Catermate – Page 2 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Sunday, 21 March 2021

Cass finally met up with her two BFFs from primary school today. Her bff, A, who’s now studying in an international school, has moved to our neighborhood. Cass and J went to A’s house to help her with unpacking and arranging. A’s mom brought them to Domino’s for pizza. If it wasn’t because of her piano class, Cass would have stayed at A’s house the entire day to catch up with her 2 bffs to make up for lost time. They should have had a graduation in school, a farewell party and lots of fun year end events together with tons of photos taken but sadly none of these happened last year.

Onwards and upwards! A is now in our neighborhood, which means more opportunities for them to meet up to catch up. And J is in the same high school as Cass. Though not in the same class, they may still bump into each other. At least they have something relevant to talk about as they’re in the same school. I really hope that A, J and Cass will be best friends forever.

While Cass had a great time with her friends, hubs, mil and I went to Restaurant Eight Treasure in Cheras for lunch. Alycia and Sherilyn stayed home – Alycia for SPM revision and Sherilyn to attend online church youth meeting.

Steamed ‘ma cau’ chicken (chicken fed with horse grass), steamed tofu with fish paste, fried yau mak and assorted yong liu stuffed with homemade fish paste. This restaurant serves the best steamed horse grass chicken. I don’t like eating steamed chicken but this chicken is an exception. The texture, taste and doneness are cooked to a tee – smooth, juicy, right amount of grease and aromatic. The ginger dipping sauce gives the chicken moreishness.

Hubby’s catering business is slowly but surely making a comeback. It will take months and perhaps even a year before it reaches its heyday again. He’s working very hard and we’re very thankful that we have many friends and even my blog readers who have been supporting his business.

I’d like to thank one of my blog readers from Australia who ordered food from Catermate for a surprise party for her relatives in KL. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your patronage ❤️

Nasi Briyani with ayam masak merah, mutton rendang, fried fish with sambal cili, Dalcha vegetables, acar and Nyonya kuih.

No. of times viewed = 59

CMCO Day 166 ~ Sunday, 22 November 2020

Hubs has bento box prepping at his shop in the morning, followed by a private kitchen event attended by celebrities in the evening. Since I have some free time on a Sunday, I went to his shop to help him with the photography to post on Catermate’s Facebook page as I’m helping him to manage the page.

Today’s lunch is chicken ham spaghetti from hubby’s kitchen and Yomie’s purple rice x yoghurt. Funnily, I didn’t really like this beverage the first time I tasted it. However, during the first MCO when hubby’s friend treated us to this yoghurt with chewy purple rice, I got hooked to it. Sherilyn and Cass find this combo bizarre and don’t like it. Well that’s good news to me as I don’t have to buy 4 cups for the 4 of us. It’s pretty expensive at RM13.90 a cup. And to be fair, I alternate between Yomie’s and Tealive / Gong Cha for the girls. Last week Sherilyn and Cass had Gong Cha, so this week we’re having Tealive. Next week we’re having Tealive again.

Do you know the reason why I’m ordering milk tea and Yomie’s every week? I can feel my stress and anxiety melt away as I sip the drink down my throat🤭 .

Ever since Cass did a Cycstoscopy procedure under GA two weeks ago, I’ve been having anxiety. And I’ve been swamped with work the past two weeks. The stress is causing me heart palpitations and I just needed to do something to de-stress. My daily morning run under the blazing 10 a.m. sun works wonders. Since my fortnightly retail therapy is no longer feasible and safe now, I get the high whenever I order milk tea and Yomie’s 😁. And I order food from random Facebook home chefs too to support them, just like how so many people are supporting my hubby’s food delivery business now.

Dinner is Yin Yang Kimchi fried rice by Sherilyn, using the kimchi that she made.

Dessert ~ cutesy coconut jelly from hubby’s shop.

No. of times viewed = 15

CMCO Day 142 ~ Thursday, 29 October 2020

Since it’s a public holiday today and there’s no online class to attend, the youngest brat helped at her daddy’s shop with bento box packing. What to do, times are really bad and we have to cut down on staff wages and resort to child labor.

