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One of my blog readers is an honours student at the University of Sydney, and she is conducting some research on female lifestyle blogging.

If you’re reading this, she would really appreciate your help :)

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Beverly

Our Australia holiday was one of the most UNholidays we’ve ever had. It was the first time we’ve gone for an extended (2.5 weeks) trip with a child and, boy, was it different to our pre-baby holidays!! To be really frank, it was one of the worst experiences ever in terms of sleep deprivation, and has scared me off going on another holiday for a very very very long time :X

Hunter was pretty awesome during the day time, his usual cheery self.  But come night-time, all hell would break loose and he would WAIL himself to sleep – no amount of ignoring, or cuddling would placate him. Then, he would wake up every 3 hours or so, whining/crying until he was patted back to sleep. In the morning, more often than not he would wake up crying too. It was INSANE. Considering he was a sleep-through-the-night baby at the tender age of just over 2 months old, it was a HUGE AND NASTY SHOCK for us, to basically be dealing with a ‘newborn’ again.

Even more bizzarely, the moment we arrived back home in Singapore, he IMMEDIATELY went back to his 12-hour uninterrupted sleep – falling asleep by himself, and waking up cheery. I guess he loves being home and in his own bed, and can’t tolerate being away :X So the whole time in Australia, we were zombies and poor Chris had to deal with an extremely irate wife almost daily… oops.

But, at least we had a TON OF FUN during the day! Hunter was so fascinated with everything, loved going out, and we had heaps of fun catching up with family and friends.

Most importantly, we were there for Chris’ sister’s wedding. This was held in Canberra, so we stayed there for a couple of days first. The weather there was so cold though! It was nice in the afternoons, but mornings and evenings were pretty painful. All 3 of us suffered dry/peeling skin and lips as we had to acclimatize ourselves to the climate. However, the benefit was that my hair and skin loved the dry weather.  Helloooo good hair days! I really noticed it especially now that we’re back in Singapore and I see how the humidity destroys your hair and skin ;)

Hard to tell that he was a real terror the night before!

"A night terror? Me??"

The wedding was held in a really lovely high-ceiling cathedral, and I loved the black-and-white colour scheme, which I thought was super chic. It also brought back such nice memories of our own wedding.. and was really nice to see Chris’ sister so happy on her wedding day :)

Hunter was supposed to walk down the aisle as well, but it didn’t work out because during the rehearsal, we saw that the aisle was actually really long.. which translated to major distractions for him, and we weren’t confident he would have the focus to make it all the way down, especially with a ton of eyes staring at him!

Saying their vows

Drowsy after waking from his nap in time for the ceremony

I was also delighted to do a reading for the ceremony. I almost pulled out at the last minute, because I developed a bit of a cough and was worried I’d start hacking up a lung mid-reading. But thankfully all went well and I did the reading without any issue – whew!

Doing my reading

Afterwards, we had photos outside the church and in a park/lake. The skies were GORGEOUS… though the temperature was quite chilly down by the water. But Hunter didn’t seem to care and had a fab time tottering around the lake and running around on the grass.

The wedding party

Meeting one of our college friends for the first time, and trying to charm the socks off her

Family pic by the lake

Hunter with his great-grandma and nanna

My 3 loves ;)

The wedding reception was really lovely, with some fabulous food! The beef… OMG *faint*. Chris and I actually shared a large pizza prior to dinner, because we were too hungry. But I still stuffed in appetizer, main, and dessert and cleared my entire plate.. because the food was fab!!

Everyone was having so much fun, and Hunter had an afternoon nap (rare, because he naps 1x/day) so he could stay awake for a bit to join in the celebrations.

Us with our pajama-clad baby

"Hiiiii Uncle Matt!"

Hunter discovered he could make Uncle Matt drink by stuffing the bottle in his mouth and then tilting upwards. I think both boys had a lot of fun with that ;)

The wedding party again. I LOVE that quote!!!

Chic table setting, and Hunter got his own special goody bag :)

Oh and Chris was MC for the evening! He did a lot of public-speaking when he was younger, and is a natural in front of an audience. And he really nailed it. He’s an awesome MC!

