Month: June 2013

Our Lovely Saturday – 29 June 2013

Simple things that we normally take for granted or are oblivious to like a clear sky can now make everyone happy! Yup, the haze has finally waned off for the past 2 days and everyone in our country can now breathe with peace of mind without fear of choking in some cancer causing particles.

Here is a picture of the beautiful KL skyline taken from my condo at 7am today – Saturday, 29 June 2013.  I just love the color tone of the sky and just could not help snapping a picture of it to remind everyone to be thankful for colors in the sky!!  For the past one week, the color of the hazy skies had been greyish with only a peek of sunlight.

After I am done with this post, I will have to wake the 2 older girls up. It is report card collection and meet-the-teachers day today!!  I already know what I will be expecting and I now hope for a speedy session without having to wait for half a morning just for a 10-minute session with the teacher, just like what I had gone through for the past three years.

Here’s wishing everyone a very happy weekend!

No. of times viewed = 282

Girls’ Play – Guess My Expression

With 2 days being cooped up at home due to the haze, the girls ingeniously came up with fun activities and games to occupy their time.

The night before they resumed going to school, I told them to get ready some face masks. Moments later, I heard giggles and laughter coming from the bedroom. Alycia and her baby sister came up with this game called ‘Guess My Facial Expression’. Cass was to cover her mouth and nose with the face mask. Then, she would smile, frown or make an angry expression. And Alycia was to guess what expression Cass had made. They had so much fun playing this game which even I found it to be very entertaining and funny!

So you see. A face mask which cost less than a Ringgit each can be used to create so much fun and laughter and thereafter, to be worn to school 🙂

No. of times viewed = 398

Haze Holiday – 25 June 2013

The girls have been getting bored and restless today, which is the second day that they are kept away from school due to the haze.  Besides watching TV, playing with the laptop and doing some work that I have given them, they goofed around and played ‘Getting Married’.

Alycia : “Sherilyn, do you take Jonathan Wong as your awfully, err no, lawfully wedded husband?”

Sherilyn : NO!

Alycia : What?!! You must say yes!!

The 3 girls then cracked into a loud guffaw and they continued playing ‘Getting Married’ until Sherilyn finally said “Yes I do” LOL! Girls play, I just love to see them having such care-free and stress-free moments, enjoying their childhood instead of rushing off their homework and getting all stressed up preparing for exams.

If the API remains at below 200, the girls will return to school tomorrow but I am not letting Alycia stay back for extra curricular activities. How’s the API at your side? Did your kids go to school today?

No. of times viewed = 341

Our Hazy Sunday – 23 June 2013

We woke up to a house filled with the choking smell of smoke yesterday.  I looked out of the window and could not see the KL Tower and KLCC.  To escape the terrible smell in our house, we sought ‘refuge’ at Mid Valley Megamall / Gardens Mall and spent a good 6 hours at the mall!

Here’s a pic of the sky line taken on Sunday, 23 June 2013 around 7:30am…

Cass getting ready for her day out at the mall. Check out the smoggy skies…

While the girls, the MIL and the hubs watched Man Of Steel at the cinema, I had over 2 swell hours of retail therapy muahahaha!!

Sadly, we could even smell the acrid smog air inside the mall… check out the gloomy skies caused by the haze, picture taken from the entrance of The Gardens Mall…

After their movie and my 1st round of shopping spree, we had lunch at Korean BBQ. Actually, we had wanted to eat at Sushi Zanmai, but it was full to the brim yet again.  Then we went to our second option – Fong Lye Taiwanese restaurant but luck was not on our side… third option was the Fong Lye Fusion restaurant but it was packed too… fourth option was Hokkaido Japanese restaurant but yet, it was full to the brim. So we had no choice but to try out  the Korean BBQ restaurant.  I guess everyone else was seeking ‘refuge’ at the mall, thus the full house scene at almost all the restaurants.

After lunch, I had another round of shopping, this time with Alycia and Cass at UniQlo as I wanted to bring Alycia to try on some cropped pants.  Next, we headed to Alexis for some sinful desserts and coffee.

