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

2011 CNY diary - first one in my 29 years

二十九

Baby zq had started school a month ago at Julia Gabriel twice per week for 1 and 1/2 hr session each time. She is attending Playnest for 6mths-18mths. As she is already 17mths now, for the next term, she will be enrolled in the Playclub for 18mths-3yrs. Mama and younger sis were the ones accompanying her to school, with Papa fetching them as it was at Evans Road. Since we were taking leave for CNY, we decided to bring her to school today. I went in with her. She is the oldest and "biggest" in class, haha. And being the oldest, I guess that is why it seems like she is the one who can interact better with the teachers. Like when the teachers are singing and doing actions, she is able to follow (sometimes, haha), while other babies still need the parent to guide them along. Not that baby zq do not need guidance from me, but it seems like she can interact and understand a bit more than others. As warned by mama, it was really a tiring 1 and 1/2 session for the adult but i'm sure it was an enjoyable one for the baby. As mentioned by the teachers, the babies may seem not to be able to concentrate in class but in actual fact, their little brains are recording all the happenings around them. I do believe it is true. After a month of class, baby zq has started to do the sing-a-long actions taught in class by herself sometimes. :)

baby zq's photo among her classmates on board outside classroom

We went back to JB in the afternoon (much to the surprise to everyone). Traffic jam has not started yet and we managed to reach home within the hour. Back here, it was just a relaxing afternoon, lazing around in the house.

年三十

It's eve of CNY! Supposed to be excited but I do not feel it actually, haha. Had kueh lapis for breakfast at home. As most of the people working in JB do not live in JB, they will go home early and most of the shops are already closed for CNY on the eve. We ended up having Bak Kut Teh for more breakfast as most shops are not opened. Bought a nail polish and 11 dvds (1 for RM4 each, buy 10 get 1 free!) at Holiday Plaza. Lunch was a simple fare at home. It was a lazy afternoon again before we started to prepare for the reunion dinner. Reunion dinner here at JB is dinner out in the restaurant.

::sidetrack:: Before marriage, reunion dinner was a home cooked dinner at home with all the relatives. With ah ma passed on and most of us (girls) married, we did not have a reunion dinner with all the relatives now. I really missed that. After reunion dinner, we will just hang around, watch the tv and decorating the house together. Then our relatives will leave to baibai, and we will do the last cleaning up and decorations and counting down together with Channel 8 haha. I remember that when we were younger we will go to the temple after midnight to baibai, then come home and mama will give angbao. We will put the angbao under our pillows. Speaking of which, I just remembered I forgot to put the angbao I gave baby zq under her pillow! :(  ::

Back to the present. In JB here, we give angbao on eve of CNY coz we don't get to see the close relatives the next day. They just don't visit each other on Chu Yi, until now I still do not understand why. And because of this, I decided to wear new clothes on eve instead of Chu Yi. Check out the outfit for 我们一家三口. I actually became a hush puppies lifetime member because of this. haha.

Every year we will have 2 tables, comprising of our family, FIL two younger bro and their familes, together with ah ma. This year, FIL booked 2 tables at a restaurant at danga bay where there is entertainment. We were seated right in front! I do not know if he purposely chose the first table so that baby zq will get entertained while we ate. And wow, there were 变脸表演 (never seen one and so close up somemore!), magic show, live CNY songs, lucky draw and 杂技表演. Talking about lucky draw, we were really lucky. It was a lucky draw based on the table no. and we got picked! A hamper. :) Food was not bad too, good!

By the time we reached home, it was already 11pm. Poor baby zq was so tired. After changing her into her new pjs and giving her her angbao, i carried her to sleep and she fell asleep immediately. Then the fire crackers started. Every year, our neighbours will play with all different sorts of fire crackers. It went non-stop until 12 plus 1. Luckily, baby zq was sleeping like a log.

大年初一

Our 2nd CNY with baby zq. Same as last year, I asked her to bring the oranges to her grandparents room to wish them happy new year. This year she can walk so it is really cute to see her knocking on the door first and giving them the oranges, not forgetting to do the gong xi action with her hands. haha.

Dressed like a soccer player today. Look like a boy with a hello kitty pin on her head.

Lunch at ah ma's house. Lazed around a bit then went to ah yi's house (my first time there). No JUSCO this year (every year, since I married hubby, we go to JUSCO after lunch just to window shop).

