June 2011 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Obsessed With Folding Blankets

I believe everyone has an OCD or a quirk, even with young kids and toddlers. Baby’s latest OCD is with folding blankets, towels and nappies. She is also obsessed with having at least 3 pieces of nappies and 2 blankets on the king size bed that she shares with her sisters. She likes to be surrounded by blankets and nappies on her bed. This fella can spend at least 15-20 minutes folding and unfolding her blankets and nappies everyday, at least thrice a day. And she does it with style too, by sandwiching the middle part of the blanket or nappy with her chin and chest… then brings both the corners of the blanket together. And the same process happens 1 more time…. and then she folds up the half folded blanket/nappy into one neat square! This 3-year old toddler is a neat freak I tell ya. What tickles me a lot is that she does it with such seriousness and interest, reinforced with her telling me “mummy, I love to fold blankets!” HAHAHA!

No. of times viewed = 437

Our Pleasant Saturday

It was indeed a very pleasant Saturday for me simply because my prayers were granted. Today we left the house very early for the Immigration Dept. to renew our passports. After we left the Immigration Dept., we went to collect Alycia’s report card. I did not expect to be greeted with such pleasant writings on the report card as I knew that many of Alycia’s classmates are better than her academically. Plus I had not been doing daily revision with her. It was the mere 2-3 hours on the eve of the exam that I did a speedy revision with her. Getting a placement of 5/39 is more than I had expected from my precious baby 🙂 If you have been following my blog, you will know why Alycia is termed as my ‘precious baby’.

Alycia’s teachers have nothing but praises for her, which made my head so heavy I almost tripped and fell when I left the chair muahahahahaha! Alycia’s teachers commented that she should work towards getting into the top class but frankly, I am really not too keen that she be placed in the top class for I know that being labeled as the cream of the crop, the expectations on her will be very high, which will ultimately place a lot of stress on me (albeit not on Alycia who is as cool as a cucumber).

Outside the Immigration Office, after having our pictures snapped…

At American Chilli’s to celebrate Alycia’s victory 🙂

Daddy bought Alycia some Leonida’s chocolates to reward her. Plus he may reward her with an iPad2!

No. of times viewed = 348

Daddy’s Angels

Who says girls are less superior compared to boys? Girls will manja their daddy and help their daddy in dire straits like when he sprains his back…

When hubs hurt his back last weekend during a basketball game, he had to use the OTO Hans Bodycare equipment to ease the pain. When he brought the equipment out, his 3 angels rushed to him, offering him help to stick the wires onto his back.

Daddy using a back-scratcher to direct Angel #1 where to stick the wires haha! Later, Angel #1 took out her hand-held fan and fanned her daddy while he laid comfortably on the couch 😀 After the treatment, daddy whipped up a lovely dinner for his ~~3 angels~~ 4 angels.

No. of times viewed = 732

Terrified of Snakes!

Lately, I found a very effective way of getting Baby to stop whining and screaming. Each time she whines and yells, I will scare her by telling her that the snake is somewhere near us, in its sleep. With her screams, snaky will be jolted from its sleep. Snaky will then swallow her up in one mouthful since she is so tiny. This never fails to stop Baby from screaming and crying. But I wonder how long this tactic will last. Very soon when the novelty wears off, this rascal will start to scream and whine again to get things her way.

So how did the snake story come about? The guards at our condo recently caught a huge phyton snake and another phyton is now at large. We dare not even walk at the jogging tracks now, lest we stumble upon the snake. Oh yea, I told Baby that daddy snake has been caught while mummy, che che, kor kor and other family members of the daddy snake are still around, watching her and waiting to pound on her if she ever screams * evil mummy*

A few nights ago, my tactic back-fired and Baby dared not sleep with her 2 che ches on the bed. On the first night she heard about the snaky story, she woke up at 4:30am, knocked on our door and asked me to accompany her back to sleep. On the 2nd night, again she refused to sleep with her sisters. So I let her be and put our new queen size foldable mattress on the floor, next to our bed. She slept soundly without fussing till the next morning. Though she is still very much afraid of the snake now, she can nevertheless sleep with her che ches in the girls’ room through the night. Baby is not the only one who is terrified of the snake, Alycia is just as terrified of the snake and once she hid under her blanky when I told her about the phyton. But not rascal #2. She is the queen of dare devils!

