The Polliwogs Town - Kid's Paradise

We recently had a gathering at The Polliwogs with some of the other kids and parents from Learning Vision @ Raffles Place where Xavier goes. I thought it a great opportunity for the parents to get to know each other while the kids play.

The Polliwogs features an indoor playground, an outdoor play area, a troddler play area, a chilling area for parent with a mini bar serving finger food and drinks and a few function rooms. The indoor playground is pretty huge, almost like a mini obstacle course complete with slides, mini balls area, rocky bridges, tunnels, 3 air cannons, a swing and a ball blower, among other things. Parents are welcome in the area and all the Daddies had a great workout chasing the speedy kids.

I had some fun running after Xavier, even ending with a blue black on my left hip from the slide (due to my oversized hip). Warning: Watching this clip may cause nausea as I'm running after him with the camera handheld.


After a few rounds, I decided to stay at the center of the playground while Xavier play on like the Energizier Bunny. He was pretty ambitious going for the spiral swing at level 3 and the way up seems like he is going through the baby version of "Ninja Warrier".


The outdoor play area consist of a bouncing castle. I didn't have my camera with me when we went out but it seems more suited for older kids.

While the Daddies were busy inside, the Mummies were socialising at the chill area.

We find this place pretty suitable for Xavier and he definitely enjoyed himself there. The cost is $18 for 2 hours inclusive of a free coffee/tea. His "battery" was totally drained after the session that he knocked out the moment I start my car. We will bring him here again.

Xavier's shack face

Xbox Kinect gets everyone on their feet

During this year's CNY visiting, we had a chance to try out the Xbox Kinect's at Kelvin's place. I dare say this is the future of gaming, that is, getting you physically involved playing the game.

Nintendo Wii started it years ago with their motion sensing controllers, luring traditionally non-gaming adults and children engaged in simple yet fun filled games. And though its specifications and graphics were behind both Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360, it sold more than both machines by tapping into the huge non-gaming market. This forced both Sony and Microsoft back to the drawing board to come up with similar offerings to tap into this market too. While Sony now offers something similar call Playstation Move, Microsoft went one step ahead with their Kinect sensor.

What Kinect does is it captures the full body movements of the players and uses it to control or play the games on Xbox 360. And its done with no controllers at all. So effectively, your body becomes the "controller" of the game. This enables even young kids like Xavier to have a go at playing the games.



But one have to be careful not to allow non-players into the "area" as one can be so engrossed in it that accidents happen, like what happens below.


Overall I'm pretty impressed by Kinect. I wished Sony came up with something similar for PS3. There are also rumours floating in the air that the next generation Wii will rock the gaming industry yet again. We should see.

Xavier's 2nd Birthday - Inside Story

Even heard of Murphy's law where "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong"? Well we had a small taste of it on Xavier's 2nd Birthday, the "eventful" day.

I collected the balloons for the party the day before. And boy was I glad I took some photos of Xavier playing with it. He was in cloud nine when he saw the Jumbo Cookie Monster that he brought Cookie Monster for a tour of our home.

Sadly, Cookie Monster decided not to join the party in next morning. He exploded with a hole on the neck area (probably due to change in temperature in the morning). Sms Lyna from Babyterror for a replacement but was told that was their last Jumbo Cookie Monster. So settled for Jumbo Elmo and a much smaller hand-held Cookie Monster. I told Xavier Cookie Monster fell down so Daddy have to invite Elmo.

But I still want to find a Jumbo Cookie Monster for the party. Afterall, Cookie Monster is the main theme. Then I remembered on Auntie Yochana's blog there is the contact for the balloon and party shop at Parkway level 2. Sms Richard from Partywell and he confirmed he has a brand new Jumbo Cookie Monster.

So rushed in the morning to pick up the Elmo from Lyna, buy the Cookie Monster from Parkway, pick up my brother, pick up the cake from Auntie Yochana and head back home. To my utter misbelief when I open the boot, the brand new Jumbo Cookie Monster has also exploded along the journey, and again its the neck area that gave way.

Cookie Monster Twin.

So Xavier, if you are wondering why you have a Cookie Monster birthday with Elmo, now you know. Happy Birthday my boy!

Happy 2nd Birthday Xavier!

Xavier was all excited about celebrating his 2nd birthday. He would grin from cheek to cheek at the mere mention of birthday cake, clapping his hands trying to sing "Happy Birthday" and ending with blowing the invisible candle and then turning to us and ask "Cut cake?"

