Before the mil left for Ipoh last Sunday during the Hari Raya holidays, she cooked a huge pot of brinjal with minced meat.
The brinjals were from hubby’s central kitchen as he cleared his fridge. He usually clears the fridges at his kitchen when there’s a long break.
The portion of braised brinjal with minced meat was so big that I ate it for 4 consecutive meals! Sherilyn and Cass didn’t really like it as they commented that it was a tad greasy. Brinjals are like sponges, soaking up all the fat from the meat. Unless they’re steamed plain, when cooked with fatty meat or fried, brinjals can be really cloy.
As I just hate to throw out good food, I ate the same dish throughout the Hari Raya holidays. Waste not, want not!
To minimize the effect of the grease in the dish, I plucked a handful of sweet basil from our balcony garden and transformed the dish into an aromatic salad. Now it’s not so cloy anymore and I managed to salvage the dish from being binned!
My dinner for 4 meals. This is how little I eat for dinner on most days, sans any rice or carbs.
Sherilyn started her new academic year on Monday this week. She’s in Form 5 this year and will be sitting for her SPM in March next year. By mid of next year I will have a pre-U kid and a uni kid. Time flies! I miss the girls’ baby days😥
Cass was back to face-to-face classes last week. And this means my phone alarm is now back to 4.45 a.m. from Mondays through Fridays. Hello zombified days!
After almost 2 years of getting to sleep in till 6-ish a.m. almost every morning, it’s a pain having to wake up at such an ungodly hour in the morning now. One of the pros of the pandemic and lockdown is I get to catch up on my sleep. Now that our country is transitioning into endemic phase and lives are slowly returning to some semblance of pre-Covid days, I’m losing sleep and dozing off in front of my PC throughout the day again🥱 😴 .
The only thing that I enjoy about the girls being back in school is I have more quiet time in the mornings. I have lesser work to do in the morning as I have 2 less people messing up cooking in the kitchen. Sherilyn and Cass love cooking, baking and prepping their own meals and they leave behind trails of destruction for me to clean up. Now I have some peace at home until 3-ish p.m. when they return home.
On days that Maria comes in to help me, Sherilyn is allowed to cook more complicated and ‘messy’ dishes.
She made Japanese curry, chicken karaage and sushi when Maria came last week.
Chicken karaage + avocado sushi.My comfort food – porridge with fish maw, chicken and fish. SO delish!
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.
12 dishes, including a lotus root soup.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. 🥶
Covid cases continue to soar by the thousands every day. From just slightly below 2k cases just a month ago, the numbers have spiked to almost 14k today and is expected to continue rising in the midst of an Omnicron wave.
Cass’ high school shot out a notice to announce that in view of the current Covid situation, only SPM 2021 students need to be present in school for the SPM exam and all other students will attend online classes for the entire month of February 2022.
This morning I didn’t hear my phone alarm ring at 5.15 am. Someone defied me last night and made me burning mad just before bed time, resulting in me having insomnia until almost 1 a.m. I must have slept so deeply when my phone alarm buzzed at 5.15 a.m. and only woke up 1.5 hours later when I heard birds chirping outside. Being an ultra light sleeper, this is the first time that I didn’t hear my phone alarm ring! Thankfully hubs didn’t have to leave the house early for his central kitchen today and could drive Sherilyn to school. She was slightly late for her exam 😞
Haru caused a shitty mess in her litter box early this morning. The poop splattered onto the wall and everywhere else in the cage! I spent almost an hour wiping down the wall and cage with Sol-U-Guard and discarded the cotton sheets lining the cage. Last night Sherilyn fed Haru with quite a bit of chicken soup and it must have caused the poop to be slightly loose.
Haru still reeks of poop despite me wiping her down 100x with wet wipes. We don’t have the time to give her a bath yet.
I felt so shitty in the morning and still pissed with someone. But it got better after I had a long walk outdoor and then went to the supermarket to get groceries. A long walk or run outdoor always defuses a bad day and palliates the gravity of a situation for me.
Our dinner from last night – Miso Tori Paitan Ramen (Creamy Chicken Broth Ramen). This recipe is not for the time-strapped as it involves a LOT of work.
Ramen in chicken paitan broth (Tori Paitan Dashi), topped with spinach, mushrooms, sauteed minced pork and raw leeks. Even the fried shallots are homemade.
The ramen was made from scratch last month and frozen. The chicken broth involves multiple onerous steps from boiling to blending the chicken and veggies in the Thermomix and then sieving it. The result is a very rich, emulsified and nutritious chicken broth.
