Throwback to Last Saturday's Dinner at Shabu Sai

When I was doing laundry just now, I tried to recall where did we go for dinner last week. Cos today I suggested not to go out  (sad) cos didi is having a cold.

I realised I forgot to blog about dinner at Shabu Sai, East Point last Saturday in celebration of my papa's birthday. It was my parents' first visit. Somehow it felt a while since we last went out for dinner like that. This time, with Bin Bin in the pram.

Hubby, bro and I are not new to Shabu Sai. And its 90 min limit is rather well known so I was quite cautious when they asked me to go have a seat first before the rest arrived. Then I realised the outlet at East Point wasn't particular about the time limit, probably cos there was no queue. The restaurant was not fully occupied but it was still bustling with action.

That outlet did not serve any cooked food like the one at Orchard Central. It seemed limited with the food choices but I still found it enjoyable. It's always the people that matters. I think papa and mama enjoy themselves too though they shared that the soups were a tad salty and the price was steep for the ingredients. True that but it is still a decent and reasonable place for family dinners. The last time at Shabu Sai was with Evans and hubby at the The Clark Quay Central which has now closed down. Still remember that time we were having staycation at Merchant Court and baby was still cosy in my tummy. Missing those times when I could go freely whenever and wherever I wanted. Now... ...

Anyway back to the dinner, paid around $161 with 3 top ups for free flow drinks and ice cream. Had my heart's content!!!

Got to think of the next dinner place to celebrate mama's birthday!

To-gather Cafe

Last Sunday hubby brought us to this cafe in the midst of the neighbourhood at Bedok North. Within an old estate, this hippy cafe stood out and seemed to be popular amongst the youngsters and small families like ours, minus the baby.

Wouldn't say this was an enjoyable lunch despite the food was delicious. Eden was not too pleased halfway through so hubby and I got to take turns bringing Eden out of the cafe for a walk. And somehow I thought the outside smell a little with the birds shop next to it.

Anyway the consoling part is I like what we ordered. Other than the small portion of calamari, I think the rest was good and reasonably priced. I enjoyed my fish and chips! Smell and tastes great. The Mango breezer was a good complement, sour tangy mango in sparkly soda was what I needed in the hot weather.

Next time we shall try the lava cakes which looked alluring in the display window.

Gu Ma Jia, Mothers' Day Dinner

Last night, I brought my family to Gu Ma House (45 Tai Thong Crescent) for a belated Mothers' Day dinner. This was their first time so I thought to recommend some of the dishes which I tried the last time... I think generally they like the food; at least another option for dinners, instead of sticking to the same old places.

They had different preferences. Papa, hubby and bro liked the oyster omelette; mama liked the beancurd soup and ubin lala bee hoon; bro liked the yam ring ribs; Evans liked..... everything. But I think most were not a fan of the fried bean-jal (long beans with fried brinjal). The lady boss, Gu Ma was there too and she thanked us for dining at her restaurant. Evans seemed very pleased with the food. 

Should have taken this at the start of the dinner, but too hungry

After dinner, we went to the D'zerts Cafe near our place. Had the waffle with (cookies and cream) ice cream, topped with salted caramel sauce. What a nice way to end the evening outing with the yummy dessert. The waffle was crispy and the ice cream was creamy too! 

Can't wait for the waffle to fall into his mouth

Steamboat at Bo's

Just a random suggestion during one lunch. When we were talking about the army stew served in the korean restaurant, Giin Bo mentioned it would be easy to prepare by just dumping the ingredients in. So we set a date to have this dinner at his place.

Was looking forward to this though it was just a simple affair. Still it felt cosy to have this dinner with the gang.... KS, Irene, Bo and Sio. Was glad Irene could join us at the last minute. I am sure Dana (Bo's dog) felt the same as could tell she liked Irene. Dana kept tailing and smelling Irene. Good gal she was.... she didn't bark a bit at us.

Oh in the end we did not have the army stew but steamboat instead. Healthier choice and I prefer that actually. Thanks to Bo for preparing the stuff and thanks to Sio for bringing the induction cooker and steamboat pot. Irene also brought the ladles and satay sauce!!! We were spoilt for choices on the sauces. Lol.

Ah Bo still prepared soft drinks, ice cream and chips for us but we were really too full after the steamboat. At least the rest of the gang still got to enjoy the Haagan Daas but I already surrendered with a big and satisfied tummy. It was a pity we did not take a group photo.

We should do this once a while!!!

Saturday Dinner, Gardens By the Bay

It was an impromptu dinner decision. Hubby got a few groupons for meals and one of which was a diner at the Gardens by the Bay (GBB), Oriental Western Bistro. Evans and I were a tad excited as it was our first time dining there and it did sound like a nice place.

There were many tourists at the GBB but the restaurant was not crowded. Along the stretch of restaurants, there were Texas Fried Chicken, Peach Garden, etc. Oriental Western Bistro is a small diner in-between. Its food was American and pretty simple but good enough for our dinner.

