Baking for RDA

After our RDA sessions we sit down with a cup of coffee and talk about how the kids did.  This is the best way for the instructors who have to watch everyone get a better idea of how the kids are doing or offer help/feedback to us about the kids and how we could help them better.

Of course nobody drinks coffee on its own.  Thats just odd...of course we've got a cake rota!  This week is my turn so i broke out the betty crocker and whipped up some fairy cakes.  As i was stuck in the house because of the ongoing work i thought i would make up some cookies too (a la betty once again) and tipped the ingredients into the bowl along with an egg and some oil and mixed up some cookie dough....this is the kind of baking i like best!

Hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything's right

My new trainers for the walking group...no more sore baby toes for me!  Mark got them for me when we were up at the Navy Exchange meaning that they were really quite cheap for some super comfy trainers.  Right, show me a hill and i'll climb it!

Wandelen Dames

When I headed away from RDA yesterday I saw that Karin was heading in the same direction so we struck up a conversation on the way to the MRT.  Although I see fellow volunteers every week it's quite difficult to get chatting as we are so focused on the kids.
Karin also lives on the green line so we had to switch stations which gave us adequate time to ask each other questions about how we're finding Singapore. I love these chats as there Is so much tacit knowledge we just don't take advantage of (that's probably the librarian part of me coming through....)
One such tidbit was Karin's walking group, the wandelen dames.  It's a Dutch group of women that plan weekly walks all over Singapore. When I found out about them I jumped at the chance to join as a walking group has been on my to do list since I got here.
I was told to meet them at Pasir Panjang which is on the circle line so a two and a half hour walk along the Southern Ridges.  The walk was really good and I'll do another post with lots of pictures describing where to go and each stage.  As someone who hasn't walked very far in ages, let's just say blogging is all I'm good for today.
At the end of the walk we came down from Mount Faber and went to Vivo for juice. I stayed to get an orange juice and chat to everyone, but was also really wanting to get showered and changed into fresh clothes. I used to adore hill walking and love the freedom of getting lost out of doors for a couple of hours, but there's always that moment you get back to civilisation and find you don't look (or smell) like anyone around you!
I hightailed it out of there and hot home ASAP for a quick shower followed by a long bath....heaven!
I'm so grateful I get to go on these adventures and have the opportunity to make new friends, once again Singapore-you delivered!

Easter Visitors

Happy Easter!
I can't believe that last year Mark and I dug the car out of the snow to find a place to drive to so we could roll our eggs.  Now a whole year later (and about 3 weeks) we are in sunny Singers welcoming friends with a traditional Easter roast!
Yesterday we headed over to ZAC butchery on Changi Road for halal meat to serve and picked up a lambs leg, rosemary gravy mix and mint sauce.
We headed home via cold storage to get our vegetables and potatoes, as well as some roasting trays. We still didn't get any real ones so we had to pick up the tin foil/throw away ones, but at least that means less clearing up for me! We also got some cake at the bakers. Apparently all of the bakery/delis in cold storage have alcohol in their chocolate cakes.....good job we found out before trying to serve it up to our guests!  It probably makes more sense to have a fruit based dessert after such a rich meal, especially a Spring one.
I love having people over so I can decorate and set out the table, so friends over at Easter is a total blast for me.
It was such a great day and was once again another time I get to turn to Mark and say "remember this time last year?"

STOP THE PRESS : My New Car has Arrived.................

Well, it appears that I'm the only one to be excited by this news! Sheila appears to be neither up nor down about it and Dasiy appears not to give one jot!

I've tried to explain the engine size, fuel economy, the electronic engine managment system, Ride Stability, air bags, stereo, TV, satnav and just about everything else and yet they appear uninterested. Sheila's main contribution so far is that she can now order our "Sticker Family" for the back window. We have only noticed them here but every one is saying that its all over. I'll pin and example but the long and short is - Your family as Stick people and then stuck on your back window. So, in our case we would have a Stick man (to represent me) and Stick lady (to represent Sheila) and finally a Stick dog (to represent Daisy).

Sheila's contribution to our new car discussion was the NEED for us to have a set of family "stick" stickers on the back window.......

The car is  currently in our car-park awaiting final inspection and the attachment of my Dilomatic Number Plates. So close yet still so far.......

A Very Special Birthday

Happy Birthday to my Auntie Margaret!  I'm so glad you were able (and wanted) to spend your Birthday with us in Singapore.  It's a bit sad when you think that not everyone is together like they would be in the UK...obviously I mean it's a pity they aren't here, not that it's a pity we are here in the sunshine!

We started off by going to Prive at Keppel Bay as we thought it was so pretty my Aunt was sure to love it.  Turns out it was a good call!  The sun was a bit bright (i don't actually normally pose like this, i swear it's because of the sun)

 We all picked very delicious things and the service was fantastic.  Afterwards we went up to take the cable car from Mount Faber to Sentosa where we stopped long enough to visit the cable car museum and then headed back again to Harbour Front for a coffee.  Mark and I sat in Starbucks whilst my Aunt and Uncle did a little bit of shopping before coming back to meet us again.

PLEASE remember we spent the holiday doing very un-poses

We then went back to the house to have a Birthday Tea...no matter how much you eat through the day you NEED a Birthday Tea.  This was just a little one though as it was much too long a day full of nice things already.  If this is the standard of Birthdays here I can't wait for my own one....