A Quick Saturday Night Dinner Date

Here are some pictures from this Saturday when Michael and I went to Etsu Sushi for dinner, followed by dessert (for me) at Auntie Sweet.  We got a plate of sashimi, a plate of sushi, a jug of hot sake, some a la carte pieces of sushi (fatty tuna and salmon), and tuna and spring onion and cucumber rolls, and gobbled it all down.  It may have been the fastest dinner on record - we showed up at 8 pm and were done by 8:45! 

 I snapped the picture after Michael already ate the choice piece, the fatty tuna. 

 

We weren't that impressed by Etsu Sushi though - I thought the scallop wasn't very fresh, and they repeated all of the same cuts of fish between their sashimi and sushi platter.  They also charged a ton for their a la carte sushi (perhaps our fault for not checking) and the restaurant was cold and empty.  We were really surprised by the bill when it showed up!  

As for dessert, I've been wanting to try Auntie Sweet for years and when I saw it was right next door I couldn't resit.  I opted for their chilled durian tofu custard (admittedly, durian is a very stinky fruit, and it is an acquired taste)!

 Michael was horrified and barely able to contain his sentiments.  He was also the only non-Asian person in the entire restaurant.

 

With my more keen and diverse (read: superior) taste buds, I was more than happy to dig in.

 Yum!

Family and Work Update

It's time for an update on what we've been up to!  Lola is doing great.  She is just a few days shy of 6 months and she is adorable, engaging, winsome, but also independent, stubborn and goofy!

 

We went to a friend's party on Sunday where Lola got to meet other babies as well as a bunch of our friends.  At first she was a bit shy but then she warmed up quickly (it helped to be in the comfort of my or Michael's arms).

En route to party, traveling like a boss

And at the party!

She's also got two teeth coming in on the bottom, it's super exciting (for us) and super irritating (for her).



















All she wants to do nowadays is go outside, as evidenced by this picture where she has figured out how to open the door - just lacks the strength to actually pull it open (but not for long).
 


















My sister also has huge news - she just graduated from Harvard Law School, with honors(!), president of her class(!) was given an award recognizing her for her service and embodiment of all the virtues (!!), and spoke at Class Day(!!)...clearly I am beyond proud of her.   Plus, on top of all that, she got married!  It was a small, impromptu ceremony at city hall in Boston, and they will renew their vows and do a big party next year, but still.  I found myself wistfully wishing that I hadn't returned to work yet, because then maybe I could have done a (admittedly crazy) three day trip back to the U.S. to attend and celebrate. You see why I was feeling doubly sad about not being present.  Living far away is so tough when it comes to these life milestones.

A lot has also been happening here on the work front.  After the trip to Singapore, I came back and was asked (well, asked in a way that I couldn't say no) to go to Beijing to make a presentation to a client.  It was insane because I ended up speaking along with two other colleagues in one of the largest and most formal convention rooms of a huge client (pretty intimidating) at a podium with two microphones (also pretty intimidating) in front of one of the largest LCD screens in all of China (pretty daunting) in front of approximately 150 people (pretty daunting) including the chairman and board of directors of the company (really daunting) in Chinese (really freaking scary).  I am usually a pretty confident public speaker but this one was pretty challenging!  That ordeal took hours and hours of preparation and maybe a year off my life.  The trip also marked my first ever night spent without Lola - I had such a hard time leaving for the airport that day.  The only highlight of my trip was probably my return flight back, when I got to watch a movie from start to finish uninterrupted, go to the bathroom when I wanted, eat my meal while it was still hot, etc. etc. (solo business travel is amazing after traveling with kids!)

Otherwise, I've just narrowly escaped yet another work trip this week (I didn't really expect the pace of travel to pick up so quickly after my return) but am otherwise pretty busily engaged on a deal.  I attended an all day management session today that only allowed me to see Lola quickly this morning before I left and to catch her for a quick feed and a cuddle goodnight after I returned.  It's been a bit tough, but then that makes me more determined to really maximize my time with her on weekends (to the extent possible).

Impromptu Family Photo Shoot Session

While we were at the Capella in Singapore, we managed to get some pictures together while playing with Lola on the bed.  I would have liked for the pictures to be shot in landscape instead of portrait (which to me just seems like common sense) and for Lola to be wearing a much cuter outfit rather than the plain Gap romper, but given that I'm the only person in this family who is willing to take pictures, I can't really be choosy when I finally have the chance to be included in some.

I love Lola's facial expressions in all of these.  She's so mischievous and her face is so expressive!

 Are you getting the feeling she doesn't like to be kissed?

 She is always a jumble of movement and activity.

She has a lot of enthusiasm and likes to emit these high pitched squawks like a little bird.

 This one might be my favorite - she seems to be thinking, "ugh, sandwiched on both sides - get me out of here!"

 Here she really wanted her dad's watch (shiny, delicious object) and is on the verge of throwing a little fit.

