lovely shot by Auntie Jane but too bad Mal was stuck behind. It was during a farewell lunch at Golden Corral, actually we just finding reason to chill out while the men work la

We are left with 1 more week to pack our barang barangs! We finally got news on the date we need to be in Singapore. and we should be back early september depending on whether we can get the tickets. I was packing Mal’s toys and realized that his new toys alone is taking up 3 big boxes. I wonder how the rest of the people packed their kids’ toys as the number of toys Mal has is considered little compared to the rest of the kids here. Very happy that I still managed to squeeze time out to go to the gym on Friday despite all these. The mummies had a good 1 hour workout before heading to the pool. The kids love it.
Later in the night, we had another party at the squadron to bid farewell to Auntie June and Auntie Fiona who will be leaving today. We had loads of fun, chatting, eating, drinking, singing and playing pool. Will be our turn next to leave and I am going to miss hanging out at the squadron playing pool every Friday night. *sob sob* I would have taken more pics but was too busy hanging out at the pool table I am so addicted to it lelong lelong in the sqn, this is what people do when they are leaving. They will bring in their last batch of things that need to be cleared and all these ‘aunties’ will help sarp them up, as seen in the pic above Guess we will be next doing the lelong lelong

errhhh…nope…not the yellowstone pictures yet. Had been busy packing. Now the reality seem to set in more. Yes, we are going home soon! To be more precise, I should say, I am left only like a couple of weeks to pack my things so that I can ship them back. The earlier we shipped our things back, the earlier we will receive them in Singapore. So the house, especially the rooms were in a HUGE mess. Boxes and things were piling up and as the day draw nearer, my shopping list seem to grow longer and longer. I just couldn’t resist the BIG RED clearance tag and each time I go shopping, I will come back with more stuff to add on to the pile. It is no wonder that pile doesn’t seem to get smaller!
Other than packing and shopping, I had also started Mal on his summer swimming program. So every morning I had to bring him for his class and this will go on 4 times a week for the next 2 weeks. Mal had been giving me quite a bit of trouble for the swimming class. For the past 2 days, he had refused to go for his class. I think he is still not very comfortable with the swimming coach. His behaviour was totally different when he swims at home and during the lesson. He is totally comfortable with water when he swims at home when we were around. He would jump, splash water, do funny tricks with his water noodle and even swim without float. But in the swimming class, he is always glum. So far he is ok with carrying out instructions though he told me he couldn’t understand what the coach was saying actually. I can see that he is not enjoying it. Really wonder whether I should just take him out of the class. I am still hoping that he will get over it and eventually enjoy the swim class and be his usual self.

On top of all these, there were birthday party and farewell dinner which kept us busy since we came back from our very relaxing trip from laid back Yellowstone. Now, this is reality!

mal, mummy, baby Christian and Auntie EthelAuntie Jennifer, Mal & Mummy, Auntie Shirley, Ethan and Auntie Kit

eeeee, I am a SPIDER!surprise birthday balloon hat for Daddy…can you tell that it’s a shark?! or more elegantly named as Mako

We are finally back from our 1 week trip to Yellowstone National Park. We took tons of photos and videos, to be exact 1730 just photos alone! Phew! The place is a geology wonder. I was so glad we brought our new camera along. So both of us had a camera in hand, and with a 2GB memory card, we were generously clicking away the whole trip. It will now take me a long while before I can organise everything. Meanwhile, here’s something on food.

I finally managed to satisfy my craving for Hokkein fried noodles just before we left for our trip. I cooked not once, but twice cos it was sooooo good that I cooked twice within a week. Daddy was full of praise for the noodle and it was especially good with lime and ??’s balachan chilli! You should have seen how Daddy licked the plate clean after each serving! It was so funny and amusing and it makes me so happy

We went on our first camping and fishing trip over the weekend. It was fun, exciting, dirty and tiring. It was my first camping and fishing trip at 34 years old and it was Mal’s too at 3 years old! I sure lose out to Mal when it comes to having fun.

Daddy has been very keen to let Mal try out camping and enjoy the great outdoor before we head back Spore. We finally did it this time, with some great company. Auntie Hoonie came along, with her 2 boys and a six month old baby. Her 2 boys, Deshane and Deshawn were great companions to Mal and I was surprised by how much fun the boys had. We brought ZERO toys but there was not a single moment that they complained about being bored. They had fun gathering sticks and stones, scooping water from the river making chocolate mud pies and hiking up and down the rocky slope next to the lake. The nature offers them the best toys.

