Dear's 30th Bdae Bash!

i arranged a surprised party for gx. he has requested that he wanted a quiet bdae as he dun find that there's anything special to celebrate. As usual, I DUN LISTEN! he's used to it but i bet he tot that since i am so sick, and looked can't be bothered to move at all, dun think he suspected anything. esp that i am so sick thru the week. but i have made arrangements since sept! mum was sweet to have cooked up some very army-like colour dishes (esp the vegy dish) for his son-in-law's bdae. Thank goodness aunt k and aunt s helped cos i was too sick to help out! mum bought killer-sized prawns! they were as huge as my palm! bro calls it a hybrid - lobster-prawn.

i actually enrolled for a xmas log cake class that beautifully set on 25th oct but last minute they shifted the class away to nov.... so it spoilt my planning of using the log cake for his bdae cake. so that saved me from having to bake cupcakes to go with the small logcake. cos it was a log cake, i planned an army themed party for gx. everyone was to wear green or army prints. since i got all the props for the cake - plastic grass, army toy soldiers, chocolate rocks... i was lucky to have gone to secret recipe for dinner and decided to use their plain cake to decorate. instead of a chocolate cake i opt for my favourite white chocolate macadamia nut cake.

just before gx turns up at mum's place after his badminton game, i did the first part of decor with nesa and twins! we laid plastic leafs i got from meidiay supermarket around the cake. these leaves are used by japanese to decorate the food. then we wrapped up the soldiers legs with aluminium foil, cos these guys are gog onto the cake, just wanted to make the cake safe for consuming! i got the matching candle from spotlight. chocolate rocks was from daiso! the kids enjoyed placing the soldiers and the rocks! they can't stop munching on the yummy hard rock chocs!

when gx came, bro signalled to everyone and all of us stood in a line behind the door waiting for him! when he stood at the door, my uncle shouted commands! he was shocked and he just stood there with his mouth dropped! when i asked him much later, he said he noticed everyone was in green but couldn't figure out why we were standing there to shock him since what i told him was there's a deepavali gathering. he felt shy too... when he realised its his surprised bdae party. got him to change into his swiss army tee!

i was glad i brought his army-printed hats over. the twins were having fun esp when they were trying to put both hats on their dad. as usual Aunt A came most prepared! dressed green from head to toe! she even borrowed my cousin W's army hat! she's the most on one in our family!

from next week, mum's place will have a big interior change. the fish tank will be gone... so will all the fishes... think bro will be sad... but i guess its time... also the table-tennis table was out for the last time... it gog too... so the boys opened it up for a last game.

i bought 2 sets of soldiers and one set came with a map and some props. so i took it out for the kids to play. L came with all his toy guns! boys will be boys! for the first time i see L sat down to play with the small toy soldiers!

got the cake on the map and threw in more chocolate rocks. then the kids helped to place the soldiers all over the map. tot it looked quite cute! gx tot the soldiers were made of chocolate! these were darker in colour than the ones they played with eariler! and of cos they were kept separately cos these were used for decorating! GX tot the cake came decorated and was surprise that it was done by me and my cousins!

i got army-matching plates for gx. the camouflaged ones were very ex! he said he felt nervous when the family sang him the bdae song! cos its almost 25++pax singing for one! its gx first time celebrating his bdae with my family even thou he's been in the family for 3 years!

half-way thru the song, L moved in to pick up the soldiers that are on the map and plonked it onto the cake. he didnt stop at 1...! it was quite funny to see him shift almost all the soldiers that were near him onto the side of the cake. the twins just looked at him in shock! cos they helped to decor the cake and was just looking at L in disbelief! i tot the cake looked more real like a battleground after L's work of art!

