PONEY Autumn 2015 Collection

Couple of months ago, I wrote a short post about PONEY; one of the reputable kids fashion brand in Singapore, and mentioned that DinoBoy loved their clothes when he first tried on their clothes earlier this year.  Recently we headed down to PONEY Marina Bay Sands to get some new clothes for DinoBoy coz he has outgrown most of his gai-gai or outdoor clothes.

Note : If you are taking the train to Marina Bay Sands like us, PONEY is at the other side of the mall, above the food court.  So be prepared for a long walk, lucky thing is the mall is air conditioned and there are many things to see along the way.  Shops selling designer stuffs, cute things for the kids, stylish fashionable clothes for adults etc etc.

You can't miss the shop because of the huge signage outside the store, DinoBoy spotted it far far away and exclaimed "We are here Mum!" before quickening his steps towards it.  He is excited about shopping at his favourite shop and can't wait to step into it.

We were greeted with an array of colorful clothes that instantly made me happy because I love clothes in vibrant or cheerful color which always excites me and makes me feel like I am about to go into a new adventure.

PONEY @ Marina Bay Sands

And an adventure we did go, an Autumn Adventure, PONEY style!  Ok, bring out the knee high boots, the crunchy leaves, the occasion chilly wind, the pumpkin & bale of hays and we are set to go!

In this cozy little corner you can find PONEY latest Autumn 2015 collection for the boys.  It may look like there are limited choices at one glance but I guarantee that you will be able to come out with many different looks by mix matching the pieces giving you a few styles for every occasions.   

DinoBoy's PONEY Autumn 2015 Lookbook

Which ever style you choose, what ever mood you are in, however you match the clothes, PONEY fashion always sets you in the mood for FUN, SUNSHINE, PLAYFULNESS & HAPPINESS. 

Pure and simple pleasures of being a child.

Since he was younger, DinoBoy has his own opinion about his clothes, including the style and color so I am used to letting him make his own decision for that coz frankly he is the one wearing them, I wasn't going to interfere or make him miserable by forcing him to wear something he probably don't like. 

Lucky for me, this time I have Christine to assist DinoBoy, she spoke to him to get an idea of his fashion preference, brought him clothes for him to see and feel (ya feel coz this boy has a thing about clothing texture) before getting the right size for him to try on. 

And where was I?  Well, I was sitting around relaxing, getting up only to help DinoBoy button up  or tighten the pants and to take photos when he was ready.  If I have a cuppa and some finger snacks with me that would be the best shopping trip EVER for me!

Here's sharing DinoBoy's PONEY wardrobe which includes collections from Spring, Summer and Autumn.  

DinoBoy has an almost similar shorts in dark green which he love coz "Its very comfortable." and its natural that he wants to grab another one.  I love the mustard color and even though it is a strong color it still goes well with other colors.

Green is his favourite color so its no surprise that he wants this polo tee but I was surprise that he wanted the skinny jeans because he commented that it was too tight when he tried it on (he usually wears boot cut or loose jeans) but told me to include this in the To-Buy clothes.  

I love the checkered pastel red & blue on the skinny jeans cuff, the scratch/torn markings on it makes this a perfect jeans to pair it with boots and we are ready to go for some outdoor adventure!  DinoBoy declared this as his "Ice skating Jeans." though but no matter, still outdoor fun for us.

I would never thought that he will choose a shirt coz he really can't stand collars (except for school uniform but even that it was a struggle every morning when he put that on.), I haven't been buying shirts for him for years, I have to asked him twice if he really wants this shirt just to be sure.  

The little cream whales swam into my heart, they are oh-so-cuteeee!  So I think it swam into DinoBoy's heart too.  Why should we settle with the usual blue color with contrasting prints clothes when we can make it stand out by adding splash of red colors to it?  Love it to the max!  Who says red are for girls only?