Just kidding, she went there to collect our lunch & dinner of Mee Siam, Nasi Hujan Panas, otak-otak, vegan spaghetti and beef rendang. It’s Cass’ first time out of prison ever since the CMCO was re-imposed 2 weeks ago. This girl would probably drive her OCD and super persnickety dad bonkers and get fired if she were a part-time staff at his shop 😐

Mee Siam with chicken rendang and sambal set @ RM15/box from Catermate.

Nasi Hujan Panas (Rainbow Ghee Rice) with chicken curry, cili sambal fish and assorted fried vegetables @ RM20/box.

Vegetarian spagehtti

Slow-cooked Australia beef rendang @ RM50/box.

If you’d like to try Catermate’s bento boxes or pick something from their menu, here’s how you can order:

📲Pls click this Whatsapp link to place your orders:

https://wa.link/tmx2us

OR leave a comment here

OR message us at https://www.facebook.com/Catermate-Catering-Delivery-103417264813673/

🚶‍♂‍Self pick up Address:

Catermate Sdn Bhd
No.15, Jalan 1/109E, Desa Business Park, Taman Desa, Off Old Klang Road,
58100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
(opposite Bomba, same row as 99 Speedmart)

OR
🚛 Delivery via Grab (paid by customer)

No. of times viewed = 28

Salvaging & Transforming A Failed Dish Into A Famed Dish

Yesterday was one of those rare days that the stars weren’t aligned for our in-house teenage chef. Everything that she cooked was a flop, sort of. She made skewered boneless chicken thighs but it didn’t turn out as expected – the pan-fried chicken didn’t have the charred parts and tasted undercooked. The grilled egg plants + potatoes + big onions were also undercooked. The lemon and herbs rice was a joke that made everyone cackle at the dining table. After each spoonful of rice that we put into our mouths, we had to snigger. Take a look at the lemon herbs rice – we had envisioned fluffy and aromatic rice but the rice turned out looking and tasting like porridge risotto and Korean rice cakes. Or maybe like baby food 😆

I told Sherilyn not to bin the rice as she’d put in so much effort and time into cooking it and suggested that I could buy some Mozzarella cheese and roast chicken breast the next day to bake the failed lemon herbs rice. But this creative girl had some other ingenious plans with the flopped rice. She gave the rice a total transformation and churned out some crispy fried sushi the next day!

She made an assortment of fried sushi with the failed rice by coating the rice with Panko bread crumbs before pan-frying them. The result was a big batch of totally disguised, yummy and crispy fried sushi!

She pan-fried some eggs rolls and spam meat for the Uramaki. Sherilyn is now a pro when it comes to making Japanese egg rolls. It’s a skill that comes so naturally for her.

She also made some ‘fusion Nigiri’ with a restauranty edge 😆. Food that’s aesthetically pleasing some how tastes better, eh?😆

Sherilyn gave a box of sushi to her beloved kakak Maria who was here today. Maria always gets a share of everything that we cook and bake. During the MCO when she wasn’t allowed into our condo, I occasionally drove somewhere nearby to meet her to pass Catermate’s daily bento boxes to her.

This packet of locally made Panko bread crumbs is pretty good. It gives all her panko coated dishes a very crispy and less oily texture. It’s available at 99 Speedmart and only costs RM4.15 a packet.

I also collected food from Catermate for lunch today – Mee Siam with chicken rendang and sambal.

Mee Siam set from hubby’s shop @ Catermate is priced at RM15/box.

🚶‍♂‍Self pick up Address:

Catermate Sdn Bhd
No.15, Jalan 1/109E, Desa Business Park, Taman Desa, Off Old Klang Road,
58100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
(opposite Bomba, same row as 99 Speedmart)

OR
🚛 Delivery via Grab (paid by customer)

📲Pls click this Whatsapp link to place your orders:

https://wa.link/tmx2us

OR leave a comment here

OR message us at https://www.facebook.com/Catermate-Catering-Delivery-103417264813673/

No. of times viewed = 27

CMCO Day 133 ~ Tuesday, 20 October 2020

CMCO means more baking and cooking at home, especially when there’s someone at home who’s always raring to try out new recipes!

