Emicakes - Best Mom Cakes Giveaway

[Giveaway]

Hmm... Keep refrigerated? I wonder what lies in the box!

Received a surprise from the Emicakes peeps last Saturday, and it was a DURIAN cake! They must have read my blog and knew that I was craving for a DURIAN cake! Although I got to savor the taste, the cake was not really meant for me but for my wife as a very early Mother’s Day gift. It was a standard premium D24 Mother’s Day cake, and it even came with a pretty pink “mom’ charm bracelet!

 

Steffi can't wait to present it to Mommy, and perhaps to eat it too!

The D24 durian pulp was definitely the real stuff, albeit without any hint of bitterness (sugar added maybe?). The welcoming strong aroma was typical of the D24, and it tasted AWESOME. I could taste the fantastic D24 durian pulp between the light fluffy chiffon layers in every scoop. It was just like having durian with a spoon and without all the messiness. A lazy way of eating durian, but a satisfying way nevertheless. The cake was gone on the same day it arrived. That was how nice we found the cake!

Mommy with her favourite girls!

Stacci was the first to taste the cake!

Look at the amount of delicious durian pulp between the layers of chiffon!

Just for Mother's Day, Emicakes is also offering a "Best Mum" cake in pretty pink with a choice of your favourite fillings such as Pure Addiction, Classic D24 and Premium D24.  Get 15% or 10% off all featured Mother's Day cakes if you order by 30 Apr 15 and 10 May 15 respectively, as well as a free charm bracelet (*For Emicakes Family Card members and selected cardholders only). Check out our post on their custom designed birthday cakes if you want 15% off too!

The pretty pink charm bracelet that came with mommy's cake.

So now that we have tasted heaven, we would also like to give all of you readers, a chance to savour and share the wonderful cakes with your moms as well. We will be selecting 3 lucky winners who will each win a "Best Mum" cake with your choice of filling (worth up to $63.10 each) from our kind sponsor, Emicakes.

 

 

You just need to complete ALL the steps in the Rafflecopter below by 2359hrs on Fri, 01 May 2015 to be eligible for giveaway. Good luck to all and share this news with all your friends! –

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A Taxi Driver's Secret

It was supposed to be just an ordinary taxi ride that I took a few days ago, but I ended up hearing about someone's life story and a secret. I was running some errands for the company and needed to go to a couple of places. The taxi driver was a jovial uncle, probably in his sixties and was really chatty. I was holding my iPhone and playing my games just to pass time as usual, while he tried to strike up a conversation with me, perhaps out of boredom. Out of courtesy, I would give him the short "oh I see" type of response, while still concentrating on my game.

The topic ranged from the weather, the politics and then veered to his family life. I listened as he talked about how proud he was of his 29 year old son, who always failed his maths and used up a lot of his money on tuition until he finally had a breakthrough in secondary 2 and was able to grasp the Maths concepts from then on, never needing tuition again.  It didn't stop there, for he went on to be the top Math student and also helped many other kids with his own maths concepts. Got so good boh? I was already thinking of engaging his help for my kiddos.

Then I vaguely remembered hearing him say that he has two kids and so I asked about his other kid. He began by saying that his eldest daughter had physical disability and that he had employed a maid to take full care of her. If I could remember correctly now, she is already 32 years old but she had lose her mobility. Her mental development was normal, just that she is immobile. That was when I stopped my game and listened. 

He went on saying that his eldest daughter was a very pretty Chinese doll-lookalike when she was a baby, and everyone who met her would compliment her on her looks and would want to carry her too. As both he and his wife needed to work, his daughter and his boy were being cared for by his mother-in-law then. He felt that there was something wrong with his daughter after coming home from work one fine day and asked his mother-in-law. But she claimed that everything was fine and so he didn't pursue further. However his daughter didn't get back to her old self from that day onwards and had what seemed like some neurological problems. She wasn't able to control her limbs properly and trips to doctors and specialists much later were to no avail. The family came to terms and accepted her fate.