"PONEY, giving you the unprecedented fashion experience enjoyment!" - Mr. Albert Tan, founder of PONEY

*** *** ***

Something from our photos caught your eyes and you want to get the pieces of clothes for your kids? Don't wait, Act NOW! In celebration of PONEY 23rd Birthday, they are having 23% discount storewide till 31 October 2015. *All terms & conditions apply*

Photo Credit - PONEY Singapore

No time to go down to the store? Fret not! Shop at PONEY from the comfort of your home at www.poney.com.sg and enjoy free shipping till 31 October 2015. *All terms & conditions apply*

Photo Credit - PONEY Singapore

Disclaimer : We received PONEY shopping vouchers for the purpose of this post, no other forms of compensation were received. All opinions are 100% ours and based on our shopping experience at PONEY Singapore. All photos in this post unless otherwise credited, are copyrighted and belongs to the DinoFamily, you may not use any of the photos for any purposes without seeking our approval.

Read More

Cheesy Salmon & Prawn Baked Rice

2 nights ago, we had these for dinner, a plateful of goodness indeed!  Salmon and prawns in cheesy buttery rice, MMmmmmm~~~  I sure glad that I decided to make a last minute switch from Salmon & Prawn curry to this, well the curry can wait hahaha~

I wasn't very sure how I should go about preparing this meal because we don't have fresh milk and I'd rather not open up a big packet of whipping cream just to use a small cup, nor I want to add any tomato paste (as suggested by DinoPapa) to it and we ran out of any creamy canned soup!  Gosh!  I was exasperated!!! Is this Mama not going to have her cheesy bake rice and get her cravings settled!?!?

Searched all the food cabinets and drawers only to find a packet of clam chowder cup soup.  That will do I gathered.  Mixed that up with hot water and added a scoop of DinoBoy's formula milk coz I was afraid its won't be as creamy enough.

After that I went about the preparation; cook rice in the rice cooker, threw in 3/4 cube of chicken stock (leftover from previous cooking), 2 salmon fillets sliced to bite size, 10 prawns, shelled  and deveined, roughly sliced up abalone mushroom (I only have them in the fridge so they will do).

When the rice is done, I fluffed them and keep them warm in the rice cooker.  Then melt about a tablespoon of butter in my corningware (or any oven proof pot/dish) at low heat so that I don't burn the butter, throw in the mushrooms to sauté till its soft, add the rice to mix them up, in goes the salmon and prawns, pour the creamy soup all over the rice, add in a heap each of cheddar & mozzarella cheese.  I love mozzarella cheese so I added a lot of it.  Pop the dish into the oven and bake it for 20-25 mins

Viola~ the baked rice is done!  To perfection if I may say so, mighty proud of myself.

Let's take a look at the inside of the baked rice.  There's cheese every where with the soft and buttery rice, fresh salmon and prawns completes it and we are 3 very satisfied people.  I was looking for Tabasco sauce in the fridge to go with this baked rice but after tasting it I think that sauce will spoil the goodness of it.

Some tips on cooking of the rice, I cooked mine using the usual method; means the same amount of water as I would for cooking steaming white rice.  With the added liquid later the rice was soft, if you prefer your rice to be a little bit hard and with texture, add slightly lesser water to cook in the rice cooker, perhaps use half a can of creamy soup instead of one.

I hope my Salmon & Prawn Baked Rice inspired you to cook it and have it with your family.  Do share with us photo of your baked rice if you are making it.  Till the next Foodie Friday post, Cheers and Happy Cooking!

Cheesy Salmon & Prawn Baked Rice

by DinoMama

Prep Time: 20mins

Cook Time: 1 hour

6075426

Ingredients (4 serves)

* 2 Salmon Fillets

* 10 to 12 prawns

* 1.5 cups of rice

* 1 chicken stock cube

* 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter

* 1 can (290g) of any creamy soup

* 1 cup of Cheddar cheese

* 1.5 to 2 cup of Mozzarella cheese

Optional Ingredients

* 1 onion, sliced

* 1 packet of mushrooms, sliced

* 1 cup of frozen mixed vegetable, thawed and boiled

* 1 squid, sliced

Instructions

1. Cook rice with slightly lesser water than usual, add in the chicken stock cube if you are using.

2. Heat up the canned creamy soup.

3. Preheat oven to 180 Deg.

4. Melt butter in the oven proof dish over low heat, add in mushrooms and onions to sauté till mushrooms are soft and onions are translucent.

