Our Singaporean Adventures (Part 2)

You can't go half way across the world to a new country and not try some local cuisine. As much as I believe this I was a little nervous to go to dinner with Jeff's colleagues as I am not really a big seafood fan.
Hey, don't judge! I grew up in Kansas. . . I'm a steak and potatoes kind of girl :) However, I can remember countless times as a child my father (and even my mother) telling me "Just try it. You might actually like it!" Most of the time I thought they were crazy because why would anyone in their right mind like ______ (insert name of any new food they were trying to get me to taste). Well of course if my dad  were around today I'm sure I would hear at least one "I told you so" smart @ss comment from him. . . . because he was right. I may not love seafood, but I have definitely tried a lot of new foods that aren't too bad and I would eat again if given the chance.

For dinner one night in Singapore Jeff's colleagues took us out to dinner at Jumbo's Seafood, one of the best well-known seafood places there.

The dinner is served family style, so Jeff's coworker ordered for the whole table. For the girl nervous about eating seafood. . . it was not easy sitting there wondering if I was going to like anything that was gonna come to the table! First up were appetizers....

Stir Fried Baby Kai Lan

(Looks like mushy lettuce, but tastes surprisingly delicious!)

Here we are at dinner. You can see the Hong Shao Pai Gu (Pork) appetizer there in front of us. This was also delicious!!! We also had some mini chicken and steak kabobs with peanut sauce (not pictured). I'm not a fan of coconut, but as you can also see in the picture several of the people at dinner were enjoying fresh coconut milk.

Next up. . . the main course, pepper crab.

Followed by chili crab served with some yummy rolls to balance the spice.

Also served was Sotong rolled in Fried Yu Tiao 

(small blended squid in dough).

This was also surprisingly delicious after I got past the fact that I was eating squid! It's actually served with a thick dark sweet sauce for dipping. We also had fried shrimp (not pictured) in a salty egg coating that was really good!

I have to admit that even though I tried the crab I stayed clear of the work! If you've had crab then you know what I'm talking about. I was not super eager to get my hands dirty for food that I wasn't even sure I was going to like. Thankfully my loving husband agreed to play along!

 Watch out for the claw!!! haha

All that work and just this little bite?!?!

It was great food, but what a mess!!! ;-)

Now of course there was dessert!! I would say both desserts are an acquired taste! They weren't terrible, but not something I would rush back to eat again. Let's just say I would rather stick to anything chocolate and ice cream any day! :)

Oo Bi Ber (blended black beans with vanilla ice cream)

Not terrible, but ice cream can make anything better, right?!? :)

I forgot the name of the last one down. It was some kind of yam paste. I didn't really care for this one either. . .plus no ice cream to help it out! 

Our Singaporean Adventures (Part 1)

We arrived in Singapore the weekend before Jeff had to start work there so we had some time to go exploring and see some of the sites together. First on the list was the Singapore Flyer, the largest observation wheel in the world! It's 42 stories high and 30 meters (98 ft) higher than the London Eye. And yes for those of you wondering. . . an observation wheel is a fancy way of saying really big ferris wheel :) Since this one goes so high in the air, though, each "car" on the wheel is actually an enclosed glass tube that easily holds about 15 people.

The Singapore Flyer

Here's what the tube looks like that you ride in on the Flyer.

When you run out of space just build a floating soccer field!

This huge building is the Marina Bay Sands. The top observation deck looks kind of like a boat just sitting on three tall hotels. They say it's longer than the Eiffel Tower laying on its side! It's got a huge pool on top for the guests of the hotel. You can also pay to go up just to see the view. We didn't go up because we went even higher for a view of the city.....but I'll get to that later! The building right in front of it is a huge high end mall. The other odd shaped building on the right is an art science museum.

At night there was a cool light show off the top of the building.

 Part of downtown Singapore at night

 The next day we checked out Universal Studios!! 

I am a huge theme park fan!!! I have always wanted Jeff and I to go to one since we started dating. This was definitely not on the same scale as the extreme rides found in a lot of theme parks in the US, but it was still lots of fun! The two best rides we went on were actually 4-D rides that were so surreal! It was a fun day!! 

 I feel like this sums up my life right now :) 

Gotta love Po, the Kung Fu Panda!!!

This sign made me laugh and gave me a quick brush up on my vocab. I have to ask.... what's the first thing that comes to mind when someone says "giddy"? I think lighthearted fun and silliness. Don't most people? Why wouldn't you want me to ride this ride if I'm prone to being fun and silly?!? It does, however, also mean dizziness. Which since they already listed that on the ride warning . . . it's kind of redundant, right?!?! Oh well, it definitely gave me a good laugh!

The Marriott hotel where we stayed.

What's more refreshing than a cold beverage when it's hot outside? Ice cream, of course!!! Well all over the downtown streets of Singapore there are little ice cream stands. It's fantastic! Even McDonald's has gotten in on the craze and has an ice cream only free standing store on the street.

More pictures and stories about Singapore coming soon!!

