The two boys and I had a staycation at Ritz Carlton over the National Day holidays last week. The hotel was great, the staff and service was excellent and the delicacies was overwhelming.
Suffice to say, we had a hell of a great time there. The hotel staff made us feel so welcome and at home, it was memorable without having to do anything else. We took a room with access to the club lounge, and as such had access to an unlimited serving of food and beverage – chilled canapes, hot meals, soft drinks, snacks, champagnes, wines, brewed coffee. The fried noodles and rice were finger-licking tasty. The popcorn was amazing.
We went into the pool twice over the three days spent at the hotel too. It wasn’t deep – at 1.2m but which was still way beyond the boy’s comfort zone, but he could stay along the side where the steps were so that helped us a lot without having to worry about him falling into the deeper zone. I managed to do nine full laps (I think) so that helped with some of the food digestion. The pool was really clean too, without the overwhelming chlorine smell so it was a great swim.
The best part of the staycation was being able to see the entire NDP from a bird’s eye view, including behind-the-scene events and tankers lining up the road behind the seating area to enter the performing platform. We could also see the parachuters dive down from the sky and a close-up view of the pilots in the chinooks and helicopters. It was amazing. I’m so glad I made this decision to have a staycation at the Ritz Carlton, during the National Day holiday this year. Thank you so much Ritz Carlton. I hope to be back again.
It was such a good break away from work.
And now, back to reality. No more fancy menus, soft drinks and canapes. I need to cook simple food again to feed all of us at home. This week, it’s a recipe taken from my favourite Home Economics textbook – simple stir-fried macaroni. No fuss, not a fancy, but simple and nice for a weekend lunch. A perfect recipe for a working and tired out mum. Try it!
Ingredients:
- Macaroni: 200g
- Oil: 2 tbsp + 2 tbsp
- Prawn: 8, deshelled and deveined
- Chicken breast: 1/2 fillet
- Salt: to taste + 1/4 tsp
- Ground blackpepper: to taste
- Garlic: 2 cloves, finely chopped
- Red onion: 1/2, finely chopped
- Caixin: 50g, washed and sliced into 4-cm lengths
- Egg: 1
- Beansprout: 50g
- Light soy sauce: 2 tbsp
- MSG: a pinch
- Spring onion: 1 stalk, finely chopped
Method:
- Cook macaroni in boiling water. Drain and set aside.
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in wok.
- Add in prawns and chicken breast, together with a pinch of salt and ground blackpepper. Fry till just cooked.
- Remove from wok and set aside. Shred chicken once cooled.
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in wok.
- Stir in garlic, red onion and caixin. Fry till softened. Push to one side of wok.
- Add egg into wok. Stir to break up.
- Stir in macaroni, bean sprouts, cooked chicken & prawns, light soy sauce, MSG and 1/4 tsp salt. Stir to combine.
- Scoop into serving plates. Garnish with spring onions to serve.
Disclaimer:
-
This recipe was kindly adapted from the 2E Home Economics textbook from my secondary school. I added in an egg and some MSG to make this dish more palatable for the family.
Serving:
3 persons
