Rain Poncho

Finally found the one I love. 

Rain poncho.

I like Singapore but this country has nothing I like. I still use Japanese shops for clothing etc. and amazon.com and iherb.com for other stuff A LOT. I mean a lot. 

Love this Japan made poncho!!! So cute so light, wasn't cheap lol

No one has this in this country ;) 

Should I start selling them here?

Wow

Me and friend Kazu in Bali, 2003

I'm still wearing this clothes......my summer style hasn't changed for 11years?! Omg..

Just saying :) 

Meant to be together :)

Yulia and her family arrived Singapore and came to visit us for dinner. 

I met Yulia at the playgroup in London in 2010. 

We continued our friendship through the emails and Xmas cards every year till 2013, I told her that we are moving to Singapore from USA. 

Guess what she said. 

She replied me "omg me too!!!"

So they came ;) 

Couldn't believe we got together again in this Singapore!!! Who knew?!

They are still good together. 

And me and Yulia, we are still great together. I learn a lot from her. 

We are so happy to have you back again!

Back in 2010 :) I was pregnant with Connor :) 

Father's Day in Singapore

June 15, 2014

Every year I shoot the kids picture to make a card for him.

We miss our zeuky boy ;( 

We visited dad's office for the first time. 

What a great way to spend the Father's Day! They won't forget :)

Off to the beach restaurant 

Happy Father's Day daddy

Daddy with lamb chop :) 

 And lunch beer

Thanks daddy for this wonderful life!!!

We love you!

Bento lunchbox

Bento lunch at the poolside 

They just eat good if it's in the bento box. 

See?

Connor the princess 

Free.

One of our mall's rooftop water playground. Free to play. 

Library to read. Free to read. 

Night Swimming in our condo. Free to swim :)

I think I like Singapore pretty much :) 

Yoga

Doing yoga 

Better than watching just tv (hope!)

Day and night

We are in the first floor

So the kids friends just come and ask to play. Nice that many children remembered Ashtas name now and say hi to her as well.

Also we are in front of the playground 

So kids go play by themselves anytime. 

They play till 8pm :( 

I just sit on couch and pretend watch them from the balcony. 

About 3 months ago, they decided to sleep in the bunk by themselves. 

So I can just say goodnight and close the door. 

Do they sleep sleep straight away?

Nope. Sometimes they stay awake till midnight, taking, singing, playing :( 

Life in Singapore

Just chilling :) 

Ballet Tuesdays

Every Tuesday, Lilly has ballet lesson. 

It's in a big mall, I love the location. 

Wish she could have lesson more than 45mins so I can more relax and do more shopping. (Connor usually sleeps in stroller. Heaven!)

After school before ballet, they always have icecream at Japanese restaurant. 

Waitresses there always come and play with Lilly and Connor. Rare to see the half kids maybe? :) 

Haircut

About 3-4 months ago

Lilly had her first haircut in her life. 

Since Lilly's best friend Sophia had her haircut, Lilly was asking me for ages to get a haircut too. I wasn't sure but anyway I took her to the local hair salon. 

S$8!!! Love the price!

She is happy with the new look. 

Hmmm Dora...

4 month later, she wants to grow her hair long again because Sophia's hair is now getting long again :) 

Breakfast

I don't eat breakfast but the kids do. 

My childhood Japanese breakfast 

My kids breakfast 

I feel guilty when I feed them cereal, feel bad that I'm not doing enough for my kids. 

Lilly and Connor won't even accept rice and soup for breakfast because they are not use to it :( 

Pancakes

Oatmeal 

Toast

Sandwiches 

Waffles 

......always with yogurt, fresh fruits or veggie fruit smoothies. 

Try to serve them healthy Japanese breakfast little by little but too many things to do in the kitchen from morning!!

I don't think I can copy my mums style at all....

Bread tips

It took me a year to complete this bread recepi in US. 

Now everyone likes it, especially Lilly and Connor :) 

Chia seeds bread 

It's always a hit gift for all my friends. 

It's got 

- chia seeds

- flax seeds

- rolled oats 

- coconuts oil 

- walnuts 

- craneberries 

For me this is a kind of energy bread that I can feel safe to feed the kids everyday. 

Kids like to eat by itself when it's freshly baked, or with cream cheese on. 

Cream cheese and cranberries, our favorite combo. 

Or veggie sandwiches with soup 

Or airfryer crunchy crust as a snack 

Real crunchy 

Or airfried veggie pizza toast to start a day

Here are some tips to bake this bread. 

1. Stand by the bread machine while it's kneading. 

I usually put 280g water in this recipe(I use 'grams' for everything so you don't need to use and wash other spoons and cups. Lazy. ) but sometimes you need more than 280g water somehow. Maybe depends on the weather or how much flours, seeds etc u put in. 

So the dough should be very soft and smooth but not too sticky. If the dough sticks to the bread case while it's kneading, that means you got too much water. You'll need to add some more flour to adjust. 

So I believe you can pretty much see the result by seeing the dough condition at the beginning. So I prefer stand by the machine and watch the quality. 

2. Get prepared. 

To bake this bread, it used to take me at least 10-15mins to put all the ingredients together in the bread case. As a lazy person, it was a pretty hard work and needed some good motivation before start baking. 

Well, now I got 2 bins. 

Bin no. 1

Bread flour and whole wheat flour 

Bin no. 2 refrigerated ingredients 

All other ingredients incl coconuts oil. 

Coconut oil doesn't get solid like butter here in Singaoore. Room temperature is too hot. So I pour the coconut oil into an ice tray, put it in the fridge for a while, made coconut oil cubes and store in the same bin with other ingredients. 

So this way, I don't have to measure either :)  no washing oily spoon!

Genius!

I usually threw 1 or 2 cubes in the bread :) 

So now the preparation is so much easier like I can get it done in 5 mins. Just take out 2 bins and you have everything in your hand. What a time saver! 

3. Check before beeps. 

I like nice and soft light brown colored bread. So I start checking my bread 30mins before it beeps to finish baking. 

I usually stop the machine and takes out 10-20mins before finish. 

4. Let it cool down. 

Let the bread sit on the cake cooker at least 15-20mins before cutting. The steam will make the bread moist and soft. 

5. Store in the plastic bag. 

When the bread is still warm, put it in the plastic bag so you can get nice soft crust bread like you buy from the shop. Because I don't like the thick crunchy crust. But Scott does. So it's depends how you like it but I usually store in the plastic bag when it's still warm. 

 

Those are the tips for my bread :) 

Observe the beginning! I think that's the most important tip :) 

Thanks for asking for this Yulia!

Hope you bake the best bread you really love soon!!!

Enjoy baking!