Barely 3 weeks into in-person classes this year, Cass (and her classmates) have to be home quarantined twice – one week each time. The student who was in close contact with a positive case was finally tested positive 2 weeks later.
It’s not any better for Sherilyn as well. One of her classmates was tested positive for Covid and she had to be home quarantined for a week too. Sherilyn gave us a scare when her temperature went up to 37.9C and hovered around 37.4 – 37.5C for several days. She also had a slight dry cough. Other than that, she was very well with great appetite and all. She tested herself using a Covid RTK four times and all four times showed negative. I can only blame this on her lifestyle. She has a habit of dozing off on the couch and only waking up in the wee hours of the morning to shower! Hubs, the mil and I have been nagging her to shower and sleep early but to no avail.
This Chinese New Year we will be staying put in KL, for the 2nd year straight. With Cass and Sherilyn being close contacts just recently, it is not safe for us to be back to meet my parents as they are highly vulnerable folks. My mum has asthma and weak lungs. I’m really disappointed that I can’t meet my parents yet. I’m praying that we can go back in early March this year during the school holidays. But the trip will likely involve only Cass, Sherilyn and me. Alycia’s semester break will only be in April and the school holidays would have ended by then.
My SIL from Hawaii sent this to me via her friend who came back to Malaysia recently. It’s a Kate Spade wallet in my favorite color! 🥰
The girls were gifted with clothes, bags and a big angpow from their Sarah koo koo.
Sherilyn cooked this for lunch on one of the days during her home quarantine – kimchi soup (with homemade kimchi) with loads of onions and vegetables, sweet corn rice and Ajitsuke Tamago (Ramen Eggs).Our sun-worshipper getting her daily dose of vitamin D in the mid-morning sun.
Our finicky teenage chef doesn’t like her school canteen’s food. So she preps her own food everyday. This week she made these for her lunch box:
Jumeok-bap or rice ball or Korean style onigiri. It’s cooked rice mixed with boiled kombu, sweet corn kernels, seaweed and soy sauce and rolled into balls. You can use any ingredient that you fancy to mix with the rice.
Salad (pesticide-free) with avocado and cheese.
Mashed green peas and ham with cartoon shaped pasta
Avocado and egg rice rolls
I always tell this girl that if she doesn’t get a highly paid job or a rich husband in future, she will find it extremely hard to live a life with humble and simple food. Blame it on her dad who’s spoilt them with good food all their lives 😑
Our fridge was stuffed with leftover turkey, roast lamb, ham and Christmas desserts after our Christmas dinner. For the following week after Christmas, we tried to finish up all the leftovers and have only recently finished the homemade ham and super decadent homemade chocolate brownie. I ate 90% of the chocolate brownie 🤪
With a creative and talented teenage chef at home whose cooking centers on healthy dishes, we had the privilege to feast on new dishes this holiday season.
Cabbage omelette topped with leftover roast lamb cooked with tomato puree, big onions and green peas.Turkey stew/soup with barley, loads of vegetables, homemade mash potato and honey glazed ham. The ham was cut into several portions and stored separately.This is definitely my kind of meal – turkey (leftover from Xmas dinner) and chicken soup with lots of big onions, carrots, potatoes, herbs and spices. The portion was so huge that we ate this for 3 days, yet I didn’t get sick of it. I can have this kind of meal every single day! Sheer comfort food and comforting for my tummy too.
Hello from Haru!
The audacity she has to sit on her sister’s desk while waiting for her to wake up! Sometimes she even sits on her sister’s phone and face mask 😹. Haru’s a very smart cat. She knows who to take advantage of and who to steer clear of 😸Haru likes to spend her day sitting next to the window to observe the world below her. She is also a sun worshipper. Whenever we let her out of the house, she will sit outside our unit and bask in the sun in delight.
I have a few hours of free time on hand today as Maria is here to help me out. I only have time to update my blogs whenever Maria is here. So thankful that Maria can still come into our home 🙏
I was going through my Google Photos and realized that I have not posted these photos yet. So here goes!
