Day 6 meals

I was on training today n I cant prepare my lunch so I thot I will find some fish soup stall. I also brought along an apple and my crackers for snacks! Lunch time came and it was raining so heavily and it was difficult to get out so my snacks became my lunch! Today I had my first cup of coffee black....no sugar no milk....super bitter!

I was quite hungry come dinner and decide its going to be a GOOD meal! Dinner was a plate of salad top with beef tenderloin! I slightly marinated the bee with salt n black pepper and pan fry it brown! Voilà..... A delicious dinner... The beef was very tender and sweet... The juice flowed onto the salad and makes it much favor!

A sweet surprise

I was out running an errand yesterday and my staff called me saying that a parent had a surprise for me! It turned out that they got me a vase of lovely tulips! It was such a sweet gesture! They remembered that I shared the same birthday as their son and just wanted to show their appreciation! Thank you Mr and Mrs Yung for your thoughtfulness and kindness!

Day 5

I am into day 5 already!! Although we were told not to weigh ourselves until a month later but who can wait rite!! I weigh myself & I have already started losing weight!! Could it be really true or was it just water I am losing?? We are supposed to be losing inches off on a weekly basis but how come I don't feel loose in my clothes!!

Regardless, with the scales dipping, it gives me the motivation to carry and press on!! Viv... you can make it!!

A big test is coming up this week end cos we are hosting a dim sum party for a friend from the States, Phil Edwards!! We are so looking forward to meeting and catching up with him. He was a very close friend and mentor to both Jac and me during his time here in Singapore with Maggie. We still remember and embraced many of the life lessons he shared with us.

Anyway, I am cooking a few dishes and am trying out a new dish. Red bean and banana wrap!! I ate this at Angie's place last week and kind of enjoyed that. I dont quite like red bean paste from shops so decided to cooked the beans myself!! The paste turned out looking very good and i added some sugar and had to asked my helper to taste!! Since I had some spring roll skin in the fridge, I decided to try making some today as a trial.

I sliced the banana and simply place the red bean and banana on a small spring roll sheet and wrap it and fry it in oil!! Again my helper had to taste it and she gave it a thumbs up!! So so simple to make!! Sorry dont have pic cos my camera is not with me... but will take it on sat... look out for it!!

Day 4 meals

Breakfast was egg again....

For lunch, I did a cabbage wrap! Marinated the chicken breast with salt, pepper n Rosemary. Trim off the stem from the Chinese cabbage and cut into 2 lengthwise. Cut spring onions into 2 and soak it in hot water together with the cabbage leaves. This is to soften the leaves for rolling.

Wrap the chicken n a slice of button mushroom and roll it up. Using a spring onion, tie a knot to secure. I arrange the cabbage stems as the bed and the rolls on it and steam for 7 mins! Not too bad also!




CG has dinner at my place as usual n I cook claypot chicken rice, tofu n a new dish of spinach with salted and century egg. According to them everything was nice! I am so pleased that I was not tempted and just finish my bowl of fish soup!

Day 3 meals

Although egg is allowed daily but I just can't seem to cross mental block of eating it daily! Anyway I decided to try something with tofu instead! Cubes tofu, a wedge of chopped tomato, chopped onion n beans with a pinch of salt n black pepper!

I scooped this into the lettuce n eat it... Not too bad... Another breakfast idea!


Lunch was a stir fry fresh swiss brown mushroom with garlic n chicken breast. I marinated the chicken with basil n a little of coke zero! Result = a yummy dish! Again to meet my veg quote I use lettuce as shell for the chicken.


Dinner is a simple steam fish with salt, ginger n a wedge of tomato. I also stir fry veg n mushroom.


Today meals are all quite filling compared to yesterday! I did not even finished up all the crackers quota BUT I need more fruits!

I was just telling jac this morning that my meals were not too bad not really like on diet... Am I doing something wrong!! In the evening I got an email from Cohen n realized that French beans are not allowed n some of the fruits I ate were also not allowed! Oops...

Day 2 meals

I woke up early at 6am to prepare my breakfast and lunch to bring to school.

Breakfast was egg omelette with onion n fresh button mushroom served with lettuce.

Lunch was sliced fish soup with veg. I separate the fish n veg from the soup and I just need to microwave it hot.

