Dinner at Binomio - Spanish Restaurante

Last Tuesday, we went to Binomio, a spanish tapas restaurant for dinner. It's been a while since we brought #1 for "ang moh style" food. It has always been Chinese food because a. convenient, b. crowd pleaser, c. nearby. So it was a real treat for her and the mummy (me!). However, we had a moment with her where we had to explain what/who is Spanish.. Okay, it was a little tricky but hey, Handy Manny 'yo!

We started off with a refreshing cold tomato soup.. I think it was a real experience for #1, since it was her first cold soup!

Salmorejo Cordobes

Then, it was followed by some cold cuts which was a hit with #1. She loves salty, preserved food! They had a really good light tomato puree and toasted bread served along side.

Embutidos ibericos

One of the nicest tapas that they had was the croquettes! It was stuffed with ham, chicken and boiled egg in a light bechamel sauce.. The initial impression was.. is this a cheese sauce? but it taste so light! The hostess came and clarify it was bechamel sauce. Definitely a hit with us.

Croquetas de la casa (sorry for the blur photo)

Then, came the thinly sliced squid! This is definitely my favourite.. I love squid.. deep fried calamari, sambal sotong.. etc etc. We jokingly called it fried kuay teow coz it was so nicely sliced like hand cut noodles.

One of my least favourite dish was the roasted white asparagus with tomatoes, green spinach garlic sauce (if I remember correctly). I do not like the bitter tinged that came with the white asparagus and it was rather fibrous. I usually am a fan of asparagus so.. this was a no go for me. The redeeming quality of this dish was the tomatoes... It was perfectly done!

Then, came the meat dishes.. It was roast beef and a char-grilled Iberian pork. The pork was good but the beef was better! Juicy and tender!

Secreto Iberico

All in all, it was quite a good experience. The service was impeccable, even though their service staff's English was heavily accented, but I'm glad they made my #1 felt comfortable in such a formal setting.

Binomio is located at Craig Place #01-02, 20 Craig Road, Singapore 089692. Please note that they only open for limited hours on Saturday and they are closed on Sunday.

Would we head back there? Definitely. Perhaps to try the Spanish cocktails, paella and more tapas.

Despedida! Till the next post. =P

It's 2013!

Finally, I've got the time to sit down and reflect on the recent events..!

Tiger

I decided I've come to a point that I can't deal with my son's allergies anymore.. Neither did I have a time to give Tiger the love and care that I once given him. Mind you, when I gotten him, I only had one child.. Then, soon after I had my number 2.. which number 3 followed on. *sigh* My priorities will always be the children. When number 3 showed signs that he is highly sensitive to a lot of things.. I knew we have to give him away. And so we did.. To a lovely family with a special girl who loves cats.

First day of school for Diana

Diana has just started primary school this year. It is a big milestone for her and us. I must say, we are still trying to adapt. She still can't pack her own bag, more interested in dreaming and still thinks that the world will wait for her. Despite the fact that we stay so near the school, most of the time we have to chase her out so that she gets there on time. On the other hand, she is doing great, she made new friends and is eager to go to school everyday. She comes home really tired, and heads to bed early. So we're still trying hard to get her adjusted to a full day of school and activities. I must say we are still struggling with her. She is the quietest among our 3 children, we try to get her to talk to us, it's an uphill challenge! *Sigh* Hopefully, when she is adjusted, she will feel more comfortable.

First day of school for Isabelle

Isabelle has just started Pre-Nursery/Nursery 1. However, it didn't went so well. So far, out of the many school days, she only managed to attend 3-4 days. She is down with a bad chesty cough (again). So off we pack her to Dr Heng (the ENT specialist we see), he explained that she is still trying to build immunity against the viruses. *sigh* There is nothing much we can do except to stop the symptoms as it comes on. Recently, her temper tantrums are bad, especially when she gets wind that we will be sending her to school. She isn't happy about going to school AT ALL. There is always a bunch of crying kids in her class, she gets really upset and starts to cry too. The good news is we managed to get a spot at St Hilda's instead, and she will be starting in March. My hubs and I strongly believe in St Hilda Kindy's system and discipline, so we are really glad that she will be starting in March instead of January 2014.

Resolutions for 2013
1. Be a better/sane/patient/*insert whatever adjective that you could think of* mother to my kids.  
- I must say I am still struggling on this.. especially with 3 monsters!
2. Start a "sane" home learning routine for the older two.
- I need to be consistent for Didi's routine and really start on Belle's home learning!
3. Try to breastfeed Nic longer than the goal in my head.  
- I was planning to breastfeed him for minimally 6 months, and since he is already hitting 6 months, the feeling to give up is soooooooooo strong!! I need to keep on going!!
4. Start cooking (again) on a regular basis and experiment with 1 new dish each week. - My family needs to eat right; 'nuff said!
5. Be a happy wife. - A happy wife = A happy husband right? *winks winks*

Spider Spider... Spin your web.

It's been a long time since I did a post.. I missed out a lot of important stuff, such as... My eldest girl's birthday. Didi turns 6 this year and is growing up fast.. *sigh* A little too fast in my honest opinion. She will be off to primary school next year.

One of her biggest presents from her grandparents was a Xbox 360 with the Kinect system. It was a great deal of fun for her and her friends. They look darn adorable dancing together. =P

We brought her on a special 1 on 1 trip (as 1 on 1 as we can get with her..) to USS. It was real fun for all of us. We had to bring Nic Boy along.. so he generally suffered the most (in the heat and stroller). The nursing facility at USS was great.. So it was really breastfeeding friendly. The only downside there's only ONE nursing facility in the entire park, be prepared to walk a big round if your baby is hungry!

I also missed out talking about Didi's P1 orientation..

My frantic preparation for her school supplies...

And not forgetting Belle's orientation and school supplies..

I'm going to stop here. I know it feels pretty "empty" but that's all folks! Till my next important random post... =D

Word Search Puzzles

When I was a kid, I like doing word search puzzles and thought it will be a good learning method for my #1. I was surfing for some art ideas and chance upon this site that allows you to create/generate your own word search puzzles.

#1 has been learning about adjectives, prepositions etc in her English prep class. However, she is still a little (this is a major understatement) *lost* on the idea of adjectives. We struggled while going through her work. So I decided this is an easy and quick way to "expose" her to more adjectives and hopefully this will help her write better compositions.

*makes a face*
ps. I am pretty sure this is also a good way to occupy time during the upcoming school holidays! Heehee~