Probably driven by guilt, his mother-in-law finally confessed to him many years later, that his daughter had fell down and knocked her head while under her care then and had even vomited after that. It was because his then infant son was naughty and was about to get into some trouble that she rushed to his aid and knocked into his daughter instead. She had kept this secret from the family out of fear and also because the girl still looked okay outwardly. His mother-in-law passed on shortly after revealing her dark secret, and was probably much relieved too.

I asked him how he felt then and he said he felt really angry which was pretty understandable. He thought that the situation might be better if he was able to seek proper help earlier then and his daughter might not require the type care she needed now. All these years he had thought that it was some inborn problem and at times, blamed himself too. But when I asked how his family reacted after knowing the truth, he said that only his mother-in-law and himself knows. When I asked him why is that so, he replied, "what good would it do for anyone if the truth is told now?" It will only vilify his mother-in-law in the eyes of the family, his wife and her own daughter. 

He had bequeathed his HDB flat to his daughter and instructed his son take care of her when both he and his wife are both gone. He also told him to rent the rooms out and to use the rental to cover his sister's daily needs. The son never questioned his decision. I had mixed emotions after hearing his story. I thought that the first thing he would do was to tell his wife or his family but he chose to keep everything to himself. 

In life, everything happens for a reason and there is a cause for every thing that happened. But is there really a need to know the truth to everything? Or is there a need to tell the truth of every thing to every one? I really have no answers and I cannot judge, for who am I to judge? But I would hazard a guess that the mother-in-law probably felt so much better after telling the truth as her conscience must be pricking her daily. In my mind, she was probably selfish when she kept the truth back then, but towards her end, she probably was still selfish because she told the truth to clear her conscience.

On the other hand, it takes courage for the dad to keep the truth from his wife, and his family. It must be painful to know the truth and to keep it to oneself. But was he selfish also? Does his family members need to know the truth too? The taxi uncle was probably searching for an outlet, for someone to tell his story to and I just happened to be there. I wish the family well.

Emicakes - Custom Designed Cakes

[Sponsored Post]

Having 4 kids already, I think I should know my fair share of birthday cake choices. I can go for taste and indulge in some nice cakes like Lychee Martini (not suitable for kids though), but aesthetic-wise, there would be nothing to shout about. Or I can go for the “designer” cakes, where the emphasis is really about the looks and not about the cake itself. There are so many online “bakeries” doing it nowadays, and all you need is to Google. Then of course, how can we forget about our retro birthday cakes from our neighborhood cake shops? I still find the butter cream and the sweet colorful thick syrups nice and definitely very affordable! I am not shy about it, if I need to fill lots and lots of little tummies, I think I would definitely go for this choice!

I didn't know that Emicakes did custom designed cakes, until recently.

I had also attended many birthday parties that showcased absolutely gorgeous fondant cakes, with the most exquisite designs you could think of! And boy are they costly, with some costing even up to $500!!! But the thing is, after the cake-cutting, it seems that many guests simply do not touch or finish the cakes. For some, we can attribute it to a full stomach from the party food already, but I know for others, the cakes were simply not nice to eat. It was almost like a tradeoff for the design and sometimes the cake itself is made so hard just so that it can prop the heavy fondant up. In short, nice to look at but cannot (not nice to) eat. So although we were really thrilled and happy to be sponsored a customized cake from Emicakes for Louie’s birthday, I honestly wasn't expecting something out of the world.

The draft that was forwarded to me prior to confirmation.

Prior to the confirmation, I was actually shown a sketch of the cake by the designer and it sure didn't look too impressive, for it was just a sketch after all. But I liked the concept was good and we proceeded with a little input from my side. On the actual day when I opened up the box and saw the cake for the first time, I must say I was pretty amazed. The kids of course went ballistic and all wanted their choice of toppers to eat!  It was the prettiest 1st birthday cake that we had, for any of our kiddos!

Louie's very own 3D custom designed cake from Emicakes! A very pretty cake indeed!

