French gastronomy - Enfin!

Of the 28 pictures you see below, 27 of them pertain to food (though in France, one can legitimately claim that the flower shop has some relation to food because after all, some flowers are used as food). That's how we spent our second and last day in Fontainebleau - and we thoroughly enjoyed it :)

We started the day with a brunch at Ty-Koz. This is a Fonty favourite well-known for the Bretegne savoury crepes. Unlike the sweet crepes that one typically finds along the streets of Paris (wrapped with sugar, Nutella or Bananas), savoury crepes are a meal by itself wrapped with ham, sausages or seafood, for example. When Pete came here for the YMP program, together with Evon, we brought them here. When we arrived this morning, even though the owners (an old couple) were not around, the apple cider and crepes still tasted good. The crepes were a little more buttery than we remembered it, but it still felt good to be sinking our teeth into the crepes :)

We rested our appetites by doing laundry at a nearby Lavagerie Automatique. After having paid quite a bit for laundry in Paris, we actually realised today that it was a rather fair price (by French standards). In all, for two loads of laundry, we actually paid close to 18 Euros in coins for washing and drying at the self-service laundry! With such laundry prices, no wonder some people say the French (men) stink a little :) (sorry, Amir)

We were not about to leave Fonty without a taste of the best of French cuisine - the pastries. For that, our minds were set on Cassel. Cassel has two pastry shops in Fonty - a larger, now-expanded shop on the main street that showcases the best of their pastries, and another smaller one that is a "Salon De The" or a "tea-house" where one can sit down, order their pastries and have a leisurely tea. We took the chance to have tea - at 5pm, and were happy sinking our teeth into the "Cube" (a chocolate cake with frambroise) and an Opera (a chocolate pastry that is best described as Ferrero Rocher re-created as a cake).

The highlight of the evening, and the best dinner we've had in France so far, was our dinner at Restaurant L'Angelus - a French restaurant in Barbizon. This was a highly rated restaurant that Eve had come across when she dug up the old INSEAD partners' guide book. The guide didn't let us down. Even though we paid for a two course-meal, we actually ended up eating a five-course meal. For starters, we had a prawn and pastry appetiser; for in-between our salad and main course, we had pear ice-cream to reset our palate; and after our meal, we had some sweets and chocolate - all on the house. This time round, we resisted taking any photos of our meals to avoid being too touristy in this rather asture restaurant. But the fish that Eve had (first time she was having seafood ever since having Baby) and the lamb I had, were simply fantastic! Finally, a taste of the fine French food we once knew of!(For those who read my last blog, I still maintain that Carefour still comes in tops...for an economy meal!)

As we end our trip in Fonty, I must say that that it was great to come home - to our home away from home. At nights when we read to Baby, we are reminded that we will likely not be able to come back anytime before Baby turns a few years old. The irony of France is this - and we were reminded about this again in the French restaurant tonight - that while the French are very happy to bring their dogs into nice restaurants, they have a noted displeasure for wailing babies in their restaurants. This is why you will never see baby chairs in French restaurants.

Nonetheless, if one believes that babies experience what their mothers experience, then I'm sure Baby will remember this the next time when we bring him or her to Fonty again.

Btw, Eve and I discovered that Baby prefers songs to stories. Perhaps it was because I was reading Gandhi to Baby as a bedtime story - which I think may have been beyond the typical bedtime reading for a kid. But Baby kicked quite a bit when we sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars" and was really silent when I was on the chapter about Gandhi's youth. Next time, I'd try Little Red Riding Hood.

Reliving Fontainebleau

Fonty holds a special place for us. We started our first home here; we experienced our first long-term stay outside Singapore here; and this was a place where we made mutual friends together as a couple. Almost every Fonty sight holds something significant that we share. The stars at night, the boulangerie, the marche, the pressing of the "pieton" button to cross to INSEAD from our home - it is hard to describe how we felt coming back to Fonty again, after more than a year.



On March 2004, Louis visited the small town of Fonty in anticipation of our arrival here in Fall. Louis had then checked out a few places for housing. In what turned out to be one of the best decisions he has made, Louis quickly settled on an apartment that was later to become our home and the starting point for many great friendships. It was also the genesis of Eve's love for cooking (Baby, now u know where Mummy acquired her culinary skills from :)). Today, on 29 December 2006, nothing much has changed with Le Parc Royal (see 2004 picture on the left and today's pictures - Picture 5 - in the slide show below). In fact, nothing much has changed in Fonty.

Sure, there are new shops. And INSEAD has grown a little. But everything else remains the same. Still dog poo on the ground. Still the same bus-stop with one advertisement in front of Rue Royale. Still the same Les Halles selling the freshest fruit. Even the jogging trail looks and feels the same. The ground is as soft as I remember it. It turns where it is supposed to turn. There is still the low-hanging branch at the halfway point. And the routes that were dark at 5pm in December of 2004 were still dark this evening. At 5pm, when I ran past the kid nursery along the jogging trail, I again saw parents picking their kids up from school. It was heart-warming to know that some things don't change.

While I was out snapping pictures on the way to the jogging trail, Eve was out exploring her favourite Fonty spots. When I came back, she had bought a chausson aux pommes (apple turnover) from the boulangerie next to Ibis. She was also eating lychees and clementines that she had just picked up from Les Halles Bellefontaine. If we had a kitchenette here in the Ibis, she would have probably picked up a parcel of paleron de beouf (cut of beef for stewing) from the butcherie as well.

For dinner, we picked up our favourite paella, salad and fruits from Carrefour. Eve and I noticed that the chef had swapped the chicken thigh with chicken drumlets(which were probably not cooked togther with the paella), but other than that, the paella remained just as good as we remembered it. And yes, we actually finished the whole packet of salad and the can of corn that you see in the pics. In all, this was probably our best meal in France so far. So, after one year in France, our best meal on this return trip is a meal from Carrefour. Not bad at all.

Paris Est Trop Froid Pour Moi

Hmm, did I get that right? In any case, I meant to say that Paris is too cold for me. This reminds me of my first trip to Fonty (when I first came here from Amsterdam to check out the apartments). Then, I was so cold and so unprepared that I ended up paying for an INSEAD sweater. It also reminds me of how mum and dad must have felt when they visited me at Madison Wisconsin during winter of 1996. Then, it was so cold, they simply stayed indoors.

The cold also makes us more sleepy and tired – I think. During our honeymoon in Dec 2003, we arrived into a cold and slightly darker Europe (compared to Singapore where the days still last till 6pm). And we ended up sleeping a lot more. In Amsterdam, I vividly remember sleeping after lunch, waking up before dinner, going for dinner and then sleeping after dinner. We were very happy because we had no eye bags during the trip.

This time round, things haven’t changed much. We were supposed to wake up early this morning to visit Montmarte and the artists’ row behind the eglise. But we ended up waking up close to lunchtime. Fortunately, we had so much slack in our itinerary that we managed to still go to the Sacre Coeur. The conclusion – I think we’d have a hard time following any conducted tour in winter.

Our itinerary for the day was as follows:

10:30 am – Woke up. Louis woke up with aching arms from carrying two bags of laundry around downtown Paris and pulling a 29kg bag past Galeries Lafayette
12:00 pm – Went to E.Dhillerin at the Chatelet, followed by lunch at Au Chien Qui Fume.
2:00 pm – Montmarte artists’ row
4:00 pm – Nap
7:00 pm – Dinner at GR5 - a raclette place
9:00 pm – Back in hotel room

Quite unexpectedly, I’ve enjoyed the simpler French food rather than the more elaborate sit-down meals. For example, the chausson au pomme that Eve bought from Fouchant and the macaroons that we bought from La Duree were most representative of good French food, I felt.

Oh yes, and I wanted to mention this – that between Eve and I, I’m simply useless where it comes to navigating Paris’ streets and metros, while Eve is the expert. She remembers most of the places here and is able to find the transfers so easily. I simply follow her – which explains why I will never learn to navigate Paris – c’est la vie!

France Gastronomy Tour

Two years ago, when Eve and I were in INSEAD, we spent three days across the channel in London. In all three days, we did little or no sightseeing. Instead, we spent most of our time trying the good food that London had to offer; all the dim sums and briyanis that France – Fontainebleau or Paris had deprived us of.

Two years later, today, we are back in France and the tables are turned. The only planned itinerary we have in Paris and Fontainebleu are the restaurants we would visit. If only there was more than just lunch and dinner in a day. (Breakfast is too early to wake up for, no matter which country we’re in).

Our first stop after getting off the Eurostar was LaDuree. This was a classic favourite with the INSEAD spouses. Situated in Le Printemps, La Duree has the best macaroons that we know of in the world. In fact, the macaroons in Lenotre in Bangkok come a far second; and the ones in Bakerz Inn, an even farther third (we don’t know of any other stores in Singapore selling macaroons). The macaroons did not disappoint – it was as good as we last remembered it.

