After I left you on Saturday afternoon, I went to check on my pumpkin mac N cheese. Then it was time to get ready for dinner at my bro’s. Before we left, we took some photos with our cat.

My 3rd shot with Mikey — was hard to get a nice picture with him because he wouldn’t remain still

Time to grab all the presents and leave the house

The only person who was being missed due to being thousands of miles away was mum :(

Time to eat … but first, we had to get the ham and turkey ready

We had ham, turkey, pumpkin mac N cheese (prepared by me and the dish was way too dry), salmon, greens, bread, mashed potatoes

Once everything was ready, we dug in

After dinner, we cleared the table and let our food digest a little bit before popping the sparkling wine, appletisers and cutting the log cakes

The insides

Then we exchanged gifts

The husb and I couldn’t wait till Christmas morning  to open our gifts.  “Opening them tonight or tomorrow doesn’t make much difference” — so we opened our gifts upon reaching home :)

***

Christmas Day

We woke up at around 10 am and I had no plans to workout on Christmas Day. We checked  into Changi Village Hotel later that day with sis’ family and dad.

Our hotel room. I thought the bed was a little too low

Bathroom area

Dining Area

The rooftop with a small swimming pool at the far end — It was super breezy up there!

View from the rooftop.

The other (main) swimming pool

The next morning, I hit the hotel gym for a 7 km run

Then it was breakfast time …

Plate #1 … Scrambled egg, omelette, meat ball, crispy prawn ball, sauteed mushrooms, dory fish

Plate #2 was filled with just greens, plate #3 with dim sum and plate #4 with nasi lemak rice and chilli (which was niiiice)…I didn’t get any fruit plate  because I was already stuffed by then.

***

Pulao Ubin

After breakfast, we hopped onto a bumboat ($2.50 per head one-way trip) from Changi Point Ferry Terminal (which was just across the hotel) and headed to a small island called Pulao Ubin, the last “kampung” (village) in Singapore.. It was my first time visiting the island.

The boat ride was definitely bumpy

You can bring your own bicycle to the island

We reached Pulao Ubin after about 10 minutes by boat

The area near the jetty is the most crowded. Bicycle rental shops are everywhere

We didn’t rent any bicycles, instead we walked. We didn’t really have any plans in mind but we were hoping to come across a farm or something. Alas, farms do not exist anymore on Ubin Island (said a passer by).

This blue house (above) belongs to the late village head of Pulau Ubin, who lived to a ripe old age of 102 years. His son and family now live in this house. You can buy cold drinks here and view the many interesting old black and white photographs that hang on the outer wall of the house – source

As you can see, many are interested in this house’s architecture

After a few minutes of walking, we headed back to boat area. Fresh coconut water was what we needed.

Afterwards, we took the bumboat back … And that was  our Christmas Day ….

Today was cardio day (I’ve been doing cardio on alternate days). By 7 am I was out and jogging despite the drizzle. It was a slow-paced 8 km run with many walking breaks in between. Weather was nice and cooling.

Breakfast has been more or less similar to the above (sans the scones) on most days — 2 eggs + a slice of cheese — which takes less than 5 minutes to prepare. Sometimes I will add in a protein smoothie.

It’s been raining the whole day today. I stepped into a puddle of water on my way to work, thinking that it was a shallow one, and my shoes and socks got wet — yike. Luckily it wasn’t muddy water!

On the way to work

Last Thursday I did some Christmas Shopping. I spent 3 hours at a neighborhood shopping mall but only managed to get 1 present — I can never make up my mind when it comes to choosing a gift for someone else.

I went to the city a.k.a Orchard Road the next day for more Christmas shopping

I managed to get all Christmas presents there and I’m glad I’m done with this shopping thing! I’m not a fan of shopping much less being in crowded places (especially on rainy days).

Our Christmas tree is looking less ‘naked’ now that the gifts are there … *taken with my android — video quality isn’t so good*… hmmm I should have played some Christmas music ..