5. Add the cooked rice and mix them up with the ingredients, at the same time coat the rice with the butter oil.

6. Mix in the salmon, prawns, squid or any other seafood into it.

7. Pour the creamy soup all over the dish, ensuring to cover every part of the rice.

8. Add in the cheese and put the dish into the oven to bake for 20 to 25 mins.

9. Serve while hot.

Powered by Recipage

Read More

Steamed Salmon with Lemon

The DinoFamily loves fish, steamed or fried, besides cod fish our 2nd favourite is Salmon.  Salmon; btw is pronounced without the "L" sound or listen to the pronunciation here, is rich with the amazing omega-3 and vitamins, it tastes good raw or cooked too.

There are many types of salmon and reading online, it is advised to get Pacific salmon which are mostly wild thus safer to consume.  To know how to differentiate between farmed and wild salmon, the harm for eating farmed salmon, click here to read about it.  You can Google more about salmon if you are interested, I am not doing that now.

Credit : Salmon Nation

So anyway, I have requests to do more steam dishes so I thought I'd start with one of our favourite fish.  Couple of months ago I bought a full salmon, first time ever!  Its a Norwegian Fresh Water salmon from Giant and it cost me less than $20 **Updated 06 Jan 2016 - The whole salmon cost me a whooping $38+, I dug out my piles of receipts and scoured through them till I found it. **  That morning I simply grabbed 2 salmon fillet from the freezer (I really have to start labeling those freezer bags!) only to realized later that evening that I have took out parts that are near the belly.  Luckily the fish is quite thick so there is enough meat to go around, plus I think DinoPapa will prefer the belly to meat.

This dish is so simple to prepare and cook, great for days when you are pressed for time.  Simply just sliced up the ginger and scallion (which I don't have it at that time), wedge and juice the lemon, dump every thing onto the salmon fillets, steam it for 8-10mins.

The lemon makes this dish very appetizing thus it goes well alone with either steaming white rice or pasta. 

We had ours with tomato rice and soup that day, I was feeling under the weather but boy did I ate alot!  It was satisfying and the pig's stomach soup from MIL is an awesome comfort food.  I felt so much better after that meal.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do, let us know your verdict about this after you cooked and tasted it.

For more salmon recipes check out my other post;

Fabulous Salmon Fillet poached in milk

Pan fried Teriyaki Salmon Fusilli

*** *** ***

Steamed Salmon with Lemon

by DinoMama (Adpated from Foodnetwork.com)

Prep Time: 15mins

Cook Time: 20mins

6075276

Ingredients (4 servings)

* 2 salmon fillets about 450g

* 1 tablespoon soy sauce

* 1/4 teaspoon salt

* 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

* 2 scallions, cut into 4-inch pieces

* 4 slices ginger

* 1 lemon

* 2 teaspoons sesame oil

Instructions

1. Thoroughly rinse the fish in cold water and pat dry.

2. Put the fillets in a 9-inch shallow heatproof bowl.

3. Drizzle the soy sauce, salt and pepper over the salmon.

4. Sprinkle with the scallions and ginger.

5. Cut the lemon in half crosswise. Cut half a lemon into 4 slices and put on the fish. Juice the remaining lemon and drizzle over the fish.

6. Steam the salmon fillets for 8 to 10 minutes. Check if the fish is cooked thoroughly by poking the thickest part of the fillet with a chopstick or fork. The fish should flake, if not, steam 1 to 2 minutes or until the fish just flakes.

