The boy has been using my iPhone has figured out how to use the intuitive "swiping" navigation technique for some time now. He also knows how to recognise familiar faces in photographs. So last week after enjoying a nice lunch at NYNY with a huge root beer float *sluurrpps!* :P, I decided to test if he is able to combine these 2 skills ...
Recently, I've bookmarked these 3 eateries which were once purely agricultural places. They were all near our home so we decided to check them out.
Firstly, Vanilla Pod. This is the most classy of the 3 places. Nice classy restaurant with great view and ambience in the afternoon. See my previous blog entry here.
Petals and Leaves Bistro (click for slideshow)
Secondly, last week we went to the Petals and Leaves Bistro. Slightly further away in the Kranji area. The food choices were not as extensive as a normal restaurant but were quite adequate. Choices were mainly "western" dishes with some local selections.
They had a big pond for fishing (not sure what kind of fish though) and an activity corner for children. There is also an outdoor playground (although it is a bit run down). This place also has facilities for wedding/dinner receptions and farmstays. Overall, a nice place to have lunch or even stay for a quiet weekend.
Poison Ivy Bistro (click for slideshow)
Finally, this weekend we went to Poison Ivy. SIL saw our photos from Petals and Leaves so we decided to have a family outing to the Kranji area for lunch.
Compared to P&L, it was more "farm like". For $2 you can walk into their farm and see where they grow their organic veggies, which were also available for sale and for lunch. The food on their menu were all local dishes. We ordered quite a bit and the food tastes home cooked and quite nice. Price wasn't too expensive. We had healthy brown rice and quite a number of dishes and it cost us only about $10 per head.
We'll definitely be back to Kranji. Who knows, maybe farm hopping next time?
If you are interested, here's a LINK to google maps to get started. More info can also be found here: http://www.kranjicountryside.com/
Decided to try out Vanilla Pod for a nice quiet Saturday lunch as it was near our place. When we reached there just after 12pm, it was quiet. Wandered around and found the restaurant after asking the staff. The main restaurant is hidden behind the garden. There is also a cafe/bar at the front with nice cosy sofas (maybe next time can try chilling out here).
Anyway, we weren't big eaters so we ordered soup and shared a plate of pork knuckles which we almost couldn't finish. Overall the ambience was really nice and peaceful. Good place for a stress free lunch or chit-chat.
Will probably come back here to try other stuff on their menu like pasta, pizzas and dessert.
It's been ages since I set foot on a beach. So last Monday we took the opportunity to take leave and bring the boy to let him experience sand under his feet. We chose Monday morning because there would be less people at the beach, even though it is currently the school holidays.
Reached there bright and early (10 a.m.) and immediately found a nice secluded spot (with a shelter) at the breakwater on Palawan Beach. Had our KFC breakfast at the private beach with the birds (and a squirrel!). The weather that day was really nice and cool. If only I had brought a hammock ... :-)
Anyway, after breakfast, the boy experienced sand for the first time. He initially stood on one leg (the one with the shoe still on) ... and after removing both shoes, he didn't dare to move after walking a few steps! I guess either he is not used to the prickly sand, or maybe his feet are still too sensitive.
Anyhow, it was a nice relaxing morning and we left before it got too hot at noon. Maybe next time can come back to explore Siloso Beach (more happening) or Tanjong Beach (more private).
Click HERE for the slideshow
This is the first Father's Day that I am officially "celebrating". Last year, the boy was only 1 month old. So the attention was on the 1 month celebrations.
Anyway, lunch was on wifey (of course, and just as well since I lost my wallet the day before!), and I picked the location. Chose Friends @ Jelita because they currently have a 1-for-1 promotion going on for their set lunch and dinner.
Their set lunch and dinner is a tad expensive, so it was good that they had a 1-for-1. Anyway, the food is not bad. Enjoyed a peaceful lunch, mostly because the boy was asleep, but had to rush through dessert and tea as he was awake by then.
Click photo for slideshow.
The boy is growing fast. It is amazing to see him develop his skills, especially his emotions. Luckily for us, being happy is something which he tends to show quite often. Soon, he will learn a host of other emotions, some desirable and others not, and these will be displayed freely.
Once upon a time, we were all like this, free with our emotions. I don't know when one starts to learn to put a "filter" on them. Different people learn different "filters" and I guess that partly contributes to the development of our personality.
