A Homely Italian 8th Wedding Anniversary Dinner


Nestled in the eastern end of Singapore at Upper Changi North Road, we found this small , homely Italian restaurant Porta Porta that served authentic Italian food. The restaurant is run by the chef and his family. When we first entered the restaurant, we were welcomed by warm and cozy furnishing. Even my five-year old daughter commented that "This place is like a home".

I got the name of this restaurant from internet a few days back while searching for a venue nearer to our place to celebrate my wedding anniversary tonite. This is because I have requested that my mum to help me tend to the other two younger kids so that Jon and myself can have a small celebration of our own tonite. And she gave us a 3-hours off to settle our celebration. We cross checked our target with Makansutra manual, which gives it a 5 chopsticks rating out of 6, before deciding to take up the offer.

It was a very wise selection. We went for their special evening set dinner "Faite" . It costed S$48 per head and you subject yourself to "whatever, whatever, whatever" the chef cooked that nite. This is a 15-18 course sampler meal. We had no idea what he would prepare tonite, but we just make sure that there were not too much of creamy or cheesy stuff when we ordered since I was still recovering from my stomach flu. We also make sure there weren't raw food as Sherise will be sharing her portion with me. The waitress was also kind to check with us if there are any meat or food that we do not take.

For appetizers, we had home-made bread with 4 kinds of dips and vinaigrettes, deep fried bread with fresh tomatos toppings, seafood salad, baked eggplant (Sherise's favorite for it taste like lasagne's to her) and smoked cheese. Next came my favorite - fried green mussels with herbs and tomato sauce, chicken soup, For main course, we had pasta vongole, tuna spaghetti in tomato sauce, baked chicken with potato and herbs , seafood platter which is made up of fried buttered prawns and calamari, and lastly stewed lamb for the red meat entry. As for desert, we were served chocolate ice-cream and tiramisu cake tonite.

Overall, it was a dinner filled with curiosity in nice homely ambiance. My daughter was so excited with the "unknown" that stirred up her curiosity to try every single dish that was served. It's great to see her being so open to "foreign food" for the first time.

The bill for the night was less than S$120 for our table of 3. For a fine-dinning restaurant, this is within a reasonable price range. The food was also served at a right pace and the right temperature. We started our dinner at 7 pm and finish our dessert by 8.10pm.

Before leaving, we had our family photo taken as remembrance.

Mama Serene
P.S: Want to know how I can earn a passive stream of income while being home with my children, check this out www.whyworkathome.org/truehaven

So fulfilling!! 4 months at home beats 10 years working

How time flies? 4 over months have passed since I stopped working. It's been a very enriching life to be able to work at home and be next to my children. I have been blessed with so many wonderful events over the last 4 months.

Firstly, Jayden started creeping in April 08, 1 month after his 2-yr old birthday . Now he can pull himself to stand. Every morning when he wakes up , he will sit up on the bed himself and creeps towards the door himself. Before that, he always cried to get our attention to go to him to carry him out of his bed. This is really a great milestone for him. He has since discovered that he can do more with his mobility now . My kitchen drawers have been a great scavenger hunting ground for him to explore.

Secondly, Jeslyn our third child started creeping too. She started creeping too around the same time as Jayden at 6-mth old. All I can say about this girl is she is definitely a survivor. Her development was way ahead of her sister and brother. She didn't like cereal nor pureed fruits. So she join us in eating whatever we eat. She started taking mee sua, noodles, rice and apple sticks at 7-8 mth. We just let her eat anything that she attempted to try. Now she can chew apple sticks and baby biscuits on her own. It was totally different case for her sister or brother. I guess she's been trained early to self-feed because my maid always feed the older ones first before coming to her. So she got to bring food to her own mouth if she wants to eat anything.
In a way, it is much relief for us adult taking care of her.

Thirdly, I have been able to grow my alternative stream of income by working from home on the internet. The internet marketing system that comes with the business has allowed me to meet many new business partners from around the world who are like-minded. Many of these are people whom I do not know. It is indeed a brand new experience for me. In a way, I was very thankful for this opportunity to be able to stay at home to help my son in his therapy sessions while keeping myself occupied and coping financially with the income that I derived from it.

In addition, to prepare for my elder daughter's Primary-One enrolment next year, I have had the privilege to be able to do parent volunteer services at my desired schools of choice.
I actually volunteer for more than a school cause my area is a pretty new town and are populated with young couples having school-going kids. The two schools are all within 1 km of my address but they are both pretty hot picks in this area. How wonderful to be a Work-At-Home mum? I have the flexibility to dictate how I want to use my time. :)

Mama Serene
P.S: Want to know how I can be home with my children and still have income flowing in, check this out ----->>>> www.WhyWorkAtHome.org/truehaven