Month: August 2011

Our Sunday – 28 August 2011

The roads in KL and PJ were pretty smooth today as many KL folks had already left this crazily busy and hectic city for their hometowns for the long Raya holidays. We too will be saying good bye to KL tomorrow and heading back to Ipoh to my parents. It’s been over 9 months since our last trip back and I miss good old Ipoh, the place where I was born and bred… the place where fair and pretty Ipoh Mali girls are made *ahem*

After church today, we had lunch at Xenri Japanese restaurant with the girls’ visiting little uncle from London (hub’s cousin)

Back home, the girls had a Skype video call with granny and koong koong…

Granny and koong koong showed us the homemade pandan lotus paste that they were making for the mooncakes that they are about to bake for us! And my 3 Angry Birds craze girls were delighted when granny showed them the new Angry Birds loot that she had bought for them! Yeah, yet again this indulgent granny has bought them Angry Birds merchandise – bed sheet, watches, torch lights, etc. Alycia has been telling me non-stop that she can’t wait to be back in Ipoh to lay her hands on the Angry Birds loot!




The 3 Angry Birds craze girls “WOW”ing over the Angry Birds loot that granny is showing them thru Skype LOL!!

To all my Muslim friends and readers, Selamat Hari Raya and to all non-Muslim, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

No. of times viewed = 601

Purple sweet potatoes for dinner

I had forgotten that there was still a bag of purple sweet potatoes that I had bought from the night market. When my maid reminded me about it about a month later, I told her that we had to finish off the sweet potatoes that night itself, lest they rot in no time. So that night, everyone ate purple sweet potatoes in replacement of rice. Nevertheless, there was still some rice, specially cooked for my ‘fan thoong’ aka rice addict. Can you guess who the fan thoong is among my 3 girls?

What’s on the dining table? Steamed pork ribs with fermented bean paste, pickled plums, tomatoes and garlic. Stir fried leafy green veggie which is a must-have everyday, some vegetarian dishes bought in the morning, steamed purple sweet potatoes and steamed multi-grain rice. Healthy stuff eh?

Baby’s plate of dinner…

No. of times viewed = 228

Learning To Write From The iPad2

I used to spend a fortune on those alphabet and numbers tracing books for my girls. Baby has been learning how to write lately and has keen interest too. But this stingy mum does not want to spend so much money on those tracing books as sometimes she will get bored with the books and dump them in one corner. So I did a search on my iPad2 and found several awesome apps for kids to do alphabet and numbers tracing, yiiiiihaaaaa!! And they are so attractive, enticing, so colorful and comes with an iTeacher too, who will ‘talk’ to my baby girl and guide her! Not bad not bad, no regrets buying this gadget!

There are arrows guiding Baby the order of the strokes too!


No. of times viewed = 280

Angry Bird Craze Girls

No thanks to the popular Angry Birds online game, my 3 girls are loyal fan-see of the ugly birds with heavy frown. Almost every kid I see on the streets are crazy over ABs. The other day, while I was paying for ABs lanterns, I saw a little boy about 2-3YO, wearing ABs clothes. He saw the ABs lanterns that I was holding and kept saying “Angry Bird daddy”.

My girls, especially Alycia is besotted with ABs. She draws ABs whenever she has free time. She bugs me to bring her to the toy and sticker stall at the pasar malam every Friday and would behave herself very well, just to earn her ABs rewards from me.

If there is no ABs reward for her good behaviour, this girl will be one Angry Girl, I kid you not.

Even I love those Angry Birds tees, which my mum bought for her 3 grand daughters.

Part of my girls’ ABs collection…..colorful pens and stationery sets….

Glue, pens, mechanical pencils, sticker books, jig saw puzzle (for Baby, the jig saw puzzle buff) …

And oh yea, I also bought them each a cute Angry Birds lantern from a nearby mini market last week, to add to their collection of Angry Birds 😀 Shall take pix of them later.