Camping with daddy and mummy…

No. of times viewed = 407

Our Sunday – Happy Father’s Day!

Today was by far the best Father’s Day celebration for the girls. After church, we had lunch at Duck King. Then we had cakes at Food Foundry as daddy was craving for his Vanilla Crepe cake and chocolate cake. At Food Foundry, daddy ordered 4 slices of sinfully ~~fattening~~ delish cakes and a plate of mushroom pasta and it was polished off in a jiffy, though everyone had just had a pretty heavy lunch at Duck King. As we were leaving Food Foundry, daddy announced that he would like to whip up a Father’s Day dinner for his ~~3 angels~~ 4 angels. So we went to Cold Storage to get some steaks, veggie, salad sauce and 2 big tubs of ~~more fattening~~ ~~desserts~~ yummy Haaegan Dazs ice creams!

Lucky man with ~~3 angels~~ 4 angels… God has been too kind to him, ahem…

Rascal #2 walloped almost the entire Vanilla crepe cake… I too must admit that it was irresistible!

And Baby walloped the chocolate cake like a famished kid who had never tasted cakes in her life…

Part of our dinner tonight…

On our menu tonight will be rib eye steaks, homemade mashed potatoes, salad and Haaegan Dazs ice cream for dessert.

RM127.31 for 5 chunks of Australian Rib Eye steak and RM11 for 2 gigantic onions *roll eyes* Only a true foodie would bear to spend so much on a dinner. But my man always tells me that he would only generously spend his money on his loved ones wor…

Oh yea, hubs also bought 2 Meyer Expression non-stick pans to whip up the 5 chunks of supreme bovine for his 4 angels tonite. I vouch that I have to hit the gym first thing tomorrow morning and have an extended work out session to melt those calories away.

If not for a badly sprained back while playing basketball this morning, I’ll bet hubs would bring his angels down to the pool or for a game of badminton or cycling.

How have your Father’s Day been?

No. of times viewed = 316

Kids Say The Darndest Things

This morning after exercise at the park, hubs asked the girls if they would like to have breakfast at Ficelle Boulangarie. Ficelle is our latest favorite patisserie for breakfast. As usual, Sherilyn would defy upfront whatever our choice is for her, whether it is food, clothing and just about anything else. Everyone voted for Ficelle and since the majority wins, Ficelle it was for breakfast. Sherilyn was sulking but when the food came, this fella enjoyed the most. She has always enjoyed a breakfast of sausages, ham, toast and half boiled eggs. As she was enjoying her food, Baby who was seated in front of Sherilyn announced loudly and sarcastically “I thought someone doesn’t like to eat here?” I was amazed to here that from my 3-year old baby girl. She has always been vocal but saying that with such sarcasm to her sister, she sounded anything but a 3-year old who is still in diapers. Everyone laughed at Baby’s wittiness and mockery of her 2nd che che.

My 3-yo model wannabe…

Do check out a new collection of cool kids’ apparel and swimwear at my online store 🙂

No. of times viewed = 286

Scardy Cat

She may be bold, confident and a dare devil but when it comes to watching horror movies filled with suspense, this fella is a real scardy cat. Caught her using a cushion to cover her face on Sunday when everyone was watching an old horror flick filled with suspense, muahahahahaha!!! Sometimes, she will leave the couch and walk to her room when the suspense is too much for her to bear But she will walk occasionally back to the living room where the TV is to peep peep… to check what’s going on, really hilarious this rascal.

