Non-Foodie goes Chomp

We had a department dinner on Thursday evening. My colleagues are mostly foodies and they know exactly where all the good food are hiding.

This time we went to the New Ubin tucked somewhere in Hillview, Lam Soon Building. The restaurant was located in the non-aircon canteen but it was a breezy night.

I have never heard of New Ubin, let alone tried it. I is mountain tortoise. It is so popular that reservation must be made in advance. The place was constantly full-house during the whole time that we were there.

Of course I am never involved with the ordering. One of the colleagues pre-ordered this wagu beef bcos it is so popular. I am never a beef fan. Many times, I find it too bloody, raw or too tough and dry and most of all, too beefy. Even for steamboat, I prefer pork to beef.

Then comes this beef.

For a slab like this, it cost a freaking $120! If I am on my own, it would probably never make it to our table. I tried it and I was wowed! Totally blown away. Yes, me, a non-foodie and non-beef lover.

It was really good, not only was it marinated and grilled to the right taste, it really melts in the mouth and is so juicy. I have never tried steak like that. There wasn't this beefy taste too. You can guess that the beef didn't last very long; it was attacked from left, right, center. Poor beef.

The rest of the food were ok but definitely below par when compared to the beloved beef. Lol. I kept thinking of the beef since Thursday. No joke. I get reminded more whenever I see posters on steak. Maybe I shouldnt have tried the beef. Maybe I should consider upgrading to become a foodie. Lol. Oh boy, I miss the beef.

Mummy Lim

Chicken

It was the spot that we go to wait for the school bus every morning.

One day, Zaky exclaimed, "Mummy, a chicken was here!".

Haha.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 74

I think parents must be getting richer bcos the rink is so freaking crowded. The main ice was crowded not only with the public but also with students who finished their core classes. Everybody seems to want and have the money to learn ice skating now.

I think it is perfectly fine if only the main rink is crowded bcos the core group classes aren't that expensive. However, the 1/3 ice was just as crowded when it was for private lessons. What the....

Crowded rink doesn't work well for the girl. It was no use trying to pyscho her to just execute what she needed and assumed all the other experienced skaters will move away. She needed like an empty rink to feel at ease. Zzzzzz.

Anyway, she happily claimed that she transformed from all pink (before ice).

To all purple (during ice).

Most of the skaters are usually all black. She seems to be one of the few who always turned up in pink or purple. Lol.

The practice before lesson wasn't too bad. We are focusing so much on her scratch spins and loop jumps now. She has to conquer these 2 before she can move on.

Lesson wasn't the best given how crowded the 1/3 was. It was the usual footwork and then loop jump. The girl didn't know how to move to skate where there was more space and cannot open her mouth to tell Teacher Raymond to shift to somewhere more spacious. Ended up, I see her skating from one side to another without executing any jumps simply bcos there would always be somebody in her way or cannot do a proper jump bcos somebody was too near to her. Zzzzz.

After class, I asked Teacher Raymond if Lil Shauna managed to land any loop jumps at all and he said 1. It was before lesson actually; she didn't manage to get any during class.

So what exactly is considered as a loop jump? She has to execute a 360 degree jump and of course land on 1 foot. Most of the loop jumps that she managed to land on one foot were less than 360 degree and she only completed the circle after she landed. Hmmmmm... I think she landed more than 1 proper loop jumps during her practice or at least I thought so. She did so many of them during practice and all while Teacher Raymond was with other students and cannot eyeballing her.

Teacher Raymond did mention that she had improved alot on her loop jumps as compared to the beginning. But of course he added on that she still has a lot of hard work to do. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Zaky's TKD

I had been spending a lot of time with Lil Shauna on her ice skating, taking up a huge part of our weekends. As a result, Daddy Lim had been doing most of the ferrying for Zaky's TKD and sparring classes.

Today, there is no Sunday school and we shifted Zaky's classes to the morning. We were all available and accompanied Zaky for his classes. This would be his last classes before grading test next Sunday.

The boy is always so enthusiastic and passionate about his non-academic pursues. He didn't at all mind when he had to go for back to back lessons.

It was sparring 1st. They looked so cute trying to spar. It is contactless sparring and looked very much like kids' play. However, it was a big deal for Zaky. He proudly told me that he sparred with a red belt after class. Haha.

His sparring class was followed by his usual TKD class. It was the last chance to get all his 20 steps pattern correct before his grading test.

He did it with such ease, perfectly remembering all 20 steps. How I wish he has the same learning attitude with his 听写. Lol. He looks super ready for his grading test next week. His enthusiasm is rubbing off me; even I am looking forward to his grading test.

