Memories of little chicks

Elly was watching Crayon Shin and there was this episode where Xiao Xin manage to get a chick FOC.

Elly was forcing me to watch with her that.

I then recalled and share with her that my father used to buy us very colour chicks when I am in P6?

Do you remember the craze back then when there are colourful chicks? I seriously don't know how my dad got convinced but one day he came back with 3 little chicks - in Pink, Green and Yellow! omg, their colours are in baby tones and they are CUTE!!!

I don't have very deep impression other then the above because the chicks didnt survived in our house for more than a week. The crow steal our chicks and eat them! =(

But yes, such small things that we nv dream of our dad will do or will bother, he actually did. hahahaha.

I doubt anyone remembers this though! hahaha

Slipped Away

Elly's 3rd Bday Celebration @ McDonald!

Birthday celebrations each year is very different. More involvement from Elly this year. She choose the tibits, and also wanted to help out in the preparation of the goodie bags..

She was SOOO happy when she saw all the tibits and was so appreciative and in love with mummy that day....

The day before her actual celebration, we went to collect her cupcakes. I love the design and thought this year round, let's have something special and unique.... It was garden theme to pair it off with her Disney princess main birthday cake...

Ta-dah! Princess, castle and garden folks... :)

Actual celebration day.. Baby girl allow me to tong her hair and tie it up for her special event...

We hold her birthday celebration at one of the McDonald's in Bedok Reservoir. Each children cost $9.50 (if i remember correctly); and we also catered for Extra Value Meal for all the daddies and mummies from her ChildCare friends, friends & some relatives... Total I have around 40-50 guests in the McDonald's... Hmmmm spent around $350 in total for a 2-3 hours celebration @ McDonald, excluding goodies bag and cakes.

All kids will have a party hat for identifications during games. When it's time to place an order, the store will also indicate the food ordered for each kid on a sticker, and paste in on their clothes for easy identification and distribution of food.

We started off at around 1 pm, after setup and organizing the kids. The Party coordinator will engage the kids for a round or 2 of games. The games played will be suited accordingly to the age group of the kids. As they are mostly 3 years old, the games are simple and mainly dance and music...

After few rounds of games, they will asked the kids to line up and proceed to have their hands washed before food are being served.

Here's Elly with her bestie - Megan Ong!

And finally food are being served! The kids are all seated on their own enjoying their little treats.. The restaurant is also very thoughtful to ensure that the food served are not piping hot so that they don't get scalded. I remembered the fries are just being removed from the fryer, and the party coordinator feel the heat of the food from the packaging and ensure it's not too hot before she allow the helpers to serve the food...

All the kids are independent and steady except for my baby girl. She's always shy, and clingy. FAINT!

AFter meal time, it's cake cutting time!

That's her Disney Princess cake from Beganwan Solo accompanied with the little cup cakes as decorations...

My sister also got her friend to sculpt some balloons as additional gifts to these kids..

Lastly, after all the cake makaning session, it's time to distribute goodies bags from McDonald's and what we prepared before we called it a day...

Thank you everybody for coming to Elly's little party and make a memorable day for her. Glad that all the parents are just as on :)

Below are all her gifts that she collected..... Mad happy unwrapping the gifts, tearing the wrappers. LOL

One big cheese with your pressie, Baby girl :D

Her way of posing for photos -_-"

Dim Sum @ Taste Paradise

In this modern technology advance world, indeed, blogs does plays a part in e-commerce.

I admit that I'm rather addicted to social media tools such facebook, and especially Twitter!

Had being following Brad, THE ladyironchef, for a period of time. And man, I love his photo and how he present his entries and pictures. So, being a dim-sum lover as I am since young, I'm dying to visit Taste Paradise every since I read the ladyironchef's blog post on it. READ: Best Custard Bun in Singapore

However, being so popular and with Brad's recommendations, it's indeed hard to get a reservations. So, on days when I am awake, and feel like getting a craving fix on the Dim Sum and wanna try Taste Paradise, you can be sure that seats are hard to get on the weekends.

So, there I am on the Sat where I returned from Bali. Manage to get a seat for 3 pax at the timing which I am comfortable with.

There are 2 seatings for Dim Sum @ Taste Paradise (ION). 1130 to 1330 hrs, and 1330 to 1530 hrs. So i manage to get my seats at 12pm, and was quite upset that I need to leave at 1330hrs. Given the crowd, I was bitching to myself that "yay, i will leave on time, if you give me my food fresh and hot FAST!"

Upon arriving @ Taste, you will walk through a corridor into the main dining area. Restaurant were tastefully designed, incorporated with the modern feel, unlike typical Chinese restaurants.

