Carnival Fun - Family Bonding

I think carnivals are the best way to promote family bonding. What better ways than food, games and prizes?

How not to get a “NOooooo” when painting your hands?

Do it when everyone else is doing it too.

Organized by Touch Community, this simple act of hand prints on wall will serve to remind people of equality and unity.

The J Babies’ handprints.

We have been to many carnivals before, and the girls will always pester us to play at the game stalls.

 

  

If not for charity, I seriously believe that we are (the girls are) throwing money towards something that was designed for fun but not for winning.

 

But no matter what, I am learning that family outings are not so much on how much we spend or not spend. It’s the time when we build memories that will last. And I want to create memories with my family that carnivals are fun because we are able to enjoy fun and do charity at the same time.

Isn’t it enough to see this face of contentment? =)

To add on to the great day, this is the first time both girls won something from the games.

 

PS. my mom won’t be too happy with the additions of soft toys at home.. hahaha..

Camping with a Capital G

A few weeks back our family finally fulfilled a long standing wish of the ladies. Read it right, the man in the house aka me was not the least interested in camping.

I mean which man who has gone through army’s field camp (except the really minority) would say they loved the experience. Sleeping on hard uneven ground, tents pitched with less than enough enthusiasm, bugs and sorts crawling all over the place, and if you are lucky like me, rain and soggy muddy field.

That was the background of camping for me and no amount of words or pictures can I manage to lower the ladies’ excitement of this camping trip. Well, at least the venue is not some ulu places but the East Coast Park.

Welcome Glamping Society!

A brief understanding what is glamping. A simple way to understand is camping with style and much more comfort. No bugs, no hard sleeping floor (in fact you have beds), no fear of rain, no fear of being attack by wild boar, no army officers to shout at you! Hahaha..

We were treated to a luxurious 6-man tent, so we invited a fee friends over for some gathering and fun.

Check out the interior decorated like bohemian style, rugs and all.

Here are a few cool facts about glamping.

1. No need to set up the tent on your own. All is done nicely and securely for you (I mean that is what you are paying for). So just bring your barang barang and bunk in.

2. Simple food are provided for you and your group. Be wild and free, that’s all we need to do!

3. Just relax and enjoy. We basically just packed our change of clothing for sleep, the rest are taken care of. There was even a flamingo float for those who are interested to ride the ECP waves.

4. Plan a BBQ. Okay, we didn’t cos we were lazy to bring all the stuff and food. McDelivery is available.

5. Enjoy the sunset! This is probably the main reason for having it at East Coast Park. The sunset was stunning!

Last but not the least, spend a great evening with the missus. No camping or glamping is complete without the missus completing her wish.

Happy wife = happy husband

块三点心 Dim Sum @ $1.30

After staying in Woodlands for more than 3 decades, I am still very amazed at the new things I find around this neighborhood. This time round we visited a 24-hour dim sum place at Primz BizHub Coffeeshop (21 Woodlands Close).

As described perfectly by the stall name 块三点心 (Kuai San Dian Xin), all the dim sum are sold for $1.30 each. Yes! You read it right! Opens 24 hours daily, dim sum @ $1.30 each.

We visited on a Sunday evening around 6:30pm dinner time, though there was a queue but the service was fast and good.

There were ample seats in the coffeeshop too.

Don’t expect restaurant service, you have to queue, order and pay before you get your food. Basically there are only 30 dim sum items to choose from. But you can surely find the usual delights like, Char Siew Pau, Pork Ribs, Siew Mai, Prawn Dumpling, Carrot Cake, and even Century Egg Pork Porridge.

We (read me) were determined to try as much as we can. And here is our round 1 orders. We had 2 rounds in total, and mind you it was just for the 4 of us (2 adults + 2 kids).

Total cost was a whopping $20.80!!

I know some of you must be thinking how good is the dim sum. So here is the verdict, on a scale of 1 to 5.

Century Egg Porridge (3 points) & Carrot Cake (3 points)
The exterior was crispy and nice. The carrot cake inside was decent, but I would recommend to eat it fast, once it is cool the skin can be a bit too hard to swallow.

Prawn Dumpling (3.5 points) & Siew Mai 2.5 points)
We had a second helping of the prawn dumplings, in total of 3 baskets. That should tell you either we love prawn dumplings or it is really quite nice.
As for the siew mai, personally not much of a pork eater, I felt that the pork taste was a bit too strong for me. I had to dip it with chili sauce to finish the plate.

HK Style Prawn Chee Cheong Fun (3.5 points)
Another dish that demanded a second serving. The cheong fun was soft and at $1.30, I have to say the prawn given was in good proportion. It was still nice even when it was slightly cold.

Paper Wrapped Chicken (4 points)
Definitely my first choice in future. Technically the dish is a chicken wing wrapped in paper and lightly salted, with a tinge of ginger and Chinese cooking wine. It’s not too dry, just nice to go along with anything, maybe even plain porridge.

Fried Yam Dumpling (1 point), Xian Zhu Roll (2.5 points) & Fried Sotong Roll (2.5 points)
If you are a Cantonese like me, don’t spoilt your taste buds with the yam dumpling. Not worth the money even when it is $1.30. The fillings were dry, very little and the yam paste was almost non-existence.
As for the xian zhu roll and fried sotong rolls, it has always been our family’s top favorite, but the girls just only managed to finish till the last piece. I think the problem is too oily and the skin was not crispy enough.

Like I said earlier, do not expect restaurant standard. So as we managed our expectations, the overall experience was good. I think we will still come back for more, especially when it is opened round the clock. A good consideration for the late supper peeps!

The last mouth.

Kuan Family 好介绍!

Families that Grow Up Together

Families that stay together grows stronger. I think that means we spend time experiencing life together, exchanging thoughts and skills. And in a typical Singaporean way, the best thing to build relationships is through food!

So last Sunday we planned a family gathering with some of the families that had known each other for a long time. Some of us are friends for more than 10 years, some are 20 years or more.

Have to say, picnic is so “old school”, right? As we settled down along the pier at Woodlands Waterfront, most of the passer-bys were quite impressed with what we have prepared for dinner. Some families were so excited I kid you not, they almost wanted to join us too.

As a father of 2, I truly want my girls to grow up with the kids of families I know. Not saying that the children in school are bad, but I do not know those kids’ parents, neither do I know what type of values or beliefs the family subscribe to. So for me, the safest is for my girls to grow up with a group of children whose parents are close to us as well. At least we have the same faith and value the same things.

 

A father & daughter pose.

 

Jayne is especially close to Chernise as they are only 1 month apart in age. In fact, our families have been friends for as long as this 2 cuties have been born, 8 years and counting.

Bethany is 6 and our families have known each other even before she was born.

Poor Joey’s friends were not able to make it that day.. so she was acting emo on her own, watching out into the sea.. No worries gal, Papa is looking out for you.

And the conversations and laughter continued well into the night. And we got to enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

 

Till the next gathering!