Gong Gong's birthday

It's Gong Gong's birthday. We went and had dinner at a Chinese restaurant that offers a buffet spread that Jon and Ben like, that's hopefully quite as scrumptious, though not as costly as the best ones offered by hotels in Singapore (that, so I heard, the prices have sky-rocketed). Still, cost aside, because it's further away, we only go there for special occasions such as this.

Ahead of that, yesterday on Fourth of July, when Gong Gong remembered that it would already be the 5th back home, I scrambled to bake a simple cake. And in keeping with family traditions on my side, I also made chicken soup, my grandmother's style, the way I think she might have made hers:

Stir-fry a few pieces of ginger with oil, before adding the chicken (marinaded ahead with soya sauce, pepper, salt and sesame oil/rice wine if you like), presoaked dried shitake mushrooms, and dried lily bulbs (that I substituted with black fungus), and enough water for the broth.

I used 5 thighs and 5 drumsticks, and about 8 cups of water for quite a rich pot of soup.

Amidst the flurry of activities, and I was also trying to multi-task with one load of laundry in the washer and another in the dryer, I made a few mistakes with the cake (more on that later), but it'd have to do.

For the chicken soup, I remembered the hardboiled eggs -- must have one for the birthday boy, but forgot to get the mee sua (skinny white noodles)! We settled for egg noodles instead, which would still symoblize longevity.

And after all, it's always the thought that counts, right?

Ready, set, blow! The boys join Gong Gong to blow out the candles on his birthday cake...

Fourth of July Fireworks

There was something else that we did a better job of planning ahead -- going to catch the fireworks yesterday. Even then, being pretty lastminute people (my husband especially, and over the years, it's rubbed off on me), we were just fortunate to get one of two 30-min parking spaces left, and a good spot right next to a building, for as close-up a view we could get, without having to walk all the way to the Gateway Arch.

Ben was really looking forward to this day, way before Vern knew he was going back to Singapore. And except for the fixed dates of the conference, Vern had in fact planned his trip such that he could honour his promise to our little boy -- to go see the starbursts, the chrysanthemums, and the weeping willows, paint the sky a myriad of colours!

And then, like Ben said he wouldn't, he didn't cry at all, when the fireworks went "Wam! Bam! Boom!" to cheers and whistles from the crowds that have gathered to celebrate the nation's birthday.

So, as much as it was a time for family reunions for American families here, this Fourth of July with Daddy back home in time, and our own celebration of Gong Gong's birthday (our first in three years), is a special one for us, too!

God bless America, and I'm thankful to God indeed for blessing our family!