Monthly Archives: September 2013

Dettol ‘Healthy Body, Healthy Mind’ Bento-Making Workshop

Anya and I attended a bento-making workshop hosted by Dettol and taught by bento artist Shirley. I have always been fascinated by the amazing bento creations that I see online so I was really excited to have the opportunity to make one of my own.

Before we started any food preparation, we were taken through some basic hand hygiene facts and the importance of proper hand washing. I’m actually quite obsessed about hand washing because of diseases like HFMD which are so common among kids of Anya’s age. The kids know that they have to wash their hands, especially after going to the toilet! What I didn’t know was that our usual hand washing is not thorough enough and we miss out quite a few areas that are covered with all manner of harmful bacteria.

After we washed our hands with the 8-step hand washing process, we started our bento preparation! We also washed our hands in between after handling meat, raw vegetables, etc.

going through the 8-step process

going through the 8-step process

bento guru Shirley

Shirley the bento guru

'writing' on the banana peel

‘writing’ on the banana peel

making our egg yolk sheet for the bumble bees

making our egg yolk sheet for the bumble bees

cutting carrot shapes

cutting carrot shapes

having fun preparing our bento

having fun preparing our bento

cheese hearts for the wings

cheese hearts for the wings

very proud of our finished product

very proud of our finished product

ta-daa!

ta-daa!

cleaning up is important too!

cleaning up is important too!

the particpants

the particpants

we got to bring home all these Dettol goodies!

we got to bring home all these Dettol goodies!

Anya was quite helpful during the bento-making session. She did a lot of the cutting with the shaped cutters and helped me with the arrangement. But she was also busy making her own special salad on the side with all my leftover ingredients. We had a lot of fun during this bento-making workshop and I was very proud of our final product! I think it looked pretty good and it tasted very yummy too.

More importantly, we learnt about good hand hygiene and the need for proper hand washing. In fact, when we got home, Anya used one of the posters that we got from Dettol to teach her father the 8-step process of hand washing. I’m glad she takes it so seriously and hope she follows the steps even when she’s in school and I’m not there to remind her!

Disclaimer: We were invited by Dettol to attend this bento-making workshop. All opinions are my own.

Steph Tan Photography ‘Pass It On’ Marathon 2013

We took part in the Steph Tan Photography ‘Pass It On’ marathon last year and were very eager to be part of it again this year. We dragged the kids out of the house and made it to the Tembusu tree in Singapore Botanic Gardens by 8.30am for our half-hour photo shoot. The colours of their matching chevron outfits from ELLY looked really good against the mainly green and brown background!

This took place just 2 days after Adam’s fall so he still wasn’t in the best of moods for the shoot. He was weepy and just wanted to sit in a corner and drink milk. But Steph worked her magic, and with the help of bubbles and dirt, we got some very lovely shots within that short time. By the end of the session, the kids were basically down in the dirt playing with the twigs and dead leaves and such, so Steph captured them in this very organic state. She probably thinks my kids are savages!

My absolute favourite photos from the shoot:

all smiles

all smiles

trying to cheer her brother up

trying to cheer her brother up

free as a bird

free as a bird

carbon copy

carbon copy

bubble magic

bubble magic

fun with dirt

fun with dirt

throwing leaves on her brother's head

throwing leaves on her brother’s head

bwahaha!

bwahaha!

poor Adam!

poor Adam!

another shot of Anya

another shot of Anya

Highlights of Paris

We didn’t enjoy Paris very much. Angie got her phone pickpocketed (but Adrian went after the thieves and managed to get it back almost immediately) and some woman tried to unzip my bag and steal stuff from it while we were on an escalator in the Metro. I felt the bag being unzipped so I turned around and grabbed the woman and didn’t let her go until I made sure all my stuff was accounted for.

I think Paris is a beautiful place and the parks are absolutely lovely, but there are just too many unsavoury characters at the tourist spots. Not very pleasant at all.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame

rose window

rose window

altar

altar

Shakespeare & Co.

Shakespeare & Co.

Anya & me

Anya & me

macarons

macarons

running in the park

running in the park

carousel

carousel

at the playground

at the playground

Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

Anya and the tower

Anya and the tower

Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe

Louvre

Louvre

the madness

the madness

Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa

collapsed kids

collapsed kids

the boys chilling

the boys chilling

sailing boats

sailing boats

3 more days to Rise & Shine Expo!

Rise & Shine

Just 3 more days before Rise & Shine Expo 2013! Here are 6 exciting reasons to make your way down to Suntec Convention Hall 401 this Friday – Sunday:

  1. Lots of great buys – premium brands at great discounts
  2. Stage activities – performances, contests, meet & greet sessions
  3. Booth activities –  hands-on activities for the whole family
  4. Exciting contests for babies, toddlerskids and expectant mummies
  5. Lucky Draw – Stand a chance to win more than $10,000 worth of prizes in the Sure Win Lucky Dip!
  6. Goodie Bags & Door Gifts 

Check out the details of what’s in store here! See you there!