i always love the part when all the little ones try to blow the candles together and the more difficlut task was holding the knife together trying to cut the cake. But its fun! thats why i love celebrating my bdae! besides the cake, i got him a little toy as a present. something that i chanced upon when he wanted me to look for shuttlecock for his badminton session. he was complaining that its his first transformer but why did i get the bad guy... HOW WOULD I KNOW! for me it transforms into a tank, so it matched my themed party i was throwing! but of cos, he still likes it and yah play with it!!!

on sunday, as i mentioned in my earlier post, we had a lazy start for the day and went ikea. while i stayed with mum, he went to attend a wedding dinner. he went to Hans to get his bdae cake to celebrate with his parents. Upper thomson Hans apparently opens 24hrs now! i got the skinny candles from caneles and he told his mum that it was trick candles! candles that will relight... haha, he didnt believe it wasnt when i told him ITS NOT trick candles!

his favourite bdae present is something very big and he is happy his wish came true. we are planning to go shopping for more shirts, esp a cuff-linked shirt and my plans was for him to change his glasses! but these has to wait till i feel better!

Since 19 october till 27 october

been unwell and feel terrible at times. been adjusting and am getting back on track. thats the main reason that i haven't been blogging cos all i wanna do after work is rest. also sadly the camera, the handy one that i always have in my bag deaded. i did go look around with gx but the one i eyed on... not nice, so i didnt buy it and i have yet to check out others.

celebrated gx bdae in simple style as he wanted. but still i threw him a surprised party at mum's place. will take time to update on his bdae when i load the pics from our bigger camera. on his actual day 26th, all we did was laze and he played games, just the way he wanted to spend his day till afternoon. we managed to go on to ikea to get my orange ginger cookies.

hated the experience in the busy ikea eatery. hate the way people jostle around to get seats and when they got seats i dun see why they need to hurry over and almost trip me! it was an OMG situation! i wasn't even bothered to take their table, gf already sat down, so whats the hurry! i was really pissed! yes thou he said sorry but in a quick manner and turn to face his gf straight. small thing but its not so in my case and u will understand why it isn't... i was in shock in my getting-well state!

i am very lucky to have a very understanding hubby and supportive families. i need to feel better soon. need to stop being so grouchy! i need to clear the mess in my room. good thing that happen this whole month is that i have been drinking water. YES... its huge! cos i dun like drinking water! think my long time frens would know that fact! i have been often nagged by ser esp!

To shanice: thanks for your concern and i deeply appreciate your note to GX! yes we have been planning for walks, he has been trying to being me out but haha the sky doesnt permit everytime we prep to head out! once we get to do it, i hope to have my new handy camera to take pics to show you! also i love your weekend trips! ENVY! so many interesting places to go! anytime you need anything herbs, spice, let me know, i will get it for you! You are such a great cook! i hardly can cook chinese! impressive! i need to learn from you and practice cooking more often!

to all my frens, i hope that everything is well for everybody... for the boys! you know who u are! jiayou. life is not as simple but bear with it and bite the bullet. will try to update more often... cos this weekend i got something interesting to attend to and i hope it will turn out successful.

not well

i haven been feeling very well. glad i met up with dap on thursday. we had a long chat and i am glad she asked me out cos i was in a pretty bad mood that day! thou i was in a foul mood but yet i was so amazed with what happened that afternoon! helen gave birth to her baby boy the day before her bdae! amazing!

friday was a quiet morning after 9am cos my class went on a field trip to little india. but even thou when they came back everything was still ok for me cos they did deepavali artwork. i was so happy that BK have mushroom swiss but with chicken patty! cos i dun eat beef i haven eaten mushroom swiss for a very long time! but i end up throwing it up! wasted! just stayed at home with gx watching tv.

saturday was supposed to meet gx at vivo but in the end i napped and didnt wana rushed to vivo... so he tabao home very nice char kuey teow that has alot of veg! but it was very yummy! he got me prawn noodles which was ok only. after lunch both of us took a sofa each and slept till evening! woke up prepared and went to mums. while i came home, he went to attend tony's bdae at df...

sunday a planned, gx brought me to pray and we end up trapped in the building cos it was pouring very heavily! when it stopped we hurried to the temple and end up trapped in the temple cos the rain came pouring heavily again! i felt at peace thou at the temple. then when it stopped we hurried back to the car. glad we did that cos it started pouring once we drove out of the carpark... we decided to stopped at suntec and was so glad to bump into a fren! couldn't be more thrilled to see her! ate vietnamese for dinner but bad day again with gastric juices popping out my food again! now i feel hungry... i better sleep... hopefully this week i will get well and feel better... i need to sleep now!

