Caelyn's New Awesome (Umbrella) Stroller - the Kooper Joovy

I've actually never heard of this brand before and there seems to be more choices for strollers here. We've been using the Maclaren Volo for a while now because it's so light and easy to tote around, especially for travelling. And in Singapore she didn't really want to sit in her stroller that much, hardly even wanting to sleep in it. When we bought the Maclaren Volo, we did it with travelling in mind because it was so light, weighing in at under 4kg. Anyway, while we've been here, she's gotten into the habit of sleeping in her stroller and the poor girl's head keeps on drooping when she sleeps because the Volo doesn't recline.

So we purchased this little beauty called the Kooper Joovy. It folds up quite compact and weighs in at only around 8kg. The seat reclines to an almost horizontal sleeping position, the sunshade pulls down quite low, there's 2 mesh drink holder pockets in the back of the sun shade cover, a zip pocket and a sturdy basket underneath. In addition there are also mesh pockets on either sides of the seat so you can store toys, snack, drinks, dummies whatever.

It is by far the best stroller I've ever had!


POSTNOTE: This stroller was actually pretty bad after using it for a while. So we sold it on ebay. I really wouldn't recommend this to any parent. There are better strollers in the same price range if not cheaper.

Caelyn's all better now

Caelyn's back to her normal self again since yesterday. After seeing two Drs, we're just putting this down as another mystery non-serious virus. Would've been nice to find out what happened to her, but I guess we'll never know. Thanks for everyone's concern!

Caelyn's first visit to a Dr in Australia

It was unfortunate that Caelyn got sick on our holiday. She developed a high fever overnight and I woke at 5am this morning somewhat panicking when I felt how hot Caelyn was. Gave her some Panadol then went back to sleep, but the fever still hadn't subsided. I was concerned she might've had a sinus infection like before since yesterday under her eyes were a bit puffy and slightly flushed/pink. So I had my suspicions. So this morning I decided to bring her to the Dr. It was unfortunate that my preferred childhood Dr was fully booked till Friday so we had to see another Dr we didn't know. Seriously, how can anyone wait to see a Dr if they're sick and in need of immediate medical attention. I now realise how spoilt I am in Singapore where going to the Dr means just going to the Clinic and taking a number and waiting till your number is called up. You are almost never turned away unless you came at closing time and there's still a lot of ppl waiting to be treated. For the first time ever, I actually missed Caelyn's PD. Caelyn disliked the Dr so much, said she was scared of him and asked me to bring her outside. She was crying uncontrollably.....now I worry she's traumatised about going to the Dr. She used to be very excited about going to the Dr - think she thought today we were going to see her lovely Dr Ellen Tay at Hougang Mall :(

We wanted to see Malcolm's Dr, but alas his Dr wasn't taking in any new patients! Wat tha??? I've never heard of such a thing in Singapore.

I've now realised how Singaporeanised I am. It's taken me A LOT longer to get used to being back here. It had always been my dream to come back and live here with my family, but you know ....... I am now seriously reconsidering. Maybe I'll talk more about that after my trip ends.

California Pizza Kitchen @ Forum The Shopping Mall Orchard

If you're a big pizza lover like me, I suggest you try the pizzas at California Pizza Kitchen. I had only ever tried pizza from here once before in Indonesia, a long time ago, and I didn't remember what it was like back then. But I was so glad we tried it here because I tell ya, the thin crust pizza we ordered was to die for. The pizza was baked in a wood fired oven, hence it had that charred aroma to it and th ecrust was sooo crispy. I can't remember what cheese they used but it totally made the pizza. All through chomping down the pizza I kept saying to Edmund "oh this is so good" over and over again...hehehe. I think I had a foodgasmic experience =)

Service wasn't spectacular, really, would it hurt the waitress to smile a little bit??? And be prepared to wait for your food especially on a busy weekend. On the upside the kids get given some crayons and could doodle on the kids' menu which doubled as activity leaflet. Kids menu looked pretty good too, for $12 something they could choose a pizza/pasta and sundae. I spotted some of the kiddie sundaes floating around and it looked good and big enough even for the grown-ups to 'sample' =) Pricewise for the pizza, well u know it's not gonna cost you the same as pizzas in oz, but it's priced the same as Pizza Hut here. I think between $17-$22 (don't forget the plus plus). They also had an assortment of salads which you could order as a Whole or Half serving. I ordered a Strawberry Lemonade which was very nice, and as the general rule of thumb goes in most restaurants, profit is earned through drinks if you catch my drift. Anyway since price wise it's similar to Pizza Hut, I would rahter have California Pizza Kitchen any day - just too bad they're not as nearby as Pizza Hut.

