Celebrations – Page 2 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Mother’s Day 2022 – 8 May 2022

As I was typing the title of this post, the date suddenly hit me. It’s the month of May and the anniversary of Cass’ surgery and our 3-week nightmarish stay in Gleneagles Medical Centre (GMC), Penang exactly 13 years ago. The days spent with Cass at GMC were so overwhelming that it’s hard to repress the memories of the 21 nightmarish days spent with her in the hospital. Seeing my baby in pain with tubes sticking into her nose and body and not knowing what was wrong with her after the first surgery, the feeling of hopelessness and misgivings and finally the shock of seeing the 5-figure amount on our final bill when we were finally discharged left me in a complete funk – these feelings are sometimes still raw and impossible to palliate even with time.

Back to our Mother’s Day celebration this year!

Brunch was at Feeka Coffee Roasters. It’s our family’s first celebration at a restaurant since two members of our family recovered from Covid over a month ago. Finally there’s a little semblance of how our lives used to be pre-Covid days.

Feeka Coffee Roasters KL — Image source – theyumlist

Peruvian grilled chicken served with fresh and crisp watercress and a minty sauce.

Our verdict on the food? Just mediocre. Plus we sat outdoor at the courtyard and it was humid in the current sizzling heat.

After brunch we segued into the nearby Pizza Mansion to get takeaway wood-fire pizzas for dinner.

This place exudes the vibes of a pizzeria in the 1980s with songs of the 80s played. I suddenly felt like I was in an eatery in Ipoh Old Town back in the mid 1980s.

Pizza Mansion has another outlet at Happy Mansion, PJ.

Our 3 finicky girls devoured the pizzas once we were back home. They commented that we should have dined in at Pizza Mansion instead of Feeka.

Hubs also brought the girls to a bakery to get strudels while I surveyed another new bakery (Hogan) in the vicinity.

Our Mother’s Day lunch ended with a ‘saman’ ticket from DBKL! Hubs had parked right opposite Feeka thinking that it was a Sunday and it was a pretty quiet street with low traffic. But the DBKL officers (who were supposed to be on Raya holiday and not working on a Sunday!) were out to hunt down unsuspecting parkers like us! We didn’t even notice them though we were seated al fresco. About 20 diners who parked there were all greeted with the long ticket after their lunch 😑

No. of times viewed = 65

Cassandra Is 14!

Our littlest darling turned 14 last Saturday – 9 April 2022.

She has definitely come a long way. For those of you who have been following my blogs way before Cass was born would know her medical history. She’s not 100% out of the woods yet and we’re still trudging slowly, but in no real hurry.

Cass has made great progress in how she manages her own health, fitness, wellness and studies. And I’m proud that she’s finally quite independent at 14, though still needs me to nag at her to do what’s really important. Because of her medical condition, I’ve always mollycoddled Cass, to which she absolutely hates. She doesn’t like it that I give her preferential treatment and still do things for her even though she can do it herself (she’s a dawdler which I’m not and this pisses me, the Super Impatient Mom). She also doesn’t like hugs and kisses or cuddling up in bed with me anymore. But she likes to blather and prattle to me about everything that happened in school, especially when I’m busy with work on the computer.

It’s chucking down heavily now as I’m typing this post and Cass just sent me a photo of where she is outside the school. She can’t find her van again. And she’s going to be drenched again! 😞

OK, I’m going to get her a foldable umbrella from Mr DIY tomorrow! The girls don’t like having an umbrella in their bags as it’s an added weight to their already super heavy school bags (>8kg) but Cass doesn’t have a choice now as it’s currently the rainy season.

Coming back to Cass’ birthday!

She got a big surprise birthday present from her dad, which I didn’t even know about it. It’s a brand new mobile phone!!

In this Covid era, having a phone is a necessity. Cass’ school requires the students to check into the school via the MySejahtera app every day. Students without a phone must print out a form to fill out every day. So having a mobile phone is not only a necessity now, it can be a life-saver too. It gives me a peace of mind too as I know where Cass is. After Cass sent me the photo just now, I called the van driver and he found Cass, with an umbrella in hand for her.

Mini Bundt cakes from hubs. He also bought several other sliced cakes from Plump by @taobakescakes, Bangsar but I didn’t manage to snap the pix coz the girls devoured them before I remembered about snapping the pix.

