Putting Food On The Table - Limpeh陪你们一起吃饭

Weeks ago when the other daddy bloggers broached the idea of having a link-up and scheduling a special blog chain together, I thought it was a great idea. And when they mentioned that it would be something about "putting food on the table", I still didn't think much about it then until it was nearing my turn to post. And when I read the first few posts that went live, I thought to myself that "that's it!". First it was the Eddie from Stranger In Bangkok who started the chain with an article on "8 Tips for Cooking Dads", followed by Liren from Becoming Home with a minimalist recipe of soya sauce minced pork here and find out what you should use to make Soya Bean Milk!  I broke into cold sweat and thought of wriggling my way out. What can they do? Ban me meh?

Anyway fine... Since they started the ball rolling, I thought maybe I could whip up a simple meal with the help of online recipes but first, I need to find the time to do so. But darn, work kept me occupied for a good part of every day and weekends were always filled with activities for the kids. Swimming lessons on Saturdays and dance classes on Sundays plus all the other activities after the classes on BOTH days.  How to find time to learn for this NON-COOKING dad? One might say these are all excuses but it's really really tough to deal with 4 kids and it doesn't help that my wife have to work pass 10pm these couple of weeks lor.

Actually to save time these days, meal times for me these couple of weeks, consisted of me eating my own dinner after getting off work and then rushing to childcare to fetch the 3 older kids. After reaching home, I would usually try to feed the 3 kids the home-cooked food by my mother-in-law as it would be much faster rather than waiting for them to eat on their own. Even then, by the time I finish that and bathing them, it would have been around 9pm already.  Even blogging also no time, how to cook with the 4 kids around sia?

Since I can't cook for goodness sake, I decided to just put food on the table lor.  No one said it was restricted only to food that the daddies cook right? So I decided to buy back food 2 days back, instead of having a quickie dinner outside on my own.  I also cleared the dining table too (those who knew what kind of mess it was in, would know that it was tough work ok!?)  I told the kid that daddy was going to have dinner TOGETHER with them!  There was some initial resistance from Stacci who requested that I have to feed her, but after some cajoling, she ate on her own without a fuss. Unfortunately my wife still had to work late and Louie can't join in too, so it wasn't the "full" family dinner that I would have wished for.

Putting food on the table is easy peasy! Even Leroy can do it!

So how our "family" dinner went, you might ask?  I thought it was a great experience, since it was something I had wished for all these while, to sit down with the whole family to have a meal and catch up with each other.  I took a couple of shots of the kids and myself at the dining table, with the crispy noodles I packed from the coffee shop opposite my block and the noodles that my mother-in-law cooked for the kids. The kids ate their noodles on their own, and we chatted about how their day was at school while they asked about how I was coping with my stage fright when giving training at work.  So the importance to me, would not be about the food preparation prior to putting food on the table, or the food itself, but rather what happens after, the family bonding.  Simply heartwarming...

Having dinner with the 3 kiddos just so I can take a group photo and write this blog post.

It is the quality family time that I long for, away from the modern distractions such as the TV, smart phones or tablets.  Except for the yearly reunion dinner we had, I couldn't really recall any particular family dinners I had together with my own elder brothers and parents. My brothers must have had their own activities with friends then, as our age gap was quite wide.  I wished my relationship with my brothers was closer. And I hope my kids would treasure family ties, so I am trying to start them young now, by having dinner together first.  

Ok I shall come clean. What I wrote earlier, about our first try at having a "family" dinner was a farce. No doubt the kids did eat on their own, but there were also lots of quarreling between the kids, and I even raised my voice at the kids, asking them to sit properly, to put their toys aside, not to play with their food and basically to shout up. There wasn't much talking, for I was basically checking my messages every now and then, and trying to finish my dinner quickly so that I can proceed to bath the kids and get the rest of the things I needed to get done, done.  This blog post inclusive.

Despite the hiccups, I think this is a good start nevertheless. Kids being kids, this is how they would behave I guess. At least I have them captive now at their age for I had been given the same advice by lots of parents now that kids grow up in the blink of an eye. But I am hopeful that I had planted the seed in them, so much so that when they are grow older, they can fulfill my dream of having warm family dinners together, and not only during festive seasons.

Meanwhile I shall look forward to my wife settling back to regular work hours after this hectic period so that we can really start to have our dinner together, as a family. For now, I guess I will have to make do with whoever is available (for dinner), while both my wife and myself continue to work hard to “put food on the table” or like what others say, "to bring home the bacon"!

