Lunch @ Pasta Mania Today

Met up with a female friend at Pasta Mania for lunch this afternoon.

We were told by the staff that they are having a promotion now for two side dishes - Cornflour Fries & Mushroom Balls (one dish for $2) so we decided to try both. We also ordered two types of pasta & a set of Combo A (includes garlic bread, drink & soup) too.

The cornflour fries taste very nice! I wonder how they do it. I will definitely go back for it one day! ^^

Well, the mushroom balls taste very bad. It's a great disappointment. I hope they could improve on their recipe. :(

Garlic Bread

Mushroom Soup

Alfredo

Chicken Cheese Salsiccia

Mushroom Balls

Cornflour Fries

Dinner @ Togi Korean Restaurant

Before grabbing for my son's lantern at Chinatown, my neighbour recommended a Korean restaurant for dinner so I decided to give it a try. Anyway, Korean cuisine is my all-time favourite! :P

When I entered the restaurant, the staff served me with a table & menu immediately. The business was quite good & queue started at 7.30pm onwards. I was lucky that I reached early. So I sat down & read their menu while waiting for my neighbour. The price was reasonable but the rice was charged at $2 per bowl which surprised me. It normally comes along free with a soup ordered at any Korean restaurant I went before.

Finally, my neighbour has reached & we started to order our food.

Their service attitude & serving speed were up to my expectation though the old uncle was abit blur.

As usual, we were being served with the side dishes first while waiting for our main course. We ordered a Spicy Tofu with Seafood soup & marinated pork belly. The staff will actually barbeque it for us in the kitchen as they don't have the grill pan on the table. It's not like the traditional kind.

I am glad that the soup was not too spicy but taste was average. The pork belly was soft & well-marinated. Overall, I will rate this restaurant at 7/10 because I would still prefer the traditional kind of restaurant as it gives me a better feel.

Towards food, I am very fussy. Embience & food must be good so that I will come back again in future. But this one, NO. :P

Side Dishes

Spicy Tofu with Seafood soup @ $13

Marinated Pork Belly @ $20

Togi Korean Restaurant 
11 Mosque Street 
(S)059491

Phone: 62210830

Get Lanterns for Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration

Mid-Autumn festival is coming soon & I'm so excited because I am able to celebrate it with my son & hubby this year! Last year, he was just a newborn baby & I was doing my confinement so I missed out alot of fun. :(

I want to get a lantern for my son & my colleague shared that the lanterns at Vivo City were expensive. She suggested me to go to Chinatown. So, I went there with a neighbour yesterday. When we were shopping halfway, the rain started so we quickly grabbed the one we like & left. I bought Thomas, the train for my son. It costs at $9 & it has music. True enough, I just heard from my female friend that Vivo is selling at $16.90!

The stall at Chinatown, has a wide variety of lanterns too. The price range is between $8 - $9.

What are you waiting for? Grab it & celebrate with your family!~

Thomas, the train @ $9

Price range between $8 - $9

Craving for Mutton Curry Biryani on A Rainy Day

Forgot to bring my shawl today and at the same time, it was raining super heavily this whole morning so I was feeling very cold in the office! >.<

When I am cold, I will feel hungry easily! Haha!  I was craving for Mutton Curry Biryani so I decided to have that for lunch just now.

Again, I went to the food court at One North MRT station. I always come here as there are quite a number of stalls selling nice food & it's near to my workplace as well. :P

Well, the rice portion was too much for a lady so I could only finish half the portion of the rice. I like their mutton as it was boneless and tender. Overall taste is about 6.5/10.

Mutton Curry Biryani @ $6.50

Mooncakes From Raffles Hotel

I have bought some mooncakes from Raffles Hotel yesterday. They are offering a 25% discount at my workplace!

They introduced two new flavours - the Snow-Skin Tropical Tango Mooncake & the Snow-Skin Irish Coffee Truffle Mooncake this year.

