Friday, March 22, 2013

Foodie Fridays - Pumpkin with bacon rolls and stirred fry spinach with mushrooms

This was requested by Xav after he saw it from one of the television programme. I didn't managed to take down what condiments they used but saw briefly that only few ingredients are involved :



1. Pumpkin Cubes
2. Spinach
3. Chinese Mushrooms (Soaked and sliced)
4. Bacon (1 pack)
5. Minced Garlic

The only condiment I used was Abalone Sauce.

Method :
1. Cut the pumpkin into cubes and steam for 20 mins (You can choose to bake it but I have yet to try that out)
2. Wrap and roll the pumpkin using bacon and secure with a toothpick.
3. Pan fry the bacon rolls till cooked and set aside after removing the toothpicks. (Note : I did not add any oil when pan frying the bacon rolls)
4. Stir fry the spinach with minced garlic, add abalone sauce for taste.
5. Dish the spinach and place around the plate and arrange your bacon rolls. And there you go ! Easy Peasy right ?

I am no pumpkin lover but suprisingly I ate quite a few pieces from this dish. The sweetness from the pumpkin blends pretty well with the saltiness from the bacon. Happy cooking !

Linking up with We are the Dino Family



Thursday, March 21, 2013

ACTION PAINTING !!!

So what's up for this March holiday for your little one ? Am guilty enough to say that I have totally overlooked this time. No leave taken and no programmes planned.

I'm lucky enough to apply for a last min half day leave on Wednesday and had an impromptu gathering with two of my close friends and yes the kids managed to go for an arty session at Superstudio !


The Action Painting session for is approximately about 30-45 mins and costs $25 per child. The price seems a little steep but no regrets when I saw how much fun they had ! Something for sure I wouldn't let Xav do at home unless I am ready to sacrifice my walls and floors. Here's Xav all ready to start on his Action Painting !

A picture paints a thousand words. See how enjoyable the session is from his looks ! He get to drip the paint across the canvas, "scoope" the paint with the brush and "throw" the paint as if he was waving a magic wand or using a backslash method. The brush must not touch the canvas.



Mr Mischief was caught in the act of creating his charcoal hand !


Here's our proud lil' artists with their individual, completed piece !


One shot with the trainers who were ever so friendly and patient !

This is the only Action Painting for this year. The workshop will be ending on sat. You can still make it down on this Friday and Saturday.

Timing :
Friday, 22 March 2013 2 - 6 pm
Saturday, 23 March 2013 10 am - 1 pm

Simply just walk in within the stipulated duration or call to reserve a slot @ 62562538 / 92965718

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Life of a FTWM (Full Time Working Mom)

I was once a SAHM for three years. Took quite a while to consider to take on the role of a FTWM.


Why the decision to take on the role of FTWM  after three years of being a SAHM (Stay at home mum) ?

I need to find back my sanity and need to be financial independent again ! Probably that's just me. Before I got married, I am the type who can't stand staying in the house daily. Well, I don't cook and do chores for the first 26 years in my life until I was married and had Xav. Even for my first career, I chose to go for a challenging, non desk bound job as a law enforcer, that required me to be on the road, doing patrol rounds and of course managing different incidents each time we were activated.

I told myself that I want to return to workforce to at least keep myself "updated" with the working society else I may foresee problems should I decide to stay longer as a SAHM. Who knows I may not even get to be employed with my lack of skills few years down the road. A good chance to take a break away from Xav.

Financial Status
We belong to the middle income family. Yes, it's managable but I know and it's never easy should this be shouldered by only the sole bread winner in the house, especially with the cost of living in Singapore. We could see our savings depleting when high expenses for medical and education set in.

Am glad in a way, after being a FTWM, I felt financially independant again. I no longer need to ask dear for money to pay for my insurance and my own expenditure. I could spend without having to account to him should amount gets more than the usual. Most importantly, I learnt that dear feels so much lighter on his shoulder and at least he could start saving again for rainy days. I felt so much better that I am unable to share the load with him.