7. Carefully remove the bowl from the wok.

8. Drizzle the sesame oil over the fillets.

9. Serve hot.

Powered by Recipage

Read More

DAISO items around the house

Who can resist buying stuffs at mere SGD2?  Not to mention most of the stuffs are oh-so-pretty, useful, innovative, delicious, special, unique etc.  Yes, we are talking about DAISO, where every thing is SGD2, an "Evil" or "Heaven" to all, depending on your position.

I have been shopping at DAISO many times in a year, that's for staying near one of the outlet, bought many stuffs from there for storage, organising cabinets and shelves but never really a serious DAISO fan or DAISO-fanatics (as some of them call themselves).  Nonetheless, I am a DAISO patron and this couple of months my trips to DAISO had increase after I join a DAISO facebook group where they share tried and tested DAISO products which I never paid any attention to prior to that.

So, here's sharing what I have bought during these couple of months and since I cook frequently so I shall start off with food related items.

I was introduced to this microwavable vegetable box but instead of using it for its intended purpose, I use it ot keep food such as mushrooms, cut/sliced vegetable or cooked soba.  It comes with an inner container that acts as a strainer thus enabling water to drip down into the container and preventing the vegetables or noodles from touching the water thus causing it to rot.  Vegetables were kept fresh for about a week in the fridge.

Sometimes I will prepare cold soba the day before, either as DinoBoy's recess in school or food for DinoPapa.  I drained the cooked soba, let it cooled down and store them in this box before popping it into the fridge.  DAISO's noodles are delicious and chewy, the price does not compromise the quality, there are 3 bundles of noodles in each pack, quite value for money. I used their noodle sauce to make cold soba sauce and store it in the screw top round container.  I also used their mirin and vinegar in my cooking too.  

Here is DinoBoy's typical cold soba bento for his recess.

Spot the Daiso items - Soba, seaweed, sauce bottle and bento food pick

Not so long ago, our hand soap bottle was faulty, something broke and we can't pump out the soup, I did not have an extra empty bottle to change which resulted in the bottle was unscrewed and we have to pour out the hand soap every time we have to use it.  Imagine the inconvenience and wastage when we accidentally poured too much. I chanced upon this pump bottle and immediately bought it.  Can you guess the reason?

This citrus acid is for cleaning our electric pot, thermal pot and pots, sure we can use baking soda but I prefer to use them for my baking, plus this packet is only SGD2 and will most likely last me for a good 6 months.  I'd say its Value for Money.

We have this huge drawer underneath the stove where we will keep the food stuffs such as instant noodles, dried goods, spices, packet of seasoning etc.  It can get very messy especially when we are short of time in meals preparation so things got tossed around in the big drawer often.  Recently I got hold of this stackable plastic containers to separate the used and new packets of spices, packet of seasoning and dried good.  Now we can see where they are and can pick them up to use easily.  I probably have to get a couple more to keep the instant noodles and dried noodles/bee hoon just for the sake of keeping the drawer tidy.

There was a major craze for the Maison series of container and stationery, people are fighting over it, no joke about that!  It not only caused some people to quarrel in the store (Ya you heard me right!) but also in the facebook group too!  It was so bad that people are queueing outside DAISO, waiting for it to open just to be the first few to sweep the series off the shelves.  Some were so impatient that they told the staffs not to waste effort & time to unpack them to put on the shelves, they will just grab the whole box and pay for it.  

I was lucky to be able to get my hands on one of the container, yes I was bought over by the sweet color and design, I used it to put all my sauces & condiments that are used for cooking lunch in the office.  It not only look pretty on my table, I can keep them neatly and not afraid of any accidental spills onto my work table.

There are some other DAISO stuffs that are around the house but these are a few that I thought are more worth mentioning.  If you have any other ideas or usage on DAISO items, do share with us.

This is part of DAISO 101 blog train hosted by Mum in the Making. Check out what the other mummy blogger does with DAISO items, from crafting to learning ideas, organising to favourite buys, they really have a lot of ideas!