A cheap Redmi phone at RM550. But it’s good enough for my super clumsy and careless girl.

Did I tell you that after hubs got Cass’ previous phone repaired last month, she dropped the phone again the next day? The cost of the repair was over RM300 and after the second damage, hubs gave up and thought it’s more practical to get her a new phone.

Sherilyn got Cass churros from the cafe that she’s currently working at on a part-time basis. The girls love churros aka Western yau char kwai / kuih cakoi. There were 10 pieces and I only remembered to snap a photo after the girls chomped down 7 pieces.

We were all so stuffed from all the cakes, churros and seafood noodles from lunch that we cancelled our dinner plan. Instead we had the birthday meal 3 days later. Cass chose The Fish Bowl from The Gardens Mall, Grabbed to us.

Salmon bowl with a variety of healthy veggies, nuts and seeds.

Grilled chicken breast. This looks REALLY healthy with white breast meat but it doesn’t taste as bland as it looks. The chicken breast is well-marinated and is served alongside a whole bunch of veggies, beans, nuts and seeds.

I pray for good health, happiness and abundance of blessings from God upon Cass always.

No. of times viewed = 56

16 February 2022 ~ Sherilyn’s 17th Birthday

Sherilyn turns 17 today! She’s my Chor 8 CNY baby. Her birthday fell during CNY in most years but this year, it’s a day after Chap Goh Meh.

Used to be the most challenging and willful child of my 3 daughters, Sherilyn’s grown and matured so much over the years. She’s no longer my most challenging child now but the most independent and talented. She still needs me to nag at her to shower early and sleep early though. She has now passed the ‘most challenging child’ baton to her youngest sister 🥴.

Sherilyn’s birthday dinner was held at our family’s favorite café, Red Kettle.

Seafood soup for Sherilyn. She wanted something light as she had a heavy lunch with her besties.

Fusion fried angel hair pasta with seafood.

Best Portugese egg tarts in the Klang Valley and possibly in Malaysia. One is never enough. I can gobble down two at one go and then corrode with guilt 😬

Minus 4 Degrees ice cream, voted Malaysia’s #1 ice cream brand in 2020. I love the salted caramel flavor. Not too sweet nor cloy. Just perfect. Even better than IS, HD or BR.

Birthday girl with her choice of cake – Tiramisu.

Happy birthday, Sherilyn! I hope that the year ahead will be filled with many blessings from God. Know that you are loved today, tomorrow, and always! ❤️

No. of times viewed = 57

2022 Chap Goh Meh Dinner

The Yaps had an early Chap Goh Meh dinner on Sunday. The host (hubby’s aunt) requested all the attendees to do a Covid self-test a few hours prior to the dinner.

This is my first ever Covid self-test and I had trouble getting that much saliva to fill the tube. I stood at the sink for 5-10 minutes just to collect enough saliva to reach the mark on the tube 🤪.

Our buffet spread of Hakka dishes, whipped up by the Yaps who are all great cooks.

Fried glass noodles with fried prawns, steamed chicken, braised duck with ginger and assorted roast meat.

Yee Sang, stir-fried mixed veggies, Chinese sausages and sauteed Ngar Koo (arrowroot) with coriander and roast pork.

Fried glass noodles with fried prawns, Top Hat (Pie Tee), braised abalone with mushrooms and braised Hakka pork with wood fungus (MIL cooked this dish. It’s her specialty).

Love the Siew Yoke with crackling skin. This platter was bought from our friend’s restaurant (Seng Kee Kitchen).

And this marks the end of Chinese New Year! Now it’s time to eat clean before my yearly blood screening. My appointment with my gynae is next Sunday and I am already feeling the jitters – my once a year anxiety before the screening. 🥶

No. of times viewed = 69

Friday, 4 February 2022 (Li Chun Day)

Li Chun, which signifies the beginning of Spring, is the first day of the Chinese solar calendar. Li Chun is considered an auspicious day for the Chinese. Li Chun falls on the 4th of February this year. In Asia, it has become a tradition to deposit money into your bank account during this day to garner good wealth and fortune for the new year.

People also try their luck to see if they can make eggs “stand up” on this day. If they succeed, he or she is believed to have good luck throughout the year.

