Wed 10 Jun

I went back to school early today because the Infocomm Club (I'm one of the teachers in charge) was going to camp overnight for today and tomorrow. I went to draw the necessary keys from the Operations Manager first, and then went to do some work in the office. After running to and fro a little to settle some issues that cropped up, I went to Parkway Parade with my wife for lunch and to buy some stuff for Jadon.

We were originally planning to eat at Sakuraya Fish Mart, but we realized that there wasn't much cooked food items that my wife could eat, since now she shouldn't be eating sashimi or other raw food. We walked around and chanced upon this place Koo Kee Dumplings and Ramen. It didn't look particularly special, but we thought we wanted to try something different, so we went in. My wife ordered ginseng chicken ramen, and I ordered (a rather expensive $16) seafood fried rice in egg white sauce, one basket of six pieces of xiao long bao and an aloe vera and jelly dessert.

The dessert came first (we originally thought it was a drink from the photograph in the menu), and it was surprisingly good, although small in portion. Then the ginseng chicken ramen came. Again, we were surprised because in the picture in the menu, the noodles and the soup were separate, but when it was served, the whole thing was in one bowl. But the better surprise was that the food was superb! The ginseng chicken soup was rich in flavour, and you could really taste the double-boiled chicken taste, and a tad bit of ginseng to add flavour. The lean pork meat in the soup was tender and sweet, and so was the chicken drumstick, and the ramen was of good texture and quality. Then came my fried rice, which I should have guessed from the description was actually some variation of mui fan. The picture in the menu again deceived me because the gravy in the picture looked like it was just a sprinkling, but the actual dish had the rice swimming in it. But the taste was delicious! The scallops and prawns that came with it were fresh and naturally sweet-tasting. The xiao long bao was the biggest shock of all. Both my wife and I found the buns better than Ding Tai Fung's, which we consider to be very good already, because the xiao long bao had plenty of the 'soup' inside, and the skin was not too thin nor too thick, and the meat inside had good texture and was tender and well-mashed.

So lunch turned out to be a surprise.

We went around shopping, and I bought new clothes for Jadon, but setting my sights further, I bought for 12-18 months. I bought a sleeveless tee and a pair of beach shorts, and one pair of rompers with some cute cartoon fox designs. Not cheap too, considering that they were discounted, but I suppose Pumpkin Patch Kids is kinda branded? Next we went to Mothercare and bought a new set of milk bottles to replace the ones at my in-laws' place, which were becoming gradually yellow. So all in all, I already unknowingly chalked up $150+ expenditure. Since the mall was having some jackpot promotion with every $50 spent, I went to queue for a try.

I think the promotion really sucks. I got 3 tries at the machine, and out of the 3 tries, I won a $5 voucher. I had thought the voucher was a Parkway Parade voucher, but no! It was a Cloth-ier voucher. After queueing up, I won myself a voucher that I doubt I would use?

It was a genuine waste of time.

At least White Sands' promotion gives away $6 Asiamalls voucher (limited to White Sands only) with every $80 spent. No gimmicks, just a fixed 'rebate'.

My wife went to spend time with Jadon while I went back to school for the camp. When my colleague came and took over, I set off for Bugis where Collin picked me up and we went to Bukit Merah for dinner, and then for cell group. It was a long day.