I knew for a fact that the sugar dough would not be nice to eat, definitely too sweet and tastes weird in fact, but Louie's cake was REALLY delicious! It was a chocolate mousse cake and definitely of Emicakes quality.  I had a few of the guest coming up to me to enquire about the cake on that day itself! They complimented that the cake wasn't as dry and hard as they would have expected of a fondant cake. Although the 1/3 chocolate sponge on the top is little dry, but the remaining 2/3 chocolate mousse at the bottom complimented it well. If the chocolate mousse is already so nice, I wonder how it would have tasted like if it was their famous Durian cake instead! Hmm...

Louie couldn't keep his hands off his awesome cake! 

The blocks were made to spell out his name.

The fact that the cake looked nice, and is equally nice to eat too, would be the major plus point for ordering from Emicakes! To give you an idea of the pricing, I was told that Louie's cake would have cost $300 but it really depends on the size, the design, the complexity, the number of toppers and the choice of filling. Louie's cake wasn't too complex but it was HUGE! Besides all the guest getting to try the cake, we even had extra to go round for all the crew of Polliwogs and still had some to bring back for supper!

The cake was sufficient for the whole village with lots of extras to go!

At the end of the day, we were only left with the cake toppers. Too bad they cannot be kept FOREVER.

Emicakes was also kind to offer a 15% discount to all our readers for their customized cake. From now till end 31 May 15, you only need to quote "The Perfect Father" in your email enquiry to sales@emicakes.com.sg to enjoy the discount. You may also wish to check out their policies on their cake designs here.  One thing for sure, you need to order 7 days in advance (excluding Sat/Sun), so do plan well ahead!  Check out their website for more information.  

P/S We were sponsored a 3D customized birthday cake for Louie's birthday party and all opinions and photos are mine.  No other monetary compensation was received.

Louie's First Birthday Party at Polliwogs Suntec City

Time flies for our family. Can you believe that Louie is already one year old already? I didn't until I was reminded by Facebook memories that around this time one year ago, my wife was still heavily pregnant while we happily went places with the 3 older kids. Then my wife asked, so where are you going to have Louie's birthday party? That caught me off guard.

I had been very busy with work lately and was probably harboring the secret thought of maybe not having a party this time round. After all, I think my friends (and even myself) already have birthday party fatigue! But on second thoughts, I think Louie wouldn't be too happy when he grows up knowing that he didn't have a 1st birthday party like his older siblings. Hence I decided to so something different this time.

We held "RC" parties for the first 3 kiddos, Steffi, Leroy and Stacci. But that involved the booking and decorating of the premise, the selection and ordering of the buffet and after the party is over, we even had to wash and clean up the place. And then there is also preparation of goodie bags for the kids and thinking of ideas to keep the kids occupied. In short, there are lots of work involved and I was the main contractor of works. Lots of time required. We went the easy way this time, by booking Louie's first birthday party at Polliwogs! No need to think about what to food to order for one would have to order from their menu. No need to crack my head and think about kids entertainment for there would be a party host to take care of that. And I have no worries that party guests would find it boring, for which kid would find Polliwogs boring? 

So what exactly do I need to do then? I just need to select the party package, finalize the number of kids and adults attending the party, choose the food from the menu and then wait for the big day to arrive! For Louie and us, the big day was last Sun and we woke up really early at around 8am to get ready to leave the house for the party at 10am. Unfortunately one cab doesn't fit all of us and I ended up having to take bus / MRT separately with the 3 older kids on my own. We still made it there way before the party and ended up having to wait for the shutters to be up. That was how excited we were for our first birthday party at Polliwogs!  Louie is no stranger to Polliwogs Suntec City for we had already brought him there (together with his siblings of course) when he was only 6 months old! Check out our review then.

The big room that we got to use exclusively for 2 hrs. 

It is of course beautifully decorated and there's no need to do anymore

Buffet table is also set up and ready for the food to be served!

No worries about getting into the wrong room too, for the name of the birthday kid is also prominently displayed!

So what would you expect for such a party? Let me run you through the activities of the day in chronological order -

• For us, we like to be present to welcome our guest, but I think you can just arrive anytime before the party starts. There would be a registration area for party guest to sign in. Take note though, that you only need to write down the kid's name and D.O.B. Accompanying adults need not sign in for there are no additional charges (unless its >2 adults per child in total).