For dinner, we had Le Procope. This was a restaurant that Constance (an ex-IDA colleague) and I visited three years ago when I came to Paris to make a presentation on Mobile Commerce. Three years ago, I remembered distinctly how I loved the food. Two years ago, in fact, when Eve and I were on honeymoon here, we tried to come here, but it was fully booked. This time round, the place was available, but alas, the food standard has gone drastically downhill. Either that, or I’ve become slightly more discerning about how good French food can really taste. I think it’s probably a little of both.

On our list tomorrow – a lunch at Au Chien qui Fume – a French restaurant that my dear INSEAD French friend Amir, brought us as a celebration dinner in 2005. For dinner, a raclette place because Eve insists that I get to eat raclette. In Fontainebleau, it will be the Bretagne crepes at Ty-Koz, the paella at Carrefour, the baguette au levin & chausomme aux pommes at the boulongerie near the Marche, perhaps tea at the Salon de The and a dinner at Barbizon.

Food aside, we did our tourist round – this time of Eiffel Tower. Eve knew about how the flashing lights came on, on the hour, and we managed to snap really nice pictures of the Eiffel at 11pm, with the tower fully lighted up. We had a few nice people from the crowd help us take pictures of the two of us. But unfortunately, both pictures don’t show the Eiffel top.

Baby in London

Even though Eve is only in her 6th month (or officially, 5 months and 18 days old), Baby has been on the top of our minds as we travel this holiday season.

First of course, there is the "fear" of Crowds. We went out for a walk today; after all, we've been here for three nights and have been so comfortable just chilling out in the hotel and Manisa's place, that we've hardly done any sighseeing. What better day, than to take a stroll on Boxing Day, we thought. Well, as it turns out, everyone thought the same. So even though it was a dark afternoon (at 2pm), there was a crowd at Oxford Street and I was a bit concerned that someone would bump into Eve. It was a good thing that we weren't particularly looking to buy anything, so we gladly went back to the hotel after about half an hour on Oxford Street. The good thing was we actually bought some roasted Chestnuts along the way - a reminder to our macaroon-munching days in Lucerne and Paris.

The second was the fear of "noise". We caught Stomp this evening. I had been longing to catch a musical since after all, we were well-situated in the midst of the main theatres. We were seated on the sixth row in front of the stage, and I was quite concerned that it would be too loud for Baby. At one point, they were doing a loud clanging piece - fortunately, Eve didn't seem too disturbed by it, so I think Baby hopefully enjoyed the musical as well.

All Baby books tell us that Baby is more protected than we would ever imagine. It is hard, however not to worry about such things..:)

Worries aside, Eve and I had a relaxing Boxing Day. We went to two very nice restaurants near the hotel. One was Abento-Too which served Oknomiyaki. It was quite novel because they actually cooked the Okonomiyaki in front of you. What struck me was how the restaurant hired only Japanese waiters and waitresses. In a retail setting, where staff turnover is often high, one wonders if they pay more for staff, or if this is a family business perhaps? And as you'd expect from a authentic Japanese restaurant, the presentation of food was impeccable - the chopsticks layout, how the mayonaise was spread on the Oknomiyaki etc. The bill came out to just 15 pounds.

For dinner, we went to Satsuma on 56 Wardour Street. Another nice Japanese-style restaurant. I had ramen there which came in a nice, thick broth. Eve had a avocado salad and another side dish of gyoza. The bill came up to about 20 pounds.

Earlier in the day, we decided to do the touristy thing, by taking pictures at Trafalgar Square. In spite of the dark and slightly drizzling weather, the place was filled with tourists. I think everyone at one point accepts that London weather is as such. And the quicker one accepts it, the faster one gets to enjoy the place.

Well, tomorrow we'd be going on to Paris - Baby, Paris and France holds much stronger memories for us because your mum and I spent an entire year here and as queer as you'd find it tomorrow, we hope you'd find that it grows on you - just as it has grown on us.

Merry Christmas & A Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Darling!!!

Yeah! Its Christmas and its Louis' birthday as well. We spent the evening at Ajay's & Manisa's for dinner. We didn't wake up until well past noon. Thanks to Manisa's thoughtfulness, we had some bread and jam before we headed out to Chinatown to scrunge for food.

We actually like our hotel location since its smack near Leicester Square, the West End and Chinatown. There were a few restaurants that were opened in Chinatown and we picked the one where there were lots of awards and write-ups on its windows.

Louis and I ordered a seafood tofu hotpot and oyster sauced vegetables to go along wiht rice. Up till today, I'm still flabbergasted by how much that meal cost us, even factoring the exchange rate difference. The price for lunch came up to be a whopping [bloody] 42GBP!!! What's more unbelieveable was that our bowl of rice for 2 person cost us 6GBP!!! Even by London standard, that sounded like a rip-off, not to mention how incredibly stupid I felt when it works out to be S$18.

Of course we didn't think to check the price for rice. Which Chinese wouldn't consider rice as a staple in their diet and as such, a commodity? When we checked with the staff on the price, they sheepishly admitted that the few Chinese restaurants that were opened on Christmas all hiked up their prices for rice. It helped a teeny-weeny bit that they commiserated with us that the hiked up price for rice was indeed painful for the pocket, but it was little comfort though. Up til today, I still feel so stupid that I paid a cut-throat amount for plain rice.

Thankfully, dinner was at Manisa's. And Manisa's mom specially made me Corn Bhel (a corn snack sprinkled with bhujia) and show me how to do it too. It felt like I was taking a cooking class specially tailored for one since I was in the kitchen with Manisa's mom as she taught me how to make the corn bhel and also lentil poori. Since, it was a day for cooking, I decided to jot down the recipes for all the dishes that I had at Manisa's for the last 2 nights. Perhaps I could adjust some of the ingredients for the dishes so that my mom might be able to eat since she's a strict vegan.

I only told Manisa in the car, on the way to her place, that it was Louis' birthday. She lamented that I didn't give her advance notice so that she could get a cake to celebrate. Still, Louis and I thought she more than made up for it by improvising with a venietta ice-cream cake as a Birthday cake.

Insead Reunited

Louis and I were probably suffering from jetlag. We woke up in the middle of the night at 2 am London time to snack and watch TV before settling down again to sleep closer to 4 am.

On Christmas Eve, we met up with Arvind & Meera, Ajay, Manisa, her mom, Saniya and Abijay (Ajay's bro), Prasoon and his wife for lunch at a Thai fusion place. Arvind and Meera were flying off to Kenya on Christmas and this was our only chance to catch them while we are in London. Most of our closer friends from our year in Insead/France were based in London.

In the evening, we headed over to Ajay's & Manisa's place. This Christmas, Louis and I are due for some good 'ole Indian vegetarian cuisine at their place. The best part is that Manisa's mom would also be in town and I would get to eat (and learn to make) the Corn Bhel that her mom makes which I absolutely love, along with all the masala chai I can drink.

We had a good time chilling out and opening Christmas crackers with the guys. Hmmm...believe it or not, the surprise that came out from the cracker that I pulled with Ajay turned out to be a measuring tape. Wonder if its for Ajay or for me to measure the size of our girth??

By the time we got back to our hotel at 1-ish am and showered, we decided to Skype with Adrian & Astee since it was morning Singapore time. Louis and I are glad that Anthea and Anders are enjoying and playing with their Christmas prsents. Anthea had a Disney Princess pink top and Princess Genevieve (of Barbie's 12 Princesses) for her present and Anders had the latest Bob the Building remote control crane. We rang up my mom too and had a chat with her. Unfortunately, mom's legs were a little swollen from the cold weather and it hurts her to walk around. However, she's been going for acupuncture, so I hope that the weather will improve soon and her legs would get better.

As much as we enjoy catching up with friends, Christmas holds special meaning for Louis and me although we are both not religious. Christmas is also Louis' birthday and a time to spent together with family. Because of Louis' assignment, we are away from home this year and we do miss our folks back home. We hope to be able to spend next Christmas with the family, espcially when our own little unit expands to become a 3-member nucleus.

To our family back home: Love and miss you all!

All's well that ends well

After all the uncertainty, Father Christmas was kind to us after all. Not only did Eve and I get a three-seater row all to ourselves on flight, we managed to meet up with Adrian, if only if it was only for an hour. In all, it was a tiring flight here to London, but it was a fantastic start to a X'mas weekend.

It started with Eve's blog yesterday - the disappointment of having to unwrap the presents that she had so painstakingly wrapped the days before. Things got much better the rest of the day however. When we got to the check-in counter, the BA counter personnel very nicely put us together in a row, keeping the centre seat empty, given Eve's condition.

