Last dinner for 2007...

We invited a Singaporean family over to our place for dinner on New Year Eve. Apart from enjoying Singapore's counterpart to the American turkey - Singapore style Hainanese chicken - we also recounted some of the blessings we received this year, especially pertaining to our coming over to the States. The children also had a good time playing together.

The chicken story.... To begin, we gave the American-born Hainanese chicken a hot bath.


Next, a cold bath.


To add some authenticity to this dish, we had a half-Hainanese to chop-choppa-chop the American-born Hainanese chicken. (P.S. The next time you order Hainanese chicken rice, make sure you check the authenticity.)

Apparently there are a few perspectives that one can have of an American-born Hainanese chicken.

Memory Verse - 1 Cor 10:31

This is the first verse that we memorized together with Charis, as part of our family devotion time. Since she really likes to eat and drink, we thought this verse is an appropriate first verse for her ;p

It is also an appropriate "resolution" for the new year. Soli Deo Gloria!

Showtime

Here's a little Globetrotters showtime before the game. Don't worry, there is nothing wrong with your eyes... the ball is pretty tiny in the clip. Bring out your magnifying glass...



Go to their website for more stuff...

The Harlem Globetrotters

TK received 2 free tickets to this basketball game from his school a few weeks back... it's the box seat complete with food! But all the time, we wondered what to do with the second ticket. We thought that it would be wonderful if Charis and I could go with him... I've never been to one of these and it would be fun! Besides, it's an entertaining game... the Harlem Globetrotters clown around and perform ball-stunts during the game. But she needs a ticket too since she has passed her second birthday... and we have only 2. TK even thought of bringing her so that I get my free time but we hoped that this could be family time for us.

On the day of the game, he decided to email to the other 4 people who got the free tickets to see if anyone might have an extra to pass to us. To our surprise, a lady replied and was willing to give us her 2 tickets... she cannot go because her partner fell sick. Now each of us have a ticket with an extra to spare! Can't be just a coincidence... it's really God's gift to us this Christmas :)

Yay... I can finally open my present

This gift from TK and me was wrapped and placed under the window for 3 weeks... she finally got to open it on Christmas morning. See the eager smile!

Family Outing

We spent the day out at the Carnegie Science Centre with a friend. It has been some time since we (the old ones) have stepped into a science centre, and the first time for Charis. We also managed to catch an interesting Omnimax show - the Christmas Star - that explores what was the possible star that led the wise men to Bethlehem.


According to Charis,T-Rex is a bad animal because he goes "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

We also managed to explore a retired submarine, USS Requin.

Inside the USS Requin submarine:

Miss Personality...

Following the science centre visit, we went jalan-jalan and managed to bump into a Christmas tree...


It was a wonderful day out as a family. Especially since the last few weeks have been busy with the assignments. The weather has been nice too - still cold, but slightly warmer than what we have experienced over the last couple of weeks.

Fresh from the kitchen...

We have been drinking quite a bit of coffee lately, especially over the last 2 weeks as I worked on my assignments... Now that the papers have been submitted, we realized that we have quite a bit of coffee powder left. Instead of just drinking coffee, we thought why not eat it as well? So Elaine used some of the coffee powder to make espresso cookies.


After having one espresso cookie too many, Elaine was full of energy and decided to make Green tea mochi... I must say it is very good. The green tea taste is just right, and texture is nice, the color is accurately green. Ya, I'm a bad food critic... as in I'm bad at giving food critic, and not that I am a critic of bad food... But really, it is great. The whole family likes it. Check out the recipe if you like to try it out...

Waiting for Christmas to come...

We told Charis that we have to wait for Christmas to come before she can open the presents... so here she is looking out for Christmas. :) But on a serious note, we have been sharing with Charis the story of God's best gift of love for us and the significances behind Christmas. Christmas will be a bit different this year, being away from family and friends in Singapore... yet we still celebrate the same Emmanuel.

Anyway, for the first time ever, we have a 6-storey tall "Live" Christmas tree... hmm.. the one outside the windows. No ornaments though...

Charis' Art Gallery

Here is a small collection of Charis' masterpieces... haha. Enjoy!


- Modern impressionistic paintings-


- Collage: Kitchen untouchables -
For once, she's allowed to play with uncooked rice, beans and kitchen napkins.


- "Picasso-inspired" Elmo (left: Elmo with a smile; right: Elmo in the garden) -
She has very very recently acquired the drawing skill after practicing for a week on the white board. Elmo is her one of her first few attempts :)


- Family portrait -
Btw, the green patch on Daddy Koh's portrait is not his beard.... that's Charis' version of his green shirt. I guess her hands got tired after colouring the green shirt and decided not to embark on colouring Mummy Koh and Baby Koh's shirts.

"Because of Winn-Dixie"

Last week, we received a parcel from Singapore... with Christmas presents and toys for Charis from her gong-gong, po-po, granduncle, grandaunt, uncles and aunties :) One of it is a furry doggie which she has been longing for since she watched this movie - "Because of Winn-Dixie" - which we borrowed from the library. Winn-Dixie is the name of the big, friendly dog in the movie and Charis has named her new doggie after it. She really loved this movie!

In case you're wondering about the strange name... here's a synopsis of this pretty heart-warming movie. It's about a girl who moved to a small town with her father and was lonely in her new home. On a chance occasion, she saw a dog running wild in a supermarket where she was. In order the save the dog from being given to the pound (or SPCA in Singaporean terms), she pretended that the dog belonged to her. She named it Winn-Dixie, after the name of the supermarket where she found it. Of course, they became firm friends... and because of this big, friendly dog, her lonely life was changed...

Aixiang, we finally got down to taking the photos as you requested... and we got some nice shots (well, she was in quite a good mood that day)! This is our favourite!