• Hang around the party room for the host and assistant host will be starting the fun activities for all the kiddos about 30mins into the 2-hr time slot selected. Otherwise everything would be too rushed. It would be good to advise your guests to come early so that the kids don't miss out on the all the fun!

• It will then be followed by the food and refreshments. Please note that package caters specifically for the kids only and if additional food is required for the adults, one can always order extra at additional charges like I did. Do note that the food variety is quite limited and is western / finger food catered for the western taste such as pizzas and spaghettis. One doesn't really go for the food at indoor playgrounds anyway right?

• And then we shall have the cake-cutting and in our case, Polliwog even arranged for one of their cute mascots, Poco to grace the event FOC, Although some of the kids probably wouldn't know who Poco was, but they all went wild nevertheless! It was great fun! Cake is not provided hor, so you better prepare your own cake.  We got ours from our favorite bakery, Emicakes!

• Before we know it, our 2 hrs was up and we had to vacate the room for the next party. There were some leftover food and drinks for our party and the helpful servers offered to bring them out to the dining tables outside. It would be great if you could look for some empty tables outside before the end of your party. Otherwise you may be caught off guard when you need to leave the room with your bags and food.  

• Of course the party doesn't end here, for play time would be throughout the entire day for the guests! My kiddos played till 6pm and that made it a total of 8 hrs of non-stop fun and monkeying around. In fact, many of our guests stayed back as well!

Your guest just needs to show the invite and sign in the kiddos.  You can choose to let the host do this but I prefer to be around to welcome my guests!

Then the kids would be whisked into the room to have some great fun!

Playing statue sure is fun, with everyone taking part!

And playing choo choo train too!

The younger kids also get to ride the magic rainbow!

Only the younger ones though. If not the fabric will break in no time!

Limbo rock was another hot favorite that got everyone dancing too! Look at Leroy!

Would like to thank all our close friends and family for taking precious time off to attend Louie's birthday party. We hope you all had great fun (like Steffi, Leroy, Stacci and Louie), especially all the kiddos and we trust the kids all had a good night's sleep that evening.  Also many thanks to Polliwog in extending a discount for the birthday package for Louie. It felt almost effortless on my part, in making the party a success!

From my own experience, my kiddos doesn't eat much when they are having fun and I ended up with excess food for everyone as I had ordered extra for the adults too.  So you might want to take note of that.

Poco came by to say hi and grace the birthday party! All the kids loved her!

Even Stacci was really happy and wanted lots of photos with Poco even though she is usually afraid of mascots.  Poco must have looked really friendly!

Thank you all our friends and family! It would never had been a success without your presence!

And lastly, a wonderful family photo, and we left with great memories at Polliwogs!

P/S: We were offered a discount for Louie's birthday package, but all opinions and photos are mine and mine alone. And no, I definitely wasn't paid.

My sister-in-law blogged about the party too! Find more hilarious photos and videos of the kiddos here.

Puss In Boots' Giant Journey

[Media Invite]

Can't wait to get to try out the new ride!

Can see that we were definitely not the only ones! Look at the crowd!

The kiddos always asks to be taken to Universal Studios Singapore (USS) whenever they come across ANYTHING, ANYTHING that either shows the rides or the various characters! They know that this is the place where they can spend the whole day playing, and even forgetting about meals in the process. So we did just that when we were all invited to the launch of the latest ride at USS, the world’s first “Puss In Boots” suspended roller coaster on Wed, 08 Apr 2015. 

We got to watch the play before the actual play (ride)!

And we NEED a photo with the mascot too of course!

A nice photo with all the baddies, courtesy of our friend at Sengkang Babies!

I shall be straightforward that you will be terribly disappointed if you are one adrenaline junkie, like me. But you see, this ride is meant for the entire family, not just for “me”, and I was constantly reminded by my kiddos that they truly enjoyed the rides as they kept asking for “just" another go right after they finished it! They could hardly contain their excitement when getting onto the flying machines of Humpty Alexander Dumpty. 

This is how the queue area looks like.

Leroy just barely passed 100cm to be able to take the ride!