The pecan pie was generously topped with pecans and caramel, which was simply delish and SINFUL to the max!!  The tiramisu at Alexis is our all-time favorite and one of the best we have tasted thus far.  From RM10 a slice for their cakes about 10 years ago, the price has gradually risen to RM16 a slice now for almost all their cakes!!

The princess wannabe could not wait to indulge in her slice of chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream…

A shopping queen in the making..  note how apt her mini tee was for yesterday’s occasion – which is a print of 3 happy shopping girls 😀

Check out the skies of KL today, picture taken at 9:30am on 24 June 2013.

‘Happy holiday’ to all the parents with school-going kids and do stay tuned to the news on when school will be reopened.

No. of times viewed = 2147

Tug Of War

Rascal #2 and #3 were having a tug of war over a handbag accessory  that was hanging on my handbag. We were at the Oriental Chinese Restaurant @ Jaya 33, PJ having dim sum for lunch and they were causing a big stink with their whining, screaming, pulling and tugging.   Finally, I snatched the handbag accessory away and passed it to the hubs.  Whenever the girls fight over something that I only have one, which cannot be shared, I will grab that sole item from them so that no one has it.

Check out where daddy placed the prized possession….

He hooked it on the belt holder on his pants LOL!  And do you think he went shopping with that bling bling stuff dangling on his pants after lunch?

No. of times viewed = 335

Science Subject For 5 Year Old Pre-schoolers

Cass came home from kindy last week telling me that her teacher had instructed the kids from her 5YO class to practise playing around with Microsoft Paint on the computer!  This is what pre-schoolers are taught in this high technology day and age.  Now, what did we learn in kindy as 5 year olds back then? I only remember  vaguely that I played with play dough (and fought with one Tracy who was a Caucasian girl with a play knife over some play doughs LOL!), sang nursery rhymes and bible songs and recited A to Z and 1 to 100, that’s it LOL!

So after lunch, this rascal took out the laptop from the laptop bag and hooked up everything herself and with very little guidance from me, she was having fun drawing and coloring shapes in Microsoft Paint.

Check out the contents of her kindy’s Science text book…

I doubt she knew how to read all the words and understood the meaning of everything but she definitely is very adept with using the laptop and iPad since she was a little over 3 years old 🙂

No. of times viewed = 657

Father’s Day 2013

It was a day for the dads on Sunday but the hubs let his angels and me choose the venue for lunch. Since we were at The Gardens (well, our main intention was to go to Professor, the uniform shop to get Alycia some stuff), we chose Sushi Zanmai again. It’s pretty much a suspense whenever we decide to eat at Sushi Zanmai, from the moment we enter the car park right up to the floor where this restaurant is located, coz if we see a long queue (this is likely the case most of the time), all of us would be disappointed.  If you are a fan of Sushi Zanmai, you will know how packed this restaurant is, perpetually! No matter what time or day we are at this outlet, we will never miss the sight of a long bee line. For someone with absolutely no patience waiting, I joined in the queue yesterday as I was really raring to get bites of all my favorite food at Sushi Zanmai. Finally, after a 15-minute wait (which ain’t too long as we were pretty early at 11ish am), it was finally our turn, yay!!

After lunch, the girls wanted to watch a movie with daddy while I was to go shopping but the tickets for  the movies that they wanted to watch were all sold out.  Instead, we detoured to Kids eWorld, where the X-Rider 4D Simulator ride was.

At RM60 for 4 tickets (there was an ongoing buy-3-free 1 ticket promo), we decided to watch a short movie instead!

Since only 4 pax were allowed into the mini cinema, the hubs stayed outside the cinema while watching us on a screen outside the cinema. It was Cass’ first ever 4D movie ride. Towards the end of the 5-minute ride, bubbles (supposedly snow) were shot out inside the cinema.  We thoroughly enjoyed this Snow Coaster 2 ride cum movie and promised the girls another ride the next time we are at Gardens.

Photo: That's the 4 of us on the X Rider

This was what daddy got from the girls — home-made card in a bottle, which they made during art class on Friday.