Today Sherilyn made Naan bread from scratch to make Naan pizza and cheese Naan for lunch. She made a batch of pan-fried Naan last Saturday (without any oil) and the Naan turned out really well – like those from Indian restaurants! We all loved it, including low-carb moi and the persnickety matriarch who can be very critical on food cooked by other people! 🤫

Our in-house teenage chef also marinated some boneless organic Pineapple chicken thighs to make chicken satay for dinner tomorrow. And she did all these while listening to her Math teacher on loud speaker mode on the phone in the wet kitchen during online class 🤓

After bringing Sherilyn to the gadgets and accessories shop to get new earphones (for online classes), we collected Nasi Hujan Panas and chicken rendang from hubby’s shop. Dinner is now settled as well.

Nasi Hujan Panas (Rainbow Ghee Rice cooked with spices), chicken drumstick rendang, cili fish, stir-fried assorted vegetables and mushrooms and chicken curry for dinner tonight.

For those of you who’d like to try Catermate‘s daily bento boxes, here’s how you can place your order:

Self pick up Address:

Catermate Sdn Bhd

No.15, Jalan 1/109E, Desa Business Park, Taman Desa, Off Old Klang Road,

58100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

(opposite Bomba, same row as 99 Speedmart)

Delivery via Grab (paid by customer)

Pls click this Whatsapp link to place your orders:

https://wa.link/tmx2us

Thank you for your support! 🙏😚

No. of times viewed = 30

RMCO Day68 ~ Sunday, 16 August 2020

I find it an irony that I had more stories to write in my blogs during the MCO when we were in home quarantine when everyday was a repeat of the previous day. Now that we’re in the recovery MCO and allowed to go out, I find that I have nothing much to update. With the girls back to school and I have lesser time for myself with school and tuition runs (with fewer hours of sleep too), I find that I have not much mood to update my blogs. All that I want to do whenever I have extra time in the day is to pay my sleep debt and get my beauty sleep 🥱 😴. By the time I finish cleaning up after dinner, it’s almost time for bed already! And if I don’t head to my bedroom by 10 p.m., I’ll be doomed tomorrow when my phone alarm buzzes at 4:30 a.m. I need at least 6 hours of sleep to be able to function the next day, or I’ll be a walking dead with a terrible foul mood the whole day with a nagging headache.

With not much updates, I’ll just post some photos taken last week ☺️

Hubby’s client’s corporate event early last week.

Note that the 1 meter social distancing at the tables were strictly adhered to with only 5 pax seated at each table.

Our dinner on Wednesday: mugwort omelette soup, braised Japanese pumpkin with dried shrimps, steamed minced pork with ‘mui choy’, stir-fried stinky beans/petai with minced pork and sauteed winged beans.

After a 5-month hiatus, I am back to driving to downtown KL (nightmare!!) at 5-ish p.m. to fetch Alycia back from school after Math tuition on alternate Thursdays now (used to be every Thursday). The drive to and from school takes an hour as it’s during peak after-office hours. I can’t wait to relinquish this duty when Alycia goes to college next year! But if she decides to remain in the high school to continue UEC (Form 6), then the nightmare continues!

My average step count by 7-ish p.m. each weekday:

No. of times viewed = 31

RMCO Day 58 ~ Thursday, 6 August 2020

Thursdays are my busy days as my Grab Mom duty starts from 7 a.m. and only ends at 9:45 p.m.. Now that Maria our part-time helper only comes in on Wednesdays and Saturdays, I have to keep Thursdays a non-cooking day. That is why for today, a super busy day for me with back to back school and tuition runs and a bunch of articles to write for my boss, I told the mil not to cook dinner. Post-dinner aftermath is too time-consuming to clean up and the girls can’t help as they will be at the tuition center and attending online tuition from home. Dinner for us tonight is takeaway Yong Tau Foo from my favorite shop.

Lunch is from hubby’s shop — beef lasagna and Ayam Percik, which I asked hubs to prepare extra for us when my friend ordered. His chef made extra lasagna for us which is enough for 2 more lunches for the girls next week.

The lasagna this time is bursting with ground beef, capsicum and carrots and very cheesy. The girls love it!

