Book recommendations for action and fantasy loving kids

Recently, Andre showed interest in a couple of books, so I thought it would be timely to share the finds. My two recommendations today are book sets in the fantasy genre with lots of action.

The first recommendation is not much of a surprise, it's Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. Interestingly enough, I bought the first book for myself on a friend's recommendation, before the movie was released and before I'd heard all the hype. The book got me so hooked I went out and bought the entire box set from Popular. This is an exceptional series. I say this because it is the first series of books where every member of my family actually read and enjoyed. That's right - Kenneth, Lesley-Anne, Andre and me! Talk about value for money.

I don't know how Collins did it but she writes in such a way that's simple enough for a child of 11 to understand yet sophisticated enough to engage adults. The themes are also pretty gender-neutral. Just a quick blurb, the Hunger Games is set in a hostile land where every year, 24 children have to fight to the death in a terrifying live event that's televised to the citizens. Only the winner survives. The protagonist is 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen who volunteers to take her younger sister's place in the games.

We never caught the movie. In my experience, movie adaptations seldom live up to the magnificence of the book which can better capture every thought and nuance. The book is fast-paced and there's non-stop action which is great for Andre. He loved it even more than the Percy Jackson series. I'd never seen him so engrossed in a book that he chose to read it over computer time. If that's not incentive for all you parents with reading-averse kids, I don't know what is!

The second series, which Andre is currently reading, is Maximum Ride by James Patterson. It chronicles the lives of six fugitive children known as the Flock, who underwent scientific experiments that made them 98% human and 2% avian. The main character is 14-year-old Maximum "Max" Ride (another female protagonist!), leader of the Flock.

There are seven books altogether, divided into two sections: The Fugitives (books 1–3) and The Protectors (books 4–7). Andre started reading this series upon the recommendation of Lesley-Anne who enjoyed it tremendously at p6. The storyline is compelling enough to hook his interest. However, from book 4 onwards, I understand the writer started focusing on the love story between Max and Fang (another member of the Flock), which put Lesley-Anne off. If you're not keen on your pre-teen reading love stories, then stop at book 3.

I understand that Maximum Ride will also be adapted into a movie, to be released next year.

I would estimate the reading level of both these series as suitable for age 11 onwards, although the themes are probably targeted at teenagers.

Of Kids and Education is on Facebook!

Ever so often, I would receive friend requests on Facebook by readers of this blog. However, since I prefer to keep my Facebook friends to people I actually know, I usually don't accept those requests.

Nevertheless, I do want to connect with my readers and fans and the blog platform is a little limited since they can only do so via the comments. Many readers, especially those too shy to comment, have thus remained faceless to me, which isn't ideal. I would love this to be a two-way street. So what I've done is to set up a community page for this blog on Facebook. It's something I guess I should have done a long time ago but just never got around to it.

The thought is that it will be a place where my readers can share their views on education and kids in general, and also interact with me and other like-minded parents, hence the name "Community". It's also there that I will post updates on this blog and any other random thoughts, Facebook-style.

I hope you will support me in this. Just click on the "Like" button on the top right hand corner of this page and visit the FB page to join in the community. See you there!

Chope... akan datang

This is not a post. This is an advertisement of sorts to let you know not to expect another post here at least until the school holidays are over.

Reasons:

1) It's the school holidays. My engine automatically screeches to a halt (as all mums of school-going children know, our circadian rhythm coincides with that of our kids). Often, my body is up at 9am but the brain doesn't cotton on till noon.

2) I was supposed to be updating my Travel Blog on our family trip to Darwin. For some reason, it's taking me longer to write about this 5-day trip than our three-times-as-long New Zealand trip last year. Bear with me and keep checking back there, I promise it will get done eventually.

3) In my defence, I did write a pretty long post before this - a substantial one talking about the education system and everything. I figure that justifies me to a two-week or so reprieve.

So, enjoy the break and I'll be right back.

Education stress - whose fault?

In a recent media interview, Minister for Education Heng Swee Keat told parents that they had to accept new methods of teaching to prepare children for the future.

Rightly or wrongly, I was disappointed. Not because I don't agree with him but because it would appear that he missed the point. I don't think parents are anxious so much about the new methods as the fact that we seem to be constantly chasing an upwardly moving (and evolving) target. Stress over new methods is simply a symptom.

