Seventh Heaven: a heavenly experience

(Continuation from previous post)

After dinner, I suggested to my friends to go Seventh Heaven which is just 2 mins drive from Vivien's house and so happen, my friend works there! Its an ice cream restaurant, which is located in the former Gan Eng Seng School, now, Marketing Institute of Singapore. So happened, the place is also featured in Leslie's ieatishootipost.

When we first entered the site, I felt a little lost as we went there at 930pm and the huge area seemed so isolated and deserted. Once you enter the cash card parking gantry, you turn right immediately and park your car there. Amidst the old school building, the restaurant is right at the corner of building which recently opened.



It's better to book before you go in case you get disappointed. There were about 15 of us who went!





Because I just had dinner, I didnt order much. Ordered a set of 3 different flavours of ice cream. I enjoyed the 3-in-1 Espresso flavour (especially more so since I do not drink coffee). It was refreshingly quench-thirsting and aromatic in flavour!



We also ordered a warm chocolate cake that comes with a scoop of vanilla. Had to wait 25 mins for this cake as they will only start making it when you order. The portion size is also intentional so that guests will not feel gelat (stuffed) from the usual huge size chocolate cakes.



Would definitely be back for more tasting of great flavours from this place!

Great ambience especially for friends or couples to hang out! Do drop by!

Seventh Heaven
10 Raeburn Park, (Former Gan Eng Seng Sch)
#01-24/25/26
Marketing Institute of Singapore
Singapore 088702
Tel: 62277787
Mon - Thurs 11am to 8pm
Fri 11am to 11pm
Sat 1pm to 11pm
Closed Sundays and PH

Day of Jiaozi (Dumplings)

Today for lunch, Vicky and I made jiaozi-the chinese type with minced pork and chives (gu chai)which is marinated with shaoxing wine and the usual stuff.



It didnt turned as expected as after steaming, it turned sticky and slightly hard quite fast. Think they next time round, I will try to boil in water instead. But glad it tasted nice especially with the black vinegar and ginger!

For dinner, went to Vivien's house for housewarming party. She used to be in our bible study group until she moved to Chinatown. So it was a gathering at her new rented place. She cooked dinner for us and she also had jiaozi! Wasnt sick of it at all as I love dumplings! No complains!





At the same time, it was a good gathering as Ophelia's helper, Lynn will be going back to Phillipines to get married. I will definitely miss her as she has been like a friend to us all. That's Lynn in the middle. The one on the left is Ophelia's new helper.



We also celebrated the Oct Babies..(but of course Asher and Caleb are just 'extras')

Graduation Night

Today was my school's Sec 4 Graduation Night. It seems that not many schools have such practise. This day marks the time when its the Sec 4s last day of school where they go off for their study break in preparation for their 'O' Levels.

During the Concert, there was a video presentation of all the graduating classes and messages from their teachers, valedictorians from every class would go up and say something after the class go on stage to receive their gift. I was up there reading up the names of my students since I am the form teacher.

My family came to school to join in the celebration at about 7pm. After the concert, students came up and took pictures with me and with Caleb as well. Even students I do not teach, also wanted a shot with Caleb.



My parting gift for the class was a letter each to encourage them as well as a nice paper clip.

And lastly, shared with them some of the lessons I have learnt in life so far.

1) I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them. (No matter how much I care, some people just don't care back)

2) I've learned that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.

3) Ive learned that it's not what you have in your life, but whom you have in your life that counts.

4) I've learned that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.

5) I've learned that either you control your attitude or it controls you. Sometimes, when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesnt give me the right to be nasty or cruel.

6)I've learned that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

7) I've learned that no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for them.

8) I've learned that no matter how bad your heart is broken, the world doesn't stop for your grief. You must move on!

And I told the students if you have forgotten everything I just said, there's one thing that can be summarised from all this- that is, "It's not about me!" Once you train yourself to not make everything about you, life gets a whole lot easier. It turned out to be a paradox as you stop doing it all for yourself and end up reaping more rewards for yourself that you can imagine. It is more rewarding and freeing.