By the way, before mum left Singapore, we went to Orchard Road to see the Christmas lights

Claire was  happy to see snowman

Acrobatic street performers (two very young kids) along Orchard Road

Going to prep dinner now

Last Sunday, we gathered for a last group dinner before mum’s departure (this weekend).

Mum made gato piment – Yummm

As well as a delicious kalia

I made Jamie Oliver’s Eggplant Parmigiana, which was a hit too

Sis made an oreo cheesecake which was yummy! Couldn’t tell that she used low fat Philadelphia cheese

Before they left, we took a family photo in front of the Christmas tree

Today in the agenda: High Tea Buffet with the parents and sis

Last last weekend, we stayed at Sentosa with the family. Mum is flying back this weekend and it was good to go somewhere with the whole fam. Can’t believe her 3 months stay in Singapore is coming to and end! *sad*

View from our balcony at Rasa Sentosa

With mum and Claire, before heading out

Self portraits

The bedroom — lovethesoftbedsheet (!!) ..

Bathtub on one side and a shower area at the other side

With the husb

More view from the balcony

Mum

Dinner was at 8Noodle

I had a chicken Ipoh noodle soup

We felt a little hungry later at night, so we ordered in a club sandwich

Mum and I headed to the 24hrs hotel gym for some pre-breakfast workout the next day

She did 15 min of treadmill, 15 min of bicycle and 15 min of elliptical

I did 20 minutes on the treadmill and then hit the weight corner for some basic weight exercises

The breakfast buffet spread at Rasa Sentosa was pretty good.

Part of Breakfast – omelette, smoked salmon, yoghurt, french toast with peanut butter, cherry tomatoes and sunflower seeds

I also made a sandwich. Got this sandwich idea from bro.

We visited Sentosa’s Underwater World

Goofing around

Unicorn Fish

The Dolphin show which was cut short due to the heavy downpour!

So, that pretty much sums up our little Sentosa Getaway!

Saturday, we (me, husb, mum and dad) headed to HayDairies, a local goat farm. I’ve been wanting to visit this goat farm for months. Not that I have never seen goat in my life because I always see goat in Mauritius especially at Mt Signal. But I was curious about the farm and goat milk. I like farms. I have always secretly wanted to live in a farm (like those you see in movies) hehe.

It’s a small goat farm — They raise about 1000 goats

Cute mama

Goat milk (which is pasteurized) is available for purchase directly from the farm (they also do home deliveries) and we bought 5 x 200ml bottles for $10. I took 3 plain and 2 chocolate flavoured goat milk. I can’t remember ever drinking got milk before (I’ve eaten goat cheese but hated it). However, the milk tasted normal to me.

After the goat farm visit, we headed to Bollywood Veggies, since it was in the same area. We didn’t go deep inside because it was too hot (noon sun). Instead, mum just bought some seeds to bring back and grow in Mauritius. She is heading back home in December :( Can’t believe her  3 months are coming to an end!

Cart – selling organic stuffs

I saw several of these types of cars during the drive

The next place that we visited was Kranji War Memorial

It’s a beautiful and well-kept place

Cemetery and Memorial Register

We signed the visitor book

After the short trip to the “kampong” area (la campagne) of Singapore, we headed back home. But before that, we stopped at The Bottle Tree for Lunch. I’ve been there once and loved their Tom Yum Soup.

Only $5 for a big bowl. We also ordered Thai Pineapple Rice (only $5 for a big plate) and a “Kangkong” dish

They were bbq-ing satay but we didn’t order any

Me and our “driver” :D

As soon as we reached home, I crashed into bed! Kept yawning the whole day — I badly needed to nap. After a 2 hour nap, I felt so refreshed. I then proceeded to set up our Christmas tree! It’s up very early this year (unlike last year, when I set it up only 6 days before Christmas!)

Enjoy your weekend!

Everyday Mikey will ‘meow’  for food and I like to tease him by just feeding him with one  pellet at a time. See video.

I leave you with some random pics taken with my new Android phone — Samsung Galaxy S2 (which I’m loving). Downloaded a camera app this afternoon and tested some of the photo effects.