Incidentally, I thought it was funny that he used algebra vs the MOE method of maths models as an example of old (bad) vs new (good). I'm a big proponent of maths models myself but come on, it's essentially two different methods to solve the SAME problems. We're not actually teaching our kids how to solve new problems so I don't see how it better prepares them for the future. And by the way, someone should tell him that maths in secondary school reverts to algebra. Nobody touches maths models after p6. So much for continuity.

What I was disappointed with was that instead of addressing parents' anxiety, he seems to put the blame squarely on parents.

After I wrote my letter to him last year, I received some comments saying that parents are at fault too for being kiasu and myopic. I've never denied that. I've always maintained that our society does not exist in a vacuum and there are usually many contributing factors to any breakdown in a system. So I will now state categorically that I believe parents are at fault too.

In an interview for a Dan Rathers tv documentary, I was asked why Singapore parents are so involved in their kids' education, I told them it's a cultural legacy. If there's a common thread among Asian parents, it's our focus on education. Truth is, we all have some degree of the Tiger Mum syndrome. Some parents might protest, not true! I'm not one of those kiasu ones! I would like a less stressful system so my kids can enjoy their childhood and not mug all the time.

But from speaking to many parents, I know that most of us still want our kids to do well in school and by well, I mean just that little bit better than others. Most of the time, parents are stressed because they feel their kids are not keeping up with others. Ask yourself how often you've grilled your kid on how his other classmates did. I'll use my own example - when Andre gets 68 for a maths exam, if I find out that the class average was 50, I breathe easy. If the class average was 80, however, I go into panic mode.

It's no coincidence that the most academically competitive countries are Asian - China, India, Japan, South Korea and you can add Singapore. Asian countries also typically ace international maths and science tests, practically sweeping the top 5 in the TIMSS 2007 maths test and science test. The results don't even include China which didn't participate in the test.

Asian parents focus on academics no matter where they are. In Western countries, the Asian geek stereotype with parents who scorn any grade lower than an A didn't come about by accident. Asian parents just push academics harder. We can't help it, it's in our blood.

I know quite a few parents who are living overseas and tell me oh, it's so relaxed there and that's how education should be, about discovery. See, we're not kiasu. Here's what I think: sure, it's partly because the Singapore system drives kiasu behaviour, but maybe it's also because in the Western countries, it doesn't take that much effort for their kids to score well. It's certainly not because Western kids have lower IQs, it's just that they simply don't care as much about grades as we do so they don't put in as much effort.

Asian kids routinely top the honour rolls and sweep the academic medals overseas, sometimes without that much extra effort (I'm comparing to Singapore). It could be just a little parental coaching at home. If our kids can perform well, of course we can relax and not ply them with assessment books or tuition!

Whereas in Singapore, EVERYONE cares about grades. So it's a big fat competition and when our kids come home doing worse than others, we feel pressurised to do something about it. Hence, tuition. Assessment books. More tuition. Yes, even the parents who say they don't want to join in the ratrace. The very same "relaxed" parents overseas when they return, start piling their kids with assessment books and enrichment classes. So my suspicion is, when parents say they don't want a tuition society, what they mean is they don't want others to go for tuition so theirs can go for less tuition.

I personally know parents who publicly denounce the system, complain about the elitism of the system, and then quietly try to pull strings or beat the system to get their kids into branded schools (while sending their kids for tuition in all subjects).

Gasp. Am I actually agreeing with Heng Swee Keat that the brouhaha about the education system is indeed, all parents' fault?

Not exactly.

I find that our system, along with most Asian systems, is bad for kids because it exacerbates the competitiveness for reasons not related to education. Historically, our system has been a pragmatic one, stemming from our need for economic survival and it would seem that MOE is unable to relinquish this crutch.

My guess is, the Singapore education system is about identifying the top 1% for future leadership roles and training the remaining 99% to be hamsters to run the economic wheel. That's why the traditional focus on hard skills like maths, science, engineering and economics. Even when we claim to embrace sports and the arts, there is still a pragmatic angle to it - show us the medals.

The system used to work one, two generations ago when getting a steady job was the key consideration of many Singaporeans but today, nobody wants to be a hamster. We all want our kids to be the top 1%, hence the cramming and the scrambling. The few brave souls who initially refuse to be caught up in the hamster race find themselves at the bottom of the ladder and quickly realise that it's not such a fun position to be in. Inadvertently, they succumb to pressure and join in the race.