Cutest moment ever: we were seated at the table in front, right where Chris was standing. As he was speaking, Hunter kept pointing to him and going “Da da!!!” loudly and happily, much to people’s amusement. And then he would clap his hands in glee, seeing his Daddy up there. LOL!!

Chris the MC

Hunter went to sleep at around 8:30PM so I had to go into a back room and sit there with him. Unfortunately no one brought their maids/nannies, so I had to be there the entire time! It meant I missed out on all the fun stuff in the latter-half of the evening.. and because Chris was MC-ing, he couldn’t really be there keeping me company either. And my iPhone had run out of battery. So I spent the entire time just sitting there staring at the wall. D’OH!! But, at least Hunter slept well considering all the music and noise.. so I was happy.

"G'night guys, it's bedtime for me!"

It was a pretty epic day, but we all dealt with it really well considering the lack of sleep we had. Hunter was in a good mood throughout, and adrenalin kept us going.. though we did leave a little earlier to get ourselves to bed. It’s so nice being at a wedding and joining in the celebrations!

We are back from Australia… just in time for Mothers Day!

Last year, we celebrated with Hunter. This year, we celebrate with both Hunter and #2-in-the-belly :) It still amazes me, because if you’d told me 3 years ago this would be my life now, I’d have thought you were nutty since I always felt that my career came first and that I wanted to make sure I’d accomplished everything I wanted to do, before ‘taking it easy’ and starting a family. Ummm.. I guess no one warned me that it’s quite the opposite!

I love our little family, and really looking forward to being a family of four, with 2 lil bandits running around :P

So to all you Mums, and especially my own Mum, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!

I leave you with one of my favourite quotes about being a parent: “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

Celebrating Mothers Day this year as a Mum of 2! (OK, maybe 1.5)

Happy 15 months, Hunter!

LOL

Well HELLO major growth-spurt month! Hunter had really obvious physical and mental developments over the past month, which also brought about a week’s worth of crap sleep (egads). He studies what people do with great interest and just loves to figure things out himself.

A cute trick he does is when we’re out shopping and he’s tired of walking around, he’ll go to his stroller and stand in front of it, say “Up!” to me, and when I put him in, pulls the stroller bar across him so I can snap it down.

He also loves reading, so will proactively go look for his books, choose one, and bring it over and try to climb onto our laps, asking us to read it to him. Love how he can easily understand instructions now, and has his own lil personality. And, boy, with that comes quite the temper too..! He can really tell you off resoundingly when he feels you’ve done him wrong ;)

He’s also learning to swim by himself, holding onto a floaty tube/bar and kicking himself forward. It’s tough, cos they have to learn to grip as well as keep themselves afloat! He’s learning this way, the super-hard way, because he refuses to have those inflatable water-wings on his arms :X

Learning to swim by himself

MONTH 14-15 PROGRESS:

• Eating – Hunter is still going well with his eating, and will eat most things we give him. He still has the same (healthy) diet and so far hasn’t yet figured out what desserts/sweets/deep-fried foods are, much to our relief. We will be in Australia for the next 2.5 weeks, which is causing us a major headache, since I won’t have much opportunity to cook, and he doesn’t eat ‘outside’ food (too laden with oil, salt, sugar, etc). I honestly have no idea how we’ll figure out his meals…

  He has 2 formula milk feeds (1 morning, 1 night) and 1 fresh milk feed (afternoon) daily. Sometimes I’m too busy talking or shopping in the afternoon and forget to give him his milk by 3PM, so he’ll twist around in his stroller, look at me, and go “Nan, nan, nan!” whilst doing his baby-sign for milk. Guess a kid’s gotta do what a kid’s gotta do to get fed ;)

• Sleeping – Perfectly 7:30PM – 7:30AM sleep-through-the-night-without-waking for the first 3 weeks of this month… then in the past week he decided to kill us by fussing madly and insisting someone stands there until he falls asleep, and waking up randomly at night fussing again. ARGH!! I was about to have a mental breakdown, but then he slept fine the past 2 nights again. But, we leave for Australia today (!) and having Hunter sleeping in the same room will destroy my sleep for sure (I’m a super-light sleeper now and can’t sleep properly with him in the room) :( Really worried about this as because I’m pregnant, I really do need my rest..