Even though our flight was delayed three hours, we were prepared for it, and were thus, able to check-in, then drive to the city for a leisurely dinner. We then came back, quite fresh from dinner, ready to board the plane.

The ride there was overall, a bit too rocky. The weather was quite turbulent, but Eve and I were so tired that we did manage to sleep a little during the flight. We couldn't eat much though, because the food was really a bit too cold and a bit too much like microwave food.

When we got off the flight, we had lunch at Gatwick airport, then took a the Gatwick Express to Victoria station in London. It was really quick and really convenient (about 1/2 hour). At Victoria, we took a London cab (costing 8 pounds) to the hotel. It was a good move, we felt, as not only did we save money not taking the cab all the way from the airport (the Express would likely be faster than a car), but we also didn't tire ourselves out by trying to lug all the luggage all the way from the train station.

The good news came soon after, when Adrian told us that he was able to meet us. Fortunately, we managed to load up all the presents and chocolates for all back home, into Adrian's backpack.

Because of the time constraints, we actually "da pao" dinner at the hotel, so Adrian could get a shower after his long flight.

We also later had a "supper" at 7pm...Eve had - believe it or not - instant noodles for 5 pounds, while I had "beef brisket (niu nan)" noodles.

To all at home, like Eve said, hope u guys have a Merry Xmas - it's cold in London, but Eve is beaming with the cold :) And I'm happy that she's happy and that we managed to catch up with Adrian in London. :)

No Wrapped Prezzies :(

What with the fog in London and all the expected flight delays, Louis and I are still keeping up our hopes that we would be able to meet with Adrian, spend some time together and have him load back all the presents for home.

There's a lot of uncertainty, because we do not know if Adrian would be able to come out from the transit lounge or whether we would be able to go to Heathrow to meet him given the chaotic situation there.

However, it is with great regret and many heartfelt sighs that I had to unwrap all the Christmas presents that I had happily wrapped today.

Nonetheless, we had monitored and kept track of the BA website and read through all the information on hand carrys on board flights out of UK. What's clear is that if Adrian is going to cart those prezzies home, he's only allowed 1 hand carry on board, and if they are Christmas presents, they have to be unwrapped.

Just so that it would still be a surprise to the rest until they get their gifts, only Adrian would know which gifts are meant for whom.

To all the gift recipients, our most sincere apologies that the presents would not be nicely wrapped this Christmas. We only hope that they make it back home in time.

As for our flight from Houston to London, its currently estimated to fly some 3 hours later than scheduled.

To all our families and friends out there reading this posting, Louis and I would like to wish everyone A Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year! Big hugs and kisses to everyone too!

London Fog - Vacation Might Be Impacted

We're due to fly out to London via BA tomorrow and to rendezvous with Adrian while he's transitting in London.

What with the news of fog in London and the fact that BA has cancelled most of the domestic flights and some others to Europe, we're keeping our fingers crossed that both Adrian and our flights would still go on schedule.

We've been checking BA's website and so far, there hasn't been any further indications that our flights are affected. Astee is also checking to see if there are alternative flights out for Adrian. All we can do is hope that everything would go on schedule and that we could still have a chance to meet with Adrian.

Preparing for the Christmas Vacation

Louis and I are supposed to pack all our stuff today since we would be checking out of Magnolia Hotel and heading to London tomorrow. We hope that between the two of us, we can pack everything into 1 luggage for the London/Paris vacation and leave the other luggage with stuff/clothes that we don't need at the hotel since we are returning in early Jan 07. That's not inclusing all the presents that we are lugging to London in 4 separate bags, which we would bring on board.

Its unbelieveable how much things/junk one can collect over time. We've got to pack away our crockpot, rice cooker, chinese wok, utensils and kitchen condiments since we would still be using them when we return to Houston.

Today, Astee emailed to inform us that London's Heathrow airport has cancelled a number of flights on Thur due to the fog and things may remain the same for the next 48 hours. We're going to fly in from Gatwick, and Adrian's landing at Heathrow. Let's hope that things would improve by this Sat. We've been looking forward to seeing and spending time with Adrian.

According to BBC's weather forecast, temperature from Sat till next Tue seem to hoover around a high of 5C and low of 1-2C. Its a lot colder compared to the weather in Houston. Its weird but Texas winter is kinda like summer (average of 22C daily). In fact, I've been going around in short sleeves and skirts for the last few days.

On the home front, Louis and I seemed to have missed out on 2 ROM/wedding during the year end. At least, I hope we would be able to attend Chee Keong's wedding next Dec, along with Baby. One thing we certainly do not miss and that's the flood and outpour back in Singapore due to the monsoon.

Just 1 more day to go before London. I hope the weather would improve and Adrian's and our flight plans would go as scheduled.

Belly Belly Uncomfortable

Some days, my belly looks nice and compact. Some days, it seems to stick out with a big attitude, proclaiming to the world that Baby is in there. As with all things, there's a rationale for it. The reason being pure and simple. I'm suffering from one of the common ailments of pregnancy. Indigestion.

I've managed to curb the aching back problem that I've mentioned before by my weekly swim and also trying to limit the amount of time that I'm sitting at the table, in front of the laptop.

Since entering into the 6th month of my pregnancy, I'm plagued by problems of indigestion every few days. It didn't use to bug me so much but along with indigestion, I get a distended stomach and all the discomfort associated with it. The feeling is sometimes so uncomfortable that I would feel the need to support the bottom of my belly (like I'm lugging some watermelon stripped to my front), lay in bed and try to burp as much of the air out (although most would say that's not advisable) or drink lots of peppermint tea to purge out the air.

Now, I can just imagine why colicky babies cry so much. The feeling is so uncomfortable and its not like any indigestion problems I had pre-pregnancy. Those poor babies have no way of understanding nor articulating their discomforts :(

On the flip side, indigestion, which is common in pregnancy is a result of the loosening of abdominal muscles. Thus, food takes longer to be digested and hence, nutrients can be better absorbed by Baby. Understanding the logic and knowing that its good for Baby is one thing. Having to bear the discomfort of a distended stomach and all that gas/wind in your stomach is yet another.

Based on what I've googled from the web, we take in air as we eat, drink or through normal digestion of certain food in the body. Of course, some food tend to produce more gas. The body either expells the gas/air through burping or through the other end of your body (you know where).

Food that produces more gas are things like dairy products (e.g. milk, cheese, ice-cream), some fruits and juices (e.g. apples, pears, peaches, prunes), vegetables (e.g. broccoli, artichokes, brussel sprouts, onions), beans of all kinds and starch (e.g. potato, corn, noodles and wheat). Interesting, protein is actually good as they don't produce gas or much gas.

At the end of the day, there's really not much I can do but to watch my diet and steer clear of certain food. I did ask my gynae for medication for indigestion but I didn't bring it along with me to Houston. Neither did I bring along the "Ru yi you" that my mom nagged me so many times to bring for the trip and also on the day of my flight. And now, I'm suffering from it all. Drats!

Snack & Dessert Recipes

Right... so, I've said that I'm a fruits dessert person. And today, watching Giada's Everyday Italian show, I'm again going to list down 2 of her recipes. They are really simple ideas and I think great for parties, dinners or even something cozy for 1-2 persons. The best part? Just a few simple ingredients.

Recipe #1 - Sauteed Pineapple with Honey & Pine Nuts

Ingredients:
1 cup cubed pineapple, fresh or canned
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
1 teaspoon rum
2 tablespoons mascarpone cheese

Method:
Drain the pineapple cubes in a strainer. Lay the pineapple cubes on a paper towel and pat dry. Put the butter in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Make brown butter by heating the butter until melted and just starting to brown around the edges. Add the pineapple and toss to coat in the butter. Add the honey and toss to coat the pineapple with the honey. Cook until the pineapple is golden, about 5 to 7 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the pine nuts.

In a small bowl mix together the rum and the mascarpone. Place the pineapple mixture in a serving dish and top it with a dollop of the cheese mixture. Serve immediately.


Recipe #2 - Proscuitto & Carrot Bundles

Ingredients:
2 carrots, shredded, about 1/2 cup
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Pinch salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
4 slices prosciutto
4 whole fresh basil leaves

Method:
In a medium bowl, toss together the carrots, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Lay out the 4 slices of prosciutto. Top each with 1/4 of the carrot mixture. Place a basil leaf on top of each and roll the prosciutto up and around the basil and carrots. Secure the bundles with toothpicks and serve.

Hmmm... a colleague of mine was telling me that he's looking for ideas for a division Christmas party. So, maybe he would be interested in this?

Source: Food Network (http://www.foodnetworks.com), Giada De Laurentiis' Everyday Italian.