I have tried the Tropical one. It taste quite refreshing. Do cut it in small pieces instead of eating it as a whole else you will feel a very strong flavour & it will taste weird. I grabbed a box of it. I also grabbed my favourite one which is their signature Snow-Skin Mooncake with Champagne Truffle & Ganache. :P

Had them after my dinner with hubby while watching TV. Great enjoyment & company! ^^

Snow-Skin Mooncake with Champagne Truffle & Ganache AND Snow-Skin Tropical Tango Mooncake

 

Kiwi Selling Hot @ NTUC

Kiwi is never be my favourite fruit at all coz I always get to eat the sour ones...arghhh...

However recently, I kept seeing kiwi selling at NTUC! It is really HOT! I saw the green & yellow ones. There is a difference in the price due to both contain different nutrients.

I have bought both types to try. Surprisingly, the green ones are sweeter than the SunGold but some of my friends said SunGold is sweeter. Think it's the luck thingy. :P

Today is the LAST day for the promotion. Do grab it while stocks last! ^^

SunGold Kiwi

Green Kiwi

What To Eat On A Rainy Day

I'm feeling super cold today due to the rainy weather...

Decided to have green curry for lunch so as to keep myself warm. I went to the same Thai stall again (food court @ One North Mrt Station) to try out their green curry. Their queue seems long but yet the serving speed was fast. Less than 5 mins & I got my food ready!

The coconut taste was strong and not as spicy as I expected. Pretty shocked to see the small bowl served to me & it costs at $6 including the rice. However, the portion of chicken given, was just right for me. I don't think it will fill up a man's stomach so I don't really recommend this to a guy for a lunch. Probably, he would have to order a side dish to make himself full enough. :P

Overall taste, it is actually average to me.

Green Curry

Recipe for Baked Rice with Chicken & Mushrooms

As I am always alone at home with my son on every Sat because hubby needs to work till late night, I have to crack my brain hard & think of what to cook for myself in order not to eat the repeated food.

I'm super lazy to buy food from outside & Punggol doesn't seem to sell any nice food either so I actually prefer to cook it myself.

Last Sat, I decided to have baked rice as I think it's easy after I saw the recipe online.

I actually amended abit to make my cooking easier. Below are my edited version :)
You may give it a try! ^^

Baked Rice with Chicken & Mushrooms

Ingredients: 
1/2 cup uncooked rice (for 1 pax portion)
1/2 cup water to cook rice
3 garlic cloves
4 portobello mushrooms, sliced
80g chicken fillet
15g butter
1.5 tablespoon Alfredo Cheesy sauce
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Salt & Pepper

Method:
1. Wash the uncooked rice. Pour it into the rice cooker (rice & water). Add salt and black pepper to taste. Stir well.
2. In a heated saucepan, melt the butter. Add the sliced mushrooms and cut chicken pieces, stir-fry for a few minutes until the surface of the chicken pieces is white.
3. Transfer contents of pan to the rice cooker. Add the garlic cloves.
3. When the rice is cooked, fill the aluminum tray with rice & ingredients until about half the height of the dish.
4. Mix the Alfredo Cheesy sauce with abit of hot water & spread it on top of the rice (to make it less salty) and topped with a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese.
5. Baked in a pre-heated oven at 200°C (392°F) for about 20-25 minutes, or until all the cheese melted and is very slightly browned.

Digestion Problem

Came across this article --> To Improve Your Digestive Health

Sometimes after my dinner, I can feel that there's gas trapping in my chest. I find it so hard to burp it out. Many people will call it as indigestion. Normally, yoghurt works on me & it's one of the solutions mentioned in the article.

Yummy Recipe for Raisin Butter Cupcakes

Hubby requested for butter cake with raisins so I decided to google for the recipe online. I amended the recipe abit and it turned out to be tasty as well! :)
Super satisfied with the colour & texture! Butter fragrance was strong too!

Recipe source from the blogger called Rasa Malaysia & I have actually amended quite abit.The milk really made a big difference in the taste! So, credits go to Rasa Malaysia! 

