New book launch, and speaking about women and writing

Last Saturday morning, we launched Secrets of Singapore: Botanic Gardens at where else, but the Botanic Gardens. Truly glad and grateful that many kids and parents took the time to attend the event.

In case you missed the event, here's a short clip of Lesley-Anne sharing some snippets from the book.

Here we are with Dr Nigel Taylor, Director of the Botanic Gardens, who has been wonderfully supportive of the book throughout the whole process.

The best part - meeting the fans!

If you missed our launch, I will be speaking at another event this coming Sunday, 25 March 2018. It's From Now On (Women Taking Charge) held at SMU from 1-4pm. The event will feature discussions about the issues facing women in our world.

I will be speaking about my journey as a writer (both book and corporate writing) under Write Your Life which is 2-3pm. RSVP in the link above. I have previously blogged about my stories as a female writer and entrepreneur. If you'd like to hear from me in person, I would love to meet you - come join in if you can!

Launch of Secrets of Singapore: Botanic Gardens!

This book seemed to be in the works forever (at least it did for me), but I'm happy to announce that it's finally here! Presenting Secrets of Singapore: Botanic Gardens 😍

I love, love, love this book. I feel that we got everything right with this one for these reasons:

1) A great mix of really fun facts, not just about the Botanic Gardens but also about plants in general. Primary school kids will be able to relate because we cover a lot of information about plants that's in the Science syllabus - from plant reproduction to photosynthesis and plant adaptations, just to name a few. And all told in a conversational, fun way, of course.

2) So many punny jokes. I think Pun Princess Lesley-Anne outdid herself this time.

3) If you love the Botanic Gardens, this book serves as a very handy guide. All the plants and places of interest that we mention in the book are numbered ad marked on a comprehensive map at the back of the book, so you can follow it like going on a treasure hunt.

We've already received some very positive feedback on the book:

The book should hit bookstores in a couple of weeks. If you can't wait, you can get it online from the Epigram Books store.

The book will be officially launched on Saturday 17 March, 10.30am at the Botany Centre's Green Pavilion, Botanic Gardens. We'll be sharing some snippets from the book and there will be games and prizes. Bring the whole family! The book will be on sale at the event and we will autograph all purchases.

Meanwhile, Epigram Books is running a weekly contest on their Facebook page (every Friday), where you answer a question and stand a chance to win a set of Secrets of Singapore.

Do support us and hope to see you next Saturday!

Biodiversity and heritage at the Lee Kong Chian Museum

On 28 April, the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum at NUS officially opened and both Kenneth and Lesley-Anne, being biology and geography buffs, were looking very much forward to it. Even though I'm not much of a nature person, natural history museums are one of my favourite types of museums (other than fine art galleries).

So when the opportunity came along for a free visit plus a talk last Friday evening, Kenneth jumped on it and signed us up. Some basic history - the museum has had a tumultuous past, with its artefacts being moved from place to place for a long time. During Singapore's growth years when the focus was on the economy, the last thing the government had on its mind was funding for a collection of ancient artefacts. As a result, many of them were almost destroyed and some were lost.

Happily though, they now have a beautiful new home at NUS. I found the layout of the museum very user-friendly and easy to navigate. Ok, first up: most people who come to the museum are drawn primarily to the three dinosaurs - Prince, Apollonia and Twinky (the last name always makes me chuckle)!

They're right in the centre of the main hall and every half hour for a couple of minutes, coloured lights come on to give them an ethereal effect, which is pretty cool.

But as they like to remind visitors, the museum is so much more than just the dinos. If you would like to know more about the collections, Straits Times ran an informative article here.

Some of the biodiversity displayed is an integral reminder of Singapore's past, eg. when tigers roamed the island. In fact, they were so common that the museum would constantly receive gifts of tiger skins! The pic on the left is of a 1.75m leatherback sea turtle caught at Siglap Beach in 1883.

There are walls and walls of mammals, birds, fish and other zoological exhibits.

This is the comparison of a human skeleton with that of an orang utan.