Often, people complain because they do not get what they want. They feel that the whole world owes them something. So, its all about them! That is why, they are never satisfied when they do not get treated the way they think they should be treated. So if you keep dwelling about pleasing yourself, you will be someone who will always complain, discontented, bitter and thus, miserable.

So, I really hope that more Singaporeans especially, will realise the importance of being contented and be a more gracious society that will always put others before themselves.

I would like to this this opportunity to wish all my Sec 4 students the very best in their O Levels!

25th Anniversary

Today is my church's 25th Anniversary. Went to church slightly early to get a seat but ended up so early that Caleb had time to play with the slide. Every time we go church, we parked opposite and I have to climb the overhead bridge to cross over. Its quite a feat especially when I get breathless rather often. But slowly and surely, I make it every week to church. Here's Caleb climbing up the stairs, thus allowing me to take my time as his speed is almost the same as mine.





I have not been with him to the playground since I have been quite immobile with my huge and heavy tummy which kinds of restrict my movements as I feel so clumsy walking around with.

Anyway, it was nice to see Caleb on the slide all by himself. He doesn't need anyone to hold him anymore to slide down. He could do it all by himself. So proud of him!



After a great service, we grabbed our free bento set lunch and went to MacRitchie Reservoir for lunch by the waters under a pavilion.



Here's CT bringing Caleb for a walk.



If I am not wrong, it is my first time to MacRitchie Reservoir. I just didnt have any reason to come here..but will definitely love to come here more often since its near church!

Seafood noodles day

Today, I had seafood noodles for lunch and day.

For lunch, I cooked Western- prepared a salad (cherry tomatoes, green apples, cabbage, cucumber, red and yellow capsicum, corn and prawns with mayo). Check out how nice the cherry tomatoes looked.






seafood chowder soup and


a seafood linguine with prawns, scallops and squid- cooked with tomato paste, white wine, italian herbs, garlic, butter and minced pork.



Was very satisfied with the outcome of my lunch.




At night, the family went to Chomp Chomp which is just about 10-15 mins drive from my place. I had been craving for Fried Hokkien Mee for so long..so decided to go there to eat since I know its quite popular for this dish.

At Chomp Chomp, there were a number of stalls selling Hokkien Mee. So what I did was to order 2 plates from 2 different popular stalls(as recommended by ieatishootipost) to taste what is the difference and which one is better.

So, I ordered the Che Jian Hokkien Mee and the Ah Hock Hokkien Mee. Firstly, judging from the number of orders, Ah Hock is more popular as we had to wait half an hour for it...while Che Jian didnt seem to have as much business.

Here's the Che Jian Hokkien Mee! Verdict: Its more wet and not so oily as compared to Ah Hock. Its lighter and easier to eat. The chilli also has more of the prawn sambal taste than Ah Hock's.



And here's the Ah Hock Hokkien Mee! Verdict: Its more oily, so its more sticky. More filling on the tummy. And more tasty than Che Jian's. Chilli not so tasty. But overall, its more fragrant.





So which one I preferred? To be honest, I prefer Che Jian's as I didnt feel so guilty eating. I could actually eat another plate of it because it was wet and not as starchy and "lard-y" as Ah Hock's.

There was one funny thing that happened at Chomp Chomp. After ordering my Hokkien Mee, I gave Vicky money to buy whatever she wants and she ended up ordering Che Jian's Hokkien Mee which she had no idea we ordered from as well. So, CT, Vicky and myself all ended up eating all Hokkien Mee! I think the table beside us must be ordering what a fan of Hokkien Mee we are. Apart from that, we also ordered Stall 36 fried Carrotcake and had goreng pisang for dessert.

After such a oily dinner, we walked around the shops near Chomp Chomp to digest our food!

We also discovered then that today is a Seafood Noodles day since lunch we had Western Seafood Noodles and dinner, we had Chinese seafood noodles. It was purely a coincidence!

Caleb's friend

Caleb has a friend, called Ernie. He loves to carry Ernie around. One fine morning, he woke up and started carrying him all around the house. When we took it away, he would start wailing.