Enjoy baking~~ 

Raisin Butter Cupcakes~~

Ingredients
250g salted butter
200g self-raising flour
200g castor sugar
4 eggs
4 tablespoons fresh milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 cup raisins

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree C.
2. Sift the flour.
3. Use an electronic beater to mix butter and sugar until well combined or pale yellow in color.
(Note: Sugar has not dissolved yet).
4. Add in one egg at a time. Beat well after each addition of egg until creamy.
5. Scrape down the sides for even mixing.
6. Add in vanilla essence and mix well.
7. Fold in the flour into the mixture and mix well.
8. Finally, add in the milk and fold in the raisins. Mix well.
9. Fill the prepared cupcake cups with batter 3/4 full, and bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before removing them to finish cooling on a rack.

When To Stay Silent

Happen to see this article on FB --> 8 Situations When You Should Keep Your Mouth Shut

It sounds so true. I think it's worth to read it as it teaches you on how to treat the people around you so that conflict will not arise unnecessarily.

Sometimes, when I heard negative comments, I will choose not to reply coz I know that the more I reply, the more negative comments I will receive. I will normally let the person talk as much as he/she wants till he/she wants to stop because I feel that ignorance is blissful. :)

I believe that most people are smart enough to sense your unhappiness if they were to mention something that is not ear-soothing but they just want to say it out which I don't know why they want to do it. It can be so hurtful but they simply don't care about your feelings. Normally I will group them as "Low EQ" people. I will then slowly stay away from them because it's meaningless to stay as friends anymore & I don't think I will be happy with such people around me. It can be annoying and I really hate quarrels.

True friends don't hurt you. That's what I believe. Furthermore, they are always tactful & make you happy at all times. I have a few bunch of nice friends & some are even my neighbours. Pretty happy to have them in my life.

At work, I always tend to stay low profile. I don't like to join in any unnecessary conversation. Remain silence is most safe most of the times as words can kill. Just talk when necessary because I realised that some people in office, like to gossip around. It's not a good thing to share too much of your personal life with them. I still feel that colleagues are afterall colleagues. It's kinda hard to find true friends at work. When things happen, they will tend to push the responsibility instead of siding you. So, we have to be careful at times.It's kinda sad to see such things happening often at most companies. However, I'm glad to have a protective boss. He is always there for me. So I am pretty happy with my current job now.

Prepared A Sweet Breakfast For My Hubby

It's been a long time I have yet prepared breakfast for my hubby.

As my son is growing up and easier for my hubby to handle him, I decided to prepare a simple breakfast for my hubby yesterday. It was really filling & I was left with 1 slice of bread where I ate it for my teabreak. :P

You can do it as well! Though it's fattening, we don't eat it often anyway. :)

Baked pizza bread & baked mushrooms with cream corn style of mushroom soup

Mummies Should Learn How to Relax~~

I realised that most mothers have changed alot after they gave birth. I am not talking about figure here, I am talking about mindset.

From the start, I never pamper my son and I don't let him stick to me at all times. Whenever he cries, I don't go to him immediately. When I walk to him, I will not carry him immediately because babies are smart. If we appear to be too anxious over their crying, they will take us for granted & will keep using this method to get our attention. So, I will talk to him first & slowly carry him. He will calm down after that.

In most mother's mind, it's always kids. They never have a chance to relax themselves. Chilling out, dining with friends? They will say "where got time?"

Sometimes, being too concentrated on taking care of kids might not be a good thing. Why? Because stress will increase due to too tired & caused frequent quarrels with your hubby. This is what had happened to people around me. Also, you can't get a chance to learn more things from other mothers. Yes, you can read it online but c'mon, you gotta give yourself a break! You can learn it at outside instead. Go out & breathe in some fresh air. To relax!~

To me, there's no such thing as in no time for yourself. Time can be arranged! Just like me. What I did was I will take a half-day leave to have a hi-tea session or lunch with my friend as I have to rush home after work everyday to take care of my son so that my mum can rest. I did it like once on every 2 months. Sometimes, I will go out on a Friday night at 10pm onwards as I need to ensure that my son has gone to bed & after that my hubby will take over. My son wakes up once for milk at night & will go back to bed. So my hubby can handle it. I will just go out for a 2-hr chilling session.