Sorry if you had to read the entire post trying to find some hidden food recipe, for there were non. But you can sure check out the recipes of the others by following the link below, except for the salad recipe by Daddy Chow and the Spunky Kids, cause his also cannot eat one lor. But perhaps you can still have some takeaway after reading this post. How about spending more quality time with your family over meal time for a start?  

Mega Dance 2014 [Giveaway]

Great news for you! NTUC U Family had kindly sponsored 3 family tickets worth $50 each to the Mega Dance 2014 at Azzura Beach Club @ Siloso Beach on 22 Nov 2014 for readers and fans of The "Perfect" Father.  Each ticket admits 5 person and children aged 3 and below enters for free! Read more about the upcoming event here.

Just follow all the instruction in the Rafflecopter widget below -

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Polliwogs @ Suntec City [Review and Giveaway]

We had always wanted to visit The Polliwogs but were unable to meet up together with our friends over weekends due to other activities. But we finally made it a couple of weeks back, albeit on a weekday evening, but it was to their newest outlet at Suntec City!

The Polliwogs, Suntec is located at Lvl 2, Tower 4 and beside Cold Storage supermarket. 

The branch doesn't look that big from the front but don't be fooled for it is longish and huge inside!

Once inside, there are sitting areas to enjoy refreshment and food, with the toddler's area on the right.

The toddler's area with the lighted slides and well-padded flooring.

The two boys having some bonding time on the "water bed"?

Little Louie enjoying his playtime too!

Stacci bouncing up and down without a care in the world!

There were several different sections such as one for the younger tots, the more “advanced” play and obstacle course area for the older kids, as well as a huge room for holding birthday parties! Ok, I am a first-time visitor to The Polliwogs and I found the layout of the place really great! I can almost imagine myself sitting in the cafe style seats, sipping my tea and enjoying my meal without a care in the world while the kids climb up and slide down in the play area.

Further in, there's another section where parents' tired legs can finally rest.  The cafe also offers a good selection of western fare.

Here's Leroy running amok!

The menu at the cafe!

Stacci with her signature look when presented with food!

Another spaghetti set for the older kids!

But that’s only my view as a parent, the kids MUST enjoy for the facilities were meant for them in mind. I can see the two older kids having a ball of a time playing the ball blaster guns, exploring the large play area and sliding down while my youngest Stacci loved the bouncing castle and the toddler area! Hence all the needs for the different ages were taken care of!

This is where the kids loves, shooting each other with sponge balls!

Is Steffi trying to be a pole dancer here???

Before going down one of the many slides at the place!

The friendly staff giving the kiddos some instructions before they proceed to the Laser Fury!

One have to do the cat-burglar thingy and avoid breaking up the lasers in this darkroom and to press different buttons at different corners.

The Polliwogs Carnival Featuring The Monster Mystery

The Polliwogs will be holding a CARNIVAL featuring the Monster Mystery Show on from 10am – 5pm on Sat, 22Nov 2014 at National Library Cente, Victoria Street. Best of all, the carnival is FREE, only the show is ticketed! There will be two shows, one at 11am and the other session at 3pm. Tickets are priced at $30, $38 and $48, but wait a minute for I have a special code for you that entitles you to a 10% discount off tickets, just key in "Polliblogs2014" when booking through SISTIC website.

Steffi happened to see the flyers for Polliwogs Carnival at Toy'R'Us!

Don't say we boh jio, I asked for a few free play passes (1-time use) to the indoor playground @ Suntec City just for you, and here's how you can get them!

Giveaway Instructions

1. Like The “Perfect” Father Facebook page;
2. Like The Polliwogs Facebook page; and
3. Like and Share this photo publicly (so that I can view and know who shared!)

Terms and Condition

1. To be eligible for the giveaway, all the 3 steps must be completed. 
2. Organizer reserves the right in the choice of winners for each of the pass. 
3. Prizes won are not exchangeable and winner will be contacted by Sponsor directly.  Pass is valid till 14 Dec 2014 (date inclusive)

Contest ends at 2359hrs on Sun, 09 Nov 2014 and 5 lucky readers will get 1 x Free Play Pass (1-time use) each!  Good luck!

Port Of Lost Wonder - Spooky Jr. "Heros Unite" Halloween Party [Media Invite]

Get your tickets from the ticketing booth here! That is if you had not purchased them online yet.

With Halloween just round the corner, there were plenty of activities for the kiddos at every conceivable place. The kiddos were invited to Spooky Jr. "Heros Unite" party at Port Of Lost Wonder by our wonderful friends from Sentosa last Sat evening and despite my wife having to work on that day, I decided that fun shouldn't wait for the kiddos!

