Irza's Birthday BBQ Party

Date: Sunday, 26 August 2007
Location: BBQ pit next to the swimming pool, Signature Park Club House

Irza is celebrating his 6th birthday on Wednesday, 22 August 2007. On the day itself, my wife made a birthday cake for him. We had a small candle blowing celebration at home, just the four of us, before we proceeded to Swensen's at Holland Village for dinner. The pictures can be found here.

On Sunday, 26 August 2007, we invited several (not many) families to have a small BBQ birthday party for Irza. The small party took place at a BBQ pit next to the swimming pool at our apartment's Club House.

Unfortunately, we couldn't use the swimming pool since it was under maintenance due to some reason. But that didn't stop us (especially the kids) from having fun. :) The kids were having fun decorating cupcakes, playing with balloons and a ball, as well as playing at the playground nearby.

There are some bulgogi beef and chicken satays from Seoul Garden for adults, as well as my wife's homemade chicken satay and the birthday cake from Prima Deli for the kids.

Bazaar KBRI Singapura 2007

Date: Sunday, 26 August 2007
Location: Indonesian Embassy, Chatsworth Road, Singapore.

On Sunday, 26 August 2007, I took Irza to the Indonesian embassy to visit the annual bazaar to celebrate Indonesia's national day. Similar to last year, the embassy is full of people, all Indonesians living in Singapore.

I reached there at around 11:30am, and suprisingly, I can get a parking lot quite easily. I needed to show my Indonesian IC (KTP) to enter the embassy, since the bazaar is opened only for Indonesians. This means, other nationalities, including Singaporeans, are not allowed to enter.

The first friend I met there is Judhi Prasetyo, who, as usual, roamed around with his camera, taking pictures. I and Irza then went to the strings of numerous stalls selling all kind of Indonesian foods. Almost all kind of Indonesian popular dishes are available there, you name one and it'll be there. Nasi uduk, nasi gudeg, sate, ketoprak, gado-gado, padang/minang food including sate padang, and many more.

I bought nasi gudeg from the stall which also sells Hany's Braddell satay and Iif's pempek (can't remember the name of the stall). It's only $2, quite cheap. Eventually, Irza wanted the satay so we bought one from Hany, $6 for 10 skewers of Braddell satay including the rice cake (lontong).

I also bought mie Aceh ($2 only) and rujak Aceh ($1 only) from Nonong, who turned out to be one of the sellers there as well. Her stall was the first one on the right, together with Gita if I'm not mistaken (I remember seeing Roni in front of the stall). :) I also bought two packs of nasi uduk (at $2.5 each) from the same stall.

My wife also asked me to buy risoles, so I bought them from Ellen's Kedai Ibu, quite expensive, $2 per pack of 2 risoles, which means one risole costs $1. I also bought some bakwans (fried mixed vegetables) from another stall (can't remember the name), $1 for three bakwans, which means only 33 cents for each bakwan. Not too sure why the price difference is quite high. :)

I also met Sandy and Elsy there, as well as Andre, who was also taking some pictures there. Also met Yolli and Baby, Rio, Haris, Kang Iif, Iwan (accompanying their wives, of course), and passed by Fivtanto and Duddy on our way back to the carpark.

NDP Preview 2007 at Marina Bay

Date: Saturday, 28 July 2007
Location: Marina Bay, near the Esplanade

After attending the BTPS Fun Day and Open House in the morning, the whole family went to Marina Bay in the late afternoon to evening, to attend Singapore's National Day Parade (NDP) Preview.

From Millenia Walk, we walked towards Marina Square. Just outside the Marina Square, we needed to queue for security checks, before we proceed to the makeshift stadium located opposite Marina Square and next to the Esplanade, facing the floating stage on the sea. We collected our goodie bags before proceeding to the staircase and went up to find seats.

There are many types of show being staged, not only on the floating platform but also around the bay area, such as dragonboat race, paratroopers jumping from helicopters and landing on the stage, fighter planes flying above, defense display show and, last but not least, the fireworks display.