I don't get called names often but the ones that I always hear are things like "Mr. Cool" or "Cool Man" etc. Why? I guess I may have too many "filters" in place. How did they get there? Maybe it's being the eldest in the family, or having to take on more responsibility and provide a good example to siblings. Well, no idea really.
How does one change then? I got a clue from last week's course on leadership. The trainer mentioned that the human mind consists of 10% consciousness and 90% unconsciousness. To get to the 90%, we have to go through that 10%. My guess is that all these filters are in that unconscious part of the brain and I will need to exercise a lot of practice through the conscious brain in order to effect a change.
So technically it seems one can change his or her personality, and it's really a matter of conscious re-learning.
We have a house-cleaner which comes every alternate week to clean up the house. Recently, we had to change to another cos the previous one decided to do some food business.
Anyway, both are friends and they are from China. However, when it comes to working, one of them will spend 10% of the working time playing with the boy, and sometimes will take "urgent leave", resulting in us having to skip one week of cleaning or do it ourselves.
The other is very hardworking. She is here every week and even works to the extent of doing OT (overtime) for an extra half hour. Furthermore, she refused to accept payment for the OT saying that it was OK! What surprised us was that even though she is not making much, she gave the boy an Ang Pow for his birthday!
Luckily for us, this is our current house-cleaner. The next time she does OT we will insist on her getting paid. Where to find such attitude these days?
In case you are wondering of there was a spelling error on the title of this entry, there isn't. The title appropriately describes our experience this morning at the HortPark off Alexandra Road.
We decided to bring the boy down to HortPark today for a short morning walk before lunch. I guess we were a bit late and the weather ended up very hot. There were plenty of things to see for the greenfinger but other than that, it was just heat and sweat. Anyway, we managed to explore most part of the park even though we had to rush from shade to shade.
If you are ever thinking of going there, best time is EARLY morning or LATE evening.
It's been ages since I've visited the zoo. The last time I was there, Kidz World wasn't even developed yet. So it was no wonder that I didn't know it existed till a colleague told me about it and I went to check the website.
Anyway, wifey got a weekday pass for the Zoo from her office, and it happens to cover the boy's actual birthday. So to give him an extra treat, and for us to take a break from the office, we decided to go make day trip to the Zoo.
Other than the usual pram, baby bag etc. I also brought along the K20D with 2 lenses. It was lots of stuff to carry around and I guess it was also great exercise.
Of the whole trip, the boy enjoyed himself thoroughly at the Kidz World wet play area. Spent at least 2 out of the 5 hours we were there!
Next time if you are planning to drop by the Zoo and Kidz World, I would recommend weekdays, even if it means taking leave. It is totally worth it!
Click on the photo below to see the slideshow.
We have never organised any kind of party in our lives. The only thing that came close was the first month celebration for the boy, and that was a simple affair with just food and nothing else.
So when it came to his first birthday, we took some time to decide whether to "outsource" it, or to plan our own. In the end, we opted to do something ourselves and held it at the function room at our place.
We kept it simple, with mainly relatives and some close friends, catered food, simple decorations but splurged a bit more on the cake.
It was a tiring day but I think we managed to pull it off. The boy enjoyed his party and left with plenty of loot ... :-D
Click on the photo below to see the slideshow!
The boy has been practicing walking for the past month or so and I think he's got the hang of it. The walks started about 2-3 weeks ago from an independent step or two, to several metres now, including changing direction. Lately, he's also started to carry stuff around, like his favourite toy balls as well as a washbasin!
Anyway, what that means now is it's even more difficult to keep an eye on him as he could run off pretty quickly!
We celebrated MIL's birthday with a small dinner at a restaurant called "Zi Ran", which is "Natural" if literally translated to English. It's a small Chinese restaurant located near Redhill MRT. Food is not bad and it seemed pretty popular. The sexy chopstick holders were a tad out of place though. See if you can spot them in the slideshow ... :-P
The boy has just officially endorsed his first product, the ThudGuard.
Go to the official ThudGuard Singapore website and click on his little wobbly head to see the "endorsement video" ... Haha!
Another Chinese New Year has come and gone. This year we went visiting with 3 people instead of two. It is a chance for us to claw back some of the many ang baos that we have given away over the past years.
This year, because of the tender presentations that we had ON THE WEEK OF CHINESE NEW YEAR, I wasn't really in the mood for much celebrations. We kept things simple (didn't even bother to decorate my "bamboo tree" this year).
Anyway, here are some photos to share of this much needed break in the middle of all hectic schedule at work.
