Showing posts with label Parties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parties. Show all posts

Tuesday, 19 May 2015

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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Monday, 18 May 2015

It's Avengers Theme This Year!


My D turns 6 soon.  *Where did all the time go?!*
 
We held a small birthday dinner with close family at a all super heroes place for him on Saturday.  The moment he stepped in, he was grinning from ear to ear.  It was not only him.  Anyone who first came to Hungry Heroes will be turning their heads everywhere, cameras zapping away, admiring the super heroes collection amassed over the last two decades by the owner.



The Ironman mask - courtesy of my nephew.

Located in a 2-storey shophouse, we had our dinner on the 2nd floor as it was more spacious for a total of 19 pax.  The con - the kids kept wanting to go up and down.


The different kinds of chairs, part of the setup of the restaurant that makes it interesting.
Posters and artwork everywhere.
We had lots of light bites, main courses, drinks but I was too busy to take the photos.  E particularly liked the Deep Friend Luncheon Chips (no, I did not spell it wrongly.  Take a look here).  Oh… there are high chairs available on a first-come-first-serve basis.

The Justice is Served which serves 7 - 8 but we think maybe more if there are no big eaters.  The ribs were very tender and a hit, so was the deboned chicken leg.  Consisting ribeye, lamb rack, fillet steak, full rack pork ribs, pulled pork, sausage trio, baked pacific dory, de-boned chicken leg, honey glazed ham, beef stew and meatballers, it is a platter of every meat that is perfect for sharing.  Indeed, it is for the Hungry Heroes.


Nice to Meat You is a slightly smaller platter that is for 2 - 3 with half a rack pork ribs, sirloin, de-boned chicken leg and pulled pork.  I will probably order this again the next time the 4 of us are there.


Phototaking opportunities aplenty.  With his cousin this time.
Swensen's ice cream cake is always a hit.  What's more when there is a Super Heroes theme.  



Happy Birthday my Darling!  Our wish for you - to grow up happy and healthy.  To smile always, love what you have and be thankful.


Laughing so hard with something his cousin said.



I have to admit that my photos did not do justice to how admirable the place is.  You got to take a look yourself, especially if you are a Super Heroes fan.  The food might not be the best, but what is on display will leave you in awe.



No, this is not a sponsored post.  We chose this place as it coincides with the #Avengers theme for the year.



Hungry Heroes Headquarters:
33 Tessensohn Road 
Singapore 217656 
Tel: +65 6295 5401 
Email: meat@hungryheroes.sg
Opening Hours:
Mon–Thu:  4pm-11pm
Fri & Eve of PH:  4pm-12am
Sat:  12pm-12am
Sun & PH:  12pm-11pm



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Friday, 5 July 2013

My Big Baby Turns 4!

The number 1 prince turned 4 in May 13.  He should no longer be called a baby.  If he were to see the title, he would definitely exclaim, No!  I'm a big boy!  E is a baby.  At 4, he wants to be a big boy.  At 8, he probably wants to be a big big boy?  Haha.

Only for this year did we decide to organize a party for him (previous 1st, 2nd and 3rd birthdays were either celebrated with close family, relatives or in the school).  Why this year?  Is 4 a magical number?  We thought, hey, every 4 years.  Next will be 8 (after settling down from the Primary 1 routine and scares :P), 12 (just nice before his PSLE), 16 (the age they try to declare freedom instead of 21) and for the rest, he probably will call his own shots then.   This is just some made up reasons we gave but looking at the way it is, 4 seems to be the way to go huh.  The actual reason was because we just decided to organise one and we thought it is a age that kids start to understand what a birthday party is all about.   

These goodie bags were made with love.  Can you guess the theme from these bags?  Yes, It's Lego!  Lego birthday theme is not something easy to find right here in Singapore and thus, B and I did most from what we could find.  From the cutting of studs and attaching to the envelope-kind paper bags, to the printing of names in the Lego font and trying to make it look like the familiar LEGO logo, both B and I spend mornings and nights while the both boys were sleeping to accomplish this.





A very common Lego game.  The kids were asked to guess how many Lego bricks there were.  




















Self made marshmallow pops in the form of the minifigure.  It would have been easier if my microwave did not break down just when I needed it but that's a story for another day.
 

A very yummy Strawberry Shortcake by Charlotte Grace Cakeshop.  That is our own Lego fire boat as the topper.


Very happy birthday boy. 




And when all friends and cousins arrived, we started with some games.  The first being the memory game.  I realise that even at 4, they are not really interested in games apart from a few.  The games were mostly played by the older kids.



What interest them the most was when it was their turn to choose a Minifigure!  To be fair, all of them were given a chance to pick a card randomly and the number indicated shows their queue number (learning to queue starts young! Haha)  I am so happy to hear friends saying that their kids had lots of fun putting the Minifigures together and playing and role-playing with them.  Role-playing is a kind of learning too, isn't it?



What is a birthday without the traditional birthday song, blowing of candles and cutting of cake.





All parties come to an end.  What better way to end it with a PINATA! 
In case you are wondering, you cannot buy this anywhere.  It is made by me.  This party taught me alot.  From making goodie bags to creating and making marshmallow pops, I even made this pinata myself.  That means, designing the pinata, making the papier-mâché (using strips of paper to bind with an glue-like paste) and spraying it.  I'm no expert in spray painting and so, this task was given to B!

Pinatas, filled with goodies inside, mainly sweets and lollipops, is always a hit with children of all ages.  Look at how happy kids are when they see the goodies on the floor.






Very pleased that the party went well.  The birthday boy is even more pleased with the presents he got.  In case you are wondering again, no, those Lego will not be opened all at once.  They are mostly kept and he gets to build them one at a time.

Mama's thoughts:
I still remember how it was like from the morning of 19 May 2009 to the time we first set our eyes on him. From then on, it was and still is all about love.  He is one of the greatest things that happened to me. As his mama, all I wish is for him to grow up healthy, happy and be forever so sweet! Happy Birthday Dwayne!



Still happy though the Pinata was being smashed as all efforts were worth it looking back at the photos and thinking of all the smiles and happiness.  Elmo can't help but be "wow-ed" too.  :)