I went to Frienzie Bar on last Fri & ordered my favourite beer & chicken wings! This place served very nice dinner too & price is reasonable as well. It's a good place to dine & chill! 

Chillax-ing @ Frenzie Bar with Erdinger & chicken wings

So mummies, try to find time for yourself. You don't need to do it too often. But at least once in every 2-3 months. Just a few hours & it makes a big difference! :)

Frienzie Bar & Bistro
10 Tebing Lane, #01-02 (Punggol), 828836, Singapore

Banana Fritters & Banana Cake

I saw 4 bananas left in the kitchen this morning & decided to prepare some banana fritters and banana cupcakes on this coming Sunday.

Let me share with you on how I did both in the past!

I actually found the recipe for the banana fritters on this
website --> Recipe for Banana Fritters & I have also copied it to my blog for your easy reference too.
Hence, you may either click on it or refer directly to my blog. :)

Banana Fritters

 Ingredients 
4-6 Ripe Bananas, Peel and slice in half 
1/2 cup Self raising Flour 
1/4 cup Corn Flour 
1 tablespoon Rice Flour 
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder 
A pinch of salt 
100ml Ice Cold Water 
1.5 tablespoon Cooking Oil, (to add to batter) 
Cooking oil, (for deep frying)

Method

1. Mix together the self raising flour, corn flour, rice flour, and salt. Add in the ice-cold water slowly and whisk until you get a smooth consistency with no lumps. Add more water if required. 
The batter should not be too runny and not too thick.
2. Peel and then slice the banana in half, lengthwise (see photo). Then add to batter. Leave it for about five minutes before frying.

3. Heat oil in a frying pan or wok
4. When oil temperature reaches 325 °F (185 °C), deep-fry the well coated bananas until they are golden yellow. Fry about 3-4 pieces at a time. If you overload, chances are the oil temperature will drop.
5. Place the cook banana fritters on paper towels, to absorb any excess oil, before serving.



As for the recipe for Banana cupcakes, it was from my Secondary School's recipes book. :P

Banana Cupcake

 Ingredients  
 125g Self-Raising Flour
 100g butter
 100g sugar
  2 eggs
  1 Medium-sized banana












 Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Place 6 paper cups on your muffin pan.
2. Whisk the butter & sugar till the mixture looks creamy. Beat the eggs and add them into the mixture bit by bit while continue to whisk in. 
3.  Sift the flour & fold it into the mixture bit by bit. 
(This step is very important. You may google youtube if you do not know how to do the folding.)
4. Mash the banana & fold it into the mixture bit by bit. 
5. Scoop the mixture into the paper cups, about 3/4 full & bake for 20-25 mins.
 

Non-bake Blueberry Cheesecake In a Cup

As my cream cheese is going to be expired soon, I decided to bake some cheesecakes since I was on half day leave yesterday. All the while, I have only tried baking mini cheesecakes. So this time round, I would like to try something different! Thus, I went to google for the easiest recipe :P

After a few clicks, I found the following easy recipes for cheesecake & blueberry toppings.

Ingredients for Cheesecake
6 pieces McVitie's Digestive Biscuits
250g Philadelphia cream cheese
250g Enmi Greek Yogurt
5 tbsp castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Put the biscuits in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin until you have chunky crumbs. 
Divide between 6 glasses or small bowls. 

2. Beat the soft cheese, yogurt, sugar and vanilla together until smooth, then spoon over the crumbs and chill until you are ready to serve. I chilled for 5hrs for a better taste.