Chinese New Year 2009 Photos
This must be the busiest birthday ever. After working through the weekend and pulling an all nighter ON my birthday on Monday, we finally submitted our tender proposal on Tuesday. Hopefully these 3 months of hard work will pay off.
Needless to say, I was zombified after nearly 30 hours without sleep. Went home and KO from 5:00pm on Tuesday till 8:30am on Wednesday! Luckily wifey was understanding enough to voluntarily stay over at MIL place for another night so I can get my continuous 15 hours of sleep ... :-D
Anyway, Wednesday came and I was rewarded with a birthday gift as well as a lunch at Equinox. It's been ages since I was up at the 69th floor at Raffles City. The last time I was there it was still called Compass Rose!!
Overall, the lunch ambience on a weekday is great. Just the place for a quiet lunch for two, with a great view and of course free flow of foie gras ...
Flickr provides an alternative platform to YouTube for uploading videos. So far, the experience has been very good. The uploads are fast, processing for each video is fast and you can upload multiple videos at one time. Also, the video quality seems to be better than YouTube!
Here are 3 examples!
Instead of the usual New Year's Countdown spent at the comfort of home by the TV, this year, we decided to go down to Marina Bay to watch the live fireworks. The only reason why we did so was that our cousin had an apartment on the 21st storey at The Sail @ Marina Bay.
We left about 9:45 pm, picked up Dad and another cousin at 10:30pm. The nightmare started when we reached the Marina Bay area. Traffic was pretty jammed up and we could not find a place to park. The Sail's limited visitor lots were all taken up and we had to look elsewhere. Later, I learnt that even residents at The Sail had to ballot and pay $200+ per month for parking lots as the number of lots is less than the number of units!
Anyway, we finally managed to park at Market Street carpark (which surprisingly still had plenty of lots) and walk over to The Sail. This is where part 2 started. Apparently lots of residents also invited their guests to their apartments and the whole lift lobby was jammed up with people. We had to queue up to take the lift up to the apartments.
When we finally reached the 21st floor apartment, it was already 11:45 pm, just in time to setup the camera for the fireworks.
The apartment itself was pretty small (not furnished yet). Other than the view of the bay, it was somehow not really impressive. The finishings were pretty basic and does not feel top quality. I guess most people who can afford to buy such a unit will mind as they won't be staying there but will probably be renting it out.
Going home was also tough as everyone jammed the lifts again to get down. Overall it was a tiring but enjoyable evening.
This year's Christmas was eventful. There were plenty of gatherings with family and friends. However, somehow the mood seems to be less festive than previous years. I think maybe it's the current state of the economy, or maybe its because I am in the middle of working on a tender...
24 Dec (Christmas Eve)
There were some plans for "snaking" but most of us in the office (CPO) were invited to a corporate Christmas Lunch which was held at a restaurant in VivoCity. The food was good but the quantity not really enough. Not everyone had a chance to go for seconds. Anyway, as with any "standard" corporate lunch, there were games and prizes and also a gift exchange. Exchanged my Ferrero Rochers for box of biscuits ...
25 Dec (Christmas Day)
We postponed our Christmas BBQ to Sat, so today was a simple dinner at another cousin's place where we exchanged and opened presents for the kids.
26 Dec (Boxing Day)
Today is family day. Yes, a day for just the three of us. We mostly relaxed at home and went out for some shopping, dinner and also attempted to walk a bit of Orchard Road to look at the lights and decor. Unfortunately, it was hot, crowded and very super noisy with all the street performances and DJ music, so we only made it to the stretch in front of Takashimaya before we gave up...
27 Dec (Sat)
Two gatherings today, one for lunch and one for dinner. Lunch is at wifey's friend's place and dinner is a BBQ at my cousin's place. It was pretty much a huge logistics operation bringing the boy out for almost the whole day. The car was fully loaded with presents, baby essentials such as food, milk, diapers etc, and even his bathtub/basin and baby monitor were not left idle at home. What a tiring day!
28 Dec (Sun)
It's back to work tomorrow, but today, it is still the long weekend. Lunch was out with some of wifey's friends at a family friendly restaurant in United Square (GlobeTrotters). Got to get myself back into gear to clear up most of the work required for the current tender that I am working on. Only then can I enjoy the New Year and be less stressed.
KooshLog: Cayden's Diary: 7 months
Some photos to add on to the boy's 7 month diary entry...
