** Moi 29th Bday Celebration wif Dar & Baby Jade **

One year older, approaching the 30s soon, cannot imagine!
Expecting my first child this year, thus a whole new beginning and meaning for moi and Ken.

As usual, I had to crack my brain and decide on a new dining venue as my dear Dar is totally clueless. He's not the type to plan surprises for moi on moi bday, so I have to do the sourcing. Haha!!! :)

Went to book "Carousel" three days before moi bday, sad to say, the restaurant was fully booked. I was told that I need to make reservations at least 2 weeks in advance. OMG, so "hot" ah that place!
Anyway thinking back, the price of the buffet dinner was pretty steep, $60+++ for international cuisine. For those who know me well, I'm pretty fussy abt food. I dun eat raw, I dun eat lobster, prawn, oyster and mainly delicacies lah. Thus, bringing moi to eat buffet is definitely a waste of money.

Here comes other alternatives: Wild Rocket, Privé, restaurants at Chijmes etc.
In the end, I stumbled upon this dining place at Robertson Quay, near to Alkaff Bridge called "Epicurious".
Some nice reviews abt the restaurant, thus moi decided to go ahead and made reservations. Praying that it won't be too disappointing.

We didn't go anywhere in the afternoon (7 Nov'08, Fri). After having dim sum for lunch, we went home and waited patiently for the delivery of baby's cot, stroller, car seat etc.

In the evening, we slowly made our way to Robertson Quay. We were there 15mins early, so took a few pictures by the river and Alkaff Bridge. The photos came out too dark, so I posted only one here. :P



Surprisingly, although there were many gd reviews from the various websites, we were the only patrons there. We took the alfresco dining and looked through the menu. Not alot of variety though.



Some photos taken after ordering our food.



Our drinks: Snapple and Dar's beer.



Our sides: Mushroom soup and sauteed mushroom.
The mushroom soup and sauteed mushroom were yummy. Not a single drop left of mushroom soup.
However, the sauteed mushroom was too 腻 thereafter cos it was quite a big bowl.



Our Main: Dar's herb-roasted half chicken and my choice of chicken breast parmigiana.
There were not much to choose from the menu as both of us do not take beef. As you can see, we ordered 2 chix dishes of different preparation. Mine was top with cheese and it tasted more like chix patty underneath.

Apart from the disappointment of the mashed potato (u can choose any 2 sides from the menu) on my plate, both dishes tasted not bad. The portion were quite big too. It will be better if there were more variety on the menu. Perhaps pork or fish dishes to be added into their menu.



Our dessert: Apple crumpler with vanilla ice-cream
I lurved it, the apple crumpler was not too sweet to start with (careful that u burnt your tongue).
The top crust was crispy. A great combination when you scooped a spoonful of hot apple with the crust and topped it with vanilla ice-cream and some strawberries, mama mia...heavenly...!!!



The bill came up to about $80 or slightly less. There were more diners after 8pm.
We kinda like the ambience there, facing the river, we felt relaxed. There were many apartments around that area, so you can see alot of Japs and Caucasians. There are many bars and restaurants along the river. It's quite a cool place to chill out with frens as well.

We took a stroll after dinner along the river. More photo taking.



We booked tickets to watch sneak preview of "Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa" @ 11pm at Tiong Bahru. I like part I, so I thought I should not missed part II.

A drink @ Coffee Club - Tiong Bahru before the movie start. Dar ordered some lychee drink and I had my pot of earl grey tea to wash away the heavy dinner I had earlier on.



At 11pm, off we went for the show. Disappointing, not as good as part I. Can give it a miss!
That's my bday celebration with Ken and Baby Jade.

My 30 years old bday next year, I will have Baby Jade physically beside me, celebrating with us. :D

** Advanced Bday Celebration **

A bday lunch treat from my SingTel's colleagues aka "Best Fren Grp".

Decided on the "包罗万香" @ Plaza Singapura after a round of voting.

Date: 4 Nov'08, Tues
Fall-In Time: 12pm

Venue: "包罗万香" @ Plaza Singapura

Attendees: Albert, Bok Lan, Li Woon, Mervyn, Edwin, Shemin, Felicia, Jason and Moi (bday mummy-to-be)

Absentee: Roy Jan

Took a train down to Dhoby Ghaut, the restaurant was not crowded. It was a good thing because we didn't make any reservation. We ordered mostly dim sum from the menu. Thinking since there were 9 of us, we ordered x2 of every type of dim sum. Counting from the menu, there were abt 20 varieties, thus, 40 dishes on the table. Seems like we have starved for the past few days...hahhaa!!!

The dishes came at a fast speed, perhaps there were not many patrons. Our table were full of food and there was no space to accomodate more plates which were being delivered by the waitress. I bet the boss must be laughing at our "goondu-ness" for ordering so much food.

Not all dim sum were yummy anyway. Think it will be my first and last visit to this "包罗万香". I can have nicer dim sum else where even if I have to pay more. Credit to the glutinous rice (not oily) and egg tarts. Can't think of anything nice liao. Oh ya, the ice chrysanthemum tea is tasty too. :)

Overall damage: $150+

Table full of food

In the end, we got to play a few rounds of in-between as game of forfeit. Those who lost got to choose from the remaining dim sum and eat it. Fortunately, I was spared from the forfeit...hiak hiak hiak!!!