Ingredients for Blueberry Toppings
3 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 cup water
½ cup sugar
1½ tablespoons cornstarch dissolved into 3 tablespoons water
½ teaspoon vanilla

Method 

1. Place 1½ cups blueberries in a small saucepan. Cover with water and add sugar. Heat over medium-high heat until mixture comes to a low boil and blueberries just start to break apart.

2. Add dissolved cornstarch to saucepan and bring mixture to a rolling boil. Turn heat down and simmer on low heat for 2-3 minutes, or until sauce reaches desired consistency. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, if the sauce gets too thick.

3. Remove from heat. Add remaining blueberries and stir gently. Cool it for 2hrs & chill it. 

Ta da! Here's my cheesecake! My hubby was pretty looking forward to try it.

After 5hrs, I served a cup to him & he said it's yummy! Super happy that my first attempt was a successful one! ^^

Peeps, give it try one day! This is really a super easy recipe!

Flexible in Preparing Simple Lunch

I don't feel like eating outside food on last Sat so I decided to dig my fridge & see what ingredients I had, to cook a simple lunch for my hubby.

Found some vegetarian pork & fish, codfish, minced meat & sweet potato. All these ingredients were only left with small amount. So I decided to airfry the vegetarian pork & fish & cook porridge with codfish, minced meat & sweet potato

Here are the pics!

Vegetarian Pork & Fish

Porridge with codfish, minced meat & sweet potato

New Generation Kids vs Old Generation Kids

Sometimes I wonder....are the current batch of new generation of kids happier than my batch?

I realised that the technology has actually made the kids to be lazier. The games are more on sitting down instead of giving them a chance to move around. 

I am at my early 30s now and I recalled my childhood moments where my favourite games were Hopscotch & Zero Point. These games helped us to perspire & will not grow fatter if we are having a healthy diet as in no junk food like deep-fried food, tibits & cold drinks everyday.

But now, most parents introduce iPad & smart phones to their kids. This allows a high risk of getting myopia & will affect their development on learning. In what way? Kids will tend to lose focus on books where the pictures don't move at all. So, they got bored easily & will feel that iPad & smart phones are more fun. How to learn more things from these gadgets as compared to books? Do you want your child to wear specs at such an early age?

Hopscotch

Rubber bands to make into Zero Point rope

Zero Point

Also, I have been seeing more & more fatter kids nowadays because most parents gave them bubble tea, fast food & even baked cakes with alot of sweet cream that consists of a high amount of sugar & colourings for them. The frequency is like more than twice a month. I don't understand why the parents are so irresponsible for their kids' health since they are more educated now. I remember my mother controlled our diet till very strict. Even if I want to eat ice-cream, I still have to try my luck to ask in a begging tone. But nowadays, most kids can get it anytime they want.

Therefore, I really wish the government could hold more healthy & parenting compaigns to create awareness for the new batch of parents so that they can learn more & stop using the incorrect methods.

Selfie Stick

Have you heard of selfie stick? I got to know it through a neighbour & then, I started to see people around me are using it!

So, in order to join in the fun, I decided to get one for myself & I received it on last week! ^^

It seems good & my sister-in-law managed to take a family picture of 8 of us! I guess it will be good for a gathering with friends or family. Even my mother-in-law loves it!

So, what are you waiting for??  :P

It Is Never Easy To Be A Mother

Sorry readers...my 1-year-old son had high fever on last week so I did not have time to update my blog.

He is fine now and I'm also back to work too.:)

Ever since I have become a mother, I feel that I will get emotional easily...simply can tear easily whenever I read any sad story on a particular child in FB or see any child who has health problems etc.

Whenever my son is sick, I will get paranoid easily. I have tried asking myself to be relaxed but I can't due to insufficient support given. My husband is forever busy in work & I am always the one who have to take leave & attend to my son immediately. Especially last week, it was my son's first time having high fever which hits 40 degree celsius. I received different advices whether to go KKH or not. Some said useless & some said go immediately. But ended up, I went and ya, there's nothing the doctor can do. They passed me fever syrup to feed my son & damp cloth to sponge my son. After that, I was told to go home & to monitor his temperature. When I reached home, I realised that my son was having difficulty in drinking water & suspected that the swallowing has actually caused pain to his throat. So, I brought him to the GP who he used to visit at night and the antibiotics worked on him. The virus at his throat, had actually led him to having high fever. His fever subsided quite fast after taking medicine & that peaced my mind after seeing that he was active again. Thank god!

