Childhood memories

It was real great stuff, I mean Transformer the movie, it was extremely mood escalating throughout the 2 hours 15minutes show. Although the story line was completely different from the animation, I applause for their creativity.

Vividly remembering my childhood years waking up by 8am and sat patiently in front of the television waiting for all the cartoons. My favourite includes;

CARE BEARS,

STRAWBERRY SHORT CAKE,

SMURF,

Captain Planet,

Sesame Street

I hope Transformer will have a sequel, part II! Love it!

I love Korean Food

Yesterday I attended my 1st prenatal yoga class, there were about 12 ladies in the class and majority of them were "ang mos". I was the only few local students there and I was the one with the smallest tummy. Those ladies were almost closed to labour as their tummy were really huge. Some of them even experienced contraction during certain yoga stretch, I asked myself whether I came too soon for the yoga? Anyways I did find it very useful as it teaches relaxation and breath awareness techniques, different postures to correct and to avoid back problems. It is a 1 hour 15 minutes lesson and the last 15 minutes is actually relaxation time as we were told to sleep. Yoga coach will walk over to every student and cover us with blankets, really nice!

Besides yoga I have also enrolled myself for an aqua fitness exercise programme with KKH which will only commence in August 2007. The class is relatively small in size as they only allow 3 to 4 students per lesson. Do you know that swimming and submerging yourself in a pool is the best form of exercise when you are pregnant? Our unborn baby will also appreciate the 'weightless' floating effect when we are in the pool. Hm... I wonder if I am still able to fit in my bikinis..... hahaha

Many friends asked me if I have certain cravings for food, I guess not but only the need for eating protein stuff like eggs and poultry products. Other than that my usual habits still stay with me for I like variety and hate repeats.

Recently we went to our favourite Korean restaurant in Far East Plaza for a feasting good time.

Hi!

I love their side dishes, generously serving every table 8 side dishes when we order anything meal from the menu. (You can ask for refill too!)

Raw slice beef for the barbeque.

This is raw pork collar.

Vegetables, wrapped with the bbq meat and their sauce, taste awesome!

Wooooo I finally had another soup dish rather than my usual favourite kimchi soup. This ginseng chicken soup was really tasty and it did not have any bitter taste. You can tell from the milky colour of the soup, there were many other ingredients like red dates, ginko nuts and some other herbs unknown to me. Value for money! (We asked the stuff to pack the whole chicken back for my dogs and cat.)


Hot stone mix rice, bimpimbak...

The above dishes you saw is actually their restaurant's set menu for 2, cost about $59.00. If you like korean food, you can go try out this restaurant located at the basement of Far East Plaza.

Weekend thoughts

The Glacier is melting, Earth might sink, global warming, more reporters are being kidnapped in Iraq, kids forced into slavery in Shanxi province, 7% GST, and yet I am more concern about ...

Pimples!

Silently creeping up on my face and skin that's exposed under the sun. They are those stubborn ones that even the harshest pimple cream weren't able to battle them off. I read that after the glow, sometimes pregnancy gives pimples too, to those unfortunate ones. Can't believe I belong to the unfortunate group. My face wasn't as bad as my back and chest. But it is still very unsightly especially when I wear some low cut or bare back clothes.

About global warming, I did try to do my part. I shorten the time of my air condition in my room, I say no to plastic bags, I did not use hair spray, I brace through shower as fast as I can to save H2O, hehehe still I am wasting electricity blogging, watching TV, driving around in petrol car that gives out carbon monoxide. Sigh, can't deny I enjoyed it though. Evil city people.

Proceeding to 2nd trimester

Finally I have gone through my 1st trimester safe and sound, therefore I can finally do the things I want to do. Yes there are in fact a couple of things I have in mind but I was advised to hold back all the plans until the 4th month of pregnancy.

I have enrolled myself to many prenatal classes like Antenatal programme, Prenatal Yoga and Aqua fitness classes. It's going to fill up my time therefore I will be preoccupied physically and mentally. Isn't that great?

Oh by the way, someone asked me for the exact location of Botak Jones in Ang Mo Kio. I haven't been there myself..... but managed to get the address so as not to disappoint you. I decided to post all the branches out, (how I wish I earn advertisement fee from Botak Jones...)

ANG MO KIO Branch: Blk 608 AMK Ave 5, Tel: 67551225

CLEMENTI Branch: Blk 325 Clementi Ave 5, Tel: 67741225

TOA PAYOH Branch: Blk 970A TPY North, Tel: 62586225

TUAS Branch: 32 Pioneer Sector 2, Tel: 68989225

DEPOT ROAD Branch: 118 Depot Lane, Tel: 62723225

Frankly I have only visited their stall at CLEMENTI and TUAS, so don't ask me how to get to the other branches, don't ask me how to get there by public transport, don't ask me what's the average waiting time. I hate waiting for my food therefore I usually avoid the peak hours.