(Click for bigger picture)

Strawberry Lemonade

Thin Crust Pizza

Half Eaten Caesar Salad. I had forgotten to take a pic before we started.

Tian Tian Huo Guo (opp Bugis) - Happy Pay Steamboat and Chef

The English name of this shop is weird - Happy Pay Steamboat and Chef?? I don't know the exact address of this place, but it's at the far end of Liang Seah Street moving away from Bugis Junction. I guess since the Marina South area closed down, everyone has now come to this place for there steamboat gathering. Along this stretch of read there seems to be an abundance of steamboat restaurants and most of them are outdoor seating with a very small amount of tables available for indoor seating. I don't quite understand why Singaporeans love steamboats so much especially because the weather is so hot and you end up bathed in sweat as you sit outside cooking your food in the steamboat. I must admit tho, I do like the cooking your own food bit, just like those table barbecues, but my preference would be to do it in an aircon restaurant. But since space is rather scarce in Singapore I can understand why most of the steamboat tables at these restaurants have spilled over onto the sidewalks.

I know can't see very well, but this pic is of another steamboat restaurant opposite ours. Looks nicer and bigger.

I had wanted to try this place for a long time and was happy when a friend suggested we have our gathering there. I think here you can choose to have table bbq and steamboat or just steamboat. Table bbq and steamboat combo is inside, whilst just steamboat tables are outside. The food for the bbq looked good tho, too bad we didn't get to try. I'm not sure if it's the same price if you do the bbq+steamboat combo.

Our group had chosen just steamboat, since there was 7 of us we had 2 separate steamboats, each pot containing two different type of soups. We had tom yam, herbal chicken and mala. The soups were all very good and tasted very rich after cooking all the stuff in them. But of course I'm pretty sure the soup was very MSG laden because we were really really thirsty during and after dinner. Suppose it doesn't help that the various fish and meatballs available for cooking also contain MSG, so basically you're getting a double dose of MSG for dinner.

The ingredients to put inside the steamboats were quite fresh, namely the clams, prawns, crab were very fresh - no fishiness. The chunks of fish were frozen type, but still tasted good. The thinly shave meats were also good, not very very tender, but good enough if you have teeth :p There were also several types of sauces available, as well as minced garlic, spring onions, pickled green chillies, etc.

Apart frm the soup being MSG laden, I have a few other gripes about the place. First, they were a little slow to refill the ingredients that had run out. The prawns and crabs were pretty much empty most of the time as people rushed to get them as soon as they came out and piled them mountain high on their plates. The meats were also half empty most of the time too, made me wonder if they were unprepared in the kitchen or was left like that on purpose so that you'd just fill up on the fish/meatballs, veges and noodles. Secondly I was surprised that even room temperature water (most likely tap water) was charged at $1 a cup! That's ridiculous even if you do get a free jug of lime juice for the table (not sure if this applies to min. number of diners at the table). Thirdly, empty plates were hardly cleared for you, hubby even had to take them away himself so we could have more room.

I was a little disappointed at the place as I had high hopes for it from the ads u see on tv, but I guess it goes to show not to trust tv ads. I wouldn't mind trying the other ones down the street tho, heard that they had free refills for drinks...hahaha. Miss the ones at Marina South, at least those were cheap (around $13) and filling and they also had cooked food like fried noodles, fried rice and sometimes chilli crab and satay. For $18+ here, it wasn't really worth it. (note: it's $14+ if u pay before 5pm and think weekdays are probably cheaper too).

(right)Liang Seah Street looking towards Bugis Junction