Singapore!!

Last month I got to go with Jeff for part of a work trip. He went to Thailand for a week, then I got to meet him in Singapore for a week. I was pretty excited for several reasons. First, it's summer weather year round so that means leaving cold Geneva for the sunshine!! Secondly, I love getting to see new places and this was somewhere new for both of us. Finally, it's another country that speaks English everywhere so that always makes things easier. :)

A couple of you have told me that you like it when I give some interesting facts about the place we are visiting so I thought I would start there and then post pictures of our trip.

Here's a map of Singapore in relation to its surrounding countries. Singapore is the little dot at the end of the long peninsula. Malaysia is the country in green and right below it is Singapore. You can't even tell what color it is... basically a dot. The two pink countries to the South are Indonesia. As you can tell Singapore is a very tiny country.

Fun Facts About Singapore

• It's only 3 1/2 times the size of Washington D.C. and is actually an island. (As you can tell in the second map above.)
• The capitol is Singapore City and the entire island is pretty much one city. You can't really tell where one "town" ends and another begins. 
• It's near the equator so it's pretty much hot and ridiculously humid all year long.
• English is one of four official languages. The others are Mandarin, Malay and Tamil.
• Even though it's small there are over 5 million people living there.
• 20% of the land in Singapore didn't use to exist. They have done extensive land reclamation to add more space to the country. Land reclamation is basically the process of bringing in sand, soil and even sometimes landfill refuse from another location and packing it down on the ocean floor until it reaches the current ground level creating new land.
• In 1992 chewing gum was outlawed, as well as, the import and sale of it to help clean up the city as people were disposing of it improperly. The law was revised later to allow for health related gum (i.e. the nicotine gum for people trying to quit smoking). This leaves room for tons of breath mints to be sold. Check out the picture below!

Not a single pack of gum to be found!!

Something in the air!

We had such a random night this week that I have to share with all of you.

It has been rainy and cold here for a while so since it was at least cold and sunny yesterday when Jeff got home we decided to get out of the house for a walk. As we were leaving our building we saw what appeared to be a very very drunk neighbor gentleman of ours being helped into the building. Not that strange but a little funny since we never see anyone that lives here. Seriously in all the time I've been here I've only seen other people in our building maybe three or four times.

Then less than a block from our house this woman stops us for directions since she hears us speaking English. She was a character! Took five weeks off her job to come over to Europe to see Mummenschanz. If you actually know what this is then give yourself a pat on the back and let me know, because we had never heard of them. If you don't then you really should just google them and find out for yourself. They are basically mime performers. Anyway this lady goes on to tell us how she has been a crazed obsessed fan since she saw them perform on Sesame Street in the late '70s. She told us of her love of trapeze art and that next she was leaving Geneva to attend one of the premier clown colleges in the world. She had gotten lost trying to find an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner. An odd cuisine to be trying in Geneva of all places, but what do I know. Anyway we walked her most of the way to her destination so she didn't get lost again. She was highly entertaining!!

Then we had quite the scare coming back to our building. It seriously was like a scene out of a movie. When the elevator doors opened there was a woman lying face down in a very odd position on the floor of the elevator. We were both so in shock and speechless that the doors started to close. I think I said "Shit!" and went to hit the button again. The door opened back up and Jeff started talking to her to see if she was alive. She finally mumbled a few words and crawled/stumbled her way out of the elevator to collapse back on the entry floor of our building. Jeff says, "Are you okay? Are you drunk?" She laughs and says yes so we went ahead and left her there. She had no purse or shoes with her. We're not really sure if she's a neighbor or not since we never see anyone in our building. I have to say, though, there was a serious moment that both of us thought we had just found a dead body in the elevator. It was crazy!!!!

St. Patrick's Day. . .Lucky #7!!

St. Patrick's Day was always celebrated in our house growing up for two reasons: first, it was my Dad's birthday and secondly, my mom is half Irish so we had to make sure to wear our green to avoid getting pinched! Well back in 2006 my good friend, Kristen, invited me to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with her and some friends in Kansas City. We had so much fun that it has become a great tradition with another great friend, Amy, joining in the tradition and shenanigans every year as well!!  We have so much fun going all out in green and crazy accessories!! Every year we've managed to find something new to add to our attire. It's so much fun and we love it when people stop us and comment on some part of it.

Here's the three of us off to an early start enjoying a 

cold one as we watch the parade.

I don't know what next year will bring, but am so glad I got one more 

St. Patty's Day in the record books!! You girls are the best!!

Baby Shower

My sister, Laura, is expecting her first baby at the end of this month. When I was home in March I threw her a baby shower. I will not get to be there when the baby is born so I wanted to at least throw her a shower to help her get ready. They are leaving the sex of the baby as a surprise. . . which has been absolutely killing me because I like to plan and know this information ahead of time. Plus I also LOVE shopping for baby clothes and gender neutral clothes are almost impossible to find!!!  Anyway they are doing a jungle safari theme for the room which is still super cute even though we don't know if it's a boy or girl.