I have photos of Botak Jones at Tuas,

Fish and chips Reg: $6.00 Lg: $10.00
This is the most popular item on the whole menu.

Chilly dog with bun , unless you are very hungry if not don't waste the food. It is really huge! $10.00, there are fries with salad, but Jef didn't want the fries so they gave him a huge serving of salad instead.

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Random photos of Hawker food I ate this week.

For people who loves beef noodles, this Beef House located at 97 Joo Chiat Road was highly recommended by Mr Sitoh from Makan Sutra.

His recommendations includes beef bee hoon (we ordered koay teow instead) . The beef slices was very juicy and tender and although the soup looked clear, it was really delicious!

Another high recommendation from Mr Sitoh, their beef balls, expect the abnormal, coz their beef balls are very different from the normal ones you eat outside. Their beef balls are big, rough looking, quite hard to sink your teeth into it. Jef likes it a lot but I prefer drinking the soup.We ordered another dish from the menu, but this was not recommended by Mr Sitoh, and after one bite, I know why it wasn't under his recommendation. The taste was blend, the source looked good but it was actually tasteless. Don't try.

Their chilly, looks harmless right? Then you are wrong, it is really SPICY! But Jef and I enjoyed it a lot!
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Wan Chai Hong Kong Tea Room located at IMM Jurong 3rd Level.

Fresh Shrimp Wanton Noodles (Dry) $5.00. I like the wanton, it was big and filled with lots of meat and a shrimp. But I was disappointed with the noodles, it too sticky and not Q at all. I believe the chef didn't have the time to rinse the noodles with chilled water ....

Jef waited almost 30mins for this Bake Pork Chop rice, $6.00. Luckily he said it taste quite good, and it comes with a bowl of soup.

What is Hong Kong cafe famous for? Their tea of course, this is Yung Yang $1.20.

Crocodile Bak Kut Teh?

I love bak kut teh but not when it is crocodile meat, Jef was driving pass Geylang lor 11 and I saw this banner with two crocodiles. To my disgust and shock, it is selling crocodile meat in bak kut teh form! This is really unique, but I doubt I will want to try it. Maybe you would like to try out and share with me how's the taste like. The stall is situated along the road side of Geylang Lor 11, not sure about their opening hours....

Anyone trying?

Chocolate Buffet @ Fullerton Hotel

Chocolate buffet at Courtyard, Fullerton Hotel every Thursday to Saturday, 8pm to 11pm. It cost $32 per person, and according to their web introduction it serves rapturous buffet of chocolate desserts and a chocolate fountain overflowing with irresistible smooth dark chocolate. I had to try it to see if it was really that good!

We were really excited when we got there, it was the 1st time for both Jef and I to have a buffet filled with chocolate and nothing else. Frankly I wasn't really impressed with the spread, there wasn't many variety of fruits for their fondue, they only have honey dew, pineapple, strawberries, mush mallow, cookie for their fondue. And the pastries, I gave a fair for their effort. I won't advise people to spend $32 to go for their chocolate buffet, not worth the kind of money.








I took almost all the cakes and pastries they served that night to show you, really not that much but it did filled my stomach.








Overall we still had a great time, the environment was really romantic, the musicians played violin and piano to get us in the mood for romance. Guess we paid more for the ambiance, the beautiful decorations than anything else.

Just the beginning

As the title clearly explains the content of this post, every thing that I experience, be it good or bad, mild or server, is only just the beginning.

Common complains like feeling nausea and vomiting, cannot keep down food or liquids, feeling dizzy or fainting spells is only part and puzzle of being pregnant in the 1st trimester.

There are more complains to come... and it is only the beginning of many other complications and discomfort. I am astonished at how exhausted I can feel suddenly, but according to experience mothers this is only the beginning.

I run to the toilet multiple times to take a leak, frequently feeling my bladder is full, even when my fluid intake was not equivalent. But they all say this is only the beginning.

I get dizzy when I stood up from sitting position, they say this is only the beginning.

I burp at inopportune times uncontrollably, they say this is only the beginning.

There will be a sudden rush of acids produced in the stomach being pushed up into the lower esophagus, is the result of heartburn. Yes.. this is only the beginning.

I will have sudden shortness of breath and palpitation, also just the beginning.

