Monthly Archives: October 2013

Rabbit Carrot Gun

We were in the East Coast area 2 Sundays ago so we checked out Rabbit Carrot Gun, a quaint little British cafe. I like how they have kept the mosaic tiled floor and some old bits of the place. The interior is bright and airy, and the mismatched chairs and checked fabric cushion seats give the place a comfy vibe.

The food is simple, but generally satisfying. Adrian ordered his usual brekkie with everything, in this case, the Game Keepers Shooting breakfast. Anya had the Children’s Breakfast which consists of toast, eggs (scrambled or fried) and bacon or sausage. The sausage looks ugly but is actually rather tasty and not gristly. I had the Eggs Benedict but they forgot my order so I only got my food when the others were done with theirs! (Digression: I always have the worst luck with food. Either what I want to order is not available, or my order is the last to arrive, or my order gets completely forgotten!)

The desserts look really good so it’s a pity we didn’t have much space in our tummies. We shared a lamington and it was yummy! Definitely worth eating. Rabbit Carrot Gun is a nice place to slow down and relax if you live in the area, but it’s a bit out of the way for us so we’ll probably be sticking to Nibbles by Rabbit Carrot Gun at Pasar Bella.

looks good from the outside

looks good from the outside too

vintage kiddy ride

vintage kiddy ride

love how they kept some old bits

love how they kept some old bits of decor

inside

inside

the family

the family

desserts

desserts

rabbit orchids pot

rabbit orchids pot

iced latte and carrot juice

iced latte and carrot juice

Rabbit Carrot Gun

Rabbit Carrot Gun

Game Keepers Shooting Breakfast

Game Keepers Shooting Breakfast

Children's Breakfast

Children’s Breakfast

Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict

digging into the lamington

digging into the lamington

Hong Kong 2013: Disneyland – Flights of Fantasy Parade

The Flights of Fantasy parade is my favourite bit of the whole Hong Kong Disneyland experience. I love the catchy music, the elaborate costumes, the energetic dancers, the colourful floats, EVERYTHING! It’s simply perfect.

Anya was invited to take part in the mini princess parade where the little girls who are dressed like princesses have a special row of chairs set up for them with an unblocked view of the Flights of Fantasy parade. They get special name tags and have umbrellas to shield them from the blazing hot sun. The mummies get to stand behind the princesses and bake in the heat!

We didn’t have such a good view of the parade the last time we were at Hong Kong Disneyland so Anya really enjoyed herself this time! She was stoked that the princess float was parked right in front of the mini princesses for such a long time with Cinderella so close that she could wave and smile at her.

mini princess parade

mini princess parade

pretty maidens in a row

pretty maidens in a row

little umbrellas for the princesses

little umbrellas for the princesses

here comes Dumbo!

here comes Dumbo!

excellent view of the parade

excellent view of the parade

waiting for the Mickey float to approach

waiting for the Mickey float to approach

everybody's favourite characters!

everybody’s favourite characters!

Hello Mickey!

Hello Mickey!

bouncy tiger dancers

bouncy tiger dancers

super cute float

super cute float

dancers springing up and down

dancers springing up and down

the float the mini princesses have all been waiting for!

the float the mini princesses have all been waiting for!

they are here!

they are here!

Anya's favourite character

Anya’s favourite character

Belle

Belle

Jungle Book

Jungle Book

the guy inside must be roasting in that costume

the guy inside must be roasting in that costume

cute ladybird vehicles

cute ladybird vehicles

Tinkerbelle!

Tinkerbelle!

Stitch

Stitch

Buzz

Buzz

love the Toy Story float

love the Toy Story float

caught up with the princess float again

caught up with the princess float again

Goodbye Kumquat! Hello Henry!

good old kumquat

good old kumquat

Kumquat is the Nissan Qashqai +2 that has served our family very well for the last three years. (By the way, ‘Kumquat’ because that’s Jeremy Clarkson’s nickname for the car in an episode of Top Gear.) But we need a bit more space soon so we started looking for a new old car a couple of weeks ago. Knowing how fast Adrian works once he sets his mind on something, I insisted on taking a family photo with Kumquat 2 Sundays ago even though it was drizzling. I’ll really miss Kumquat because it’s the car that’s been with us the longest out of all the cars we’ve had since we got married. I hope he’s treated well by his next owner!

our new ride, Henry

our new ride, Henry

Henry is our new old car. He’s about the same age as Kumquat and almost exactly the same colour but significantly more spacious inside. He’s called Henry because he’s a Mazda 8 (Henry VIII, get it? We have a very strange unique sense of humour…) I’m loving the sliding doors, the different air-conditioning temperature settings for the driver and front seat passengers, the space to put all our barang (like cups and bottles and phones), and the fact that we can start giving lifts to people now that there’s more room. I think Henry’s going to be with us for a while! Welcome to the family.

RAWR! Titans of the Past at the Science Centre

I know lots of kids (mainly boys) who LOVE dinosaurs and the new Titans of the Past – Dinosaurs & Ice Age Mammals exhibition at the Science Centre will totally knock their socks off!

Titans of the Past

Titans of the Past

We attended a preview of the exhibition last Thursday and there were lots of fun activities for the kids. From balloon sculpting to body painting and airbrush tattoos, there was so much to entertain the kids even before we even entered the exhibition!

whispering in N's ear

whispering in N’s ear

with their dinosaur balloon sculptures

with their dinosaur balloon sculptures

dinosaur origami

dinosaur origami

getting a rainbow dino on her arm

getting a rainbow dino on her arm

so cute!

so cute!