No. of times viewed = 4734

Dad’s Birthday Dinner At Unique Seafood Restaurant

My parents and brother and SIL from Singapore were in KL over the weekends to celebrate my dad’s birthday. This year, we celebrated his birthday at Unique Seafood Restaurant in PJ again and we were allocated the same room again as last year! Our group photo was taken on the same couch with the exact same wall mural painting as last year. We joked that we have to come here again next year and every year to celebrate dad’s birthday. My mum has been assigned the job to upload all the pix in her Facebook page and show us the year by year pix of dad’s birthday celebration taken in the same venue. We even planned to request for the same room every year. My mum is the most active senior citizen Facebook user I have met thus far LOL!

Here are the sumptuous dishes that we had last night. Superb food aside, there was also a karaoke session, which everyone enjoyed. My hubs ordered one of the tastiest chocolate cake ever for my dad, who is a chocolate cake lover. The cake is no run-of-the-mill chocolate cake. Is was made from special ingredients by an artisan pastry chef and ordered from Les Deux Garcons Patisserie.

The first dish and my all-time favorite restaurant dish. This Four-Season dish cost a whopping RM180. Everyone enjoyed this dish, which was specially crafted and cooked to perfection. Not a single morsel was left unattacked on the plate.

Deep fried prawn, combined with yam, pine nuts and an assortment of diced veggie. On the shells are baked scallop with cheese.

The usual Longevity Noodles…

Soon Hock fish, also a very sought after fish in Unique….

Geo Duck… which can be eaten raw ala Sashimi style or cooked in hot pot.

Ham Tarn Hai (crab baked with salted eggs).

Pak Cheok Har (blanched prawns), Chang Loong Choy (a long, green, leafy veggie resembling and tastes like a combination of spring onion and leek. This is also another popular Chinese restaurant veggie dish). On the left is cockles cooked Thai style, something which I, the health freak did not touch, though I’d love to.

Dad’s custom-made birthday cake, looked pretty simple but tasted top notch and given a 5-star rating by everyone. This cake had the WOW factor which made everyone craving for more!  Weighed less than 1kg and cost RM165!  Tasted like Kit Kat in a cake.  We all loved this cake to bits and finished every single crumb left on the cake board. Though very costly, we are now planning to get another one for mum’s birthday next month.

And finally…… the bill for the dinner plus the cake was close to RM1,500! But it’s A-OK daddy! After all, your birthday only comes once a year.


No. of times viewed = 729

Instant Noodles With Fish Soup

The forbidden fruit is always so juicy and tasty even though you do not really like it. My girls are absolutely crazy over maggie mee, which is their version of instant noodles. That’s because I hardly ever allow them to eat. Each time they see kakak or daddy slurping salty and spicy maggie mee from their bowls, they would run to them and beg to have just one spoonful. Whenever I am in the mood to cook maggie mee, like say 4-5 times in a year, there will be shouts of ‘YAY’ and ‘YAHOO‘, LOL!   But the maggie mee that I serve my kids are without the seasoning and MSG from the packet of noodles. I make my own sauce or soup to go with the noodles.

Soup made from fish, anchovies, pork slices and garlic….

Then add in some Chinese cabbage and fish paste….

Onion omelette for added protein and nutrients….

And here’s the maggie mee that I serve my kiddos for dinner…

Free from seasoning and MSG and they like it anyway!  Every strand of noodles was wiped out that night, even the flesh from the fish!

No. of times viewed = 338

My Environment-Conscious 3-YO Girl

Baby is by far the most environment-conscious 3-YO girl I have ever met. She reminds her 2 sisters, kakak and me each time we forget to put empty bottles and boxes into the bags meant for recyclable items, in our wet kitchen. After drinking her packet milk and Vitagen, she will bring the empty box and bottles to the wet kitchen and place them into the bag meant for recyclable items. She is the only one who takes the trouble to remember to turn off the tower fan when no one is in the living room. When she sees flyers with an empty page at the reverse side, she will say “this one can use”. When I throw unwanted papers away, she will say “don’t throw, can recycle” I am really proud of this cili padi and am amazed with her civic-mindedness at such a tender age. Way to go baby girl!