Cos I'm the bday gal mah!!!!

Anyway, we still got to da bao 4 boxes of dim sum back to office. See how much food we ordered. *faint*

Well, I enjoyed the lunch. Though no more room for dessert, I'm still satisfied, not the food but the company.

Thank you my best fren grp!!! Muacks....!!!!! :*

** Dog's Life **

Some dogs are born lucky, some are not.

In this blog, I wanna show the differences of how dogs are treated.

If they are treated badly, they can only suffered in silence. How I wish ppl will think 1001 times before they get themselves a pet. Pets are not toys, they are living things, just like u n me!

A Very Contented Puppy named Dolphy:

My frens jus got themselves a white Maltese puppy. Very adorable and not afraid of gg into my bag.

Her name is Dolphy! She's a lucky dog!

Not all dogs are like Dolphy.

A Very Unhappy Dog, unknown breed, unknown name! I named it - Red Basket Dog.

It might seems like a red basket to u. Initially, this was what we tot. It was always outside my neighbour's hse.

They put rubbish in it like old shoes, flower pots, broken unbrella and trash which I tot it was very inconsiderate of them. They even put glass panel on top of the basket, exposing the sharp corners. What if a toddler walked passed near the basket not knowing the potential danger?

Till one day, Ken realised something moving inside. With a closer look, we saw a dog inside the restricted, dirty, sandy red basket. The poor little one share its only shelter with a broken unbrella and a old flower pot with soil in it. The basket was covered with a wooden plank, floor tiles and flower pot.

A normal red basket?

Peeping in closer to have a look, surprisingly no bark from the dog.

Saw the stain on the floor? Urine stain?

Dog's head exposed! The dog started to growl at us when we walked real close.

Not wanting to alarm the neighbour, these were the only photos I took.

I sent the photos and an email to SPCA.

Their action was swift. They got ppl to come down and check. SPCA called me later and told me this family was taking care of the dog for a fren. The mother do not seems to like the dog when asked to bring the dog into the house. Probably the dog was brought home by her teenage daughter who did not seek her mum's approval lah! SPCA told me to monitor and call them if they still leave the dog out there at the corridor.

Verdict:

The red basket was gone, it was no longer outside their house. Probably they moved the red basket into the house, so that they can continue to keep the dog in there. If not, they might have returned the dog to its owner. Whatever it is, I wish the dog good luck.

How do you feel if you are kept in a restricted area with junks around u? Limited walking space, limited food and water. Might get drenched when it rained etc etc etc!!!

Dogs are living things, please respect and love them. If you are not ready for a pet, please dun get one.

Wish more people are aware of this. Hope my readers are aware and share with all your frens and family.

In loving memory of Beckie, 1992-2008. Passed away peacefully on 20 Oct'2008.

My sister's PIL decided to bring their old dog, JJ to SPCA. High possibility of putting him to sleep. He's old but not to the extend of putting him to sleep. Yet, their decisions are made.

Some dogs are left with no choice, no choice at all. :( All the best, JJ!!!

** An Excited Week of Good News **

Yeah, it was a weekend of exciting news since Friday. Full of joy and bliss! I'm so excited as though it was happening to me. Haha!!! Well, my turn will come real soon, another 5 weeks to go!

My colleague, Yvonne gave birth to Baby Chloe who weighed 3.02kg on Friday, 31 Oct'08 (Halloween).

A close fren, Jojo gave birth to Baby Tara weighing 3.6kg on 1 Nov'08 (011108), nice number!

On Thurs, Yvonne came to work as usual. The next day morning, we received her sms informing us she was 4cm dilated and getting all ready to deliver. Oh man, what a surprise to all of us in the dept.

My dear fren, Jo-san was supposed to be induce on Wed, however, she managed to buy time from the gynae to wait till Friday. Cos she hoped to deliver Baby Tara on 1 Nov.

We had a pre-planned dinner on Friday. Initially I thought she will cancel the dinner. In the end, we still meet up! Hahaha!!! Felin was still joking that we might end up sending Jo to the hospital before she even admit to the hospital (Jo was supposed to admit into Mt A after midnite). Fortunately that didn't happen.

We had our dinner at a Thai restaurant at Kovan and then proceed to Serangoon Gardens for dessert. Think this will be our last gathering as Jo will start her journey of motherhood and I will join her pretty soon! ;)

We had a great time at the dessert place called "一碗甜品". Some photos here to show the delicious desserts.

We parted after our dessert rendezvous. Jo went home to do some last min packing before making her way to Mt A. Wishing her good luck and a safe delivery before we left.

Received her sms after midnite, her water bag broke at home and she's on her way to the hospital. What a miracle, she was suppose to be induced, in the end, she dun have to go through that. Isn't it great?

After much agonising moments, Baby Tara finally arrived. Here's a sneak preview of Baby Tara. =P

Welcome Baby Tara to this beautiful world!