• Motor control - He walks, he runs, he picks up small objects off the ground when standing, he can kick a ball far, he can pull a wheeled-toy behind him as he walks, he draws with crayons (nonsensical scratches, of course!), he can screw stuff together and unscrew, he can put lids on and take lids off containers, he can fit differently-shaped blocks into their correct holes, he can unlock my iPhone, he can climb on/off toy cars and push off with both legs then lift both legs to let the car roll forward, blah blah blah..

  He’s also really into pretend play – cooking alongside me in the kitchen, putting Lego man on his horse and galloping it, feeding us and his toys food/water (making appropriate lip-smacking sounds to get his point across), etc.

  He also enjoys putting on his shoes, and will go search for and bring me his shoes when I ask him to, and lift up each leg so I can put them on his feet.

Hunter's weakness - vehicles

No worries mate, let me screw that in for you

• Talking/listening - His list of words (taken from last month, new words in italics at the bottom):
• Hunter – but sounds more like ‘haaaahn-tahhh!!’, whilst patting himself on the chest
• Ma ma – when looking for me
• Da da – when looking for Chris
• Kong Kong – what he calls my dad
• Playground – possibly his favourite word
• Park – same as above
• Star – accompanied with hand actions. Will say it whilst singing songs, or point to a picture of one and say it
• Up – to ask to be picked up, when lifting this up, going up the escalator, etc
• All – whilst singing songs, possibly his favourite word to sing out
• Nan – for milk
• Woau / oohooh / roar / brrmmm – sounds for dog, monkey, lion, motorbike
• Por Por – what he calls my mum
• No – one of his favourite words, sadly!
• Row – part of the song and when he wants us to rock him
• Hiiii – greeting people or when playing with a phone
  
  So only 4 new words (above) learned in the past month, ‘cos I don’t take into account random babbles or sounds, and a new word to me only counts if he says it with clear understanding and consistently over a period of weeks.

Follows more complex instructions like “Look for the ball, and throw it to Dad”, but now has a cheeky side and sometimes after getting the ball, will look at the person he’s meant to throw it to and go “no no no!” and grin and run away with the ball, thinking himself rather clever. LOL!

He understands too many words to document (babies always understand waaay more words than they can speak) but he can now accurately identify and point to his (or someone else’s) body parts:

• head
• ears
• eyes
• nose
• mouth
• teeth
• tongue
• chest
• shoulders
• belly
• hands
• legs
• toes

I do think Hunter’s ability to point to all the above body parts is pretty good for his age, but I’m not sure why. I think he’s just really fascinated with the human body?! That, and vehicles; he can tell the difference and identify aeroplane, helicopter, boat, train, bus, car, motorbike, etc. Such a BOY ;)

He loves singing along to his nursery rhymes. He can’t get the words out properly, but can hit a few notes accurately and blabber in time to the actual words. In particular, the “abcde….” song, where he’ll rattle away in his own babbles in time with the alphabet :P And like all other kids, he loves listening to music, and will ‘conduct’ with his hands and bop his bum and dance whenever he hears music ;)

Great pals: having a babycino with my Dad

And so at 15 months old, Hunter goes on his first trip to Australia, today!! He’ll have attention galore and Chris is also really looking forward to spending quality 24/7 time with his son :) And I’m excited to see what kind of baby clothes, toys and supplies Australia has to offer!

PREVIOUS PROGRESS:

• 14 months
• 13 months
• 12 months
• 11 months
• 10 months
• 9 months
• 8 months
• 7 months
• 6 months
• 5 months
• 4 months
• 3 months
• 2 months

I was delighted to be invited to a Drypers event, held at Cookyn Inc, my fave cooking party house :P The focus was on cooking healthy food which work both for young kids and also pregnant mums. I love planning and cooking Hunter’s meals, so I was especially interested in the event, and even more so when I heard it featured salmon, one of his favourite foods!

I have never seen SO many pregnant women under one roof before ;) Guess this really is a bumper year for Dragon babies. Hunter was the only kid there and so was all smiles with the attention he received.

Fabulous local 'pulled' tea that is perfection at Cookyn

The various ingredients we would be using

We made a beautifully simple and fresh hummus dip with toasted pita. It was very baby friendly and Hunter could munch on the chips as well as the hummus. It was quite the hit and made me realise that this is great to serve when we have friends over, because it’s simple to whip up and oh-so-addictive!

