Food Adventure – Down Under: Barbie

First stop, Australia!

My first thought when we picked this country was, barbeques! Or barbies, as they are better known in Australia.

So we started off our food adventure with a little barbie in our balcony. Sounds like a nice idea right? I imagined us sitting around a barbeque, chit chatting, letting the kids turn the food on the grill. Lots of good, fire-side bonding.

Nope. It’s probably the last time I’m gonna have a barbie at home. I wouldn’t say I was going to burn the house down, no, not at all. But I think we did create a lot of smoke. Enough to make people downstairs think there was some kind of fire, possibly. I realised the culprits were the meats. The oils from the popping sausages, and the marinades from the chicken dripped onto the hot charcoals which resulted in a lot of smoke. I kept trying to fan it outwards, away from the house, but found that there was still a slight smoky smell lingering in the house after the barbie. We ended up hiding behind the balcony doors, while I quickly popped out into the balcony every now and then to turn the food on the grill. Not quite what I had in mind.

Tucking into the food. We decided to sit by the balcony for dinner :)

But oh boy. The food was so good. And I think the kids must have been so hungry by the time the food was ready that they were full of praises for the food too. I was especially surprised to see Asher repeatedly asking for more sausages! He’s never really wanted to eat them in the first place, yet here he was happily tucking into them, telling me how yummy they were. Maybe it’s the type of sausage. Note to self, chipolata sausages go down well with the kids. They really were fabulous though! Sausages grilled over a fire win sausages cooked in a pan or toaster any day! And the pre-marinated chicken we bought tasted perfect. On offer too. Score!

The highlight was the pineapple though. I remember loving the grilled pineapples from the restaurant Brazil Churrasco, somewhere I haven’t gone to in more than a decade, and wanted the boys to try it. It was a hit. They couldn’t get enough of it! And it was a breeze to cook – no smoking!

Balcony barbie. Waiting for the pineapples to be ready.

Overall, the barbie was a success. The kids continued to talk about the food right up till bedtime, saying we should have another barbeque again soon :)

 

Nair Food Adventure

1. The Beginning of Our Food Adventure

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Nihon Mura Express

I don’t know about you, but my family loves Japanese food. Asher, especially, could eat it day after day. In fact, for his recent school show-and-tell on the topic “My Favourite Food”, he chose sushi!

The boys like picking plates off the conveyor belt, but you know how quickly that adds up right? So you can imagine my delight to find a place where all plates are $1.60. I thought to myself, even if the sushi is smaller than usual, at the rate the kids eat, it is still worth it.

So I made plans to bring the family to Nihon Mura Express at Kallang Leisure Park.

I’m no food expert, and I’m generally not picky with my food, but I really do think that the quality of the sushi at Nihon Mura Express was pretty good. I mean, probably not the high-end restaurant standard, but good enough for a regular meal, even a treat! I was pleasantly surprised to find that even though the amount of sushi rice per sushi was less than usual, the size of the fish on top was the standard size! That was great! We could try more flavours before getting stuffed! I suppose that is their plan too anyway, but it’s win-win.

Unlike regular conveyor belt sushi places where all the items are placed on the belt with no order whatsoever, here, the food comes in groups. What I mean is, all the appetisers will come first, then all the sashimi, then all the different types of sushi in their groups (gunkan, rolls, etc), then all the desserts. Initially I was wondering why they did that because then you’d have to wait for your group to come. But later on we realised that made things very predictable. You could eat what’s on the table first, and when the category you wanted came by you just look for the exact item you want.

I also liked how they kept the conveyor belt neat by having regular intervals of “stack me up” plates for the covers to be piled on. This probably makes it easier for them to pick up the covers for washing too.

At $1.60 a plate, the boys happily picked whatever they wanted (observing the rule that they had to finish whatever they picked), and I ordered all the sashimi I wanted. I’m sorry there are no pictures of food. We were all too engrossed with eating!

So engrossed that we ended up with 36 plates!

YUM!

