Tai Tai for a day

"You need money?" asks the husband this morning and offers me his wallet. Very fitting start to the day, for today is "Tai Tai" day!!! Charm, Jan and I would be ladies of leisure, doing Tai Tai things like visiting the spa and chit-chatting over hi-tea.

On a typical weekday, I would barely have time for breakfast, but today I had 2 breakfasts. The first with KK at Chin Mei Chin at Katong. We love the nostalgic charm of this old confectionary and the food is very good too - half boiled eggs half boiled to perfection, good balance of kaya and butter on the toast, yummy luncheon meat bun, etc. Later in the morning, I had breakfast with Charm at Moomba Tuckshop located at the Bank of China Building. I'd been wanting to have breakfast there for the longest time. The Tuckshop is inspired by Bill's Cafe in Sydney, said to serve the best scrambled eggs in the world. I had scrambled eggs with roasted mushrooms and tomato on toasted brioche, and a glass of Earl Grey - only $4, very good value (but of course we Tai Tais don't concern ourselves too much with price, ahem). The food was pretty good and the place unpretentious and quite charming.

After breakfast, Charm and I went around the banks to see if there were any interesting investment products, but we didn't find anything to excite us big time investors (where oh where to park our millions?).

Then it was off for some shopping. We stepped into a luxury watch shop and the sales staff behind the counters all rose from their seats. Wah, like I was royalty or a First Lady or something!!! Charm, with her big hair, looks more the part of a Tai Tai, so she assumes the lead actress role and asks to see a Chopard Happy Diamonds watch. She puts it on her wrist and shakes it about so that the diamonds dance and spin about. The happy diamonds work their magic on Charm. She looks happy; she has a lustful look in her eyes; I sense a longing growing in her. The salesman offers her a 20% discount and she asks if they carry the oval face model. Aww, they don't have the oval face model so we walk out empty-handed.

And now for the main event - a visit to Amrita Spa. This is supposed to be quite a high class spa so I was eager to see how good it really is. The reception counter looks like an over-staffed hotel front desk; why do they need so many people there?! And after we sign in and settle the bill, there is no one to lead us into the spa - not very high class leh! Charm and I are early so we make use of the hot and cold pools, the steam room and sauna. Jan joins us later at the relaxation lounge and then we have our massages. I had the hot stone treatment; quite good. Overall, I would say Amrita Spa is not as good as my regular spa at the Laguna National Golf & Country Club in terms of ambiance and service.

My stomach was growling during the massage so I was very glad that there was a hi-tea buffet to look forward to. The buffet spread at Orchard Hotel was alright and with a credit card promotion, we only paid the price for two (not that we Tai Tais are concerned about price, ahem). But what we were really there for was the chocolate fountain. Yum!!!

After all that pampering and indulgence, I was feeling tired. So after a little bit more window shopping, we parted ways. I made my way home in a most unglam, un-Tai Tai way - by MRT. What was even more unglam - I forgot to suck in my tummy and got offered a seat. Urgh!!! I have got to remember to use the Trimax!!!

First grading & first sleepover

This weekend, Tai Pi and Pumpkin experienced two firsts - their first Taekwondo grading and their first sleepover. Tai Pi would have already been a Yellow Tip Belt if she hadn't come down with chicken pox and miss the grading in January. Not only did she miss the grading that time, the girls also missed the slumber party (actually not really a party, just a sleepover) at Auntie D's. But not this time. As soon as their friend BC called to invite them, Tai Pi, who just loves the idea of slumber parties, went into a packing frenzy for the girls' very first sleepover. Woohoo!!! I was almost as excited as she was. They were just staying over for 1 night but were bringing with them 3 bags; it's a girl thing.

After the grading practice session at the Taekwondo school yesterday afternoon, the kids headed for Auntie D's for the sleepover. Auntie D and Uncle LW would then pack the 6 kids into the MPV and ferry them to the Taekwondo school for the grading the next morning.

The kids had a great time together - playing , watching TV, going for a swim. For dinner, we called for pizza for the kids while the adults went for crab at this place in Ang Mo Kio called Mellben which is supposed to be really good but we had to wait more than an hour to get a table so we went to a similar place just at the other end of the carpark. No need to wait for a table and the crab with creamy buttery sauce was fabulous, simply fabulous!!! I'm drooling just thinking about it.

When we got back from dinner, the kids sat us down for a performance of some sort but they couldn't quite get their act together. I think they were supposed to be a group of martial arts exponents, each with the power of an element - wind, fire, earth, etc. Look at the kids posing for the camera before the grading exercise - I call them the Taekwon DoDos but they prefer to be known as Shaolin Showdown... "we're not birds" said BC.

Pound foolish

I read something in today's papers that I found most appalling. No, not the news about the pervert caught filming up women's skirts, sick as it is. Something even more unimaginable - couples blowing unbelievable sums of money on their weddings. Sorry I can't provide a link to the article because the Straits Times started charging for online access and I am not so silly as to pay for subscription when I can read Today for free online and off.