Whenever we see this clown trying to ‘wear’ my bag (which I use to put my customers’ parcels), everyone will burst out in a guffaw. She looks really hilarious and ridiculous and toooooo funny to be angry with.

No. of times viewed = 2136

Monster Is Here!

I am so excited! Tomorrow I can plug in the coolest in-ear Lady Gaga earphones by Monster into my Blackberry and enjoy my favorite songs when I work out in the gym. I have always found it a tad boring to work out in our gym that has no piped in music or radio. Now, I can make my work-out sessions even more enjoyable with Monster! When I tried the earphones just now, the sound effect was crystal clear. Alan Yun, my good friend told me about Monster over lunch the other day. He has a Monster ear phone too. In case you wondering who Alan Yun is, he is the lead actor from the movie Sepet. He is also a model, restaurateur, entrepreneur and of course a celebrity! If you are a music junkie, I’m pretty sure you would have heard that Monster has finally arrived in Malaysia.

Monster®, the global leader in the development and manufacturing of high-performance connectivity solutions, headphones and A/V accessories, is officially launched in Malaysia. As part of its debut in the country, Monster® is introducing the latest range of stylish and high-performance headphones and earphones.

Here are just some of the cool and superbly stylish Monster earphones and headphones. They look just like accessories for my ears and head, unlike the conventional black ones.

Beatsâ„¢ Soloâ„¢ has three versions with Soloâ„¢ High Performance (Black), Soloâ„¢ High Definition (White) and Soloâ„¢ Special Edition HD (Red)

Monster® iSport Immersion: In Tune with an Active Lifestyle

Monster® Game T1 Championship: Take the Game to a New Level

Harajuku Lovers In-Ear Headphones. I think these are too cute to not own a pair.

And here’s presenting my elegant and stylo Lady Gaga in-ear earphones! They look like pink saffire earrings when I plug them in. Nice leh!!

Alan Yun – in green sweater in the middle, together with other celebs during the launch of Monster recently.

No. of times viewed = 1204

Hilarious Conversation… and Our Sunday

I just have to put this on record as this is too cute.

Over dinner just now:

Alycia – I don’t want to get married when I grow up. Cassandra, you don’t get married too ok?

Me – Baby, you told mummy you want to get married when you grow up right? You told me you want to have your own babies, then mummy will be a granny and granny will be a great-granny right?

Baby then nods her head approvingly and giggles…

Later at the dining table, Alycia was trying very hard to influence Cassandra to change her mind, so that she will join her as spinsters LOL!

Alycia – Cassandra, you don’t get married ok? We use our money to buy a big bungalow and stay together ok? We go to the cinema together, go watch movies, buy pop corns, go swimming, go Gentings and go shopping ok?

Baby – what if we get lost?

Alycia – haiyoh, we will be adults that time, we won’t get lost, crazy you!

Sherilyn – hey, I want to join you shopping too. I want to get married. Berlyn (Sherilyn’s best friend) also wants to get married. We will bring our babies and go shopping with you ok?

… and the funny conversation on getting married vs remaining single continues until now, as I am typing this entry LOL!!

Here are some pix taken at Bangsar Village today. We had lunch at Buffalo Kitchen (runs by Buffalo – the stainless steel and pressure cook pot specialist) and then had dessert at Haagan Dazs.

Our plate of sinful indulgence, which was a good deal at only RM29 – 6 scoops of ice cream of different flavors (including 2 sorbet flavors).

Baby’s appetite is always ravenous when it comes to desserts. She gobbled down the ice cream like she had never eaten ice cream in her life and the consequences was disastrous.  She spewed out the regurgitated ice cream and pasta like lava onto the ice cream plate when everything was polished off !