A Fancy Date Night at Whitegrass

Picking up where I left off nearly a week ago, it was Michael's first time in Singapore, and we decided to make Saturday night into a date night.   I was all about going to hawker stalls (and in fact had quite a short list from my foodie friend) but the Golden Mile Food Center and the Chinatown Food Hall didn't have quite the romantic ambience that we were seeking.

 So I decided to splash out on one of Singapore's Michelin-starred restaurants.  Last minute reservations were hard to secure, but luckily the Capella pulled through for us.  Ultimately I decided on Whitegrass, serving Australian-Asian fusion cuisine that had garnered very high praise from lots of patrons on Tripadvisor and food blogs.  It was located next to the Caldwell House in the Chijmes complex.

We even dressed up.
 

It isn't impossible for us to go out on date nights, but they happen very infrequently now such that, sitting at the nice table and facing our menu choices, we opted for the 8 course (8!!!) discovery menu plus a bottle of wine.  It's probably such a new parent move - oh my gosh, it's so hard to get out, let's go crazy!

I can't even remember what we ate (every dish came with an exposition that was at least a minute long) but I dutifully captured pictures of everything.  You could tell that they had put a lot of thought into putting the many ingredients together.  I wouldn't say it was the best meal I've ever had (plus, how do you even decide that!), but it scores high marks across the board.

 

 

 

 

 

Whitegrass
30 Victoria Street
#01-26/27
Chijmes, Singapore 187996+65 6837 0402

http://whitegrass.com.sg/

A Last Minute Stay at the Capella Singapore

We went on a super last minute trip this weekend/week!  Because I had my first business trip in Singapore and the meetings fell on this Monday and Tuesday, and things weren't finalized until last Wednesday, Michael and I decided in the spur of the moment to make a family trip out of it.  Plus, if we hadn't done that, I would have had to leave for the airport alone on the evening of my first ever Mother's Day (much less spend the night without her), and I didn't think I could handled that heartbreak. 

This little one!!

Lola has now visited three countries and been on six flights.  Not too shabby!  Too bad she won't remember any of this when she's older.  But we will have lots of cute pictures of her, like this one, to show her how travel-ready she was:

On the flight, she was situated in a cushy bassinet with a little pillow in the bulkhead seat.  During landing, Lola got a special treat - screen time buckled in on my lap!  She was mesmerized by the TV.  We were watching Lady Bird, for the record.

 In retrospect, I have to say, there were times when organizing and packing for this trip that I thought we were absolutely nuts for trying to do this - and I think if I were in the middle of a deal, I wouldn't have brought everyone along.  We needed four (albeit not huge) checked in pieces of luggage, a stroller and four carry on bags and I was still certain we were forgetting something.  However, even though we barely left the resort (seriously) -  it was still really fun to hang out with Lola in a beautiful villa in such lush surroundings.

We stayed at the Capella on Sentosa, which is a popular staycation place for families in Singapore and now, having stayed there, I see why.  The grounds are very relaxing and beautiful and private, especially if you stay in one of their villas with plunge pool.  Plus they have peacocks on their grounds!  I mean, that's pretty amazing. 

 

  

There are actually three infinity pools built into the hillside, stacked on top of each other, with the beach and Singapore Strait beyond, but I couldn't be bothered to climb high up enough to get the full bird's eye shot.

 They had a nice library where snacks and drinks were served, and a business center where Michael did some work.

We didn't see the botanical gardens or zoo, or sample the hawker stalls out at the Golden Mile Food Center, or reach out to or get to see any of our friends - because we attempted an overambitious trip to the aquarium at Resort World and it was a bit of a disaster so we decided to take things more slowly after that.  We have to remind ourselves that Lola, for all that she is such a champion traveler, is still a really young baby who can't handle too much stimulation or a killer pace.

The villa was pretty much the size of our apartment in Hong Kong, so if you ignore the absurdity of that for a second, you can see why we really enjoyed it.  The staff are very attentive and kind, and the personal assistants there do everything they can.  They provided us with a beautiful brand new Stokke crib for Lola, a Tommee Tippee bottle sterilizer, a baby bathtub and, the best part, a little tent for her to play in!  In addition to an adult in room dining menu, the resort also prepares fresh baby food purees, so on the last day when we ran out of our own prepared food, Lola got to enjoy her first room service experience (pumpkin, just fyi).

The tent that won me over - the peacocks were such an adorable touch! 

The highlight of the trip was having our own little personal plunge pool, which allowed us to more easily acclimate Lola to the water.  By the end, she was pretty comfortable being in the water all the way up to her chest and she was splashing the water with her hand and letting the water run through her fingers.  Progress!

Michael and I did manage to get out for one date night, and we opted to spend it sampling a decadent 8-course dinner at Whitegrass.  I'll detail the food in the next post, since I diligently snapped pictures of every dish...