Evans's OOTD

 

Waiting to go into the carpark, nice view

A nice cooling evening

Evans on his papa's shoulders

happy at the bistro, waiting for our food

 

While the food was not really the impressive kind but I enjoyed the dinner because it wasn't rowdy and I love to see Evans and hubby enjoying their food. It felt really nice to also have my root beer float. Evans had the kid's set with tomato spaghetti with grilled chicken fillet while I had the same but with butter rice. Hubby ordered the pork chop and it was tender. We shared the fried chicken wings and fries, not too bad.

 

Spicy chicken wings with fries, something to share

The boys, enjoying the food

Evans took a shot of me with my butter rice.

 

I still remember how I dug into the food, feeling quite satisfied. I realized I had too many fries today. Fries in the morning at Han's and dinner. But Evans enjoyed his few fries, dipping in the sweet chilli sauce. Really enjoyed seeing him having "fun" with his food and eating so well.

 

The stretch of diners, I am sure we will be back again :)

Our night ended with a stroll at the GBB with beautifully lighted up "trees", I loved how the colours of the trees transformed from one shade to another. Very romantic... and the night was made more comfortable with the breeze and nice music. The surprise came when the Light Rhapsody started. The lights were dancing to the broadway kind of music and it was beautiful. While Evans thought the music was too loud, I thought some of the songs brought me back to the clubbing days. :)

 

A lovely evening indeed. Hope to bring my folks there one day.

 



Abalone Noodles

Thank you to hubby for helping me to cook the A1 Abalone noodles. Though it was an instant noodles, I appreciate him cooking for me while I just packed for work stuff. I felt "hungry" after watching the MasterChef Asia. Not sure if it was an excuse or I really felt hungry but I just felt like eating. Even thinking about ordering Mac delivery but we would need to order quite a lot for the delivery to take place. :(

Anyway, the noodles managed to satisfy my "hunger pangs" for now. I better go sleep soon so that I don't start searching for more food!

Breakfast at The Garden Slug

Revisited The Garden Slug for breakfast because I felt like going there somehow. Coincidentally Facebook reminded me of a photo taken 3 years ago at The Garden Slug. So it would be apt to retake the photo today. :)

The photo reminded me how chubby Evans was and from little baby boy to a young boy who can eat the toast bread on his own. Kids grow up fast.

Missing its breakfast platter though I just had a sinful breakfast set at Wild Honey a few days ago. It was a luxurious breakfast for me, with a platter for 2. There were sausages, grilled tomatoes, scrambled eggs, toasts, mushrooms, bacons, smoked salmon and coffee/tea/hot chocolate.

Evans did not like to go home straight after breakfast so hubby thought we could drop off at a nearby playground which Evans used to love. He still loved to play there. He was so excited seeing the familiar playground.

Acting sulky when we had to leave

Chir Chir Chicken

My very first time to Chir Chir Chicken. Have heard my colleagues raved about how delicious the chicken is... nicer than any fried chicken you know.

With 4 other colleagues we went to the branch at Somerset 313. Not very crowded for lunch and rather noisy in the restaurant with the chattering and loud korean pop. We kind of had to talk a bit louder.

We ordered 2 different chicken; roasted garlicy and crispy original. Woah I am impressed with its tenderness and not overpowering marinate. Really, the meat is soft yet the skin retains the crunch. I particularly like the crispy chicken better, simple but the tenderness and delicious smell win my heart.

Each of us spent $14. Might be a little overpriced for just chicken if you compared with kfc, etc. But really its taste is great and somehow didn't feel too sinful after that. It might be the lemon water... lol

Thumbs up.

Team Lunch at Ichiban Boshi

Miss Ang insisted on giving the team a treat for our help in covering her duties when she was away and also for some bets they were in and did not want to share.

After some discussion, we decided to have Jap food (again, for me)--> Ichiban Boshi at Novena Square. I know I just had jap food yesterday but I was fine with it. I kind of love jap food and I think it needs to take a few more meals before I get sick of it. Am still missing yesterday's sashimi.

The pictures in the menu looked all delectable and quite spoilt for choices especially when it was a treat! Hehe but of course we did not exploit Miss Ang. We ordered within limits. Think my Chirashi Jyu was one of the cheapest $14.90++. Basically it was rice with sashimi cubes (tuna, swordfish & salmon) with roes and cucumbers. Refreshing. I just had to dip the sashimi and rice in bits of soy sauce, it tasted good. Oh it came with miso soup as well.

Thank you Miss Ang for the lovely meal!

Rainy Friday

A good weather for piping hot and spicy Bak Kut Teh, as Ah Yeo said. But now I am kind of feeling "heaty"... a little headache. :S Or maybe it's the work. I don't know.

Ah Yeo drove us to meet up with Bo who was on leave today, at Founders' Bak Kut Teh. It was packed with patrons but luckily Bo was there earlier to help book the seats.

Initially we took the table inside the restaurant but it seemed stuffy so we went to sit at the table outside instead. Thankfully for the rain, it was breezy too. The food was served very soon after our order.

