Jay loves to fiddle with my Canon Powershot S95. And when I was looking through it, I realised some of his shots are pretty good! Haha!
Here’s some shots of his little brother…
(In case you are wondering, Jay was either standing on the bed hovering over his little brother or peering over the cot… all in the name of “art”!)
He even learnt to turn the camera on himself…
And he also enjoyed taking shots around the house… of his toys and all.
Apart from the fact that our national bloom’s the Vanda Miss Joaquim (pictured on the left), it is also our second time hosting this conference! And the venue for this eight-day-long affair? None other that another iconic structure – the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre!
The theme of this event is Where Old World & New World Orchids Meet, and you can expect a plethora of gorgeous orchids, including a new orchid hybrid created just for this event. In fact, some 50,000 orchids will be on display. Mind-boggling!
You can buy the tickets for the Conference either online at the official 20WOC website or hop on down to the Singapore Botanic Gardens or the National Orchid Gardens to get your hands on them. There’s even a Family Package for admission tickets to the Orchid Show for 2 adults & 3 concessions (child under 0.9M or senior citizen) for just $42 (weekdays) and $58 (weekends). As an added incentive, all ticket holders will also have the opportunity to preview the Flower Dome at Gardens at the Bay (before it officially opens in June 2012).
There are also several contest held – a Photo Contest (for shutterbugs out there), Floral Arrangement Contest and an Art & Craft Contest (one for the family to participate in as well!). Check out the 20th WOC’s Facebook page for the details of the contests, as well as to register for them.
Mark down on your calendar this event (13-20 Nov 2011), and be sure to get your tickets for the show!
I was recently introduced to a little burger and pizza joint, at The Foundry (Mohammed Sultan Road). The Better Burger & Pizza Memoirs.
It was at night, and I didn’t have my camera, so these are all taken from a friend’s iPhone.
The Pesteralla.
Sweet Dreams… and the most amazing ingredient on this pizza – BBQ Fish Bak Kwa! An original concoction, I hear! The toppings seem so different (pineapples, fish bak kwa, miso mayo?) but yet it goes together fabulously.
I admit, I am on a no-carb diet (got some post-pregnancy pounds to lose) and so a pizza and burger joint is hardly somewhere I should go. But THIS place is well-worth the little cheat. (Bring friends, share the calories, like what I always say.)
And… while writing this post, I realise that Pizza Memoirs even has an awesome 50% deal going on! Go to Deal.com.sg to pick up your 50% discount coupon, and enjoy the 9-inch Sweet Dreams pizza for just $11 – which is a fabulous deal!
This isn’t a sponsored review – we paid for our own meal, but I enjoyed the chill-out atmosphere and great food so much, I think you guys would too!
I have a newfound love.
Chicken wings.
And it doesn’t help that Nic & I stumbled on a little shop just a stone’s throw away from our place that sells yummy wings at a real steal. And did I mention they were yummy?
The first time we ate there (last week), I was already enamoured, and so I also got my cell members to patronize the shop this week.
I shall let the food do the talking…
Without doubt, it is the chicken wings, done up in a variety of ways!
Salt & Pepper wings
Lemon Garlic wings
Spicy wings – which came in three degrees of “hotness” – we ordered the “hot” and “very hot” ones. I enjoy these, cos it is not as tongue-numbing as other places which offer such hot wings. It was hot FOR SURE, but yet still very much enjoyable!
Next on my to-try list… their custard and curry wings!
We also had some other mains and sides.
Grilled fish & chips.
Caesar salad with grilled chicken
Fried calamari.
Nachos, which were on the house, cos they were apologetic at having to make us wait. But… we hardly felt the wait as we were busy digging in the food! Haha! It was much appreciated nonetheless.
Check out this place if you’re in the vicinity of East Coast Parkway (near MacDonald's)! It also opens till late, so you can pop over if you feel like wings for supper! Check out Wild About Wings’ Facebook page here too.
And in case you’re wondering, nope – this ain’t a paid advertorial, but I genuinely love this place! But they might consider passing me some platinum membership, cos we’re definitely going back there again! ;)
Have you heard? SANses has been nominated in the Best Family Blog category in the Singapore Blog Awards 2011! It’s my first time being nominated, so your vote is much appreciated! You can vote once a day from now till 3 July 2011 – so please vote now!
It is no surprise that I love online shopping. I have blogged so many times about my love-hate affair with online shopping (I love it, my wallet hates it).
One of my new-found gems online is Reebonz, which offers private sales of branded products. That is probably my favourite two words in the same sentence: Sale and Branded!