We tried making eggs “stand” today and my egg “stood” in less than 5 minutes of trying! The second egg “stood” effortlessly too! Cass tried and made about 4 or 5 eggs “stand”. Sherilyn made one egg “stand” 😆

After making our eggs “stand”, I went to the bank to deposit money, just for the fun of it. If my luck is good this year, I can then safely tell everyone that this traditional practice is somewhat bona fide. So wait for my follow-up post in a year’s time, yeah.

Haru has been hiding under the bed and sofa the whole day as we have relatives over almost the whole day. She’s a scaredy-cat who is afraid of strangers.

Haru’s latest favorite hangout place – atop the wet kitchen dustbin. She loves to people- watch and catch flying insects.

No. of times viewed = 63

Merry Christmas!

I’d like to wish all my readers a very merry Christmas! I hope your Christmas will sparkle with moments of love, laughter and joy. May the year ahead be full of contentment and joy.

Happy holidays and stay safe and healthy everyone!

Our chef S made this sando for brunch. It’s filled with homemade Italian sausage, eggs and homemade pickled cucumber. She found a recipe to make Italian sausage using minced chicken meat and it’s a cinch to make and very, very yummy!

Homemade Italian keto sausages with no casing. They look and taste like gourmet sausages from glitzy restaurants. The secret recipe is the herbs and spices!

Our brunch yesterday – seaweed wrapped with pan-fried spam, omelette and purple rice.

Our dinner last night – Vietnamese pork stew with baguette.

I bought 2 loafs of baguette and they were all gobbled down. We used it to soak up the stew gravy.

Haru wishes everyone “Miowy Christmas and a Happy New Year! 😺

No. of times viewed = 56

5 December 2021 ~ Alycia’s 18th Birthday

My ‘precious baby’ is 18!!

Alycia’s the baby that we wanted so badly and who made us go through the wringer for 2 years in order to have her. She’s our miracle baby and now our precious baby is 18!

Her celebration lunch at the Seoul Korea restaurant was our first dining out together as a family in more than half a year. Because of the continuous lockdown and worsening Covid situation in our country, we’ve not gone to the mall or any eatery for more than half a year.

Hubs booked Seoul Korea because Alycia’s a stan of all things Korea! And Seoul Korea is by far the best Korean restaurant that we’ve been to. The owners are generous with the banchan (appetizers) and the food quality has been consistently good.

Although Sherilyn can and have cooked all the dishes that we ordered today, there’s nothing like a dining experience at the restaurant itself and not having to lift our finger to clean up the aftermath of cooking 😁. Cleaning up after cooking drives me insane!

I still thank God for Alycia, my precious baby. May the Lord bless her with many more years of happy and healthy life.

No. of times viewed = 54

9 May 2021 ~ Mother’s Day

My sweet eldest daughter got up early to prep a surprise breakfast for me and her grandma. The one who hates cooking, can’t even cook a decent meal for us and abhors all kitchen chores actually cranked up the stove to cook me breakfast!! She also made us fresh orange + lemon juice using a manual juicer. The set also includes a rose origami, which she handmade, in my favorite color, pink. 🥰

Cass gave me a RM10 note and told me to buy something with it without sharing it with anyone 🥰. She also gave me half an hour of massage.

My middle child whipped up this salad for me.

Mother’s Day cake from hubs. He also helped to wash all the dishes and brought the garbage to the refuse chamber. Must give him 10 brownie points for this as he hardly helps out in house chores!

After breakfast, Cass and I brought Haru to the jogging trek of our condo for a walk. Cass always puts Haru in a recyclable cloth bag and brings her for walks around the condo.

Sizzling hot at 11-ish a.m., but we got our daily dose of Vitamin D!

To my overseas readers, our country is currently in another lockdown (MCO 3.0). Schools are out, most of the shopping centres including our most popular neighborhood supermarket in the HIDE list (these premises have the potential to turn into a Covid cluster if no preventive measures are taken) have been ordered to close for 3 days. We’re also advised to self-isolate for 14 days and not go anywhere to break the chain of infection.

I’d like to wish all my readers who are mothers a very blessed and happy Mother’s Day!

No. of times viewed = 28

26 February 2021 ~ Chap Goh Meh 2021

We had a healthy yee sang alongside a small feast to celebrate the last day of CNY today. Dinner was held at hubby’s aunt’s unit (2 floors below ours) again.

