Precious times

Times spent with my children are very precious to me as I know I have my commitment to my students and school too which take up a lot of my time..Its definitely not easy juggling work and family so that's why all the more, I appreciate and treasure the times spent with my kids.

Today, I took them out to Serangoon NEX shopping centre by taking the train which the kids love.

First up, I brought them to the playground right at the top of the shopping centre.


Leaving them there with Vicky, I hurry off to do my shopping at Challenger. Bought a light bag to put my ipad and other valuables when I go out. Thanks to my mum who gave me a voucher for my upcoming birthday.

Then, we had lunch at the food court and after that, visited the new library there. Quite a good selection of children's books! Loved it!

Overall had a great time with the children. Thank God they were pretty well-behaved except for the last part when Caleb ran in the almost-empty-train just to sit down all by himself.

Busy Saturday

This morning, went to airport at about 630am to send off my students and colleagues to Hefei, China. Gave some of them a surprise as they didnt expect me to be there. Love giving and receiving surprises..(pleasant ones)



Then I decided to buy Macdonalds breakfast home for the family. After that, at about 9am, went to my mum-in-law's place to learn how to make rice dumplings from my mum-in-law. I wanted so much to learn so that I can make it in future for my family and friends.

It was tough wrapping the dumpling into a pyramid shape. I know CT tried to take a video of me making one rice dumpling and he gave up waiting for me to tie it correctly!



I managed to do about 3 dumplings. Good enough! It was hard work...My mum-in-law commented that next year, I will take over her job to do..oh gosh.

Then an hour later, went to Caleb and Danielle's school for exhibition as we viewed their art work as well as performance.

Here's Danielle's class artwork...



Here's Caleb's class..





As for the rest of the classes, there was one class which amazed me by their project on bats. So amazing!



Danielle didnt manage to perform as we went a minute too late. When we reached, her classmates were up on stage already. As for Caleb, he had stage fright and stood still amongst his friends during the performance.

I really have no idea why he does not perform on stage. Last year during the concert, he too stand still while the rest of his classmates were dancing. At home, he would always perform for us and down at the block, he would greet strangers and say hello to them..so why is he so shy on stage??



I did ask him and he said he was scared. His teachers will look into it and let me know how best to help him. In the meantime, I am not worried as I know he would grow out of it eventually!

After the exhibition in school, went back to mum-in-law's place to eat the rice dumpling which I made!


Success!! Cant wait to try making rice dumplings all by myself.

Went home feeling very tired after a fun, but long morning! But its all worth it..after all, its time spent with my loved ones.

Love picnics

As a kid growing up, I always enjoy picnics at the park or beach. My ideal picnic food would actually be bee hoon with chicken curry but of course, my kids do not like eating that for now since its spicy.

Anyway, it was the enjoyment of food and fun at the same time. So with that in mind, picnics has been a regular activity in our family.


Today, we brought the family to a nearby park for a picnic. I prepared homemade beef and chicken burger. Had to make chicken as my helper doesnt really eat beef.

I marinated the beef with Worcestershire sauce, salt, herbs, egg and biscuit crumbs (crushed cream crackers) to bind it all together and make it slightly crispy.


Also prepared fried bacon strips, grilled portabello mushroom to add it into the burger.

Initially, I was afraid the kids would not eat it as that was my only food! But I needed to try and I just knew I couldnt always give in to what they want. My kids need to learn to adapt and be flexible.




Glad they ate and seemed to enjoy it. Phew!

However, it started to drizzle. So we moved to the shelter to carry on our picnic.


Despite the light rain, we still had a great time bonding together as a family!



Looking forward to my next picnic with the family!

Just waiting..

Think most of my friends or family would expect my children to know how to swim (since at the age of 3, I started swimming). But to their surprise, I hardly bring my children swimming..maybe once every 2-3 months if I remember correctly.

The reason is probably I want them to enjoy what they are doing, and I am afraid for them to go down the road where I ended up hating swimming. The other reason is that they do not like the water when its cold. So, bringing them for a swim depends on the weather and the time.