The secret in the AWESOME chips? Use fresh (ie. soft) pita bread, cut into triangles, and bake in the oven for a bit. They come out crisp and they taste so good, better than the Doritos that we normally use when we eat dips.

Hummus dip with toasted pita

Hunter signing "more please", cos he liked it too!

We also put together a wild rice salad. Honestly, it was pretty good! I NEVER thought I’d enjoy eating wild rice, let alone a wild rice salad.. But I liked the flavours of the ingredients and it was actually really tasty. It’d be a brilliant idea to make up a batch of this and store in the fridge (to let the flavours really permeate) and have it as a healthy lunch when you’re in the office.

Full concentration required!

Wild rice salad with grilled tiger prawn

Really into the whole drawing business now

And…. the Parcel-wrapped salmon! OH HOW I LOVE THIS DISH!!! Will do it every time we buy salmon now. It works for both adults and babies, because the salmon is utterly soft. It’s also laughingly simple to make: Get a slab of salmon and plonk it on unwaxed parchment (baking) paper. Pop in some diced cherry tomatoes and whatever diced veggies you want (I put in asparagus, zucchini, carrots), sprinkle on salt & pepper, and add in a small pat of butter. Wrap it all up like a bag, and pour in a tablespoon of chicken stock just before you seal and fold over the bag shut. Bake at 210 celcius for 11-12 minutes.

You will find the salmon so so so soft and moist, kind of like a poached salmon, but with a lot more flavour because it’s been cooked in with the rest of the ingredients. It’s LUSCIOUS :) Hunter totally noms it up, and so do we.

Happy little goody bags

Parcel-wrapped salmon

I’m normally not a fruit/berry person and would NEVER order trifle at a restaurant, but I’m a fan of Cookyn’s Summer berry trifle. It’s pureed strawberries, chunks of soft Sara Lee butter cake, vanilla bean-spiked fresh cream, and topped with blueberries. And it’s just so tasty!

Summer berries trifle

Mums and mums-to-be!

Hunter, very pleased with his food-clip thingy

All smiles :) And isn't that goody bag cute??

So Hunter will be entering White Lodge kindergarten when he’s around 18 months.. which is when I give birth. He’ll start off with just 2-days a week, for a half-day session each time. I specifically wanted that because on the one hand, I want him to be able to still get the stimulation and social interaction after I give birth (when I’ll have no time for my daily playdates for awhile), yet I didn’t want a full-time kindergarten that I felt would be too much for him when his world already changes quite a bit with a newborn baby brother.

Why White Lodge? My girl friends and I viewed a lot of schools. And I mean, a LOT. We basically spent all our play dates school-viewing, over the period of 2 months! White Lodge is a little on the pricey side, but I feel it’s worth it because we liked the teachers, the school had nice facilities, and I like their curriculum.

His class has just 5 children, and 2 teachers. And that is an AWESOME ratio! It was one of our priorities when looking for schools, so we’re very happy with White Lodge :)

Our other option was Odyssey, which, frankly, had the most impressive campus. It looked like a sprawling resort! Hunter loved the place and fit right in, and all the kids looked so happy. Unfortunately, they have a waiting list (women actually enroll when they’re pregnant; can you believe that?! Geez), so Hunter won’t be admitted until he’s 3 years old. So until then, he’ll stay at White Lodge..

Painting oyster shells

Being a bit of loner and playing in the car, whilst all the other kids do sandbox play

Getting cuddles from the principal

This is another White Lodge branch that we visited, in Dempsey. Nice central location, but we weren’t a fan because the classrooms were quite enclosed (not much natural light) and the place just seemed rather run-down.

First time in his life he's painted, and he rather enjoyed it! In his usual very serious, concentrating-deeply, manner :P

Very pleased with his shopping cart

Music and singing time

SNACK TIME, yay!

The other contender was Mindchamps in Phoenix Park, which we liked as my girl friend knew the principal. The campus is impressive – spacious with a great outdoor play area. Didn’t go for this in the end though, because the location wasn’t ideal and they only offer 5-days.

Cute in her uniform

Rather tentative and clinging onto me

Showing the kids the aeroplane applique on his belly. LOL!