Delish Ayam Percik with curried roasted peanut sauce:

If you’d like to savor Malay and Western cuisines from Catermate, you can Whatsapp my hubby, Alan at 019-266 4297. Of course you can order anything that you fancy besides Malay and Western cuisine, just give him a call or drop him a Whatsapp to inquire.

Just before we left the house for the tuition center, Alycia told me that she felt hot and nauseous. These days, if any of the girls feels feverish, I can’t take it lightly anymore. I told her to stay home and gave her a packet of Izumio hydrogen water to gulp down right away with 2 capsules of Esberitox. She knocked off at 8 p.m. and woke up at 6 a.m. feeling right as rain again, phew! This is the consequence of staying up late to cram for exams recently. Now that Alycia only needs to go to school twice a week, she’s been sleeping way past midnight on most nights. And she finally admitted that it’s the late nights and lack of sleep that’s causing her to feel off-color. Alycia and Sherilyn are night owls and I’ve been having a hard time getting them to sleep by 10 p.m.

Here’s something very enlightening to me as a mom that I found from the internet! Studies have found that many teens have trouble falling asleep early. It’s not because they don’t want to sleep. It’s because their brains naturally work on later schedules and aren’t ready for bed.

During adolescence, the body’s circadian rhythm (an internal biological clock) is reset, telling a teen to fall asleep later at night and wake up later in the morning. This change in the circadian rhythm seems to be due to the fact that the brain hormone melatonin is produced later at night in teens than it is for kids and adults. So, teenagers have a harder time falling asleep.

Sometimes this delay in the sleep–wake cycle is so severe that it affects a teen’s daily activities. In those cases it’s called delayed sleep phase syndrome, also known as “night owl” syndrome. And if your sleep-deprived teen brings mobile devices into bed, surfing or texting late into the night, the light exposure could also disrupt circadian rhythm and make it harder to sleep.

So if you’re facing this problem with your teens, fret not as you’re not alone. But sometimes don’t you just wish that your teens were still toddlers or pre-schoolers who would listen to everything that you say including lights out by 9 p.m.?

No. of times viewed = 42

RMCO Day 52 ~ Friday, 31 July 2020

Today is Hari Raya Haji holiday and we had lunch at Restaurant Saikee @ Lorong Syed Putra Kiri.

Sweet and sour pork (Gu Lou Yoke), spinach in superior soup with homemade fish paste (my favorite!), steamed 3-variety eggs, fried Seabass with fermented black bean and steamed chicken with minced garlic and scallions.

The last time we dined at this restaurant was 7 months ago, in December 2019 with my parents. Today we were seated at the same table as we did on that fateful evening in December 2019. We even ordered the same dishes as that evening. Part way through having our dinner that fateful evening, hubs received a call from my elder brother who was driving from Singapore to KL. My brother had met with an accident and an ambulance was called to bring the entire family to the hospital in Seremban. We lost our appetite after that call, rushed off our dinner to rush home, hubs showered and rushed to the hospital in Seremban with my younger brother. What an eventful evening it was for us and thank God my brother and his 3 small kids were unharmed, except for my sil who had a cut on her forehead.

After lunch at Saikee, hubs bought these mini tartlets from Encore Patisserie for dessert:

After I’d posted the photo of these tartlets on Facebook, some of my friends thought that they were baked by our baking queen as she’d baked similar tarts recently😁. These super tiny tartlets cost a whopping RM5 each (which is just 2 tiny mouthfuls) and the bigger normal size tarts cost RM10 each!

Dinner was chicken bolognese and lemang from hubby’s shop:

This is my kind of holiday, a day that I don’t have to clean up after the in-house chef cooks. I really need many, many days like this to rest and heal my painful right wrist and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome right hand! No amount of physiotherapy or deep heat rubbing would help if my poor right hand keeps exerting itself through cleaning, mopping (culprit!), washing bathrooms (holding the toilet brush is another culprit!) and carrying heavy pails of laundry 😢. Any activity that requires turning my wrist is an agony. And if only there’s someone to open the door for me, life would be just a little sweeter for me. I’m sure those who suffer the same fate as me would know the pain when turning the darn door knob — the electric shock that sparks from the wrist up to the arm!! ☠️