As we left, guess what I saw? A birthday offer. And oh my, what an offer. Basically, on the day of your birthday, and plus-minus one day (that’s three days in all), you only have to pay $1 per plate up to your age! My birthday wasn’t far away so I made a note to come back then.

And we did! This time without Jon, but we still made it to 28 plates. And I paid a grand total of $28 plus tax on it!

The cashier told me of how the week before, there was a family of six that came three days in a row to celebrate their grandmother’s birthday. She had turned 82. They could only make it to 66 plates at the most, but what a deal. Three days in a row is a bit much, but hey, I guess they really love sushi. Or a really good deal.

I don’t know when the deal ends, but if you or your kids like sushi, and there’s a birthday round the corner, maybe you could consider going there.

The place isn’t that well known I think, so there aren’t any crowds to contend with. Parking is ample too. Perfect!

Nihon Mura Express
Kallang Leisure Park
5 Stadium Walk, #03-03
Tel: 6241-4260

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This is not a sponsored post. It’s just a good deal I wanted to share!

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Cheese Board

For some reason we started talking about how the French eat cheese as a dessert after their meal, and we decided to try and assemble our own cheese board. Coincidentally I had gone grocery shopping the day before and bought several types of cheese, and my parents had brought back dried apricots and figs from their holiday, so we had a pretty nice cheese board!

And of course, it was topped off with a drink of kid-friendly juice. I would have gone for grape juice except that we didn’t have any. And I would have broken out the wine if I wasn’t going to be nursing Alyssa soon after.

Cheddar, Emmenthal, Gouda, mozzarella, Port Salut, raisins, cranberries, figs, apricots, mango, pumpkin seeds, and juice :)

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No Reason BBQ

We had a barbeque at our place with the Sngs and Cais for no reason other than that one of our friends wanted to eat barbequed food. Actually the barbeque was supposed to take place at East Coast park, but it seems everyone else was also craving barbequed food and all the pits were taken up.

It turned out that even though we were away from the sea, having it at our place was really fun for the kids because they could run around the estate and play at the various playgrounds. They all came to our house to chill out after the BBQ too, and the kids had a blast playing together. If messes are an indication of the amount of fun they had, they had a tremendous time!

Maebe, the Sng’s dog, came for the party too. She was so at home in our house that I really wished we had a dog of our own! Hubby, if you are reading this you know what to do.

Starting up the fire

Playing soccer while waiting for the food to cook

Maebe!

Kids catching up with one another

Having fun at the playground!

Toasting marshmallows, and seeing who had the most patience to wait for the marshmallows to develop a nice crust

Mmm yummm

Happy messes :)

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Sandbank @ Parkland Green

So on my first trip to Parkland Green I walked past Sandbank, a bistro and bar, and immediately knew I had to come back with the boys.

Why?

There’s a pool right next to the dining area! How fun is that? In fact, it’s not just one pool. It’s two! One deeper pool for the adults, and a shallower one for the kids (and adults who wanna sit instead of stand, I suppose).

Eat. Drink. Plunge.

I was itching to come so on Friday I decided we’d eat out for dinner. Got the boys changed into their swimming gear and we headed there for dinner. While waiting for our orders to arrive the boys hopped into the pool and were so happy! I think a lot of their excitement stemmed from the fact that they were in a pool in a restaurant. It felt like we were in a hotel with a bar in the pool (although you’re not allowed to eat in the pool).

Pool right next to our table

Asher still waiting for his pizza to arrive

Ellery waiting for Asher to finish :)

Enjoying the cold water

The water was freezing because it was a windy and chilly night, but that didn’t stop the boys. I chickened out. But they went in, and played until they were warm. After dinner they went back in, but it soon got too cold for Asher who was shivering quite a lot, so I sent him to change into dry clothes. Sandbank is conveniently located right next to the public showers and toilets, so it’s easy to go clean up and change after your dip.