Next up on the train is Bumble Bee Mum who is a stay-home mum who doesn't stay at home. She blogs about her adventures with her kids all around Singapore and also outside Singapore. Tomorrow, hop on over to her blog where she will bring you on a tour of a Daiso store in Japan.

Read More

6 drinks & soup to fight the SG Haze

Since 2013 (or perhaps earlier) The Little Red Dot's sky will be overcast with bad air twice a year, all thanks to our "friendly" neighobour.  We lost our clear blue sky and Mr Sun for months, it was replaced with hazy sky and red Sun, the air quality is bad and on days its bad.  This year, the #SGHaze got worse (but it's still not as bad as in 2013) with PSI (Pollutant Standard Index) hits over 300 and the PM2.5 (Particulate Matter 2.5) hits over 200.  

With dust particles floating in the air at such density it can cause short-term health effects such as eye, nose, throat and lung irritation, coughing, sneezing, runny nose and shortness of breath.   Long term exposure to fine particles can also affect lung function and worsen medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease. (uh-oh!)

Both DinoPapa and DinoBoy have sensitive air way, on top of that DinoBoy's body is on the heaty side (in the Chinese medical terms), thus he will get fever, constipation, indigestion,  tummy upset easily.  Therefore I have to take extra care to make sure that they do not develop any of the symptoms above or even if they have it does not get any worse.  There are drinks and soup that I will prepare that will bring down the body's heatiness, nourish the lungs and lubricate the eyes.

I was very lucky that one of our relative gifted us this 2 liter Electric Glass pot which enables me to boil such drinks in a convenient way.  I can throw every ingredients into the pot, set the timer and temperature , leave it to boil and it will cut of the power once the timer is up.  Beats standing over the fire watching the pot boiling and ensuring that the water in the pot does not evaporate during the hour long boiling.

In this post I will share with you the recipe of the drinks and soup I prepared for the family.

Food For the Lungs

White Fungus 白木耳 or it is also called Snow Fungus, White Tree-Ear, and Tremella Fuciformis is gelatinous, translucent, soft, elastic, form the shape of chrysanthemum, peony form or Hydrangeal. It is a well-known valuable nutrients, rich in collagen protein and vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and vitamin C. In Chinese families, it is commonly used in soups cooked for soothing purposes like nourishing the bodies, healing dry coughs and clearing heat in the lungs.

There are 2 types of white fungus as shown in the photo below I am not sure why (next time I will ask the lady boss in the Chinese medical hall), I will use the smaller compact and thicker white fungus for soup and the other bigger and thinner one for drinks.  The smaller compact white fungus will be able to withstand couple of hours boiling in the soup and will not disintegrate.

I learn this drink from a friend in a facebook cooking group, the ingredients needed are white fungus, dried lily bulb and lotus seed.  For my Electric Glass pot I'm using slightly more than half a palm size of white fungus, a handful each of lotus seed and lily bulb with a thumb sized rock sugar. I let it boil at 600deg for 45mins, cool down and serve.

There are a few soups that I like to boil to nourish the lungs too, one of my favourite is to buy a packet of White Fungus herbal soup pack from the supermarket.  This is convenient coz I just have to buy soup bone or spare ribs to boil together with it.

Another favourite is the Papaya White Fungus Soup.  Papayas are loaded with vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. These tasty tropical fruits offer benefits to the digestive system by providing ample dietary fiber and a protein-digesting enzyme called papain. Papayas also benefit the lungs and immune system. More generally, every organ in the body uses the vitamins in papayas to neutralize free radicals, synthesize energy and heal damaged tissue. Whether you're seeking a specific benefit or eating well to promote overall well-being, papayas are a good choice.

Papaya White Fungus Soup - 

Ingredients

* 1 green or semi ripe papaya

* 400g spareribs/soup bone

* 20g white fungus

* a handful of sweet & bitter almond 南杏 北杏

* 2 preserved dates 蜜枣

* 1 pot water, about 2 liter

Methods

1. Remove the papaya skin and seeds, cut them in to pieces, not too small otherwise they may disintegrate during the boiling.