No. of times viewed = 44

RMCO Day 43 ~ Wednesday, 22 July 2020

Today has been another fruitful day for me on the jogging treks. I clocked in 10,000 steps before 12 noon today! The vibration and buzz on my Fitbit to congratulate me on hitting 10k steps is such a sensational feeling; a feeling of victory and a golden ticket for me to treat myself to some sinful carbs like kuih, cakes and Nasi Lemak from hubby’s shop without the guilt 😁

Ever since school reopened I find that the days are shorter and time seems to whiz by so much faster. On most nights, I would conk out on my chair in front of my PC by 9 pm but I’ll be running on fumes to continue my Grab Mom duty to fetch Alycia and Sherilyn back from the tuition center at 9:30 pm (on Wednesdays and Thursdays).

I really wish that there were more hours in a day for me to sleep and do the things that I love. If I had more time on hand, I’ll definitely learn to bake keto cakes, bread and cookies. But for now, I’ll put this in my To-Do list when I retire 😄

On some mornings, something as humble as the economy noodles really perk me up. Today after jogging at the park I bought a packet of economy Mee Siam with added fried lobak and shared this with the mil for breakfast.

Lunch today is Nasi Lemak from hubby’s shop again. Today is the second straight day that we’re having Nasi Lemak from his shop. Yesterday there was chicken rendang with otak-otak and today there’s Ayam Goreng Berempah. Tomorrow his staff will be prepping 100+ boxes of Nasi Lemak again and I’m undecided if we should take some too 😬

We love the aromatic fried spices and onions scattered on the Ayam Goreng Berempah.

This is my portion: just 2 tablespoons of fragrant fluffy coconut rice with 2 pieces of fried chicken, lots of fried spices and some crunchy fried anchovies and peanuts. Simply divine!

Salivating already? Just Whatsapp Catermate at 019-266 4297 to place your order 😁

Our dinner, yesterday:

Curry vegetables (takeaway), Sam Pei Jie (3 Cups Chicken) cooked with homegrown basil, stir-fried red and green spinach and omelette with organic ‘Yeh Heong Fah’ edible flowers aka Chinese Violet Telosma Cordata.

No. of times viewed = 37

RMCO Day 31 ~ Friday, 10 July 2020

Today is the third day I skipped exercising. The past two mornings were spent at UTC Pudu to get Cass’ new IC done. I was raring to go jogging this morning but it drizzled the entire day, bummer! Since I couldn’t go jogging, I went to the supermarket and Mr DIY instead. Shopping is the next best alternative to jogging as it involves lots of walking too 😁

I was planning to go on a diet and limit my carbs intake today as I’ve not been exercising for 3 days straight but hubs brought these sinfully delish angku kuih and crispy curry puffs back! How could I resist angku kuih? My ultimate kryptonite is kuih! 😳

He also brought back Mee Siam with Ayam Masak Merah. These are extras from his shop for the day. And these are my favorites too! Diet be damned!!

Drooling already? 😆 Go ahead and satiate your craving by supporting hubby’s catering and bento box. You can Whatsapp him at 019-266 4297 to order. Thanks in advance for your support ❤️

Keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow morning’s weather will be perfect so that I can unleash all my pent-up energy and run for at least 40 minutes 🙏

Our MMA fighter attended online Taekwondo class again today. She’s still nursing an inflamed corn on her foot and has not been very active lately.

The Government announced today that contact sports will be allowed again effective 15 July 2020, which means that Sherilyn will soon be able to go back to the gym to attend Taekwondo, Muay Thai and Kickboxing. I dread thinking of all the chauffeuring from morning till late night when school, tuition, dance and MMA classes start again 😵

No. of times viewed = 50

RMCO Day 26 ~ Sunday, 5 July 2020

I woke up at 6:45 a.m. today. I’ve been waking up at this time almost everyday throughout the MCO, except on days that Alycia has to go to school on Wednesdays and Thursdays when I will be up at 5:45 a.m.

