mashed up EVERYTHING.
Now?
Jayvon holds and enjoys the banana all by himself.
How big my little boy has grown!
I also realised he’s so much taller. I tried to cradle him like a baby, and he was so uncomfortable – cos he was so lanky!
What you speak speaks volumes.
And for my little prince, his vocabulary has expanded over the months. And I am constantly amazed by how he can pronounce dual-syllabic words with such great flair!
But more than knowing how to call his family members (and his favourite Bear Bear and Pooh Bear), the bulk of his vocabulary is contained in FOOD.
French fries: “FRENCH f-eyes”
Cookie: “KUK-KUK keeee”
Yakult: “coke”
Biscuit: “bissss”
M&M chocolates: (he will put his hands to his mouth and smack his lips)
Orange: “Orr-renge”
Apple: “pearl”
Milo: “mmmm…”
As much as I wish for him to be able to say things like “spinach” or “broccoli” or “organic” (hahaha…) it is the sad truth that my son is quite the junk food junkie!
We spent Sunday and Monday in Kuala Lumpur, and we ATE so much good food! This deserves a post ALL by itself!
First off, by Pastor Yong’s recommendation, we went to KLCC’s Madam Kwan’s to try out the nasi lemak.
Instead of the usual fried chicken-style of nasi lemak we’re used to in Singapore, Madam Kwan’s serves it curry chicken style! The chicken was nicely done, very tender, and the curry wasn’t really spicy. The sides included sambal ikan bilis (real good!) and half a hard-boiled egg. At RM !4.50, it was a pretty okay bargain.
We also ordered some chicken wings for Jayvon. So-so. Not too bad, but not very fantastic, considering these 5 wings came at a price of RM 15! Steep by Malaysian standards!
Sambal petai – or in Chinese 臭豆, or literally ‘smelly beans’! Not the most pleasant of names, but this was nicely cooked! The beans were well-cooked, and there wasn’t any weird smell or overly-strong taste (quite rare with these beans!). This dish was cooked with several large prawns as well. To Nic, this dish was the highlight of the entire meal!
Check out Nic & Umah’s very contented faces at this great meal!
This is my favourite part of the meal – dessert! It is fried banana fritters with rich vanilla ice-cream, doused with maple syrup! YUM!!!
And the ambience of Madam Kwan’s was very nice as well. We were seated at the ‘al fresco’ portion of the restaurant – though it was still in the overall air-conditioning of the shopping centre! Haha! Here’s our view…
On the outside looking in…
So if you’re in the vicinity of KLCC, pop by Madam Kwan’s on the 4th floor! It isn’t cheap fare, but it is worth the overall dining experience!
Another favourite restaurant I love in Malaysia is the chain of Secret Recipe outlets! I love the cakes (especially the Chocolate Banana), and the fact that cakes are priced almost exactly the same in Sing dollar as they are in Malaysian Ringgit, which effectively means the cakes are more than 50% cheaper!
We tried the butterscotch pecan cake – so divine! – as well as a cup of caramel macchiato!
And you would think we had a feast in Malaysia already ya?
Almost… just almost.
We stayed at the Impiana KLCC Hotel & Spa, which was just 5-minutes away from KLCC. And Nic spotted a flyer pasted in the lift, advertising the special Ramadhan dinner buffet. He had always heard of how Singaporeans would travel to Johore during the Ramadhan month JUST to try out these dinner buffets, so it was hard to convince him NOT to go for this supper. Jayvon was dog-tired from the hour-long car journey, and we decided to spend some quality time and so Umah stayed back to watch Jay in the hotel room (and we got her packed wanton noodles from the KLCC food court).
And so we went to the buffet dinner.
It cost a staggering RM88 per pax. And after the taxes were included, it came up to RM100 per person. Or about S$45. Not cheap.
But SO worth it. It is one of the most ‘quality’ buffets I’d ever sampled!
The restaurant wasn’t well-lit, which explains the pasty-looking pictures (and taken with my blackberry to boot!). But the sheer array of food available was mind-boggling!
There was the usual appetisers, including raw oysters, mussels, salad bar, malay kuih-kuih. And the mains like chicken rice, roti john, nasi briyani (we steered clear of these though!). Also on the menu, freshly grilled sambal fish and squid and prawns and crabs! Oh, and durians for dessert. All in all, it was good!
But… the one thing that made the buffet worth it?
The lamb.
Not just any lamb. I’m not talking about kebab. There was literally a lamb CARCASS hanging on a spit.
I kid you not.
The chef working on the lamb…
I know it looks pretty gruesome. But gosh was it GOOD. I am not a ‘lamb’ person, but it was lip-smackingly divine.
Being a Singaporean… just the food itself deserves a blog post! Hahaha!
Will conclude my trip in another blog post soon!
At a recent family dinner, to celebrate the dads in our lives, Mommy wanted to get a photo of Gong Gong, Daddy and me.
First there is the placement of the subjects.
“Daddy! U are here!”
Daddy looks at cam, Gong Gong looks at me.
“Why is Mommy calling my name so many times?”
“Yes Mommy?”
But sigh… Gong Gong’s not looking up! Let’s try again! Just keep looking at the camera, Gong Gong. While Mommy balances the camera to get that one shot of me looking and smiling at the camera. And calling my name. And dangling this biscuit to entice me. She is nothing if not optimistic.
Gong Gong has it this time!
“…I am getting bored…”
The final product.
I am *almost* looking in front. This will do. The first dish has being served. There will be other chances. Roasted chicken is above posing. Anyday.
With a blop of Betty’s batter…
And a bit of a banana…
Blended together in a bowl…
Behold! A bountiful breakfast for baby!