As for the food, we ordered fried oysters, a quesadilla kids meal, a pizza with buffalo mozzarella and rocket, and a mushroom pasta. The oysters were smaller and more crumbly than I expected, but it’s fried food and we were hungry, so it went down well with all of us. I liked the wasabi aioli dip that came with the oysters as it was kept light with just a hint of wasabi in it.

Fried oysters

All kids meals are served with nuggets, fries, and (a little) fruit on the side. I suppose it’s an attempt to offer a balanced meal with protein, carbs and fibre haha. But it’s certainly kid-pleasing since most kids like nuggets and fries all the time. Ellery sure was happy with his meal. So happy he even ate the grapes, something he hasn’t done in a while! Good job Sandbank!

The kids meal

A happy kid

The pizzas are all handmade to order so we had to wait a while for ours to come. Asher was starving, but he’s such a pizza monster he decided to wait anyway. I was led to believe it would be quite big since the waiter told me it would be “more than enough” for Asher and I, but when it arrived I thought it looked like a normal individual-sized pizza. Six thin slices. I could have eaten it myself I think. To me, the pizza was just alright. But for those of you who like Skinny Pizza’s crunchy crusts, you’ll like the pizzas here. It’s done in that style – very thin, crisp crusts. I tend to like my crust a little bit chewy.

The freshly baked pizza

The mushroom pasta was pretty good though – creamy with a good amount of mushrooms in it. It certainly qualifies as comfort food, especially on a chilly night like that one.

Fungi pasta

The food is decent enough and I like the concept of the place, so I can definitely see us coming back, though probably in the day time when it’s less cold. Ellery is already bugging me to bring them back and has been suggesting at every meal that we go there to eat!

And for the men, it’s a great place to watch soccer. You can chill in the pool while watching the game on the TV!

TV near the pool

Sandbank is located at:
920 East Coast Parkway, #01-28/32
Parkland Green
+65 6247 7988

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St Marc Bakery & Bar @ Parkland Green

I’ve noticed a new place that has sprouted up along East Coast when I drive along the ECP. Well, maybe it’s not new, but it’s certainly new to me. I popped there one day with my ex-neighbour to explore a bit. It’s a stretch of cafes, restaurants, and bars, and even has a sports store and a laser tag arena. So many interesting places to try! I straightaway made a mental note to come back again with the family.

Just one of three stretches of shops at Parkland Green

She highly recommended Bakery & Bar St Marc. I wasn’t too hungry as I’d already had a very early lunch since I eat with the boys before they head off to school. She ordered the Japanese curry, and I ordered a plate of truffle fries thinking it’ll be a snack size serving. Well, it’s a snack for 3-4 people! Wow, what a big serving of fries. Really great for friends. It’s even topped with two eggs and strips of ham and sprinkled over with grated cheese! A decadent plate of fries. But it serves it purpose as a snack very well. You pick and pick….I ended up almost finishing the entire plate! I didn’t ask how her Japanese curry was, but as she wasn’t raving about it I assume it was just ok. But she did rave about the chococro and made me promise to try it next time!

St Marc

Truffle fries

Japanese curry rice

The laser tag arena called Tag Team Inc is suitable even for children as young as 4 years old. I’m tempted to bring the boys to try this haha! Will have to see what the hubby thinks first.

Parkland Green is at Area C1 of East Coast Park (just across the highway from Parkway Parade). There’s plenty of parking, but at night it gets full.

 

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Tahu Telor

We have found it! Yippie!

I loooooove tahu telor (deep fried toufu dish with lots of egg) but it’s so hard to find nowadays, I don’t know why. I used to frequent a Malay stall at the Clementi coffeeshop near the carpark, but it stopped serving tahu telor. For the longest time I couldn’t find it anywhere, except at the Tangs restaurant where they made a very good, but pricey version.

Today we ventured to Bedok Corner Food Centre. Oh my. The food there looks very very good, and we will definitely be back to try the various offerings. Many stalls have won awards for their food and have newspaper clippings proudly displayed on the front of their stalls. The cheng tng, the jiu he eng cai (cuttlefish and kangkong dish), the boneless chicken rice, the satay…I need to bring my father here (though I suspect he, being even more clued into the best hawker food around, has already been here). They even have roti jala! So so hard to find.