They have a lovely indoor play gym that our kids loved

Enjoying play time with his 2 lil girl friends

Lovely outdoor playground

WHEE!!

Hunter darling, please give it a few more years before you place your hands on girls' thighs!!

I had a craving for sticky date pudding the other day, and we had a couple of prunes leftover from the packet that we bought for Hunter, so I decided to try out making it myself! I used this recipe.

Happily, I ended up with a very soft and moist cake, which was the PERFECT texture imho. The glaze on top was a bit heavy-handed though, and I probably should have poured on about half the portion, because we tend to prefer not-too-sweet deserts. I’d say the end result was very similar to what you’d get in restaurants outside in terms of sweetness, and we tend to have our homebaked desserts at half sugar.

This dessert is relatively low effort to make, and is pretty delicious, especially served with a big dollop of good quality vanilla ice cream. We’ve already eaten the whole thing! I’d make it again for sure :)

Cooking the prunes in water

Sifting together the dry ingredients. Love the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg :)

Adding the wet ingredients

Just before going into the oven

Cooking the caramel glaze whilst the pudding bakes. Mmmm... bubbling goodness....

Poured on top of the freshly-baked cake

Homebaked sticky date pudding :) SMELLS AMAZING!

And, I baked a banana bread. Yet again! It seems to be my favourite go-to dish.. I bake it really frequently because we love it, it keeps well, and Hunter LOVES it :) I would never give him store-bought banana bread because I know they have little banana and are loaded with sugar. But when I make it at home, I actually use very little sugar and barely any butter.

My banana bread looks oddly dry, but it’s actually very moist. I cut down dramatically on butter (only a small dollop) and instead use plain yogurt and sometimes some sour cream. It makes the banana bread SO moist and gives a great subtle tang – wayyyy better than using butter imho!

Banana bread fresh out of the oven. Best served with freshly-whipped maple butter :)

[EDIT: upon request, here's the Banana Bread recipe :) ]

1. Beat 100g butter and 100g brown sugar together until creamy
2. Add 1 egg and beat in
3. Add 3-4 mashed bananas, 3 tbsp plain yoghurt and 1 tsp vanilla essence.
4. Add 225g sifted plain flour, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 1 tsp cinnamon and pinch of salt salt and beat in gradually.
5. Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake at 180c for about 1 hour or until golden-brown and cooked.

And this was actually eons ago, but I was craving a good sausage sandwich today and remembered these pics ;) It was a small and casual BBQ dinner we had, kids included. I adore BBQs because it always means we have the typical Aussie ‘dish’ – a sausage and grilled onions slapped on thin white bread, and drizzled with tomato sauce. PERFECTION.

A relaxed weekend BBQ

Super-healthy pasta salad to off-set the BBQ goodness!

Sausage sandwich. LOVE.

I’m a member of Royce Kids Gym and I reckon it’s one of the better (or even the best) play gyms in Singapore. I think it’s really beneficial for kids to have a safe environment where they can crawl/walk/scramble around in, and a place where there are loads of toys to stimulate and amuse them. An additional perk is you can also witness what kind of toy(s) your kid really likes, and buy that specific one for them at home (or, just go to the gym to play with each time!). That’s important to me, because Hunter has SO many toys (or place looks like a toy shop…….) yet is only particularly keen on a select few.

Royce Kids Gym has a very high ratio of expat kids, ranging from babies to older children. Hunter is one of the little ones, but he really enjoys himself there. He’s been there around 5 times now, and so is quite used to the place and will toddle around looking for the specific toy/equipment that he’s keen on. I do think that being there has helped with his walking skills when he started walking unsupported in the past 2 months, because he keenly watches the older kids there to see how they move, and how they play.

The gym also has really lovely staff, and they make the effort to tidy up the toys ALL the time. They literally are constantly walking around arranging stuff! Everything there is tidy and most importantly, clean. It makes for a great place for kids to have fun, and also to tire themselves out so they take a great nap afterwards and we mummies can then relax ;)

Any play gyms that you take your kids to, that you reckon are awesome as well?

LOVING the wooden train set, which is the first thing Hunter zooms to when he enters

The swing sets? Not quite a fan..