And Baby is a movie junkie too, just like her 2 che ches and she understands everything that’s going on in the movie. Well, what can I say. Their daddy is a movie junkie too who has a huge collection of DVDs. Even his new car now has a TV with 2 screens – one in front and one at the back *shake head*

No. of times viewed = 274

Ficelle Boulangerie @ Taman Desa, KL

We were at Ficelle again last week for breakfast. Ficelle recently opened its door near where we stay and my hubs who is a pastry lover, has been a loyal patron of this patisserie. Well, I am a pastry lover too and I love this place just as much as him, though I will be corroded with guilt after each meal at this place and he, he has not an ounce of guilt after gorging on those sinful morsels.

Ficelle is under the same management as Levaine Boulangerie, which is located at Jalan Delima, Off Jalan Delima. For those of you who are fans of hand crafted pastries and buns, you will fall in love with Levain and Ficelle. Price wise, I think it is still cheaper than The Loaf. We love the pastries at The Loaf too and hubs even has membership at this patisserie.

Sinfully sweet and tasty pastries that will surely tantalize your taste buds… My 2 favorites are the pastry with fresh mushrooms and one with almond, really good to the last bite!

My 2 vain pots… but Baby was in a foul mood that morning and was terribly selfish with her sweet smile…

Sweet colorful macarons…

I was eagerly searching for Caramel Brioche (RM1.50/pc) at the display shelves but was told that this item would only be ready at 2pm, bummer. Soon, very soon we will make another trip to Ficelle to get my Caramel Brioche.

Ficelle Boulangerie & Patisserie
11-0-12, Jalan 3/109F, Danau Business Center,
Taman Danau Desa, 59100 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-7983 0211
Fax: 03-7983 2210

No. of times viewed = 551

Kids Nap The Darndest Ways

All my girls can doze off in just about any position and in any place and the champ has to go to Sherilyn followed by Alycia. Sherilyn can even drift into lala land while sitting on the throne, while holding a cup drinking and especially on the dining table eating the last few spoonfuls of food… which she dreads to eat. If only I have the time, I would love to create an album to compile pix of all their hilarious sleeping positions, just for laugh in future, when they are all grown up.

This rascal drifted into slumberland right after her shower, with the wet towel still draped on her shoulders and topless!

No. of times viewed = 407

Our Sunday – Sherilyn’s Inter-School Talent Time Competition

We spent our entire Sunday ‘camping’ at a school in Puchong today. Today is Sherilyn’s participation in her pre-school’s inter-school talent competition, held at State level. As expected, the waiting period was frigging looooooooooong. She followed her principal to the school at 8am sharp and we joined her at around 10ish am. We were told that her event will start at 10:45am but Malaysians being Malaysians, it was delayed to 2 hours later!! While Sherilyn had fun playing with her friends and with the booth games set up by Enfagrow, Alycia and Baby were very restless. Plus it was hot in the open air hall with only wall fans to keep about 1,000+ parents and kids cool. The loos, gosh…. entering into one brought me back to memory lane where I used to hate going to my school loos which were filthy, wet and stinky! Till today I still have nightmares about my school’s loos!

Just before Sherilyn’s turn to sing, she had nose bleeding. Gosh, I kept dabbing the blood away with tissue papers and thank God the bleeding stopped just before she went up the stage to sing with her 2 other team mates. It was the 1st time she had a nose bleed. I think it could have been caused by lack of water, heat and all the rush. Plus, she has a weird habit of smelling her fingers lately *faint* Before the singing event, she and her 2 other team mates (aged 4YO and 5YO) had to take part in an art and craft competition. She was the so-called group leader as she’s the oldest in the group.

We left the school even before the results were announced as we were all very tired after having ‘camped’ at the school for over 4 hours. There was not even a place for us to sit as all the seats had been occupied. We knew she did not win as there were many other kids before her who gave superb performances. These kids really have the qualities of a singer – they could sing with good vocal chord, dance and perform without an inch of stage fright. Well, Sherilyn was confident and did not show any nervousness. She has always been a bold dare-devil. I think if the teachers had chosen a more catchy song with more actions, complete with props and more practices, Sherilyn and her team would stand a better chance of emerging the top 10. There were over 20 schools and about 6 groups from each school. Some schools were very, very well prepared.