Mummy Lim

Daddy Lim's Old Watches

Daddy Lim's watches get a new lease of life. How? By passing on to me. Lol.

My watch died many moons back and I didn't want to buy a new watch. Daddy Lim then passed me his old Seiko watch. Remember? The one where water got in during swimming but appeared to be functionally well for a while. It eventually stopped as and when it was happy and I too had to abandon it. Thereafter, I found another one of his old watches and had been wearing that after a battery change.

Recently, we had been toying for him to pass me another one of his expensive watches - the Submariner. For some reason, he didn't want to wear it now. We just had to get it re-size. Lalalalala.

While trying to fish out the Submariner, we found the old Seiko watch that I didn't bear to throw away. I was joking that maybe it would work after a long rest; when all the water dried up.

It did! It worked the entire day; totally no stoppage tantrum.

I was very tempted to wear this watch and Daddy Lim said that I can have it even though it is working now. Why? Bcos he has another new watch. Haha. However, I was even more tempted with the Submariner. I should take it before he changes his mind.

We got it re-sized, all the way to Raffles City. Finally.

I had to take this picture... all of Daddy Lim's watches but now, 2 of them belong to me. Muahahahaha.

All his watches are expensive enough to last a long time. I think I will have all the watches that I need to last me a lifetime. Muahahaha. Then again, I am sure I will still get "new" watches along the way when the man grew bored of what he has. Haha.

Mummy Lim

元宵2017

Popo wanted a family dinner since 元宵 falls on a Saturday. Any reason for good food and family meet-up. Yeah!

There was so much food, which explains why I always ruin my diet plan on weekends. When Popo cooks, it is always for actual headcount plus 5. Haha, it is always easier to blame others.

The kids had fun with the 3Fs, anytime and anywhere. They were trying to make a music video, which I think wasn't too successful bcos they spent all the time dressing up.

After round 1 of feasting was followed by round 2 - 汤圆. I was actually craving for these. So yummy. This picture was from my SIL's fb bcos I gobbled mine down. Lol.

There was of course round 3!

Huat ah! The kids were only interested in the crackers and of course the crazy tossing of vegetables.

CNY must be completed with sparkles!

That completed our CNY. We had to rush off to catch the Batman Lego movie at 9pm, back at JP. My bro was telling me during dinner that it wasnt too child-friendly. He said that Felicia found it boring.

It must be his influence, bcos the kids totally heart the movie and enjoyed it so much as they didnt hear his comments. I was the ONLY one who fell asleep during the movie. No kidding. Lol. Come on, a movie at 9pm! I am too old to stay up late.

This morning, nobody woke up until 9am.

Mummy Lim

Too Long?!

Zaky came home and told us that his hair was too long. He was asked to cut it shorter.

Long meh? This was his hair before CNY. We just brought him for a hair cut not too long ago!

Jiejie chirped in and told me that it was considered as long; his hair is not supposed to touch his collar or his ears... what the....

After his haircut. I wonder how long it will last.

It was so easy with Lil Shauna; I never have to worry about having too long hair. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 73

After a week of CNY break, we are back on the ice. Lil Shauna flatly turned down my offer to join her on the ice. I realised that it had been a long time since I was on the ice with her. She is so independent now, drilling herself and practicing what's required.

She was all smiles; excitedly telling me that it was all pink day!

The practice went quite well. She is definitely improving on her scratch spin and she worked hard at it. She tried to land her loop jump and needed just that little bit more to get it. I couldn't tell what is wrong though. As I was looking at her, then at the other lower level skaters, I suddenly realised how good Lil Shauna is and the long way that she had come to get to where she is now. I feel a tear coming. Tissue pls. Then again, she has a lot more hard work to do as compared to her peers. Haha.

The class went fine too despite missing ice for a week. Teacher Raymond worked on her footwork and her loop jump. She still didn't manage to nail her loop jump by the end of the class. However, Teacher Raymond asked her to do her scratch spin at the end of the class and she did a nice one. That made my day.

We were back on the ice for practice before off ice training today. She spent about an hour practicing mainly on her spins and loop jump, alternating between the 2 bcos too much spinning gave her bad headache. Lol. She tried her sit spin too and enjoyed falling on her butt bcos it wasn't painful and so much fun to do so. Haha.

After looking at her doing like 200 loop jumps, I realised that the issue might be her leaning forward when she lands, such that she had to land on her 2 feet. She tried to correct that and I thought she eventually landed her loop jump! Woohoo! That was until J said that what she did wasn't a loop jump and I got confused. So loop jump or no loop jump? Whatever. What's more important is that she had worked hard.