Sherilyn made the yee sang composed of fresh radish, jicama, carrot, purple and green cabbage, cucumber, red bell pepper, green onions, homemade pickled radish, pickled jicama, Pacific clams, black & white sesame seeds, ground peanuts, plum sauce with sesame seed oil and pok pok chui.

Can you see the shape of the ox’s face? We think it looks like an angry feral bull instead of a cow 😆

Braised mushrooms with sea cucumber and abalone.

Steamed fish.

Dried waxed meat and 12345 pork ribs.

Sand ginger chicken (ordered by hubby’s aunt)

Here’s tossing to a better 2021 for everyone — good health, better wealth, prosperity and happiness.

And with this marks the end of CNY 2021 amidst a Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0). It’s the most unhappening CNY ever for us and I’m sure for you too if your country is in a lockdown.

I’m sure Chinese New Year next year will be a more happening one when most of us have already gotten our Covid-19 vaccines. I’ve registered to be vaccinated through the My Sejahtera app. Have you done it yet? If you’ve not, don’t wait and register today. All it takes is just a few minutes and you’ll be on your way to be vaccinated; and may there be herd immunity within our community with hopefully an end to Covid-19 forever.

It was another super hot and sweaty day for us again. It looks like we’re expecting another unwelcomed visitor again – HAZE!

No. of times viewed = 25

Chinese New Year 2021

Chinese New Year this year is celebrated on a whole different level with no traveling back to our hometown, no house visiting, no mall visiting, no lion dance, no nothing but just sitting at home. The girls miss playing fire crackers with their Singaporean cousins in Ipoh, enjoying koong koong’s homecooked dishes and granny’s cookies. In accordance with the government’s Covid19 SOP for CNY this year, reunion dinner on the eve of CNY is only allowed for relatives staying within a 10km radius in the same district. Our condo Management only allows guests in from 6 – 10pm on the eve of CNY. The only relative who is within a 10km radius in the same district as us is hubby’s cousin. Our reunion dinner was held at hubby’s aunt’s unit, which is 2 floors below ours. This year, I didn’t even bother to buy any CNY cookies (except for some arrowroot chips, emping chips and fried beehives) as my girls are not big fans of cookies and since we can’t be doing visiting and gifting. Fortunately, my younger brother who is on a working trip back to Ipoh will be able to bring some of mom’s home-baked cookies for us!

Tossing the yee sang is also unique this year with everyone donning on face masks as there are vulnerable folks around. You know how the Chinese talk during yee sang tossing right? Imagine everyone’s saliva being tossed inside the yee sang too 😱

On the first day of CNY, the mil cooked the customary ‘jai’ (vegetarian dish). The girls are also not fans of ‘jai’ but they’re pretty easy going and ate them without any fuss.

I really miss going back to my parents in Ipoh this CNY. I’ve not seen them in person for more than a year now.

How has your CNY been this year?

Here’s Cass with her new bestie. She’s absolutely besotted with Haru and loves having Haru next to her all the time 😁. Haru is about 8 weeks old now and is such a charming kitty.

No. of times viewed = 39

Christmas Dinner ~ 25 December 2020

We had a small pot bless Christmas party attended by immediate family members from hubby’s side today. The last time we had a gathering was in February this year during CNY. Relatives from New Zealand, UK, Taiwan and HK were absent this year. Nonetheless, it was a great reunion of the Yaps at our yearly Christmas dinner with the usual roast turkey with stuffing, glazed ham, pigs in a blanket, minced pies, pasta, roast festive vegetables, fruit cake and Tiramisu.

This year we prepped the pigs in a blanket.

Our 6.5kg roast turkey with delish giblet gravy.

Stuffing for the roast turkey:

Vol-au-vent

Roast pumpkin, potatoes and onions.

Pesto pasta with scallops and prawns.

Low-sugar fruitcake with extra booze and walnuts.

Focacia bread.

Minced pies

The girls received fewer presents this year but they’re totally OK with it. What’s more important is the reunion with their aunt, grand aunties and grand uncles. We’re very thankful that everyone in the family is safe and healthy. One of my Christmas wishes is for this pandemic to die out and for our lives to return to normalcy very soon.