When I used to swim at 530am in the morning for trainings, the weather was so cold that I kept sneezing and catching a cold. That probably led to my permanent nose block now which caused me to breathe through my mouth. So, I am really afraid of my kids catching a cold from their swim.

But nevertheless, I do bring them for a swim when I see the opportunity to just play and have confidence in it.


Danielle seemed to enjoy swimming and when the time comes, I will surely teach them or put them into swimming classes.





But for now, I will just wait...

Great malay food in Ang Mo Kio

One day,my colleague excitedly recommended me to try Mee Soto at Ang Mo Kio. She swears its the best she has tried so far. So I decided to go with my family to try since AMK is not that far from my place.

Its in a newly renovated food centre right at the first row of stalls. I ordered gado gado, mee soto drumstick as well as mee rubus.

The gado gado is so-so. Not something I would order again. The Mee Rebus is quite nice and the gravy is thick and tasty!




But the best is the Mee Soto. It must be the specialty of the shop since they sell so many versions of mee soto which was set to confuse a non-Malay like me...They also have Mee Soto Dinosaur which simply means mee soto with chicken carcass...

Initially when I tasted the mee soto, I didnt find it special. But it kinds of grow on you and the more mouth you take, especially with the special chilli provided, it taste more rich...and best of all, the soup is not oily!

I will definitely be back for more mee soto. Next time round, I will try their satay especially beef tribe satay!

Here's info of the shop! Do drop by if you are around that area.
YUNUS & Family
Block 724, #01-54
Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6
Opening hours 11am - 10pm, closed on Sundays

Free preview to the ArtScience Museum

Managed to register for the free educators preview to the newly opened ArtScience Museum at the Marina Bay Sands. Its exciting since you know you will be one of the first ones there.





I went with my colleague and we were given free tour of the place. There was a choice between Salvador Dali or Van gogh. I let my friend choose since she was the Art Teacher. She chose Dali...which ended up a great choice as there were so many more exhibits in Dali's exhibition than Van Gogh's.


It was quite interesting as I learnt something from Dali's Artwork. There was this sculpture called Space Venus - a melted clock on the neck which tells us that beauty is finite, the body split at the midriff representing death and the egg, the symbol of life representing renewal in death.


And then, there was also this..

Anthropomorphic Cabinet with drawers again ... this time on a female form that perhaps deceives us into seeing a masculine one who appears almost as if she is writhing in pain


The above sculpture has some sexual connotations. Possibly influenced by Sigmund Freud's interpretation of images in dreams and their hidden sexual meanings. Woman losing her virginity



Here's more information about the pricing


All in all, I had a great time but for me to pay for this, I don't think I will..

Kids' first visit to SPCA

It was my first time bringing my kids to SPCA and all along, I wanted to take them there to teach them how to care for the animals.

Caleb's personality shone through as he enjoyed himself tremendously and tried making friends with the dogs, while Danielle found the barking too loud for her that she preferred to stay outside.

Here's Caleb taking pictures with some of his favourite dogs.


Glad Caleb enjoyed himself!

Tomato Bruschetta

My favourite frozen pizza brand is Dr Oetker and a couple of weeks back, I ate the pizza mozzarella flavour and I was very surprised by the simplicity of the ingredients and yet, it tasted so good!



There was just basil pesto, tomato, tomato paste and mozarella cheese on top.

So with that in mind, I have all along wanted to make that for breakfast for my family by adding the same exact ingredients on a baguette.

And I did that today, given the opportunity...since it was a holiday (right after the general election on Sat).


Also cooked cream of mushroom soup to go along with it for breakfast!


Having bread with creamed soup was actually an idea given to me by my church. Every week, free breakfast is served to all those who serves on that particular Sunday and at times, we have wholemeal bread with fried luncheon meat and sausage as well as cream of mushroom soup! So yummy! Bread with soup simply warms me up and starts my day right somehow! ;p

Sunset at the park

Went to a nearby park at our place. There's a fruit island that links the park and the sports complex.



The view was very nice..



The kids had fun running around and taking pictures with the 'fruits'.





The sun set was very beautiful as it was especially orange tonight.




At the park, we had a good view of the sunset and the colours were just amazing!



If only Singapore had less high rise buildings and construction around..