2. Soak the white fungus for about 20mins, pour away the water.  You may choose to cut it into smaller pieces for easier consumption.

3. Bring a pot of water to boil to blanch the meat for about 15mins.  I like to do this as it removes the  impurities that I discard as scum.

4. Put a pot of 1 liter water to boil, add in the soup bones/spare ribs, sweet & bitter almond, preserved dates.  Cover the pot and boil for about an hour.

5. Add papaya and boil for another half an hour.

Food & Herbs For the Eyes

The air particles in the air not only irritates the eyes but they made the eyes dry and sore.  Besides washing them with saline to get rid of eye irritation caused by the micro dust I also boil tea to help them feels better too.

The easiest and common tea that every one is boiling should be the Chrysanthemum and Wolfberry Tea.

Chrysanthemum tea is a natural coolant and helps in lowering the body's heatiness or when one is suffering from fever or even heat stroke. It helps to relief sore throat, redness in the eyes, itchiness in the eyes, dryness in the eyes too. It also strengthen the lungs and helps in providing relief to respiratory problems such as shortness of breath. And, get this, it calms your nerves, sooth the anger and relief stress. This haze is sure stressful for all and the humid weather is causing us to be short temper, we all need some chrysanthemum tea to cool our head and calm ourselves.

Wolfberry or Goji 枸杞; both the seeds and the leaves, is one of the most antioxidant rich fruits and it helps improve vision or eye sight. It also nourishing the liver and is a immune system booster.

I am using a small handful each of chrysanthemum and wolfberries with a thumb sized rock sugar for this tea.  Boil it at 300deg for 30mins and it is ready to drink.

Another ingredient that I like to use is Cassia Seed or better known as 决明子 or jué míng zǐ.  Cassia seed clears heat and soothes liver.  It is an essential herb for treating a variety eye infections, such as hot eyes, swelling and pain eyes, blurred vision, photophobia, excessive tearing, and more.  Cassia seed pillow can tremendously improve sleep quality by removing heat and soothing the nerves; furthermore, it can be used as a laxative to relax bowel and treat constipation; finally, it can also make herbal slimming tea that really work thanks to its purging activity, which can interfere with the absorption of fats and carbohydrates.

I found the Chrysanthemum Wolfberries & Cassia Seeds Tea recipe from the web is for a person's share by pouring hot water into the cup with these 3 ingredients, soak for 15mins and its ready to drink.  This method is convenient to make to drink in the office, a cup a day while we face the computer doing out work.

* 10g wolfberries

* 3g chrysanthemum

* 20g cassia seed

For my pot, I uses a pinch of 30-40g each of the ingredients with a thumb size rock sugar in 1200 liter of water, boil at 600deg for 45mins.  For easier cleaning I put the tiny cassia seeds in tea bags to put into the pot to boil.

Food for Heaty Body

One of a drink we frequently made is the barley drink, because barley helps bring down the heatiness of the body.  Sometimes I add candied winter melon if any of us have a serious case of heatiness that resulted in heaty cough and fever.

I also like to boil the Winter Melon soup where I will put winter melon, pork ribs or soup bones, candied dates and wolfberries to boil.

Winter melon has cooling properties, it has dietary fiber and Vitamin C that helps in constipation and helps to clear up mucus & phlegm and improves digestion.

Both barley and winter melon have diuretic effect, that means it causes increase passing of urine which in turn helps to detox the body.

There you have it, 6 drinks and soup the DinoFamily frequently consume to stay healthy during the hazy daze days.  I hope you find them useful and beneficial too.  Remember to hydrate yourself often, mask up on bad hazy days and stay healthy & safe!

Read More

Celebrating DinoBoy's Birthday, the Sentosa Way!