Anyway, the minute I spotted tahu telor on the signboard of Ole Ole Javiyan, I knew what I wanted for dinner. I have a weakness for this dish. The soft toufu, covered with crispy fried egg – fried until the eggs are bubbling, airy and light. Mmmm…so nice. If you’ve never tried tahu telor, please do yourself a favor and go try it!

My tahu telor tower (This is a very poor quality photo, sorry about that. I didn’t have my camera with me and I just had to snap a pic)

I was in toufu heaven when I bit into my first mouthful. Super crispy eggs wisps contrasting with the soft toufu, accented by the crunchy peanuts and spicy sauce. I thought it wasn’t as good as the one in Clementi, but I’ve missed this dish so much I was just so happy to eat it. And it’s good enough, and anyway, the Clementi one is no more.

So pleased I know where to go for a tahu telor fix now.

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Ellery’s 4th Birthday

It almost went by without us singing him a birthday song!

There were grand plans. Ellery had been asking to go to the zoo for a long time, but for various reasons we didn’t get to go. There was Legoland, which we were supposed to bring the boys to as a combined treat, but that did not materialise after our move as we got so tied up with house things (rectifications and all that).

In the end, everything was kept simple.

On Christmas day itself we had a special breakfast of pancakes cooked at the table, just like at Slappy Cakes. The boys had loved it when we ate there and my aunt had so generously bought us a crepe maker last Christmas so that we could do that same thing at home. In the end we only used it for pancakes one year later! We had became addicted to crepes and often had those for breakfast instead :)

Home style slappy cakes!

Christmas pancakes!

After breakfast we made logcakes for our neighbours as a way to say hello. The boys had fun delivering them, and we discovered a couple of neighbours celebrate Christmas in a big way. Some others we discovered were vegetarian and couldn’t accept our cake because we used eggs. Need to look for eggless cake recipes!

Sprinkling on the snow

As always we were double booked for Christmas lunch, so we did house-hopping and lots of eating! Usually people at these two homes would greet Ellery a happy birthday, and at the first home we’d sing a birthday song. But somehow this year all that didn’t happen. Thankfully Ellery was patient and didn’t demand or expect anything.

Being cheeky in the car and not wanting to stay still for a picture :)

Lounging in our friend’s house

We left the second house in the late evening and went to Toys R Us so that the boys could choose their own presents. But Ellery fell asleep in the car! We thought he’d wake up in the noise of Toys R Us but he didn’t. We headed for dinner and tried to wake him but he was just too tired. We were joking about how we were celebrating a birthday without the birthday boy! But just as we were finishing our meal he woke up! Just in time to eat something and enjoy some dessert :)

Birthday boy sound asleep

Finally up and being squished

It was back to Toys R Us again, and Ellery chose a bow and arrow set because he had played with a set in one of the houses earlier in the day and loved it!

Home, bathed, bedtime story, in bed. Then Ellery said he wanted to have a birthday song and cake cutting. Throughout the day I had wanted to do it, but there just wasn’t the opportunity. So although it was already 10pm, we pulled out a logcake that we had saved for Ellery, decorated it and sang him a song.

He loved it! Especially when we found that one of the candles was a trick candle that kept lighting up again. The boys had such a good time trying to blow it out :) I think in the end the cake was quite covered in saliva…hmm…

I was really happy to see Ellery beaming :) A simple birthday song and cake at home can be so special :)

An over decorated cake haha!

Happy Birthday!!

Blowing out the candles

Finally blew out the trick candle!

Cut cut cut

Playful brothers

Loving brothers

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My dear Ellery, you have certainly grown. You have leaned out and are starting to lose your baby fat. Many people say you look thinner.

You still say the funniest things, and I have a long list of quotes from you that are just hilarious :) I laugh out loud everytime I re-read them! I must save them for you so that you can read what you said as a little boy.

