we had a birthday meal for xiaoyu in advance of her actual birthday (19 sept) because of the following reasons:
1) darling's edd is on 14 sept and she will be in confinement for 1 month
2) huanyang and husband are going for their long overdue honeymoon, flying off to san francisco on 17 sept
3) xiaoyu has rehearsal on 19 sept
originally we wanted to eat at swensen, to trigger our childhood memories because when we were very young, our parents brought us to the swensen at changi airport for ice cream and we were all very happy. so when huanyang called to make reservations, swensen told her that they don't do reservations.
so we are afraid of the unpredictable long queues during lunch hour, hence we opted for the safer route of going to a restaurant that allows us to make reservations. hence here we are at 福临门豆捞!
when you go to fu lin men, you will naturally compare it with hai di lao. the quality of ingredients at both restaurants are about the same. the shiok part about fu lin men is that each person has ONE pot! and the manager takes pride in the soup stock they have, saying that the soup stock is broiled for dunno how many hours, and there is totally no MSG used in the soup stock, because the boss of fu lin men is the director of two hospitals in china and he advocates HEALTHY EATING.
this was where we sat! :)
this 木耳 appetiser taste really good!
because our total bill reached $280.00, the restaurant gave us complimentary 4 x abalone. each abalone cost $10! and when they knew the lunch was an early birthday celebration for xiaoyu, the chef cooked a bowl of 寿面 for her. what great service!
xiaoyu's birthday cake is 2 x durian mooncakes from 818 durian trading company.
today the niece's kindergarten is closed (because all the teachers have to go for a meeting). so i suggested to bring her to gardens by the bay to play at the children's pool. i knew about that place because i went there to support xuehong, viv and meizheng who were performing as sea creatures.
so darling asked for the niece's mum's permission. niece's mum said ok. niece's grandma (my MIL) also said ok. and so off we go! myself, darling, my in-laws and the niece!
you can see from all the photos how much she enjoyed herself. :)
yesterday i prepared korean army stew.
today darling prepared ramen, with the soft boiled ramen eggs!
the eggs had to be put in boiling water for 5 min. after 5 min must immediately take out. the eggs were prepared yesterday, and after taking out the eggs, darling deshell the eggs, and dip them in a special dipping sauce, inside a zip loc bag. the whole zip loc bag with sauce and eggs are placed in the fridge overnight. today darling cut the eggs into half like an apprehensive masterchef contestant and voila!!! thank goodness the eggs look good! taste good too!
so proud of darling!
totally enjoying the holidays!
on tuesday i went to tkss to play volleyball with my pe classmates. we had not enough people so i jio-ed my colleagues from the previous workplace. still not enough people and my previous workplace colleague jio-ed his friends. thank goodness the volleyball game happened.
all feeling happy after a good exercise! do you recognise the girl in maroon on my right? she appeared in the 联合晚报 facebook video because she camped at the marine parade hdb block where joseph schooling stayed at and she took a selfie with him. hahahahaha. she wear the PESS tshirt some more. wants the whole sg to know that she is a pe teacher waiting to take a selfie with olympic gold medalist. (she does not know the existence of my blog so i can 酸 her all i want hahahahaha)
today's lunch i cooked korean army stew!
looks good isnt it? 183 likes on instagram and 30+ likes on facebook ok! mai siao siao! too much for me and darling so we jio-ed my MIL to come over. this big pot of goodness is just nice for 3 people. very easy to prepare. the ingredients that i put in are: tofu, mushrooms, cocktail cheese sausages, kimchi, korean instant ramen. to prepare the soup base: the seasoning packet from the korean instant ramen, gochukang (korean spicy paste), mirin (japanese rice wine), soya sauce, sugar and black pepper.
in the evening i met up with my previous workplace colleagues for dinner. the place is shuffle bistro, at clarke quay. very nice place, and they have a live band. the live band for wednesday night is music stream sg, and they appear at shuffle on wednesday nights and saturday nights. the songs that they sing are mainly chinese pop songs. and these songs are from my era. really enjoyed myself and i strongly recommend this place. :)
7 more days to darling's EDD!
it is the sept holidays!
it is also the first day when darling start her leave before she gives birth. her edd is on 14 sept.
today we went for a date. we started with lunch at york hotel, for the penang hawker fare. york hotel is a memorable place for me, because it was my first DnD with kevii hall. that was in... 2006?! i am back at york hotel 10 years later. hahahaha.