I do not know what Stacci was happy able, perhaps because she didn't know that she can't take the ride yet!

I will just briefly describe the ride to you. You will first be taken up to a spiral track up to a very high height by the fizz from a champagne bottle. Once up there, I was expected a steep drop but it never happened. You will however be taken through the many scenes that depicts Puss In Boots and Kitty Softpaws going in search of the precious golden eggs in a bid to save San Ricardo’s Orphanage but facing the wrath of the Giant Terror. Although it is not your usual terrifying roller coaster rides, the kids got to enjoy the storyline, as well as the G-force at 4 sections of the ride. I definitely heard screams at these sections!

The flying machine that we were all queuing for!

Steffi was actually really really happy but then she realized she had a missing front tooth and thus the "demure" smile.

The faces says it all. And this is already the umpteen times they had taken the ride!

After my first ride and probably seeing my unimpressed face, I was actually asked by a staff on which section of the flying machine I sat in. I was then let in on a secret, that to enjoy more of the thrill of the G-force, one should seat at the last row. I was skeptical, but I tried it nevertheless and I confirm and double-confirmed that you would get more out of the ride on the last row! I know, because I tried all possible seating arrangement already, after going through the ride countless times with each of the kids!  I guess no one goes to USS just simply for one ride, but this new addition would no doubt bring a smile to the little ones!

Poor Stacci couldn't get onto the ride, and had to help look after the golden eggs instead!

Fun Facts and Figures 

* Puss In Boots’ Giant Journey features 12 scenes, telling an original tale.
* The ride last approximately 2 minutes over a track length of about 0.5 km
* The maximum speed of the ride is 36km/h.
* There are a total of 23 animatronics characters in the ride.
* Each Flying Machine can seat 9 guests (3 rows of 3).
* The ride took more than 2 years to design, engineer and produce.
* Guests will experience anti-gravity sensations in 4 zones throughout the ride.
* The minimum height to ride is 100cm, and is 122cm to ride unaccompanied.

Puss In Boots' Giant Journey Opening Special Offer

Universal Studios Singapore Day Pass, includes a Free Meal and Surprise Treats! Adult: S$68 Check out the package here!

RWS Invite Member Special

All members who RSVP* will get to redeem a Puss In Boots mug and a Single Attraction Express Pass on day of visit. Redemption takes place from 9.30am – 12.00pm at the VIP reception outside the entrance. (Theme park admission is not included)

To RSVP, email rwsinvites@rwsentosa.com with your name, 16 digit membership ID, phone number and number of attendance.

NTUC Member Promotion

Free S.E.A. Aquarium Season Pass with purchase of a Universal Studios Singapore RWS Invites Attractions Membership here!

SuperMom Carnival 2015

[Giveaway]

For the first time ever, the carnival for expectant moms, new moms and babies is happening at the Float! Expect lots of fun activities for the kiddos such as water play and massages. And for the moms, there will be yoga sessions and you can also get your brows and nails fixed at the beauty bar. I would understand that if you are going on your own but pampering sessions with babies tagging along? I say bring your other half along!

We are glad to host a flash giveaway of 5 x Pairs of tickets to this fun event in partnership with SuperMom! So check out the Rafflecopter below and spread the words now! You can also find more details here.

Key Event Highlights/ Activities For Babies-

• Play date for babies at Singapore’s Biggest Bubbles Party
• Hand Painting
• Baby Gym
• Music & Play for parents & babies
• Baby Massage
• Water Play
• FLEA MARKET: Get unique baby and maternity products not found in Singapore. All items less than $20!

Key Event Highlights/ Activities For Expecting Moms-

• Feast Till You POP! Gourmet food street to satisfy all your cravings! (open to everyone, not just expecting mothers)
• Yoga @ Sunset (Yoga session by the Bay)
• Pampering booths for mom’s quick beauty fixes at SuperMom’s nail & brow bar
• Pre-natal massage
• Pre-natal check up
• FLEA MARKET: Get unique baby and maternity products not found in Singapore. All items less than $20!