If our educational goals are really to identify talent and train individuals for industry, while raising standards so we can sell the system to our foreign counterparts, then no wonder our education system is the way it is. The excessive emphasis on exams, the long school hours to perfect exam skills, the setting of ridiculously complex questions and the constant haranguing of kids for not keeping up. I've always felt that my kids go to school not to learn but to perform. I've mentioned this before - education in Singapore is treated like a business entity.

Some schools still reveal class and level positions, causing those at the bottom to go into a frenzy to claw their way up. Many schools stream the kids every year from p3 into classes according to how well they performed the year before. The PSLE is scored based on your comparative position - it's not about how well you do but how well you do in relation to others. Our system encourages competition, not collaboration.

And why not? If the objective is to identify talents and boost standards, then it's in MOE's interest to ensure that parents continue to shoulder the responsibility of raising their kids' capabilities via tuition, assessment books, etc. It passes on part of the burden of education from the state to parents.

I've often spoken about Lesley-Anne's difficulty with maths. She's in sec 3 now and her maths teacher starts a new topic every couple of weeks. He goes so quickly that she can't keep up and she can't understand his method of teaching. When the class doesn't perform to his standards for the exam, he scolds them for not revising. Mind you, this is an SGBE class of extremely dedicated students who live to do well in school.

For the SA1, Lesley-Anne had spent almost as much time studying for this one subject of maths as her other subjects put together. Yet, she flunked her A maths exam miserably. On her paper, her teacher wrote, "REVISE YOUR WORK!" Bo pian, I got her a tutor. After looking at what she was learning, the tutor said she was learning stuff that's taught in A level maths. Lesley-Anne asked, "what on earth do they teach at A levels?" He replied, "oh they include some Further Maths."

Crazy, I tell you, crazy. She's forced to take up an advanced subject that she clearly has neither interest nor aptitude in (A maths is compulsory in her school), and to add to that, it's accelerated. What is the point of this? Why are we obsessed with knowing MORE of everything NOW? I'll tell you why. It's so that at A levels, the kids would have learned more than they need to know to ace the exams and the JC can claim their 80% distinctions. It's also why the school encourages all the kids to take Maths at A levels. They're openly told: "You should take it, it's easy to score."

When we went for the Parent-Teacher Conference, Lesley-Anne's form teacher looked at her report book - Distinctions for English, Literature and Integrated Humanities - and said, it's very clear where her strengths lie. Then she showed us the failing mark for A maths with concern. We shrugged and said "It's ok. We knew she was never going to be a mathemetician."

At some point, we need to stand our ground and realise that we are the ones who have our kids' best interest at heart, not the system. As Ken Robinson said years ago in his epic Ted talk and in this interview with Guardian, schools kill creativity because they're primarily there to meet the needs of industrialisation, not, surprise surprise, the needs of your child.

Our system evaluates each child according to a set of narrow academic scores and if we do not prevent our kids from internalising this flawed assessment of themselves, we run the danger of grooming individuals with either a misplaced superiority complex or deep-seated insecurities.

I usually like to remain hopeful but in Singapore's case, I get the impression that MOE thinks the system is generally working fine. And let's face it, if they think it ain't broke, they ain't gonna fix it.

So in the end, it's still up to us parents to make the difference. Accept the inevitable that while your kids are in the system, they will have to roll with the punches. Just be there to create as much balance as possible and know that you can have a more profound influence on your child than any school or system.

Down under for a little R&R

We've just returned from a short holiday in Darwin, Australia, so will be posting our pictures and adventures on my travel blog for a while.

Lesley-Anne has been showing an interest in photography recently so for this trip, she brought along my sister's old hybrid camera to experiment, after poring over the Internet on apertures and shutter speeds. These are some of the pictures she took and while she still has a long way to go, I do think they show potential.

We might just invest in a newer hybrid or a DSLR for her. Photography is such a lovely hobby.

Meanwhile, you're invited to share in our trip. I'll be posting over the next few days so keep checking my travel blog!

Judging a book by its shelf space

I have a love-hate relationship with my Ikea bookshelves. The love is easy to explain - they're so pretty. White, simple and pristine, they keep my office orderly in an understated, elegant way. Heck, they even allow me to display movie posters on the cupboard doors.

Why hate? Well, they've begun to sag. Actually, I think the sagging process started the minute I put my books on them. Ikea reduces the price every year but what they don't tell you is they also reduce the quality until it's virtually just a couple of cardboard sheets acting as shelves. Is it only me who thinks it's ridiculous to sell a bookshelf that's not designed to hold the weight of books? Damn you, Billy Bookcase. If only you didn't look so good.