When Cass and Sherilyn return to school on 15 July, I’ll be up by 4:30 a.m. again. 😫 😩 🥺. This ungodly waking time does not do me any good. Even waking up at 5:30 a.m. is a pain for me. It makes my brain foggy and I find it really torturous to have to battle the extreme sleepiness at that hour. The only thing I like about being up at this hour is the absolute silence and peace in the house, sans any noise except for the soothing music from the radio. And of course my pre-dawn workout after sending Cass off to the school van. My daily 40-60 minutes of pre-dawn workout helps me to detox my mind and body as well as gives me a quiet time to do some soul-searching and prayer.

Beautiful sunrise at 6:45 a.m. today:

These days, hubs has to be at the bistro that he set up for a client every single day – to train the staff and ensure that the bistro runs smoothly and profitably. He leaves the house early in the morning for his office and shop to settle catering and food box delivery orders and then scoots off to the client’s bistro in Sunway.

This morning we went groceries shopping at our neighborhood supermarket and had lunch together before he started work – first at his shop to supervise food preparation ordered by a customer for a party and then to the bistro. He has to work doubly hard now to recoup the earnings he lost for the months of having zero income during the initial months of the MCO 💪

In the afternoon, I went to hubby’s shop to collect lasagna as he told his chef to cook extra for us but the extra is one gargantuan tray for us! The girls are so happy as lasagna is one of their favorites. I’m happiest as I don’t have to cook dinner. No cooking = less washing and that’s my kind of lazy Sunday.

Loaded with cheese on top and generous amount of minced chicken and veggies on the inside. And not too salty or oily. Perfect lasagna!

I divided the lasagna into 4 tubs for freezing for future meals and gave a tub to Maria, our part-time helper who was here today to clean up SIL’s vacant unit on the other block.

Tub on the foreground – biggest chunk for Maria and her hubby. This will be their breakfast tomorrow.

If you’d like to try this delish lasagna or want to order food for an event at your workplace or home, please Whatsapp Alan at 019-266 4297 or email catermatesdnbhd@gmail.com. Thank you ❤️

Happy Sunday, all and sundry ☺️

No. of times viewed = 72

RMCO Day 14 & 15 (Tuesday & Wed, 23 & 24 June 2020)

My days are slowly but surely seeing some semblance of old normalcy now. I am getting busier by the day, just like how I used to before Covid-19. And as things slowly return to normalcy, my hectic days are following suit too. My sleep hours are getting shorter, my chauffeuring duties are getting heavier and I am starting to doze off on my work chair once again. During the height of the MCO, I was a little insomniac and had trouble falling asleep at night.

This pandemic is a real test from God on our patience and perseverance. The past 4 months during the ‘World War III’ felt surreal, like we were all in a very bad dream that would never end. Hubs’ business was hit so badly that we thought it would never be back to its glorious heyday again. Everyone at home felt discombobulated – the kids for being taken out of school for so long, disruption to their routines, anxiety over loss of income, anxiety over when this pandemic will end, family members grinding gears with one another out of frustration being stuck at home and cooking 3 meals a day and much more. The news that we read from news portal everyday were very negative and demoralizing. The end of the road seemed so near for us.

But the worst of the 4 months are now behind us. New Covid-19 cases have now gone down to single digits. Today’s new cases is 6. More and more sectors are reopening. Alycia who is in Form 5 went back to school today (Wed, 24 June 2020). Gyms, swimming pools and cinemas will be reopened on 1 July 2020. And the sweetest news yet is weddings, seminars, parties, training events and social gatherings can now be held effective 1 July 2020, up to a max of 250 pax with strict SOP in place. This means that hubs’ catering events will start to trickle in. He’s already received a catering event for a meeting with over 100 pax. God has been very kind to us. Throughout the partial lockdown and restrictions on social gatherings when his catering events were slashed to zilch, he had and still has an alternative income. No one in our family had to go hungry, nor any of his staff throughout the MCO. In fact, we had more than enough food placed on our dining table everyday. And it’s looking pretty positive that our beloved part-time helper, Maria can come back to our home soon. God has answered many of my prayers and I am so thankful to him.

On the eve of Alycia’s school reopening yesterday, I brought her for a much needed hair cut.

