Blancpain Dinner

We were invited to a Blanpain dinner held in Hibiscus and M and I had such a good time!!!

Before we started on bubbles and vino

The gorgeous Pao Mama

Lovely starter -souffle 

Grilled cod with spring veg puree...even though it wasn't exactly spring time! 

Slow cooked beef - divine!!!

Dessert - can't remember what it was as it wasn't that impressive and bubbles just seemed a better option! hahahaha

Finishing off with chocolates, madeleines and nougats 

After having a few glasses and it was me attempting to have a go at the watch assembling!

A wonderful evening out and I can't wait to have more of these to come!

The 15th month

Oh hello there! I found a new hiding spot! (We only put her in there for a laugh otherwise the door is always shut)

This month has gone by waaaay too fast! I felt we had only celebrated Christmas and New Year and before we knew it, it was CNY! We celebrated CNY in London this year and we kind of liked it that way as to be honest, Taipei is almost a dead city during the festive season and it's just another excuse to eat MORE food!

Height - 78.5 cm (yes, either Rayray has shrunk considerably or the tape measure in UK was VERY different from the one in Taiwan?)

Weight - 11.5 kg 

Eating - Rayray is still a good eater and I hope she remains one! Though she has started wanting to feed herself and so apart from offering her finger foods, I assist her in loading food onto her spoon then guiding it to her mouth. It amazes me how a 15 month-old knows what she wants i.e. She would want a mouthful of meat, some bread, followed by some veggie and a sip of water!!

Though it does frustrate me when it comes to milk time as she would normally down her morning milk but it is always a struggle in the evening. I have to read her stories and 'bribe' her i.e. saying that I'd read her more after milk. I now realise how easy it was to breastfeed as I never knew how much she drank! and yes I am the kind of mum that FORCES her baby to finish her milk as she doesn't have the recommended daily amount i.e. 690 ml. She would have 450ml the most, but 360-400ml on most days.

Mummy, do I look cute like this? (one of her favourite funny faces!)

Sleeping - LTN is still a bit of a hit or miss and it is the evening bit that frustrates me as she decided that I had to either stand or sit by her cot till she falls asleep. It doesn't usually take long as she is normally tired by then. I guess it is just one of the phases that babies go through.

At Greenwich Library's sing & rhyme time

Development -

• Rayray has now cut through two more upper front teeth! 

• She took her very first unaided steps!!!!! She has been pushing arounf her walker for a few weeks but to see her walking on her own was just amazing! I have it on video but still have no clue how to upload it on here! Help Rod!!!

• She understands more than I realise! When I ask her where her beaker/milk is, she doesn't point them but instead looks around for them and will stare at it when she spots it. Apart from understanding 'NO', she also understands 'Come here', 'Look' and 'Baba' is still one of her favourite words and she has started saying a lot  of 'dooooor'?!

• Rayray loves carrying objects i.e. bags or toys when she walks around. I guess it is just one of the many new skills she acquires.

• She also understands the purpose of various objects i.e. she would 'pretend' to comb her hair when given a brush, she would know hair clips go onto her hair, tooth brush is for brushing teeth and shower gel is to wash her body!

Scooting around!!!

My happy bunny, my whole heart

My little dumpling is just so much fun to be with but she is changing so fast that I can't keep up with!

13-14 months

12-13 months 

11-12 months

10-11 months

9-10 months

8-9 months

7-8 months

6-7 months

5-6 months

4-5 months

3-4 months

2-3 months

1-2 months

0-1 month

The 14th month

Happy on the swing

Little missy turns 14 month today and gosh, where has the time gone? She has grown so much this month that I think I need to start jotting things down as I go along now!

Height - 83 cm

Weight - 11.3 kg (she has put on a fair bit of weight this month!)

Eating - On goats milk twice a day (200ml in the morning and 125ml before bed) and 100-150ml of almond milk at breakfast. Still loves her food and has good three solid meals a day plus a yoghurt or smoothie after nap in the afternoon.

At one of her 'favourite' restaurants, Bar Boulud as somehow she loooves the waiters there! lol

Sleeping - Her LTN went to pot after Christmas as we were out and about so much that she would only nap for half an hour or an hour the most in her cot so it really frustrated me. Though it doesn't stress me out as much as it used to as I just put her down early i.e. 6pm or 6.30pm to avoid over tiredness. Otherwise she is still on her 7pm-7/7.30am routine.

Development -

• Rayray has finally cut through her upper front teeth!!!! yay

• She still can go from sitting to standing without any support and loves 'walking' around with me holding her hands. I can definitely see that she is a lot more confident when she walks.

• Like squatting???!!! Yes and she does it quite a lot throughout the day...I guess it is all part of strengthening the thigh muscles!

• She can point her nose when I ask her and points at my nose when I ask 'where is mummy's nose?'

• Tries to feed herself, not with the spoon yet but with her hands and loves doing that.