And so we celebrated his 2nd birthday today in a day filled with events (more on that later).We invited just the immediate family members for a cosy celebration but the "mini" buffet for 10 pax from Mum's Kitchen was enough to feed 20! So we called Gabriel and his family over for the celebration.

As it was the Chinese New Year (CNY) period, the buffet was a CNY set. Lilian replaced the Yu Sheng with Kweh Pie Ti as my mum will be preparing a plate of home-made Yu Sheng to toss. Anyway more food is a happy problem.

When everybody's stomachs are filled, its the moment Xavier's been waiting for, to cut cake. I made the mistake of opening the cake box in front of the kids as it became chaotic with the kids (especially Xavier) all wanting to grab the Sesame Street characters. So a tip for parents, if you want to take nice photos of the cake (in peace), do it in the kitchen before presenting the cake to your kid. We were pleased with how pretty the cake was decorated. Thanks Aunty Yochana.

I totally forgot to get someone to shoot a video when we sang Xavier the birthday song. So happy Gareth took the following video with Winney's iPhone.

Xavier definitely enjoys his 2nd birthday more than his 1st as he knows what's happening around him. He is able to clap and sing along, cut the cake and pose for "cheeky" smile photos. More photos available at my Flickr.

CNY 2011 - Chinese New Year of the Rabbit

Chinese New Year has always been my favourite time of the year. When I was younger, it was because of the hongbao I'm gonna receive and the new year goodies that I can stuff myself with. Now its because we meet up with family and friends that we hardly see throughout the year and the yummy feasting.

Despite this year being the perfect days in terms of calendar (two public holidays followed by the weekend), I felt it seems to be more tiring than last year. Probably because we have to watch over Xavier during the house visitings like a hawk, stopping him from running and jumping all over the visiting house, eatting the goodies and drinking cold drinks as he just recovered from cough.

Tossing Yu Sheng at my 大舅舅 place is usually one of the highlights of the first day of Chinese New Year. This is usually done after feasting on numberous yummy dishes cooked up by various relatives. The energy level of this year's tossing is lower than usual as it was done at almost midnight. Note for next year, remind my mum to bring the yu sheng earlier.


Before the night ends, we would take family portraits for memory sake.

More visiting on Day 3, this time to cousin Harry's new house. It's nice to meet up with cousins that we haven't meet for some time over more yu sheng.

Here's a short clip on Xavier doing his Gond Xi Fa Cai.


How I wish Chinese New Year would last longer. More photos can be found at my Flickr.

Yu Sheng

I love Yu Sheng (发财鱼生). I feel it's the one dish that really symbolise Lunar New Year. You can find Bak Kwa, Pineapple Tarts and Love Letters any time of the year but Yu Sheng only appears during the first 15 days of Lunar New Year.

And I have the privilege of eating really yummy home-made Yu Sheng prepared by my parents. The ingredients for Yu Sheng are really simple. The ingredients my parents use this year are:

鱼生             Yu Sheng
柚子             Pomelo
红萝卜          Carrot
白萝卜          White Radish
青萝卜          Green Radish
七彩锦菜丝    Preserved Mixed Melon
碧绿瓜英丝    Preserved Melon Strip
正宗中国茶瓜 Cucumber Strip
酸姜丝           Pickled Ginger Shredded
红姜丝           Red Ginger Shredded
桔饼丝           Shredded Kit Pan
柠檬瓜丝        Preserved Lemon
海蜇丝           Shredded Jelly Fish
薄脆              Crispy Cracker
鱼生胡椒粉     Pepper Powder
鱼生五香粉     Five Spice Powder
鱼生花生碎     Grounded Peanut
鱼生炒芝麻     Sesame Seed
鱼生酱           Yu Sheng Sauce
梅酱               Plum Sauce
柠檬酱            Lemon Sauce

The process of preparing the Yu Sheng is fairly tedious. I know because years ago I helped them before. They would shred the carrot, white radish and green radish, grind the peanuts, and peal the pomelo  themselves. It's hard work. My parents have "upgraded" to a semi-automatic machine that now requires them to turn a lever to shred the carrots and radish. And this year they buy items six onwards ready-made from Tungsan Food Industries (I got the names of the items from their pricelist so if it sounds funny, dun blame me). Many have replaced the raw fish in the Yu Sheng with fancier alternatives like Salmon, Salmon Belly, or even Abalone.

My parents love to decorate their Yu Sheng. This year being the year of the Rabbit, my parents made a rabbit with the white radish. The bigger version is the first photo you see above and the smaller version is below.