Christmas

Christmas in Singapore is always fun. The entire Orchard road will light up at night with colorful decorations!

As usual we made lots of cookies.


Delighted to see a manger sign on Orchard road.


Joy to the world the Lord is come!

Cupcake decoration

The school Kodi goes to has an awesome parent teacher association although they call themselves PTF here (F for fellowship). There are regular activities going on, such as the mom to mom bible study I go on Tuesday afternoons, the prayer meeting on Wednesdays and our fun zumba on Thursday mornings.

Today, we are learning to decorate cupcakes!

I tried the small round tip to make monster's hair, the leaf tip to make leaflets, the flower tip I tried rather unsuccesfully to make petals, and the big start tip to make chocolate swirls.

It was a fun afternoon with the ladies!

Fall hair clips

Isn't this pumpkin cute?  Recently K likes to wear hair band so I made two small slits in the back of the pumpkin in order to slide it onto the band.

She did the stiches for the apple hair clip. She likes it so much that by the end of the fall (this I write later) the clip is in such a bad shape that I simply tossed it away. We will make new ones next fall for sure.

K was sick for 2 days this fall. She had fever and a bit of throwing up. She had to miss the "ribbon cutting" grand opening ceremony of their new playground.  She later asked me to attach a piece of long ribbon for her to cut though. 

Mr. Prata

We have always heard of Mr. Prata on Evans road. We have driven past by this 24 hour prata shop all the time. However, we have never thought about coming in until today.

What a pleasant surprise! The prata is made fresh and not oily or greasy and the curry sauce is very tasty too. This means something coming from someone like me who doesn't usually like curry. The sauce is flavorful but balanced. The spice part is not over powering.

We also ordered Thosai which is made of rice flour. The texture is like a pancake and is served with curry and chutney. I later learned that the ground rice and lentil are fermented before the batter is cooked into pancake. So this explains why it has a tangy and sour taste in it.

We got in around 8:15 am and there were already 6-7 tables there. By the time we left around 9am on a Saturday the place was packed with hungry people waiting outside of the door.  We should come back! 

5 years Housekeeping

This is how the shoes should be arranged (sole to sole laying flat down) in a 5 years old mind.

She doesn't usually have time and is certainly not always in the mood to make her bed. But on her first day of kindergarten, she decided to make her bed, and folded everything nice and neat. I came home after dropping her off, needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

First day of kindergarten.

This day is finally here. She is officially a kindergartener now! It's been a long summer break and we have made great memories with friends and family. Time to get back to routine and serious kindergarten classes.

there are two kindergarten classes at her school. She is in K5b along with 16 other kids.

My sweet baby, I pray and hope that you always carry this easy smile into the waves of life.

Breakfast by the river.

Ever since we came back from Beijing, we acquired a new perspective on heat and humidity in the tropics.

You won't believe it but Beijing is really hot toward late July and early August. Everywhere we went, we would sweat so much that the shirt would get soaked as if we had gone running 5 miles.

Maybe it is not a fair comparison. The raining season seemed to start a little early this year so that may be why Singapore heat seems more tolerable in August.

Despite the reason, it is a cloudy and breezy morning and it is Saturday! Kodi did not want to go out for breakfast and instead begged me to make her pancakes at home. It almost broke my heart when I said no. Kun and I need a better appreciation of the tropical climate on days like this.

We are glad that we made it out and sat at Epicurious by Singapore river. Kodi in the end was happy because she got pancakes there.  Food was good and the service was attentive. We had a relaxed and no agenda morning. would love to come back again on another Saturday morning, if we are not distracted by other options in town, which unfortunately we usually are...

The little girl loves this vintage (or maybe English country style) dress. Of course she thinks she looks like and is a princess when she is in this nice dress that swirls! 

5Y1M Ice skating

K and I started learning ice skating in Wilmington Delaware for the first time this summer.

Daddy knows how to skate back in college although he hasn't really been skating much throughout the years. I remember that he took me to ice skating when we first started dating. The school we were in has an olympic size ice rink and many olympic hopefuls are trained there. I apparently didn't remember much how I managed to stay upright. But I remember skating being kind of fun.

K's first time on the ice without holding onto someone or something. The first time on ice she held onto our sweet friend Sharon's hands ALL the time. Sharon is a seasoned skater so she generously offered her help and took Kodi around the rink. The second time she took a group lesson and held onto the coach ALL the time too. It was a big break through that by the third try, she would let go of anything for a short moment.

K drew her and Sharon (only the hand part) on ice.