Problems with a Dodgey Car

The thing about a DODGE-Y car is that weird things would dodged its every step. On Sunday afternoon, as Louis and I were set to run out and grab our last Christmas gift, trouble happened. I was just getting into the front passenger seat when I noticed something lying on the floor. Picking it up, I was surprised to note that it was the signal blinker gadget that was supposed to be on the left side of the steering wheel.

When I showed it to Louis and asked if that came out from our car, we were a little shocked to realise that indeed it was the missing piece to the steering wheel. And strangely, that little blinker seemed to have a set of legs on its own to land on my side of the seat.

We alerted the hotel valet, whom had parked our car the evening before when the car condition was still good. We had no clue what happened although speculations abound. Nonetheless, the valet helped us filed an accident report and assured us that they would handle it with the car rental company. The thing was, we decided against taking insurance for the car rental and now something like that had happened.

As it was the direction signal blinker, we decided not to chance it and take it out as it seemed kinda dangerous not to be able to signal your intents entering, exiting and driving along the roads. The valet was nice enough to agree to drop us off at to where we had intended to go for our last shopping gift and pick us up on the way back.

Thankfully, we managed to get what we wanted for Adrian from the R.E.I shop along Westheimer. Deciding that we did not want to hurry back to the hotel where we would be stucked within downtown area, we took our time after purchasing our gift to linger at Macs and the Barnes & Noble store around the vicinity.

Louis was browsing through a book in B&N titled "The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips and Advice for Fathers-to-be". Seemed like an interesting book as it gave insights from a father-to-be's perspective. It even gave practical instructions to the fathers on the differences in wiping down girls and boys during diaper changing time.

Capping the end of the day, Louis continues to either read or sing to Baby. Louis had printed out from the Internet 9 chapters about a little girl called Ms Amanda and her 3 toys/pets; a duck, a cat and a teddy bear. We are still thrilled and a little in awe still whenever Baby responds to our voices or a hand on the belly with kicks and movements.

Even with the glitch with our Dodgey car, we still managed to spend a nice Sunday. We also spoke to Adrian and confirmed that we will hang around with him [and his colleagues] as they take a quick but short 6-hour whirlwind tour of London during their long transit time. What's most important to us is that we could spend time together since its been about 2 months since we last saw Adrian.

In another 5 days, we would be in London and Paris for our holiday vacation. I'm looking forward to meeting all the friends and gorging on some of the food that I missed so much since leaving France e.g. Raclette, Cous cous, tagine, paella, Brittany crepes, macaroons etc. Boy! Can't wait!

Another Lazy Weekend in Houston

Made Louis promised that this would be a weekend of Asian food only. Reason? I needed comfort food as Texmex seems to give me indigestion and a bloated stomach. So, this morning, we headed to Kim Son, a Vietnamese restaurant chain (www.kimson.com) for a light brunch before we headed out to YMCA for our weekly swim.

Food at Kim Son seemed promising. The ala carte menu seemed quite chinese to me as there were things like hotplate tofu, pork ribs, kailan beef etc. We had a combo sampler of fresh spring rolls, egg rolls and steamed dumpling. Louis had an extra Mekong soup, which he said was like tom yam soup minus the spice. That was so-so. Our verdict? We'll go back again to try dim sum tomorrow morning.

After swimming and lunch, we headed again to Westheimer again to complete the last of our Christmas shopping list. I'm glad to say that we are now left with only one more Christmas present to purchase. Here's a pix of all our wrapped Christmas presents. Ok, they all looked the same cos we bought similar looking wrappers. What can I say? :)

We decided to have Indian food for dinner. Surreptiously checking out the Zagat guide book in Borders, we selected Kiran's (www.kiranshouston.com) as it was along Westheimer. It was a good choice. Between Louis and I, we shared starters of vegetarian samosa, tandoori prawns and a lamb briyani main dish. There was a slight error and instead of a lam briyani, Louis ended up with a vegetarian briyani. He only discovered it after we both started eating it.

The wait staff were really apologetic about it, apologising profusely and telling us to go ahead and eat the vegetarian briyani slowly as they quickly resolve the mistake. Okay... being typical Singaporean and the fact that food was good nonetheless, Louis and I were secretly pleased by the mistake becos we get to eat 2 types of briyani for the price of one :) We concluded dinner with a cup of masala chai.

Ohh... how could I forget this little interesting fact? We rented another car again for this weekend and this time around, we got a rather Dodge-y car. Well, the brand was Dodge and it was kinda old, so, I lovingly called it our Dodgey car. It runs alright, although Louis said that the tires were kinda worn out. Car suspension was pretty much gone too cos everytime we hit a bump, we were pretty much bouncing in the car. The car must be really old cos its been a long time since that both of us had to manually wind up/down the windows ourselves. The car doors are also manually locked. So, what happens is that Louis would have to manually unlock the door with his key on his side, get in and unlock the front passenger door. Ditto the rest of the other doors too. However, it was a set of wheels and it got us from one destination to another and that was fine by me.

Ohh ohh... another one more exciting thing... we spoke to Adrian (elder BIL) today. He's on schedule to transit London on 23 Dec morning, around the same timing that we would arrive in London. One way or another, we'll be hooking up so that we could spend some time together in the day before Adrian flys back to Singapore. And the best part? Adrian's going to be Santa Claus on our behalf, delivering all the lovely goodies to our folks back home. And just in time for Christmas too.

Calling Home

It was good to talk to family this weekend. Terence, mum, dad and Cherry were at Tanah Merah Country Club (I think) this weekend. Anthea was also there.

Mum and dad seemed to have a good time in Australia. Dad talked about his studies there and also their visit to the vineyards. When I spoke to Anthea, I realised she was really speaking like an adult - but in some ways she still had the child in her. Of course, she started by saying how she was (once again) enjoying life. When I told her that I had heard how Ye Ye already bought her two Barbies, and that we needn't buy her anymore, she was quick to ask for her Barbie dolls again :)

It is close to X'mas and as much as we'd have wanted to spend X'mas with family, a call like this reminds one that sometimes it is also the heart that counts, and not just being physically present. It looks like the family is really travelling quite a bit with Terence also planning to take holidays in London in late Jan. Given that, it looks like our major reunion will be in early Feb, when Terence comes back. If everything goes well, I'd be back in late Jan. This Chinese New Year will certainly be one that we will treasure more :)

Spanish Tapas & Paella

On the one night this week when I could actually make use of the camera that I usually carry in my bag, I left it charging on the side table in the hotel room *smack forehead*. So, I was really mentally kicking myself when we were at the Rioja restaurant last night.

Rioja is a Spanish tapas restaurant that is supposedly famed for its delicious Valencia paella in Houston. Hmmm... let's put it this way... I've not tasted good paellas outside of Spain or France. But I do like the environment and the clientele in Rioja last night.

We ordered 2 tapas dishes; calamari and croquetas de jamon (ham croquettes) along with a 2-person serving of the paella. The tapas was alright, although I think nobody does tapas the way the Spanish do.

What I loved about Rioja was the patio sitting and Mexican live band that was playing. It was a 3-men band playing and the music reminded me so much of the times in Spain and our year in France. And towards the end of our dinner, a guy from the table next to us got up to salsa and twirl around with one of his companions and 2 of the waitresses. There was so much spontaneity and joy in their dancing that it reminded Louis and me of our Spanish and Latin American friends. Watching them twirl and salsa, I told Louis that we will one day pick up salsa dancing. I'm not sure where and how are we going to find the time to do it. But we will. One day.

Unfortunately, with my reduced stomach size, I overate and ended up prostrate on the bed for the rest of the night due to indigestion. Sigh...

Perspective on Family

When you have stayed in a hotel long enough, you're bound to know the names of the hotel manager, people at the front desk, the concierge, valet etc etc. It feels nice to be able to walk out of the hotel lobby and wave at friendly staff along the way, or chat with them on the way back to your room.

Like today, Freddie, the Concierge told me that Porschia, the Receptionist, just discovered that she's 8 weeks pregnant and is all excited about it. And when I saw Porschia, she was telling me how she felt sick all day long becos of morning sickness. Sounds familiar to me, although a number of people are telling me that I glow with pregnancy now that I'm in my 2nd trimester.

I'm not really sure that long stays in hotels or service apartments over the next 2 years would be a good thing with Baby's arrival. However, there's one thing that I'm sure of... and that is we will find a way to make things work just so that Louis, Baby and I would be together as a family.

Having been apart for 2 out of 3 1/2 months since Louis started work in his new job, I am enjoying every minute that I'm here in Houston with him. It doesn't matter that I'm pretty much hotel-bound becos I'm afraid to drive in the US. Neither does it bother me that most weekdays, I am holed up in the hotel room, just trying to find things to fill up the day, which invariably means that I end up being a couch (more like bed) potato in front of the TV or laptop.