No. of times viewed = 38

CMCO Day 183 ~ Wednesday, 9 Dec 2020

Today is the queen’s 75th birthday and Sherilyn made Mont Blanc cupcakes for her grandma. The chestnut cream is made from chestnuts (cooked into a paste) and swirled atop the Génoise Sponge cake. The cake is super yums ~ not too sweet, not cloy and very light. The chestnut cream has a nice aroma of fresh chestnuts. This would easily cost RM15 – RM20 each at a glitzy bakery or cafe. But our cost is only about RM5 each, or less.

SILs from Hong Kong, Hawaii, UK and New Zealand arranged for a Kochi Yuzu Mango Tart from Lacher Patisserie to be sent to their mom. They arranged for flowers delivery too.

Lunch today was the extra food from hubby’s shop >> https://www.facebook.com/CatermateCateringandDelivery ~ grilled salmon, grilled chicken, spaghetti and Daging Masak Berempah/Hitam. And dinner was KFC delivery as the mil loves KFC. We’re all so so so stuffed today 🥴

Daging Masak Hitam / Berempah (beef cooked in spicy dark sauce with spices) is a sweet and aromatic beef dish cooked with a myriad of healthy herbs and spices, from galangal to shallots, garlic, lemongrass, cardamom, ginger, etc. The beef is simmered with all these spices and dark soy sauce for over an hour and the result is tender redolent beef that tantalizes your taste bulb. I love this beef to bits!

Fresh Japanese chestnuts and Tong Guan organic chestnuts were used in the chestnut paste.

Génoise Sponge cupcakes before the chestnut cream topping.

No. of times viewed = 36

MCO Day 54 ~ 10 May 2020 (Sunday, Mother’s Day)

It certainly doesn’t feel like Mother’s Day today. Ever since I became a mother 17 years ago, Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May revolved around going to some fancy restaurants or hotels for a luxurious Mother’s Day lunch, complete with cakes and gifts. Every single year, except in the year 2009. That was the only year that there was no celebration as I was stuck in the hospital, with no mood for any celebration as Cass’ life was still hanging by a thread with a post-surgery complication.

Hubs was at his shop to prep Mother’s Day lunch boxes for delivery today. He bought takeaway breakfast for us from our neighborhood kopitiam hawkers, which recently re-opened. I was so glad when I read from our Taman Facebook Group that they are re-opening again. He bought char kway teow and prawn noodles. I’ve been patronizing the char kway teow stall for exactly 23 years now and really missed their food throughout the MCO.

By the time I finished drying out the laundry, the prawn noodles and char koay teow were already attacked by the ravenous piranhas and didn’t look as appetizing for a blog-worthy snapshot 😬

Sherilyn cooked dumplings (made by the girls yesterday) in wakame egg soup for lunch.

And added a side of crunchy radish Kimchi for a more Korean twist to our lunch.

My sole Mother’s Day gift is from Sherilyn, who used her competition winnings to give me a treat of my favorite Matcha Latte from Niko Neko Matcha, which she ordered online. She also ordered coffee beans online to gift her grandma who’s a coffee lover.

Cass has exhausted all her savings for my birthday angpow in March and has zero savings now with no pocket money now as school’s been out for almost 2 months; but she gave me a massage at bedtime 👩‍❤️‍👩.

Sherilyn made my favorite egg custard too but this time, the custard is a tad firm. She said she accidentally used too much eggs. It’s really the thought that counts and I ate them 🥰

Egg custard with her homemade passion fruit sauce.

Hubs ordered chicken rice (free range chicken) from Loke Yun Hainanese Chicken Rice @ Ampang, delivered to us by Lalamove. Loke Yun was the recipient of “2007 Malaysia TOP 10 Hainan Chicken Rice King” and “The Best Poached Chicken Rice 2008”. Hubs first tasted Loke Yun’s poached free-range chicken a week ago when his gourmand friend brought some to his shop in their almost daily food-exchange session.

Lok Yun’s homemade chili sauce leans towards spicy (which is too spicy for my liking), and when combined with the homemade piquant ginger dip, adds a punch to the chicken rice experience. The rice is fluffy and fragrant with subtle ginger aroma. I find the chicken meat a tad ‘tough’, which is a common feature in free-range chickens. I am not really a chicken lover and if I have to like a chicken dish, it has to be either roast, grilled, minced, stewed or fried. My lazy jaws find it too tiring and achy to chew tough free-range chicken meat with ‘muscles’ haha! But my gourmand or rather gourmet hubs who is a sucker for poached free-range chicken, enjoyed every bit of the chicken.