Everyone in my family knows that I am afraid of, no...TERRIFIED of lizards. So when I saw this display, I was so grossed out I couldn't stop staring (if that even makes sense). It reminded me of the scene in Jurassic Park where Billy thought he was looking at a fossilised raptor and it turned out to be alive. I thought it was the most frightening exhibit in the museum...

 ...until I saw this:

As if squiggly lizards are not yucky enough, there are flying ones! I'm so never stepping into a jungle. My kids laughed at me. They so enjoy seeing me squirm. Though they showed the same level of horrified fascination at the insect walls:

I don't remember what these are but they look like something out of an Alien movie. Oh by the way, they have live scorpions in a glass tank too. That's really something.

And in the Arthropod zone, is one massive crab! I bet Andre is thinking those legs would taste pretty good in chilli sauce...

My honest opinion is that the museum is truly well worth a visit. Lesley-Anne was so enamoured with it she said she wouldn't mind returning for a repeat visit.

In order to ensure the crowds don't get too big, entry is by pre-booking ONLY. You can't just turn up and buy tickets. You book your tickets online for a pre-determined one-and-a-half hour time slot which means you won't have to jostle others to get a good view of the exhibits. Singapore residents pay $16 (adult) and $9 (child, senior citizen, NSF). You can book your tickets here. NUS staff and students enjoy free entry.

Forget me not

I love the start of a new school year. It's always so full of hope and symbolises fresh beginnings: Since my kid is one year older, surely he will be wiser, pay more attention in class and score better grades in exams! This is the year he will transform into an A student! I just know it.

Lesley-Anne once told me that our minds tend to play tricks on us by brushing our bad memories with a rose-coloured tint. It's a defence mechanism to help us cope and protect us from re-living emotional trauma. Which is all well and good but I also believe it makes us slightly deluded.

When Andre was in primary school, one of the things about him that used to drive me bananas was his seeming inability to listen, a close second only to his memory which had more holes than a gopher colony's network. For instance, in p4, there was a question he had answered incorrectly in his science paper: "Plants photosynthesise in the daytime and respire at night". I told him that plants respired all the time, not just at night. I then diligently went through the lesson with him to make sure he understood it.

The next term, barely three months later, he came home with another science paper and I saw to my chagrin that in response to a similar question, he'd again written: "Plants respire only at night."

Me *exasperated*: "I already told you! Plants respire in the day AND at night!"

Andre: "Hah? They do? You never told me that!"

Me *staring at him in disbelief*: "We went through the lesson! Weren't you listening??"

Andre gave me an indignant look as if to say I was dreaming the whole thing up. So we went through the lesson once again. "You understand it now? Plants don't just respire at night, they respire all the time." He nodded.

A year later in p5, you wouldn't believe it but he got exactly the same question wrong AGAIN. The sentence that had come to plague me in my nightmares: "Plants respire at night." OMG! I blew my top. "What's wrong with you? Are you trying to kill me??"

He looked at me blankly. "Hah? Plants don't respire at night?"

Sometimes I wonder if aliens abduct my son at night and replace him with a look-alike model.

Trying to teach Andre anything was always frustrating because even if I'd succeeded in getting him to understand something, I knew there was a good chance he would have no recollection of it later. Yet every start of the school year, I would have this inexplicable hope that he would miraculously grow a beautiful mind overnight.

Now that he's in secondary school, the situation has improved somewhat but he still has a problem with listening. Whenever he tells me the teacher didn't say this or the other, my instinctive scepticism always surfaces. "She didn't say it or you didn't hear it?" Which if you think about it, is kinda a pointless question because if he didn't hear it, he certainly wouldn't know if she had said it.

Then of course, there's the "hear half the instructions" syndrome. If I'm at a mall and tell Andre to "go to BreadTalk and tell Daddy I'll be there in 15 minutes", he would hear only "go to BreadTalk." Then he'll call me five minutes later and ask, "I'm at BreadTalk. Where are you?"