Off ice was hard work after a week's break. When we met Teacher Raymond, he commented that Lil Shauna did land a loop jump and it was quite a good one! He teasingly told Lil Shauna that even though he was in class, he was spying on her. Haha. That is why Lil Shauna loves his class so much, so much fun despite her not talking.

So which one was the loop jump that she  landed? Teacher Raymond said that it was the one that I clapped after she executed. Urrrrr... I still have no idea. Lol

Lil Shauna's ice skating had been going so well lately in my perspective bcos i see her try so hard.

A good break in the car after off ice.

Mummy Lim

Morning Swim

For the past few days, I had been feeling this dull ache somewhere in the body. I think my body needed rest and I obediently went to bed early for the past 2 nights. I even skipped the treadmill on Saturday morning; I am a weekend gym struggler. Lol. My lazy body yelled, "Great!" to skip the weekend routine. Zzzzz.

This morning, I decided that I could at least do a slow swim. I am sure my body would thank me a few years down the road. Lil Shauna was awake and bugged to go along. She had been asking to tag along for my morning jog but I only do treadmill and I don't think she would enjoy treadmill.

She has been warned that it is just swimming and no play. The girl persisted to tag along. Other than her Coach Alex swimming class, she is also in her school compulsory 10 weeks swimsafer program now.

Lil Shauna has improved so much in her swimming. I was blown off. She was swimming faster than I am, overtaking me easily. What the.... I had resigned to fate that in a few years' time, I should be the shortest in the family. Looks like I would soon be the slowest too in all sports... ok, I will still win Daddy Lim when it comes to running. Haha.

We did 16 laps in Centris pool and headed home. Zaky burst into tears when he saw that we had abandoned him. Oops!

We went down to the pool again with the boy in tow this time. I didn't swim and the boy was shivering like mad. He didn't make it into the pool.

Eventually, he took my offer to dip in the warm and comfortable bathtub insisted. Haha.

Looks like it is the start of exercising with kids.

Mummy Lim

Me Day

One of the perks of working in a MNC is the long break during CNY - the office was closed since CNY eve and I only start work today! I know, shiok right? Unfortunately, the kids didn't have school for most of the days as well. Lol. So wasted. 

It was Wednesday and the kids were supposed to go to the student care (SC). I could be a nice mummy and allowed them to skip SC. However, I wanted to be a sain mummy and needed a break from the kids; I insisted that they go to the SC. Haha.

It was absolute peacefulness after the kids got packed off to school. I binge watch my K drama. Muahahaha. I think I could do that the entire day. Ok, I did get things done - I forced my lazy body to go onto the treadmill to burn off some CNY feasting calories and then got out of the house to loan new library books for the kids. 

The main agenda of the day was to get my hair done. I last colored my hair in beginning October and my white hair grew so healthy and enthusiastically since, as compared to the black ones. Why like that? After almost 4 months, I have white hair spouting everywhere. I am amazed at how courageous I was to walk around in the hideous state and managed to tolerate despite it being CNY. Look at my hair!

It was the same Jean Yip salon as per the last 2 colors. I realised that my hair doesn't feel like hay after the color, either bcos of the dye that they used or the powerful treatment after that. 

I thought about chopping off some length, regaining bangs and highlighting the hair. Eventually, I only got the bangs done. I backed out on the shoulder length hair and highlighting would take too much time.

In the end, I spent about 4 hours in the salon, much more than what it would take for normal colouring. Why? Bcos my backside itchy and I wanted a lighter brown color and at the same time to cover my white hair. The 1st time, I got the brown hair that I wanted but my stubborn white hair was still glaring angrily back at me. I had a second dye before the stylist managed to cover my white hair; the white hair ended up a different shade of brown. I didn't mind, it felt a little like highlighting. Hohoho.  

This is the result after my painful 4 hours.

Before and after.

Ok, my phone camera probably ruined the actual colour. Lol. Didn't look that different in the pictures.

The stylist gave me some tips on styling my bangs, which included blowing and stylling them in the morning. He made it look so easy. What the... I barely have time to wake up in the mornings. Haha. It is actually quite irritating to have the bangs falling on my face, let's see how long I can tolerate them. 

There wasn't much time left after the hair. I spent the little bit of time trying to find a red top for the company's CNY lunch next week but it was so tough. All the red tops looked like they are tailormade for aunties and I am not that auntie yet hor. 

Though it was not the most luxurious Me Day, it is good to spend time taking care of myself.

Mummy Lim