life in singapore … with baby (and new baby)
Posted in baby stuff, food on Mar 27th, 2011
Olive and Phil celebrated Shrove Tuesday with mini chocolate pancakes. Olive cracked the eggs and whisked the ingredients, Phil flipped the pancakes.
Leo, who is now crawling, made a beeline for Olive’s pancake and had to be wrestled to the floor.
Olive emerges victorious and covered in chocolate.
Posted in food on Jan 23rd, 2011
Last Wednesday, Sandy and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary with Olive and Leo at Pietrasanta Italian restaurant, just a short walk from the flat. We love sitting out in the restaurant’s garden early evening and watching Olive run around. I resisted the temptation to order my usual starter of wild boar and olive pasta [...]
Olive learns how to make glutinous rice balls for the Chinese winter solstice festival “tang yuan”, celebrated in 2010 on 22 Dec.
Posted in baby stuff, food on Dec 11th, 2010
Singapore has a farmers’ market! Not bad considering we don’t have any farmers. That might explain why there wasn’t a huge amount of fresh produce on offer when we dropped by in November but it was great fun all the same and we’ll certainly attend future markets. I must go back to try the fabulous [...]
Posted in food on Mar 20th, 2010
The Cellar Door, purveyor of New Zealand wine, cheese and other delicious food products, has opened a branch opposite my office in Vivo City mall. This place has a great selection of wines by the glass and bottles to go, a cheese room packed with tasty-looking cheese and, among other things, slabs of honeycomb. I [...]
Posted in food on Jan 5th, 2010
We get to eat lots of weird and wonderful food when mother-in-law is visiting. A couple of days ago she spotted a fruit, which she calls “pigs’ titties” in Hokkien, in somebody’s garden then cooked it in a dish of sambal udang petai. That dish would translate as “hot and sour prawns with stinky beans [...]
Posted in food on Jan 5th, 2010
It took us ten days to finish the Christmas turkey. We had fried turkey noodles, several rounds of turkey sandwiches, stir-fried turkey with garlic and soy and, pictured above, stuffed turkey and avocado tortillas baked in tomato sauce with a super sprouty salad of alfalfa, mung bean, sunflower, pea shoots and watercress. No more turkey [...]
Posted in food on Jan 1st, 2010
[Photo of black pepper crab taken from yum.sg]
Phil, Sandy, Olive and the bump wish you all the best for 2010. We’re very excited about the coming year … a new member of the family will be joining us in June!
Sandy and I left Olive in the care of mother-in-law, who has been with us since [...]
As if a 7kg turkey wasn’t enough on Christmas Day, we had another lovely turkey dinner on Boxing Day with Don’s family and Drunkle Sri. Then the following day, on the Sunday, the neighbours threw a post Christmas potluck party. Sandy prepared green salad with mango and avocado, Phil cooked an Italian meatball dish. Somebody [...]
Posted in food on Dec 26th, 2009
Sandy’s parents and elder sis drove down from KL to join us for Christmas. Olive was happy as she loves to play with her godmother Hueh Hueh. Who else will dry her hair with a blowdryer instead of holding her under the ceiling fan like mummy and daddy normally do?!
Olive received a crazy number [...]
Posted in food on Dec 25th, 2009
Sandy and I celebrated Christmas Eve with dahi poori, butter chicken, rogan josh, bindi masala, palak paneer, biryani and naan. If that sounds like a culturally confused combination, in Baxter Farm, England, my parents have prepared Singapore chicken curry for 70 guests for their Christmas Eve party due to start in another few hours.
Back [...]
Posted in baby stuff, food, home on Dec 6th, 2009
My darling wife is three months pregnant! Olive will soon have a little brother or sister to play with! We’re so happy.
Olive’s granny was visiting from the UK last week and Olive’s two aunties were down from Kuala Lumpur so we celebrated with a Champagne breakfast in the Botanic Gardens. Croissants from Laurent Bernard Chocolatier [...]
Posted in baby stuff, books, food on Nov 23rd, 2009
Bring the kids down to The Shophouse, Gillman Village (off Alexandra Rd, Singapore), this Thursday 26 Nov for balloon twisting and a magic show. The monthly bazaar at The Shophouse will be open late—until 8pm—to allow for some serious Christmas shopping. Bored husbands can grab a burger from the BBQ, listen to the live jazz [...]
Posted in food on Nov 19th, 2009
Sandy’s obstetrician referred her to Singapore’s National Heart Centre for a doppler-echo scan of her heart as she has an irregular heartbeat but the doctors didn’t discover anything and told Sandy she’s just getting old! (Thanks, we paid a lot for that diagnosis.) Far more frightening was the food being served at the canteen on [...]
Wishing all readers a happy deepavali. We celebrated deepavali with Sri, Don and kids, Ritchel, Andy, Claudia, Christopher and Babs at Andhra Curry restaurant on Kerbau Road in Singapore’s Little India. This place specializes in food from Andhra Pradesh, in particular Hyderabadi biryani. We didn’t try the biryani so we’ll have to go back for [...]