K and I love ice skating so much that we continue to skate since coming back to Singapore. We also decided that we should get our own skates as the rentals here are not in the greatest condition. I took one lesson while in the States and started practicing gliding and forward/backward swizzles.  I have never imagined myself being able to balance on ice let alone moving along hopefully in a graceful manner. Three of us signed up for ice skating lessons of different levels in October at Jcube.  I am looking forward to new skills! 

Tian Jin

漫漫暑假 我們去北京探親之外 抽了兩天去天津走走

先從北京南站上車 我們沒有預先買車票 所以光買票便排了半個多小時 等待進月台時秩序很混亂 我們跟推擠的人群差點起了衝突... 若要習慣不排隊的文化 手肘得硬點 臉皮也要厚一點！

從北京到天津很方便 半小時的高鐵咻！一會兒就到了 出了天津火車站便看到四周的建築古色古香 感覺很特別 到的時候約中午時分 出租車經過的小街巷弄 看著男女老少 拎著便當小菜 或蹬腳踏車 或踏著悠哉的步調回家吃飯午休 這慢悠悠的生活情趣真叫人羨慕

我們歇腳的地方在市中心津滬廣場附近 這裡有很多百貨公司 多家星巴客 甚至日系的伊勢丹 我們放了行李便走去吃老店狗不理吃包子

這是一套經典組合 每種口味都不同 我記憶最深刻的是海參大蝦包 酒席才出現的菜色都能包進包子裡 另外還有蟹黃蟹肉包味道也很棒

但肉包就很普通了 搭配的綠豆粥也很粗糙 單點的兩個菜味道還行 但價錢不便宜 加上老店的服務態度沒跟上潮流 整體感覺算差強人意 不過能來到傳說中的狗不理包子吃一趟 見見世面仍然很開心！

 下午去磁房子博物館參觀  幾層樓的洋房裡裡外外都用瓷的碗盤杯壺花瓶或完整或碎片來裝飾讓人對屋主的執著很配服 

 

由於天氣實在很熱 參觀玩瓷房子後 就逛逛商場 躲到室內休息喝飲料 

第二天早上在歇腳處附近的巷子里 找到了一家賣煎餅果子的小鋪 很親切的老闆娘為我們做了加雞蛋跟薄脆 抹了醬豆腐和甜麵醬的煎餅 很像台灣吃的大餅包小餅 但味道更豐富一些！

當然也要到星巴客去拜訪一下 喝杯拿鐵再出門 

天津的五大街道 原本是民國年間的高級住宅 現在只剩下一片滄桑的歲月痕跡

跟後面新的市區建築相比 這裡雖然有特色 但有一種時代過去後的蒼涼 老洋房的窗戶盡是塵垢 小院裡也欠缺收拾 堆滿雜物 旁邊曬著剛洗好的衣服

不過天津也致力發展觀光 所以新修的廣場和旅客中心 盡量保有租界區的風情  我們租了腳踏車在巷弄里逛逛 也很好玩

這家店賣鼻煙和鼻煙壺

中午找到一家雲南菜 ”一坐一忘“ 好吃極了！

因為有小孩想吃餅乾 就方便 停在餐廳隔壁的星巴客旁納涼

下午搭高鐵回北京

很特別的地方 有機會還想再回來探索天津的風貌！

Box girl

This is why we can't throw the Amazon box into the recycling bin.

the box was a play house with a door, and now an robot outfit.

End of school year

I can't believe that Junior Kindergarten is coming to an end. I vividly remember Kun and I sending Kodi to school on the first day of JK and waving goodbye to her. Some of her friends were crying or protesting going into the classroom. She didn't cry. She just turned her head many times to make sure we were still there. 

Well, fast forward 9 months and here you got a vibrant group of chatty kids. I had the pleasure and luxury of substituting in their class several times so I feel like I know the kids and they know me. They are each unique in their own making and wonderful in their own way. I am really going to miss this group when they start Kindergarten in August.  

As convention goes, there was a game at the party. We had them go wild by popping the balloon and doing a silly or funny action as indicated by a written slip inside the ballon. Some of them were not quite ready to stomp on the balloons yet but they surely found their helper who happily did the popping job. 

We made hand prints arranged in a heart shape for the teacher and her assistant. We put them in a frame after the paint dried out. I think they turn out pretty cute, aren't they? 

this is what happened the next day after school ended. She was super tired and took a 3 hour nap!! 