There was once when he even wanted to bring Ernie out of the house. So eventually, Ernie joined us in the car when we went out. But I had to put a stop to this craze when we stepped out of the car to the supermarket. I had to firmly tell Caleb, "No!"

Glad he took it well and obediently left Ernie in the car.

Here's a clip to show how attached Caleb is to Ernie

Public Holiday

Since today was a Public Holiday, we took this opportunity to go out as a family. In the morning, went to The Hougang market for breakfast. CT and I had wanton mee while Caleb and Vicky had duck porridge.

While walking to the car through the wet market, I spotted something interesting which I seldom see in wet markets...here are 3 little pigs. Of course, we quickly brought Caleb to see it. Surprisingly, he couldnt care less about those heads.



On our way back, we dropped by at the open field near our place to watch people flying their aeroplane models as Caleb loves watching aeroplanes.


He walked beside "kor kor" (elder brother) to watch him control his aeroplane. It was quite interesting to see Caleb sticking with him.



Caleb had a great time checking out the different aeroplanes.





For lunch, we dropped by Kovan Food Centre for lunch. Its a popular place with lots of famous eating stalls with long queues.



However, both CT and I didnt want to queue, so we just ate whatever that was quickest. I had prawn with pork ribs mee sua.



The only popular stall which we ate from was the mian jian kueh which I loved. It was very good!



There was also one unusual stall which we bought from. They were selling chives dumpling, turnip and mushroom dumplings. The interesting thing was that they pan fry it for you on the spot. The skin is very translucent and thin. It's quite nice.




After lunch, we walked around at Heartland Mall just at Kovan MRT Station to take a look. Bought for Caleb a training pants.

Then we dropped by at the Plant Nursery before heading back home. Spotted a brinjal plant.





Then we went back home and rested all day..what a nice holiday where we can just relax as a family!

Onboard Singapore Flyer

Today, me and my colleagues needed to go to MOE Building for a sharing and briefing session at 3pm. The horrid thing is that we all end school by about 12:30pm and the Muslims get to leave early today at 1115am because tomorrow is Hari Raya.

So with the extra time we had in our hands, my colleague suggested taking the Singapore Flyer as there is a free ride for teachers during the month of September because of Teachers' Day...and moreover, today is the last day of the promotion!

So off we went to take the Singapore Flyer!



Too bad the weather wasnt good. It was pouring. The guide was asking us if we still want to carry on boarding the flyer or wait till the rain stop. We all just went ahead since its free.

So, excuse the pictures I took since the weather was not in our favour!

We had the whole capsule to ourselves. So it was nice and exclusive!



This is the view of the wet F1 circuit from the flyer.





The view of Marina Bay Golf Course and the Floating Stage where we have our National Day Parade Celebrations.





As well as the construction of the Integrated Resorts(IR) and Casinos!





At the end of the ride, they have a model of what the IR and Casino will look like.



Honestly speaking, I was going to doze off when it was the end of the ride as it was so slow...and the weather was so nice to snooze.

After the ride, the skies cleared up a little but we chose to have our lunch at the Singapore Flyer Shopping Area instead. Went to "Jalapeno Peppers" for lunch. They had a good lunch set offer!

I ordered a sirloin steak (with mashed potatoes and cooked veggies) that comes with either a chicken soup or house salad. I ordered a house salad as I felt the soup may be a little too filling for me.



Even the salad was decent and heard from my colleagues that the soup had a lot of ingredients and it was thick and wholesome.



The set costs me only $10.90! And you can add $2 for the dessert of the day which was brownies. Initially I didnt order but when my colleagues ordered and it came, I got tempted and ordered too because it was huge and came with ice cream! (for only $2 bucks, it was worth it!)



The only downside was that they didnt provide free ice water. So we had to order our own drinks which was expensive. It ranged from $3- $5, depending on what drinks you order.

After lunch, we rushed to MOE for the briefing. On the way out, we could see crane vehicles parked at the side to take down the fencing for the F1 night race.



What an interesting but tiring day as my briefing ended at 5pm. CT came to pick me up after his work and we went home by Kallang Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) which was a nice and smooth ride! (took us only about 20 mins to drive from Buona Vista back home to the North East)