It seems the Singaporean obsession with keeping up, or I should say outdoing the Jones has spread to weddings. The article said that more and more couples are spending a bomb on elaborate wedding ceremonies and overseas photo shoots. There was this couple, a 32-year-old shipping firm CEO (so young already CEO, must be family business) and his 28-year-old product manager bride, who blew a cool $330,000 on their wedding:
- Wedding banquet at Ritz Carlton with 85 tables and a customised menu which included two whole abalones for each diner, premium shark's fin and suckling pig ($200,000)
- Two Vera Wang gowns and a Francis Cheong cheongsam ($50,000)
- Four bridesmaids' dresses ($800)
- Louis Vuitton shoes from New York ($2,000)
- Ballroom floral decorations ($60,000)
- Jazz band ($5,000)
- Photo shoot in Sydney ($15,000)

The couple said that at first they wanted a simple wedding but changed their mind because they "didn't want to look back and regret." What makes them think they will not look back and regret spending a sum that could buy you an apartment?! They said they would not have had such a big wedding if they were not comfortable in their careers, because "we believe in living within our means". I hope they are multi-millionaires. I don't know... it just doesn't make sense to me why couples would choose to start their marriage in debt over a wedding.

Another bride-to-be who was planning to have a Carribean-style wedding on Sentosa with steel drummers, salsa dancers, etc, said "I want something special for my wedding. I want my guests to enjoy themselves and I don't mind paying a bit more for that." Aiyoh young lady, your friends and family will be happy for you on your wedding day because they love you; it is the company that matters so spend time with your guests on that day instead of distracting them with all that entertainment. Anyway they can get that sort of entertainment at their company D&D.

While the girls were at Taekwondo class today, I hopped over to the Library and borrowed a few books for them including this one - Whatever Wanda Wanted. It is about a girl who was spoilt rotten by her doting but busy parents who gave her whatever she wanted. One day she gets her hands on a mystical kite that carries her far away and drops her onto a desert island. There she realizes what is really important - "I don't miss my fancy clothes or TV, or any of my toys. I just really, really miss my mom and dad." Maybe that's what we all need to experience - losing everything in order to see the difference between our needs and our wants and come to really appreciate that the most important things in life are not things.

Pasir Ris Park

I had the afternoon off today and spent the early afternoon at the spa with KK, after which we picked up the girls early from the childcare centre and brought them to Pasir Ris Park. We love the huge playground there with the great variety of equipment - slides, swings, climbing nets, spinning dishes and balls, etc. I remember a friend telling me that gym classes are great for building self-confidence in children and I did consider enrolling the girls for such classes until I realised that hey they could also challenge themselves and develop self-confidence at a place like Pasir Ris Park and it doesn't cost me a cent and they get some fresh air too!

After the girls had their fun, we went looking for a place for dinner and ended up at Gobble, a new restaurant at one end of the park. I am so glad that we discovered this place as it is a real gem! It offers alfresco dining on a lovely unpretentious wooden deck overlooking the park and they screen soccer matches on a big screen (whoopee for KK). The food is great too and very reasonably priced. We had the 7 dish special where you select any 7 items from the ala carte menu for $19.90 but the portions are three quarters of the regular portion. This was perfect for us as we love to have variety and with the smaller portions we don't have the problem of not being able to finish the food. Gobble is definitely going to be one of my regular makan places from now on!

Nostalgia

I had been checking out a blog set up by the National Heritage Board, yesterday.sg and got nostalgic; also because Kong Kong came for a visit and as usual, told stories of his childhood and our family's history.

Times have certainly changed. One of the biggest difference is that the world is so much more dangerous now. I'm not even talking about terrorists, just people you might meet if you take a walk in the neighbourhood, what with the newspaper reports of perverts and other shady characters. When I was little, I used to play with my siblings and cousins at the void deck of the block of flats we lived in or at a field nearby. I also walked to school by myself, a good 10 minute walk away, even early in the morning before the sun was up. Maybe I am just paranoid but I'm not ready to let my kids play outdoors by themselves, not just yet.

Anyway, as I was feeling nostalgic, I decided to reflect on what stuff from my childhood survived to be enjoyed by my kids today. This is what I found at home -
1) Colourful paper ball - you spend as much time blowing air into these things as you do hitting them about.
2) Biscuits with white/green/pink/yellow icing - I used to like to bite the icing off before popping the rest of the biscuit into my mouth.
3) Rabbit milk sweets - the only candy I know of with edible wrapper.
4) Square shaped candy with nut picture on the wrapper - I was never crazy about these but we didn't have a very wide variety of candy back then.
These are today exactly as they were when I was a child.



Another thing I am very pleased has survived to this day - battery-operated cars and bikes. When I was a kid, I would always choose a car, and when the time was almost up, I would ride the car as far away from the vendor as possible so that it would take a while before he would catch up with me to take the car back. Now it is a routine for the girls to ride these battery-operated vehicles whenever we have dinner at Changi Village. Of course it costs a lot more now than back then, but you can't put a price on nostalgia.