Xavier's Videos - Jan 2011

Below are videos of Xavier taken recently in Jan 2011.


Xavier entertaining himself with the mini slide at Toys 'R Us. He must have slided at least 10 times before I took this video.


Xavier having fun with the Leapfrog Leaptop. It states on the box that its for age 2 to 4. I wonder if it's really useful for Xavier at this age. But he sure knows how to move to the beat.


But one doesn't seem to be enough for Xavier. He shows us what "multi-tasking" means to him. Feels to me like a DJ spinning different turntables.


Xavier loves to express his thoughts now and he would keep calling out to us till we give him our full attention before he talks us what he want to say. We had a talk about balloons for his birthday and he insist it should be pronounced as "bul-ing". 

Gran Turismo 5: The Beginning of the Baby Racer?

You may recall in my earlier post about Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (NFS: HP), I briefly mentioned about the driving simulation game, Gran Turismo 5 (GT5), and how people would buy PS3 and steering wheel just for that game? I did that too! Well, for 1 day.

I can only (barely) afford to play one game at a time and when many of the NFS: HP players switched to GT5, I went along with the flow. GT5 is a driving simulation game where it tries to simulate driving in the real world. They have an A-Spec part where you play the driver and win races for credits and cars. Then there is the B-Spec where you play the manager of a racing team, supply the cars and hire drivers to win races for you. There are also other aspects of the game like Online (where you racing with your friends), clearing Licenses (for cars and bragging rights), Seasonal Events, Special Events, Arcade mode, etc. Its one of those games that will probably have a long lifespan and its a very involved game.

Its double the fun when you have both the car model and the virtual car in the game.

So involved that I followed what my geeky heart told me and ordered the Logitech G27 Steering Wheel and Apiga AP2 Wheel Stand. I convinced myself that the G27 wheel would allow me to have fun playing with the Clutch and H-Shifter driving all those dream cars in Manual (as my current ride in real life is Auto). And the foldable feature of the AP2 would make storing ideal as it would not take up alot of space. So when all the stuff arrived on Saturday, I happily spent the night setting it up.

However, once I played two races, the "practical" side of me begin to feel the "After-Purchase Guilt". And it was so strong that I sold off the whole set the next day. My reason for selling were as follows:

1. The high price tag (SGD750) for the wheel and stand doesn't quite justify the small amount of time I have to play the game. Plus I would probably not have time for games at all after July.

2. Its rather tedious to set up the stand and wheel (need to move aside the mat, plug in power and usb, position the chair and stand), play about 1 hour then collapse the stand to keep. It's very heavy.

3. Storing it without collapsing is bulky and since I did not get wheels for the stand, its heavy to move it around for storage.

So off it went to another happy gamer at Bukit Panjang. But not before some photo opportunity for Xavier, the baby racer!

I would consider this setup if I have a dedicated entertainment room and the "cockpit" and wheel can be in a permanent position, all ready to play whenever I have the time. Till then, I will make do with the convenience wireless controller of PS3.

The Making of Xavier's 2nd Birthday Party

Xavier's birthday is coming soon and preparations are ongoing as I'm typing. We decided to keep it to immediate family members this year (just like last year), main reason being its very close to the Chinese New Year period and people might still be doing their visiting.

And being so close to Chinese New Year pose other challenges. Pine Garden's Cake, with whom we ordered Xavier's 1st birthday cake, is closed during that period. Catering options, balloon and party providers and are also limited for the same reason. This sent Lilian and myself into a little panic initially. But it also force us to explore and consider other options.

First things first, the theme. Xavier <3 his Cookie Monster soft toys more than the others so I decided to do a Cookie Monster and Sesame Street Theme. I love Sesame Street myself, having grown up watching it and Xavier seems to enjoy watching the Sesame Street now.
* Left image from fanpop.

Second and probably the most important, the cake. Since Pine Garden's Cake is out, we looked to the other more established cake shops (since they are likely to be open). However, only Polar Puffs & Cakes has the license for Sesame Street and their minimum order was too large for our party. Design wasn't impressive as well.

So I went to Google for some home-based bakers in Singapore and to my surprise, there were quite a number of them with very pretty cakes. Shortlisted three bakers: Aunty Yochana, Yummyumkins!, All That Matters. Decided to order from Aunty Yochana as she reply my emails and queries fast and was available to make the cake.

Aunty Yochana makes very cute and pretty fondant cake and customised characters. We love feasting our eyes on fondant cakes but find it too sweet for actual consumption. So we requested for a sponge cake with fresh cream and will provide her with the cake toppers. I don't know if she will still customise some characters but I leave it in her good hands.














* Left image from ourpartyshop and right image from Amazon.

As for cake toppers, I found these two very appropriate (especially the Cookie Monster with a "2") and decided to use both. Aunty Yochana has the set on the right and I got the Cookie Monster from the eBay store ourpartyshop.

Babyterror was where we got his balloons last year (see how much fun he had walking about with it) so we got abit worried when we saw they are closed beginning of February for relocation of warehouse. Fortunately Lyna was still able to accompany my order despite te relocation. We found them to be very accomodating and their price very resonable.

As for party favours, I went back to order from Kidz Party Store where we got last year's Pooh Bear cake topper. Was initially thinking of making our own treat bags by printing Cookie Monster images and pasting on coloured paper bags. But laziness got the better of me and I decided to get the Cookie Monster and Elmo treat bags from them instead. What's gonna be in there? We will keep it a secret for now.
* Above image from Kidz Party Store

Lilian is coordinating the catering and we should finalise it hopefully by this week. Now to keep our fingers crossed and hope everything goes well.

Yu Jie's Baby Shower

Steven (my brother-in-law) celebrated my nephew Yu Jie's baby shower today. I took my camera there to take some photos but Xavier prove quite a handful so my camera was t-loan to Lilian's cousin. So most of the photos where taken by her.

Red eggs are a must for baby shower with rustic calender as background.

The many faces of our star of the day.

Here's Yu Jie taking a nap.

Everyone having a turn carrying the baby boy.

The other kids keep themselves occupied.

Mang Kiko's Lechon

Most of the stalls in Lau Pa Sat serve average tasting food at pricey food court price (in my opinion) but there are a few rare gems there that serve great tasting food. Mang Kiko's Lechon is one of the rare gems.

This stall serves mouth-watering Filipino Roast Pork and Chicken. The big roast station on the left of the stall rotates rows and rows of pork and chicken over the white hot charcoal. The sight of the oil oozing out, coating the meat itself and eventually dripping into the charcoal and smoking the meat a heavenly sight for meat lover like me. My stomach is making noise now as I write this post.

I have tried the both chicken and pork before. The chicken portions are generous. The chunks of tender white chicken meat and that oh so tasteful chicken skin is a must have for chicken lovers and for those who are more health concious. I remember when I was trying to increase my protein intake, I just to order 1/2 chicken no rice.Yummy. 

The roast pork however is where the money is. Generous portions of tender roast pork with charred skin is an irresistible sight. Sink in your teeth and the grease, the charred skin, the BBQ aroma filled your mouth all at once. It's so good it always makes me sit back and chew slowly to salvage every bite.

There are a number of sauces to go along with your choice of meat and my favourite is the brownish-greenish one. It adds a sweet touch to the meat. They recently added chilli sauce too (probably by popular demand to go with the chicken). It also comes with free soup if you dine there.

Lau Pa Sat, Stall #27 (near Wendy's)