our must haves whenever we are back in jb

we come back to jb once every 2 wks since hubby lives only 5 mins away from the woodlands custom, and also for baby zq to spend time with her paternal grandparents.

just to share some of our favourites or rather, "must haves" whenever we are back here.

粿條仔 (Kway Tiao Kia in Hokkien)

this is similar to our Kway Chap in sg except that the Kway Tiao is the thinner version (like ipoh horfun) and the soup is more tasty. I do not eat the innards so it is always thinly sliced lean meat, tofu and eggs for me. For hubby, he will definitely order the pig's tongue and the small intestines.

:: Cheelicious ::

this can be considered to be our favourite haunt. it is a small cosy cafe which serves mains and desserts.

whenever we are here, it is always 2 sets of garlic seafood spaghetti for us. yums! the pasta is cooked al dente, flavoured with lots of olive oil, garlic and herbs. there is also a generous amount of fresh prawns and squids. hot honey lemon is always our choice of drink too. other than pasta, there are also local food or sandwiches.

there is a wide selection of cheesecake here. my favourite is the one shown below. it is called snickerlicious. it really taste like the snicker bar. we have also tried the one made with strawberry and it is good too.

of course, other than the above, there are also many other good food here. i will share more when i have pics of them!

birthday celebration for hubby

Heard much raves about Dozo Restaurant and decided to give hubby a treat during his birthday. Checked it out on the net and found that the pricing is still ok.

It costs $39.80++ for 6 course and $59.80++ for 7 course meal. (6 course is only applicable for lunch) For 7 course meal, there is starter, cold dish, side dish, soup, main, dessert and drink. For 6 course, it will be without the cold dish.

As it was our first time there, the waiters were patient and friendly. They took the time to recommend each dish while we make our choices. Although we went during lunch, we decided to choose the 7 course meal to try.

First up, drinks as appetizer. Yummy and refreshing.

Next, starter. The starter consists of Foie Gras with Bread, Scallop with cream sauce and asparagus and smoked salmon. The waiter informed us to start off with the scallop followed by the foie gras and smoked salmon as last. Interesting and tasty.

After starter came the cold dish. I chose king crab claw while hubby chose smoked duck. One bite into the crab claw, I didn't really like coz it taste too "seafood". Haha...hubby tried and said that is the taste of freshness. I prefered his smoked duck and in the end, we swopped. I really like the smoked duck.

As we went during weekday, the place was quite empty. Maybe coz we went at 12pm. The crowd started to come only at about 1pm. The food was served at a comfortable speed. For side dish, hubby had escargots and I chose foie gras chawanmushi. Both are not bad but I preferred the escargots though.

For soup, I chose mushroom soup and hubby chose clam soup. The mushroom soup came with a slice of truffle. The waiter told me that I had the chew the truffle for about 5 secs then start the soup so that it will bring out the taste. Haha...I tried but didn't know what I was suppose to expect. Anyway, I liked the mushroom soup and he liked his clam soup.

Here comes the main. There were high recommendations on their beef and the pork cheek so we chose both. He had the beef while I had the pork cheek. My pork cheek was super yummy. When it was served, I thought I was going to "saw" through the meat but no..it was easily sliced off and melts in your mouth. Shiok! I didn't try the beef as I didn't care for steak but hubby said it was delicious.

Before our desserts were served, our drinks came first. He had the Iced Refresher while I had the Iced Mallow Apple. Both were really really good. It was cool and very refreshing. We loved it very much.

Desserts next! Warm chocolate for him and Japanese mochi for me. The warm chocolate cake is good but my Japanese mochi was ok only.

Just before we started our desserts, the waiter served my hubby a small muffin with a candle. When I called for reservations, they had asked if we were celebrating any occasion and I said yes, my hubby's birthday. And this was what they did for him! He was really surprised. Me and the waiter sang the happy birthday song and the waiter helped us took photos.

This is the first time that I tried Jap-French fusion food. Though the servings are small, we felt quite full towards the end. The meal is indeed satisfying and we enjoyed every dish. The ambience and the service was good too. I would highly recommend this restaurant for a romantic lunch/dinner.

Baby Ziqing @ 20-21 months

[started this post when baby zq was 20mths, but didn't manage to finish, so updating it now at around 21 mths...haha]



3 more months to the TERRIBLE TWO! haha... it is a phrase used describe a behaviour of testing boundaries and finding limits. More info on this can be found from the 2 websites below:
The Terrible Twos: Fact versus Fiction
Terrible Twos - Not About Good or Bad children!



After reading both articles, I think I have already experienced it since 1 month ago! Anyway, this post is more about baby zq's growth and development at 20-21 months. To be honest, I'm not sure of the ability of an average toddler at 20 months but from what she has accomplished, I am already very proud of her. *beams*



Language and Cognitive
1) Able to recite numbers 1-30 in English. Have not started to teach her in Mandarin yet. [updated at 21 mths: much to the surprise of everyone, she rattled off 1-10 one day in Mandarin! my mother asked if I teached her, but  I didn't!]
2) Able to recite the Alphabet in the form of singing the sing "ABC". Although sometimes, some letters are missing, but it is good enough for me.
3) Able to recognise numbers and letters when shown.
4) Able to "fill in the blanks" during sing-a-long and story telling.
5) Communicate only in Mandarin as we speak Mandarin at both me and hubby's home. Thus, we have enrolled her in the English class at Julia Gabriel.
6) Knows the difference between 大大 and 小小.
7) Blabbers to herself while playing her toys (starting to learn her to play by herself).
8) Repeating every word you say.



Motor Skills
1) Able to feed herself with spoon although about 1/10 of the food will fall into the bib.
2) Able to aim and kick a rolling ball.
3) Likes to take a cloth/tissue and go around the house wiping the tables and chairs, trying to imitate the cleaning auntie that goes to my mother's house 3x a week.
4) Likes to doodle and is able to draw "1" and circle (not very round but able to join both ends)
5) Able to turn the cap of the bottle.
6) Likes to stack things one on top of the other. [updated: managed to stack 8 upright big mahjong tiles]
7) Able to climb up and down the stairs with 1 hand supporting the rail.

8) Shakes her butt and body whenever she hears music.

9) Expert and using the iPhone to go to the applications that she wants. (trying very hard to minimise her usage of the hp)



Behaviour and Social Skills
1) She is the friendly neighbour, who waves hi and calls out whenever she sees them going in/out of the house.
2) She is the friendly baby, who says hello and calls uncle or auntie to whoever is in the lift with her.

3) She is the overfriendly baby, who hugs other babies (other=stranger) whenever she feels like it.

4) Sometimes, she is the naughty baby, who throw things or beat you just to test your patience.

I am a first time mother and I am really amazed at the speed of growth of a baby. I strongly believed it is due to the storytelling and bedtime singing while she was a baby that helped her learn things very fast. Talking to her (just as you would talk to your friend same as your age) also helped her to learn the correct phrases and words. Having read that a 2-3 yr old brain is 80% that of an adult encourages me to even teach her more things now.

photo taken at the zoo at 18mths