The last weekend of the first half of the year

Yup, that's all folks. As of today, we are officially done with the first half of the year. To commemorate yet-another-weekend-gone-too-soon, here is a photo bomb of the last couple of days. 

Kopi, I love you. I really do. The world always looks a little kinder and less dreary when I'm done with you. You, me, forever. 

These generic supermarket coconut buns might not be as hyped about as crodos or cronuts but I dare say, they will outlive those faddish items. 

We went to Ikea to run some errands. It's almost impossible to make it out of the mall without picking up random items like 100-pc pack of serviettes and pineapple-print paper cups. I mean, how cute are these cups? They would be perfect for our beach-themed party though I want nothing to do with the sun, sand and sea. 

Their vanilla come was a little off-tasting; there was an unmistakable  aftertaste of milk powder. Lesson learnt and I'll never cheat on McD's vanilla cone ever again. That said, the token-driven machine was pretty cool. 

We finally figured out what to do with that beastly-looking study table of ours and I'm absolutely excited with the three-later Hay shelf we got. Can't bloody wait. 

After mauling over where to head for dinner, we decided on dinner back at my parents' place. Not getting hustled by crowds, mediocre food and poor service on a Saturday night is a huge deal. 

I brought along two salads - one, a carrot and zucchini ribbon salad with pistachios and raisins; the other a peach and blue cheese salad. They were lovingly drizzled with pumpkin seed oil and truffle balsamic glaze my parents got from their recent trip. 

My younger sister made a really delicious lamb meatball tagine - good to see the tagine pot being put to good use. 

She also brought out a sumo-sized seafood panjeon. 

That could easily become a safety mattress for a Lilliputian stuntman. 

You could choke on the chokeful of seafood and spring onion - but who's complaing? Not me, for sure. 

We had a mishmash of desserts but the highlight was surely the namesake salted caramel ice cream from you-guessed-it Salted Caramel. It was wonderfully savory yet balanced at the same time. This was one "salted" dessert where the salt reclaimed center stage instead of hiding behind a blanket of saccharine sweetness. 

Russell received his first birthday present from my younger sister. It is an amazing personalized book about a boy who went on an alphabet-littered journey to find his name. 

My younger sister is usually less than enamored with Russell's antics (I don't blame her) so this was really quite a touching gesture. 

I'm going to pay it forward and give you the link to make this awesome gift (CLICK HERE, lovely beings). 

Russell has been fussier than usual (yes, that's even possible) and we suspect he's teething again. After getting all frustrated and assuming the persona of Debbie Downer in the ditches , I have decided to not fight the situation with his normal diet. Over the last couple of dinners, I gave him some cheese, bread and fruit which he readily lapped up. 

Sounds like the South Beach of France Diet, doesn't it? Well, I guess he will survive and continue to drive the rest of us to exhaustion  

Speaking of the bub, I became the Sticker Tape Lady for half an hour yesterday and promptly defaced his high chair.

Awesome awesome dim sum lunch at Silk yesterday. 

Tim ho Wan who?