What matters to me most is that we are together. I like that I get to kiss my hubby every morning before he goes to work. And I look forward to the end of the workday when he comes home. We rejoice that we could share Baby's growth everyday with my belly getting bigger, him singing or reading to Baby and our excitement when Baby responses with kicks.

I know how much Baby and family means to Louis and I want to ensure that he gets to be involved in Baby's growth and development as much as possible given his travellings. A family that eats together stays together. We have every intentions of making sure that our little family will stay together, in mind, body and spirit.

One week more (almost) to Xmas break

I realised this recently. That next Friday, Eve and I will be on our way to London and Paris for a long-deserved break. It's quite exciting because while I've been back to London once (just Aug this year), Eve hasn't seen our friends there for a long time. We're also both looking forward to just being in Fontainebleau and reliving our fond memories we spent of that one year there.

Time flies and it'd be 2007 soon. In retrospect, 2006 was a year of good tidings and new experiences for us:

a. Expecting Baby (of course!)
b. Moving into our first house
c. Our second long-term stay overseas - this time in Houston
d. My first experience in the private sector
e. Our first use of a dish-washer
f. My first experience in yoga
g. Our first Thanksgiving dinner with locals in the US

Hmm, I am sure there were much more firsts this year. Or was it really that short? :) For 2007, then, Eve and I should strive to do something new everyday or perhaps, every week?

Recipe for Roasted Pears with Brown Sugar & Vanilla Ice-cream

Did I say that I love fruit desserts of most kind? I'm less of a chocolate person than a fruit person when it comes to dessert. Hence, the types of desserts that I love to make usually are fruit based e.g. cherry crumble, banane flambee, apple galette, poached pears etc.

Watching Giada De Laurentils' Everyday Italian show today, I just couldn't resist putting down this recipe so that I can try it when I'm back at home. Its roasted pears with brown sugar and vanilla ice-cream. So, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1/3 cup (75ml) apple juice
1/3 cup (75g) firmly packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons (45g) unsalted butter
3 firm Bosc pears, peeled, halved, cored (about 1 pound)
Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Method
1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200C).

2) Arrange the pears cut side up in an 8-inch square glass baking dish. Whisk the apple juice and sugar in a small heavy saucepan over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves. Whisk in the butter. Pour the sauce over the pears. Bake until the pears are crisp-tender and beginning to brown, basting occasionally with the juices, about 35 minutes.

3) Spoon the pears onto plates. Top with ice cream. Drizzle with any juices and serve.

4) The pears can also be served frozen. To do so, cool the pears, then place them in the freezer until frozen solid, about 8 hours.

Source: Giada De Laurentils' Everyday Italian Show from www.foodnetwork.com (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_29418,00.html)

Weather, Pregnancy & Food

After 1 1/2 weeks of the cold, Houston's weather has reverted back to the normal, with daily high averages around 22C. And that means that we can again go out in t-shirts. Yippee to gorgeous weather again!

Since entering my 6 months of pregnancy, there seems to be changes in my body that I have not much control of. On Mon, I had wind in my stomach that affected my appetite. Today, my appetite seemed to be back, although I'm steering clear of cold beverages, just in case. But dang! Now, my fingers seemed to be slightly swollen. Wonder if its water retention? So now, I've got to make sure I don't take too salty food and drink lots of fluid in the hope that the water retention will go away. Actually, I'm not sure if drinking lots of fluid helps, but so far, that seems to curb a lot of things. No harm trying :)

Hmmm... today, I was watching this Food Network channel and the chef Giada was making a simple pizza bread to go along with a seafood stew. Now, the recipe for the pizza bread seemed really easy that I wanted to quickly jot this down so that I could try it when I'm back in Singapore, perhaps with soups :)

What she did was to use a ready-made pizza dough (from the supermarket) or make one from scratch. Roll it out, prick the base with a fork, drizzle with olive oil and then sprinkle fresh herbs over it. She used thyme as it went well with her seafood stew, but I guess it could be substituted with rosemary and even olives, making it kinda like a focaccia bread. Pop that into the oven for about 15 minutes and out it came looking Yum *Slurp*! Can't wait to try it. If anyone out there try, do let me know how it goes.

That's all for today, folks. Over and out!

Weekend Christmas Shopping Frenzy

This weekend, we rented a car as we had a list of Christmas shoppings and errands to run. And what a cute car it was. Its a nice little black Chrysler PT Cruiser with 4-door. We'd gotten a free upgrade from a 2 to 4-door car.

First on the agenda was our weekly swimming routine. We stopped by the YMCA along Clay Round and had our swim before heading down to Galleria for the bulk of our shopping. Even before we started our own Christmas shopping list, I bought myself 2 bags -- one a shoulder tote bag and the other a normal shoulder bag. I justified to myself that the tote bag would be handy when Baby comes along. Hahaha... Louis wanted to buy one of the bag as my Christmas but I told him I had other plans for his present to me.

Anthea and Anders had their wishlist spelt out to us the last time. It wasn't exactly what they wanted, but it was close. So, we hope they would like their prezzies. Over the 2 days, we stopped at Gap, Pottery Barn Kids, Discovery Centre, Borders and Toys r Us and managed to get our shopping list somewhat done for families and a few close friends. Time really flies... Pregnany does exert its toll though... I was getting backache at the end of our shoppings.

Sunday brunch, Louis and I headed back to Ocean Palace again for our dim sum. It was such a coincidence that we again sat next to the Bear family of 4 for the 2nd time. Again, the Bear family were eating their food with gusto. Hmmm... Louis and I speculated that this must be their weekly weekend routine and/or that they really do love Chinese food and dim sum.

We spent the better part of Sunday night writing Christmas postcards and wrapping all the presents. All in, it was a fruitful weekend for the both of us.

Ohhh... we hit another milestone. As of Sunday, Baby is 6 months along now. Belly is sure getting bigger. Must be that I'm relaxed and resting well, hence, Baby is growing well too. Louis and I thought we could detect Baby's heartbeat when we press our fingers along my belly. Baby's growth amazes us to no end, really.

Christmas Concert

On Thur night, we went for the Bayou City Women's Chorus (BCWC) Holiday concert as Louis' colleague, Teran, was performing in the choir. Teran was telling us after that the BCWC is an inclusive group made up of a large number of lesbians singers and also people who are open/accepting of the community. Teran is straight and happily married, btw :)

It was a fun night and we enjoyed all the little twists given to a few of the Christmas songs such as "The twelve days after Christmas", "Feminist Holiday Songbook" and "Christmas in about 3 minutes" where they choir sang 23 songs in under 3 minutes.

Teran did a little solo on the song "Chocolate in my stocking" and it was supposed to be a duet but her partner was sick that day. We all thought she had a great voice; clear and innocent, which was why she was chosen to sing it in the first place.



It was a cold night and after the concert, we headed home. Ohh... I forgot to mention about our pre-concert drinks at this pub called Pulp Fiction. They served non-alcoholic beer and I tried a bottle. Its called Sharp, brewed by Miller. It lacked something in the taste -- probably the alcohol -- but it did went down well with the nachos and combo platter we had. Satisfied my alcohol cravings for a little while ;)

On Impending Motherhood

Its time to capture for posterity the size of my [not very] bulging belly and to fully embrace motherhood in its totality. While convincing myself that big is beautiful is a large part of the latter, indeed there are some changes that pregnancy brings :)

So, how has pregnancy changed me, emotionally and physically? Let's see...

1) Skin tone and complexion have certainly improved. Eating junks like chips and crackers don't send a bout of pimples sprouting on my face. Hmmm... is that a sign than that Baby might be a girl cos they say that expectant mothers with girls glow during pregnancy?? *wink*

2) Appetite has decreased - Yep! Its not a typo! I think I eat lesser than what I used to at each meal. I compensate by eating maybe 4-5 small meals a day instead of 3 full ones.

3) No cravings, thank goodness! In fact, I think I had more cravings pre-pregnancy.

4) Developed distaste for chicken (especially breast meat) and fish. On the flipside, I would devour beef and pork with gusto. Now, I wonder if that's a sign that Baby might be a boy?? *double wink*

5) Can no longer sleep half-sprawled on my belly/side. Boo hoo hoo... that's as emotionally gut-wrenching as snatching a child's favourite teddy bear from his/her clutches.

6) Oh yeah, how can I forget *smack forehead*... a squashed bladder sends me to the toilet more frequently. That implies that I wake up often in the middle of the night to do the you-know-what.

7) Speaking of waking up in the middle of the night, I kinda do that a lot now. For a number of reasons, e.g. can't sleep, hunger, need for the toilet, dry skin, blah blah blah. Just name it, I could wake up for a number of reasons. Or none at all.

8) I've said this in another posting about having more lung power. I could swim more laps at a stretch. Currently, I do about 20-25 laps at the pool each week. Could it be that I'm preparing my lung for what all mothers need to do? Screaming their heads off at their pesky offsprings?