See how happy they were right from the start, when they received their welcome sweets!

Look who Leroy spotted?

And how can they miss a photo with the superheroes?

The kiddos were thrilled to be back at POLW but unfortunately for them, I reckoned that it is going to be too tricky to let them have water play (which was available during the event) and having to keep my eyes on them, plus having to deal with all 3 of their costumes, bathing and meals etc without my wife. Hee hee... But there were lots of fringe activities and challenges for the kids to take part!

Kids will have to navigate their way on their own through this "Tricky Maze"!

Here happy Leroy and a not so happy Stacci at the end of the maze!

At the "Slime Fight" and Leroy is showing his prowess here!

Leroy shooting down the monsters while Stacci needed a little help.

Here's Leroy trying out the "Monster Range", with help of course.

Stacci didn't miss the action too, although the bow and arrow were larger than her!

Cheeky Leroy photo-bombing Stacci!

Stand to win attractive prizes worth over $3,000 in total with your most creative costumes, and there are both individual and family categories. It was the highlight of the event and there were superheroes of all sizes at practically every nook and cranny in POLW and everyone wanted a piece of them (in their photos).

Leroy with his same-sized (well almost) superhero allies!  Cute kiddos of Mother Kao

Steffi and Leroy with Wolverine, another one of their favourites!

Here's my "Rocket Boy" Leroy the Rocketeer in full costume, hoping to earn his place in the heroes league.

Stacci the "Batgirl" was too tired to last through the night.  But the batteries in the other two were still running high!

It must be the sugar that kept them "high" and here's more candy floss!



Wow, they even had elixir at the party! 

The kids had fun mixing up their own concoction with their "Kor Kor", son of Dinomama! 

And they get to try out their own creation at the end of the play! Yummy drinks!

I cannot help but laugh at their funny photos taken at the photo booth!

Leroy was really into character and he continued flying even as we made our way out of Sentosa

The kids enjoyed defending the port from the invading monsters and meeting up with all the other kiddos from fellow blogging parents like the Sengkangbabies and the J Babies! Well, there’s still time if you and your kids want to join in the fun! For there is one last session from 6.30pm - 10pm on this coming Sat, 01 Nov 2014! Tickets are available at $39.90 (kid) and $10 (adult). Get your tickets here.

Leroy Ditched His Old Kiddo Water Bottle For A Thermos Sports Bottle [Product Review]

We were invited to a media preview when Thermos launched their new Vacuum Insulated Stainless Steel Sports Bottles - FFG sport series in September and Leroy and Stacci tagged along. During that media preview, Leroy held a black and red colored thermos sports bottle briefly but kept asking if he could have it. Of course I told him that it was for display only.

The Vacuum Insulated Stainless Steel Sports Bottles - FFG comes in both pink pastel and black with red designs, presumably for girls and boys respectively.

Leroy couldn't keep his hands off the bottle then.

Stacci also asked, "Daddy can I have the pink bottle too?"

However 2 weeks back, the folks from Thermos couriered one bottle for Leroy, and in time for his birthday as well! He was extremely happy to get his new bottle, but I can't say the same for his 2 other siblings who were feeling really jealous! Anyway Leroy is the only one among my kids (besides little Louie) who likes lukewarm plain water. The others loved their drinks cold, or prefers soft drinks. So the great thing about his new thermos flask is its ability to maintain his drinks at his preferred temperature.

Happy Leroy do not even mind carrying his new bottle everywhere now!

He would get warm water in school, while on our day out at play, it would contain ice cold Ribena drinks for the rest of his siblings as well. The bottle itself fits snugly into the insulation bag that comes with it and Leroy loves carrying it around as the colors and patterns actually reminded him of Spider-man.

I realized his bottle was a giant compared to his classmates' when I visited his childcare recently.  He has grown up already. 

There is also a safely lock that prevents accidental leaks and he has no problem handling it too. So now instead of the usual kiddo water bottle with a flexible plastic straw that he bring to school, Leroy had progressed to a sports bottle with a drinking spout now. It was extremely hard to ensure cleanliness of the plastic drinking straw of his old bottles but it is really easy to clean the stainless steel interior of his new sports bottle.  And most important of all, Leroy approves it!

The outer insulation can be removed for easy cleaning of the bottle.

There is a safety lock that prevents accidental opening of the bottle.  

The bottle top can be opened and it is really easy to clean the stainless steel interior.