Thursday, May 31, 2012

May 2012 In Dubai

This is again going to be a random post for me to remember and recall all the things that happened this month...
That's my Mother's Day present from Ace:) guess where in learnt it from? He learnt it from his school bus conductor.. he was bored and as Ace was the only person on the bus, he taught Ace how to make this flower and Ace figured you could write a secret message inside the piece of paper you rolled up as a stem.. sweet:)

Ace's ambition is to be a spy.. But I did not know that he has his spy name (FOX) and his spy numbebr and also his spy skill (SPEED) all thought out.. he told me he started a spy club amongst his friends and that he is the spy boss... He asked one of his spy team members to make this card for him.. hahaha.. no wonder I was thinking how come the writing and drawing style doesnt seem like his style.. it is done be a boy who is two years older... his classmate's elder brother. I wonder though why someone who is nine is willing to let someone who is 7 be the spy boss:)


Remember Ace reciting The Very Hungry Caterpillar?That is a BIG and a small caterpillar that he made in school...

I was very boh liao that day.. and as I was talking to Ace, I realized that his eye lashes are really beautiful.. so I took a picture of it.. then I got into a discussion with Max about whose eyelashes are longer and Max insisted that his are longer while I think that Ace's lashes are longer, thicker and curlier and so nicer.. thank god Ace has his long lash dad.. look at my short lashes.. I never could understand why my son's lashes are so long:) wahahaha


That is my neighbour's daughter... as she likes to play with my iphone.. she asked me to take a picture with her using the iphone.. wahahaha:) I must be a huggy kissy monster magnet though.. My son loves to hug and kiss.. remember how I said that his Singapore school bus mate Matt Matt likes to hug me as well? Well, this little girl likes to hold my hand and hug me and just use me as a pillow too.. hahahaha... Since young though, children just like to come near me even though I was never very good with them.. hahaha..

That is my son surprising me by using a very Ang Moh expression of showing how nice his food is... he said "Awe---some!!!!!" together with this sign... I wonder if he learnt it from TV or from school...

I put this up on Facebook and got people to guess what this company sells.. lots of people guessed oil, clothes.. one even guessed husbands... hahahaha.. but you never would have guessed that they sell specs...

My son has continued to play with our neighbour.. these two kids are really cute.. they both wanted to play with Ace's swing scooter and so they came up with an idea to share it.. and in order to make it move.. they got to shape their hips in unison.. hilarious! wahahahaa

If you cannot afford an LV bag..no issue.. get a LV lookalike cup:)

When for a sister's day out with some girlfriends here in dubai.. and realized that you can actually go up close and personal if to the fish tank in Dubai Mall if you go round the back... Really, why do people pay to go inside to see the fish when you can get a clear view here FREE!:)

That is my pride and joy showing me his essay tat was pasted on the Star Writer Wall. I must say it is quite an interesting story and I am surprised at the amount of spelling he spelt correctly;)

Another sandstorm.. indication that the weather is going to turn much warmer.. to my surprise though, he became really cool and pleasant for about three days.. and thankfully, it happened over the weekend.. alas, all good things have to come to an end, it is now back to 44 degrees Celsius.. really can melt!

A little Korean hot pepper sauce can go a long, long way.. now tat we have this at home, we can do bi bim bap, kimchi soup... YUMS:)

Our useless 3D glasses that we got at DINO LIVE exhibition tat we attended.. We found out though if u used them on normal TV hor, the TV characters sort of become 3D too.. only downside is i think they are not really good for your eyes..

Saw this while supermart shopping and for a moment, I thought Tiger Beer had a new packaging...

Found these choy san Oyster Sauce... right beside the normal ones.. they look the same to me leh. I wonder if people buy this because after you fry veg with this and eat it.. u will huat huat huat or will win 4D or wat...

Another hilarious mandarin-english translation JOKE I found on the back of a packet of food tat I bought from the chinese supermart..

Step 1: ignore the chinese words
Step 2: Read ONLY the English words
Step 3: Make a guess about what they are trying to say.