Me vs 4+1 October Bdae people!

A long awaited gathering. finally we got a date and before Helen goes into labour, we met up at Coca at international building in Orchard to have dinner. As usual, mic was the earliest! He's always on time! once there i was hungry.

so eager to start that i didnt take any pics till our 3rd round of raw food was cooking! i like the wantan here. We were the first to arrive but not the 1st to leave thou! think we had almost like 5-6rounds of food order but we gals stopped much earlier, the boys of cos had much more room!

after dinner, we head to tcc at the ground level and we were pretty lucky to have our seats pretty soon. everyone was too full to have a slice of cake each. so i only ordered a mont blanc to share and a chocolate grottine for the bdae celebration. the deal was i was going to treat the rest including gx who are all born in month of October thus 4adults+1. helen's baby in the tummy, the little boy is soon gog to be arriving anytime in October!

i sang a bdae song for all of them. haha a very fast one emphasising alot on U and pointing to all of them. too bad everyone so full, we got to share the 2 cakes instead of 4 cakes. thou the mont blanc is a little sweet, i still find it nice and i have yet to find another place that served it. the chocolate grottine was nice too. the chocolate mousse in the covered dark chocolate walls was rich. while everyone had drinks, i just have warmed water to go with the sweet treats. i really couldn't take anymore food!

envy helen! i wish you helen a safe delivery and i wish you and soh happiness. i was happy we met up and had this little gathering. i am glad we still can sit and have meals together. Mic stay happy! and so am i going have 4 slices of cakes from each of you guys in April? we shall see!

Graze @ 4 Rochster Park

its our first time at Rochester Park. we have heard of this place but haven't been here before. with some luck and right timing, from last school year's parents, i was presented a voucher to one of the restaurant in that area . We planned this dinner on friday to mark a day gx had with me for my falls hols. i have been alone this whole hols. he has been busy and me lazy and sadly, yes fall hols is ending this sunday.

after i did a little shopping, gx came from work to pick me up from vivo. when we got there i was very hungry! the small carpark was full... then we drove in to look for the black and white house #4. gx decided to valet park... we decided to sit indoors, thou i was ready with mosqi patch! i immediately ask where the soup page was and i was surprised when i was told they have only one kind of soup. Cauliflower soup with prawns and double-cooked hens egg... too hungry to say no so i ordered. when it came i was alittle paiseh to take photo as we were sitting in the centre of the restaurant... so no flash....

the very first picture is when it was taken with no flash! the restaurant atmosphere is soft lights, dim and very comfortable but when it came to taking photos... it just turned out black! using photoshop i brighten the dark photos taken. the cauliflower soup ($18) turned out to be not bad. i liked it! prawns were fresh. but i did not liked the fried ball of breadcrumb thats in the soup. i forgot that there was suppose to be an hen's egg so i cut into it and out came on my spoon, runny yolk. never fancy sunny-side up eggs cos i am scared of the wobbly yolk! and the raw taste of it. gx liked it so he had the rest of the soup with it. as for the bread dipped in black vinegar and olive oil... the one i had with dap at portsdown italian restaurant was much better. the vinegar was much nicer and stronger in taste. here we got more oil on our bread than vinegar.

for starter we ordered ($29) 6 bbq scallops served with ginger in XO butter! these were nice! loved the fresh scallops on shells, we didnt even need the lime and lemon. i like the way they wrapped the citrus fruits so that when its squeshed only the juice sip through without the seeds and pulp. clever and neat.