It was a rather last minute trip and I was a bit skeptical, not sure how the whole thing will turn out. The weather forecast showed that there will be 40% chance of thunderstorm in the day and 20% chance of thunderstorm at night. That alone, dampened my spirit a little, but we took the chances and hope for the best. Sure enough, as we reached the town of Payson, we could see huge thunderstorm clouds lingering right over the area we were heading towards. As we were nearing our destination, it started to rain. The boys started singing ‘Rain Rain Go Away’ songs in the car and maybe that did help cos as when we finally reached our destination, there was only light drizzle.

We unloaded our barang barang and started our 15 minutes hike into the woods. Mind you, it was not a hike along the trail, but a hike cutting through the woods, which according to Auntie Hoonie and Uncle Robin, a shorter route to the lake. It was not a really smart thing to do, hiking through the woods, lugging 3 kids, a baby, pails and fishing rods, food, camping stuff and when none of us have a compass. As we walked deeper into the woods, I realised how easy it was for us to get disorientated and lost direction. There were no trails, no paths and to me it was near impossible to back tracked to the starting point, as everywhere you turned were trees and they all looked the same! I am so sure I will get lost if I am alone and that was exactly what happened to Daddy on our way back. Luckily he was calm, experience and maybe lucky enough to eventually found us. Phew!

Daddy failed to return from a trip to load some stuff in the car. We decided to slowly hike to the car, hoping that we would bump into him on the way which we soon realised maybe it was not a good idea as Daddy might return to our campsite to find us missing. Too late to turn back so we hiked on, calling out for Daddy at the same time. I started to get panicky when we were nearing our cars but there was still no trace of Daddy. All the ‘what IFs’ started racing through my head and at our last 100 m, we heard a familiar voice behind us, we turned and saw Daddy beaming ear to ear, looking a bit defeated and humbled, a little price to pay for making fun of me when I mentioned that we need a compass earlier on. We were so relieved that Daddy was not lost afterall. This was lesson learned Number 1.

Another lesson learned during this trip was the importance of pitching a great comfy tent over flat and hopefully grassy ground so that the kids can sleep well. Camping over rocky slope right next to the lake with little lighting was not a very good idea especially with kids. We were worried that the kids might trip and fall in the dark anytime and the surface that we set up our sleeping area was actually quite rocky. It was no wonder Mal had problem sleeping and I was too worried that there might be bugs, spiders and who knows what, that might attack the kids in their sleep. It was a long night for me and I couldn’t wait for the sun to rise. The daddies were abit less stressed as they had fun fishing in the night, catching more crayfish and bbqing them for supper. Finally at 4.30, at the first glimpse of sunlight, I was up fishing. The air was cool and fresh, the woods and lake was peaceful and serene, for a while it felt like heaven on earth, until we heard Mal woke up crying. He complained that it was too comfortable to sleep and his day began early too at 5.30am.

Other than the above few hiccups, it was overall a very good trip. It marked many of our FIRSTs. Now I understand why there are people who enjoy fishing so much. I was so elated and thrilled when I caught my first fish. It was a blue gill, which we were told that they taste like those small fishes in Nasi Lemak when they are fried. We did quite well for the fishing, though we were told it could get better. But as first timers, we were easily pleased and satisfied. Quite a number of fishes managed to sneak away after eating the baits as we weren’t so good at reeling in the line. Still, we managed to catch a few trouts, a few blue gills, 1 bass and almost half a bucket of crayfish.

It was such an experience for all 3 of us and it serves as a good warm up for our next adventure trip to Yellow Stone National Park end of the week. As for Mal, he is so ready to camp again and had forgotten how uncomfy the night was. Thank you Auntie Hoonie and Uncle Robin for such a wonderful and memorable weekend.

Last week was a crazy week. It all started when I dug out this Singapore Hawker Food cook book by Jimmy Chua from the drawer. Flipping through the book casted a hungry spell on me. I salivate as I flipped through the book. The Bak Kut Teh, Fried Hokkein Noodle, Rice Dumplings, Roast Pork, Crispy Fried Chicken, Chicken Rice …oohh…they all look sooo good and yummy! I was never a hawker food lover when I was back home, and I would choose simple home cooked food over oily, MSG loaded hawker food almost anytime. But this had changed, at least temporarily.