Maybe it's partly my fault - I have way too many books. So many that my bookshelf sagged from intimidation. It would be justifiable if they were all great books but the fact is among the gems, I also have lots of duds. Books that should never have been published and did the trees which gave up their precious pulp a grave disservice.

Take Paul Theroux, for example. He used to be a brilliant story-teller. I love his earlier writing and could even forgive him for his petty, anti-Singapore grudge. But in his old age, his books have become self-absorbed and incomprehensible drivel. It's like seeing John Lennon degenerate into Justin Bieber. Yet, I keep buying his books, hoping beyond hope that he would revert to his glory days. Three strikes, you're out. Utter waste of paper, waste of my time and waste of my bookshelf space.

Why do I bother to keep them, then? Because, ladies and gentlemen, I'm a book hoarder. Here's roughly my thought process:

"That book was pretty bad, I should dump it."
"But I paid good money for it."
"I'll probably never read it again anyway, so why keep it."
"But some day, my kids might..."

Inevitable conclusion: "Ah well, it doesn't take up much space anyway."
Result: sagging bookshelves

I do give away some books that I really cannot tahan on my shelf anymore but not nearly enough. I have Enid Blytons, Agatha Christies and a whole series of Disney books from my youth, that no one else in this household will ever read. I faithfully saved them for my kids, not realising that Enid Blyton had long gone out of fashion. But when I remember how I've lugged them from house to house (I've moved 7 times in my life, 8 if you count the move to the university hostel), it seems a little sayang to throw them out now. My books are a bit like family - they give you baggage that drive you insane but you feel guilty parting with them.

I recently did a count and discovered that I have 18 unread books on my bookshelf. The crazy thing is, I keep buying more. Sometimes, for no reason other than there was a 10% discount coupon on bookdepository. I have to force myself to edit my buys at book sales. I even have a book entitled, "So Many Books, So Little Time". I don't think I ever finished it.

I don't just buy books, I buy book sets. I have a compulsive urge to collect entire book series, preferably in the same edition, thank you very much. My kids are beneficiaries of this obsession - I rarely turn down book requests (unless it's Twilight or Archie comics).

Please don't ask me why Andre has toy soldiers guarding his books.

You know, being a book hoarder has its plus points. Whenever Lesley-Anne brings home a required reading list for literature, chances are she needs to look no further than my bookshelves.

And when her friends came over and saw my shelves, they went a little berserk. "You have the coolest mum!" they gushed. It's nice to be a hero in the eyes of your child's friends.

Yes, I am a hoarder. But as a friend said, better books than shoes.

“Of course anyone who truly loves books buys more of them than he or she can hope to read in one fleeting lifetime. A good book, resting unopened in its slot on a shelf, full of majestic potentiality, is the most comforting sort of intellectual wallpaper.” - David Quaimen

The failure of success

Lesley-Anne's arch nemesis is maths. It's always been the subject that gives her the most grief. Despite this, she has managed to do reasonably well in maths thus far through sheer hard work.

When she hit sec 3 this year however, the struggle really got to her, particularly in A Maths. So much so that she asked for maths tuition as she was unable to follow the lessons in school. Despite this, she still flunked her mid-year A Math exam dismally. She was terribly upset because she had spent a lot of time working on it, at the expense of some other subjects. Yet when she told me the news, I said, "good!"

Before you gasp and call me a sadist, I want to clarify that I do appreciate the work she has put in and I do empathise with her disappointment. However, I find that for high achieving kids like Lesley-Anne, failure can be such a foreign concept. While she's not one of the truly top scorers, she generally does well academically even in a competitive school and is able to juggle lots of other activities like piano, ballet and a heavy CCA.

I understand how some parents might think this is a dream scenario but in this respect, I actually worry more for her than for Andre. For kids like Andre, failure is part and parcel of their everyday life. He has to put in twice the effort as Lesley-Anne to achieve half the results. And even then, he often doesn't get the results he desires, both academically and in sports. Ironically then, his successes are celebrated more because they're not expected, they're a bonus.

To me, kids who have not tasted failure are in a much more vulnerable position. In an achievement-centric system like Singapore's, kids like Lesley-Anne tend to link their self-esteem with their accomplishments. This comes about because they are constantly praised by teachers and parents for their academic and other achievements, so that they internalise the message as, "I'm valued because of what I've achieved, not who I am."

