COOKING CLASS AT LIVING WELL DAY 1 AND 2

Yesterday, we started our summer cooking class over at Living Well In Podium. I was so happy that we had a very good attendance and all the kids were very excited to cook and bake!

Here's the classroom before the students arrived.

As the students arrived, they were given aprons, name tags and hand outs for the recipes.

First day, we had brunch menu so we made pancakes, waffles and smoothies.

Here are photos of the students taking turns cooking their pancakes and waffles.

This is the waffle station. Kids take turns in pouring their batter to make their waffles.

Then here, the kids take turns making their own smoothies.

Day 2, today we started the class by making the meatballs for the spaghetti. I grouped the kids into 2 groups and assisted them in making their meatballs.

To make uniform size meatballs, I made the kids use an ice cream scooper to scoop out the mixture then had them roll it with their hands to make nice round balls.

After rolling the meatballs, we fried them slightly to give them a golden color. Then, we made the tomato sauce, simmered it for a few minutes. As soon as the tomato sauce was done, we added the meatballs in the sauce and cooked it for another 5-10 minutes.

Here's our finished product with the spaghetti noodles. Everyone loved it with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. We also made spinach and artichoke dip with triangle toasts.

For the last recipe, we made cheesy garlic bread.

We made our spread from scratch and topped it with grated mozzarella cheese, baked it in the oven for 10-15 minutes,

and so here's the finished product! It was such a fun day today. The kids got to take home some of the food that we made today and they are looking forward to making tacos and quesadillas tomorrow! Yey!

ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISE: LEGEND OF THE SEAS

I just got back from a trip the other day. I wanted to post my stories and photos but I was at sea. My family and I went on a trip, a cruise on the Royal Caribbean Legend of the Seas. We started off in Shanghai and went to some parts of Japan - Miyazaki, Kobe and Fukuoka. Then Busan in Korea. It was a 7 day cruise and I have to say that it was quite relaxing.

This is the area where we checked in. Then you go through immigrations before you board the ship.

Here's our room with a view. It's quite tiny compared to a hotel but it works! We have a small sofa, coffee table and a dresser too. The bathroom is tight but it's very efficient. I love the bed. It's sooo comfy. The pillows were nice and fluffy too.

We departed right after sunset. This is our view as we set off to sea.

This is the ship. It's really huge. It can accommodate 2000 people!

Here's what we had in the Romeo and Juliet dining room... sparkling wine, good bread everyday,

Shrimp cocktail for starters,

Escargot in herbed butter,

Lobster bisque,

Mushroom tagliatelle with truffle oil

Seas bass,

More bread,

Duck consomme,

Wines,

Grilled shrimp,

Dessert sampler,

Strawberry mousse,

Berry cheesecake,

Cheese plate with crackers,

Chocolate pudding, etc. I didn't get to take photos of the other food. I remember having a turkey dinner one night with stuffing and cranberry sauce, and I also ordered grilled lamb chops with mint jelly another night. Oh I remember also having braised lamb shank for the farewell dinner.

During the day, when the ship docks, we're out exploring the towns for some shopping or we go out for lunch so we could try the local restaurants in Japan and Korea.

In the ship, there were a lot of restaurants to choose from. There's the Romeo and Juliet, which was the main dining area, then there's the Wind Jammer where they have a buffet, then for snacks and junk food like pizza and burgers, you can get them over by the cafe by the poolside. There's also an area where they served soda and ice cream the soft serve type on cones and that's where the kids always hang out.

Here's our farewell dinner at the dining room. I took a photo of Sabrina with her best friend in the ship, Sashko.

Here's the family, together with Sashko and Nan. They really took care of us during the cruise and we truly enjoyed our stay there.

Every night, after dinner, we head to the entertainment theater to watch the shows. It always had a different program every night. The kids loved the magic show. I liked the program where they had the Samba Night.

I actually felt sad when our cruise ended. It was nice meeting new people and getting to learn about different cultures. Next stop Shanghai...another 6 days of shopping, eating and sight seeing.