Happiest when she is playing with her uncle's IPad.

Playing with drumset and riding on the bike at ah yi's house.

Taking photo with the 看门狗 and relaxing on the rocking chair at ah yi's house.

Dinner was a simple home-cooked fare at home. Baby zq slept early at 8 plus but the next door fire crackers has started early too! All sorts of different sounds paired together with the lion dance at dunno which house too. She had a hard time falling asleep but luckily, she slept through all the noise again.

Before we had baby zq, CNY was spent (excluding reunion dinner, lunch at ah ma's, JUSCO) with hubby playing cards in the room by ourselves, watching countdown and endless DVDs. Now with zq, countdown and shows on the TV has to be watched in super low volume. Haha.

大年初二

I'm typing this now while hubby and baby zq are snoring away. This day was also spent lazing around at home. 姑姑 and her family will visit for a while in the afternoon. Dinner is steamboat with ah ma and uncle and all the BILs' girlfriends. Tomorrow, we will be going back to SG to 拜年. :)

新年快乐!

祝大家新年快乐, 心想事成, 身体健康, 兔年行大运! 发发发!!!

Taiwan Trip (Part III)

Oh dear..this Taiwan trip seems neverending. I shall post more photos and have less words ba!

20 Nov 2010 (Day 6)
台中 -  心之芳庭 - 逢甲夜市

At 台中 is really to relax. We started our day at only 9 plus. Itinerary today is to go to 心之芳庭. Had visited its website and really want to go there. Breakfast at macs. The patty in sausage mcmuffin with egg meal was pork instead of chicken. When I opened my burger, eeks! there was a hair on the patty! I quickly took it to the counter but they couldn't make another one for me as breakfast was over, so I chose to exchange it to fillet. The staff were super apologetic, the manager sent the burger over to me and a packet of fries on the house. So nice!

What is  心之芳庭 ?

This is a place specially for couples, friends and family. It is like a haven for love and happiness. The scenary, staff and the things they sell are very very nice. How I wish I can buy everything back. Entrance fee is nt100 each which can be used for retail or food inside.

We had our lunch at 亲亲*我的家. It was fully booked and the waitress said she will call us in 1 hour's time (because when you lunch at this place, everything is slow paced. They let you enjoy your lunch and take photos of the place at your own sweet time) but when we told her that we are tourists and our hp no. are not local, she was in a dilemma. In the end, she asked if we mind sitting at a bar (high chair so most girls who are wearing skirts do not like to sit there), of coz we don't. And we got our lunch! haha.



at the restaurant:: Chin Chin



view from the restaurant at where we sat, so nice~~

When we enter, we were asked to do a pose. Hold hands, bear hug, guy carry girl on his back or mouth to mouth kiss. They will take a photo for us. Our choice will determine which kind of dessert we will have. We chose bear hug. Later then we know that we are supposed to choose the pose that symbolises our relationship. Holding hands symbolises relationship is still in the early stage. Bear hug means 热恋. Guy carry girl on the back symbolises stable relationship and kissing symbolises going to get married or already married. Haha, chose the wrong one but nevermind la, the dessert is nice. Photos shall illustrated everything.

Last but not least, this is the photo taken by them and given to us.

Behind the card was:

Dear,
很开心今天有机会能见到与分享你们的幸福。希望为您俩留下的幸福见证能陪伴你们幸福久久~。
Love,
爱天使
(haha...so romantic, but to us 老夫老妻, dun really feel anything...but will keep it la...so memorable. =))

Back to 台中市. we went to 艺术街. There were many nicely decorated restaurants, European, Asian, Thai, etc along the streets. We went to an Italian one, guess who chose it? We then went to 精明一街, where from the guidebook, this place was supposed to have many people who set up their own stalls selling artistic handmade stuff. But there were only a few stalls and the streets are not crowded at all. Walked around for a while and decided to go back to 逢甲夜市 again. haha.

FOOD!
懒人虾 (why the name is because there is no need to deshell and can eat it as a whole)

大肠包小肠 (which is actually glutinous rice wrapped around a sausage with lotsa vege)

Went for our favourite sweet potato balls again before having 麻油鸡 at another stall.

Loot for the day is only a bag for baby zq. Cute?

Decided to end here first as there are too many photos. Shall finish the whole taiwan trip in just one more post. Haha. Are you getting bored?