A couple of weeks ago, Lesley-Anne was complaining how tired she was.

Lesley-Anne: "I'm sleepy and grumpy."

Me *teasing*: "So those are the two dwarfs you identify with?"

Lesley-Anne: "Yup. And in the morning, Sneezy."

Me: "Which one are you, Andre?"

Andre: "Me? I'm Blur."

Lesley-Anne: "Blur?? That's not a dwarf!"

Andre: "Huh? What dwarf?"

Me: "Never mind. I think Blur is right."

But that was 2014. It's a New Year. Surely this year, Andre will make the transformation. I can feel it in my bones. 

JC or poly? Andre decides

Last month during the time of the Focus on the Family debacle, we were at home discussing the thorny issue of relationship programmes when I suddenly recalled that Andre had attended one in school.

Me: "Do you know who conducted it?"

Andre: "Dunno."

Me: "What did they teach?"

Andre: "Dunno. I wasn't listening."

Me (exasperated): "Aiyoh! Why not?"

Andre: "No need lah! Everybody says relationships so complicated. Just don't get into a relationship lor! Problem solved."

That's Andre for you - always taking the path of least resistance.

Anyway, Andre enjoyed a very nice end to the school year. First, he received a medal - not for badminton but... archery! He had chosen archery for his school sabbatical programme and his team came in first.

The second surprise was his year-end results. For the first time in his secondary school journey, he scored all As and Bs (well, except for Chinese which he inevitably flunked). Not sure how that happened but we're not complaining! "Have you been holding out on me?" I asked.

Since this marks the end of sec 2 for Andre, he had to choose his subjects for sec 3. Almost all his classmates and friends were gunning for triple science or double science classes. Andre was one of the exceptions who opted for combined science.

Let me explain the rationale. Earlier this year when I had a heart-to-heart talk with Andre, we discussed his future. Based on what he told me he wanted to do, he had decided that he wanted to go to the polytechnic after sec 4 instead of a JC. He was even more adamant about this decision after he saw how Lesley-Anne was plagued by endless homework and exams in JC. "You can't make me go to a JC!" he told me.

Lol. Not that I had any intention of doing so anyway. Even though Kenneth and I have always told him to keep an open mind, based on his plans, his aptitude and his interests, our gut feel is that Andre is much more suited for a poly education than a JC one. We really don't believe that one is a better choice than the other. Unlike some parents who think that you should gun for a JC if you can make it, we honestly feel that a JC education isn't for everyone. It suits Lesley-Anne but it probably would be a complete mismatch for Andre. This is a very good website on the differences between a JC and poly education.

Knowing whether you want to go to a poly or JC impacts on your subject choices for sec 3. To get to a poly, you only need to count five subjects whereas for JC, you need six. So taking too many additional subjects would eat into your time, which the triple and double science combinations would (8 subjects each). For the combined science combination, Andre would only need to take 7 subjects, which is much more manageable. Furthermore, it's preferable to take pure science subjects only if you intend to take science at JC (combined science has reduced content and would put you at a disadvantage) or if you're passionate about science (which Andre is not). For the poly courses Andre is interested in, there is no pre-requisite for science subjects.

And that's why he's ditching the popular triple/double science route. Too often, I see kids and parents adopting the same kiasu attitude in secondary school the same way they do with the PSLE (and everything else). Get into the "best" school/course that your score can possibly get you! That's hardly a logical course of action. Understand what your child's interests and inclinations are, then choose the school and path that stand the best chance of getting him where he wants to go. It really is that simple. You can check out more details on JC and poly admission requirements here.

So that's the update on Andre. He has no homework these holidays, unlike his poor sister. I was disinclined to have him bumming around all holidays and at first, told him to find a holiday job. That turned out not to be a feasible plan as there are limited options for 14-year-olds plus he has badminton training on some days. Community service was next on the cards and he helped some underprivileged primary school kids with their homework at a cc. He was quite good at it too! The supervisor was surprised that Andre could get a usually hyper Indian boy to sit down and listen to him. Must be a meeting of wavelengths, heh.