the penang hawker fare is served buffet style, at white rose cafe. no reservations. only walk-in. we reach the cafe at 12 pm sharp and there was already a queue. on a monday, by 1230 pm it was already full house. i cannot imagine when it comes to weekends.
and we love the food! my favourite is the oyster omelette, followed by the penang laksa. the rest taste very delicious also.
yes we tried everything above. as well as this dish roti babi that is newly introduced this year. is two pieces of bread with pork in between, and the whole thing is deep fried in oil. very yummy.
lunch on weekdays is $29++. quite reasonable i guess, because i can eat authentic penang food in singapore, instead of taking a 12 hour bus ride to penang. york hotel flew all the hawkers from penang to singapore just for this!
after the full lunch we went to catch the movie Big Friendly Giant. it will most probably be our last movie, and god knows when will we have a chance to catch a movie when the baby pops out.
the pace of the movie was a bit too slow in the beginning and i fell asleep for about 10 minutes. towards the end it start to get better. overall i think is quite a good show, and very suitable for kids. :)
tomorrow going to play volleyball with my pe classmates!
getting my sec 2 students to settle down at the parade square. i am the sec 2 Year Manager, ie all sec 2 discipline cases will be handled by me. getting students settled down and sitting down obediently in 2 straight rows per class is also part of regimentation and discipline. thanks to my portfolio as the Year Manager, just for this 8 months, the number of phone calls i had made to parents, and the number of Parent Teacher Conferences that i had sat in, is more than the phone calls and parent teacher conferences that i had clocked at the previous workplace. current workplace - 8 months. previous workplace - 6 years. you can imagine the difference if you are in the discipline committee.
miss nuriah, the choreographer of the aces day mass dance, recapping the steps with the whole school population. she has done very well in building a mass dance culture in the current workplace. 95% of the whole school really dance with the music. i had never achieve that before in my previous workplace. kudos to miss nuriah!
here's my demonstrators! the parade square is divided into two halves. miss nuriah took the front half, with the sec 1s and sec 3s. i took the back half, with the sec 2s and sec 4s. we chose 4 representatives from each level to stand on the tables. the 4 representatives are the most enthusiastic and energetic during the PE lessons when learning the mass dance, that's why they were chosen.
see! the kids are all enjoying themselves!
even my colleague is also enjoying himself. he is mr steven neo, who also came in to the current workplace together with me in january 2016. he was previously from fairfield methodist. another thick skinned guy who dances with alot of expressions. hahahahaha.
the other thick skinned guy is of course... myself. hahahahaha. kudos to my colleague who captured this priceless expression.
after ACES Day is the class party. every class is given a certain amount of budget to spend, and they have to submit a class party proposal to the year head for vetting. honestly i have minimum expectations because my partner FT told me last year the class did not prepare anything. they were just happily playing with their IPADs and some people were playing monopoly.
but i was really caught by surprise when i stepped into the classroom. the form class put in alot of effort for the class party. some of the girls even went to a classmate's house at 4 am to prepare the food and beverages.
thank you so much 2E2! the cake was baked by the malay boy in green pe tee, standing on my right. the lady in pink is my partner FT, who is a k drama fanatic. she recommended me to watch W, and it was a really good recommendation. she is totally in love with DOTS and you will get a shock when you see her table. her table is full of DOTS merchandise, for example song joong ki posters, song joong ki pillow. kua zhang TTM.
got photobooth some more! 10 out of 10 for their effort! here's the mischievous boys. the shortie on my left is super handsome. he is already a lady killer now and i am sure he will make many ladies go gaga when he reaches adulthood.
of course must take a pic with my partner FT. they prepared only one set of costume so i got no choice but to hold the bat. as you can tell, it is a halloween themed teacher's day party. my partner FT is 25 years old! 8 years younger than me. omg. i am in the education service for that long.
celebrating teacher's day year felt a bit empty because there's no alumni coming to visit me. hence i am thankful that the alumni from the previous workplace still msg-ed me to wish me happy teacher's day. and coincidentally, they are all from modern chinese dance. my show choir president and vice president also wish me on instagram. :)
hence i shall give special mention to this 4 ladies - who happen to be the lead dancer who graduated in 2012, and the presidents from 2013 to 2015.
i think there is no need to introduce her. she has been featured so many times in my blog. foo chun ying was not the president of her batch, but she is definitely the lead dancer. she had already graduated from her chinese dance syllabus at NAFA, and is now dancing actively with 新艺.
lee shermin, president 2012/2013. still dancing at her dance club in singapore poly. now doing intern at regent hotel.