You continue to be independent minded and like doing things in your own way, which is a good thing, but that same quality also makes you rather stubborn and difficult to discipline. Oh, what fights we have had this year. I have had a tough time reminding myself to model kindness and gentleness for you this year. But you can also be extremely charming and loving. You spout sweet nothings at random moments, and that always warms my heart. Whenever you say, “Mummy, I love you soooo much!” I can’t help but squeeze you tight, kiss your head, and all irritations of the day are dissolved.

It’s been a tough year for you too. On the one hand, you’ve become a very sweet and loving older brother to Alyssa. You were so happy when Alyssa was born you ran through school yelling, “I’m a Kor Kor now!!!” You play with her, hug and kiss her (even with dirty hands and oily mouth). On the other hand, I think you unconsciously feel the reduction in attention given to you and have been very whiny since your sister arrived. I have heard that middle children either become very independent, or very whiny. I think you’ve gone the whiny route. I’m hoping it’s a phase, and I’m hoping it ends soon. I try to pull out special moments with you, but it’s tough. I hope you know Mummy is trying her very best.

A new challenge has appeared this year too. One that I was anxious would come, and it did. You were an early reader and many people said to you or within hearing how “clever” they thought you were, and they praised you a lot. Too much. At that time I was thinking to myself that they really should hold back on excessive praise because it might negatively affect Asher, and more so, it might negatively affect you. Now it appears that you are only keen to try things that are easy. Anything that you think you’ll not be good at you immediately say, before even trying, that you can’t do it. I really pray that this is also a phase that will pass quickly. I pray that we’ll be able to build up your confidence to try things that at first seem difficult, and that you’ll realise you actually can do many things if you put your mind to it. Also, that we don’t expect you to be super at everything, but that you at least give things your best effort.

Mummy hasn’t had much time and attention for you this year, unfortunately. Mummy has been very stretched, but I hope you know how much I love you, how special you are to me! You are so unique, and I love you deeply!

 

 

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Special Day – Part Ellery

After I dropped Asher in school for his sleepover, Ellery and I had our special day (or evening rather). He was playing in the sandpit and made me sand pies, so for dinner we decided to have some real pies at Pies & Coffee.

We had duck confit and wagyu beek cheek pie. The filling was good. The meat was tender and the gravy rich and flavourful. But I was really disappointed by the pie crust which was much too dry and crumbly. It could be an off day. I’ve been there once before and the pie crust was better.

Our pies. The mash potato was so good!

We headed home so that Alyssa could bathe and I made a deal with Ellery that we’d go out for ice-cream after Alyssa slept. He was so excited! My goodness. When we left the house he was happily chanting, “Mei mei (little sister) is not here! Mei mei is not here!”. He did clarify later that he loves his sister but was just happy that it was him and me alone that night. I really should try to schedule in these special days with the boys more often if possible.

Ellery chose to go Ben & Jerry’s, and he chose the flavours of ice-cream, and the toppings. Brownie with Candy Bar Pie and Chocolate Therapy ice-cream, hundreds-and-thousands, and sliced almonds. I approve. Yum! We shared of course :)

Ice-cream treat!

After ice-cream we walked around Dempsey a bit and ended up at Jones the Grocer. I decided to bring him to the cheese room just for fun, and oh, how much fun we had! He was sooooo amused by the names of the cheese and was especially tickled by Munster and Ticklemore! I had never heard of Ticklemore cheese too and found it quite funny. But Ellery thought the names of these two cheese was simply hilarious! He laughed so loud, and long, and hard! “Mun-han-hahaha-han-ster!!! Ti-hee-hee-hee-ckle-hahahahaha-more!!!!”

We bought back some Ticklemore to try and wanted to get some Munster too but the salesperson strongly advised against it. Maybe another day I’ll get a small piece to let him try.

In the cheese room

Munster

Ticklemore

Laughing his head off

We wandered Cucina too to see the produce they were selling, before heading home.

