Weevil Attack!

When you are overseas and see a familiar brand.. chances are, it will remind you of home and you will want to buy from that particular brand..

That was the case for us when we came across the Royal Umbrella Thai Fragrant Rice that is very popular in Singapore due to the fact that they have lots of ads and sponsor lots of entertainment shows...

We had been buying this brand for for a few months and it has served us well so far... but hor, when we tried to buy the One Rinse Only type of rice.. we were sorely let down...

When we returned home and opened up the pack of rice, it was INFESTED WITH WEEVILS.. and I mean INFESTED! There were at least I think 100 weevils in that 10kg packet of rice!

I tried to go through the packet of rice and take out the weevils.. this is how it looked like after I had gone through half a packet of rice...

This is how disgusting it looked when I opened the packet of rice...

Never again will I buy this brand:(

I even found quite a few of those hollowed out rice that has a weevil living in it! Must have been having party there for very long for it to hallow out!

Took me 2 hours to go through the rice... it was back breaking hard job.. but when Max came home, he said he wanted to throw the rice away.. not worth it if we die of poison.. I feel so sayang mah.. that is why I tried to salvage.. but after thinking through, I think better play safe.. cos now that Ace has seen the weevils.. he refused to eat rice from that packet or any rice that I cooked from the previous leftover packet cos he is sure there will be weevils inside.. hahaha :)

Sigh.. waste my time. I want to write in to complain leh.. one rinse how come still so many weevils.. but also cannot find the company website to complain to :(

Previous Post: Ace Makes Lagsane

Ace Makes Lagsane

Ace found out about Lasagnes when he read the Garfield Comic Books his dad passed to him. Apparently, Lasagne is Garfield's favorite food...

So after reading the comic, Ace asked me what it is.. I told him we bring him somewhere to eat it some day.. and he did... and he loved it:)

And then since then, he has been bugging me to make Lasagne for him. But somehow I always thought it is very difficult to make...

Now that I have the pasta machine.. I thought.. it is worth a try.. so I tried to look for some recipes.. and then leh.. I just agar agar.. based on what I have at home.... decided to make lasagne with Ace:)

Ace cutting the tomatoes and mushrooms. I helped to cut the onion...

Our base sauce is done:)

Then he helped me to make the dough and flatten it into sheets using the pasta machine andit is now time to layer it!

What a poser! hahahaha.,

And the lasagne is ready to bake in the oven!

Very excited Ace wants to try his lasagne!

Looks good. and tastes GREAT!:) Hahahaha...

Ok, I think we are going to make this very often since Max and Ace both love lasagne!:)

Previous Post: I Don't Like H

I Don't Like H

Ace is a very funny boy...

Some time back, he told me that he doesnt like L.. cos L always laughs at him. When I asked for more details, he will describe to be what happen. More often than not, I find that Ace is laughing WITH him and not AT him and L likes to disturb Ace... because Ace seems to have a good sense of humour and so he is just having some fun with him... But Ace doesnt see it that way.... in his very my way or the high way fashion.. he thinks because L is doing this or that.. L is trying to annoy him..

He admits that he gets so upset that sometimes he cannot concentrate on work...

Really??!! Seriously??! Get upset because someone likes you and wants to have fun with you? Hahahahaha...

And then leh, just now before bedtime while we were talking, he complained that he doesn't like H.. whom he is doing some project with. Apparently, H wanted to redo a part of the project that Ace has finished because he thinks it is not nice.. Ace feels very hurt that someone criticized his work. And he keeps saying this boy is annoying cos all he wants to do is to follow Ace around...

Strange boy right? When I was young, I only wanted to follow the "cool" kids whom I admired and liked! I am very sure H likes Ace and admires him.... But Ace insists that H is just being annoying and that "I don't want him to like me! He always copies me!"