And I could afford a nice indulgence as I had burned over 300 calories this morning on the road and in the gym 😀



No. of times viewed = 270

Carb Filled Saturday

That’s our bowl of ice kacang from Kopitiam this afternoon. After dropping off Sherilyn for ballet, we killed the time at Kopitiam and did some groceries shopping. We also ordered a bowl of curry noodles and fish head noodles, which we all shared.    Besides, I chomped down a ham and cheese bun bought from my favorite bakery before I gulped down the ice- kacang.  This morning I had kuih for breakfast, a delight that I will indulge in once a week, on a Saturday.  What a carb and junk filled day I’ve had today and I am corroded with guilt now as I was too lazy to hit the gym this morning! Tomorrow will be another day of eating. I must hit the sack now so that I can pull my butt out from bed to work out tomorrow morning!

Have a great Sunday peeps!

 

As usual, my food always gets ‘taxed’ and pecked on before I can dig on it.

 


No. of times viewed = 179

Cassandra Says The Darndest Things

At 3years 4months, Baby is one very chatty toddler, who likes to speak with pun and sarcasm too. She is really good with her words. I guess this is contributed by the fact that she’s got 2 siblings as role models to her. She has the ability to tickle my funny bone all the time and gives me a good hearty laugh all the time. God is fair. Baby was born with quite a bit of problems (which is now almost completely solved) but her wittiness and sense of humor are now negating all the frustration and hardship I had to struggle with.

This morning, she said something that sent my helper and I chortling. My helper was carrying a tray of bowls and plates and wanted to enter the dry kitchen from the wet kitchen, which is separated by a sliding mozzie netting door. As both her hands are tied, she called out to Baby to help her open the mozzie netting.

Kakak – Cassandra, help me open the net please.

Baby – NO! Use your leg to open it yourself!

My helper and I laughed our hearts out hearing such sarcasm coming out from a 3yo girl. That fella knew that her kakak could still open the net with one of her toes, like she always does, thus refused to help. But the manner in which she replied, in a as a matter of fact mockery tone, tickled our funny bones.

No. of times viewed = 170

Chatime @ The Gardens, Mid Valley KL

If you walk from Mid Valley Megamall to The Gardens, there is something that will surely catch your eyes and that is the looooooooong beeline at the Chatime Pearl Milk kiosk. I am not a big fan of sweet tea, but was very very tempted to try a cup of those chewy pearl milk tea, that so many have been raving about. And so was the hubs. So we joined in the looooong bee line and while waiting, had to make up our minds on which one to choose. Chatime boasts over 120 flavors of drinks from coffee to tea to juices and smoothies and other unique drinks made up of a concoction of interesting ingredients. Chatime has recently landed its feet in Malaysia. It is one of the most well-known brands of bubble tea and has over 300 outlets worldwide.

These are our selection, which was really really hard to make as there were just too many to choose from!

For those with a sweet tooth, they will love Chatime’s flavored drinks with something oh so chewy in their drinks. For me, I find that Chatime’s level of sweetness has surpassed my sweetness acceptance level. Perhaps they should come up with a range of pearl milk flavors with reduced sugar. This way, diabetics, health freaks and the like can enjoy their drinks too. Or maybe I should open a kiosk in Gardens too, selling less-sugar pearl milk tea for diabetics, health freaks and those on diet 😀

Have you tried Chatime’s flavored pearl milk? And how do you like them?


No. of times viewed = 666

Accident Prone Dare-Devil

Rascal #2 is very prone to accidents since young. Her thumb was squashed by a steel door when she was 1.5yo (and the bone of her thumb was chipped), she was hit by a swing in the playground and got thrown on the ground when she was 1yo, her forehead has a cut resulting from a piggy-back ride fall (from Alycia) when she was 3yo and countless numbers of falls. Sigh… this rascal is truly a dare-devil. All the falls, bone breaking, pain and threats from mummy are still not deterring her from being mischievous.