Since I am home to cook dinner, it will be a more elaborate affair. I enjoyed the chicken very much last evening so I thot I might as well try it with prawn. I shelled the prawn and make a slit on it's back making it open like butterfly. Instead of using basil, I used parsley n salt to marinate the prawn. Coat it with crushed crumbs of meji crackers and pan fried it in non stick pan. There were some crumbs left over and I just added that into the pan n fry it dry. It tasted just like cereal prawn! Dinner was a big bowl of salad n 9 prawns! Yummy

Day 1 dinner

Tonight's dinner is butterhead salad with orange juice dressing.

And chicken breast meat seasoned with salt n basil. This is coated with cracker crumbs n pan fried until crispy. Yummy!

In case some of you may be interested to try....

Cut 100gm chicken breast into pcs not too thick if not it will take a longer time to cook n meat may turn hard

Season with a bit of salt n basil herb

Crush 3-4 Meiji crackers into fine crumbs

Coat the chicken with the crumbs

Heat up non stick pan with a little olive oil n pan fry the chicken pcs

A new diet

Yes I have been getting so fat n with age catching up I really felt that I need to do seriously do something abt it before its too late! I can't imagine not being there for Jac or watch Ezra grow up.

I have tried several diet program in the past works for a while n I gave up. Exercise but results very slow! My sister mentioned abt a neighbor who went on this Dr Cohen rapid weight loss diet n aft 2 years, he is still as slim! I made some calls went for the presentation n parted with the money! My very significant contribution to the GSS!

Cut the story short, I went for the blood test, took the results n just got my hands on my personal diet plans ie what catg of food and amt I shld be eating each day. Took some time to plan out my menu and did some shopping to get the correct stuff.

With this program means i shld try to cook my own food as much n choose wisely if i need to dine out.

finally I start on my new diet today! I made egg omelette n wrap it with butterhead... Not bad n quite filling.


Came back from church n while i was preparing my fish soup lunch, I felt very hungry n took 4 pcs of Meiji crackers! Lunch was also very yummy, I added a dish of curry powder n for a different taste n it turned out good! It was not very filling but hopefully things will get better when my stomach size gets smaller!

I shld be cooking western grill for dinner!

It was interesting that I chose today to officially start this new chapter in my life cos today sermon was abt divine healing. Healing has already been done with Jesus on the cross and we need to declare and claim it! Dean Samuel shares that we can claim a new organ in our body if we dare to believe! So today I claimed for a new slimmer and healthy body in the name of Jesus... Amen!

I was still very uncertain if this will work but aft the sermon I totally know that I will be different physically in a few months time! Amen! Do check out n drop me encouragement note ok!

Feels so good to have Ezra back!!

YES HE IS BACK!! We were at the airport to pick him up and waited and waited for them to appear.... Nadya even held a sign for him!!
Finally they appeared and Ezra was very happy to see us! He was waving and kept doing the thumbs up gesture to us.... seems like reassuring us he is ok!!
He almost ran out of the doors and straight into our arms... I would hardly hold back my tears!!
Nana and Nadya were very kind and draw some pictures for him, they exchanged hugs and gifts and it was so heart warming.
For official records ... we talked to Ezra over the phone every other days and most conversations were short with him telling us he had lots of FUN and that he was happy and excited. Except on Friday evening when he was talking to Jac and he started sobbing!! My in laws have to assure us that he was ok except that he was tired cos he missed his nap. My heart broke & I kind of cried myself to bed that evening too....

After the trip, Ezra seems to have grown so much, he seems taller (but slimmer) and he looks every bit of a BIG boy!!

Couple time

Finally our son will be back in about 19 hours. While we do miss him greatly, we were also very thankful for the opportunity to have our couple time.

This afternoon we spent a bit of time exploring Fort Canning and Oxley road. After which we decided to head to The Rice Table at orchard for dinner. However, as we did not made any reservation before hand we arrived at a fully booked restaurant.

Disappointed, Viv and I wander around abit while deciding for an alternative. We finally settled for an extravagance dinner at Carousel.

I'm on life - 4 July 2010

If you happen to flip the papers of the Straits Times Life session today you may have spotted me n Ezra! Yes we were on papers!