Char Siew, Siew Yoke, stir-fried veggies and stuffed tofu pok were from Sing Kee Kitchen, our favorite tai chow restaurant. The flowers were compliments from RT Bakery.

Alycia, my chicken feet lover, devoured the braised claws from Loke Yun the moment she saw them 😱. Animal feet and innards are never my kind of food.

Mother’s Day cake for the two mothers at home.

By the time we finished dinner and cleaned up, it was way past 9 p.m. and all the health freaks at home unanimously agreed to only eat the cake tomorrow… which made hubs roll his eyes and say “then what’s the purpose of buying this cake for Mother’s Day? Might as well just get you some regular cakes tomorrow!” Yeah, he made a good point. But the problem with this MCO is that every single night, there’s so much washing and cleaning to do post-dinner that we have no more mood for cake-cutting, candle-blowing and photography. Photography also means having to change to clean pretty clothes but when I’m all drenched in sweat in my shabby house attire with hair clipped and tied up, I have no mood to transform for a 10-minute photography and then continue with mopping the floor and scrubbing greasy kitchen stove. Bleh 🥴

I only get to enjoy this delish softy, spongy cake layered with light and fresh cream and fruits after jogging the next day.

On Mother’s Day today, our Prime Minister announced that the Conditional MCO (CMCO) will be extended by another 4 weeks, ending 9 June 2020! I’m pretty used to this New Normal lifestyle by now and expected to hear that in the PM’s Speech this afternoon. Besides having a massive reduction in our household income throughout the MCO, being overwhelmed by the occasional cabin fever, frustration, meltdowns and temper flareups, I think there are some pros to being forced into a massive timeout. It’s good to have a reboot in your life.

How was your lockdown Mother’s Day? I hope you had a blast with your family.😊

No. of times viewed = 41

MCO Day 40 ~ 26 April 2020 (Sunday)

This morning, our personal trainer laid out the yoga mats to start private lessons with Miss Lazybones. He waited so long for the dawdler (who was actually hoping to get away with the boot camp) to get ready that he almost zonked out on the lounger while playing with his phone. 😆

See the brat – not following instructions 😤

After 20 minutes of lessons, the brat was finally released for brunch of porridge with ‘Tau Kok Lup’.

Our regular organic fruits and vegetables seller delivered her produce to us again today. It’s the second time this week that she’s delivered fruits and vegetables to us. Today we’re lucky to have apple custard, star fruits, lemons, limes, preserved limes, honey dew, lemongrass, pandan leaves, bananas, papayas, pineapple and baby spinach. All these are home grown in her parents’ orchard.

The guavas are ordered online from 88 Happy Guava King. They are fresh, crunchy, sweet and priced reasonably. I’ll definitely order again, together with their pickled mangoes when their stock of mangoes arrive.

Hubs also went to the supermarket to stock up on oranges, apples, dragon fruits and pears. I should have reminded him to get milk. Looks like I have an excuse to get out of the house tomorrow to buy milk 😉

It’s my turn to be happy as a pig in mud, while munching on a juicy star fruit in the mud, as we have a kitchen full of fruits now! 😍

Today is my baby brother, Roy’s 43rd birthday It’s another family member’s birthday in style this year! Mum baked a pumpkin banana cake in heart shape for him and we had a virtual birthday party at night, via Whatsapp Video call.

New norm birthday celebration – us from KL, baby brother in Shah Alam, parents in Ipoh and big brother and family in Singapore.

Mum’s labour of love for her youngest son – a delish pumpkin banana cake. Wish we could try a slice of it!

Dinner tonight: organic chives omelette, braised hairy gourd with dried shrimps and mung bean noodles aka ‘Tai Yi Ma Kar Lui’, 3 Cups Chicken aka ‘Sam Pei Jie’ and cakes gifted by hubby’s friend.

No. of times viewed = 30

MCO Day 12 ~29 March 2020 (My 47th Birthday)

When your country is in a partial lockdown and you are in a house quarantine, every day seems the same – from Monday through Sunday. We sometimes lose sense of time. Even important events like birthdays. I almost forgot that it’s my birthday in the morning until I saw Alycia busy whipping up something in the kitchen. No wonder she asked me where the matcha and some baking tools are kept last night!

