A simple outing to the Corner Bakery Cafe

We had driven past this cafe for the longest time since it is just round the corner from some of my favourite shops. It was a really cold day and I was wondering whether the food there is any good.. I didn't want pho and Paul didn't want Indian so we trekked over there... it was really cold and hence trekking was really, the right term.

The promise - the Chicken Pomodori Panini

I was curious about what 'panini' means so according to wiki:

In Italy, a panino (Italian pronunciation: [paˈniːno]) is customarily made from a small roll or loaf of bread, typically a ciabatta or a rosetta. The loaf is cut horizontally and filled with salami, ham, cheese, mortadella or other food, and sometimes served hot after having been pressed in a grill. A toasted panino, colloquially called "toast" by Italians, is made out of two vertical slices of pane in cassetta almost invariably filled with prosciutto and a few slices of processed cheese, grilled in a sandwich press. In Central Italy, there is a popular version of panino which is filled with porchetta, i.e. slices of roasted pork. It is traditionally served without any kind of sauce or topping.

In the United States and the UK, panini are typically grilled or toasted and invariably contain cheese.

Some maintain they are the same as 'toasties' but with a different shape.

The actual sandwich did turn out pretty decent, pictorially and really tastefully.. I liked the coffee but Paul thinks it's so-so) The coffee's from Java City which promised that each bag of coffee is handroasted and air-cooled... oh well... I will definitely head back in again to try out their coffee again... too bad my coffee machine is too strongly watted to be converted for use in the US... off for some online shopping for something decent for the tenure here!

The bread bowl was filled to the brim with yummy corn soup titled the Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder (Aw, I just found out on the site that the soup alone has already 220 calories)

All finished and done!

The kitty cat getting fully kitted out - the scarf was a lovely pressie frm Nat *thanks!*

Back into the cold! Brrrhh!

The sun was shining, there were cakes, pizzas & shakes all around!

It seem like such a long time since we last had an update! The past 2 wks have past so quickly. We had an outing to the mall with the other mummies and kiddies and of course, the boxes arrived.

Playtime with K's new friends!
19 Mar 2010

The mummies were courageous and we went out to the Caffe & Ristorante Cibus by Lombardi at Northpark Center. It was a bright and sunny day and the cafe leads out to an open courtyard and faces a really nice Louis Vuitton boutique. It was perfect venue for the children to romp in the dried leaves and comfy furniture.

 

Cadence and Athens

 

Kaylen and Lorene

 

Mummy Eileen and Cadence

 Mummy Wen Iang, Lucien and Athen

 Linda and Xavion

K lying on the comfy bench

Lucien looking at a leaf

The children all lined up on the chairs

It was a fun day out to celebrate Wen Iang's belated birthday.. tired for the lil ones.. and the mummies too! Let's do another day out soon!

Show & Tell..

Here are some of the items we bought for friends & family.. still waiting to fill up my 4-pound box of goodies so hopefully all the items will reach the respective folks by early April.. ;)

In the meantime, Kaylen's itchy-fingers nature got the better of her.. here are some pictures..

Lil Aidan's

Ezra's

Finally.. Lauren's!

New stuff for K too!

And lil K loves to play dress-up... here we go!

K goes to work with her lil purse, hat & scarf!

The orange blanket is frm G8t Expectations which we used when we carried her home from Gleneagles'.. and now it has a new function as her long & luscious hair.. her barettes are her earrings (don't think it can be seen clearly here) and the scarf.. is just the scarf..

The spot

Perched upon her highness' throne, singing along to wonderpets cartoon or the Backyardigans, two of her favoritest cartoons on nick jr....presiding over her sous chef (me), eating her multiple yoghurt/fruit snack times throughout the day...or just to draw...

Her highness' throne

She gives the thumbs up sign and states a perceptible-sounding 'good' when the sous chef does her meals to her liking!

p.s: Just a disclaimer that while I'd noticed that there are and will be quite alot of pictures of K taken when she is snacking or eating, do rest assured that it is only because it is the easiest time to snap pictures of her.. ;)

We found the playground!

Update: we just found the name to the playground...

After searching on google earth, on our estate's website and even trips to talk to the airheads at the management office.. we found the playground located just a few streets away from our residence a few walks later..

Located near a beautiful sculpture of a mummy and her child , the playground is suitable for children aged 2 and above.. I was wondering since I am afterall of a 14-yr American stature, perhaps I could have a turn on the slides too?