So I took the jungle safari theme added bright blue, green, and a splash of yellow with some zebra and giraffe prints to pull it all together! I did a bunch of pinterest and internet browsing for decorating ideas and yummy recipes to try. All in all I would say it was a success, BUT I have to say that throwing this shower was much more time consuming than I had realized.  I've done this before with friends helping and catering in the food, but I did this one pretty much on my own and it was a little hectic there at the end! I have to thank my aunts and cousins that helped me get all the food and tables set-up as I definitely underestimated my time needed before guests arrived. Consider this a lesson learned!!!

 Raspberry Lemonade Punch... a very delicious pinterest recipe find! 

Plus these little animal picture holders were great as Laura got to take them home for the baby's room.

 I snagged some of Katie's beanie babies to help decorate.

 Another pinterest recipe find. . .and they were delicious. 

I will definitely make these again!!

 The easiest of all my finds for food ideas, 

but my favorite as it just looked so cute and colorful!!!

 Another yummy find. . .who doesn't like funfetti cake?!? This funfetti cake dip was a super easy recipe! I also made a brown sugar fruit dip that was quite delightful as well! It also has an option to spice it up with alcohol! :) Of course I didn't do that for the baby shower, but I'm thinking I'll be trying it soon for my next party!

 I put a lot of love and hours into cutting out all these letters and I absolutely LOVE how it turned out. The creative gene doesn't come naturally to me so I am really proud of this one as it was all my idea!

Instead of the big diaper cake, I did mini diaper cakes on all the tables alternating between giraffe and zebra print ribbons and different jungle animals on each one. Believe it or not the jungle animals were an inexpensive Hobby Lobby find that were printed wood cutouts that you colored in yourself. Thanks to my sister, Katie, for coloring all of them!!

Here's my sister with the safari crib set they picked out for the baby room!!

If anyone is interested in any of the recipes I made for the shower feel free to leave me a note and I can email them to you. 

Anytime now I am going to be an aunt for the first time. I hate that I can't be there right away, but am looking forward to lots of pictures and skyping with everyone!! I can't wait!!

The Beginning of a New Decade!

Yes, it's true. I'm 30 now! Thankfully it doesn't hurt quite as much as I thought it might! hahaha
As most of you know, Jeff and I were able to come back to KS to celebrate my birthday with our friends and family. Jeff and my good friend, Amy, had planned a party for me in Lawrence, but first we celebrated with family on both sides. The day after we landed, we made a quick trip out to see Jeff's family. They surprised me with streamers, balloons, and a Jayhawk decorated ice cream cake...my favorite!!! It was so good to get to see them all again.

 I really don't think are too many desserts much better
than ice cream cake from Dairy Queen!!

Jeff and I with Grandma & Grandpa Schneider!! We miss you guys!!

Then we headed to Wichita for the week while Jeff caught up on some work in the office and I got to spend some time with my family. We went to dinner at Abuelo's in Wichita with my family one night to celebrate. I definitely miss Mexican food the most when we're in Geneva!!!

Jeff and I with my family. Laura and Brian weren't able to make it.

The day of my birthday Jeff took me to breakfast at McDonald's before he headed to work. It was great! We love McDonald's breakfast, but after I once looked up the calories and fat in one delicious breakfast burrito we made a pack to now only go there for special occasions! Yikes!! That night after he got off work we went to dinner and a movie . . . .a FIRST for us!!! Yes, believe it or not, Jeff and I had never gone to a movie together.  We both enjoy movies, but it just never happened. We spent time hanging out watching sporting events or a movie at home rather than going to the theater when we were dating. We kept saying it was gonna happen. Then he moved to Geneva, and we were busy planning a wedding. . .crazy how time flies! Well I told him that I wanted to finally go to a movie for my birthday. He got us tickets to Warren Theater in Wichita where you can eat and drink in the theater. It was pretty sweet!!!

 Proof that we finally made it to see a movie in a theater!!

Yes, I picked the movie too. . . a romantic comedy!

That weekend we headed to Lawrence for my birthday party. It was so much fun!!! Jeff and Amy had reserved this private room at a sports bar and restaurant in town for us to watch the KU game and party together! It was such a great night! I have such wonderful friends and family!!!

Jeff got these amazing cupcakes from a cupcake boutique in KC!!!

Amy did all the decorating. It was great. . .NO Bieber!!! 

(FYI. . .for those of you who don't know Justin Bieber and I share a birthday. My friends really wanted to throw me a Bieber party since I was turning 30 and Bieber 18. I, however, am not a fan and got enough Bieber at my going away party last year so I was very very grateful they didn't bring him back for this party. Thanks girls, I appreciate it!!!)

 My sister, Katie, Amy, and I

 My best friend, Hannah, and I

Even my Aunt Mary & Uncle Gary stopped by 

to have a celebratory drink with me!

Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes!!! It really was a great birthday and month =)  I am looking forward to a great year!!