Alrighty. That's all my sketchy brain can think of at this moment in time. If I remember more, I would add it to the list. Till the next posting, ciao!

Using Epidural

I figured that instead of my usual ramblings, today's posting is going to focus on the process of delivery... or rather, how should I cope with the pains of labour. I'm sure there are scores of women who were petrified of the pains of delivery but have gone through and lived to tell the tale. In part, this posting is a little bit of "research" that I'm taking so that I can better cope with my personal demon.

So, to all the women out there (ok, and maybe some men who have lived through their wives' own delivery process) who have gone through the pains of delivery, I was hoping that you would be able to share with me your thoughts on epidural. Consider this a little fact finding so that I can weigh the pros and cons of epidural and any lingering side effects of it. And for the brave ones out there who chosed not to use epidural, how did you cope and what was the pain like? What other unknown facts should I be aware of going into the delivery ward?

I've asked my hubby a few nights about whether he think I should use epidural during delivery and his frank opinion was that I should go ahead and do it. His rationale? Becos he felt that I have a low threshold tolerance for pain. Oookkk... that doesn't sound very encouraging, although he could be right for a number of reasons. Firstly, I lucked out and have not really had to go through excruciating menstral cramps. Secondly, on the 2 ocassions where I experienced close to feelings of cramps due to severe food poisoning, I was in a real pathetic state and probably scare a few years off Louis' lifespan. To top it off, during the last blood tests that I did 2 months ago where the nurse had to draw 4 vials of blood from me, I nearly fainted, this time, scaring the nurse right out of her skin.

So... maybe Louis does have a point and since we do have every intentions (at this juncture) to have another kid in the future, I shouldn't try to be too gung-ho and go through labour sans epidural.

But before I commit and agree to let the anesthesiologist plunge that needle into my spine, I wanted to have the deck of cards laid out in front of me.

Hence, I'm inviting you to share your thoughts, experiences, tips or advice with me via comments on this blog or email. Merci beaucoup :)

Daddy in defense

I'm eating a bowl of banana split and Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia as I write this blog. And it's 10:40pm now...:) As you can tell, I'm going to be gaining weight at the same rate as Eve is :)

The good thing about the hotel is that there's this large table here which seats four comfortably. It's our Small-Office, Home-Office in the room. Each evening, Eve and I sit next to each other doing our stuffs - she'd be doing her IMing (cos' it's just about the time when her colleagues catch a break before/after lunch, or when they just feel bored) while I do my work or clear my bills or return my personal emails - simply - a chillout time in front of the computer..(just noticed that my ice-cream turned into a milk shake while writing the first para..oh well)

In any case, as a follow-up to Mummy's blog, Baby should know that the central purpose of singing isn't to teach Baby the song, but to familiarise Baby with my voice. As such, Baby, when you read this blog, we must keep that context in mind okay? Notwithstanding of course, daddy shall endeavour to learn the right words. Mummy has a knack for remembering lyrics, but Daddy has lost touch a little. Daddy used to sing quite a lot (to himself, in the car and in the bath) when he was young - so Daddy has a good repertoire of retro songs - not Mary had a Little Lamb though :) But hey, it shouldn't be too hard, or at least I hope...:)

Nightly Singing Routine

Now, a friend has been whinning to me about how our postings do not allow for people to comment. He said too that its not just him, but he's stepping forward to echo the views of many who had wanted to comment on some of our postings but couldn't. Between you and me, I think he's just using others as an excuse.

So, I've finally made some changes to my blog settings to automatically allow all postings to be commented. We shall see if that friend of ours really would comment ;)

Louis, Baby and I have kind of settled into this nightly routine. I noticed that Baby makes more movements around midnight, Houston time. Probably Baby moves about in the day, but usually around that time of the night, Louis and I would be preparing to call it a day, so perhaps, Baby's movements were more pronounced or obvious to us. Well... to get back to our little routine, Louis would place his hands over my belly and croon to Baby the song "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". And moments after, Baby would respond with a few little kicks. Louis would talk to Baby a little more (which Baby responds again with a few more movements), kiss Baby goodnight before we hit the lights off.

Let me tell you a little secret :) Louis appears to know the lyrics to a great number of songs. I've got to admit that he surprises me sometimes with the repetoir of song lyrics that he knows. Then, there's a number of songs that he actually doesn't know the lyrics, but he exhibits some amount of creativity and aplomb to make up the lyrics as he goes along. And becos he's so confident singing them, you would think he knows the lyrics (that is if you don't know the lyrics yourself). Hahahah... I say this becos he was trying to sing more songs other than "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to Baby with "Mary Had a Little Lamb". And while the last sentence of the song lyric totally escaped me, I was quite sure it wasn't quite the right lyrics either.

Baby, you've got a daddy who is creative in his singing. But most importantly, he loves you a great deal and would be the most dotting, loving and sweetest dad that any kid could ask for!

Weekend in Houston

It was a relaxing weekend. On Sat, we went into Rice Village just to do a little bit of shopping and I managed to get some threads and needles to mend my jeans too. After, we went down to the YMCA some 20 minutes outside of town to swim. Well... I needed to get my weekly dosage of swimming in order to curb those backaches. I'm really quite proud of myself... I did 25 laps (Olympic size length) at a go. I'm not sure why, but maybe pregnancy increases my buoyancy. I could never swim more than 14 laps in total pre-pregnancy, not to talk about 20 laps at a single stretch. Now, swimming feels quite effortless too without really exerting myself. How cool is that?

On Sun, Louis went back to YMCA again for a swim -- we both joined YMCA for a 2-month membership in order to make use of the indoor swimming facilities :) After, we went grocery shopping in Bellaire (Houston's Chinatown stretch) for Asian groceries and then to Krogers, for the remaining items.

For the coming week, we've planned to cook in for 3 of the dinners and here's what we have planned:

• Curry chicken (main) with stir-fry oyster-sauce broccoli (veg dish)
• Wantan soup (main) with char-siew (meat dish) -- I didn't make the char-siew, its store-bought ;)
• Fried rice vermicelli (main) with lotus root soup (soup dish)

The rest of the week, we have some flexibility to either join Louis' colleagues or try a new place in Houston.

This Wed, FIL will be travelling to Perth for his part-time MBA attachment. On Sun, MIL is going over to join him for 4-5 days before flying back. They have signed up for a package to tour Margaret River. I'm sure they are going to have fun.

In 3 weeks time, Adrian will be back from his training and can finally be together with the family after spending 7 weeks overseas.

Ohh... here's a bit of trivia about Louis and myself. Louis needs to go out in order to recharge himself, while I'm more a homebody. This weekend, we've got to learn how to work our schedule so that he get enough activity to feel that his weekend was fruitful and to recharge himself, while at the same time, we do not do too many things that I feel drained. That's one thing in which we are both quite different :)

Christmas Wishlist

Today, we got to skype with family for the first time. Astee was using my laptop, which already had the webcam installed. For some reasons, the line kept dropping but we were able to get some good connections twice and had a decent video-conference call :)

It was nice to be able to see Astee, Anthea and Anders over the webcam. Louis asked what they wanted for Christmas presents and here's the kids wishlist, including what they thought their Ye-ye (grandpa), Nai-Nai (grandma) and parents wanted:

Anthea & Anders' Christmas Wishlist

• For Ye-ye: A pair of pants
• For Nai-nai: A pair of necklace
• For Adrian: A camera
• For Astee: A pair of pink shoes
• For Anthea: Barbie dolls of Ashley and Genevieve, of the 12 Princesses
• For Anders: A Mickey Mouse soft toy

Louis also asked the kids on their prediction of Baby's gender. And guess what? Their unanimous answer was that they both wanted a "mei-mei" (sister). I guess we'll know if both their "predictions" or wishes come through in Apr 07 ;)

As for what Louis and I would wish for this Christma, we only have a simple one. That Baby would be born healthy.

A Colder Houston

Overnight, Texas weather has taken a dip to a temperature of about 8 Degrees Celsius today. I've heard over the news that Dallas (north of Houston) is expecting a winter storm. For the first time since my arrival, the hotel windows are frosted over, the ground outside is wet and people are walking around town, huddled in thicker outer jackets. The cold front is going to stay with us at least till this weekend, based on what I can see of the weather forecast for the next few days.

I think the sensations that I had thought all along were uterus contractions (aka Braxton Hicks contraction) might just be Baby's movements afterall. Becos after Louis sang to Baby last night in bed, I could suddenly feel a little movement/kick inside of me. When Louis placed his hands over my stomach, Baby kicked again. We were both enthralled and excited at the same time :) Baby is responding to us!