Unfortunately the sessions have since stopped for the school hols. So now, he's spending his free time trying trying to keep healthy. He's been working on his core and flexibility. Hopefully, he will lose a little of that tummy before Christmas!

Mars and Venus

The other day, I asked Andre what topic he was studying in school for science. He told me human reproduction and then followed it up with "it's the most horrible topic ever".

I thought oh, it's probably because he doesn't like to hear the gory details about the birds and the bees, or maybe it's the pictures that embarrass him. Here's a boy who can't hear the word "boob" without covering his ears and emitting a squeal.

Instead, he looked at me accusingly and said, "Your menu-station cycle lah! So complicated! So many different days to remember! And all those words to spell! Like ovulation and o-estrogen!" (He pronounced the 'o').

I almost felt obliged to apologise on behalf of all womankind.

Recently, I was looking at photos of our past holidays and realised how much Andre had grown from his relative height and size with Lesley-Anne.

This was June 2012:

June 2013:

And June 2014:

The funny thing is now that Andre's taller and larger than Lesley-Anne, he's passing her sports t-shirts that he has outgrown. Lesley-Anne accepts them with grace but muses that there's something very unglam about wearing hand-me-downs from one's YOUNGER brother.

However, despite his physical growth over the past two years, Andre is still very much a child at heart. He has given me advanced notice that he intends to be a bachelor forever because a girlfriend or wife would just take up his time and spend his money. "How am I going to have cute grandchildren, then?" I pouted. "Go ask jie jie," he replied adamantly.

I've not given up hope yet. Maybe once the hormones hit him full swing, hearts will start swimming in front of his eyes. While he's no heart throb, I think he's shaping up to be quite a pleasant looking chap (ok, mother's bias) so maybe a couple of girls will start looking his way sometime in the future. They'll probably need to be a lot more obvious than flutter their eyelashes though. And if they're smart, they won't use the word "boob".

Fruit loop

What I'm about to share will turn everything you've ever thought to be true in the world of fruit completely upside down.  So if you wanna live in blissful ignorance, stop reading now.

Lesley-Anne came home from school one day, sighing gloomily, "my life is a lie!"  What happened was that in biology, the teacher had taught them about the scientific classification of fruit and it turned out to be totally different from how we laypersons classify fruit.

For example, if I were to ask, among these four items - apple, lemon, grape, peanut - which of these is not like the other?  I'm sure most people would say peanut because it's not a fruit.  Well, if you did, you would be wrong.  The peanut IS a fruit.  The odd one out is the apple because although it's classified as a fruit, the part we eat is NOT the fruit. The fruit of the apple is actually the core. What we're eating is the modified receptacle of the apple flower.

In fact, many plants that we typically would not consider to be fruit are fruit. To scientists, fruit are products of flowers and usually develop as a result of a flower being pollinated.  This means that all grains, like wheat and corn, are fruit. So are sunflower seeds, green beans and hazelnuts.  

Mind blown yet? There's more. Among these next four items - avocado, strawberry, water melon, cucumber - which of these is not like the other? Now you've probably wised up and thinking, oh, it's a trick question.  Maybe the cucumber is a fruit. So maybe the avocado is not a fruit but a vegetable?  Wrong! All of them are fruit! The one that doesn't belong is the strawberry.  Because it's the only one that's not a berry!

Whaaaaatt?? Yup. That was my reaction too.  In botanical language, a berry is a fruit with seeds and pulp produced from a single ovary.   This means that the following are all classified under berries: all citrus fruit (eg. oranges, lemons, kumquats), grapes, bananas, cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, eggplants, water melons, papayas, guavas, bell peppers, avocados and coffee.  The silly fact is that not all fruit with "berry" in their names are true berries.  Blueberries, cranberries and gooseberries are indeed berries but not strawberries, raspberries or blackberries. 