But on the other hand, whenever Xav asks me or dear " mummy/daddy, why do you have to work again ? Can you don't work today" ? We will reply him, if we don't work, how are we going to find money to buy the toys that you like, the classes which you want to attend ? Then, you will see him go into silence and seems to be thinking over what we are telling him. This is the very moment I wish that I'm not working !

Being a FTWM on the other hand, has seriously deprived me of the time to further homeschool Xav, like how I used to do before. I homeschooled Xav for his first three years. Great quality bonding time spent together as we tend to go out for musicals, watching theatre plays on weekdays, doing crafts and activities at home. I have all the time I have to make learning kits for him after he sleeps.


Everyday after work, I returned home, much as how tired I am, I told myself I have only two hours left (inclusive of dinner) to spend with Xav. Hence, every evening's play (bonding) time is very precious to me. Teaching him new things is simply impossible as I could not prepare anything at all. But once a while, I try to come up with something that I can teach him, and yet without having me to prepare anything, having a good laugh over it before his bedtime while he gained some knowledge.


Being a FTWM, I must admit I do feel guity at times. In the past, whenever Xav has fallen sick, I can still give him all my attention and care and nurse him back to the pink of health personally. Now I have to handover the task to someone who can't give the same amount of love and care as I do. To the extend things like forgetting to monitor his temperature and forgetting to feed medicine, this never happens if I can take care of him personally instead of just utilising the one day of child sick leave. Oh well, woes of a FTWM on this part !

Not easy when comes to additional family support to help look after Xav, I have none from the start.
Hence, option of hiring a domestic helper came to our mind. But each time, leaving for work with thoughts lingering in my mind if Xav will be well taken care of or if he has been "ill-treated" by the outsider. Nothing can beat the mother's greatest love and care.

To add on, no more home cooked food prepared by me personally, all are instructed and passed down to the helper to handle it. Though I would very much like to do it. I can only cook for my precious on Fridays or Saturdays only. Sometimes, no chance at all if our weekends are planned to be out the whole day.

After all the above and expecting a new addition in this coming August, I have asked myself if I should return to SAHM role again or should I remain as a FTWM and sacrifice my financial independance and sanity once again. But I have to say I have no regrets taking on and get to experience two different roles, for I get to witness Xav's growing milestones for the first three years and provide him with the best within our affordability thereafter when I changed my role.

What touches my heart was when I heard from Xav one evening "Mummy, you have worked very hard for me. I love you so much!" and gave me a hug. I was taken aback when this came out from my precious who is turning 5 in a few days time !

For those who are FTWM and is handling all aspects smoothly, Well Done !

To read more tales from FTWM, click on Here !




Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Must Try Food !

It's been 6 years since I last visited Alex's Eating House, located along Beach Road, opposite Shaw House. I remembered during my patrol days, we used to lunch there after our night shift.

It's just so weird when one is preggy, for the first three months I can't stomach meat at all. But when I reached the fourth month, I seems to be back with vengeance. Out of the five days at work, I am taking char siew and roasted meat rice at least 3 days and had sweet and sour pork from the Tze Char Stall for my dinner.

Back to the topic. Over the weekend, I went there with dear and Xav. Just look at the picture and ready to drool ? The Char Siew is soft and nice.  From my opinion, what makes it stands out the plum sauce (based on my own guessing) they drizzled over the meat together with the char siew sauce. It's quite appetizing for me. Not all stalls selling char siew rice have nice sauce, but the one from Alex's Eating House certainly stands out. Do try it if you are near the area !

Their dumplings soup and wanton noodles are quite a hit too ! The dumplings are filled with meat and added with an extra crunch from the water chestnut and black fungus when you sink your teeth in it. Too busy attacking the char siew, hence no pics for the dumplings and wanton noodles. =P


Address :

87 Beach Road #01-01 S(189695)
Chye Seng Building
Tel : 63340268
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