I've definitely been guilty of reinforcing this. When my kids were much younger, I used to wonder why it was that my very accomplished daughter seemed to have a shakier self-esteem than her much less academic brother. Lesley-Anne was the typical high achieving student in lower primary, always aiming for high marks and striving to please us. But she was also inward-looking and shied away from trying new things.
Contrast this with Andre, whose self-esteem is not linked to his academic achievement (thank God for that!) He may be disappointed with bad marks but they don't cause him to think less of himself, at least not for long. He's also less worried about the unknown and more ready to laugh at his own mistakes.
It was only later, I think when Lesley-Anne was in p4, that the reality dawned on me. Her teacher asked each student to stand up and tell the class what he or she is most afraid of. She stood up and declared, "I'm afraid of failure." That's when I realised that all those times of praising her for her achievements and scolding her when her results didn't meet expectations (like 99% of other parents), were actually having a damaging effect on her character.
Time for damage control then. From then, I tried to de-link achievement and value. I consciously encouraged and praised her for trying new things out of her comfort zone (even if it's something as trivial as going on a roller coaster). I told her it's the effort that counts and I tried to mean what I said, so if she came home with an unsatisfactory score, I wouldn't berate her for it because I know she had worked hard for it. The score was inconsequential.

I do feel that these measures have made a difference and even though she still strives to score well (nothing wrong with that, by the way), I'd like to believe that her scores no longer affect her self-esteem.

I strongly believe that this lesson is an important one. For kids who have always succeeded, the fear of failing can become crippling. Afterall, the higher you go, the further you have to fall. Inadvertently, they start fashioning their lives around not falling, by doing only things they think they will succeed in. It prevents them from trying new stuff, from enjoying their lives. It imprisons them.

This brings me to this book, "The Happy Student" by Daniel Wong. Daniel is a product of the Singapore education system and offered to send me a copy of his book. I'll admit when he first contacted me, I was skeptical. I told him I wasn't going to use my blog as an advertising platform and I'd write about it only if I felt it had value.

After reading parts of it, I thought I'd mention it here. I like that Daniel was a local student (he attended Tao Nan, Raffles Institution and Victoria JC) because that's definitely something other students can connect with. Essentially, he recounts all the anxiety and disatisfaction he felt with chasing grades and tries to bring about awareness that academic achievement does not equate fulfillment, based on his own experience. I also like his casual writing style - it's friendly and easy to read.

However, don't expect any earth-shattering revelations. Most of what he says is common sense, nothing new. Basically he says what I've been saying all along, it's the journey, not the destination that counts.  I think the book might be useful for high flying students who face the same dilemma of grade-chasing for its own sake, to give them some perspective from someone who's been there, done that. If I have one criticism of the book, it's that Daniel seems too much like the perfect student to be true, that he risks alienating some readers. I think he would have come across more real if he had included some instances where he'd failed and how he got back on his feet, but that's just my opinion.

As I was flipping through the book, I came across this page, which confirms what I've been saying earlier - that focusing on academic success is actually detrimental to character building and learning:

"When you've attained superficial success, there's a lot of pressure on you to continue succeeding... I performed well academically throughout my schooling years. Consequently, I felt the need to keep up my grades. I began to fear the possibility of not getting an A for a class. In order to ensure that I kept getting A's, I only took classes that I'd already demonstrated an aptitude for. I shied away from classes or activities where my aptitude hadn't yet been tested. This meant that I never tried my hand at things like dance, theater or literature.

This resulted in more A's but less education, more awards but less fulfillment, more accomplishments but less growth - and this was driven entirely by fear."

- The Happy Student, Daniel Wong, p132

I therefore truly believe that the occasional dose of failure is healthy, especially when you're young. It will help you recognise that failure is an essential part of life's journey, and that picking yourself up and trying again is nothing to be ashamed of, in fact, is part of the process of growing as an individual. A caveat though, I'm not talking about failing something that you didn't have time to work on or didn't bother to put in the effort. I'm talking about failing despite the effort and long hours.

As part of my work, I interview many doctors and healthcare professionals. A senior doctor in charge of education at SingHealth once told me about a very tough medical exam which has a high failure rate of 75%. The medical students who sit for the exam know that passing would be a challenge. Yet when they fail, some of them behave like it's the end of the world and start questioning their own abilities. That's because they have become so accustomed to success that they are completely unequipped to deal with failure. The senior doctor looked amused, "It's just an exam! Pick yourself up and try again."