audrey yong, president 2013/2014. also my official wedding videographer. has grown alot and her boyfriend is one of the flag bearers at NDP 2016.
estel chong, president 2014/2015, and also the lead dancer, because of her ballet background since primary school. now still dancing ballet and learning contemporary dance.
and my form class student last year posted a photo on instagram:
thankful to be still remembered by them. :)
happy teacher's day to all my teacher friends!!!
this morning we are blessed with good weather - no rain and no haze, and thus our ACES Day Mass Dance can be carried out at the parade square. this is my first time doing a mass dance at ADSS and omg, it is totally insane. insane in a good way. everyone are dancing and screaming their heights out. check out my facebook or instagram for short snippets of the video!
this is also my first year celebrating teacher's day at ADSS.
as per previous years, i shall now share the cards/letters that my students wrote for me. :)
"Thank you for being such an amazing Chemistry teacher. Your sense of humour, knowledge and dancing skills make chemistry extremely enjoyable. Thank you for always agreeing to my requests for practice papers. You are very efficient and have an extremely optimistic and enthusiastic vibe in class. Thank you for everything you have done for 3E1 and we will make sure to not let you down for our End-Of-Year. Happy Teacher's Day Mr Tan!" - from a cambodian chinese student, and my potential A1 student for Chem O Level
"It's been a pleasure to be in your class. Thank you for all the jokes and funny actions in class. You are one of the friendliest and most caring teachers I have met! Also, I really appreciate your caring and guidance in teaching us. Thank you for spending your time to help me mark worksheets and all the effort you have put in to teach us. I will continue to strive hard and will not disappoint you. I will do my very best to score A1 for chemistry in O-Level and continue to pursue my passion for chemistry in A-Level and uni. Thak you and Happy Teacher's Day!" - from a malaysian chinese student, my potential A1 student for Chem O Level, and also a potential top student of the cohort for O Level. she has the potential to get first class honours for uni.
"To the world, you may be just a teacher, but to your students you are a Hero. 老师，辛苦了! 教师节快乐!"
"It had been very interesting this year. I really dislike sports but you make it better. I hate volleyball at first but came to enjoy it. Napfa is the worst, but luckily it's over. Thanks for teaching me! Happy Teacher's Day!"
"Thank you for your support during CCA. Thank you for being so dedicated and funny! Happy Teacher's Day!"
"Happy Teacher's Day Mr Tan. You are very funny and a super fun PE teacher. Good luck for your future." (machiam I am leaving the school right after Teacher's Day hahahahaha)
"Happy Teacher's Day Mr Tan. Thank you for your dramatic presence in your class, making it more fun!"
"Happy Teacher's Day Mr Tan. Thank you for always giving the stern face during common test/exam."
"Hey Sup Mr Tan YY. My dance teacher in-charge and form teacher. You are both hilarious and strict! But still thanks Mr Tan." - she also wrote that she didn't want to write her name because she scared kena scolded BUT... there is only one dance student in my form class. HAHAHAHAHA.
will share the pics in the next post!
i watched Hull vs Man U at 1230 am, and it was a super frustrating match because Hull put in a very strong defensive display and Man U totally cannot do anything for 90 minutes.
it was until the 92nd minute that Marcus Rashford scored and OMG everyone was so happy, from the players on the field, the substitutes and coaches on the bench, the fans at the stadium, and the fans at home (me and some neighbours were yelling the moment the goal was scored).
as a depressed man u fan for 3 years, this is finally something exciting that we are looking forward to. we have great players and a great manager with a great winning mentality.
i actually signed up for this morning's 10 km army half marathon, but i decided that sleep is more important and the haze is not going to do any good to my lungs, so i slept until 8 am and missed the run. hahaha.
this week we finally finished watching the korean drama Doctors.
we are now watching W!
bizarre drama with a superb plot. you can never predict the storyline at each episode. so much suspense!
today is papa's 63rd birthday! i think he still look 50 to me. at the age of 63 he is still going to work everyday and shows no signs of retiring. he is my inspiration and my role model.
we brought him to Equinox at Swissotel for a buffet lunch, and Equinox also provided a complimentary slice of chocolate truffle cake as his birthday cake. thank you Equinox for the special afternoon!
both my parents and my aunt are flying to seattle tomorrow. this is dunno their nth time going for a holiday. the highlight of their trip is taking a cruise to Alaska to watch the ice glaciers. so cool! have a good trip papa and mama~