This is a rather late post, with all the haze going on, its not fun having headaches, feeling sleepy & tired most of the time, besides that I have to cook dishes or prepare nourishing soup and drinks to ensure the family don't fall sick at such unhealthy weather.  With a few good clean breathable air in the past few days, I finally found the energy to churn out this post.

DinoBoy's birthday falls on 12 August, to break away from our usual celebration of having a birthday party and BBQ gathering, we decided to do something different by keeping it within the family.  Yupe, just the 3 of us, simple but fun filled no doubt.

A Day Before

The birthday celebration started a day before the actual day. We decided to dine in his favourite restaurant Sakae Sushi even though it eats into our budget because the joy of seeing our child enjoying the food and appreciating the things we provide to him is far greater than any price.

He is a picky eater since young; not those who picked on food and rejects those that taste weird but one of those who prefer food that are of better quality.  Since he started to eat sashimi earlier this year, he always asked for one of them whenever we visit Sakae Sushi, this time I ordered a plate of Rokushu Sashimi Moriawase where he can enjoy more of it.  I top up my Kaisen Ramen with a few dollars (forgot how much it cost $2.50 maybe?) and it comes with a chawamushi and 2 slices of salmon sushi, more sashimi for the boy to enjoy.

Look at his satisfying look while savouring all his favourite dishes.

On the Actual Day

I made the boy ponteng or skipped school, because I wanted him to enjoy this day to the fullest.  To start off the day, we decided to have a full breakfast at one of the neighbourhood coffee joint as we will be out for most of the day in Sentosa.  DinoBoy had his favourite egg and toast set with ice milo, DinoPapa had lasi lemak and I had longtong.  The food was ok but they filled our tum-tum to the fullest.  

We thought we could set off right away but... it started to drizzle!  We sat around, waiting for the rain to stop but instead it rain slightly harder!  After 30mins of waiting, I decided to call up Singapore Car Cable to see if it is raining heavily over their side and whether they are still operating despite the weather.  I received good news that the rain is smaller and yes the cable cars are still working, we quickly made our way down to Harbour Front Station.

We made it to Harbour Front Station, the drizzle was much smaller than at our place. There was a crowd at the ticketing station, just show how popular our cable cars are with the tourists and locals.  We collected our complimentary tickets and headed off to take the lift up the the 15th storey where we waited eagerly for our turn to hop into the car.   

This cable ride was specially requested by DinoBoy, which is a surprise because a year ago when he first took the ride he was freaked out.  He sat frozen to his seat and dare not move, even when his cousins encouraged him and even moved around the car to show that it is really safe to do so.  I was sure that was our first and last ride at that time.  Look at him now, peeping out of the glass panel, looking down at the beautiful scene outside, he was obviously very happy and excited to be in the cable car.

Photo complimentary from Singapore Cable Car

We alighted from the cable car and ended up at the top of the Sentosa Skyline Luge where we took the skyline down to the bottom to meet some one special.

This is the 1st time DinoPapa is taking the skyline so its family portray time!

Meet the guy who made this day happen (I'm going to keep his name a secret hehehe~). He knew DinoBoy is a Luge Addict and he didn't even think twice when I asked if he could give us complimentary rides.  Thank you so much Mr J, you have no idea how happy you made a 9 year old that day!

Even though it was a wet and cold day...

spirits! Yupe there were still many people who still want to luge. And as long as there are no lightning warning, the skyline luge will still be in operation for all the thrill seekers to dash down the 2 tracks at high speed in the luge carts.

All thanks to the Sentosa Skyline Luge crew who made the fun possible. They group of people not only have to work under the hot scorching sun, the wet cold rain, they also have to flex some muscles too. They have to bring the heavy luge carts out from the convey belt to the front and make sure they are lined up properly so that when the thrill seekers sat on them and ready to go, they do not knock into each other. They also have to give the simple verbal instructions to first time lugers on how to control the luge carts. Tough work and back breaking lah I tell you, so the next time you are there, please give them a smile and say Thank You for a job well done!