Step 4: now read the Chinese words for the answers to compare...

- 4 out of 4 right: you are a freaking genius!
- 3 out of 4 right: you must be a chinglish expert!
- 2 out of 4 right: your England is quite powderful!
- 1out of 4 right: I think it was a lucky guess;)
- 0 out of 4 right: don't worry. IT'S NORMAL!;)


Asked Max to share his big packet of Cheetohs with me..and tat is how much he gave me:(

Ace has found yet another way to be popular with girls.. because he loves to fold things and remembers how to fold this and that, he has been quite taken with folding these things.. I folded them too when I was in primary school.. you wrote colours and numbers on them and opened and close them only to have a secret message inside.. amazing how 30 years later, children in another part of the world are playing the same games i did!:)

Anyway, the girls are so taken at how nicely he folded these and has requested for him to fold it for them:) wahahah

I am so going to go on a fruit frenzy when I am back in Singapore! It has been a long, long time since I had cherries, papaya, mango, etc.. not that they are not available here.. but they are bloody ex.. two boxes of this can buy my family a decent and very filling meal at many of the restaurants we frequent!

This is Ace's idea of how we look like.. I think he drew Max very well.. really look like Max.. but leh, Max says I look like xiao char boh...

Saw this really nice car on the streets but cannot understand why the driver go and ZHNG the car and make it so ugly... like tat really the car can go faster meh? or maybe the car can fly????

Previous Post: Food Experiments In May

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Food Experiments In May

Compared to travelling in April, the month of May is a slower month and so, I had more time to do food experiments.. which i feel deserve a post of their own:)

Since summer is approaching, it is time to make more popsicles.... made black bean popsicles (from the leftovers after making black bean milk) and lemon pepsi flavour :)

I have always wondered how they made the butter rice that I adore in Fish & Co... And I discover by chance! I was looking at the tonnes of stuff that my friend, Charlotte passed to me and wondering what to do with the tumeric.. decided to make tumeric rice and it tasted just like how I remembered the butter rice to be! Yummy.. cept they also added raisins... Then since I had the premix, I also made veg butter chicken and Max's fav hong shao bittergourd:)

Tried to make sambal fried rice since i had lots of sambal chilli in the fridge. My mistake was tat i forgot to check how hot the sambal chilli is and I added a little bit too much.. Max was sweating like crazy and I was hanging my tongue out all the time.. hahahahaha... Only Ace was safe since I made something else for him...

Max bought some wanton skins when he went back to Singapore and i did not know wat to do with it. I made Red Oil Wanton with Vinegar Dressing 红油抄手 cos i saw a receipe in Munch Ministry... and to my surprise, Ace loved it too even though it was spicy! And he kept requesting for me to make again.. I think I am going to make the sauce and just use it on the ready made dumplings i have in my fridge the next time... Until I posted this picture on FB, i did not know tat this is a famous dish and a favourite of many of my frens cos I have never eaten or tasted this before!:) wahahaha

While we were in China, my bestie bought me and Max some snacks she said could only be found in China... there is spicy peanuts and all sorts of strange flavoured beans.. and even one is lor chup flavour!:) The spicy peanuts had those chinese peppercorns inside them... Max contemplated using them to make soup cos he liked it tat the spicy peppercorns made his tongue numb for a while.. to our pleasant surprise, we found similar beans in the chinese supermart we frequent and have since added them to our daily snack list:)

Was time to make snack for Ace but I had only one piece of bread left.. since that is the case, I just applied mayo and tomato ketchup and rolled it up with a veg hot dog and then coat with egg and panfry on my Happy Call Pan.. the end result is good and Ace loves it too:) Will do this again soon... yummy and easy..