Mummy & child

Having loads of fun

Enjoying a mid-morning snack after her strenuous activity on the slides..

Our walks..

Our morning walks to the letter box to collect letters, with mid-morning snacks amidst the fabulous views!

All snuggled up with her boots kicked off

Halfway house

A respite from the hot sun

Splendid view of the lake

Walking along the lake

Can you see the tortoise peeking out?

These morning walks are such great fun.. I love the weather now... with the hot sun on our faces and a chilling breeze while in the shade..

Ooh... we got a new stroller!

Here's an updated pic of K in her new stroller!

The airlines totally killed our Peg Perego Pliko P3 stroller travelling here from Singapore... all our luggages arrived prompty even with the 2 missed connections but the stroller got lost in transit. We got it the next day nicely delivered to us in a plastic bag and I thought, wow, great customer service (since it was also raining when they delivered it)!

2 days later, we opened it while we wanted to do a spot of mall shopping BUT shock shock horror horror, the entire wheel had broken off, our handles were badly scratched and the cup holder was gone.. Wish I'd taken some pics but nevermind.. a call to United was made and the horrible customer service (Domestic) offered me a USD$100 travel voucher! No way!

So I made another call to another customer service hotline (International) and this time, I got someone really nice who advised me to head down to the airport's UA office to get the damage assessed. I needed to collect my delayed baggage report anyway so we went down the same day.

So while our poor stroller is now being repaired (afterall it was bought with a lota love by some special folks), we couldn't survive another day of shopping proper without a stroller so we looked for a lightweight umbrella stroller that will be great for travelling or just to keep in the 2nd car.
 It was a close fight between Mclaren Volo & Chicco's at our first visit to the baby mart but Mclaren went out quickly with that fingertip amputation situation which I'm sure K's inquisitive nature will put her right in the path for us to claim against her insurance.
 
And then there was the Zapp.. that really zapped us all away. not just with the styling but also with the pricing. We used to think it was impractical as it couldn't recline and wasn't sufficiently padded when we were searching for a stroller for our newborn. But now that K is a plus-sized, chubby-chubbs 2-yr todd, the padding didn't matter so long as the ride is secure and comfortable. Didnt help that it was really expensive when we saw it at the Babyhypermart in Singapore but since this is easily half-priced (SGD475 @ Hypermart vs USD159.90 or SGD224) at our nearby babymart and with a 53% discount, it was a no-brainer!

Here's the lowdown:

Chicco Capri

- For use up to 37 lbs ML: It technically would not be able to hold K's weight but she seemed to enjoy it

- Lightweight, aluminum frame – only 11 lbs/ 5 kg

Mclaren Volo

- For use up to 55 lbs/ 25 kg

- Frame weighs 8.8 lbs/ 4kg ML: lightest of 'em all

- Foam insulated handles ML:This seemed susceptible to melt easily in the heat and oh, it's not that long ago that we had the million-stroller defect recall

Quinny Zapp
- Ages 6 months to 4 years

- For use up to 44 lbs/ 20 kg

- The Quinny Zapp weighs 13 lbs/ 6 kg
- One of the smallest folds ML:This won hands down as K test-sat in all the strollers and kept coming back to this one!

Don't let the 20-kg limit on the Zapp fool you
While it seems that it wouldn't be very long before K reaches 20kg, however based on the growth chart percentile for 2-20 yo girls, if K remains at the 80% weight-to-age percentile (yes, still all chubbs), she can use the same stroller until she reaches 5 years old. Pretty good mileage if you ask me.. kids either reach the weight or height requirements permitted to sit comfortably in strollers. I also don't think a 6-yr should be still sitting in strollers ;p

Last post for the day

Finally.. the last post for the day... will end off today with some pics I took this morning when we took a lil walk around our estate..

Walking down the pathway outside our house

K played with a fallen leave and picked one up to keep for Daddy

It was cold but K warmed up by running around

Saw the seagulls and ran towards them

Finally sitting down at a park bench to finish her breakfast snack

And once she's down with the snack, she ran towards the rising sun and shrieked with joy when she sighted the ducks

Mummy Mandarin duckie...her ducklings were too far away to photograph clearly.

I think this one came very near to us for some breakfast snack

Running back home again...

A random shot just coz I like the patterns on the pathway

SIGNS ARD OUR ESTATE

In the lake

Pet Poopy Bag Stands

The moring air was crisp and fresh.. we met a few of our neighbours who were walking their dogs and getting some exercise. I'm hoping to explore other parts of the estate tomorrow!