The Apple's Diary!

We made a visit to the Grandstand, formerly known as the turf city. It was our first visit and we only brought Matthew along (Jonathan was having his afternoon nap). There were many stairs from the car park to the restaurant stretch and luckily, Matt was sitting in the new SeeBaby stroller so we still could handle it easily. We walked around and noticed that there were many enrichment centres and Preschools in the building. We eventually went to the Pasarbella and bought my tea clipper so that I can start enjoying my TWG tea. Then we wandered into this Pie & Coffee cafe which served really yummy pies. I had a chicken cheddar pie and I must say, I am not a big fan of pie but this... was really yummy. The crust just melt in your mouth. The filling was nicely cooked and all pies were served with greens and mashed potatoes as sides. I also had camomile citron tea but I actually wanted to try their honey yuzu but they ran out of it. I would return agai

We thought we would go try this restaurant with the vouchers we got. But it turned out that we didn't read the fine print carefully and it couldn't be used with the set meals we ordered. It would not be any great deal if the food was fantastic, the service was excellent and we loved it, on the contrary we left the  place beating our chest. Quite a spoiler for our afternoon, I must say. And this is why... menu overview french air tall cabinets If you looked into the restaurant, it looked like a great place to enjoy a piping hot meal with great coffee to go with. Perfect for Dec cooling weather. However on closer look on the fabric chairs, it spotted stains and hair strands on it. stained stool stained armchair For F&B establishment, it certainly looked an eye sore to have stained furnitures. We were first ushered  to this table and I requested for a change. I simply could not tear myself away from the thought that mi

art works from Jon  Another 6 months had passed and Jon's handicrafts were returned to us. I picked some of the interesting pieces he had done. That included the "Picasso" abstract painting, the spotty dog and the sea aquarium. We are missing his CD of class activities photos which I just made a mental note to check with his teachers. class photo He also had his 1st class photo taken in end October and I thought his smile was quite funny in the portrait. We booked the $50 photography package which included his class photo framed in a leather bound folder, a self portrait in leather frame and a calendar of his photos. I just told my husband that we can expect 2 sets of these next year when Matt joins MindChamps. That would also mean we need to clear a big space for all their school's art works. In the coming new year, there would be orientation activities for the toddlers with their new classmates. My dear little Jonathan has graduated from

It is already coming to the end of December. I am missing my holiday and my time at home already. I will sure take a long time to adjust back to working days and to be honest, I really enjoyed myself being at home, being with Matt and Jon although I did spent quite a fair bit of time going out with hubby too. To capture this wonderful feeling and make it an everlasting memory, here is the summary of my December. For the first time in our home, we had a Xmas tree although it was just a miniature one from Daiso. I also love the simple decoration at our main door. God has surely blessed this home! our 1st Xmas tree luv this simple plague God has surely blessed this home Our plan was to get a discounted Xmas tree for next year but the idea was shelved again because there wasn't space in the store room. I also spent quite some time getting gifts for friends and colleagues, not forgetting the kids too. gifts for friends & colleagues gift

It had been a long time since we held any gathering at our place. Mainly because we felt we couldn't cope with the large number of people at our place with our 2 young boys. Now that Matt has turned 1 and Jon is more independent, we had our 1st Xmas gathering with my family. We prepared the food as in my part was the reheating of the Xmas feast we ordered from NTUC finest. Thought I would go for a change from Cold Storage as it was always so chaotic at collection point. feast from readily cooked combo We got the turkey with chestnut stuffing, ham and pork knuckle. We added on honey ribs and made our own salads with Italian dressing and balsamic vinegar. There was also spaghetti with tomato sauce for the kids. Emi's log cake My younger brother brought over log cake from Emicakes. Very rich in chocolate with walnut in between. He also brought over white wine and we later opened another bottle of my favourite Moscato. mum @ work The ham and pork knuc

To be honest, I hadn't really bought a nice gift for Darren since we got married. I have been thinking of getting him a good timepiece since I know this is something he will like and appreciate. But I never got down to it and do the necessary research. So after my lunch at Tanglin Club, I thought this would be a good opportunity to go get one and surprise him. I went over to Ion Orchard and walked in Tag Heur Boutique. It was quite intimidating initially as I was totally clueless on the terminology for such expensive timepieces. But hey, the sales consultant was patience with me, walking me through the various models and series they have. Since I wanted to get him a similiar Carrera to match the one he bought for me, I didn't have too much option to narrow down. In the end, I picked the silver face Carrera automatic in the metal bracelet and was pleasantly surprised that they offered discount and total cost was well within my budget. I left the surprise gift on our bed w

It is becoming a tradition for us, Li Peng, Raelene and myself to meet for a Pre Christmas lunch at Tanglin Club. For the first 2 rounds, we had our gatherings at the Churchhill room and this round, Raelene picked The Tavern for our traditional Pre Christmas lunch. Tanglin Club is awesome but membership fee is exorbitant now and they have ceased taking in new member. So what a privilege that Raelene invited us for our get-together at Tanglin Club. A must have for us to complete our Pre Christmas lunch would be the mulled wine and the egg nog. We all had the Parsnip soup as starters and Gammon ham as entree with Christmas Pudding in brandy sauce as dessert. Initially, I was still eager to take the food pictures but later on, we were just too engrossed in our conversation to remember to strike a pose with our food. So here the snippets at today's lunch.

We had a RWS staycation on Matthew's birthday. It was an awesome trip to the pools and SEA aquarium, surviving the whole staycation without the helper. We started with a simple home celebration with a crepe cake from Paris Baguette. It was an interesting cake with layers of crepe in between the cake. The strawberries topped it off nicely. Everyone had a slice before we moved off to our RWS staycation. We had a Hard Rock staycation last year for Jon's birthday and this time round, we decided on Festive Hotel. It was a good choice with the bigger space and the loft bed. Matthew loved rolling around on the king size bed. We settled down quickly and changed the boys to their swimming attires. We headed to Hard Rock pool as we knew that the boys would love the water play there. Sure enough, Matt had no qualms walking through the water play while Jon decided to play it safe by sitting on his mushroom float. We didn't stayed too