As everyone was pretty bored of having cakes (which would end up in the fridge for days and finally into the bin!), we had something different to celebrate Father’s Day this year. Hubs ordered a giant size 4-flavor pizza from Itallianies @ Gardens.  Note how huge the pizza was –teaspoon on the right for comparison.   Shocking fact – despite the gigantic size, the 3 girls managed to finish off the pizza for dinner!  The Mil and hubs are on a low carb diet too and staved off from this high carb Italian dish. I only took 1 slice — still on a low carb diet to knock off 1kg that I’d gained 🙁

How did you celebrate Father’s Day this year?

No. of times viewed = 758

Pure Banana Ice Cream

My Shimono food processor is by far the most used and most loved electrical kitchen gadget  I have ever gotten for myself. I use it almost everyday.  Ever since I bought my Shimono,  I seldom take away road-side food for breakfast for I would prefer to make myself some healthy smoothies and jams for my bread every morning.

The other day, we had surplus of red skinned bananas. As they were starting to turn brown, I deep freezed the surplus bananas.  The next day, I made banana ice cream with it and it’s so easy and yummy.

All I  needed to do was to cut up the frozen bananas (remove from freezer and defrost for about 20 minutes).  Then I added some almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and chia seeds and blended the mixture in my Shimono.  No water is added.

This is my all natural banana ice cream with no added sugar, preservative and food additives! So yummy and sweet.

You can eat straight from the blender or you can chill it for about 15 minutes in the freezer.

The next time round, I will add fresh milk or whipping cream to the banana and omit the nuts.  The milk and cream will make the ice cream creamier.  Next time, I will omit blending the nuts with the bananas because the blended nuts added a rougher texture to the ice cream.    The nuts and seeds will instead be sprinkled on the ice cream.

And my next try will be strawberry ice cream where I will blend strawberries with fresh milk or whipping cream. I am sure that this will be a hit with the kid, albeit it would be pretty costly to make a 100% strawberry ice cream. I think I will need 2-3 punnets for 4-5 servings.

No. of times viewed = 639

Magazine Subscription Deals

I have always wished that one of these days, in the not too distant future, a big opportunity will come knocking on our door which will enable us all to relocate back to our hometown up North. We could save so much more money living in that quiet and peaceful city where the hubs and I were born and bred. It is funny how I had wanted so badly to leave my hometown 23 years ago to come to this big and vibrant city and now, I am dreaming to return to my hometown for a more slowpaced life. Guess life is catching up on me! Living in this town would also be more conducive for our kids’ education and welfare.

Living in a big city where the cost of living is very expensive and economy that is getting tougher, it is really a challenge to put aside an ideal sum of money for savings every month. Ever since I threw in the towel and bade farewell to the corporate world, I have and am still learning to live frugally. I have cut down on many items which I deem is not a necessity but a luxury. Some of the items include canceling a few of our magazine subscriptions, canceling some channels on our pay-TV subscription, shopping at the mall only if we have something to buy, learning to live without a live-in maid, among others.  I do miss those hey days where I had so much surplus of money even after splurging on luxury items. I miss having a stack of new magazines to read at the beginning of each month and I miss having those buffet lunches and dinners with friends.

Recently, I stumbled upon some Magazine Subscription Deals from Subscription Addiction where there are great deals on a wide range of magazines. My favorite magazine, O The Oprah Magazine is now having an irresistible promotion price of only $28 for 12 issues, which is a huge savings of 40%!  For magazine junkies, you really have to hop over to www.SubscriptionAddiction.com to check out the great deals. They are now offering a 15% coupon with a coupon code  “mom15per”. Do check them out today before the deal ends!

No. of times viewed = 264

Cooking Sunny Side Ups

Of my three girls, Alycia is the most finicky when it comes to food.  While Sherilyn and Cass will wallop everything that I cook and often leave lots of compliments on how nice the food taste, it is truly a challenge to please my eldest, whom I think has inherited her foodie daddy’s pernickety taste buds.  She gets really disappointed and will turn sulky if porridge or sandwiches are placed on the dining table for lunch.  She is a rice pot, OK and prefers to have rice with dishes.  I have told her umpteen times ever since kakak left last year that she has to alter her taste buds and learn to appreciate simple meals as mummy has to work too and cannot afford the time to dish out ‘complicated meals’ twice a day, everyday.  If she wants rice, I will cook rice for her but on days when I am busy, she has to learn to accept a bowl of rice with an egg ONLY if she does not like to eat porridge or sandwiches.