• Rayray says 'baba' a lot and at first I thought she meant daddy but then she calls T dada so I discovered that she says baba when she sees babies and when she is in a good mood! 

• Loves gazing herself in the mirror and she would smile and smile at her own image!!! lol

• Loves 'skyping-daddy' time! She would just smile at T on the screen without fail! My little girl absolutely adores her daddy!

• Loves playing or being surrounded by kids. She gets so excited that she squeals! One of her favourite classes is Sue's 'Baby Interactive Class' on Mondays and she has her little friend Lily there to play with and it is just so funny to see two babies cooing to each other.

• She now tries to imitate us when we cough or blow raspberries!

• She can finally nod instead of shaking her head all the time! Or maybe she just tries to be difficult because she knows she can! lol

• Tried to 'dance'! when she hears music, she would wriggle her little bottoms or waving hands!

Oh and Rayray experienced her very first snow this month and it was very funny to see how she wanted to touch the snow and yet was 'scared' as the new sensation of coldness on her finger tips !

Amazed by the white stuff!

All wrapped up warm like a mini polar bear

At Harrods' new Disneyland World

How do I look with these on?

12-13 months 

11-12 months

10-11 months

9-10 months

8-9 months

7-8 months

6-7 months

5-6 months

4-5 months

3-4 months

2-3 months

1-2 months

0-1 month

Maze by Gordan Ramsay

Another long overdue post as W and I had a lunch date back in the beginning of January and it's almost the end of the month! We went to Maze by Gordon Ramsay and here are the dish we had:

warm delicious bread sticks

Starter - arctic king crab, octopus carpaccio

Main - Dumpling of lobster, tiger prawns and salmon in lemongrass broth

Dessert - can't remember what it was!!! 

Initially we were disappointed with the portion of the food and the waitress did recommend us ordering three courses each. Surprisingly, we both felt we had 'just right' amount of food when we finished our mains so we shared a dessert. We thoroughly enjoyed our starter and main (we had the exactly same dish) but wasn't so sure about the dessert hence I can't even remember what we had!

Post lunch tipples - watermellonllini, and royale mojito

After sharing a bottle of bubbles at lunch, we decided to go to Claridge's for one more cocktail!

It was such a pleasant afternoon Wan! Thank you!

Apsleys - Mao's birthday bash

This year we celebrated Doc's birthday at Apsley's at The Lansborough.

We wore the same coats but in different colours

Love the chandeliers

Simple yet elegant decor

Amuse buche - roast pigeon with parsnip puree - simply delicious

Starter No. 1 - Spaghetti with lime marinated langoustine

Starter No. 2 - Risotto with tuna, smoked aubergine and pickled ginger

Starter No. 3 - Lobster Salad

Starter No.4 - Tempura prawns with red peppers couscous and courgettes

After few glasses of bubbles and food in us, it was pressie time!!!

Baby cashmere jumper

A set of lever corkscrew, spiral and 'primary wine aromas' for a keen wine enthusiast

Spa treatment

Perfume

Last but not least - a limited edition H bangle!

Main courses:

This is what I had - Veal, sage and artichoke puree

Fillet of beef in red wine

Pigeon with crispy polenta, figs and cauliflower

Sea bass in salt crust with saffron potatoes

Dover sole and vegetables

We all enjoyed the food and the service was impeccable but I thought the portion was on the small side and the fact that we had to order some sides as there were none on the menu was a bit unusual. 

We all HAD to have desserts as a result of small portions! lol

Chef's special - lime cheesecake with banana sorbet

Tao's very impressive five arrays milk-based dessert

Orange jelly with bergamot ice cream - it was the best one in my opinion

My Mochaccino Magnum - a bit of a let-down to be honest

Birthday cake! I have to say, it was soooo tasty!!!

My kind of heaven

I should have stuck to my first instinct i.e. cheese board!

All in all, friendly staff, impeccable service, impressive ambiance, lovely food bar a few desserts. I really enjoyed that day and I hope my dearest Mao did too!!!

Christmas 2012

This is obviously a long due post but better late than never!!! This Christmas is very special for us as Rayray is just over a year old and we are celebrating it back home in London!!! Something we hadn't done in 3 years! This time last year, we just left confinement centre and were panicking how we would celebrate Christmas with a month old baby!

So we bought our very first Christmas tree and da-da!!!

All the lovely pressies

We had our Christmas lunch at Mao's and look at the spread of the dessert/cheese table!

I was so hungry I couldn't wait to tuck into the cheeses!

The most delicious Truffle cheese (the one of the left), thanks to Nee and Wan!

Prawns, roast lamb, roast chicken, pasta salad, honey glazed parsnips and starters

Rayray picking the 'fruit Christmas tree' I made

We went to The Connaught that evening to have drinks and some nibbles! Their bar was absolutely heaving!!! I would have taken some photos had it not be so dim in there!

Gorgeous tree at the hotel's lobby

Here is a family portrait of Christmas 2012

One very happy daddy with his little princess

I hope everyone all had a smashing Christmas and New Year!