Rainy Sleepy Kids

It's raining heavily now. DC n I were now in the car, waiting for the kids to wake up from their nap so we could proceed to Sentosa. 

Nice weather to sleep in but untimely cos our plan to go for an afternoon dip was drenched!

Nevertheless, the rhythm of the rain was really helping A n B sleep! Look how soundly asleep they were! ;D

Mummy with her sleepy babies. :)

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Care Day

Every end of Nov, the company would promote kindness and care to all staff. Like every campaign, there would be a color tagged to it and this was yellow. The kindness movement, called Care day is quite spectacular as there would always be a yellow mascot, a group of ambassadors wearing yellow holding yellow balloons distributing yellow cards and yellow flowers to spread love and care for one another in the office.

This was the 3rd year that they started this and I only realized recently at a staff conference that the mascots were different each year! Haha, of course, me being me, I must have taken photos of them, in fact I had done so for all the 3 years! I went into my repositories and dug the pictures out... here's me with Winnie the Pooh (2011), Singa (2012) and Minion (2013)! :)




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Feeling Warm

B didn't cooperate very well these few weeks, it was especially tiring to get her to swallow her food during her mealtimes!

Today, A surprised me by offering to feed his meimei! Now, that's something unusual, he usually just points his finger and looks at her sternly, and sometimes scolds her for not eating. Today, he took the initiative to scoop the porridge up and actually fed her 3-4 spoonful of it! Wow!

B also surprised me by her willingness to be fed by her gorgor and not just 1 but 3-4 spoonfuls?! She usually would shake her when I threatened to let her gorgor feed her. Another Wow!

Haha, I don't know how long that would last but it definitely made my day as I had quite an easy and peaceful time today because of their impromptu wish to make peace and take turns to love and to be loved by their other sibling! :)


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New Blog Header!

Haha, DC just changed his profile picture. It was a family picture that was taken in a hotel room. I like the picture and like it better than the one on the current blog header, that I decided to change to a new blog header.

Presenting the new blog header. :)

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Marvels Thor: The Dark World

Marvel's Thor: The Dark World

CAST: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins
DIRECTOR: Alan Taylor
LANGUAGE: English with Chinese Subtitles
OPENING: 31 Oct 2013
RUNTIME: 112 mins
RATING: PG13 - Some Violence

Marvels "Thor: The Dark World" continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvels "Thor" and "Marvels The Avengers," Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos...but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.



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It's been a while since we catch a movie together. Today was DC's birthday, of course we plan to do something that he likes --- movie catching is always one of his favorite pastimes, so why not? :)

Thor was one of his favorite comics, so it was a must-watch for him, same for batman, iron man, whatever marvel heros you have it. :)

However, I was too tired (burnt the night finishing my HK drama 冲上云霄2) that I felt asleep at many key scenes. Not that the movie was no good, just that I'm too tired. :P

DC did seem to enjoy the movie quite well though... but it was a pity we missed the 2nd credit scene! Didn't know there were 2... why doesn't it seem to be happening everytime?!


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O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

We run a contest a few weeks back to name a new system in the company.

The entries came in with some amazingly surprising names, one of which was "ROMEO".

Now there was a poll going on and we were getting worried... as Romeo is now the hot favorite!

I mean Romeo is a nice name but didn't he, the famous character by William Shakespeare committed suicide? Erm, I'm not sure if it's a good idea to name a system after a character with such a tragic ending. You wouldn't want to relate such a tragedy to your system who shares the same name.

Let's just hope that the runner up will catch up, the poll is still on!


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The Ocean Theme

Just felt that the current theme was there for too long and it needed a change.

It was effortless to think of what to put up on the header next... it has to be the ocean staycation we had not too long ago because the family enjoyed it the best!

See the full list of blog headers we've had these years here.


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Off.To.Work

真是好事多磨！DC's office was closed today because of the Deepavali Public Holiday and we were planning for an off day together but it didn't seem to work out like what we wanted!

Firstly, the place that he planned to go for breakfast was not opened on Mondays. Never mind, we managed to pick another restaurant.

Then came an announcement that the staff conference will be held today and everybody was highly encouraged to attend. This was fine because there happened to be a meet-the-parents session at A's centre and I was excused for the event.

I was all ready for my off day when news came that I had to cancel my leave plan because of some cyber security alert that would happen tomorrow!

With no choice, all plans were ruined by the "anonymous", I cancelled my leave, better prepared myself for the battle and, attended the staff conference.

The full day plan with DC was shrunk to just dinner. But, still it was a nice and warm one (better than nothing!). We ate at Ding Tai Fung. Their Xiao Long Bao are still the best! :)


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"Notebook" Sold

Sold for $200. Not too bad considered it was won by just purchasing $12 worth of Kit Kat bars. We seldom used it for the past few months. It was also getting very slow. The screen swipe felt lethargic. Deleting a 100MB media file took about 5 min!

This will fund my iPhone 5S purchase. Yep, I still prefer iPhones :)

Bye bye, Note! :)



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Universal Studios Singapore

Chanced upon this good offer for RWS Invites member. That's like $211 nett per night!



However, it wasn't that easy to booked. Finally, I managed to get dates for 20th to 22 Oct. Arranged the other room for my parents too. I thought hard about the schedule for the first day and finally decided to have lunch at the Ocean Restaurant by Cat Cora before check-in.




Arrived at Hotel Michael on time.