Being the fussy eater that she is, she is even picky over how the egg is cooked.  Being pressed for time, I normally cook hard boiled eggs or half boiled eggs and sometimes scrambled eggs but Alycia does not fancy eggs cooked this way. She only likes ‘hor pau tan’ or sunny side ups, cooked over well. I hardly cook sunny side ups or over well eggs as it is time consuming…. 5 minutes to fry a sunny side up x 4 eggs = 20 minutes for an egg dish only for 4 people. I can’t afford the time.

So to please everyone,  the mil and I taught Alycia how to fry sunny side ups or ‘hor pau tan’ during the recent school holiday. And she passed!  Given more time to practise this skill, I am sure she will cook perfect sunny side ups.  And I have something embarrassing to confess.  I do not like cooking sunny side ups and I suck terribly at it. I just hate the painful oil splatters on my hands.  If the girls want fried eggs, I am ever willing to dish up some yummylicious omelettes or scrambled eggs but please, no sunny side ups 😉

No. of times viewed = 4896

What We Have Been Up To During The School Holidays

I  just realized this morning that I have not updated this blog for almost 6 days! Busy, busy, busy!!  School holidays plus being maidless.  Just before the school holidays started, our part-time maid who comes in everyday sent me a text message to tell me that she wanted to stop working.  Thankfully it was the school holidays and my most reliable daughter, Alycia was able to help me with some of the household chores like washing the dishes, moping part of the floors, cleaning up her own room and folding the clothes.  Today, school reopened and I finally have my quiet me time again in the morning *happy grin*

Enough of ranting about how busy I have been (well, I never had the luxury of time anyway ever since the kids came along). I will leave you with some of the pix that we took during the 2 weeks school holidays.

When we were back in Ipoh, we went to Taman Rekreasi Gunung Lang, situated along KK Road.  When we reached there, we were all awe struck with the beautiful scenery and serenity of the recreation park. My parents were equally surprised that having lived in Ipoh for decades, they never knew that such a beautiful tourist spot existed!

At the entrance of Taman Rekreasi Gunung Lang and it was sizzling HOT that day!

After the outing, we were all drenched in our own sweat!  And then it poured heavily – my dad had to speed home to retrieve the laundry hanging at the porch but we were a tad late. What a day LOL!

The jetty – tourists can take a 5-minute boat ride to the other side to an animal sanctuary.

Photo

While waiting for the boat, Cass fed the fishes with fish food. There were tons of huge and obviously very well fed cat fish and carps in the lake.

Boat ride with granny.  I wonder why on earth the boat operator did not ask us to wear the safety jackets that were kept nicely on a shelf on the boat!!  Are they even aware of the recent fatal boat tragedy in East Malaysia??  What kind of mentality do they have? As usual, only tragedies will wake some people up from their comfortable snooze and shake them away from their lackadaisical attitude.

Over the other side of the lake was a mini zoo.  We were attracted to a pair of ostrich, which were caged up together with some deer. The ostriches were taller than all of us.

Photo: ostriches n deer

We will definitely visit Gunung Lang again.  The kids loved the boat ride. Cass loved feeding the fishes and Alycia vowed to climb to the top of the play tower on the rope ladder the next time she visits Gunung Lang.

Back in KL, we went to a friend’s apartment at Mont Kiara to have steamboat.  This bachelor friend of ours who loves cooking prepared 2 huge pots of soups for the steamboat dinner for over 20 friends. One pot is chicken herbal soup and the other is shark’s bones with prawn shells.   There was a huge spread of fish maw, an assortment of balls, assortment of mushrooms, noodles and lots of sliced meat and veggie. We were all full to the brim after the enjoyable steamboat dinner.

It is now back to the grind for the girls and me.  The next exam for Alycia will be in August and the last one in October for the 3 girls.   And next week will be meet-the-teacher and report card day for us! I just wish that exams will be abolished for primary school kids. It is just too stressful for the kids and the parents.

No. of times viewed = 4412

HEALTH FREAK MOMMY