Our brains can only take so much dissonance.  Still reeling, I asked, "so what's a tau geh?"  Lesley-Anne's classmate asked, disbelieving, "How can a banana and a watermelon be in the same fruit group?"  Lesley-Anne said indignantly, "To sum it up, a peanut is not a nut. A bean is not a bean. A strawberry is not a berry and in a way, an apple is not a fruit. I'm in the Fruit Matrix."

The next time you see a yoghurt label saying 'mixed berries', tell yourself it's all a lie.

Up to my eyeballs...

Warning: Graphic content ahead!

As part of her biology practicals, Lesley-Anne  had to dissect an eyeball to examine the different parts. The students were told to buy a mammal's eye because it's closest in structure to the human eye.  Most kids came with pig's eyes.

First, they cut away the muscles and fats surrounding eye, making sure not to sever the optic nerve.  Among the muscle, there should be a rigid portion which is eyelid.  According to Lesley-Anne, what's gross is that some of the eyeballs still had eyelashes still attached to them, so you can't really escape the notion that it's a real eye.

Once the eyeball is clean, they take a scalpel and carefully scrape at the side of black portion until the thick transparent layer (cornea) has a small hole.  Then they gently squeeze the eye until a blackish liquid emerges.

When the liquid is removed, a pair of small scissors is inserted into the hole to widen it.  That's when they have to squeeze very hard to remove a glob of white gel (vitreous humour).  This is what keeps your eye shape.  What also comes out is the lens which is a hard, transparent ball that looks like a glass bead.

With the inside of eye now empty, they must cut a sample of cornea and then make 2 incisions on side of eye.  It can then be turned inside out for the students to see inside of eyeball.  The inside surface is black and looks like it's stained with ink.  Amidst the black, there is a white spot that is linked to the optic nerve - that is the blind spot.  Near the incision, there is a portion of the inner surface that is black but streaked with whitish lines. This is the iris, the lines are radial muscles that control pupil dilation.

You paste the different parts on a labelled grid and as Lesley-Anne says, then you wash your hands a lot.  LOL.

This is a photo of the eyeballs prior to dissection, taken by her friend.

Last year, Lesley-Anne had to dissect a pig's heart.  She says the heart isn't as disgusting cos can psych yourself into thinking you're just handling a piece of meat. The eyeball, on the other hand, seems to follow you.  Even as she was relating the process of dissection, I felt squeamish and Andre kept saying "ewwwwww!!" as he covered his eyes as if protecting them.

On the other hand, at least an eyeball has no blood.  For the heart, the students had to spend a lot of time washing the blood clots out of it.  Anyway, Lesley-Anne says she'll much rather dissect an eyeball than a cockroach.  I totally agree.

Science schmience

Today is the last day of Andre's CA2, hooray!! Actually, it feels more like CA582. I mark my calendar by my kids' exams which seem to go on for perpetuity.

Up to the middle of this year, Kenneth and I split up the supervision of our kids' school work - he takes Science and Chinese, I take Math and English. Since Lesley-Anne began secondary school this year however, she has been completely independent where studying and schoolwork are concerned, so I've been hands-off (in fact, I couldn't help even if I wanted to, just reading the math explanations in her textbook makes my head swim).

Since I had a little more time, I offered to take over Andre's science revisions from Kenneth, a gesture which I suspect was secretly welcomed by both of them. Since taking over science, I've confirmed my belief that science in the primary school syllabus is more about English than science. The questions often call for answers to be worded in a specific way and with pre-determined key words. Anything different is usually not acceptable.

Andre sometimes has trouble differentiating between questions like "describe the process", "infer the properties" and "name the conditions". Yesterday, I set him a science assessment paper in a last-ditch effort to revise before the science exam today. One of the questions was: "Draw two conclusions from the observations." To my chagrin, I noticed that Andre had left that portion blank.

"Why didn't you answer this?"

"Because I didn't know how to draw the answer."

To his credit, his boo-boo dawned on him even as he uttered those words.