I tried to explain to him about sharing ideas during group work and speaking up about what you think. Apparently, when he gets upset with H, he keeps quiet and comes home to complain to me... I told him that when I was working, I had people I didn't like too... I also complain about them.. but I wont let them stop me from getting the results I want and I will still try to talk to them no matter what so that I can get things done...  Sigh.. I wonder when will Ace learn how to team work not just with people he likes but also with people he doesn't like.

I remembered that when I was in secondary school, I had a project work and someone I did not like in the group. The whole group in fact did not like this person.. becos everytime we asked for a meeting, the person will have some excuse not to turn up and the person did not contribute to our project at all. In the end, after discussion, we went to tell him that he will have to pay for all the materials as part of his contribution since he didn't want to contribute effort.. ahahahahah :)

Anyway, I don't understand what is my son's problem.. people like him.. he upset.. people dun like him he also upset.. hahahahahaha...

Anyway, I also tried to explain to him how to persuade people to follow your thinking.. "First you must understand what they like and start from there..." I tell him.. and I related the story of how when he was young, he was insistent on picking his own clothes and refused to change out of them no matter what we did or said. ONce, we were going to some event and he do or die refused to wear a polo t with collar and wanted to wear his home clothes... And Max, knowing that he likes to be like daddy, told him that he can be like daddy and wear collar like daddy.. and he immediately agreed! Hahaha..

Maybe I should take out my Master Of Persuasion notes and teach him a trick or two :) hahaha...

PS: He is now friends with L but still prefers to avoid H.

PPS: 2 weeks later... Ace says that he has decided to heed my advice. He went to H and told him that he thinks that his cover for the book they are making for the school project is very nice and so they shouldnt waste time making another one. And so H says... "Yeah.. actually it is quite nice.." And so they agreed on that and Ace decided that he will still work with H to complete the project. But as I asked him to express his feelings, Ace told H, "If you want to work together with me, you cannot always boss me around. I get very upset when I am being bossed around for no good reason."

"So what happened leh.. what did he say?" I asked him. "He said ok lor..." Ace said.. "But after a while he forgot again and started to boss me around. I give him 3 chance.. first time he boss, I told him he is bossing me again.. second time.. i remind him again.. third time I told him, "Ok, if you want to boss around and do everything your way, then you might as well do the project by yourself. I am leaving." and so H asked him to come back and they worked at working on completing the project again. Maybe threatening to leave is not that great an idea.. BUT I am glad that Ace stood up for himself and at least he worked through this issue by himself and  in the end and managed to complete the project happily. For that, I told him he did a great job resolving this by himself.. his dad agreed too ;)

Previous Post: I Wanna Be Iron Man

I Wanna Be Iron Man

I have been going around and telling everyone that Ace studies in a school with a no homework policy and thus, they have no homework.. which is great for me because it gives me time to let him work on the Singaporean math curriculum and time to learn chinese:)

The other day, Ace came home and corrected me.. cos he said the headmistress had a talk with them and told them it is not true that they do not have ANY hoemwork.. cos they are required to do reading everyday.. with their parents...

Recently, Ace has been selecting books about various superheros for his required reading... When he finally chose one that talks about all the different superhero groups and the various members in each group, I asked him.. out of all the super heroes he read about, who does he aspire to be..

"I want to be IRON MAN!" Ace declared...

Because he said that iron man likes science and likes high technology things like him...

"And he is SUPER RICH!" he added..

wahahahahahaha... money face.. so much so for saying other people dun respect kindness if they choose money over food..

When his dad came home, I repeated this story to him and Ace quickly added that it was mostly because he likes high tech thing... the super rich.. well, it is just a bonus.. hahaha

Previous Post: Hard Rockers Again

Hard Rockers Again

Eid was quite boring for us since it was a holiday and many of our friends were not around.. Initially we wanted to do a staycation but the hotel prices during the holidays is tai lang doh hway... so we decided to just stay home....

BUT just so we feel a little less xian.. we decided to eat at Hard Rock instead of our usual haunts..

And again, Ace gets the same kids placemat with the same games.. hahaha :)

While waiting for our food... we just camwhore lah ;)

Ace pretending to be WOLVERINE:)

Dinner is served!