We had a late lunch at a Japanese restaurant at about 3pm and all of us were famished after a hard and hot day at the school. I’m proud of Sherilyn. At least she had the guts to go up the stage, sang her song and completed it without chickening out and crying at the 11th hour like some kids today.

No. of times viewed = 343

Frigging Hot Weather

The weather in KL has been frigging hot, stuffy and humid for the past few weeks. Though it rained yesterday, today the skies look hazy and I can even smell the familiar hazy smoke from the 5th floor of our unit and when I walk outside. Whenever there is no rain for 2 days in a row, the weather will be so hot that it’s unbearable…. for me. I’m one who cannot stand hot weather and the sweltering sun. I mentioned once in my blog that the weather actually decides my mood for the day. When the big bright sun is out and shining on us, I am moody and grouchy. But when the skies are gloomy with an impending thunder storm, my mood switches instantly. That’s one of my idiosyncrasies ^^

On a hot sweltering day, I could only wish that I could run round the house topless like this rascal. But the only way to keep myself cool is to shower myself 4-5x a day and sprinkle nice smelling cool talcum powder all over my body to keep the prickly heat rashes at bay.

My way of keeping Baby cool when the temp is above 35 degrees Celcius is to let her run round the house in her birthday suit with the bottom on. She sweats really easily and if she gets too sweaty, she has a tendency to get child’s heat rash. My rule is that air conditioners are kept off limits during the day. Even with this, our electricity bill is RM400+ a month!

No. of times viewed = 1393

Homecooked Jar Jiang Mien

As I was reading the newspapers the other day, I came across a very delish noodle dish that I was very sure my fussy kids would love. Plus it’s simple to prepare too. So the same week itself, I whipped up Jar Jiang Mien.

Ingredients needed are:
– Minced pork
– Julienned carrots (for garnishing and meant to be eaten raw. However, I partially cooked the julienned carrots so that they are easier for the kids to swallow)
– Julienned raw cucumber (for garnishing). Advisable to use Japanese cucumbers as they have lesser seeds.
– Chopped spring onions
– Bean paste (tau cheong)
– Chopped garlic and onions
– A dash of pepper, soy sauce and sugar for the minced pork.

After blanching the noodles, I added about 2 tablespoons of sesame seed oil to the noodles and mixed them well, in order to prevent the noodles from clumping up. Plus, the aroma from the sesame seed oil would add flavor to the noodles and minced pork combo.

For the minced pork, brown some minced garlic and onions together with the bean paste. Stir fry until fragrant and minced pork turns brown and dry. Add in some water and adjust taste to suit yourself.

Instead of using wheat or white flour noodles noodles, I used a healthier alternative – organic spinach noodles.

The girls walloped all the noodles and did not fuss about having the same food for dinner again. Imagine eating Jar Jiang Mien for lunch and dinner and there was not a word of complaint from my pernickety girls… and I got orders from them for Jar Jiang Mien again! You can also cook a big portion of minced pork and deep freeze them in smaller portions for future consumption.

No. of times viewed = 277

Sweet Macarons From Les Deux Garcons, Taman Desa, KL

So much about the latest rave and craze on macarons, my hubs bought 2 boxes from a bakery that manufacturers fine French desserts to try. The only macarons that I had tried were the ones that my mum used to bake from left-over egg whites decades ago. Her macarons were very crispy and sometimes she would add some cocoa powder to the macaron mixture before baking them. I liked her macarons, albeit not crazy over them, as I would over cream puffs, cakes or pastries.

When I saw the brightly colored macarons, I knew instantly that they would not sweep me off my feet and bring me to macaron land. I donch like food that are heavily covered in food coloring and sugar. Nor do I like my girls to have such food additives inside them. Since my hubs had spent quite a bit on these macaroos, we all savored them. True to my expectation, they macarons were tremendously sweet. Alycia is the only one who liked them. This girl has a sweet tooth and likes almost everything that is sweet.