Once, his Chinese tutor noticed his low science marks and tried to help with this well-intended advice: "Learning science is not hard, just take the assessment book, before you look at the questions, look at the answers first and memorise all of them." Well, now you know how the China kids ace science exams. I think I hear Albert Einstein turning in his grave.

"Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination." - Bertrand Russell

Sec1 physics

At the sec 1 & 2 levels, most schools cover General Science under the Science curriculum. A few schools however, including Lesley-Anne's school, teach Physics, Chemistry and Biology as specialised units right from the start.

Admittedly, I don't know if the two methods are vastly different. I'm assuming that under the General Science route, obviously physics, chemistry and biology would be covered too but whether it's less in-depth or span a smaller breadth of topics, I'm not sure.

In this post, I'm just going to share what Lesley-Anne has been learning in science thus far. Term 1 was Physics. The topics covered include measurements, states of matter and heat transfer. She also learnt how to use the bunsen burner which created much excitement apparently. I remember being fascinated by the bunsen burner too although I always hated lighting it, what with my fear of matches. Nowadays the kids just use lighters which are so much more convenient, although Lesley-Anne claims the lighter doesn't like her as it refuses to spark.

After each term, the kids have to sit for a science test. The following are a couple of sample questions I've taken from Lesley-Anne's physics test. They're on the topic of heat transfer.

a) Explain what is meant by sensitivity of a liquid-in-glass thermometer. [2]

b) Which thermometer (X, Y or Z) is the least sensitive? [1]

c) State and explain which thermometer (X, Y or Z) is the least responsive. [2]

d) State one advantage of using mercury instead of alcohol as a thermometric liquid. [1]

a) Describe how the molecules of glass conduct heat to the water. [2]

b) Name the main process by which heat moves through the water. [1]

c) On Fig. 16.1, mark using arrows the direction of the movement of the water. [1]

The answers are:

14a) Sensitivity is the change in length of the liquid for every 1 degree celcius change in temperature.

b) Z

c) Y is the least responsive because its thicker bulb wall prevents heat from being conducted to the liquid quickly so the temperature takes a longer time to obtain.

d) Mercury is more responsive than alcohol so one can obtain the temperature of an object more quickly.

16a) The heated glass molecules vibrate vigorously, affecting the neighbouring molecules and causing them to vibrate vigorously too. The transfer continues until heat reaches the water molecules.

b) Convection

c) as in diagram

Lesley-Anne scored 35/40 for the test. This term, she's learning chemistry and while she finds it tougher than physics, overall, she's enjoying her science lessons tremendously, more so than in primary school. The syllabus spans a wide range of topics as well as go into each one in-depth. There is one lab session every week which allows for hands-on activities and experiments to make the subject more interesting and relevant.

Looking at the test paper, I find that at the secondary school level, they test what has been taught. As long as you understand and have studied the concepts thoroughly, you should be able to do reasonably well. This is unlike primary school test papers which in my opinion, often try to trip the kids up with obtuse inferences, convoluted language or rigid insistence on "key words" in answer scripts.

I know we're only just entering Term 2 but it's so great to see Lesley-Anne enjoying her science lessons. And no more drills with past year papers or assessment books - for me, that gets the thumbs up!

Andre's 2009 report card

Another school year has ended. I would rate Andre's academic performance as fair. His final exam this year showed me quite distinctly where his strengths and weaknesses are. While I don't want to put any labels on him, it's apparent that he needs help in his languages - both English and Chinese. For both, his spoken language is better than his written language.

Andre's science is ok but I still find that his strange perspective sometimes gets him into trouble. For instance, there was this question in the science paper:

Mr Ting brought a mystery animal to class and asked this pupils to guess what it was. The clues are listed below.

• This animal is covered with fur.
• This animal eats meat and bone.
• This animal can run and jump on land.
• This animal can swim in water.
• This animal can be kept as a pet.

Name the mystery animal.

I mean, it's quite obviously a dog, right? This is what Andre wrote: "The mystery animal is a platypus."

I went in despair, "how on earth can it be a platypus??"

