Daddy turns a year older

E loves pampering his car. According to some of his coursemates, our trusty 11-year-old Hyundai Lantra - which has taken us on many a roadtrip across Gippsland's many scenic spots, even has a name - and it is Natasha. (Roll eyes.)

What better birthday gift than something that makes our "Natasha" look even better than it already does?

So here is the birthday boy's loot, including cards from Mommy and Son, and a wooden door hanger hand-painted by our very own in-house artist, all 21 months of him:


Here is "Natasha" decked out in her new seat covers, with matching steering wheel cover, no less:



All in all, E's birthday was celebrated in a quiet, low-key fashion.

We headed to Traralgon for lunch at E's favorite cafe, Iimis, and tried something new on the menu - a Greek mezza for 2. On a big white plate, was piled pita bread, an assortment of meats, olives, sundried tomatoes, fried cheese, with houmous and taramasalata dips. Yumz! Too bad we were so caught up in eating that we forgot to take a photo to remember the meal by!

After a white chocolate cheese cake which was slightly on the heavy (burp - excuse me!) side, we headed over to Newman park where Dylan showed us once again why he is such a cheeky little monkey. The sun was out in full force, and soon we had to strip him down to his sleeveless tee.

Back in the comfort of our cosy Churchill home, I tried my hand at this recipe from The Pioneer Woman. Instead of using the drumstick, however, I used a maryland cut, which is basically the deboned side of a chicken. In Singapore, this is the cut Western foodstalls use to make chicken chop.

Although the original recipe is named "Crispy Yoghurt Chicken", my version unfortunately flopped. So I'm going to name it "Yummy Yoghurt Chicken" instead, because in spite of the soggy breadcrumbs which didn't turn crispy at alll, the chicken was still tasty.



Here it is, Yoghurt Maryland Chix with Parmesan Potatoes and Asparagus.

Here are the father-son duo with the cake. D kept watching the cake intently, I think because the flames on the little candles fascinated him so. It wouldn't be inaccurate to call them the birthday boys - after all Dylan turned 21 months too!