This all happened late last week when I received a call from the ST journalist asking to do a feature on me and my passion for cooking. I needed to share a recipe of a dish that I always bring for parties! She actually got my contacts from a dear friend, Angie... Thanks friend!

They were supposed to do the interview on wed but I changed it to Monday cos I wanted Ezra to be around n was glad that he was allowed in the picture as well! On Monday, I rushed back from work, went to the supermarket to picked up all the needed ingredients and dashed home to cook this dessert!

All done, showered n all ready for the interview. They came n asked lots of random questions n was told that it will be put together into a story! The interview was very casual and a sharing of my life and passion for cooking.

The article m picture turned out nice and I hope readers will find it interesting and try out the recipe!

Now cant wait to show this to Ezra when he comes back tml.

Good Bye Ezra

This post was supposed to be up 2 days ago but I was not feeling well and was on MC for 2 days!! Finally was awake enough to blog abt this.

Ezra left for Hong Kong together with his Yeye, Nai nai and Nadine jie jie. They left on Monday 28 June 2010 and will be away for 7 days, returning only on 5 July 2010.
Ezra was very excited and was so so looking forward to this trip. We have been prep talking him... must listen to yeye nainai, must keep close to them, must greet relatives etc!

While we were waiting for daddy to come home before heading to the airport, aunty Jose dropped by with a little but meaningful survival kit for the 2 children. In this kit, there are 7 food items, one to be taken each day so by the time the bag is empty, they will be home!!
I also wrote a short letter to Ezra and packed a family photo so he can 'see' us in case he miss us on the trip *crossing my fingers*
When we got to the airport, Ezra was so excited and jumpy that we almost needed to get a rope to pin him down!!

Here's Nimrod giving them last instructions, telling them to look out for each other etc...Here is our hugs hugs n kiss kiss before they walk through the gates!
Look how happy and excited the kids were!!
Enjoy the trip my son and daddy and mummy will be missing, thinking and praying for you everyday.

"Dear God, we ask of you to prepare the way for Ezra as they arrive in Hong Kong. May you send your angels to watch over their minute on the trip. Grant them good health and protection. Allow them to enjoy each other company and the nature you have created for them. In Jesus name Amen!"

Ezra

It has been awhile since I wrote abt Ezra's progress. Our son is already four and he is every bit a boy. He is very good at remembering places. This morning we drove by orchard central and he pointed out to us that's the place he has his kiwi lesson! He would always ask me if I am driving the correct direction or am I lost if it's an unfamiliar road or place.

It never fails to melt my heart when I walk thru the doors and he runs to hug me saying "mummy you are home I miss you!" When I give a shout or scream in pain he never fails to ask "mummy are you ok?" I was out with some friends for dinner last evening and when I got home, I tried to put him to bed. While we were laying down, he asked "so mummy how was your dinner?" My gosh he is only 4 n asking such as a matter question! So cute!

He is an expert at reasoning and would give you an answer that is difficult to fault him! There was a time where he refused to stayover at my in laws place and when we asked him why, his answers were "cos I love you and will miss you so much!" another answer was "it was very uncomfortable sleeping on the floor in nai nai house, I like my cosy bed!" There was a period where he was constantly scolded by us and Jac once told him that we were very disappointed in him and we were not proud of his misbehavior. These days he is much better and he just asked Jac "daddy, I have been quite a good boy and are you proud of me!" yes son we are proud of you and love you whatever.

Ezra is also showing his child like faith in God. He knows that when he needs help, he can pray to God. In Phuket, after a dangerously sea ride and when he landed safely on shore he told his yiyi "we better pray to God to protect us!" Again, last evening during our chat, Ezra asked to pray to God n his prayers goes something like this "dear God, pls take away daddy fever so he can be well. Also the tooth decay in mummy n also my cough in Jesus name we pray amen!" It's our prayers that Ezra will walk n live in God's ways.

Ezra enjoys playing with his cousins especially the chuang girls. This holiday, they just had too much fun having sleep over parties like tonight!

Son, daddy and mummy thank God for you and thank you for bringing so much joy into our lives. We are going to miss you so much next week when you go for holidays with yeye and nai nai but we will be praying for you everyday. We love you darling.