DinoBoy can't wait to get his butt onto the luge cart, he looked so bored when we were riding the skyline and kept saying he wish the chairlift will go faster.

Before we went onto the luge cart, I warned the boy to go slower because the tracks will be wet and probably slippery due to the wet weather.  I was confident that he will heed my advice and instruction, but an accident still happened that day.  A man stopped his cart right after a curve in the middle of the track for god knows what reason.  It was too late for when DinoBoy turned the curve and saw him, to prevent him from crashing into that man, he had to pull back the brakes hard and turn the handle hoping to go past him but this caused the cart to overturn.  I was a few seconds behind him and when I rounded the curve he was just getting up and trying to get his cart straighten up.  And what did that man do?  NOTHING!  He just sit in his cart, look at DinoBoy and try to look that he has got nothing to do with it. (Cursing and swearing inside me!)  Lucky DinoBoy only suffered some slight abrasions on the palm, nothing serious, after I gave the man a few hard stares we continued our way to the bottom of the track.

Due to some miscommunication, we were only given 2 sets of tickets instead of 3, thus we ended up with 3 skyline rides short because we used it to come down from the top earlier.  This does not stop us from our fun, we decided to take the Bus 1 up to the Imbiah Station which is just 1 stop away from Beach Station (remember to take Bus 1 instead of Bus 2 though these 2 buses goes there but Bus 2 takes a longer route to reach Imbiah Station).

We looked like a peculiar Mum and Son pair racing from Luge towards the bus terminal with the Luge helmet and poncho screaming "Mum!!! Hurry!!! Bus 1 is leaving!!!" "Son! Wait UP!!! Be careful! Don't run into people! Don't fall down!", not once, not twice but THRICE! Man! that was tiring but FUN!

And we attracted a few stares and smiles like from the Sentosa staff below, he must have seen us dashing like mad from far far away, only to reach Bus 1 berth and found that the bus have left.  The short 5-7 mins ride up the hill in the air conditioned bus to Imbiah Station gave us time to rest our feet and cool off a bit.  Of course, the min we hop off the bus its mad dash to the Luge line again. 

Sentosa Skyline Luge never fails to give us the endless thrill, fun and excitement every time we visit.  Read about our past visits over here and here.

We took a break in between our Luge rides for lunch at Tastes of Asia, located near Beach Station where the restaurant serves flavourful dishes from around the region, get a taste of countries such as India, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.   We ordered different types of food and were satisfied with them, the food was tasty and I especially like my refreshing cucumber tea.

We wanted to continue our fun at the 4D Adventureland but we missed the show screening time by 5mins and its about 30mins wait for the next one, so we decided to give it a miss.  Me & DinoBoy went back the following week coz I was determined to keep my promise to my boy.  We took all 4 rides and had a blast of time!

Have you been to 4D Adventure Land?  What is your favourite ride?  We love Desperados though my shooting skill needs a lot of practice hahaha~

We headed back to the main land and off to buy some birthday presents at Popular Bookstore. We made use of the coupon for Geronimo Stilton books coupon in the Welcome Booklet for the Limited Edition 25th Anniversary POPULAR Card.

Last stop is to look for his birthday cake.  We went to the 3 bakeries in the mall, he couldn't decide which one to get but eventually he picked this chocolate mousse cake from Polar Puffs.

With that big smile on his face and the chocolate mousse cake in our tummy, we ended our birthday celebration for him.  I can vouch for the 3 of us that we enjoyed ourselves and had a great family time though the day started a little bit gloomy and wet.  

We would like to specially say thanks Singapore Cable Car and Sentosa Skyline Luge for making this day a memorable birthday for my little boy.  THANKS A BUNCH!

Disclaimer : We received complimentary tickets from Singapore Cable Car and Sentosa Skyline Luge in exchange for a blog post, no other forms of compensation were received. All opinions are 100% ours and all photos in this post unless otherwise credited, are copyrighted and belongs to the DinoFamily, you may not use any of the photos for any purposes without seeking our approval.

Read More