The Original Juice

Tuesday, 9th Aug 2011

What a relief to finally have a Public Holiday after a dry season in Jun and July! HAHA Badly needed sleep. Me and T slept till 11am after our pre-dawn meals for the fasting day ahead.

I made a double batch of Sarang Semut (Literally: Ant's Nest), a cookie made of castard flour and Chocolate Rice. Somehow, my second time of making this turned awry. (Read my first attempt here - includes recipe.)

It was very very dry!!

The last time I made it, it was extremely soft!! This time around, I bought the normal Bird Eye's Custard Powder. I dont have the weighing scale at home and I think somehow my conversion from gm to cup is wrong.

200 g castard flour = 1 2/3 cup?
100 g plain flour = 3/4 cup?

Before baking

See.. I hardly needed to grate them, it crumbled on its own! haha. I baked 3 full trays before calling it quits. I saved the dough. Am thinking of adding more butter but not sure how (Like should i melt it first or something?) and how much. Thankfully, my sisters said it still tastes nice, it just doesnt stay together.

Because Tufeil had woken up late this morning, I had a thought of not letting him nap so that he could sleep early that night, so I took him out to the playground. We went from one to the next to the next until we ended up at a a Woodhaven condo showroom across the next street (quite far) because T saw this intriguing snake balloon.

*SQUEALS!!!*

We reached home close to 6.30pm. He scraped his knee just a few metres from home on the way back. and became very cranky... he was sleepy I know. So I let him watch the National Day Parade which was just starting.

Finally, he saw real soldiers marching

 I don't know why everytime I see a contingent of soldiers in the parade, my heart will swell and my throat choke with pride. LOL



LIfe-sized Food Costumes

 Even till today, Tufeil still asks me, "Mana soldier nye?" (Where are the soldiers) "Oh dia dah marching eh?" (They've marched away?)
We were so engrossed by the show that we missed iftar by a few seconds. Astaghfirullah!!!

These canons looked impressive on this vessel

But somehow it kinda disappointed me. The sound was very faint!!! *Yawwwwnnn*

By 8pm, Tufeil was already asleep! But at 10pm he woke up and was FRESH!!! He wanted to play and play. At 1am, I decided enough was enough. He had to sleep, or else! So i took away the iphone and commanded him to lie down and sleep. He cried hard. So I left him in the room in semi-darkness and closed the door. And waited about 5 seconds before entering again.

He still asked for his hippo (and dog) on youtube and I said NO, YOU MUST SLEEP! IT'S LATE! When he started crying again, i left him in the room again. After yet another 5 seconds, I came into the room again. I gave him an ultimatum, he could stay in the room alone or nurse to sleep. He cried for a few more seconds while I lied down shutting my eye... and then suddenly he snuggled up beside me and promptly fell asleep. It was 2am. But only after 3am did I finally sleep myself, on the floor, due to a hardcore blocked nose. (Am still having one as I type now 3 days later!)

I can tell you that this is quite a bold move from me. I'm learning to be a FIRM mother by reprimanding Tufeil when need be. I used to just ignore his wails and tantrums, tuning it all out. But I realised that this won't help Tufeil in distinguishing what's good and what's bad as he is in the phase of testing boundaries.

So I consulted with my 11 Besties (on whatsapp as we've been for the past 3 months or so) and we exchanged ideas on parenting and disciplining children. I feel much better now and in control of the situation, sort of, instead of being bullied by my own 2 yr old!

Wish me luck in discplining Tufeil!

Ash & I discovered a new mediterranean restaurant yesterday! http://www.urbanbites.com.sg/ 123 Telok Ayer St (If you're coming from Amoy St Food Cte, its further down to the street from the mosque and after the temple)

They are not certified but food is halal. As is with everywhere in town during lunchtime, it was quite packed. But this one is quite popular with foreigners.

While, the service was a bit on the slow side, we were happy to wait to eat our Hummus and others! Plus now that Turkish Cafe at Amara is closed, this is the nearest mediterranean food to the office!

Colourful Blackboard with self-service water and condiments

Towards the kitchen And cheese and desserts display. Found my Arabic cheese! WEEEEE

Me & The entrance

$10 set lunch is very attractive

Ash was saying this is prolly cheaper than Eatz19. But I said, let's see how the serving goes and also, drink is not included. $2 soft drink.

