Officially Six!

Happy Birthday, D!  

Officially six, it is the last year of being a preschooler.  The last year in the childcare centre he is in since he was an infant, with some friends known for a good 5 years. #wheredidallthetimego

These days, a celebration in school / childcare center seem to be a norm.  With a cake and goodie bags, sometimes extra food, or even activities like face painting.  

Avengers theme.

Goodie bags for his classmates, customized by Dazzling Favorz - I like it that the characters are in a cute form.  Some children even took the tag as if it is a badge (haha!).  Kids these days are really fortunate with all the customization available.  Parents these days are in a do-not-know-whether-to-laugh-or-cry situation as on one hand, there are endless places to customize a goodie bag if you intend to outsource while on another, it means nothing is impossible, just how much you are willing to fork out and kids these days know what they want.  Whether to give in to their requests is another story altogether.

This year, I decided to give tidbits - yes, you read me right.  For the past years, it was stationery and sometimes a little treat.  Why tidbits this year then?  After almost 5 years of accumulation of stationery, stickers and such, I thought, if the kids are to receive stationery again, it means, more pencils, erasers, note pads that they probably will not finish using.  So, it's food this time and if the kids cannot eat, the parents can - most people eat chips, don't we?

I gave the teachers in the centre some macarons from Joys @ Uptown Sweets.  Teachers eat cakes probably almost every other week and I believe they will grow "scared" of cakes (I will definitely). 

I sent Joys, the owner, a request only on the morning I decided to buy and she quickly came up with the best combination of flavors that she has available.  For buying in bulk, it is not expensive considering I get a variety of flavors.  And because I know baking these little circles is no easy feat (been a long time since I last baked them though), I appreciate them.  Oh, Joys does customization too but I was too last minute. 

Actually, I bought them partly because the boy loves macarons!  :P 

I am pleasantly surprised and impressed that D enjoys his lemon ginger macaron.  Impressed because the baker made it such that the boy did not reject the 'ginger'; surprised that the boy did not say Eeks!

His request for dinner.  He did not insist for a dinner outside.  Just "white pasta" by his mummy dearest, me lah!  Often, I feel and think kids are really very simple - it is the adults that make things complicated.

Recipe from a very talented friend @ TheDomesticGoddessWannabe.
(Serves 3 or 2 Adults, 2 Kids)

Ingredients:
1. 400g linguine (or any other pasta), cooked according to the instructions given by the manufacturer, and drained.
2. 200g streaky bacon, cut 8-10mm thick chunks
3. 6 medium shitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced (I used some portobello mushrooms - that's what I have in the fridge)
4. olive oil
5. 4 egg yolks
6. 10 tablespoons heavy cream
7. about 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
8. Freshly ground pepper
9. Salt, to taste

Instructions:
1. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
2. In a skillet, add the bacon and a little water.  Cook the bacon until crispy.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook a further 2 minutes.  Set this aside.
4. In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks, cream, Parmesan, salt and black pepper.
5. Transfer the pasta into the skillet then add the sauce.
6. Mix to coat the pasta.  The heat from the skillet, bacon, mushrooms and pasta will cook the yolks.
7. Add the remaining Parmesan and mix until combined. Add more black pepper if required.
8. Serve immediately.

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