Looking at veggies and fruit at Cucina

A special day indeed. We should have another some time :)

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Malaysia Road Trip – Tanjung Jara Resort (Part II)

More on Tanjung Jara Resort in this post!

The Service

Attentive. Discreet. Classy.

That’s how I would describe it. And I firmly believe it is because of the excellent work done by the General Manager, Philippe Cavory. It’s really a case of leading by example. He’s everywhere! When we arrived he was at the lobby to greet us as we were served Tanjung Jara Resort’s apparently famous Roselle Tea. When we chilled out at the beachfront, we saw him walking the grounds, adjusting the bins and pinning back the curtains at one of the cabanas since he saw them out of place – no task too small or beneath him. At the little Malay cultural event, he was there to chat with the guests. And one afternoon when we were in the room, we received a call from the front desk saying that the GM wanted to serve us complementary wine and hors d’oeuvres. Wow!

Our surprise!

It’s the little things that really leave an impression. Serving guests who were along the beachfront iced water on a hot day (all beach hotels should do this!), delivering our room service meal in record time when we told them the kids were very hungry, helping to carry my bowl of noodles back to the table when they saw my hands were full with Alyssa.

Activities

There’s a whole variety of activities to keep you busy at Tanjung Jara Resort. I’d have taken part in more of them if Alyssa wasn’t stuck to me since I’m still her milk bottle at the moment. For starters, I’d have visited the spa. The treatments sound won-der-ful. Oh well. We had planned to go for a hike as well, but the kids were having so much fun at the pool that we decided to just stay put.

We did get to enjoy the Kampong Sucimurni Lifestyle event which is held weekly for guests, especially those not from the region, to experience traditional Malay village life. There were little stations for guests to try traditional games, local snacks and drinks, and there was even a monkey climbing trees to pick fresh coconuts that are opened on the spot. The kids loved the snacks. Ellery, in particular, made hundreds of trips to the snack table to help him to more keropok (crackers).

Kampong Sucimurni Lifestyle day

Coffee, tea, and Roselle water (a type of hibiscus)

Monkey picking coconuts

There’s also an island nearby that’s a good spot for snorkeling. My brother and nephew went for a day trip and saw a reef shark, a turtle, lots of fishes big and small, tons of sea cucumbers, and Nemo, Nemo, Nemo.

Food

The breakfast buffet at Di Atas Sungei features a mix of Western standards and – the best part – local delicacies like nasi dagang (rice steamed with coconut milk in leaves). One of the mornings they served a soup made from pure fish stock that was sooo good. The freshly baked croissants are good too. They bake trays and trays of them. Philippe is French, so I suppose that’s why he ensures good croissants are available!

The food at Di Atas Sungei can be quite pricey for dinner though so we didn’t eat there at night. We found a wonderful seafood restaurant less than 5 minutes away from the resort that served up excellent food at cheap prices. Cheap and good – Singaporean’s love to hear that! Restoran Seafood C. B. Wee has been around since 1983 and is popular among the locals. Interestingly a lot of them come here to eat the Western food, but for all the 3 nights that we went there we had seafood.  I think we went through most their menu.

Restoran C. B. Wee

There were 8 adults and 6 kids (not counting the baby), so we really had a feast each night. Steamed fish, chicken, squid, lots of veg, small prawns, medium prawns, and giant prawns. I love prawns, but have never tried the giant ones before. It’s so much cheaper there than in Singapore. A single prawn sells for upwards of $25 at Newton hawker centre. At C.B. Wee, depending on how good the catch that day, you cold get a whole plate of giant prawns!

Awesome food. If you stay at Tanjung Jara Resort you got to eat here.

Just a few of the dishes we ordered

Look at the size of that prawn

Overall, Tanjung Jara Resort if a lovely place to stay if you are willing to make the drive up. My brother’s friend who joined us drove straight from Singapore to Tanjung Jara in 8 hours, and he drives fast. If you do come, you can be assured of a relaxing stay with good service and good food.

Some of the kids

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