Took about 20 min to check-in but only one room was ready. It took them another hour to get the room for my parents ready. A was too excited to nap. B did manage to catch some beauty sleep though :)



Didn't really like the room. The carpet outside the bathroom was wet. There was a can of opened yoghurt in the fridge. The walls at the shower area are slimy. The towel hook was loose. On the 2nd day, we left the hotel at 9 a.m. to USS and returned at 2 p.m. Housekeeping still wasn't done at all. As a RWS Invites member, I didn't get the welcome fruit platter so I had to call for it. There was no local newspapers given in the morning too. No bathrobe in my parents' room. Request to housekeeping only fulfilled after an hour.

After dinner on the 2nd night, the door access key to my parents' room couldn't unlock the door. I had to call reception from our room to request for new key cards. This should never have happened. At check-out, the reception actually wanted to bill me for 1 night under the 2 rooms. However, I had already paid and presented the hotel vouchers during check-in.

Back to the good stuff ... dinner on the first night was at Starz Restaurant at Hard Rock Hotel. It was quite good and reasonably priced at $58++. As a RWS member, I had 25% off for our group of 4.






On the 2nd day, it's off to Universal Studios Singapore (USS). The weather was good and it was quite enjoyable, especially the Mummy and Transformers rides. I actually went back for the Mummy when the kids were having their afternoon nap.

Since it's a weekday, there wasn't much of a crowd. The queues were manageable although I bought the Express passes. We managed to take quite a bit of photos with the mascots.







The buys at USS.



Dinner was at the Malaysian Food Street. Nice food although expensive.





After dinner, the kids had a wild time at Candylicious!







The next morning, we had breakfast at Macdonalds. Again, the kids love it!





Had a ride on the monorail and a little walk before check-out :)



>





This was the longest staycation we had ever and really fun!

Dine next to the Ocean

The closest we can ever get to dining with the fishes here. Lunch was at Ocean Restaurant by Cat Cora before the staycation at Hotel Michael starts. It was quite difficult to reserve a table as I guessed due to the small number of tables.

As usual, the kids were having all the fun.









It's good they could accommodate children, although mine were a bit noisier than most ...

A set meal was S60++ with starter, main and dessert. There was a minimum spending of $38++ if you went ala carte.

The BAD - They didn't serve water, you had to ordered a bottle, juices or soft drinks. This is outrageous and it would keep me from going back ever. Food portions were small as well and you wouldn't be filled at the end of it.

Mesclun Salad - Roasted beetroot, Goat Cheese, Walnut & Lemon Vinaigrette


Cabbage & Bacon Soup - Chicken Liver Mousse, Toasted Brioche & Truffle Oil



Tuna Tartare - Apple, Cucumber & Avocado



Braised Boneless Wagyu Short Rib - Celeriac Puree, Sauteed Mushroom & Caramelized Oatmeal



Cripsy Kurobuta Pork Belly - Sauerkraut Puree, Sauteed Savoy Cabbage & Mustard
This is good, crispy on the outside and tender inside.



Poached King Salmon - Leek Puree, Confit Potato & Sea Urchin Emulsion



The desserts were worth finishing with.

Mont Blanc - Hazelnut Meringue, Chestnut Paste & Vanilla Ice-cream



Chocolate Passion - Banana Stew, 68% Cocoa Ice Cream & Passion Fruit Espuma



Vacherin - Textures of Strawberry & Creme Fraiche

The 15th already?

Due to a number of unforseen things cropping, our dinner date had to be postponed to 14-Oct today. No matter, we are here to give the acclaimed Joel Robuchon a try,

I decided to give L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon at RWS Sentosa a try. For one, I like to see chefs at work and I quite like this concept of the L'Atelier.



However, the experience was somewhat lacking as we would soon see. No one opened the door for us ... and the door was heavy. No idea what the guy at the reception was doing ...

We had the counter seats where we should be able to catch some cooking action.



The bread was hard and cold ...



L'Amuse Bouche - Foie gras custard with red Porto wine and parmesan foam



Le Caviar Imperial - Imperial caviar in duo of French butter beans
This was unevenly cooked. Some of the beans were too hard whilst others were soft.



Le Homard - Sauteed Maine lobster on broccoli couscous



Les Eringi - King oyster mushrooms and prawn tsukune in a giner bouillon
Forgettable. The waiter forgot to give us spoons ... does he expect us to lift up the bowl and drink?



Le Foie Gras de Canard - Pan seared duck foie gras, glazed mirabelle prune and gingerbread
I hated prunes but here I downed two in a jiffy. As usual, foie gras is always good but then it's a cruel way to eat ...



Le Cabillaud - Roasted cod with white Paimpol beans and Iberian flavours
The Paimpol beans were from Brittany and in season. Sadly, the cod was way overcooked. Too tough to be enjoyed. I didn't finished this dish.


Le Boeuf Wagyu - French-style wagyu skirt steak with shallots confit
The beef tasted quite bland ...



Signature Joel Robuchon mash potato
Apparently a signature of Joel Robuchon. It is smooth and buttery.



La Caille - Caramelized quail and mash potatoes



Le parfum des iles - Smooth passion fruits, dark rum granite, light coconut foam
This must be the highlight of the dinner. Smooth and refreshing. The crushed ice below was the dark rum. Love it.



Le Mango - Brittany biscuit disc, caramel lightness, mango sorbet
This was good too. Thankfully the patissier was good with his creations.



Service was really bad. The bill took a good 20 min to settle. Spoons forgotten for the soup. Door wasn't opened for us. The waiter spoke too softly in his introductions to the dishes. Luckily we asked to keep the menu. In reality, the L'Atelier concept didn't really took off well. For one, there is no interaction between the chef and the diners. You also couldn't really observe what's cooking as the kitchen top was a distance away. In the end, the kitchen staff was just rushing to complete all the orders and the waiters were all overwhelmed and flushed.

Nah, doubt I'll be going again. Next one, back to Les Amis :)

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