I finally gotten the present I wanted for so loonnnggg! All thanks to a certain high power chief something officer who turned house husband, I got this toaster oven after much delay. This ex CsomethingO had left his job to become a stay-at-home-dad and also joined some mommies group in the neighbourhood, found out from the women that giving the wife a toaster as a present is most unromantic and unacceptable, as the female type prefers the bling bling thing.

So, my dear husband thought I must be joking or trying to play tricks on him when I hinted so many times I would like to have a toaster for my birthday, anniversary, or whenever he wants to give me a surprise. It never materialises, and either I got some trinkets (which I rarely put on), gadgets (which ends up with the husband using it or collecting dust somewhere I don’t know) or nothing. Fake flowers was the worst I have ever gotten, which happened only once, he probably learnt that it is better to give nothing then to present a pot of artificial flowers. Luckily that pot of flowers were quite tastefully done, hence it managed to get a parking lot in our toilet.

I only wanted a small small small toaster, those you can get at around fifty bucks, just large enough to toast a few slices of bread or a few sausages. I could have just bought it myself, but somehow I wanted to wait for him to give it to me. Maybe I am testing how much he really understands my wants; I like to play this testing game. He finally passed the exam. I got my toaster, and a slightly bigger one which I can do a little baking. I love it so much that I kept walking into the kitchen to look at it.
Well, no present for the husband from me. Was too busy preparing for the New Year and party. Anyway, I have given him a baby last valentine’s day which is equivalent to a life time of gifts.

We celebrated Yauyau’s birthday again today, just us, the grandparents, and neighbours, low key but cosy. We need those two kids to brighten up the atmosphere, because they talked a lot, laughed a lot, and can help us finish up the cake.

There was no cake yesterday, because I thought no one really enjoyed eating cake while attending party, and everyone hates to sing the birthday song. Well, the actual fact is, I didn’t order one in time for the party. Good for us, because it saved us a lot of money to just get a smaller cake. It was a lovely ice-cream cake from Angie the Choice, yummy! I should have bought the bigger one.

Quiet moments before the guests arrived at my father’s place. I must thank my sister for taking leave from her job to do some balloons decorations and balloons sculpture for me. She does freelance balloon shows for children parties. I bought 100 balloons for her, but only used 20 in the end. But the hot weather burst quite a few balloons, which frightened the little kids, sorry friends!

Party supposed to start from noon, but the main course bee hoon was not ready yet. This earlier batch arrived before 1pm. Luckily guests never arrived on time; they seemed to have agreed via telepathy to come at 1pm.

The gongxi-ing kids. Enough complaints from parents about the two of them refusing to do “gongxi gongxi” during New Year visits, they happily gongxi each other. They were saving the well wishes for humans of similar kind.

The two stars of the day. Yauyau with Eelyn. I was too busy and forgotten to take more pictures of the other guest with the kiddo, which always happens during party time.

Playing catching bubbles and the paper whistle blowing thing after clearing away the tables and chairs. Children are always the happiest. Wish they never grow up and stay so carefree forever.

Happy Birthday my child!

Having stressed up for so many days worrying about the food and preparation, the party was finally over. We had too much food, so much that I started worrying about the leftovers before the party even started. We had fried mee siam, chicken curry, sambal sotong, sambal eggs, mixed vegetables, nasi kunyit, chicken wings, sausages, sotong balls, spring rolls, cocktail jelly, pumpkin agar agar, brownies, quiche, fruits. I still have six boxes of durian ice-cream puffs in the freezer that I forgotten to take out.

My mother-in-law had a hard time frying the mee siam bee hoon. My humble kitchen is simply too small, the kuali is too small, the fire not strong enough. She had to fry them in batches and only managed to get it done by 12.30pm (party supposed to start at noon). That was one of her signature dishes, and I tell you, it was the best bee hoon I had ever eaten. It doesn’t only look good, but taste heavenly. Full of flavour from the asam paste, balacan, chili, prawn, braise beans; loaded with just the right amount of ingredients like tao kua, bean sprouts, shrimps and omelet and not dry at all. Yummy! She fried three big packets, and friends and neighbours didn’t hesitate to pack the leftover bee hoon home for dinner. And also the eggs, the sambal was evil, I saw my auntie scooping a bowl of leftover sambal back, and she said the family could just eat it with plain white rice today. Would have been a mistake if I fight with her to do my eggs, hers really spice up the party.

After all the brouhaha, the real work for me begun. My kitchen back home was in a mess. The gravy that spilled from all the frying had dried up, which required extra effort to scrub clean. There were pots and pans of all sizes waiting for me to clean. The floor was covered with a layer of oil, sticky business which I hate. But well, I enjoyed cleaning up a totally messy place, so it was some kind of therapy for me too.

The party was for the baby, but poor baby, couldn’t eat the glorious food available. But I suspect people secretly offering some of the forbidden items when I was not looking. Just once a year, I also kept my eyes half shut.

My next target is to learn the secret into frying that mee siam, curry and sambal. Maybe we don’t need caterer any more in future.

Preparation for the party tomorrow is in full swing now. My fridge is full, my father’s fridge is also loaded with food, had to deploy my uncle’s fridge to keep the rest of (more) food.

I sort of regretted not sorting help from caterer when I start to panic. Why give myself so many headaches buying, preparing, and cooking. And then worrying about whether the food is nice or not, worrying that there would not be enough food, and worrying about washing up. James said should have just catered, dress nicely, wait for them to set up the food, eat, entertained and then go home. Well, the fun lies in the preparation and satisfaction from feeding the guests happy.