Useful Information

Venue: The Float @ Marina Bay
Date: Sunday, 19 April 2015 Time: 4pm – 9pm
Ticket price: Free entry for kids below 12 years old $25/ Couple, $15/ Single. Sign up now and receive a goodie bag worth $50 and food / pampering coupons worth $40.

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Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

[Media Invite]

Steffi and Leroy getting all excited as we made our way to MBS on a doubledecker bus.  Doesn't matter that it was raining.

Every time I bring the kiddos to a musical or play, I always have the fear that they would not be able to understand what the performers were singing about in English.  I also fear that they would get bored and end up disturbing others with their incessant questioning during the show.  But I was glad I ended up bringing Steffi and Leroy to Disney's Beauty and The Beast on it's opening gala night, many thanks to BASE Entertainment Asia in extending the invite to our family.  It took 13 years before this classical Broadway musical finally made it to our shores, so how can we miss it?

Woohoo, they can't wait to get into the theatre!

I am not not going to act like some arty-farty musical-going kind of guy, because I am not one.  Being the pragmatic me and having 4 young kids, the family going for a simple movie show would often suffice for us, and it is definitely kinder on my wallet.  But I definitely HAVE to share our superb experience at this musical with you.  EVERYONE I spoke to, who had watched the musical, only had praises to sing of it, and this is so evident in the social media posts that you get to see online!

Having to take the bus and MRT down, we set off from home quite early and Steffi and Leroy was already getting a little restless at 8pm and kept asking why the show hadn't started yet.  However once the musical started, so did the kiddo's questioning.  They had to ask me what the lyrics meant or what their dialogue were, due to their weak command of English but I was also surprised that they actually knew exactly how the story progresses!  I had never introduced the story to them and they had actually learnt about it on their own, through YouTube they said.

We thoroughly enjoyed this particular section that got everyone all excited.  Awesome dance, and the clinging of beer mugs were timed perfectly! (Photo credit: BASE Entertainment Asia)

The elaborate costumes and beautiful voices transported all of us into the magical story. (Photo credit: BASE Entertainment Asia)

Somewhere into the show, Leroy mentioned that he need to relieve himself but both Steffi and myself were too engrossed in the show to want to leave our seats.  We delayed it for another 10 minutes before he finally declared he HAD to go.  While walking to the toilet, the kids were so thrilled to find out that they can still hear what was going on on stage and we ended up dancing to "Be Our Guest" in the toilet.  That was how happy they were and how much we enjoyed the performance.

Here's Belle with the rest of the villagers. (Photo credit: BASE Entertainment Asia)

The kiddos gave me horrified looks and asked me if the musical was over when it stopped for an intermission.  We ended up staying in our seats as they didn't want to miss the start of the 2nd half. During the wait, Leroy told me he was really tired but yet never ever falling asleep during the entire 2.5hr musical.  This does not happen often, and it was because he really didn't want to miss any part of the performance.

The cute enchanted objects in the musical, and Lumiere was really an entertaining character!  Te kiddos were tickled just from watching his hilarious exaggerated actions! (Photo credit: BASE Entertainment Asia)

Gaston, the towering muscleman was the other character that the kids loved! (Photo credit: BASE Entertainment Asia)

My personal take on this musical is, watch it if you can and bring your kids along, even if it's just the cheapest seat in the house.  The singings were fantastic and made me question if they had actually pre-recorded the songs.  The dance choreography was also magical, and we found ourselves grooving along! Lumiere and Gaston were FANTASTIC too, with lots of hilarious scenes!  However I got a little emotional watching the performance, even knowing that it was just a fairytale musical?  6 thumbs up from all of us.  Word of mouth is going to get around, so you better hurry before the tickets get sold out! 

Useful Information

Date: From 21st March 2015 - 12 April 2015
Venue: MasterCard Theatres, Marina Bay Sands

Performance Times:
Tuesday – Friday: 8:00pm
Saturday: 2:00pm and 8:00pm
Sunday: 1:00pm and 5.00pm

Ticket Price: From $65 (Excludes the booking fee of SGD$3 per ticket)

Internet Bookings: www.BASEentertainmentasia.com, www.MarinaBaySands.com or www.sistic.com.sg