Highlights of Edinburgh

I want to blog about our trip to Hong Kong and maybe even the one to Bangkok but I haven’t done Edinburgh and Paris yet! So here’s a photo-heavy post about Edinburgh. We thought Edinburgh would be a bit boring, but surprisingly, we really enjoyed ourselves there and would love to visit again. The good weather helped!

ice-cream outside the castle

ice-cream outside the castle

ready for blast-off

ready for blast-off

load the cannon!

load the cannon!

funny hat

funny hat

amazed it can fit his giant head!

amazed it can fit his giant head!

bagpipes

bagpipes

chasing bubbles

chasing bubbles

fun with dandelions

fun with dandelions

haggis

haggis

Adrian at St. Andrews Old Course

Adrian at St. Andrews Old Course

Hello Dolly!

Hello Dolly!

graveyard that inspired JK Rowling

graveyard that inspired JK Rowling

St Giles Cathedral

St Giles Cathedral

inside

inside

The Kiss

The Kiss

we loved the park

we loved the park

running around

running around

playground with a view

playground with a view

fun with friends

fun with friends

Mid-Autumn Festival at the Gardens

I was very excited to hear that the corpse flower hybrid at Gardens by the Bay had bloomed, so I rushed down to take a look at the flowering Amorphophallus ‘John Tan’. I was hoping to catch a whiff of the foul smell that corpse flowers are named for, but in the openness of the Cloud Forest conservatory, no odour could be detected.

By the time I visited Amorphophallus ‘John Tan’, it had already been flowering for about 48 hours and the flower is estimated to last for about only 2-3 days. So glad I got to see it before it collapsed. The next time there’s a flowering, I plan to get there as soon as I can to see the flower at its best.

Amorphophallus 'John Tan'

Amorphophallus ‘John Tan’ standing at 205cm

a closer look

a closer look

I brought the kids and my aunt along to look at the Mid-Autumn floral display at the Flower Dome and the lantern display on the grounds of the Gardens. We didn’t manage to see all the lanterns because Anya was quite tired from the walking around and wanted to go home but Adam really enjoyed himself. She was very happy to be able to release a loi krathong flower float though.

lanterns inside the Flower Dome

lanterns inside the Flower Dome

colourful displays

colourful displays

beautiful flowers

beautiful flowers

mooncake boxes!

mooncake boxes!

Chang E on an egg

Chang E

dragonflies

dragonflies

dragons

dragons in the shadow of MBS

writing a wish for her krathong

writing a wish for her krathong

ready to launch

ready to launch

helpful hands to make sure she doesn't fall in

helpful hands to make sure she doesn’t fall in

Gardens by the Bay

Gardens by the Bay

Adam really liked this

Adam really liked this whimsical lantern display

an impressive display

an impressive display

The Mid-Autumn floral display will be up until 6 Oct but tomorrow’s the last day to enjoy 15% off normal admission rates to the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. Opening hours are extended to 11pm until tomorrow.

Family Photos by Orange Studios

Since I’m usually the photographer for the family, there are hardly any photos of me with the kids! So when Orange Studios offered to do a studio shoot for us, I was more than happy to accept.

We set a date then I postponed it because I was about to get my silly braces removed and I wanted to wait until after so I could have a nice smile for the photos. Orange Studios was very obliging about postponing the date.

A few days before the shoot, the photographer gave me a call and we talked about how to prepare for the shoot and what kind of clothes to wear and bring and what props might be suitable.

On the day of our shoot, we got there a bit late. Adam wasn’t very cooperative (I feel like I’ve been typing that sentence a lot lately!) and his mouth was swollen because of his fall. But the Orange Studios people were so patient with us during the entire shoot and tried their very best to coax a smile from Adam.

I was getting pretty annoyed with the kids by the end of the shoot but Orange Studios really kept the energy level and enthusiasm up! After the shoot and for the entire day, Anya kept talking about how nice the uncle and auntie taking the photos were!

our family

our family

another nice shot of Adrian and the kids

another nice shot of Adrian and the kids

totem

totem

kids running around

kids running around

Anya

Anya

Adam

Adam

I love this photo!

I love this photo!

Anya and minions

Anya and minions

our canvas

our canvas

I really liked the photos they took for us, especially the ones of Anya. I’m so pleased that they managed to get shots of us looking so happy together. The canvas they printed for us is also of very good quality. The colour is bright and the print is very clear. Love it!

For a fun-filled photo shoot, check out Orange Studios! Quote this blog “In the Wee Hours” and receive a $150 discount, applicable to Orange Studios package rates, for photoshoot bookings made within 1 month from the date of this blog post. Please note that the date of your photoshoot session has to be within 2 months from the date of this blog post. Have fun!

Disclaimer: We had a complimentary 1-hour studio photo shoot with Orange Studios, received 10 edited soft copies of photos from the shoot and a 20″ by 20″ canvas print. All opinions are my own.