Wow! Do check out Myrna’s new site ibakeueat offering delicious cookies and cakes for delivery within Singapore. Sandy, Olive and I have already tried the carrot raisin muffins, mini orange cakes and cranberry white chocolate chip cookies and can recommend them. Perfect for birthday parties, other family gatherings or just to keep in the kitchen [...]
Posted in food on Jun 28th, 2009
We would have expected nothing less from photographer Collin and designer Biona’s wedding: a laid-back party in a chic garden setting facing the seafront. The gods threatened to spoil the event by sending menacing storm clouds to Singapore in the morning but they chilled at the prospect of a good party and gifted the happy [...]
Posted in food on Jun 22nd, 2009
Why spend S$800 on a fancy BBQ when you can make one for S$5? (’Because it looks better and means you don’t have to squat on the floor?’ Sandy)
Chicken drumsticks with a rose and harissa rub; juicy steaks with nothing but Murray River salt and black pepper. Delicious.
Posted in baby stuff, food on Jun 21st, 2009
Once known as the safest place in the world, Singapore has experienced a marked increase in crime, notably raspberry snatching from chocolate cakes. The culprit or culprits are operating in the Portsdown Road area of the city-state, close to where terrorist Mat Selamat made his infamous escape. Mat Selamat has been ruled out of this [...]
Posted in food on Jun 17th, 2009
The Good
Al fresco dining in a lush green setting. Casual atmosphere. Reasonable prices. Ahi tuna tartare with toasted ciabatta and avocado salsa. Steamed ginger date pudding with chocolate toffee sauce.
The Bad
Limited menu. Few wines by the glass. Mushroom risotto with truffled hen egg.
Full Review
Yesterday was Sandy’s birthday … Happy Birthday! Unfortunately baby Olive hasn’t been [...]
The Good
Roast Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad with Sourdough Toast. Smoked Eel, Beetroot & Horseradish. Casual atmosphere. Reasonable prices (compared to Singapore). Minimalist decor. Friendly staff.
The Bad
Tasty but not outstanding; I expected more from a Michelin-starred restaurant. However, the menu changes daily and there are so many dishes I’ve read about which I still want [...]
On Sunday evening we ushered in the Year of the Ox with Reunion Dinner at Sandy’s parent’s new house in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Absent with apologies was Sandy’s brother, who had to work the following day up in Penang, but present at the table for the first time was baby Olive. I was kind of [...]
Posted in food on Jan 19th, 2009
Thank god Mum and Dad sent Sandy and I a wedding anniversary card from England otherwise I would have forgotten our 6th wedding anniversary today. I quickly cancelled after-work drinks with Xavi, my Spanish book cover designer, and reserved a table for dinner.
Six years already, hory clap! We’ve been living together for 8 years, we’ve [...]
Posted in food on Dec 14th, 2008
[Penang-style char kuay teow, Hokkien mee and curry mee]
After wasting S$100 on a very disappointing quick bite (note to readers: BYO salt and be prepared to assist the very friendly but forgetful Filipino staff) on Friday night at Pietrasanta, the Italian restaurant on Portsdown Road, we decided to head to Jason Penang Cuisine for lunch [...]
My dentist is a genius. I went back to Singapore’s National Dentist Centre yesterday to have my stitches removed and the dentist presented me with this evil-looking syringe. Apparently the hole left in my gum following my wisdom tooth extraction is so big that part of the bone is exposed. Worried that I might leave [...]
Posted in baby stuff, food on Nov 18th, 2008
The two new dads with their respective charges. Little Ethan is so cute! He’s been promised to Olive at birth but unless he grows some more he’s a risk of being squashed by roly-poly Olive.
Vicky’s amazing chocolate burgers … it’s impossible for Phil to eat less than three at one go! (This might explain why [...]
Posted in baby stuff, food on Nov 2nd, 2008
On Sunday, we made the long journey to deepest, darkest Sembawang for steamboat with Irene, Eric, Cheyanne, Agnes and Cindy. It felt like we travelled halfway into Malaysia, but Singapore is only 26 miles by 14 miles so unless we went round in circles (possible, as we took a cab) we couldn’t have gone [...]
Posted in baby stuff, books, food on Nov 1st, 2008
Photographer-cum-babysitter Collin shooting a mountain of roti prata (roti canai) …
Collin shooting, Ming styling, chilli crab and fried man tou sitting pretty …
Posted in food on Aug 16th, 2008
I learn from the Times that Michael Phelps, the American swimmer, eats a staggering amount per day during the Olympics. While Sandy and Olive were back in Malaysia last week I held my very own beer and junk-food Olympics at home (and I won gold!).
Phelps’ breakfast:
3 fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions [...]
Posted in baby stuff, food on Aug 10th, 2008
Sunday started out cold (30ºC / 90ºF) and wet so we decided to walk up to the new chocolate bar for a hot chocolate and coffee. Laurent Bernard opened its jungle outlet a few months ago and offers a dozen different hot chocolates as well as coffees, teas, champagne and a selection of freshly baked [...]