Lotsa balls!

His #1 favourite item in the gym - this specific red car. He seriously loves it with all his heart!

A BMW ride-em car that he loves vrrrooommming on as well

Loves to climb up those stairs, but still too fearful to go down the slide by himself

One of his other faves - all the cooking stove tops the gym has!

We also stayed at the Marina Mandarin Hotel the other week, because of Chris’ work and conferences. Hunter seriously enjoyed the big, soft bed and the fluffy pillows. Love seeing his satisfied grin when he *plonks* himself down on the bed!

Oh happiness! Oh joy!

Freshly showered and ready for bed

A precious moment: father and son bonding time at night

My beauty & fashion posts are a bit skint nowadays.. Partly because I’ve heavily cut down on my skincare regime and don’t use much makeup nowadays (you really do change when you become a Mum, LOL!), and partly because I never get round to photographing or blathering on about my purchases and my reviews of stuff.

But I know heaps of you that read this are into nice girly things, so I really ought to make the effort to do Hunter-free posts here and there ;) So here you go! Here’s a couple of lil things I acquired and what I think.. :)

Stila smudge crayon, Stila lip & cheek stain

Got these lil Stila goodies from Sephora here, after I spent the past month or two debating whether or not I should get them :P I’m a long-term fan of Stila, ever since I was a young teen – how can I resist their pretty packaging, sweet colours, and lovely products?

Stila smudge crayon (Waterproof Eye Primer + Shadow + Liner) - I don’t use regular powder eyeshadows in pots anymore, because it’s just too much of a hassle to apply with a brush etc. So now I turn to the stick versions that are easy to swipe on. Problem is, most of them smudge and are way too greasy on me after a couple of hours. It’s why I love this Stila smudge crayon – it goes on super smooth, but then really doesn’t budge!! I have Antique which is a champagne/bronze, a lovely neutral shade that works really well as an eyeshadow, and layered as a subtle eyeliner. It’s so easy to swipe on smoothly, and off I go! Now, I’m after Dazzle, a dark grey shimmer that would be awesome as an eyeliner :)

Stila lip & cheek stain – I got this in Raspberry Crush and OMG the colour is BEAUTIFUL! I’m a tad obsessed with stain blushes, because all the other types wear off on me so quickly. And even so, I like very very few – the only 2 I will use is a Korean one (hard to find!) and MAC coral cast (long discontinued). Well, this Stila one is now my #1 by far. The colour is a pop of sweet raspberry shimmer, and it really does last. I use it over BB cream or tinted moisturizer and I just love the flush it gives. Will re-buy for sure :) I haven’t used it as a lip stain cos I like it as a cheek stain!

Phyto secret de nuit

Phyto secret de nuit - this really isn’t cheap in Singapore, grrr.. but I am sucker for hair products. This baby works as an overnight hair-repair treatment and, true to word, is non-greasy and silicone-free. I massage it into my hair at night and I like how it absorbs easily, and the subtle scent. I can’t say if it significantly makes my hair any nicer, but I’d like to think so ;) Personally though I wouldn’t repurchase since it’s pretty pricey..

By Terry touche veloutee concealer, Kai perfume oil

By Terry touche veloutee highlighting concealer - I’m a bit of a sucker for concealer so finally bit the bullet and bought this one. I like the portability of this, especially the sleek silver packaging the the great-quality brush. It’s supposed to brighten dark circles and my first impression of this concealer was “this blends like a dream!” It’s unique to other concealers because it just blends so easily and sinks right into the skin. So strange, in a good way! It matches my skin tone perfectly and I simply use my finger to pat it in. Only thing is that it’s not as long-lasting as my favourite concealer Shu Uemura gel cealer but it’s nice as an alternative.