The 3,000 square metres exhibition features two international travelling dinosaur exhibitions from The Museum of the Rockies (MOR), USA Montana and Aurea Exhibitions, Argentina. The exhibition from MOR was developed by world renowned paleontologist Dr Jack Horner (technical advisor for the Jurassic Park movies!). There are real fossils (including the largest T-Rex skull ever found), replicas and state-of-the art animatronics.

checking out the development of the Triceratops skull

checking out the development of the Triceratops skull

learning why dinosaurs sounded different at different stages of life

learning why dinosaurs sounded different at different stages of life

this dinosaur was pregnant when it died!

this dinosaur was pregnant when it died!

very impressive T-Rex skull

very impressive T-Rex skull

Anya was frightened of this T-Rex

Anya was frightened of this T-Rex

little dino experts at work

little dino experts at work

fossilised poo!

fossilised poo!

making little dino hats

making little dino hats

ta-daa!

ta-daa!

touching fossils

touching fossils

Ice Age animals

Ice Age animals

Titans of the Past is an impressive exhibition that’s worth visiting. Anya is not particularly interested in dinosaurs but she really enjoyed the exhibition so I’m planning a return visit with Adam!. We have been watching Ice Age at home so he’ll really appreciate seeing the animals at their actual size!

The Titans of the Past exhibition runs till 23 February 2014 at the Science Centre Annexe from 10am to 6pm. Inclusive of admission to the Science Centre, it’s $25 for Adults and $19 for Children (3-12 years old). Plan to spend at least 2 hours there!

do not feed the Anyasaurus!

do not feed the Anyasaurus!

Ultimate Hawker Fest

We dragged the kids down to Ultimate Hawker Fest 2013 at Millenia Walk 2 Saturdays ago. The stalls there were handpicked by Dr Leslie Tay of ieatishootipost and is a charity event in support of over 28,000 beneficiaries of TOUCH Community Services. The event was well set up, with lots of tables to stand at and several garbage disposal points that were cleared very regularly. My only grouse is that the very popular stalls ran out of food before I could get any! Would have been nice to have more drink stalls as well since there was only Coke and coconut juice (which had a long queue).

Ultimate Hawker Fest at Millenia Walk

Ultimate Hawker Fest at Millenia Walk

The Sam Willows

The Sam Willows

prawns deep fried served and coated with pumpkin sauce by Siang Hee Seafood

pumpkin prawns by Siang Hee Seafood

kueh pie tee shells filled with langoustines and topped with Buah Keluak, accompanied by 2 shot glasses of Durian Pengat by Chef Paul Then of Orchard Hotel

langoustine kueh pie tee by Chef Then of Orchard Hotel

durian pengat!

durian pengat that accompanied the kueh pie tee

tahu telor and beef rendang nasi padang by Rumah Makan Minang

beef rendang nasi padang by Rumah Makan Minang

pork jowl char siew by Fatty Cheong

pork jowl char siew by Fatty Cheong

ngor hiang by China Street Fritters

ngor hiang by China Street Fritters

Adam being a grump

Adam being a grump

Halloween Arts & Crafts with the CBeebies Club

Last Saturday we attended a Mister Maker-themed Halloween art & craft session by CBeebies Club. Anya likes to get crafty and I like it when I don’t have to worry about preparing the materials or cleaning up! It was also nice to see a few familiar faces at the session.

our crafts for the day

our crafts for the day

Our crafts for that day were a hairy spider and a felt pumpkin. The spider is made by winding wool around a piece of cardboard, tying the ball of wool around the middle and again on the other side, cutting the strands on the outside to make the ball ‘fluffy’ and then inserting pipe cleaners for the legs and sticking on felt shapes for the features. Anya liked her spider so much she decided to wear it like a necklace!

winding the wool for her spider

winding the wool for her spider

demonstration

demonstration

making her spider fluffy

making her spider fluffy

gluing on the facial features

gluing on the facial features

pretending to be scared of her spider

pretending to be scared of her spider

she thought it'd be funny to add eyebrows

she thought it’d be funny to add eyebrows

yay, a picture of me!

yay, a picture of me!

We were given the materials for the pumpkin (hint: there’s a tetra pak in there to give the pumpkin its shape!) and had the option of making it there or taking the materials home. Anya decided to make the pumpkin at home and started on her spooky snacks instead. It was a really fun session and we had a great time. Looking forward to future CBeebies Club activities!

spooky snacks!

spooky snacks!

three sweet little girls

three sweet little girls

the kids

the kids

Bishan Park

We made it to Grub on Hari Raya and were just in time to get the last available table. The people behind us in the queue had to wait about an hour for a table. We still had to wait quite a bit for our food so the kids and I went to play while Adrian stayed and chit-chatted with a friend he bumped into.

Bishan Park

I really like to let the kids run around outdoors whenever possible to get some fresh air and be with nature but Singapore is often too hot or too rainy. So we took advantage of the cool weather that evening to climb rocks, run around, and look at plants and the little creatures under the rocks.

Bishan Park

Adam loves dogs but doesn’t really know how to be gentle with them yet. We saw this little fellow running around and the owners were nice enough to let Adam sit with the dog and manhandle it. When they had to leave, Adam crossed his arms and declared, “I’m so angry with Dog!”, then started crying and tearfully said, “I want Dog!” My poor little sweetheart!

Bishan Park

After dinner (and after cleaning lots of chocolate from our churros dessert off Adam), we let the kids scoot around for a bit. Anya’s pretty good at scooting but likes it when one of us follows her around as she scoots. Adam’s still getting the hang of using one foot to move himself around so he was mainly enjoying the ride while being pushed around.

Bishan Park

Give me a cool evening in the park over air-conditioning in the shopping mall any time. I love to watch the kids having fun running and climbing and playing. Can’t wait to go to Bishan Park again!

Bishan Park