The school’s hair cut policy is length of hair cannot be longer than 2 cm below the ears. This is Alycia before her hair cut:

Our regular hair salon owner has increased the price by RM5 to RM25 for Alycia’s haircut, to cover the cost of disposable aprons and hand sanitizer. The hair stylist cum owner wore disposable rubber gloves and goggles during the haircut.

Our dinner yesterday:

Buddha’s Delight (Lo Hon Jai), blanched organic baby spinach, stir-fried assorted vegetables from hubby’s kitchen, stir-fried ginger, mushrooms and sesame seed oil chicken tenders for the big girl who cannot stomach spicy food and sambal cili Tenggiri fish from hubby’s kitchen.

First day of school in RMCO – Alycia getting out of the house to her waiting transporter at the lobby this morning:

Social distancing markers on the van:

Students’ temperatures are scanned at the school entrance on a facial recognition thermometer and teachers are stationed at the bus stop area screaming out to the 5th and 6th formers to maintain a 1 meter distancing from one another. 😷

No. of times viewed = 36

Fish Head Curry From Catermate

For those of you who missed out on the fish head curry from my hubby’s shop last and this Wednesday, his chef is cooking it again this Sunday, 21 June 2020 just because it’s Father’s Day 🙂

One portion is RM60 — composed of Garoupa / Grouper fish head, lady’s fingers, aubergine, tomatoes and onions. Some of you asked me how the curry tastes like – we all think it’s very close to the famous Kg Attap fish head curry 😋

To order, kindly Whatsapp 019-266 4297. Thank you ❤️

No. of times viewed = 50

MCO Day 84 ~ Tuesday, 9 June 2020

Today our baking queen baked her very first loaf of hand-kneaded bread, which is Brioche loaf bread and Brioche buns! According to her, the bread is not 100% perfect as the texture is not super fluffy and pillowy but her sisters and I think that it’s pretty good — super soft, buttery and rich (she used 6 eggs and an entire block of butter for all these). In fact she even marked her Brioche as ‘FAILED’! That’s how much a perfectionist and critical she is, just like her dad.

Brioche burger buns… but we think they look like ‘Heong Peang’ 😆 Nonetheless. taste and texture are commendable.

Lunch today is Sundubu jigae (Korean Spicy Soft Tofu Stew) again as there’s still one last portion of homemade Gochujang in the fridge which Sherilyn made some two weeks ago. She also made a side of Oi Muchim (spicy Korean marinated cucumber). Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the Sundubu jigae which tastes so much better than the ones at Korean restaurants as ours is less salty (and doesn’t give me a bad aftermath of unquenchable thirst) and most of the ingredients are organic.

Dinner tonight is Nasi Hujan Panas from hubby’s kitchen.

Today marks the last day of the Movement Control Order (MCO) and tomorrow begins the next phase ~ Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO). Our country is slowly but surely on the way to recovery! 🙏

No. of times viewed = 38

Catermate’s Bento Boxes For Lunch / Dinner Delivery

Today the mil needn’t have to cook much for dinner again as hubs has extra boxes of Nasi Hujan Panas for us, woohoo! I love days like these when the kitchen is not so greasy and there are fewer things to wash for the girl in charged of washing dishes 🤗 This week is Alycia’s turn to wash the dishes and she was rejoicing when she saw me bringing the bento boxes back from the basement. Who likes washing greasy dishes, right? It’s my top most dreaded chore, followed by wiping windows and ceiling fans. I am so thankful I always have someone to help me wash dirty, greasy dishes.

Compliments like this one, received today, on Catermate’s bento boxes really made my day and hubby’s too:

This message was from another customer of ours last week on Nasi Hujan Panas bento box too:

I’m so thankful and grateful to all my friends and customers who supported hubby’s bento boxes throughout the MCO. You saved our days and helped him save his staff from losing their jobs too.

Now that the Government has allowed meetings and workshops to be held again, subject to strict SOP, we are praying that hubby’s catering events will start to trickle in again and soon, for him to achieve his heyday again.