The main dining area WAS PACKED TO THE BRIM, loud and crowded. We were directed further into those function rooms where they turn in into "bite-size" seats for smaller group of visitors. They also have the private sofa seats for 2-4 pax, where u can release the curtain, and hide inside your own little world to enjoy the dim sums.

Variety was quite good. I quickly ordered the list of Dim Sums that i wanted, being Kiasu and afraid that if i don't order fast enough, I may have to wait super long.

But I'm so wrong! Food were served considerably fast, given the crowd. And I was skeptical initially. "Yeah, they must have prepared the food in advance". So I was not expecting piping hot, and tongue-burning dishes. And I'm wrong again. These dishes are really piping hot and fresh!! *digress: I always feel that the number 1 rule for good dim sum is that the Dim Sum must be served PIPING HOT and fresh! Otherwise, you are not worthy of opening a restaurant that serve Dim Sum*

The all-time favourite Yam with meat fillings inside.

The thing about this yam-dumpling is that it can retain oil very easily in most cases. But in Taste, you wont spot the oil stain on the lining paper, and there is no oil smell. It's piping hot, yet it's not dripping oil. Wonderful! Even Elly Moomoo asked for a second helping.

Pork ribs were light, but not the best pork ribs I have tasted before. The best i have tasted should be in Grand Mecure Roxy Hotel at Jia Xiang, where their black bean sauces were indeed outstanding.

I noticed that I forgot to take a pic of the Century Egg Porridge after I scope half out. Therefore, such half-arse pic. :x The best Century Egg Porridge that i have come across is from Goodwood Park's Min Jiang - but only the porridge is worth mentioning. Taste's porridge is equally good, but it just lack that extra oomph which I can't put it into words.

*ps: i regret preparing this post now. I'm waiting for my breakfast, and my stomach rumble loudly protesting*

The Chee Cheong Fun @ Taste were so generously filled! Chunk-ful of prawns in every section. Being an extreme prawn lover, you cannot imagine the joy I had from this. Mouth watering just by looking at the prawn chunks spilling out. *yum!!*

I'm not usually a har-gar person. I am more of a Siew mai girl. I ordered this for the sake of my little girl, because she's an even greater prawn lover as compared to myself. This is the first time ever, in my dim sum venture, that i decided to take a bite of this all-time fav. I love Taste's version!!! The skin is so thin, and sweetness of prawn's juice just splash out when you take a bite. SAVE ME!!

My Siew Mai - one thing i look out in a siew mai is how juicy the siew mai is. Juiciness depends on a few factors (in my humble opinion).

Firstly, this dish must be served immediately it is cooked, fresh and piping hot - to prevent the juice from drying while waiting in the steamer.

Second, the proportion between the meat and prawns need to have a "formula" ratio. LOL. I personally love the Restaurant Siew Mai over the coffee shop kind, because the ratio of prawn is higher, and therefore, resulting in a juicer and sweeter content.

This prawn with walnut is "mehhhh". Ray even asked why I ordered this. The name itself is attractive la. This is too dry for our liking.

The second version of the generous-filling Char Siew Cheong Fun. Madness!

My princess..

This roast duck popiah is the most ordinary ever. Firstly, i felt that they should cut into 2 piece. Second, i think it's slightly over-fry. Third, i felt that the content is dull and dry. I am definitely expect something MORE!!

But the next dish saved the disappointment of the roast duck popiah. This dish is the Fried Prawn dumplings with Mayo. So first thing that comes to my mind is "this must be the all-time fav fried prawn dumplings and served with mayo on the side"

But I'm wrong again! This dishes had a thin fish paste type of "skin" wrapping the prawns and it's sealed with Mayo in it. I was worried that the mayo will be too heavy and overwhelming, but NAHZ!!! It's not, it's very light, with some fruit bites, and again, generous filling of prawns.

And lastly, the custard bun. I grabbed it immediately after it was being served. Anticipating the burnt that i will get on my tongue. But nope, not that hot. The custard bun here was slightly thicker than what I had at Cathy and St Regis. Ray was clearly not a fan of the custard bun here at Taste. I would have being won over, if not for the lack of freshness in the bun.

The custard bun was bite size and the filling was rich and sinful. After i tear off the skin, see how soft it had become.

Moo Moo is demonstrating how suffocated with food looks like. LOL

Overall, the food served in Taste is on average $1 higher then the typical Dim Sum Restaurant. My above meal cost $60 with no credit card discount. Usually, it would have cost like $40-50 for a dim sum meal else where. But then again, i got compensated with their generous ingredients, therefore, it's all worth it.

I checkout at 1300 hrs. so......... Not bad huh! :p

This will still be on my list of Dim-sum craving fix, and a restaurant worth recommending! Although my hubby was not very impressed with it. But then again, it's differs from people to people, right?