Hun Family Phuket Holiday

This started off as a simple small group holiday for Joanne and our family. When Lydia got to hear of this, she also wanted to come on flight. Another surprise was mum agreeing to join us as well. When we casually mentioned this trip to Nancy (all the way from Shanghai) she also want to join this trip!! So our family of 25 persons got all excited and off we went to Phuket Thailand! We are only short of a flag to gather the group!!
Day 1 - 16 Jun 2010

Our flight was very early at 8.20am on Wed 16 June 2010. But all the kids were so excited and they had no trouble getting up at all but gathering this troop is no joking matter!! Just look at all our faces on board the flight!!
As we arrived at our hotel, Marriott Mai Khao Beach, we are welcomed with garlands, very nice gesture. We hang around the hotel lobby while waiting for our rooms to be ready.
After checking into our rooms, we headed out to a recommended local Thai restaurant, Kin Dee which is built on silts. This rest is owned by 2 sisters and the food is good but it took a while for the dishes to be brought to our table. We easily spent 2-3 hrs at lunch.
After lunch we headed to a local mart to buy all the snacks and breakfast for the next few days. We also stopped by a road stall to stock up on our supply of fruits. NICE!
Next the kids plunged into the swimming pool and had a splashing good time.
It has been a long day and we decided to dine at the restaurant for Iltalian buffet. We were too busy eating which explains the no pictures!! Hahaha but Ezra had his 1st sip of white wine... Now that explains why he was totally knocked out that evening!
Day 2 - 17 Jun 2010

We booked a day trip out to the sea with Phuket Sail Club. We were picked up from our hotel to the jetty and we board the boat and off to our sea adventure. The sea was a little choppy as this is the monsoon season. We set sail to Koh Phanak to explore caves and limestone formations. We were served fruits, some local sweet dessert in banana leaves and the most popular fried chicken wings!
Along the way, we saw beautiful mountains and cliffs. The kids got a little bored until they spotted some giant jelly fish, there were so so many of them!!
Finally we got to the caves!! We were transferred to canoes, each canoe takes about 2-3 of us including the paddlers. The sea was very choppy and the ride was really rough and scary for us especially the younger children. As we rolled into the caves, some portion was really low and we had to lay down to avoid getting our heads bumped. The caves were very dark and the waves were splashing all over. It was quite dangerous and Ron's canoe even capsized with Rene and Healin thrown into the waters.
While most of us went canoeing, dad, mum, Linda, Nan, Nana, Nadine and Ricole were transferred to a dingy and brought to a small shore. It was a horrifying experience cos the waves were very strong and the dingy rocking terribly. At one point, dad almost slipped off his seat and the dingy almost capsized. We were at a distance from the dingy and having to witness this scene was a nightmare for me. I could only pray to God and asking Him for grace, mercy and protection. God was good and we were all safe. After this, we all agreed that such adventures are better kept to teens and adults... not young children and elders.
We sailed to another spot where the sea was much calmer and there the kids had a chance to canoe on their own and even plunged into the waters. We had a simply but yummy Thai lunch on board the boat.
Our final stop is the bat cave which is pitched dark and really smelly. We saw hundreds of bat hanging in the caves!

Day 3 - 18 Jun 2010

More time spent in the hotel room and swimming pool. In the evening, we made our way to another local Thai rest at Sarasin Beach. While the ladies were ordering the food, the kids had a wild time trying to catch crabs on the beach. It was a very quiet beach but with our arrival, thousands of foot prints were left on the beach.
The thai food was so super delicious... tom yum soup, different kind of salads, squid, prawn, morning glory, pork ribs, curry, and a special mention of the curry flower crab which was out of the world... so super fresh and yummy!
After dinner, we gathered and played Taboo. Some classic exchanges were....
Amelia - "you know you know you know" whenever she gives clues.
Aaron - "a name of mattress n pillow" when the word was dollop.
Viv - "not dolphins but .... and only the guys have it" = sperm whale

Nancy cut a plate of super sour pineapples and it was used to forfeit whoever can't get more than 3 guesses!! Poor Andre, he had the most and had to even downed it with beer!! We had so much laughter and FUN!!

Day 4 - 19 Jun 2010

Today, we travelled from Mai Khao to Patong and checked into 2 super small but clean rooms. Most day was spent shopping, eating and doing different massages. NICE & relaxing. At 7pm, off to the airport we go and home sweet home

Family Picture Time