Haha! I’ve traditionally known Reebonz as retailing the Pradas, Miu Mius and Mulberrys of the world, something that they still do. But they have recently expanded to include a whole new Kids’ section! And not just clothing lines, but they also have kids’ accessories and toys.
I had my heart set on this cutest babywear for Xav! “The King Born To Rule Your Life”
How adorable is that? Haha!
Unfortunately for me (and luckily for my credit limit), this gorgeous set is out of stock *sob*!
Ah well, there are plenty more good buys around.
Do check out Reebonz, and grab yourself some good buys at the same time. If you don’t know what to get, you can always get me that Prada or Miu Miu or Burberry (I’m simple, that way).
For readers of my blog, good news!
Reebonz is offering the first 20 readers who check out a special $10 discount on Kid’s Products. Simply go to the Reebonz website and register to access the members’ only page with all the current and upcoming sales. Select your item, and key in this discount code: ReebonzKidsSandra upon checkout to enjoy the $10 discount! This promotion will be valid till 11 May 2011, midnight. Do note that this discount cannot be used in conjunction with other on-going discounts or promotions.
Happy shopping!
I was so psyched up this week.
In short…
I got myself a pair of tickets to this show… and Jay was generously sponsored by my awesome cell members.
Of course, given his recently sullen streak, two days before the musical, Jay decided that he did not want to go to no musical. Mommy agreed. And told him I would bring someone else.
Jay: “Ok. You bring someone else. I don’t want to go.”
Mommy: “Hmm… I think I will bring the fox puppet.”
Jay: “No! Cannot!”
Mommy: “Oh, oh, oh! I can bring the toy lion. After all, only the lion king should see the Lion King show.”
Jay: “I am the Lion King. I AM THE LION KING. I want to watch the show.”
Well, with that settled, on 15 March, the three of us trudged down to the gorgeous Marina Bay Theatres. I was soooooo pumped!
And then I realised I brought my camera.
And left the memory card in my laptop. At home.
Which effectively negated the whole photo-taking thing.
But my boo-boo aside, I am pleased to give you six thumbs up. From all three of us!
I was most concerned about Jay. Could he last through the entire musical? Would he love the show? Would he understand? Would he make a nuisance of himself? Would we get booted out of the Theatre?
Well, I am glad to report that… yes, hell yeah, yeap, just a little and thankfully not!
The opening scene, where the animals came to pay tribute to the newborn Simba was, in a word, splendid. Here’s a sneak peek into what we saw.
After that gorgeous opening sequence (and Jay seeing his much-anticipated rhinoceros up close!), the audience broke out into claps, and Jay spontaneously did so too! Oh, the elephants, the zebras, the buzzards… it was all so captivating!
There were times when Jay spoke a little louder than he should. “Why did that naughty uncle lion throw the daddy lion, Mommy? Why? Why? WHY?” Nothing a little gummy bears couldn’t stop though! Haha!
All in all, I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a number of kids (must be the holidays!) though Jay was definitely one of the youngest, if not the youngest one. Some older kids was drooling drooping over their dad’s shoulders but Jay was still happily prancing around (See? gummy bears, I tell ya!). But if your kid loves animals, and a good story, do consider the Lion King!
There’re loads of things to celebrate about being a woman. You heard this before, I’m sure… About how God spent 6 days creating the heavens and the earth, the birds of the sea and the beasts of the field. And how He then created Adam. And then Eve. And then God rested. Cos NOW his work was done. Completed.
I recently went to visit a colleague who’d just given birth. She endured more than 12 hours of labour just 2 days back, went for an emergency Caesarean, and still managed to look totally gorgeous! Haha!
And another of my heroines is Theresa, who bounced back better than ever after battling breast cancer. She is a fighter, and I am in awe at her zeal for life! She recently wrote this cool blog piece on the 10 reasons why she loves being a woman, and it was a fabulous read!
Great Eastern has launched a campaign called the Great Woman Pledge, and while it was a real hoot reading some of the pledges, the coolest thing is that for every pledge, GE will donate S$1 to the Breast Cancer Found!tion!
Check out Theresa’s blog today, and you can read and be inspired (as I was) about her battle with the Big C!
Yet another yummy lunch… and this time, authentic Balinese food. We made our way all the way to Seminyak, to lunch at Made’s Warung.
It was a quaint little place, unassuming, but apparently popular with the locals as well.
Prices were pretty affordable, and the food looked and tasted delicious!