And what more, my mother-in-law is ultimate keen in cooking for this party. She said cooking for 30 odd people is small case; she had done cooking for 200 over guests. Ok, as long as she is happy and don’t find it too much hard work. The problem with an over enthusiastic MIL is “conflict of interest”. She has her ideal menu, so do I! She wants to make sambal eggs; I also want to make egg, but more fusion kind of egg dishes. She talks about her mee siam and eggs with such sparkle in her eyes that I gave in and let her have her eggs. Well, she got what she wants, and though a bit disappointed, I have one less item to prepare, less worries.

A kitchen can never accommodate two women who both wants to take charges.

Everyone seems to be ransacking the shelves empty, loading baskets and trolleys of food home, enough to feed the family for one month before the big day. That wasn’t being kiasu. A wise move, because we went to the nearest NTUC yesterday and today, wanting to buy plain flour, koniyaku jelly, almond jelly and some other stuff for the party tomorrow, they were all out of stock!

We lived near the railway track and fire station. There was definitely a big increase in train services, for every hour or so, I heard the train rumbling pass. The overly excited KTM train drivers (or captains?) keep sounding the “tuuuuu tuuuu tuuuu” for the longest time he could upon approaching the railway crossing (and there are two crossings within our vicinity). Damned noisy, but I always love trains and must walk over to the window to look at them whenever I hear it approaching. Didn’t hear any approaching train today.

The firemen were extremely busy too. After the “tuuu tuuu” train pass, the sirens of the fire engines started roaring. “Peee Puuu Peeee Puuuu”, not a very welcoming sound. So I found out today that Singapore was experiencing a very hot spell, fetching record high temperature of 35.5 degree C in 15 years. Too many bush fire kept the firemen running around. It is quite peaceful today; so far I only heard one passing fire engine.

The TV programme this year was so disappointing that we didn’t bother to watch them. So many re-telecast shows! Poor channel U, didn’t even have a decent re-telecast programme. Is this what we are going to expect in future?

Spent a whole month teaching the kid to do the “gongxi gongxi” gesture, and she refused to barge during the critical period. She didn’t “gongxi” anybody, and refused to let anyone carry or touch her. I hope playgroup will make her more sociable.

I finally am able to differentiate between the two kinds of mandarin oranges because I did my maiden purchase this year. So 芦柑 (lu gan) is the smoother skin variant, and tastes sweeter, while 蕉柑(jiao gan) is the “mo bing” rougher skin one, which has a slight sour ting. I prefer smooth skin, but the seeds are irritating.

Lastly, our faithful digital camera retired from service during this New Year. A lot of moments left uncaptured. Don’t worry, we have gotten a new one yesterday. With a baby around, we cannot function without a digital camera.

Suddenly, the main action of Chinese New Year is almost over. So fast!

We are back! There was no jam when we crossed the causeway on New Year’s Eve. The traffic was extremely smooth, probably because everyone had already reached home for their reunion dinner. The journey back from JB was tiring. As usual, huge jam at the Singapore checkpoint. My mother-in-law said Malaysia got a lot of terrorists, Singapore must check carefully. Haha, she must be very frustrated. I kept quiet most of the time, and tried to entertain the fussy kid, because I sensed that my father-in-law was looking rather grouchy too, didn’t want to irritate him further. But as a more then average JB aggressive driver, he managed to cut lanes now and then, and even tried to challenge the big buses, we saved quite a big fraction of time.

Today is already the second day of the Chinese New Year. Well, a bit belated, but wishing everyone a very prosperous new year ahead, 身体健康，事事顺意. I am not a big fan of wishing “恭喜发财”, but to everyone out there, I still would like to wish you “年年有余”, and hopefully we will all 发财！

Noticed the very New Year garb the kid was wearing.? Yeah, I have caught the bug too and bought one set of those traditional clothes for her. It was tough job finding one I fancy. I spent one hot afternoon going through all the shops in Chinatown before finding one I like. Kids look so cute wearing such things. I wonder if they would willingly put on such garments when they are older. And these clothing are really like our wedding dress, wear only once, take photos to remember the cuteness and keep in the closet.

We are not stuck in the jam while trying to cross the causeway, because we found out one of the passport was missing when we were ready to leave. The blur husband had left his passport with the Japan Embassy for visa application and forgotten to get it back for the New Year.

The story doesn’t ends here; my in-laws were very disappointed that we can’t go over. No, not because they miss us, but because the baby won’t be around. At first, we thought we just have to miss the reunion dinner this year. But no, my in-laws will not let the matter rest so easily. They are driving out to fetch me and the baby tonight. Opps, it should be just the `baby`,　I am only the sidekick. If not because they baby needs me for milk and cling to me during sleep time, they would be happy to only have the baby back to JB. We told them the traffic would be bad, coming out to fetch us means stuck in the jam four times, twice for fetching me and twice again for sending me home. Tough job. But they insisted!

Because everyone back there want to meet her. The uncles and aunties have traveled from Kelantan and KL, it would upset the joyous atmosphere without meeting the star. So, I will be there tomorrow to show off the girl, and my in-laws are going to send me back here to Singapore again.

We have almost done with distributing the flyers to recruit playgroup members within our Maysprings estate, but stopped by the security guards. He said we need to seek the management’s approval before we could proceed with our advertising effort. Anyway, one more block left, we will sneak around and continue when the guards are not looking.

Ok, friends out there, if you are interested in forming this playgroup, please email me at huileng@seng.sg. More details can be found here. However, nothing is finalized, so if you have an older kid or a tiny baby or live in some far away ulu land, you are most welcomed to join. Do contact me and see what great things we can do, or just join the first meeting to make some new friends.

This amazing bear managed to make my girl opened her mouth to say her third intelligible word of consonant and vowel combination. “Bear” is the latest addition to the family with a string of incomprehensible babble language, which is limited by the way.

To thank the bear, which is from Thomson Medical Centre to celebrate its silver jubilee, maybe I will consider delivering my future babies there next time.