– At home watching TV –

– Bee Hoon –

– Mum reading recipe books –

– Lunch which consisted of bee hoon (same as above pic) and topped with a microwaved egg –

Off to sleep now. Goodnight!

Sunday (today), I was at my brother’s place. It rained the whoooole afternoon.

Spent some time in front of the TV

Guess what I found today …

Our family dictionary! Holds a lot of memory. We have used it A LOT when we were younger. Dad had it since 1972.

Dinner was prepared by mum

Cashew Chicken

Niuk Yan

Veggies

Off to watch the daily SEA Games Highlights.

Yesterday we brought mum & dad to JB (Malaysia).  We drove till the immigration point, then took the bus to cross over to the other side. A friend of ours recently lost his new car in JB, so we didn’t dare drive there, especially without a wheel lock.

Lunch was at one coffee shop in Taman Sentosa. The husb and I have eaten there before and I love their curry fish head

We were seriously stuffed after lunch, hence needed some form of exercise aka window shopping. We headed to a shopping mall. As we were shopping, we came across this crepe stall.

Mum wanted to try it. We bought the chocolate-peanut pancake

So we spent the rest of the afternoon  on our feet, shopping. We came back with bags full of tidbits! And sore legs. After the trip, we headed to my brother’s place for dinner, which I will blog about another time.

This was the happy me this morning before getting some bad news and breaking in tears … Life is full of obstacles.

I haven’t bothered with the internet much in the last week . What have I been doing? Spending time with the family after I get back from work and watching Chinese drama at night. Mum started to watch the 2100hrs local drama and I started to follow too!

Food always tastes better when someone else (mum) makes them

Even the cat thinks so

Check this video of Mikey if you haven’t seen it yet on my YouTube channel. Mikey was trying to get into the room. The gym ball was purposely placed there.

The other day the husb was dressed in his Team Singapore attire  as he had an opening ceremony to attend. He will be at the SEA games soon, not as an athlete but as a coach.

We are heading to Malaysia tomorrow with the fam just for the day. Goodnight!

Now onto the Scenes From the Weekend …

Breakfast on Sunday. Mum made those peanut-filled  balls

Relaxing time

Lunch on Sunday – I made laksa and it was good (because the husb went for seconds haha)

Well, I actually used a pre-made laksa paste hehe. I only had to add the coconut milk, fish cake, bean sprouts, prawns and laksa noodles

After lunch on Sunday, we headed to China Town for a short while

Then we met bro at Marina Barrage to fly kite!

Beautiful view of the MBS building (boat shape) in case you are wondering

Bro’s kite is a cute bee

We also visited the water system

Exhibition area

The night ended with a “steam boat” dinner

The bread ‘hardened’ the next day as it was kept in the fridge. so it’s best to re-heat it before eating

Dad flew to Singapore in the morning and we (mum, dad and I) straight away headed to a cancer seminar which was organised by Parkway Health and Channel News Asia. They talked about breast cancer, blood cancer and colon cancer and how an early diagnosis can lead to successful treatments of various types of cancers. Overall, it was pretty interesting and worth the $11 that we each paid. The next health seminar will be about Liver health.

About colon cancer: Limit your red meat intake to 500g per week. As a guideline, the two beef patties in a big mac are 100g (each 50g).

About breast cancer: Women 40 years and older must have a mammogram every 1-2 year. I hope you already knew that :) A woman’s chance of developing breast cancer increases if her mother, sister, and/or daughter have been diagnosed with the disease, especially if they were diagnosed before age 50. Oh, and men also DO get breast cancer but of course it’s very rare.

Food and refreshment were provided during the tea break and at the end of the seminar we each received a 1L carton of Magnolia Oat milk. I tried the milk this morning for the first time and it’s pretty tasty.

Mum also bought a recipe book there

Afterwards we headed to my bro’s place for dinner with la famille <3  So glad to have both my mum and dad with us! I have not seen them for a year — skyping doesn’t count — Gonna spend as much as with them while they are here.

Food ..  there were about 8 different dishes. Delish!  I really enjoyed the curry fish head (not pictured).

