Mummy's Birthday 2014

Last Sunday was my dearest Mummy's big Six-O birthday. She looked nowhere near 60 at all!




We had an advanced birthday celebration for my mum two Sundays ago. It began with a walk at Gardens by the Bay and ended off with Chinese dinner at 漁 Yú Cuisine where the rest of my family joined us.




My parents are quite the gardener and have lots of beautiful potted plants growing outside their flat. The plants outside the flat are so beautiful that on countless occasions, plant parts were plucked, cut and stolen from them by God knows which inconsiderate neigbours or passers-by.




Since my parents had never been to Gardens by the Bay (GBTB) before and August was the period of the Singapore Garden Festival (SGF), kh and I decided to take them there. It was coincidental that the SGF was held in GBTB this year.




It was the last day of the SGF on the day we were there. Prior to that, it was raining heavily and all the carpark around the gardens had long snaking queues that weren't moving. A dead snake would be the perfect metaphor to describe the queues. We had no choice but to park at MBS.




Grey clouds loomed over the ashen sky. Fortunately, the rain had fizzled to a drizzle with the long walk from MBS to GBTB.




Many people often liken the iconic Supertree Grove to a scene from the movie Avatar. I was snapping a scene of Avatar when kh photobombed.




The tickets for the Singapore Garden Festival included entry into the Flower Dome. It was the last day of the SGF but looking at the time and the distance to walk from the ticketing booth at the Flower Dome and the area of the gardens where the SGF was held, we decided to forgo the SGF and enjoyed ourselves in the cool air-conditioned comfort of the Flower Dome. Creatures of comfort!




Many people would very much enjoy the cool comfort in the Flower Dome too as evident here!




We merely walked a few steps and my parents were completely awed by the flowers all around. They stopped at every few steps to take photos. I felt like a tourist in my own country.




The Flower Dome replicates the cool-dry climate of Mediterranean regions like South Africa, California and parts of Spain and Italy. Home to a collection of plants from deserts all over the world, it showcases the adaptations of plants to arid environments.




The world of plants is really mysterious. We stumbled upon many curious-looking plants.




We were first greeted by a giant phallus, complete with a head and balls.




Then, we spotted alien-like plants whereby their mouths opened to reveal another mouth and another mouth and another mouth. See, some even had tongues!




There were other species of alien-like plants with tentacles too!




There were plants that had quills as sharp as a porcupine's.




There were plants that looked like stones.




Elephant in the middle of nowhere. Can you spot the elephant?




The Baobab tree which is better known as bottle tree in Singapore didn't appear as curious-looking as the other plants mentioned earlier on.




Clusters of flowers and that spiral branch.




Finally, we came across some normal plants that felt as soft as carpet. Oops... perhaps we weren't supposed to touch the plants.




Kh accidentally activated a mode on my mum's phone which showed the person behind the camera in a heart-shape, together on the same photo. I thought this was quite cute.




There is always something beautiful about lone single flowers.




When we reached the orchids exhibition area, we were shocked at the queue. Seriously, a queue to look at these exhibits? My mum didn't want to queue and thought we were quite smart taking photos from the outside.




Orchids out of the exhibition area had loads of people waiting to take photos too. It was so difficult to cut people away from these shots.




Orchid... possibly my parents' favourite flower since they grow them too.




Before we left the Flower Dome, we had to take a wefie coz we didn't have a 4 of us shot. Some of you might have already seen this on Instagram. There were no flowers in the background coz we had no selfie stick and my arms are short. I probably wouldn't laugh at people for using selfie stick and looking silly anymore.

We walked back to MBS for Chinese dinner at 漁 Yú Cuisine where the rest of my family joined us. Kh and I dined there once as a chance discovery (post here) and were awed by their food.

The stark EXIT sign spoilt the whole photo.




We ordered the set menu for 6 which was more than sufficient than the whole family since my parents do not eat a lot. The roast meat platter with mustard sauce was the favourite.




And because I did not take a photo of the menu, I could not remember exactly what we ordered.




This crab in the tank was HUMONGOUS. I cannot stand its mouth. Like some Sci Fi movie.




Photos of people finally!




CHEESE-y!




On my mum's actual birthday last Sunday, she prepared steamboat for dinner. There was an overflow of food like fishballs, meatballs, shabu shabu pork, pork liver, beef, prawns, cockles, abalone, sea cucumbers and green vegetables. The soup base was so yummy that I sat there and drank soup the whole evening. The next favourite activity was to blanch the hum (cockles) and eating them before everyone else since the hum wer right in front of me. We also enjoyed delectable pies from Little Britain Food Co. which is set up by my dear friend Cyn and her British hubby. It was quite a feast!




Every year, kh and I would buy a box of traditional mooncakes and snowskin mooncakes each for both sides of the family. For traditional mooncakes this year, we bought 美心 Mei-Xin. The SA told me that it has been the Number 1 bestselling mooncakes in Hong Kong for the past few years. There is even a unique product code on each box of mooncakes (botton left pic) for proof of authenticity since factories in China have started producing counterfeit Mei-Xin. Fake branded mooncakes!




For snowskin mooncakes, we bought from Fairmont. The box doubles up as a drawer and photo frame. Mooncakes packaging nowadays... I would look at the packaging and then sample the mooncakes before I decide to buy them and not the other way round.




This time, we also bought durian mooncakes separately. We could not resist the pure flesh of Mao Shan Wang durian in Four Seasons durian mooncake. Even after discount, it was $88 for a box of 4. We might as well be eating actual Mao Shan Wang durians!




Ending off this post with my new pair of sandals. It costs only $19.90 from TANGS and is soooooooooooo comfortable. It looks like those pretty but uncomfy shoes that cost thrice the price at Nine West, Aldo and the likes. Plus, it matches my current gelish turqouise nail polish. My left toes look scrunched coz my sprained ankle from weeks back is still hurting. If you notice, my left foot and calf are a lot thicker than my right now.




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I would get back to replying your comments in the previous post and popping by your blogs soon!