Louis ended work late last night as his client and consulting manager (CM) were in town for a few days. I met them at a nearby pub for a drink. Angela, his client, was really nice... she was all excited and sharing with us stories about her 2 pregnancies. Even though her boys are now 15 and 12 yrs old, she could still remember how they were when she was expecting them.

Tonight, I'm making beef bulgogi for dinner. I've marinated the beef and its now sitting in the fridge, absorbing all the flavours. It might not be a bad idea to eat in seeing that the weather has turned colder. Yoonmi, my Korean friend has taught me to try marinating the beef with sliced pears as substitutes for sugar. Hmmm... I can't wait to try the beef tonight *slurp* :)



I'm glad that the nausea is gone and I'm able to go back to cooking again. And its worth every effort to see Louis enjoying and appreciating the home cooked food. That said, I am looking forward to the day that I'll be able to cook for Baby too. There's nothing that gives the cook the greatest satisfaction than to see enjoyment on the faces of the people around the dinning table. And in Baby's case... a toothless grin :)

Fathering 101

It's been sometime since I blogged and I wanted to let everyone know that I'm still here :)

Each day when I come back from work, I get quite happy reading the blogs that Eve puts up in the day. Primarily because during the day, we don't get to talk to each other much since I'm at work, and in a way, the blog is a way for me to catch up with her thoughts in the day. And the photos that Eve puts up - I get to see the first time, by looking at the blog. Just like how the blog has been a tool for us to communicate to you guys, it has also been a way to catch up with Eve.

Evenings have been busy - dinners out sometimes and then I try to sleep early just so I don't wake up feeling tired. One thing I realise is that Nature has a way to prepare you for fatherhood - just like it has a way to prepare Eve for motherhood. Because Eve sometimes get hungry at night (given the smaller portions she takes in dinner), she sometimes gets up for snacks. As a light sleeper, I also often wake up. It occured to me that this was real training for fatherhood - just in the future, I'd be waking up to look after Baby potentially.

I also realised this week that it is also nice to be a homebody instead of always going out...it is nice just to chill out and do nothing and then get an early rest..think I'm getting old :)

The Big America

Since starting my own blog, I've gotten 3 other friends and family to set up their own blog site too. Each of which are in various stages of progress. I'm glad that there's some positive rippling effects. Really, its a good and unintrusive way to keep track of updates and developments of closer friends and families.

Now that I've been in the US for nearly 2 weeks, there's something consistent that I have observed. Its that in the US, everything is B-I-G. Yep! During the first few days of my arrival, I was kinda shocked by how big everything was. So, here's my observation on what I have deemed to be BIG in the US:

1) Houston airport was huge: I had to walk a long long way from my arrival gate all the way to customs and the luggage carousel.

2) Cars are bigger here: There's really a lot of SUVs, trucks and MPVs around. In fact, Louis was telling me that some 60% of the car population here are made up of cars of these sizes. In tandem, the roads and parking lots are bigger too.

3) Servings are huge: Most mainstream American thoroughfare were served in huge portions. The pro is that Louis and I could just order and share a salad plus a main for meals. The con is that we can't order too much, so variety is kinda curtailed becos most times, as a friend was fond of saying, our eyes are bigger than our stomach :) I sometimes develop the craving for junk food like chips and while there are so many variety of Lays' chips, they all come in huge packaging. Its hard to find those small, 1-person size bags that allows me to indulge in my cravings but not eat too much junk at a go.

4) People are Big-ger: By that, I mean that there are a number of Americans that are horizontally challenged, to be politically correct. At times, I question which came first, the size or the appetite. Are they the size they are becos of the serving portions or that the serving portions had to meet their requirements?? Just on Sunday, Louis and I were having dim sum at a chinese restaurant and there was this American family of 4 next to us; Papa-bear, Mama-bear, Teenage boy-bear and Young girl-bear. I could swear to you that I saw Young girl-bear having 3 full rice bowl servings of rice (drizzled with lots of soya sauce), along with dishes, some amount dim sum and horrors of horrors... hor-fun along with all the carbo that she had already ingested. The same could be said of Teenage boy-bear who was devouring his rice and food with obvious gusto.

5) Big on hospitality: I don't think they are pretending to be nice, but generally, most Americans are geniunely warm and friendly. This was quite a contrast to the more reserved and aloof Europeans that we were used to. People would greet you in the lift, service staff would ask you how was your day and retail staff seemed to be willing to go the extra mile to ensure your shopping needs are well-taken care off. Another manifestation of this open hospitality was during Thanksgiving dinner at Julia's friend, Rebecca's place. She warmly welcomed us into her home and treated us as friends even though it was the first time we met her.

6) Buildings are gigantic: The malls, shopping centres, supermarkets, houses, parks, billboards, highways are all huge. For an ex-shopaholic like moi, my legs would cramp from all the walkings in the malls. Now that's a first for me!

That said, there are a number of things that I do like a lot about the US. I enjoy the fact that diners and restaurants are opened till late at night, with some all-nighters too. Supermarkets are opened till 9 or 10 pm or even 24-hours so you can do your grocery shopping anytimes, although fresh meat might be limited or gone if you're there too late. I like the fact that nearly all the toilets everywhere are clean and dry. While I could also go crazy shopping physically at the malls, online shopping is just as convenient since I'm here for a fair amount of time. The fact that I could buy anything online and return them easily if they don't fit triggers thoughts of impulse online shopping. But no worries, I've yet to purchase anything online. Yet :)

I'm thankful for all the experiences and different cultural values that I get to know firsthand through all my travels and stays. Its not something that the average person would get to go through in their lifetime. For that, Louis and I count our blessings. And we do so look forward to the day that Baby would arrive, so that we could bring him/her out with us; to share, point out and learn from all in life's journey.

Is Baby Moving in the Stomach?

I've been experiencing uterus contractions for a few weeks now. According to my gynae, its the norm for pregnancy and I would continue to experience these sensations until my delivery. The feeling of uterus contractions is a little like twinging in the abdominal area, not exactly cramps per se.

And according to the books that I've read, right at about 18-22 weeks of pregnancy, I should be able to feel baby's kicks or movements. The problem is I can't tell if the sensations that I'm feeling in my stomach is due to the uterus contractions or baby's movements. Sigh...

Based on the few friends that I've pinged, nobody could exactly tell me the difference in the sensations. Based on descriptions from books, it again differs from moms to moms. Baby's movements could range from feelings like butterflies in the stomach, to a hard punch/kick, to hunger pangs etc. Frankly, I have no way of telling. A good friend told me that you would know it the instant baby kicks. All of which in no way gives me comfort because I still don't know or can't tell. To add it to all, I'm starting to get paranoid and wondering if baby is doing fine in there afterall. I'm starting to feel as if I'm a very obtuse mom indeed.

Baby, if you do know what your mom here is going through, please do drop some very obvious signals soon yah? You do want me to be giddy with happiness and on cloud 9 about motherhood so that I would be in the mood to do some shopping for you, right? :)

Celebrating Thanksgiving in Dallas

On the morning of Thanksgiving, we set out early for Julia's & Colin's place. They are out in Dallas and we wanted to have an early headstart on account that its a 4 1/2 hour drive. We nearly coulnd't get out of the hotel as they had blocked the street outside for a Thanksgiving Parade. Too bad we would be missing out on the parade becos I have never seen a Thanksgiving Parade before.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, beyond the fact that its a day of celebration with turkeys and all, I had no clue on its origin. Based on what I've managed to googled, it is actually marks a day of thanks after harvesting. Its good to know now.

The drive to Dallas was very smooth and we made it in 4 hours, including some pitstops and meal/bio breaks. Approaching Dallas, Louis and I agreed that it was a bigger city compared to Houston. The highways were huge. Amazingly, the pillars of the highways on a particular stretch were painted some pastel colours and each was marked with a lone star. We later found out from Julia that the folks in Dallas thought that was a gayish/sissy colour. But we thought it was interesting and added a different touch.

Julia and Colin lived in a nice 2-storey, 3-room house in Plano. The neighbourhood was nice and tranquil. We liked it a lot. And best of all, Julia has got 2 dogs; Hoobs (miniature schnauzer) and Kuro (Shiba Inu). There was a 3rd dog, Leelu (Terrier?), as Julia was dog-seating for a friend.

Thanksgiving dinner was held at Rebecca's, a friend of Julia. There was sooo much food as nearly everybody made or bought something.

After dinner that night, we headed home and went to an outlet mall at midnight. There were so many people about and going for the good deals. I was sorely tempted to buy some Le Creuset cast-iron pots as Julia had a further 30% discount off the outlet price. In the end, I was guided by practicality... as in my luggage had absolutely no more space seeing that I had already shopped quite a bit for my maternity clothes. I consoled myself with the purchase of 2 silicon surface protector.