Charming Bali

This is our second time to Bali. The first time was nearly 3 years ago when the toddler was just 2 years old. At the time we decided to stay put and went with ClubMed. We stayed inside the comfort of the resort and only got a peek of the tropical island as we ate the food, smelled the beautiful flowering plants and walked by the many stone Hindu gods/sculptures in the garden. Not that exciting huh?

This time we decided that we need to "see" Bali in its everyway. So our lovely friends referred us to a local Indonesian driver who is absolutely helpful and reliable and quite a delight to travel with. With his help we covered many miles throughout the island and had an amazing time.


Here are some highlights.

Visiting the elephant park. The premise is beautiful and tranquil although is a little on the smaller side. We watched an elephant show, and strolled around the park adoring the beautiful plants and colorful koi fish.  Kodi had so much fun feeding that baby elephant. The 5 year old elephant loves to feed on the palm shoots, especially from her hands, not mine!

Legon dance. A traditional Balinasese dance, featuring 6 females and 2 (or more) male dancers. The story was a classic about Hindu gods and goddesses. The content of the story did not attract me much but the dance was beautiful and charismatic especially that they seemed to focus a lot on the dancer's eye balls. Yes I mean eye balls, not any other facial expression.  It was almost like they were "staring" all the time. The hand shaking also expressed a lot of subtle emotions, such as surprise and freighten. The male dancers also had a signature "shrudded shoulders" pose throughout the performance. It looked a bit strange at first but soon we realized that it was delibrate as the dancer remained in this posture ALL the time while doing their other body movements.

The accompaning music was amazing too.  The men only ensemble played various traditional Balinese instruments (mostly percussions) and to me it worked like Jazz. You could see them in the back of the picture where they sat on the floor. The musicians didn't seem to follow a particular tune but rather each had their own unique dynamics and rhythms while the summed music was complex but harmonious.

We later visited the fine art museuem there and the painting below totally captured that "staring" look of Legon dancers.

The famous rice terraces, UNESCO's world heritage site. The terraces follow the natural contour of the hills and they are amazingly photogenic. We arrived in the late afternoon hours when the sun was setting at a slant angle. The light shone on the rice plants like gold growing from the ground.  Kodi picked some fallen stems of rice plant that had the brown to yellowish color paddies on them. She kept them in her travel journal.

Now onto some "poop" business, Kopi Luwak. This coffee is made of beans that comes out of the digestive end of a racoon kind of animal called Civet. The animals eat the beans (or nowadays being fed on) but couldn't digest them. The enzyme in the GI system of the animal somehow does miraculous things to the beans so that when they come out from the other end undigested, cleaned and roasted, will produce a cup of coffee that tastes much better than those made by the regular beans. The Civet is only found in Indonesian jungles and thus Kopi Luwak is one of the rarest and most expensive coffee in the world.

We once read an article in Wall Street Journal, touting how precious Kopi Luwak is due to its rarity (as you can't force the civet to eat the beans as much as possible) and how peculiar its taste is. Therefore, when our driver Wayan took us to a man who raises his own civet and roasts the beans, we gladly took the challenge.

The guy not only has two Civets but also one fruit bat which apparently can also produce a similarly tasted coffee when fed on the coffee beans. It was quite a sight to visit the "farm" with the racoons laying on the lumber which is part of the hut that the man makes and sells his coffee while the fruit bat hanging upside down right next to them.

Nonetheless the coffee does taste different. I am not an adventurous coffee drinker although I do enjoy the aroma. No you can't taste the poo and it smells just as wonderful as the regular coffee. The taste is much milder and less acidic. This is about how much I can tell you.

Visited Pura Ulun Danu Bratah, near Handara golf course. Handara sits on a dead volcano crater and is situated in the Bali heighland. Cool and full of green pine trees. We all had a great time there.

It is a 380 years old Hindu temple built on the shore of the lake. The highlight of the temple visit to us was seeing the pilgrims finishing their worship ceremony. The procession probably had hundreds of people, carrying their babies and children. They would either had a large basket on their head or a colorful flag in their hands. They all wore nice Batik sarongs.  To Kodi, it is the playground outside of the temple yard. Lots of kids were hanging out there.

Showing off her latest Bali style outfit.

The tropical fruit in Bali was fresh and tasty. We had the luxury of being treated with a plate of tropical fruit every morning while we stayed at Komeneka Ubud. The little girl of course found this too exotic and requested to have apples and grapes on her plate.

We stayed in Senur along the east side of Bali, north of Nusa Dua for the first half of the trip. The beach was good but not as clean as we expected. There were many fishing boats parked along the beach. However, it was just outside of the resort and a close walk for morning sunrise.

Ok... someone just had a pedicure!