Sigh, and all those mentioned above, I am only going to 13 weeks of my pregnancy. Meaning to say I have another 27 weeks more to go and during these period there will be new complains like;

Stress incontinence
Hemorrhoids
Round ligament pain
Excessive salivation
Nasal stuffiness and nosebleeds
Insomnia
Back pain
Constipation
Fluid retention causing edema in ankles, hands and fingers
Varicose veins
Leg cramps

Few days ago, Jef took me to see my Gynae for a test on the possible risk of having a down syndrome baby. I had an ultra sound scan done and doc checked on the development of nasal bone, the skin behind the neck of my baby for symptoms. Doc said my baby was very cooperative during the procedure, I could see a humanly figure so clearly, head, hands, feet everything! My baby is now 6.5cm and growing, I could see my baby moved a little, but that's not the most surprising, it suddenly raised up it's right hand! I thought I was hallucinating and asked doc, "did my baby just raise it's hands?" Hahaha, Jef saw that too, and for that moment I completely forgotten all those pregnancy complains. Jef said, baby waving at us le!

For a more accurate test, I went on to draw some blood, the nurse had a hard time finding my veins, had already inserted the needle into my skin, but it took another horrific 30 to 40 overs seconds to find my veins.... She went on pushing and pricking the needle into my skin as if I won't feel the pain! Ahhhhhhhh almost fainted. Results for the test came out very positive, my risk of having a down syndrome child is 1 out of 14,582 women.

I am beginning to appreciate my mother even more now, even if we suffer, we still find that it is all worth it~! Baby I love you, mummy will preserver! Your daddy tells me he loves you too!

Fishing Prawns

2 aimless people roaming around the beach of eastern part of Singapore, after some , practically waste of stomach space hawker food, sat on the stone bench and sigh. What to do, where to go, no shopping centers, not movies again. Suddenly this 1 & 1/2 human (+ baby) came up with a splendid idea, we should go fishing! Yeah sounds boring to many people, but I don't want to fish fishes, I want to fish prawns!

Isn't it cool to suggest a place to go and immediately people beside you comply? Jef even know the place that opens 24 hours prawn fishing farm. How not to love him dearly as he never reject my request. Therefore we drove from eastern part of Singapore all the way to old Choa Chu Kang road in search of the farm. It was a long drive and after 30 minutes (my little red riding honda not as fast as his sleeper black mah) we found the place.

Wah very kampong style le, this farm is located at a small hill top.

Photographs not very clear coz it was taken using my 2 mega pixel handphone. It was good for me then, anyway I wasn't in a dust of make up at all. Don't want to post my picture too big, if not will scare you!

Woooopiiii, this is the fishing pond for prawns! Let me tell you the charges, per hour is charged at $13 with 1 fishing rod and bait. If you get 2 hours, it will throw in additional one hour free. Therefore we got 2 fishing rods and 2 packets of prawn food, cockles and fish for 3 hours! Wah, I was thinking to myself, it was a kind of expense leisure for 2 person, costing us $52 altogether. Hopefully we could catch as many prawns as possible to make it worth while! hahaha


Jef did what a gentleman will do, he wanted me to stay out of all cutting and baiting, telling me to leave all this dirty job to him. Cracking up the cockles, cutting them into small pieces, hooked them up to lure the prawns!

As for me, I am in charge of putting the rod into the pond and wait for the prawns to hook. hehehe

Look! I caught the 1st one! And the second one, 3rd, 4th, 5th.... hahahaha I was lucky lucky!

Jef was really busy, non-stop unhooking the prawns, hooking the bait as I kept pulling out prawns from the pond! Wah that's what I called beginner's luck!

See, another one caught by *cough, ah hem* ME! Others had their envy look on their faces when Jef and I kept fishing out the prawns. The others had no better luck, wonder why....

One whole basket of prawns, I was delighted and Jef was tired. He got bitten by the prawns sharp claws so many times, pain pain... never mind I sayang you! Some passer-by saw us and asked Jef how much does one prawn cost, hahaha. What's more hilarious was Jef did a mental calculation and told them $2 each. 3hours, 2 rods, $52, caught 24 prawns, divided out.. yeah one cost about $2.. hahahahah!!

Some of the prawns were still alive when we put them in the kitchen sink at home. My maid was also very excited when she saw live prawns and started to think how to cook them.... hahaha

Look at this Huge prawn! I caught it, had a hard time pulling it out of the pond because it struggles vigorously. When I saw it's claws, I told Jef immediately to cut it away before unhooking it out from the fishing rod.

Our total catch, 24 prawns of different sizes. It's not easy ok, we saw other couples only managed to catch 2 prawns in an hour... Guess we almost fished out 1/2 of the prawns in the pond that day.

FUN! This was our first time catching prawns together and it was so refreshing. I couldn't stop smiling and giggling and kept telling Jef how happy I was, (behaving like a little child) but I still find it quite expensive... He told me that as long as he could see me smile, everything was worth it. I was so touched to hear him say something so sweet and I deem that to be super duper romantic. I will exchange an expensive romantic candle light dinner with a sentence like that from Jef anytime.