185/365

I've always wanted a treehouse.  Did any of you have access to one while growing up?  

Is it only a city-kid dream?  I lived most of my life in high-rise apartment buildings, which were plenty of fun in their own way.  I remember throwing a paper airplane off our 14th floor balcony once - it flew far, gliding up and down on the wind and then to my surprise it CAME RIGHT BACK.  The madness!  What were the chances??

But ah, a treehouse for kids to hide from the adults, have secret meetings and "camp" out at night...  

 On a quiet day at Jacob Ballas Children's Garden, we can pretend it's all ours. :)

184/365

When "Keep Out" just isn't enough.

183/365

Turf City looks particularly gloomy and dilapidated this week.  With the change in management and upcoming renovation, the majority of the retail tenants have vacated their units.  

If it didn't look like a post-apocalyptic wasteland before, it really does now.  All of our old favorite playgrounds have been removed.  

The good news - our favorite prata place, Curry Garden, is trying to secure a new unit somewhere in Turf City.  We're keeping our fingers crossed!

182/365

Ricotta Stuffed Mushrooms

I've made different versions of this Ricotta Stuffed Mushrooms recipe, and it always ends up delicious.  Chopping up and sautéing the stems gives the filling plenty of flavor.

Tonight, I stuffed large brown button mushrooms and added extra (like, 6 cloves of) garlic to the sautéed stems in lieu of fresh parsley, hot pepper and sundried tomatoes.  They cooked down to fun little bite-sized canapés!

181/365

What a difference a year makes.  When we arrived in Singapore, Ruby was barely a toddler and now she is starting school!

Here are the girls on Ruby's first day.

180/365

One of the best things about our endless summer, is that the girls now swim like fish!  Winter seemed to make Lily forget how comfortable she was with swimming, and come springtime, we had to start all over again. 

Lily can swim and float around in the deep end all by herself now, and Ruby isn't afraid to try what her sister is doing.  

They've even attempted poolside acrobatics.

179/365

Testing the water.

178/365

Back to the Central Fire Station.

The girls were much more eager to try everything this time, as they knew what to expect.  We even convinced them to take a ride on the cherry-picker!

177/365

When we moved to Singapore, we decided that we weren't going to buy a car.  We wanted to be "green" and take public transportation everywhere - after all, Singapore is known for its squeaky-clean and efficient subway and bus system.

It hasn't been easy, schlepping two kids and the equipment they require.  It takes a little more time, sweat and leg-work to get somewhere.  And I'm not gonna lie, there are some weeks when we end up spending a windfall on taxis.

But the kids really enjoy it.

176/365

At the Botanical Gardens with Auntie Talya.  We recreated a photo that was taken when Lily was an infant - stay tuned for the side-by-side!

175/365

Lily, Grandpa, Ruby and Auntie Myrah at the foot of the 4-storey high Christmas tree at Ngee An City.

174/365

173/365

Carrot Soup with Miso and Sesame

The thought of this carrot soup, inspired by the Japanese salad dressing so common in NYC sushi restaurants, brought me back to hundreds of lunches, dinners, and midnight sushi runs in Manhattan.

Might be fun to pair this with gyoza or salmon teriyaki - a bento box menu!

What would you serve with this?

172/365

Ruby was really into helping me stage the family Christmas photo.  She watched me clean up the living room and when I started taking test photos, she asks, "Can I bring my dollies?  And bear?"

"Okay," I replied, fiddling with the camera.

Out paraded a stroller piled high with friends.  "Okay, we're ready!"

171/365

Asleep, or not?

170/365

Smiley-fries!

169/365

Are adults allowed to have this much fun at the Children's Garden?  

168/365

The end-of-year concert at Lily's school was a pretty big production, and really fun to watch.

167/365 - Ruby's Black Cat Birthday Party

We are a big fan of low-key, backyard parties.  

166/365 - Thanksgiving

Scenes of a Singapore Thanksgiving.  

365 Project Changes

I've been terrible.

The 365 Project began losing steam after our trip to Bali - I made the decision to leave my laptop at home during the vacation, and all the catching up on posting photos built up from there.  The blogging became irregular and there were days, even weeks, where I'd forgotten all about it.

My loss, completely.  To be honest, posting one measly photo a day turned out to be much tougher than I'd imagined.  I still have this nagging feeling that I should really finish the things that I set out to do...  Must be the new year and all the talk of resolutions...  So I've come up with a compromise - I will continue the project, although the 365 days will no longer be consecutive.  I'll try my best to complete the project as close to a year as possible.

Wish me luck.