Louis and I were comatosed by the time we headed home. We slept for more than 10 hours and woke up only after 12 noon the next day! Thankfully, we could still make it for a dim sum lunch. Louis hadn't had dim sum for a long time. After lunch, we decided to head out to Galleria for some shopping. I stopped by at Gap Maternity again and bought 4 more long sleeves tops that would tide me for a much colder winter in London/Paris. Louis bought a cheap US$10 fleece pullover from Old Navy and I bought myself a formal black pumps in Nordstrom.

Tea was at La Madeleine, a french bistro chain (there are a few in Houston too). I like the ambience in La Madeleine. They provide free bread slices along with their homemade brand of jam. The few times that we went La Madeleine, Louis and I stuffed ourselves with a lot of their bread and jam simply becos the jam (marmalade and apricot) was terrific!

For dinner, we had went to a chinese place where they had really nice char siew and wantan soup. Maybe its to do with age, but it always feels good to eat chinese after all the different cuisines.

All too soon, it was Sat and Louis and I made our way home so that we would have time to rest in Houston before the work week starts for him. So, here's some pictures of our time in Dallas.

Happy Wedding Anniversary to Us!

Thursday, 23 Nov 06 - Milestone for Louis and I. Its our 3rd wedding anniversary and this year around, we are spending it in Texas. And the best part... our anniversary was on the same day at Thanksgiving, although we didn't know it until much later.

There was a little bit of miscommunication on our part. Taking into account the time difference, we rang CP, our best man at the wedding to wish him happy birthday as his birthday was a day after our wedding anniversary. But we got our dates all wrong! Louis and I kept thinking that our wedding anniversary was on Wed but Wed was only 22 Nov, the eve of Thanksgiving! So when we rang CP, it was only 23 Nov in Singapore and he thought that we were calling him in advance for his birthday. We only discovered our mistake after some time.

Oh well... regardless, we would have celebrated our anniversary earlier as we were heading out to Julia's and Colin's on Thanksgiving day. We had a nice lovely dinner at a restaurant and since they knew we were celebrating our anniversary, they added a nice touch at the end by decorating our creme brulee dessert with the words "Joyeux Anniversaire". The service staff was great! They gave us complementary champagne and apple cider (for me since I'm supposed to abstain from alcohol) to go along with our dessert.

Next year's wedding anniversary would be special and different on account that the little one would be around. Really, Louis and I couldn't ask for more and we count our blessings for every day that we spent together as a couple.

Yields from a Speedy Shopping Trip

I'm a jeans type of girl and I've owned my fair share of jeans since the day I wore one. So, you can imagine that pregnancy and the swelling tummy seemed to spell the end of my form-fitting jeans days.

Trust me... maternity jeans are not the same and like all maternity clothes, limited in choice. So, you can imagine how happy I was to buy 2 pairs of jeans yesterday night at the Galleria from Gap Maternity & A Pea in a Pod.

I particularly like the one from A Pea in a Pod becos it looks hip and not like any maternity jeans at all. The cut/size fitted me really well and was flattering to boot. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide much allowance (if at all) for any further hips expansion on my part. According to the sales lady, she said that if I'm already in my 5th month of pregnancy and if my hips haven't expanded, its not going to expand any further. Frankly, I'm not sure if that's really true, but I liked the jeans so much that we went ahead to buy it anyways.

So, here the result of our short and efficient shopping trip :)

The Downside and Upside of Pregnancy

Today is a day for griping. Why? Because I've got nothing better to do in the hotel room and I've decided to take it easy for the day and not do much. So, what better time to gripe, right? Right! ;) For those of you groaning away, well... this is *MY* blog after all!

The gripe session for today focuses on the many "forbidden" food during pregnancy that I didn't know I wasn't supposed to eat, or that restrain would require so much determination or self-discipline. For some people, this might sound like trivial griping but for one who loves her food and the process of cooking, I've got some serious gripe to let loose. Consider it an outlet for me as a side perk to pregnancy.

Pre-pregnancy, I was deluded by those many books to think that pregnancy is a wonderful and enriching experience, you would glow with radiance and have plenty of food to choose from that would nourish yourself and the baby... blah blah blah. Lies lies lies! They are all nothing but a pack of lies! Before some of you jump to conclusion, let me declare that this posting is not a manifestation of my resentment of the baby growing in me nor the lifestyle change that Louis and I would have to go through. We've rationalised it a while ago and have decided to take the plunge afterall.

Alright, so here's my personal gripe list of forbidden food during pregnancy, some of which are proven scientifically, while others might just be old wives' tales:

Gripe #1: Can't eat shark meat, swordfish and marlin -- The first thought that popped into my dear hubby's mind when my gynae told me to avoid these 3 types of fishes due to their high mercury content was that I can't eat sharks' fin soup at so-and-so's wedding in Nov. And that was in May that we discovered that I was pregnant. For one who had loved sharks fin soup since I was a kid, that was my first encounter with "forbidden" food. Depending on how far one wants to go with avoiding food that may carry certain risks, some would advocate not eating tuna either. Sigh... and they say that fish is good for you, which just goes to show that not all fishes, like humans, are created equal.

Gripe #2: No sashimi -- This restriction has made going to Japanese restaurants a damper. But given that its scientifically proven to endangeer baby's well-being and that I was aware of this restriction prior, I couldn't really take issue with this.

Gripe #3: No raw nor half-boiled eggs -- Again, I do like my half-boil eggs now and then. Not a big deal. But don't you ever get that feeling that forbidden food is always most tempting? This restriction has made going to Ya Kun another damper becos other than half-boiled eggs, moi does not like the kaya toast that most seem to favour.

Gripe #4: No alcohol -- Again, this is one of those truth that alcohol consumption would cause fetal deformity or even stillborn. I'm not alcoholic although I enjoy the occassional drink especially at gatherings. I do sneak in a sip or two at times at times when I can't resist, although when I do, well-meaning friends and families tend to get a little worked up about my lack of determination. Sigh...

Gripe #5: Limit caffeine intake -- Caffeine can be not found only in items like coffee, tea and colas only. In fact, they can be found even in chocolates although in lesser amount. I normally do not have a problem with that as I'm not a coffee drinker. But, I've suddenly developed a taste for coffee, tea and colas during pregnancy. And sometimes, I do exceed my 1-2 cups intake for the day. As if pregnancy itself was not a nerve-wracking experience, I have to cope with many a guilt-trip for exceeding my daily quotent of caffeine intake.

Gripe #6: No pineapples -- I do not know where did this came from. Most probably an old wives' tale or that some would say that pineapple has "cooling" effects. All I know is that some believe that eating pineapples near to your period would induce early monthly menstration. However, baby seems to have a mind of its own in terms of food preferences. Again, I had cravings (not serious but I couldn't walk past fruit stalls selling pineapple and be able to resist eating a slice) pineapple especially during my 1st trimester. Of course, some friends and family would again caution me. Having had the foresight to check with my gynae on pineapple consumption, I was cleared to eat them moderately ;)

Gripe #7: No unpasteurised soft cheese -- Refraining from cheese during the 1st trimester was easy as I seemed to be turned off by the thought of it. Interestingly, I do love my cheese. In fact, I'm always near the cheese board at gatherings where wine and cheese are laid out. Starting from my 2nd trimester, my love for cheese returned, only to be dowsed with a cold bucket of water that unpasteurised cheese has risk of listeria infection which could be detrimental to baby (Gasp: might result in miscarriage or stillborns). There goes any plan I had about smearing those nice lovely gooey brie or camembert on crusty french breads in Paris during my vacation. Karen, I'm going to hold you to your promise about eating cheese with "attas" bread after delivery.

Gripe #8: Avoid eating squid, octopus and crabs --This is pure old wives' tales! I was told that eating such items may result in a baby that has tendency to reach his/her hands and touch things in sight. I'll pick and fight my battles for what I want to eat during pregnancy but this isn't one of them.

I concede, there are some perks to pregnancy and IMHO, the best is one where I get priority over what cuisine or dishes I would like at meal times. Just in case, let me confess that this is not one card that I use often but it does come in handy on rare occassions. Although I must say that baby has been good so far, becos I do not get serious cravings for a particular dish or item that I would send my hubby out in the middle of the night to some obscure place to procure. In fact, baby is contented with simple hawker, food court or home-cooked food.

The second is of course eating double-boiled bird's nest regularly that my mom prepares. Slurp! Since I'm out with Louis in Houston, my mom has bought me a box of bird's nest so that I can continue to double-boil and ingest them during my 2 months here. Speaking of which, I've got to go soak me some bird's nest to double-boil for tonight.

And if you're asking what's the perk for the soon-to-be-father, apart from treating me like a royalty and giving me nightly back rubs for my aching back? Well... he gets to share my bird's nest soup along with baby and me ;)

Adios for now!