So what I did when I was at the asian supermarket during the weekend was, I bought almost all the ingredients for making a hawker food feast! I started making Rice dumplings on Monday, followed by Roast pork and Crispy Fried Chicken with Chicken Rice on Wednesday and on Saturday, I cooked Bak Kut Teh. I fell short of making the Fried Hokkein Noodle which I think I will make this week. It was crazy but it made me feel good to know that at least with a bit of hard work and a good recipe, I can still satisfy my tastebud Mal loves the Roast Pork even though they were quite fatty. How not for us to grow fat !

Daddy’s favourite Roast Pork with Crispy Chicken and Chicken Ricecan I try some?!

Here are the recipes if you are as desperate as me

Roasted Pork
Ingredients
1 kg Pork Belly (with skin)
Marinade
2 tsps Salt
2 tsps Sugar
3 tsps Spicy ginger powder
1 tbsp white rice vinegar

Glaze Sauce
2 tbsps white vinegar
1/4 tsp rose wine
1 tsp maltose
2 tbsps water
* double steam Glaze Sauce till the maltose dissolves

Method
1. Blanch pork belly in hot water. Drain. Wipe it dry. Prick holes on the pork skin with a fork (more holes on the skin, make it more crispy after roasted)
2. Use a knife to make cuts on pork belly. Then add the marinade and leaves it for 15 minutes.
3. Turn the marinated pork with the skin facing upward. Scrape dirt off the skin. Then brush with the glaze sauce ingredients on. Leave it to air dry for 2 hours.
4. Preheat an oven with only upper heat filament to 250 C. Put a baking tray lined with aluminium foil in.
5. Place pork belly into the preheat oven (skin facing upward). Grill for 30 minutes. Turn the pork upside-down and roast for 15 more minutes. Turn it upside-down again (so that skin faces upward). Grill for another 15 minutes. Serve.

Crispy Fried Chicken
Ingredients A
3 huge chicken quartets

Ingredients B
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp five-spice powder

Ingredients C
50g Maltose
150 ml red vinegar

Dipping Ingredients
50g salt
1/4 tsp five-spice powder
*mix well

Method
1. Blanch the chicken in hot water. Drain.
2. Marinate the chicken with B ingredients.
3. Bring the C ingredients to the boil. Pour over the chicken 3 times.
4. Leave the chicken to air dry for 2 - 4 hours.
5. Heat oil over medium heat in wok. Then put in the chicken. Deep fry for 10 minutes. Serve with dipping ingredients.

Chicken Rice
Ingredients
3 cups Thai fragrant rice
2 tbsps chicken skin with fat
2 tbsps water
2 cm piece ginger, lightly smashed
2 cloves garlic, lightly smashed
1-2 tsps salt or to taste
3.5 cups chicken stock
2 pandan leaves

Method
1. Wash the rice in several changes of water until the water runs clean and clear
2. Heat wok and add chicken fat and 2 tablespoons water. Bring to a low simmering boil until oil is released from the fat.
3. Add ginger, garlic and fry well. Remove and discard the chicken fat then add in rice and salt to mix. Stir fry briskly for 1-2 minutes
4. Transfer all the ingredients into a n electric rice pot
5. Add water or chicken stock and pandan leaves. Cook until rice turns dry and fluffy. Stir through just before serving

Managed to dig out this old video of Mal trying to read when he was 18 months. That was when we first arrived in US. Kind of cute.

Finally, it’s our turn to pack our things and get ready to go home! Spent Thursday clearing some of the shelves, packing stuff in boxes to be shipped home, at the same time putting aside a huge pile of things that we need to get rid off. Mal had been a great help, though not all the time, going through his toys, choosing the ones to keep and those that need to go.

Had a garage sales yesterday. Started off early at 5.30 am and the sales was good, we manage to make $168.80 (what a nice number!) within a mere 4.30 hours. We sold more than 1/2 of the stuff, some at really low prices, especially those that were sold by Daddy, he is a great philanthropist in comparison to me. Given a choice, I think he will choose to give away the things or chuck the things into the trash to save the trouble and hassle! I however enjoy the thrill of being a little ‘lady boss’

While packing the things, I stumbled upon one of Mal’s old board book. It used to be one of his favourite book and it contains some of his first few words. It’s like taking a walk down memory lane while you pack the things away.