The macarons came in all flavors – green one is wasabe, pink is strawberry, brown ones are chocolate and coffee, gray one is peanut butter, turquoise one is Earl Grey Ganache and yellow one mango. These macarons would act as a great gift to someone who appreciates and enjoys fine desserts. A box of these macarons cost a whopping RM50! I had read that macarons are very costly as the ingredients used are very costly, eg. almond powder.

Les Deux Garcons is open from 9.30am – 6.30pm (Tuesday-Sunday).
Address & tel no.
16, Jalan 2/109E Desa Business Park
Taman Desa 58100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: 603.7980 0200
website : http://www.lesdeuxgarcons.com.my/store/index.php

No. of times viewed = 1173

Every Parent’s Worst Nightmare

When I was carrying Alycia my first born, I was worried sick throughout the 38 weeks of pregnancy. Not only was the pregnancy plagued with problems, I was tremendously worried and anxious if my baby would be normal or have birth defects. I had only done a blood test and a Nuchal Translucency scan, which could tell if the baby has birth defects but these tests are not 100% accurate. Only an Amnio test would be 100% accurate. Having a baby born with birth defects is every parent’s worst nightmare. Birth defects can be caused by various factors, including one by Topamax. If you know of anyone who wants to get a Topamax lawsuit for birth defects on their baby, the link here may be of help. The lawyers can be contacted here:
O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath – Personal Injury Lawyers – 808 West Avenue, Austin, TX. 78701 – 512-494-9949

No. of times viewed = 327

Canadian 2For1 Pizza

We saw a Canadian Pizza delivery guy at the lift of our condo about 2 months ago and got a business card from him. 2 weeks ago, we finally ordered some Canadian Pizza to have them delivered to our door step. We were skeptical on the taste initially but after the pizza meal, my brother, sil, 3 girls and I were very satisfied with the pizza. The crust tasted very fresh, though the only downside was that it was pretty thick for a so-called thin crust. We actually ordered 3 thin crust pizzas. We are all fans of crispy thin crust pizzas. Thin crust = lesser white flour = healthier = lesser carbs = lesser fat 😀

The ingredients on the pizzas tasted fresh and delish too. Our favorite flavor was the mushroom pizza with lots of cheese. My girls hated the olives though and I was the beneficiary of all the olives that they singled out.

And this is Baby’s slice of pizza – with lots of green veggie cut into tiny bits as pizza topping. This fella is one very constipated toddler and I have to force feed her with veggie everyday. With green veggie as pizza topping, she did not whine a wee bit and walloped 2 slices of pizzas in a jiffy!

Our next try is Papa John’s pizza and we have the flyer stuck to our fridge door. My girls are so looking forward to the next pizza delivery.

No. of times viewed = 260

My First Movie In The Cinema In 9 Years… And Cassandra’s First!

Can you believe that I have not stepped foot into a cinema for over 9 years?? Well, I finally entered a cinema a few days ago and that was my first ever movie in over 9 years! Ever since I was pregnant with Alycia, my first born right until now, my life have been revolved around only babies HAHA! I was pregnant every other year since year 2003. With young kids, it’s almost impossible to enjoy a nice and peaceful movie.

30 May 2011 was Cassandra’s first ever cinema experience and we watched Kung Fu Panda 2. This fella could hardly sit still. For the first half an hour, she was rocking her butt in the foldable chair and enjoyed having her butt folded by the chair LOL! She ate pop corns non stop despite me warning her to stop. Darn it that I could not shout at her, lest I get reprimanded for disturbance. Then she walked up and down the aisle to say hello to her sisters and daddy. Finally, I had to give her my weapon, the boobies to shut her up and to lull her to sleep!

After the movie, we had an early dinner at Carl’s Junior…

Then took some pix at the Centre Court where there’s a display of the Pirate of the Caribbeans big ship and treasure chests…

No. of times viewed = 197