The waiters are dancing.. to the same songs again on stage..

That's Ace trying to share his food with me and feed me a french fry..

Ace trying to be funny lah...

Pretending to smoke a french fry cigar...

And then.. finally, the moment we were waiting for.. the band! Alas, it was quite a disappointment... the sound system was like shit.. I can barely hear what they were singing... and also, they were mostly singing songs I did not know.. only song I knew was Gentlemen by Psy and even that was not very well done.. I would have rather they sing Gangnam Style...

Ace trying to be funny and used cream to show me how he will look like with a moustache:) wahahaha...

We walked around the shopping mall after that and found out there is a performance for children and so we asked Ace to stay and watch while we went shopping:) haha.. but nothing much to see.. so we came out and joined Ace.. it was this group of men who made music using plastic tubes.. quite amazing!

Have attached two videos here of their performance:)

Ace boh liao.. want to pose with the deco in the mall..

I think his poses quite tame compared to the other little monkeys I see... I wonder why the parents allow that... and the security guard also only a few hundred meters away.. also never say anything.. wat if someone falls or something breaks? I mean these things are quite tall leh..

One last round around Toys R Us at Ace's request...

And then.. time to go home..

Previous Post: Halloween 2013

Halloween 2013

Every year, Ace's school throws a Halloween party that they call Autumn party...

The first year we attended... Ace insisted on buying a Policeman Outfit... And the second year, he also realized that since he will be running around lots, it doesnt make sense to dress up too much and said he wants to wear the GHOST t shirt that he has.... THis year... he insists he wants to dress up as something...

Initialy he said he wanted to be a zombie soldier... But I told him we don't have soldier outfits... so cannot do that... and then he wanted to be iron man... and asked me to use paper ot make him an iron suit.. knowing that he will certainly run around alot in the night.. I suggest instead that he be iron man in his black tee shirt..

That is Ace doing kung fu with the Devil's Trident..

I thought very long and hard and finally came up with a design.. I cut out a circle and paste some alumiium foil on it.. and then I sew a blue glow bracelet around it... too bad we bought poor quality glow in the dark bracelet from daiso... so it wasnt really bright enough..

Just to get into the mood, I also bought two cat ears from Daiso so that I can dress up too:) haha

This year, the school is not ab;e to provide decorations made by the children... and so... THE PARENTS MADE DECORATIONS THEMSELVES:) hahaha

I think this year's decorations are quite well done!:)

I bet Ace doesnt dare to sit on the frankenstein :)

Witch DJ:)

Kenny from Southpark gamely posed for me!:)

Max says he is hungry so we scoured the Year 6 baking goods booth for some food:)

Quite cute right?

Ace and his classmates...

A very angry looking mermaid.. haha

What a economical Halloween outfit! Just buy tape and tie around.. hahaha

I tot the dad on the left looked pretty cool too with his count dracula outfit and his pram.. wahahaha ;)

Frankenstien.. anyone??

The blue mahawk... I really cannot figure out what or who is is trying to be.. but looks cool:)

This is flying in the wind on top of the school building:)

This witch even came with a mask...

This sporting dad came with a knife through his head.. hahaha

A selfie with hubby.. note: Max did not make up.. he just did not have enough sleep... so have very dark eyes.. hahahahahahahha

Other than the school party, Ace was also invited by his friend to join him in the trick or treat event in his building..

As I have already dismantled his iron man suit by then, I convinced Ace to wear his tudor outfit.. (so as to get maximum mileage out of it!) But he wasnt scary or anything.. while playing over at his friend's house,

It is not alot but Ace is happy lah.. and I am also thankful it is not alot of sweets!:) wahahaha... He said that one man asked him to perform a stunt... one asked him to sing.. one asked him to do a cartwheel before giving him sweets :)

In short, this Halloween is a very exciting one for Ace:)

Previous Post: They Stole My Idea!