Kai roll-on perfume oil – this is incredibly tiiiiiny for the price, but is really potent and long-lasting since it’s a perfume oil. I like the roll-on glass bottle it comes in, very good for travel! It has notes of gardenia and white exotic florals and is actually very different to what I normally use (which is Hermes jardin sur le nil, since I was 18 years old), so it took me awhile to get used to it. I’ll be frank – it does smell nice and floral and fresh, but nothing flat-out spectacular, apart from the fact that there’s no alcohol smell (since it’s a perfume oil) and lasts for ages without ‘spoiling’ on the skin. Then again, I’m not a perfume maven, so what do I know? :P

Laneige snow bb soothing cushion

Laneige snow bb soothing cushion SPF50 - I love my BB creams, which are basically a tinted moisturizer but touted to have healing properties and are actually good for the skin. I don’t use foundation most of the time, because I have to apply it more carefully and don’t really go to fancy places anyway. My daily staple is the BB cream. Most of the ones I’ve tried are the cream-in-a-tube type, which I find difficult to use in Singapore’s humidity, because it ‘melts’ too quickly. Laneige’s caught my interest because it’s a sponge-style, and comes in a nice portable compact. The sponge is really nice and picks up the product well to dab onto my face, though I find I need to keep picking up more product with the sponge since the formulation is pretty sheer and doesn’t transfer much to the sponge each time I press it down. The scent is subtle and coverage is sheer/light. Great for daily use. It’s definitely not oily at all, and actually lasts longer than my creamy bb creams. Win!

Another flash-sale site I’m a fan of is Foxysales, which do frequent deep-discount sales on brand name items.

I was SO excited when recently they had a big sale on Oobi baby/kids clothing! I immediately picked a super-soft and thin kaftan top for Hunter, in a navy blue (he looks best in this colour IMHO), cute mandarin collar, and long sleeves. I really like it because the material is really thin (almost see-through) and soft, so it’s fine for Singapore’s weather but also provides a bit of cover in airconditioning or cooler climates.

I also got the matching pants which are also really thin and soft and comfy. They’re slightly on the large size for him, so we’ll get a good few months of use out of it :)

Hunter modelling his Oobi outfit :P

Lil comfy boy

We also checked out Baker & Cook the other day. They rate themselves as “Singapore’s only true artisan bakery & foodstore” – quite a lofty claim! Stepping in, I’m immediately reminded of Shanghai’s Baker & Spice stores, and it’s also reminiscent of the bakeries in Australia. It also smells WONDERFUL in there :) It’s packed with both locals and expats, and seems to be the go-to place for brunch these days.

The counter is a little chaotic, with no proper queue for ordering/paying. But, I did finally get served and our food came out soon afterwards.

Chaos at the counter of Baker & Cook

My man :)

Their latte was top-notch. It was served in a teeny tiny glass for the price, which was a little sad, but did contain 2 shots of espresso and so had a fabulous kick to it.

Latte

I had the Mince and cheese pie which I didn’t take a photo of below (forgot, oops!!), and I liked that I could choose the type of salad it came with. The pie pastry itself was homemade and utterly delicious and buttery, but the mince was a little too salty for my liking.

The Blueberry bagel with cream cheese was FANTASTIC. Often, bagels in Singapore are really dense and overly chewy (in particular those awful “NYC” brand ones at Cold Storage). But this one was fluffy yet still slightly chewy, and dotted with tons of blueberries. It was lightly toasted and went beautifully with the mild cream cheese. I’d get this again next time for sure!

Blueberry bagel with cream cheese

Their croissant was perfect. Very fluffy and oh-so-buttery. It was really light and crisp on the outside, but soft and moist on the inside, and flaked apart with a light tug. It was lovely served with their homemade jam, which is in help-yourself pots on the tables.

Croissant with homemade jam

I really wanted to try the custard-filled donut because, well, just LOOK AT IT below!! How to resist??? It was very nice :) Fluffy and golden-brown, with a lovely springy bite, and creamy custard oozing out. Yum.

Custard-filled donut

The chocolate muffin also begged my attention ;) I do love my muffin tops! It had a lovely amount of chocolate through it, and wasn’t dry, which is often my fear with muffins. Not bad at all.

Chocolate muffin

We brought home some hot cross buns, since they were specially baking them for Easter. They cost around $2.50 per bun (!!) so you’d expect something awesome. I thought they were only okay, but it’s because I’m not a fan of raisins and they put tons in there! Obviously, this is what makes a good hot cross bun, so Chris really liked them.

Hot cross buns

I’m looking forward to going to Baker & Cook again. Their breads and pastries are top-notch and, though not that cheap, make for a nice brunch or snack. If you can, go there on a weekday, because weekends get pretty packed!