This is a lotus root dish — pretty tasty .. there’s something in the middle and I think the whole thing is deep fried.

Some other pix

Niece

Mum baked a buttermilk cake (texture of a pudding) in the morning too. The cracks look pretty don’t they ;)

For lunch, we prepared some vegetarian dishes

On the plate: Stir fried veggies, Mauritian Brinjal dish (steamed brinjal, garlic, tomatoes, chilli flakes and salt) and red cargo rice

In the late afternoon, we headed to Carrefour after mum saw a salmon promo on the newspaper

And we bought a whole salmon! The fishmonger scaled the fish and we told him to cut it into fillets. We got about 12 (averaging 140g) fillets plus the carcass. The whole fish was $27.50 weighing almost 2.4 kg

So far, I’ve already baked some salmon fillets

And made salmon pie which I froze (make-ahead meals)

We spent 2 hours at Carrefour that day! The husb was patiently waiting for us :P

Lunch on Sunday

Sis bought these pizzas from IKEA

Have a great week ahead!!

I used fresh coconut milk, cocoa powder, vanilla essence and some water

Date night ala Teppanyaki style on Tuesday

Followed by “Mango Snow Ice” dessert.  We’ve never had snow ice before, so it was a new-to-us ice texture.  We kind of prefer the normal shaved ice.

And nothing beats the Mango Pomelo Sago dessert

I’ve been seeing this pretty niece of mine quite often

Dinner at sis’ place tonight. XOXO.

Popped some popcorn (drizzled some olive oil and nutritional yeast over)

And everybody watched as it popped

Prepared make-ahead meals (chicken meatballs in homemade  sauce) for the week

Snacked on these delicious (and sinful) Taiwan Pineapple Tarts — somebody hide them from me!  The husb received a few boxes.

Caught the husb doing this

Lunched at Harbourfront with mum and sis

Made protein oat bars

Was at Vivo City

Oh and I also slept a lot!

What have you done this past weekend … ?

Three weeks is a short period of time, yet so many things have happened in that short span of time. September 10th  (two days after my birthday) will probably be the day that changed my life. It was a normal day, until we received a text message. It’s mum. The doctor in Mauritius found a big tumor in one of her kidneys (Note: if you see blood in your urine, see a doctor immediately. Thank God she did that). I was scared. I didn’t know what to do.  I just knew if I lost my mom, I would be devastated.  I started to google. I read so many things regarding kidney  cancer and many of the things that I came across were scary. I prayed more than I ever did in my life. I teared up every time I thought about it. But I had to remain strong.

A week later, mum flew to Singapore to seek a second opinion, plus we really wanted her to be  by our side …

September 19th, we spent the whole day at Mount Elizabeth hospital. We saw two urologists (Dr Toh Khai Lee and Dr James Tan) that day. Mum did CT scan … blood test … urine test …

The scan revealed no spread to the lungs, liver, lymph nodes and renal vein — which was awesome  to hear (!!!) — However, whether the tumor had grown outside the kidney capsule  could not be determined. At least not until after the kidney is removed.

September 21st, mum had a left nephrectomy (see a YouTube video) via laparoscopy (key hole surgery). I had the chance to see her kidney (which is like the size of a big chicken breast) before it was sent to the pathologist.

She was in the operating theater for a total of 5 hours but the surgery definitely lasted less than that.

The surgery went well. We took turn to keep her company — there was never a time when she was left alone.

She was recovering pretty well too. This photo was taken the day after surgery. She remained positive the whole time.

Three days after surgery, she was discharged

Four days post surgery — at my sis place for dinner

Steamed Fish (left) and Daube de Poulet (right)

Yesterday, almost exactly a week after the surgery, we went back to the doctor’s clinic. The biopsy pathology report came back. Thank God the report is more positive than negative. Although the tumor was bigger than what was initially predicted, it was confined within the  kidney capsule (what we wanted to hear). That said, the thought of her cancer recurrence will always be in the back on my mind …

The power of prayer is an amazing thing. At this point our prayers have been answered by our heavenly father. Every day through this experience, God has led us down the right path. He has led us to a good doctor too.