Had to make snack again and I did not have any bread left.. out of desperation, it became a put whatever I have in my fridge snack... so it was Prata (the frozen type), with ketchup, veg ham and mushrooms and cheese:)

Had a few potatoes sitting around and did not know wat to do with them.. since I had some sour cream, decided to make rosti for lunch:) YUMS!;)

This is Korean food month.. hahaha.. I bought some Korean Hot Pepper sauce and some kimchi and then it was korean food all the way.. first and foremost my fav bibimbap!:)

Max and Ace loved it too:) But Ace only had ketchup in his version.. still, he loved it;)

How delightful:)
Found another receipe for rosti using HCP and realized that actually it is quite easy to cook rosti using HCP.. just few minutes on each side and I am done!:)

Since I had kimchi, decided to make kimchi fried rice... but Max complained it is not salty or spicy enough.. maybe need to add the hot pepper sauce.. but the reciepe din call for it. tat is why I din add it... But did you know kimchi fried rice has butter in it? so strange....

Came about this japanese pizza receipe by chance and since it was easy to make it using the HCP, I had a go at it.. made a portion and ate half for lunch and saved the other half for Ace to eat as snack:)

He loved it.. wolfed it down in like two minutes!:)

Kimchi and hot pepper sauce is also a basic ingredient for Kimchi toufu soup.. another of our favs at korean restaurants... visiting these restaurants are going to be less fun now tat we can make these dishes at home too... But of cos even though I thought my second try was pretty decent (I burnt the hot pepper sauce in my first try and it din taste very good...) But of course, the soup as the restaurant is better.. probably cos they have better quality kimchi.. the one tat we bought is not really very tasty...

Another one of our hobbies here is going to a cafe to order a coffee and a cake. If it were up to Ace, he will most certainly order a chocolate cake. BUT, if it were up to Max, he will almost always order a cheesecake.. which was why after all the baking I did, Max requested for a cheesecake..

This one hor is really not easy.. cos the first and formost is when I went shopping for ingredients, I discovered that Dubai does not sell Philladephia Cream Cheese! Dam! I cannot use cheesespread since I googled and they say you cannot replace it... luckilly, I found a thread in a expat forum in dubai and someone mentioned tat you can actually use this cheese called KIRI.. which is a local brand of cream cheese...  (I found out later there is another brand of cream cheese tat is a local brand too...)

But leh, i went to read the receipe wrongly.. and so leh, I used only a quarter of the correct amt of cheese.. the cake turned out to be too bloody sweet.. only Ace loves the cake.. max couldnt stomach more than two pieces!

But since this is Max's favourite receipe and we already spent money on the cake tin, I do or die also have to bake a proper cheesecake...

Despite following instructions to the T, my cheesecake cracked.. so tat is the mei zhong bu zu.. but when I complained to my son, Ace said, "That's no problem, mummy.. i am happy to eat a cheesecake with a crack..."

Anyway, the good news is tat hor, after one day in the freezer, the cake is super yummy lor! Tastes just like what you will get in the cafes!:) sedap!


Max cannot believe his taste buds!

Sprinkled some chocolate sauce for Ace and this became his new found favourite.. wahaha:)

I figure that is enough food experiments for a month... :D

Previous Post: My Little Monkey

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

My Little Monkey








You've got to hand it to children..

They get creative on all accounts and especially when it comes to play time...

Ace got tired of playing with his toys and so developed a new hobby... As there are no playgrounds nearby he has decided tat climbing on the doorway is a good enough hobby and he has been learning to and trying to climb up the doorway to reach the top of it..

Currently, it is his favourite play time activity and he requests to do it  once for a few minutes everyday. I am not complaining lah.. at least he gets his exercise.. and I think it will make him stronger.. no harm done since PE is not exactly his strength and I think it will do him good to work on co-ordination and muscle strength...

PS: Now that it is getting so warm in Dubai (40+ degrees outside), Ace has discovered yet another interesting new hobby. Playing soccer with daddy in the comfort of our air conditioned walkway outside our apartment.. thank god most of our neighbours have noisy children too and din complain:) hahahaha... Ace says it is much better than playing under the hot sun:)

Previous Post: Horizon Golden Rules