Mushroom Soup was ok but could be better Just slightly watery w mushroom so small it seemed pulsed on the processor

After some 20min of waiting...

Salad, Dips and Main course of Lamb kebab on the same dish.

Totally reminded me of Syria trip last december... Coincidentally I was also wearing the jalabiyah from there too!

Anyways, it was my first time tasting a felafel and to me it was heaven. Very crunchy. But for Ash, she said she's tasted better *shrug*.

Very nice overall. But i think next time, I will order a whole plate of Moutabal ($7) and main of Chicken Pide($5)! I almost went crazy going through their menu, I feel like going there everyday!

Sunday, 31st Oct

Hid and I wanted to meet. She's gonna lend me her books. But I asked her along to IMM. It's been a long time since I went out with Tufeil for his fun. My parents drove us over.


I read from Dirah's blog that there's a playground there. But I totally didn't anticipate that there's gonna be a HUGE WATER park. OH no! I didn't bring any change of clothes for T. So I only let T play at the dry section. Although he loves the spinning wheel, we found that he kept wandering towards the BIG LURE of water.

That's it. We're buying him a new shirt! HAHAHA.

Fri, 24th Sept 2010.

Ash and I went to check out the indian restaurant INSIDE Cheers @ CPF Building. It's actually called Islamic Restaurant.

Sat, 7th Aug 10.

I got the whole morning off when Tufeil went out with his dad. Phew! What a relief... Unfortunately tho I just cldn't fall back to sleep.. cos my tummy was hungry and i tot why shld i just get when i can fully utilise my time watching online tv while eating? One episod led to another and another... until the next thing I knew, Tufeil was home.

Thankfully he hasnt had his nap so we both went to sleep. We (or rather I) woke up hungry and ready to go out for lunch. At 4pm. haha

But before that we had to make a stop at a DIY shop to grab a few tins of paint. Our living room and my bedroom are getting a new colour after 10yrs of staring at the same wall. Tufeil had to be entertained by his Atok. And I kept feeling guilty about it - though unfounded. 1. Tufeil might be asking Where's mummy where's mummy (He did not) 2. Ayah must be tired (he felt happy to).

That's Malaysia across the sea

There's a relatively new Indonesian restaurant opened at Temasek Tower, Tanjong Pagar in place of Gloria Jean's.

Today Zi, her friend and I patronised the restaurant. We reached at 12.10 there were plenty of seats. Afterwards, i saw a reserved table and by 12.45pm it was FULL.

So today was my first time taking the public transport to work after my 4 month long maternity leave. and it was horrendous, as usual.

This time around, i don't get to say, "Can i have a seat, please? I'm pregnant." But i feel like saying, "I have a 7month old baby at home who doesn't sleep thru the night and now i'm feeling very shitty. If you wanna avoid being stepped on by me, give up the seat to me, or else!"

I may be a fierce bitch in my own imagination - i concoct a lot of nasty things to say to everyone around me all the time- but Nah... in reality, i'm too timid to vocalise those thoughts, to hurt other people.

In any case, this one man almost racked up my courage to do just that. A guy just vacated a seat in front of this Apek (Uncle) looking passenger and i was standing just next to him. I shuffled in a way to signal that i want that seat. It's quite a long shot but i expected him to give it up to me being he is a healthy, not so old man.

Not only did he not offer that seat to me, he even DARED TO TUT at me!!! What The! The least you could do was look sheepish and avoid eye contact and i would just say you're a lazybum or something. But this behaviour was sooo uncalled for! I was sooo worked up i GLARED back at him with much distaste! Gosh i felt sooo accomplished! Empowered! Having the nerve to stand up to myself as small as it was.

I wanted to snap a photo of him in that old fashioned polo tee and bermudas. I bet he's not local. If you know what i'm saying. But i forgot my hp. GRRR

I have an idea! The next time i fight with a guy for a seat, i would politely say, "Are you gentleman enough to offer that seat to a lady?" Granted, a man like the above won't even UNDERSTAND a word i'm saying, but i would target a well dressed man who looks like he's heading to a big shot office or something. If they are not embarassed enough to let me sit, ... why then i shall take a picture of him and blog about it! What? I'm in a public place, aren't i?

Sunday 22/3


Ok so i made it to the BBQ. Thank God, Alhamdulillah!