That's what we need to teach our kids, folks. And so to Lesley-Anne, I say, "you failed your math exam? Good! It's ok. Try again next time."

"Succeed by failing." - Gretchen Rubin

Pasta and pig trotters

Warning: Although this is a post on Mother's Day, my sole intent is to indulge in food porn. So if you're not a foodie, skip this!

We decided to partake in a double celebration this year. Since my mother-in-law now lives with us, we thought it called for two Mother's Day meals. (In case you haven't noticed, this is a family that will use any excuse to makan.)

Saturday evening dinner was for my benefit and I requested for Italian cuisine, to satisfy my craving for gnocchi. I don't usually hanker for Italian food, but ever since I first tasted gnocchi about a year ago, it's been on my mind.

For those who don't know, gnocchi is pasta made from potato instead of wheat. It has a gooey texture and is less chewy than your regular pasta. It's actually quite jelak, so I can only manage a small portion of it at one sitting but it's decadently delicious with a cream sauce.

After checking out a few menus and reviews online, we decided on Pasta Fresca. This restaurant is one of the pioneering Italian restaurants in Singapore and we've been there a couple of times but for some reason, it's never been a regular haunt with us. In fact, this was our kids' first time there.

Here's what we ordered:

Croquettes (made from mashed potato, egg, mint and parmesan cheese) $9.80.

Lightly battered so it's crunchy outside and fluffy inside. The sauce with a dollop of cheese is fabulous.

Gnocchi with Mare e Monti sauce (tomato and cream sauce with crab meat and mushrooms) $18.90.

This was the star of the show. I was worried the dish would under-deliver since I had such high hopes for it. My worries were unfounded - it was YUMMMZ. The texture of the gnocchi was sublime and after tasting it, Kenneth and Lesley-Anne became gnocchi converts too. The sauce was superb, with generous pieces of crab meat, but we may order a cream sauce the next time (yes, there's definitely gonna be a next time!)

Tortellini with Mama Rosa sauce (tomato and cream sauce with mushroom and parmesan cheese) $17.10

This was Lesley-Anne's order, she loves tortellini. You can't really taste the meat filling but the pasta is very fresh and the sauce again, is excellent.

Quattro Formaggi pizza (4 cheeses pizza with emmenthal, Danish blue cheese, parmesan and mozzarella) $19.90

Andre chose this one and he loved it, declaring it the best pizza he'd ever eaten. The rest of us thought it was good but it wasn't our favourite. I think we prefer some meat toppings on our pizzas whereas Andre is Cheeseboy.

Ending with dessert - Tiramisu al Mascarpone e Caffe $9.30

This is a generous size, great for sharing. Some may feel there's not enough of a liquor taste but it's perfect for us with kids. It lasted all of 5 minutes at our table. I had to practically fend off poised forks and yell "Don't eat first! Let me take a photo!" to get this shot.

Mother's Day part 2 was Sunday lunch at Chui Huay Lim Teochew Restaurant. Located at the Chui Huay Lim Clubhouse at Keng Lee Road, this is a relatively new restaurant by the Jumbo group. My mother-in-law is Teochew and so am I, so this is a return to our roots!

And here's our order:

Traditional liver rolls $8

Deep fried prawn balls $12

"Puning" Fermented Bean Chicken $15 (half a chicken)

Jellied pig trotters $8

Stir-Fried Baby French Beans $10 (small)

Signature cold crab $38 (large)

"Gooey" oyster omelette $12

Fried mee suah $24 (medium)

For dessert, yam paste ("orh nee") $4 (individual serving)

This was our first visit to the restaurant and I must say, we were all wowed by the quality of the food. All the dishes managed to keep the authenticity of Teochew cuisine while bringing out the freshness and flavours of the ingredients. The chicken was an unexpected hit with tangy slivers of salted vegetable and the cold crab was divine.

It's not easy to impress our family when it comes to Chinese food cos my mother-in-law is a 5-star cook and we do eat out a lot, but this restaurant got top marks from all of us. Most definitely worthy of a visit (and re-visit).

The mandatory potent Chinese tea to complete the meal.

And so you don't say my Mother's Day was only about food, here are the cards made by my two very thoughtful, very sweet kids. (No prizes for guessing who made which card).