My first birthday present was Dalgona matcha, whipped up by Alycia, the one with royal fingers and Princess attitude who doesn’t like any sort of kitchen work! I am totally touched that this Princess actually knows so much kitchen stuff and now I know that she’s been pretending not to know all these while 😬 She must have watched the DIY tutorial on how to prep Dalgona matcha so many times that she could whip up a perfect glass of frothy quarantine cafe-style beverage for her mummy ❤️

What is Dalgona?
Since a three quarter of the world has been implored to stay at home for the past one month plus, the bulk of the caffeine dependent among us have had to get creative with our coffee or matcha at home, as popping to Starbucks or boba tea shops is no longer an option for many. Enter Dalgona coffee, a DIY South Korean coffee trend, which has been popularised by video app, TikTok. Dalgona coffee or Dalgona matcha is a thick, creamy, frothy iced latte. It is photogenic and Insta-worthy as the thick caffeinated mixture is separated from the chilled milk.

After Dalgona, Alycia proceeded to prep something else for me, which is a steamed mashed sweet potato + potato mixture that she pan-fried but that didn’t turn out too well and she just binned everything 😟

The kitchen was a hive of activities the entire day. After Alycia exited from it, it was Sherilyn’s turn to whip up something for me – egg custard, another favorite dessert of mine! When I saw what she was doing, I honestly doubted that it would turn out successful but I totally under-estimated this girl with magic hands. The egg custard turned out beautifully, almost like the ones from Ipoh Kwong Hing coffee shop! 👏 👍

In the afternoon, my SILs from Hong Kong, Hawaii and Auckland hosted a Zoom birthday party for me! My SIL from Hawaii sent me a virtual birthday cake 😁

Hubs went out in the evening to collect our takeout dinner from Red Kettle, my favorite fusion restaurant and came back with a surprise Pandan Gula Melaka birthday cake for me ❤️

Our delectable spread of Western and fusion food from Red Kettle:

The Portugese egg tarts from Red Kettle are to die for, absolutely the best in the world!

Since he was out, hubs stocked up on breads, buns and cookies, enough to last us for half a month. Hopefully by then the MCO would have ended.

Everyone looking sweaty and sloppy here as it’s been a very hot day here in KL. It didn’t help that everyone of us, especially me, have been busy mopping the floor, cleaning the kitchen and washing bathrooms. It was our shower time and no one bothered to dress up for the cake-cutting ceremony.

Just before I retired to bed, the cheeky rascal gave me my last surprise of the day – a birthday card that I am going to laminate after the MCO when the stationery shop re-opens. The birthday card has a pop-up birthday card in it and words that are worth a million dollars.

My Potterhead solemnly swore that she will never dump me into an old folks home in future. I’m going to hang the laminated card somewhere to remind Cass of her solemn promise so that she can never renege on it 😁

Wait, that’s not it. My claw machine fan gave me another surprise! She blind folded me and asked me to use a claw hair clip to claw out bank notes from her money pouch! I was given 3 tries – first try I fished out a one Ringgit note, second try another two one Ringgit notes and the final try I fished out a wad of notes! Total prize is RM108 and with this, I almost emptied all of Cass’ savings, which she saved since 3 years ago. For my birthday 3 years ago, Cass exhausted all her savings to buy me a handbag from Lazada. I am indeed blessed to have these 3 gems in my life 💕

No. of times viewed = 44

Favorite Chinese New Year Gifts

Of all the gifts that the hubs received from his friends and suppliers during Chinese New Year, we love these two the most:

Inside the beautifully woven basket in bright red are Mandarin oranges, a bottle of homemade pineapple tarts, homemade butter cookies and a little treasure basket. Inside the little basket is a treasure of ‘kat jai’ (mini tangerines) and Patchi mini superior chocolate waiting to be savoured by all the chocolate lovers at home.

Below: Exquisite individually-wrapped Isabelle biscuits packaged elegantly in a vanity box with pearl handle is my top favorite. ISABELLE (Taiwan) once won the gold medal for biscuit gift boxes in Taiwan and obtained a certificate in ISO9001-2000 in 2001.

Isabelle cookies not only look pretty and exquisite, they are yummy and not overly sweet – endorsed by Health Freak Mommy!

I’m going to keep the box to store knick-knacks or simply use it as decor.

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