The other day, the skin of her palm almost came off when her palm was pinched by a door. God knows what she did in the walk-in wardrobe and I suspect that her hand must have been caught in the pull-open door. When I asked her how she hurt her hand, she vehemently refused to tell me, coz she knew that I will scold her. Anyway, on the day of the minor accident, she ran out from the room screaming and crying. I was shocked to see her very bruised palm which was starting to bleed. I quickly took an ice cube, wrapped it in a hanky and applied on her palm. Both her sisters ran to her aid. Baby gave her che che lots of pat on her back to ‘sayang’ her. Alycia dashed to the first aid cupboard to bring out a plaster and a tube of Dettol cream. Though the girls fight and bicker all the time, in times like these, they still care for each other very much. What a heart warming scene, albeit the gory sight of the bloody palm!

No. of times viewed = 233

Simple And Nutritious Homecooked Dishes… By Moi

These are some of the dishes that I whipped up last week. You may be wondering why all so porky?? I had used minced pork in most of my dishes. That’s because the pork seller (don’t know whether he deliberately or accidentally) put 2 packets of minced pork into my bag instead of 1 and charged me for 2 packets! So with so much minced pork, I had to add minced pork in most of my dishes and also whipped up a minced pork pattie dish. The results were all good. My 3 fussy eaters loved all the dishes that I cooked… and I am beginning to feel that I am a better cook each passing day *gloats and floats in air*  hehehehe….

Stir fried purple cabbage with lots of garlic and minced pork…

Pan fried prawns with soy sauce and wine aka kon cheen har loke…

Pink beans + red beans + pork ribs soup….

Stir fried young lotus roots with minced porky again…

Stir fried leek with minced pork yet again…

And minced pork pattie.  It was my first time making pork pattie and it turned out fantastico, very delicious! The only ingredient that I had forgotten to add in was chopped onions. Anyhow, the pattie was still very tasty. I added these ingredients to the minced pork mixture before pan frying them : 1 tbs sesame seed oil, 1 tbs of corn flour, ground mixed pepper, a dash of brown sugar, sea salt, soy sauce, spring onions, an egg and about 1 teaspoon of rye flour.  The texture was just right and not coarse or dry at all.


No. of times viewed = 216

American Breakfast By Daddy Dear

The hubs was in a mood to whip up an American breakfast for us on Sunday. After having brunch of dim sum at Han Room @ Gardens on Saturday, we went to Cold Storage to get some cheese-filled jumbo sausages, bacon, fresh mushrooms and salad. True to his promise, he got up really early on Sunday while I was still in the gym and starting ‘woking’ in the kitchen. When I entered the house, the wafting aroma of fried bacon and sausages filled the house 😀

The girls were truly delighted to have daddy fixing such a sumptuous breakfast for them, which only happens like what, 3-4 times in a year? We were all so full that we only had our lunch at 3pm.

3 little hungry girls waiting impatiently for mummy to snap pix, which is a NORM before any out-of-ordinary meals haha!

Jumbo cheese-filled sausages…

Cheese omelette… and Miss Impatient’s hand at the back. She was trying to peck on the sausages…

Stir fried fresh button mushrooms with olive oil and garlic.  There were also bacon strips, which I specifically told hubs to buy non-smoked and non-salty ones. The ones he bought were not salty.

No. of times viewed = 234

Not So Unhealthy Chips

Remember my earlier post on Food For Friends organic tortilla chips?  I got another pack and this time, I got the multi-colored veggie flavored one.  The red chips are made from beet root powder, green ones from spinach powder and yellow ones from organic corns.  Yums, feel so good when I munch on them. Can feel the chips lift my mood up as the stress melts away hehehe….

These are the only chips that I do not mind my girls to snack on as I find that they are not that salty. But I do limit their intake to no more than 3 chips a day. The chips are free from MSG and the flavorings come from sea salt, parsley flakes, carrot powder, tomato powder, lime and garlic powder.

No. of times viewed = 234

HEALTH FREAK MOMMY