Here's hoping all you mums had an equally (to borrow Lesley-Anne's phrases) fun-filled, food-filled, family-filled Mother's Day!

Ankle aweigh!

It's been slightly over 3 weeks since Andre injured his foot and being immobile has been tough on him. Looking on the bright side, his condition has led him to some memorable experiences, such as riding on this stair contraption for wheelchairs (we happened to be at a building that didn't have a ramp). The security guard looked almost as thrilled as Andre, apparently it was his first time operating the equipment.

Finally, it was time to remove the cast. About time too - Andre's restlessness was beginning to translate into recklessness - like hopping on one foot to the bathroom or zipping about in his swivel chair, brandishing the crutch like a machine gun. It was another accident waiting to happen.

Making the cut...

... and the foot's free at last!

The news is great - his foot is fully recovered and there's no discernible swelling. This calls for a celebration with a large platter of fish and chips at Fish & Co!

The foot's not entirely back to normal though. Since it's been in a cast for so long, it still feels tender and sore when Andre puts weight on it, so he continues to use his crutches. To help with the recovery, he's been going swimming everyday, something he relishes. Not only will it improve strength and flexibility in his foot, it should also help him rebuild his stamina.

Praying he will be back on his feet real soon!

Sleepover for dream girls

You've probably figured out that we're big on sleepovers. It's enormous fun for the kids and they get to hang out with their friends for more than just a couple of hours.

Lesley-Anne organised a sleepover as a belated birthday celebration over the Labour Day holiday and invited the female classmates from her primary school. It's funny but even after being in different secondary schools for almost three years, many of these girls are still closer to their primary school classmates. I think it has something to do with the small class sizes of GEP and there are so few girls that close bonds tend to form among them.

Most of them came over late after school and we provided dinner - shepherd's pie (which was a great hit at Lesley-Anne's last birthday party three years ago), broccoli soup and garlic bread. These girls love food and tucked in with relish. One asked Lesley-Anne, "do you eat like this everyday??" According to Lesley-Anne, one of the girls was once asked to write a Chinese composition on anorexia and she said, "Teacher, I can't! All my friends like to eat!" Heh.

Then there was the mandatory cake ritual and I thought it would be interesting to compare the photo with the one three years ago, when Lesley-Anne turned 12.

This is 2012:

and 2009:

It's so nostalgic to see how much the girls have grown (not all of them are in both pictures though). They're all blossoming!

They spent the rest of the night yakking and playing their favourite board game - Gift Trap. It's a terrific game for social events and tells a lot about the personalities of individuals. Basically, you move forward for giving gifts that people like, and also for receiving gifts you like. If you tend to give good gifts, it shows you know the people around you well. If you tend to get good gifts, it shows that others know you well.

One girl in the group kept winning and I wasn't surprised, she's a very perceptive individual. I predict she'll go far in life. Another turned out to be a disaster at both giving and receiving. Hmmm...

One of the girls gave Lesley-Anne a giraffe t-shirt and it was only later that the girls realised she had drawn it herself. The other girls were surprised, apparently the giver could only doodle stick figures back in primary school. Talk about hidden talents!

Here's another thoughtful, home-made gift. I love it, it's so creative.

Not all the girls could sleep over but they stayed up till almost midnight before they left. They were chatting and laughing so loudly that a feeling-left-out Andre came out of his room and pouted, "can you tell them some people are trying to sleep here."

In the end, only 2 girls could stay the night so it was a cosy affair.

Breakfast in the morning - simple fare of toast with Nutella or cheese, or cereal.

In the late morning, 2 of the girls from the previous day returned to rejoin the party, so the fun started all over again!

I know I've said this before but really, organising a party for girls is child's play compared to one for boys. Unlike at Andre's party, I didn't have anyone:

1) attempt to destroy my furniture
2) tear around the house trying to "shoot" each other
3) leave food and water trails all over the floor ala Hansel and Gretel
4) visit the kitchen 100 times to test out the fridge water dispenser

The girls even collected all the rubbish in a plastic bag and discarded it neatly after they were done. Civilisation, thou art female.

Lunch was spaghetti and they requested for the leftover broccoli soup cos they enjoyed it so much the night before.

Lesley-Anne really enjoyed the birthday/reunion party and it was great to see the warmth and camaraderie. These are lovely girls - they're bright but not full of themselves, sparkly and not catty, like some girls can be.

There are few things in life as precious as true friendship. I hope these girls will treasure each other for life.