I ordered the Nasi Goreng Special, which included three sticks of satay (or sate, as spelt in Indonesia).
Nic enjoyed the Nasi Goreng Seafood.
And my helper totally relished her dish – a mix of Nasi Campur and Gado-Gado.
Jay? He loved the mango juice – a thick concoction that was delicious!
All in all, it was a lovely lunch, and we’ll definitely be making our way back there!
Do note though, we noticed about 3 Made’s Warungs in the Bali area, but make your way to the one at Jalan Raya Seminyak!
We ate at this Japanese fusion restaurant twice, and thoroughly enjoyed both times! I read great reviews on Trip Advisor and so we decided to make our way there for dinner.
My order – soft shell crab fried rice. Totally yummy! Jay slurped off 1/3 of my plate! And at just Rp. 52,000, I thought it was a good deal!
Robata Seafood – we decided to try it out. Not too bad!
California Roll – Yummy and chock-ful of fresh ingredients!
Cream Cheese Chicken Roll – another recommended dish by TA. I felt the blue cheese topping was a little overwhelming, but the cream cheese stuffed in the middle was absolutely divine.
Together with drinks, our total meal came up to Rp. 450,000 or about S$65 for three persons. Considering we also spent approximately this amount for lunch at Flapjaks (which was a totally disappointing experience), this accounts to why we came again another time!
If you ever make it to Bali, make sure you pop by this place for a great meal experience!
Bluefin Seafood Restaurant
Jalan Kartika Plaza #16
Bali, Indonesia
Ramen has to be one of my comfort foods. The soup, the noodles…
Before our Voyage de la Vie show on Thursday, we decided to pop into this ramen restaurant at Resorts World.
This was our appetiser a veggie with prawn roll, a complimentary dish, as we paid using a DBS credit card. It was refreshing and boded well for the rest of the meal.
Nic tried their signature ramen dish, with three different types of pork.
I had the Ebi Shoyu Ramen (which looked suspiciouly like normal prawn noodles!)
Overall, the ramen was quite disappointing. Nic’s soup base was overwhelmingly “porky”, and I felt mine wasnt’t as good as I’d want. I still give Yoshimaru my vote (and calories) any time!
We also ordered these chicken meat balls, but it was also not very yummy.
Overall, our dinner was pretty disappointing, and so thankfully, the wonderfully heart-pumping, butt-on-the-edge-of-our-seats Voyage de la Vie show MORE than made up for this meal!
I mean, there are loads of ways to spot non-parents.
But nothing is as telling as seeing some facebook comments, really.
I posted a status update tonight that went like this…
“Jay gave me the night off. "I want Daddy to make me sleep. I want Mommy to go outside and watch TV". Hahaha... Is ok, my heart's strong.”
Comments came pretty fast and furious.
Non-parents were immediately amused by his words and vocab. One even felt a little “sad” that my little boy chose his daddy over me to make him sleep.
See? Dead giveaway for a non-parent.
Parents (especially with toddlers around the same age of Jay now) had different reactions.
One mother commented it was like Mother’s Day, come early.
Another wished her son would say her the same to her.
Now, don’t get me wrong.
I love making Jayvon sleep. I love spending time with him.
And I am secure in my space in his little heart (#1, of course!).
But all parents would agree with me. Time off is g-r-e-a-t! Haha!
We headed to Liang Court over the weekend, planning to get a bed frame (cos our mattresses are on the floor now, and in a few months’ time, the law of gravity dictates that the amount of lift needed get me up from the ground would be too horrible to calculate).
We also took the opportunity to have dinner there, at this Italian restaurant that is definitely at the very top of Nic’s most-loved restaurants!
The top reason? They offer escargots at a very reasonable price! See, I don’t like to eat snails (eww gross!), and when this appetiser is too expensive, I gently remind Nic to be kind and order something we can both enjoy. But at Saizeriya? It’s a mere $5.90 for a plate of gross crawlies. My argument hardly holds water!
Escargots. *greenfaced*
Well, we ordered up a storm. Check out our yummilicious dinner!
Grilled potatoes for Jay.
My clam chowder soup. Yum!
9-inch pineapple & bacon pizza. Cheesy, just the way I love it!
Nic’s rib-eye steak.
We also ordered spaghetti bolognaise for Jay and he slurped half the plate up! Each of our mains cost under $10 (yes, even Nic’s rib-eye!), so it is really value for money. Considering Liang Court is also the venue of my fave ramen restaurant too, this Italian eatery will be a fierce competitor for our family’s tummies the next time we go there!
