10th Anniversary

4 days ago it was our 10th wedding anniversary and what was I doing?

We woke late that day, had a simple brunch, started another load of laundry, vacuumed the house and supervised KK with some Maths assessment. A very ordinary day. For dinner, we have decided to eat out, at a nearby Chinese Vietnamese restaurant. Unfortunately, just as we were about to leave for dinner, a wave of nausea and fatigue swept over me. I thought initially that I was just overtired from the housework but when I felt a little dizzy in the car, I knew something was not right with me. I didn't know it then, but that was the start of a viral attack that left me aching and restless, followed by bouts of diarrhea over the next 3 days. I sat listlessly through dinner, unable to enjoy the yummy roast duck and hot plate tofu in front of me. That about sums it up for the actual day we got married to each other a decade ago.

But don't feel bad for me that I've had such a lousy day. In fact, our celebrations for our 10th anniversary started weeks ago. It was in bits and pieces, all over the place literally, but still a complete celebration for me. I got the gift first, the most expensive gift I've ever received from him, in S'pore. Then I got the card in KL. Nothing very creative but sincere nonetheless. And we had a fusion Japanese dinner in KL where we dined on high quality food with exquisite flavours, all specially designed, artistically presented and made to order by the owner, who is our friend's friend. It was a treat for the eyes as well as the palate.

Appetizer - cold egg custard, pumpkin tempura with truffles butter, seaweed in vinegar, pan fried tuna with foie gras, , japanese tomato with carpaccio sauce, japanese season mackerel pike

Japanese style mini pizza

Kobe Beef with foie gras

Our main course - choice of Tomato Rissotto, Yellow noodles or Braised Wagyu Beef with baked mashed potato

I think more significant than the value of the gift, extravagance of the dinner or the creativity of the card, this wedding anniversary for me is a very meaningful one. 10 years is not a long time but it's not short either. The marriage has it's fair share of good and bad times, but I think we've weathered along pretty fine. Both of us have put in our fair share to make it work, though I believed there were at times a lot more patience and tolerance on his part....;-p! Although the anniversary celebration was scattered everywhere and anywhere, what I can feel consistently is the 100% appreciation of me and my contributions to the family my other half is trying to show. That is important for me.

Our friend of more than 10 years, Di with his wife to be, and an array of exotic flavours of ice-cream for dessert




The actual day has passed but celebrations are still not over. I have some other plans which are still work-in-progress, to commemorate the 10 wonderful years we have shared with each other together. Happy Anniversary, Lo Gong!

J-Mania Part 2 - Jungle Mania

Sunday was KK's birthday party at the Jungle Mania indoor playground.







We arrived there slightly after 12 noon and some of his friends were already there. We were happy to see that the Tarzan & Jane room had been set up with cups and plates as well as a plate of chips and fairy bread. All I had to do was greet some of the parents and take care of XX. The kids? No need for formalities, they were already lost inside the jungle of pipes and maze of tunnels.

Periodically, they'll appear, all flushed and panting, to quench their thirst and fill up their tanks with the chips, fairy bread, nuggets, cocktail sausages and fries. Lots of oil, salt and sugar, I know. But with the amount of exercise they're having outside, I guess it should be ok once in a while. Anyway, I don't think they care. We also ordered a bit of food for the adults as we know some of the parents would stay around.

All the 4 party rooms were booked that day and there were so many children running around that I have totally no idea which were KK's friends. Some of our guests also brought along their cousins, brothers and sisters so in the end I think we had 12 to 14 kids around for the cake cutting. At one stage, we found a boy at our room eating the food (and even licking the thongs!) and Hubby suspected he don't look like any of KK's invited friend. It turned out he belonged to the party next door....lolz. In the end, his embarassed mother came in to 'arrest' the little 'party bandit' after Hubby heard her looking for him.











Cake cutting was scheduled at 1pm and I don't know how, at that time, the kids magically all came back to the room. The host appeared with plastic bowls and spoons and helped to light the candles. KK sat in his special Birthday Chair (with XX squeezed in together) and looked kind of shy as the birthday song was sang. His birthday wish? "To play Wii everyday"....and we don't even own a Wii at home!





After I distributed all the cake, I was told to take the gifts and the kids shoes out the room by 1.30pm so they can prepare for the next party at 2pm. The children can stay to play for as long as they want though and the adults can hang out in the cafe too.








It was about 3 plus when we returned home to open his presents. KK's friends seemed to know him quite well and he was delighted by many of his gifts. Or maybe these are all 7 year old boys' favourite things? There was a Lego Star Wars set, a Lego Bionicles, a Fisher Price Batman vehicle (which XX also likes). a Bart Simpson stationary set and a Monopoly game, amongst others.

The experience has been quite good with Jungle Mania. I don't have to do anything, the organisers did everything they promised in the package and were very accomodating to extra drinks requests and were quick to mop up spillages and clear the table. It was a short and sweet Sunday for us.

A Very Chocolatey Cake

KK turned 7 on Singapore's 44th National Day. This year, we decided to hold a party for him at an indoor playground, inviting 10 of his friends to celebrate with him. At his age, this kind of party suits him best - except for the cake and lollie bags, I don't need to prepare anything else and there's no mess to clean up afterwards. More about this place in the next post!

KK is a chocolate lover and he requested for a "very chocolatey birthday cake". That was easy enough, thank God! If he'd requested for a "Star Wars" or "Transformer" cake, mummy would have to wave the white flag. I have on hand a tested and well-received Australian Women's Weeky Rich Chocolate Cupcake recipe. I just had to try to bake it as a whole cake and see if it worked.

It did and so KK got his chocolatey chocolate cake with homemade chocolate hazelnut spread as a filling (which I'd made earlier), topped with chocolate ganache and decorated with chocolate balls, chocolate shavings and chocolate fingers! I had imagined how to decorate it days before and I was so excited when it was finally time to decorate it! This was the most fun part of making the cake.

KK absolutely loves the cake. I love the sparkle in his eyes when he saw the completed cake in the morning. At that time I hadn't decided to write the words yet and when I asked him, he said he wanted it. So I practised a bit before writing these 'maiden words' on a cake! Not too ugly, ya? The smiley face was also a special request from my silly son. I'm very happy with the final look. Most importantly, I'm glad that it also tasted moist and super duper choco-licious!

Happy Birthday KK!