see my tired-looking gx with his main course... he's been working hard and partying hard the nite before! company had dinner at no-sign board followed by short partying at st james. i like the photo-wall behind me. i love the decor of the place but i didnt take picture other then our area. we took pics with flash cos when i spotted people taking with flash, i was less hesistant to do so!

gx's main course - pork hock. ($33) bbq? prob till it was so crispy but soft inside! it was tasty. i had entree-sized mushroom risotto. ($18) glad i didnt order the main course size cos this was enough to fill me. too much risotto and i wot be able to swallow. this is nice just not too much cos its creamy. if u are wondering that's enough? wait till u see our dessert choice!

we were told that we have to wait for 25mins for our dessert. so gx ordered a cappucino. as for choosing the dessert, i was looking through the list and came to one that got me very interested. Dessert Tasting Plate ($35). i asked whats included in this dessert and i was thrilled to be told all of the above items stated before Dessert Tasting plate will be served in a smaller portion for 2!

thats like the most exciting dessert item i have ever ordered! when u can't decide which to ordered and have a chance to try all of them, why not! esp when we mit not come back here again... so with that we chatted while waiting for the dessert but both of us felt sleepy cos with a filled tummy and dim atmosphere with soft music... its hard to keep awake!

when the dessert tasting plate came, its huge! i was so ready to ... take pics bcos everything look so nice and cute! the lady who brought the dessert to us, link the names of the dessert and describe to us the contents individually.

in all 10 items! we had #1-kiwi sorbet which was the ice-cream of the day. fruity sour but refreshing! next to it was #2-classic afrigado. this was something new to us. we were suppose to pour the espresso and we were advised to pour only half of it into the dessert cup which was filled with a liquor jello, biscotti, vanilla ice-cream and toasted hazelnut.

wooo... bitter! i like the jellied frangelico liquor thou, gx like this dessert as its very coffeebased. one of my favourite would be the #3-chocolate creme brulee. it was very rich,, thick chocolate based topped with honeycomb ice-cream. behind #3 is #4-green apple, roasted pineapple and sour cherry crumble. this was pretty sour for us cos the rest of the dessert was so sweet. we didnt touch much of this dessert.

#5-australian trifle which is the one, far back on the left topped with strawberry, sad to say i did try it but didnt have any special impression of it. gx seriuosly was so full when he tried most of them and was saying thats too much dessert!!! infront of #5 is #6-homemade honeycomb ice-cream and strawberry ice-cream with chocolate sauce. i liked the honey coated nuts and the home-made strawberry sorbet. next to #6 is #7-palova. the base is a meringue and topped with passionfruit sorbet. gx freaked out with the passionfruit sourness and i personally dun like merigue cos its too sweet! the only goodthing from this dessert was the sweet peanuts that was served with it.

#8-Graze black & white pudding plate was the other dessert that we enjoyed. we actually ate this first cos it better to have it while its hot! its the first time i have a "white" lava cake thou! this was served with ice-cream. white pudding with choc ice-cream and black pudding with vanilla ice-cream. i was looking forward to eat the #9-sundae with deep fried banana. yes goreng pisang but it was nice and crispy served with chocolate ice-cream. My favourite of all the dessert is #10- warm Michel Cluizel bittersweet chocolate tart with banana. i love banana with chocolate! the chocolate was very soothing! while gx had the tart at the very start , i kept mine to the end!

they have an outdoor sitting where they play oldies black and white film on the wall. while waiting for our valet that cost us $8, we took some last shots.

the total bill for this dinner for 2 was $141 before gst and service charge. After presenting the $100 gift voucher, we paid $65.96 for the dinner at Graze. the food is nice and for the first time we were unable to finish all the desserts. we finished mostly the chocolate desserts and left the rest as were really filled! it was a nice experience but with the price tag, i was glad i was given a voucher to try it out.