Below: Nasi Minyak on Thursday’s menu @ RM23 a box:

And Nasi Kerabu @ RM23 a box on Friday’s menu:

Only good quality rice and ingredients are used in the cooking. Hubs is super persnickety on this and we go to Jaya Grocer @ Gardens Mall together every Sunday to shop for the rice and other ingredients.

To order, kindly Whatsapp 019-266 4297 (Alan). Thank you for your support 💝

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MCO Day 77 & 78 (Tuesday, 2 June & Wed, 3 June 2020)

Tuesday, 2 June 2020

With over 2 months of being stuck at home and devoid of a daily part-time helper, all the cleaning and washing finally took a toll on my hands. My stiff shoulders got stiffer and the crick in my neck got ‘cricker’. I’m currently suffering from pain on my right hand (the hand that I use the most) and have difficulty turning this hand. The Carpal Tunnel Syndrome that attacked my hand shortly after Alycia was born was also on my right hand. My right hand has been grossly over utilized! Yesterday I fished out my Salonpas patches and stuck them on my neck and right hand. I also massaged my neck and hand with Wintergreen essential oil. Both the Salonpas and Wintergreen essential oil provided a little pain relief but complete healing is going to take forever as long as Maria our beloved part-time helper doesn’t come back to provide me with the real pain relief! 😫

I miss having my portable massage chair to give me daily massages on my shoulders and back. When I went to Mid Valley Megamall last Sunday, I was shocked when the staff at Osim informed me that my faulty massage chair is still stuck in their shop – their reason was it’s still Hari Raya. But from the staff’s ‘guilt-stricken’ expression when she found out that my massage chair was still at their shop, I knew they’d forgotten to send it to the head office. 😥 With such cheesy quality despite the 5-star price, this will be my second and last purchase from Osim. The sales staff even had the cheek to cajole me to buy their second-generation portable massage chair, that’s more expensive at a whopping RM1,800! No way Jose, not even if it’s at a 50% discount🤔

Our baking queen made Chawanmushi for lunch today and this time, it’s umami-packed with a consistency that’s similar to those from Japanese restaurants. She added dashi and a little Chinese rice wine since we don’t have sake at home.

Hubs gave us a surprise when he came back early with tapau Ba Kut Teh for dinner. His catering event ended early and he came back early to rest as he woke up at 5:30 this morning to start work at the kitchen with his team.

Dinner of fried rice (with eggs, turmeric, kafir lime leaves and curry leaves), blanched broccoli, cauliflowers and celery, stir-fried lean pork with big onions and leftover sambal from hubby’s shop and Ba Kut Teh.

Wednesday, 3 June 2020

Hubs tapau Yong Tau Fu, Sarawak curry noodles and char koay teow for brunch from O&S Restaurant @ Paramount Garden, PJ after his physiotherapy session at the hospital today.

Today I started my morning jog a tad late at 10:30 a.m. and the sun was already out in full force grilling me like a piece of meat when I jogged at the jogging trek of our condo. Somehow, the morning sun does not give me a migraine, only the afternoon sun does. In fact, it gives me a high of serotonin, which makes me very happy and calm! No matter how busy I am, I try not to miss out on my morning jog – this is very important in helping me detox not only my body through sweat, but also a detox of my mind from negative and unhappy thoughts. The only downside is I now spot a bronze tan on my limbs and face. When the girls return to school (which no one knows when, yet), I think I won’t look like a Chinese anymore 👩🏾 😜

Hubs brought back Nasi Briyani from his kitchen in the late afternoon. Since there was warm yummy food on the dining table, I had my lunner at 3:30 p.m. so that I could have a longer Intermittent Fast today. We used to have dinner at 4 p.m. pre-Covid19 as the girls would be back from school around this time; when they’re back from school, they always appear like famished feral dogs. So I always ensure that dinner is ready by 3:30 p.m. and I eat my dinner with them at this hour!

We also had 5-Elements Miracle Soup today. This meat-less soup is believed to have the ability to fight cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and other ailments. I love this soup and don’t mind having it everyday as it’s meat-free and naturally aromatic and sweet. It’s composed of the following roots:

Daikon Radish Leaves (Green element)
Daikon Radish (White element)
Carrots (Red color element)
Burdock Root (Yellow element)
Shittake Mushroom (Black element)

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