"I didn't know a dog could swim!"

"It's a pet! How can a platypus be a pet?"

"I thought you could keep it in a tank."

Maths was the only subject he achieved a Band 1 and it was probably this that saved him. He managed to get into a reasonable class next year and I'm thankful for that. His results are not spectacular but I know they could have been worse. Moving ahead, we will need to put in more effort into his languages to build on his foundation and make sure he doesn't slip further.

Meanwhile, this was what his teacher wrote in his report book:

"Andre is a diligent and responsible student who shows a positive attitude towards his work. He readily accepts feedback on his weaknesses and works towards improvement. This can be seen from his enthusiastic nature in class over the semester. A warm, cheerful and caring boy, he takes initiative to extend his generous assistance to his peers and this makes him a well-liked student amongst his classmates."

Andre was very encouraged by what she wrote - I think it's great of her to focus on his attitude instead of solely on his grades. I'm praying that he will be blessed with an equally enlightened teacher next year and be motivated to keep learning.

9 candles for Andre

It's Andre's birthday! My little imp turns 9 today, would you believe it. Since yesterday was a school holiday (Children's Day), it was the perfect opportunity to celebrate his special day. He told us explicitly how he wanted to spend it - have a Japanese buffet lunch and visit the Science Centre. Feed the tummy and feed the mind. Why not?

So off we went!

Lunch was at Hoshi Restaurant at IMM, recommended by Lilian. There's an ala carte buffet promotion there now, $28.50++ for adults and $15.50++ for children. They charged Lesley-Anne the child price even though she's above the 140cm height limit, so that was a bonus.

It was excellent value for money. Nothing gets my attention faster than the phrase "free-flow sashimi". Quality wise, I actually differed in opinion with Lilian on quite a few items. The sashimi was fresh but somehow, we felt the quality lost out to some other ala carte buffets we've tried. The tuna was a little mincey and not as firm. Having said that, it didn't stop us from having 6 platters of mixed sashimi and 7 extra plates of salmon sashimi...

I thought the highlight was the ebi tempura. I'm usually not a fan but these were super light and crispy - excellent! The soft shell crab was pretty good too and Lesley-Anne loved the yakitori. The tepanyaki items looked better than they tasted - ok but nothing special. Food pics here:

Can you tell he's satisfied?
Then we headed to the Science Centre, just around the corner. (Yes, we planned it that way). I haven't been to the Science Centre in quite a few years so I was pleasantly surprised to find that they have added some new and more interactive sections. I thought some of the previous exhibits were looking a little run down. The pic on the left is of an old display but always a favourite optical illusion with my kids.

One of the temporary exhibitions currently running is the F1 exhibition, which showcases the technology behind the uber cool sport. There's an actual F1 car on display and here's Andre trying out the position of an F1 driver.

A relatively new section at the Science Centre is the I-Space area which showcases IT in all its glory. Tons of interactive displays including RFID tags, 3-D games and home applications - all great fun for this little boy who loves trying out gadgets. Taking centrestage in the I-Space section is a neon-lit tree-like structure made out of optic fibres. It's pretty neat.

There was also this giant electronic soft board (sorry for bad description, I'm no techie!) where you could sms a message and see it float on display. I imagine Andre thought it was magical that the Science Centre knew it was his birthday.

We didn't visit the Omni-theatre but there's a Van Gogh show currently being screened and I thought this promotional exhibit was very interesting. You may recognise the scene below from one of Van Gogh's very famous paintings but what you may not realise is that it's an actual physical exhibit. The way the room and furniture has been painted makes the scene look uncannily like a picture. Amazing stuff.

To top off that fabulous day, Andre went home to his pile of presents and to his delight, he got everything he wanted (he made no secret of his birthday wishlist) - a couple of new Beast Quest books, a badminton shirt, more toy cars and his favourite - two boxes of Lego Power Miners. What can I say, he has very nice family members!

And of course, what's a birthday without cake? Happy birthday Andre! You'll always be my lovable, huggable, cutie pie.