The ribs were tender yet springy. I would love it if it has the soft cartilage bones. :) I also love eating "Tau Kee", a must-have, though I still prefer the steamboat kind cos' I can decide how long to cook it, to retain its chewiness. Ah Yeo also ordered the pigs' parts assortment where everyone got to eat their favourites like pigs' intestines, liver, stomach, etc.

Again, Mr Kok could not join us because of his site meeting. And... ...

It's a mistake to send your photo to your friends... Haha! Hope Mr Kok won't mind our nonsense. As usual, while we were talking and all, Ah Yeo was busy snapping and doing his collage. Stealing this from him:

Argh! I am beginning to feel the heat around my neck and head, I think it's the bak kut teh.... Better drink lots of water!

Lunch at Xinwang Cafe (Anchor Point)

This was what I had today for lunch. The gang drove to Anchor Point and we settled our lunch at Xin Wang. All the way there, because Mr Kok needed to send his Sacoor Brothers' Suit for alteration. And Bo recommended him a tailor (Queen's Alteration) at Queensway Shopping Centre. So, journey to Queensway.

Anyway, this was the 2nd time I ordered this noodles cos' I love the soup! With the milk and papaya, the soup was soooooo sweet! And that time Irene told me we could change bee hoon to noodles. So I ordered the same combination, except I forgot to change the hard boiled egg to sunny side up. Nevermind, it still tasted good.

Why did I order this healthy sliced fish noodles soup? Because KS, Yeo and I wanted to try something else... it's a little sinful, oily and fatty. So to compensate that, I ordered this soupy main. LOL! What was that we wanted to try?!? (Hubby would be very interested to know this.)

Each only took one piece so not that sinful actually. Frankly the chicken wasn't big. Verdict is it's just like any normal fried chicken but KFC would be much much better. So, I don't think I will order this again. (Hubby, hear that?) For fried chicken, I will still settle for KFC, Popeyes or IKEA!

How I Spent the Labour Day

Waking up to a very humid morning but the trio went ahead to have breakfast outside. After Evans was done with his morning milk-feed, papa drove us out to Lai Kee Pau. This time, we wanted to try the roasted meat from the other stall which we thought looked delicious. On top of that we could not resist but to order some dim sum to top up the roasted meat noodles.

The noodles fell below our expectations. The shao la was not bad, the char siew and roasted pork (shao rou) had the wok smell but then not impressive enough for me to order again. The noodles were a little soggy and the sauce made it kind of thick and mashy. Hmmm, disappointed. So it was a good thing we had the dim sum to fall back on to make it a more satisfying meal.

Hubby ordered a new item which was actually sweet tofu fish paste cake at the bottom, with a prawn on top. Yah, nothing big deal. I think the usuals (fu pi juan) still taste the best.

We also ordered the Liu Sha Bao for Evans... too dry. I think the Bao Today's version is still better.

After breakfast, I suggested bringing Evans to the playroom, to keep him entertained, also to enjoy the air con. Evans was of course delighted. He had a lot of fun with the play house and the slide. There was another baby seated in his pram at the play room. I think the dad brought him in to enjoy the air con too since the baby was way too young to play in there. Evans did try to say Hi. :)

Evans surely had a fun morning.

I was feeling a little tired but I thought to myself I needed some workout to feel upbeat and of course to "recover" from all the pork knuckles the previous night. So after I put Evans down for his afternoon nap, I asked hubby to help me look after Evans while I picked up my running shoes and headed for the gym downstairs.

Never really like to run on threadmill unless I do not have other better choice. As I did not have much time, I needed to finish the jog and go back for shower before Evans woke up, threadmill was the best alternative. Jogged for about 40 min or so. Felt accomplished though the speed and the distance covered were not impressive. But a pat on my shoulder for working out.  Hehe!

Another place to enjoy the air con and the free space for Evans to roam about would be.... .... AIRPORT! Yes, airport AGAIN & AGAIN! It's near our house, it's a few stations away... We spent the evening there, doing almost the same old thing but so long it pleased the little boy...

From the last Heguru lesson, the teacher mentioned that we could start introducing vegetables and fruits to the kid. So we brought Evans to the NTUC at T3, introducing him to the various fruits/vegetables. Though he wasn't really focused and at times, not too interested, I wanted to believe that sub-consciously he was learning. He did show some interests when I let him carry the cabbage and apples. It was a pity that all the fruits and vegetables were wrapped in cellophane. Here was papa's turn who tried to get Evans interested... ...

After dinner at the foodcourt, Evans re-visited the Aviation Gallery where he could play with the rotating "flowers" again.  And given that it was a PH, there were more kids running about. Very rowdy. Sometimes I wish the gallery could be revamped cos' with all the wear and tear caused by the kids running up and down, it looked quite sad and old.

This time, we did not spend much time convincing Evans to leave for home. He probably had played long enough and was a little tired. Then we took the train train home.

This was how the trio spent the PH away... :)