My son got very cranky when he was sick & that will even make me more panicky. Because he can't talk & I wondered what discomfort he was having. He also tends to be very sticky & needs me to carry him at all times too. So, I can't do much stuff but to divert his attention with toys & books or to keep him company till he falls asleep then I can do my stuff. This was what my friends will encounter so I feel less tensed of my son's change of behavior.

The feeding of medicine, was a tedious task as he tends to struggle. However, after I fed him for a few times, he kind of got used to it & will cooperate with me.

I really feel happy that he has recovered though he is still on medication now (he has to complete the whole course of antibiotics).

After having him in my life, I really feel that he is already part of me. I really thank god for giving me such a great gift!

There is never ending of worrying for my son. Based on my character, I think I have to mingle more with other mummies so that I won't feel scared when I face a new situation.

My Son's 1st Birthday Celebration

It's really not easy to have a birthday party at home & especially when you need to prepare alot of DIY stuff.

I would like to share what I have done for my son's first birthday party. 

I was using the Barney's theme for the party. So, I ordered a 3kg Barney chocolate cake from Prima Deli coz I was told that their cake was great. And ya, my friends made a good recommendation! I also ordered a bouquet of Barney balloons, bought some tibits & prepared goodie bags for the kids too.

Pringles - 3 cans for $2 at Value Dollar Shop

Goodie Bags from SKP

Tibits from Value Dollar Shop

The big space is meant for the birthday cake

Goodies in the goodie bag!

Bouquet of Barney Balloons

Birthday Cake - Chocolate Flavour

Did a growth chart & intend to place the 1-year-old pic in the middle!

While we were preparing for the cake-cutting session, I was so panicked that I almost forget to put on the socks & shoes for my son! Haha! Luckily, one of my neighbours was smart enough to do it together with me so that it can be faster. My other friends & neighbours initiated to take pictures, videos & cut cake for us too. I am really blessed to have them there. They really helped me whenever I needed yesterday. I was also very thankful to my mum for helping me to vacuum & mop the floor before she leaves. Super happy that it was a very successful birthday party! Though the process is tedious & tiring, it's definitely worth it when you see happy faces from your guests!

Buffet Lunch - Carousel @ Royal Scotts Hotel

I had a very full & delicious lunch just now! Furthermore, it was a treat from my boss! :P

This is my second time to Carousel. I am sure many of you are familiar with this famous buffet place. Most of the food is nice especially the desserts! ^^

Service was really good. Whenever I went to get a new dish, my previous used plate will be gone when I am back to my seat & water was always top up.

Today, I tried something new - Beef ribs & salted egg prawns. The beef was good & matched well with mushroom sauce. They also have a wide variety of sauces too. So, you may choose what you like. The salted egg prawns taste good coz the sauce was great but the texture of the prawns was abit hard. Guess the chef has overcooked it. Overall, I still feel great at there & will go back again. I still prefer the dinner coz got my fav oysters! ^^

Royal Plaza on Scotts

25 Scotts Road, Singapore 228220
Tel: (65) 6737 7966

Overslept

How many of you have ever overslept for work before? I believe all of you did. Hee....

I have overslept for a few times before but of coz, the interval was wide apart.

I woke up late for 30mins this morning & it was the latest compared to the past! I was shocked when I looked at the time on my hp! And as usual, rushed to bathe, dress-up, make-up, blow my hair & dash out of the house.

The panic feel was terrible and my heartbeat was abit fast while rushing! Haha! I was pretty worried that my boss will know that I was late but luckily I managed to creep into the office successfully. :P