We're home....for now

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And so to conclude the post-Singapore posts.

I love Singapore.  It was a fantastic break from our usual tiring routine. 

#1Hubby and I got along fabulously.  Largely thanks to the rolling happy hours, the shopping, the unlimited sleep and rest opportunities. 

It was crazy easy to slip into a child-free state of mind.  No dragging unwilling kids around, no finding kiddy-friendly restaurants, no nap times to work around, or eating early to be back at the hotel for bed time.

We missed The Feral Threesome hard.  Distance not only makes the heart grow fonder, it also makes the mind grow foggier.  Suddenly I couldn't quite recall exactly how irritating it was when, the day before we left, I found them all drag queening themselves up with my make up.  Instead, I remembered how freaking cute they looked as mini drag queens.

Time, even a few days, makes every little thing they do seem completely adorable again.  Including a 5:15am wake up via blood nose splatter.  Ugh... 

So, in our summation, we would be the most devoted and loving parents in the world, cherishing our every second with The Feral Threesome, adoring them above all else...if we parented them less frequently. 

I am currently attempting to convince him to work the extra 12-14hrs a day he doesn't already, so that we may put The Feral Threesome in boarding school and move to Singapore.

Boarding school in Perth for them (I was a boarding school teen, so I even have a waitlist-jumping right to a killer girls school and its brother school, bonus!)....and an international jetsetting lifestyle for us.

I admit, they may be some fairly extreme measures to go to in order to spend more time in Singapore and be a better parent while around my kids.

I will probably think on it some more before requesting enrollment packs and jumping on Seek to look for Singapore based employment for #1Hubby, in a location close to the shops and bars for me, his lady of leisure expat wife.

Failing a permanent set up, I could quite get used to the odd adults only mini-vacation.

Unfortunately, I may need to find a new babysitter first.  Poor #1Nana, she was limping and looking a lot like a startled deer in headlights when we arrived home.  She may well be suffering from PTSD.  I certainly don't expect her to bravely and naively put her hand up for overnight babysitting duties again any time soon.

For now, I will console myself by flicking through glossy boarding school brochures and signing up for cheap flight email alerts.

 

Singapore Fine Dining - The White Rabbit

The post where we go all high class.

No, really. 

It's fitting that The White Rabbit is housed in a restored former British Army church, because the meal was a religious experience of sorts for #1Hubby and I.

This was the big one - his actual 40th birthday dinner.

I'd asked the Singapore Tourism Board to recommend somewhere nice, a little bit special.

They far exceeded my request, and I can't thank them enough for this special night out.

We were treated to The White Rabbit's 4 course Prix Fixe, with the restaurant providing an accompanying bottle of Mumm French Champagne for our special night.

I don't even know where to start.

#1Hubby is a fairly traditional 'blokey bloke' - he's shunned sushi because he fears being presented with raw meat or fish, despite my protests that there are other options.

And yet, I witnessed my 'blokey bloke' demolish sashimi grade tuna in what I can only assume was a delicious Salad Nicoise, on account of him not sharing one single morsel.  He then followed it up with Wagyu Carpaccio.  He still does not believe me when I tell him the beef was raw, such is the nature of a carpaccio.

He's such a heathen, right?

Whereas I, ever the sophisticate, may have covertly used my bread to ensure I had scraped up every single remnant of the Foie Gras Duet done two ways.  The seared lobe - worth a trip just to taste that again.

We argued over who would get the Beef Cheek Bourguignon.  Of course he played the "it's my 40th birthday dinner" card.  So juvenile....

When the waitress poured him a glass of red wine matched to accompany his beef, I was positively seething on the inside.

Of course that's not to say I missed out - I was actually loving the Grilled Atlantic Cod, but of course I didn't let him know that.  It would've totally ruined my martyr routine.  So, instead, I stoically sipped my Mumm (lest he get more of it than me).

Come dessert I snapped up the Chocolate Moelleux before he could even open his mouth.  So much oozing chocolately goodness.

#1Hubby had the Crepes Suzette, which were made at the table, including an explanation of the cooking process.

I particularly loved the part that, without the Grand Marnier, it was really just pancakes in orange juice.  Totally brought it down to our level of understanding! 

Dining at The White Rabbit is truly an experience.  It's not just a restaurant, far from it.

The staff were attentive and incredibly friendly.  They know their stuff.  From the history of the restaurant and the Dempsey Hill area, to the story behind each dish and its ingredients.  They knew which wines would best suit each dish, and I watched a number of staff prepare the signature Crepes Suzette with a flourish.

The service is phenomenal and friendly - the friendliness can sometimes be missing in fine dining establishments.  Not here.  Not once did I have to look for service.  And, most importantly, as someone whose usual definition of 'dining out' is a rushed meal at Sizzler with the kids - never did I ever feel uncomfortable or awkward in such a fine dining establishment. 

For one night, we were those people - the ones who dine at a first class restaurant.  Who enjoy French champagne.  I could totally get used to it.

Honestly, it was the highlight of our trip.  This kind of fare, this restaurant experience, it is something we've rarely had the opportunity to enjoy.  It was our one special occasion, and it's something we'll never forget.

For my part, I can now tick another luxury champagne off my bucket list!

I can't thank both The White Rabbit and the Singapore Tourism Board enough for making #1Hubby's birthday dinner a very special night.

If you find yourself in Singapore and you want a special and unique dining experience, treat yourself and try The White Rabbit's Four Course Prix Fixe.

