Yang and Yu brought loads of goodies back - the ND gift from school was a 12" LCD tablet which I also like, hahaha! Yang also had a care pack for PSLE 💪💪💪 I think he finished the pack of Ribena gummies that day; I closed two eyes...
And of course ND tattoos! Yu gave me Ang Ku Kueh Girl, which is still on my left hand as I type. Yang couldn't bear to part with any *.*
After about one whole year of talking about baking class, I finally signed Yu up for one! But he said he was nervous about it coz he wasn't sure if he could do it. No worries, my baby, I'll be with you!
We were the first to arrive and assigned to right next to the chef and the hob. It was a good spot as we had first turn on everything. It was a small class of six settings. Kids below 10 could attend free - that's Yu!
We were the first to arrive and assigned to right next to the chef and the hob. It was a good spot as we had first turn on everything. It was a small class of six settings. Kids below 10 could attend free - that's Yu!
First, we folded the parchment paper to fit the moulds and wrote our names on a corner. Then, we measured out the chocolate, added the pre-measured butter, and measured and heated the cream. Yu asked me to heat and pour the cream out coz it was hot. Yes, dangerous so over to you, Mama...!
Mixing hot cream with chocolate and butter
Our mixture was lumpy so asked the chef to microwave it a bit :p Yu: Smells so good!
Pouring chocolate into his mould
The chef put all the chocolate into a blast freezer and went on to the next step: folding the gift boxes! It's like we were getting chocolate from Royce :p After folding the boxes, the chef brought out some chocolate from the morning class to share with us - so yummy!
Yu did it all by himself :)
The next step was tricky. We had to cut each moulded block into 16 bite-size pieces. Yu decided to use a glove while I thought nay, no need. Then we flipped out the block and started cutting with a bench scraper. This boy measured so nicely (divide by two a few times) and after the first cut, discovered he couldn't lift the scraper off the chocolate.
~help~
Hello, boy, use your gloved hand to press the chocolate down...
Then, I helped him invert the chocolate back into the mould and peel off the parchment. Now the chocolate pieces were sitting nicely in the mould!
Must dust with cocoa powder
After dusting, we used the bench scraper to gently cut through the dust to show the pieces clearly. Then we wiped the perimeter of the mould, covered it with a clear cover, popped it into a foil bag and pushed it into the paper box.
Yu and his box of nama chocolate!
I brought a cooler bag with icepacks to keep the chocolate as we were going to have dinner at Le Shrimp. We ended earlier than expected though so we walked around a bit while waiting for the other three to join us.
After dinner, we shopped at Japan Home, Redman (I had 10% discount thanks to the baking class!) and Cold Storage (running out of milk before delivery day), lugging over 10kg of goods home, which was fine for my laogong but but but... Yang had to cut hair at the salon on our way home - neater haircut for PSLE oral this week... So I took the load off Sito who accompanied him *.* Kai was already carrying one bag. By the time I got to the lift, I could hardly speak so Kai quietly took another bag off me 💕
Guess which is his and which is mine?
Answer: His on his left. Yes, they look the same but the differentiation is important coz he's having his all to himself! The remaining four of us shared my box. Since everyone likes it, I'll make some since I bought more chocolate and cream :)
We signed up for the BV ND Observance Ceremony as usual. At first, we wondered if Yang should go, given his oral exams this week. He wanted to, so we said, ok, wear a mask. Then we forgot the mask *.*
All decked out in red!
This time, it was held at Blk 2 atrium. It was fun as usual, with games and snacks and performances! I think next year, I want to go near the front to see if I can grab a slice of cake :p
Eh, the hand very long, hahaha!
Yang didn't get a prize for this game and when he went back to try again, someone gave him the prize and he was happy!
Papa also played!
Yu very gamely answered a quiz again!
He could only remember three of the five stars, and a guy went over to whisper the answers into his ears :p Emcee couldn't get her hands on a prize immediately. She remembered us though but we left before she could find us again.
Fighter jet simulator!
Looks like the real deal for training, not a science centre ride
Sito said, yes, don't crash his tax money! Hahahah! But his sons very funny - Yang didn't manage to drop his bomb in time; Yu dropped it too early; Kai dropped it on himself!!?!?! We had a good laugh at the end of it :)
The anthem was played while we were in the queue for the jet simulator. I heard a loud booming voice singing nearby and spotted an angmoh on my right front singing his lungs out. On the other hand, my sons didn't open their mouth 🤦♀️ Don't kids sing anthem in school?! I sad and sian...
We went home to drop everything before heading for lunch at Oriental Food. Kids all enjoyed it so I guess we now have another option in the neighbourhood!
Yu and I left for his friend's birthday party in Chinatown after lunch. On the bus there, I told him I remembered two compositions in primary school and gave him the starting para of one of them and the gist of the other. He retold the former with kiddy details, and went on to spin a two-part story of the latter.
I really enjoyed the second one. Part one was about a boy who liked cheese. At the end of it, he became a mouse. Part two started in the first person. I wondered why, and then he went, "Oh, I forgot, I'm a mouse now so I can eat the rotten food!" So cool! Yes, gross content but his storytelling is so cool!
We were rather early, so he made me follow him to walk around. We ended up walking around People's Park Complex like three times... I enticed him with OCK and ok, he would follow me instead, haha! Took a walk to Chinatown point and went to OCK twice coz the first stick wasn't enough! Then I bought some plastic bags from Daiso before finding our way to the party venue.
Bye, boy. I'm going for a massage!
Spotted the massage place I wanted to go to when I was following Yu around People's Park Complex. Sito and I went there some 20y ago! And the prices were not much higher than 20y ago. I paid only $25 for an hour of foot massage, vs. $37 at HV. But I realised that night that the guy wasn't fantastic as I no longer felt anything by the end of the day :(
Bought a marshmallow snack which Yu said he wanted, and a rose bagel from Daily Artisan and Bakery. The latter was so pretty! But it was too much like bandung for me - I don't like bandung, hahah!
Anyway, went back to the party venue to find Yu still happily playing balloons after two hours of VR games. I sat for a while before I think the staff was ready to close the account... We took a bus to Vivocity to pack dinner - Jollibee!
It was still early by the time we got home. We managed to finish dinner before NDP started proper. Of course the adults had to clear up a bit more... But in the end, we all sat down to watch the parade and performances. Made them all stand for the anthem even if they didn't sing.
Again, we all said the NDP songs this year were no good. Two didn't feel like NDP songs at all. Only Sparkle was more upbeat. Anyway, I realised that this year, we didn't spend much time listening to NDP songs on YouTube - too busy with PSLE prep...
And so I guess that was our very busy National Day :)