Singapore in 24 child-free hours

For this week's posts I bring you a quick wrap up of our Singapore fling, complete with Singapore Sling's....

I promise that will be the last of my poorly attempts at witty word play.

First up, the getting there and back.

The trip over was amazing - complete with lounge access at Perth Airport, which left us yearning for the pointy end of the plane just that little more than usual.  One day I will convince #1Hubby and the kids to stay at home and 'take one for the team' so that I may use all of our holiday funds to fly at the pointy end.  Until such time, I will practice sticking my pinkie finger out at the appropriate angle for French champagne pre-flight drinks in Business Class, dahhhlings.

Can I just say - Singapore Airlines' lounge is possibly more impressive than my house.  It's impeccably clean, has a far better stocked fridge, more food options, and of the three children in the room, not one was swearing or wiping grubby fingers on anything.  It was positively calm, peaceful and delightful.

I was desperate for someone I knew to spot me walking in and out of the lounge.  Sadly, it didn't happen, and after two fabricated excuses to go in and out, I gave up.  If I do ever make it to the pointy end of the plane for real, I will send out a mass Facebook party invitation for everyone to come watch me enter the lounge in a sophisticated manner, followed by waving me off as I board the plane first.  I may wave from my seat at the front, but only if it doesn't come off as classless and unbecoming.  Perish the thought.

Total Singapore Airlines awesomeness - making us both feel special, heh.

About half way into our flight, #1Hubby was presented with a massive chocolate cake, complete with bubbly and cards.  Multiple cards.  One said "Happy Anniversary!".  Another said "Happy Birthday!", and a third simply went with "Love Forever!".  So this means that it was also my celebration.  And that I will not be expected to produce any further celebratory events for our anniversary in October.

And suddenly, in our loved up anniversary and birthday sharing state, our 5 hour flight had whizzed past (possibly on account of not having any kids in tow to cause us to white-knuckle the entire journey).

How to do Singapore in 24 child-free hours?

Thankfully, we had a driver for our entire trip. Eric knows everything there is to know about Singapore.  He was full of suggested sights and destinations for our limited time.  And he's an excellent driver.  Not once did I have to use the invisible break that I've become so accustomed to in many Asian countries with heavy traffic and almost impossible to follow road rules.

Thanks to Eric, we did not 'Get Lost in Singapore'.  He made the cross-island trips quick and effortless.  In fact, the only single time we did get lost was inside the enormous Marina Bay Sands complex after visiting the Sands Sky Park, when we thought we'd make like posh people and stroll through the jaw droppingly fancy shopping plaza.

Rather than underwhelm you with my poorly attempt at photographing the amazing views from the Sands Sky Park, I give you proof of #1Hubby's girly-man fear of heights.  This is him, crouching in fear because he's too scared to go right to the edge to take a photo - the edge that is covered in shatter-proof glass, steel and safety wires.

Gucci darling, Cartier, Givenchy - all the big guns.  You just know it's going to be fancy when they call it The Shoppes.  The one time #1Hubby and I argued over the whole trip was here.  It was a serious issue - how to correctly pronounce 'The Shoppes'.  When we reached a stalemate and finally asked someone, they looked at us rather bemused and said SHOPS, it is pronounced SHOPS.

We were way off with our SHOPES versus SHOP-PES argument.

Showing our Classe in The Shoppes by posing with some of the designer window models.  Images not taken by us, rather by some Japanese tourists who found it totally hilarious and egged us on.  I am expecting our own Anime cartooon and miniature doll line any minute now.  It will be huge.

We spent our first night at the Novotel in Clarke Quay.   Perfect location, right at the end of the Clarke Quay strip of harbour-side restaurants and bars.

We had planned to stroll all the alleyways of Clarke Quay, but we got as far as the very first bar and saw the "Happy Hour : 2 for 1 including Sangria" sign and we were all like "Ole! We're in!" and suddenly three hours had passed.

We finally dragged ourselves away and crossed over to nearby shops, before coming back to watch a group of Japanese tourists take turns on a massive slingshot.  Classic visual comedy at its finest.  Particularly exciting watching a heaving, wretching guy stumble off and into the nearest bush to deposit his lunch.

While that was certainly enjoyable, we happened to look up and notice that our hotel was attached to a 5 storey shopping complex, and so we were off to Hello Kitty it up in there.

I nearly wept when I saw a $2 shop and a giant supermarket in the complex.  Starbucks caffeine fuel in hand (because I could afford to be reckless and consume caffeine in the evening, being that I didn't have to get to sleep at a reasonable hour to get up early to the kids), I made both my bitch.  My bitchez, if you will (because that makes it sound so classy). 

There's nothing I love more than a massive supermarket.  Really.  I am that person who gets super psyched to do the grocery shopping, and I love checking out the different products in supermarkets in foreign countries.  Maybe it's the whole "justifiable shopping" vibe of spending money in a supermarket; maybe it's just my severe addiction to shopping.  Who knows.  Who cares.

Finally, shopped out to the max, we dumped our bounty in the room and headed back out to Clarke Quay for a late dinner, and possibly some more happiness courtesy of the rolling Happy Hours.

 

 So in conclusion - what to do in Singapore with 24 child-free hours?

All the S words....

Shopping, sightseeing and Sangria

2 for 1 Happy Hour Sangria in Clarke Quay, Ole!