Throwback of photos taken in early December 2021:
Strawberry milk that chef S made, using frozen strawberries, fresh milk and Lakanto sugar. She intends to sell this but would you buy it if it’s with a price tag of RM12 – RM15 per bottle? Very refreshing and pretty filling too. This can be a diet meal. Chef S is going to use fresh strawberries if this is for sale.Mui Fan or Mun Fan – Rice doused with silky eggy gravy with lots of prawns, fish cakes, carrots, and veggies. Chef S cooked this dish to satiate her craving. She first tried it at YMCA restaurant in Ipoh a few years ago when my dad ordered it.Heartwarming dish served with Basmati rice and black rice.Pumpkin tart, made with a whole pumpkin and aromatic spices. Tart shell is made from scratch. Flour-free whole orange cake, made by chef Sherilyn.Eldest sil from England commissioned chef S to bake this cake for the mil’s 76th birthday on 9 December. This is mil’s favourite cake. It’s my favourite cake too as it’s made using almond flour and 2 whole oranges blended resulting in a very aromatic and very orangy cake that’s not too sweet and not cloy at all. Chef S used Sweet Williams flowers to decorate the cake.MIL’s birthday dinner on 9 December 2021.All our family’s favourite dishes.
This week Sherilyn is staying home for remote learning. She went to school last week. Next week will be the last week that Sherilyn attends physical classes in school before the year end school holidays begin.
I’ve been clocking in only 5-6 hours of shut-eye for the last two weeks, including Saturdays and Sundays. I was up early on both weekends as Alycia had to leave the house by 7 a.m. for the van driver from the driving school to fetch her to the driving academy in Puchong. She’s been attending driving lessons on Saturdays and Sundays the past two weeks. After 16 hours of lessons on the road (4 hours for each session), she’s now scheduled to sit for a trial exam this Thursday. Honestly, I’m not sure if 16 hours is sufficient. I’ve not sat in with her in my car for practice lessons as it’s technically not legal for her to be driving around without a driver’s license. I can only 🙏 that Alycia will pass the test in just one sitting. If she flunks, more money will fly out of my wallet for extra driving lessons. And losing more sleep as well 🥱
Just a little update on Alycia’s foundation program at Sunway College. Life in college is much more hectic than life in a Chinese independent high school. Chinese-style education is said to be one of the toughest institutions to be in and students from Chinese schools are always under pressure to be the best of the best. I’m somewhat thankful that she attended Chinese schools for 11 years and thus, has been conditioned for heavy load in homework and regular tests.
There are lots of projects, assignments, presentations and tests in college. Alycia sat for her first exam two months into the course. On some days when it’s her turn to be in college, she would only reach home after 7pm.
Alycia takes Grab to college on some days and on other days, her former classmate who stays in our hood who also goes to the same college, gives her a ride to and fro.
With the school holidays around the corner, Sherilyn is already planning to sell her best seller items to earn some money. Today she made strawberry milk for us and her friends to try. Next, she will work out the cost and price tag for the strawberry milk. She also intends to sell kimchi, tarts and other signature items. This girl has big plans for herself.
Refreshing strawberry milk made using frozen strawberries, Lakanto sugar and Australia fresh milk.Chef Sherilyn’s new dish – sesame crusted pan fried salmon served with mayo wasabi dipping sauce.
Chef S made crispy chicken sandwich with homemade Japanese tartar sauce for dinner yesterday. This is both a time-consuming and messy dinner to prep as it involves deep-frying the chicken breast (coated with panko crumbs) and making the Japanese tartar sauce.
Chef S started prepping the chicken a day earlier by brining the chicken breast. Brining keeps the chicken meat incredibly moist while adding an excellent flavour. It’s a bit more labour intensive than a simple spice rub, but it’s worth the effort for that extra special chicken dinner. Brining is basically soaking meat in a salt water solution, but the flavour doesn’t stop at just salt. And even though breast meat was used, the meat wasn’t dry at all.
Super crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Most of them were deep fried and some were air-fried in the Airbot. Lately I’ve been buying a lot more chicken breast than other parts as breast meat is healthier and has lower calories.A succulent sandwich that’s bursting with flavors and textures – everyone loved the homemade Japanese tartar sauce with eggs, homemade pickled cucumbers, chopped onions, lemon juice, mayo and black pepper. Love the juicy tomatoes and organic baby spinach tucked between the meat and bread. The bread is homemade by the mil.
This is quite a labor-intensive meal and both Chef S and Cass worked together to dish out a pretty impressive and yummy dinner for us.
Our teenage chef whipped up Spanish Paella for dinner early this week. It’s loaded with fish, prawns and homemade sausages. For the grain, she used Japanese rice. It tastes as good as the one that we had at the farmers’ market in Auckland years ago
For the leftover Paella, Sherilyn baked it the next day. She sauteed a handful of chopped big onions with a can of green peas and topped with mozzarella cheese before popping it into the oven.
Sherilyn dished out a Korean boiled pork (Bossam) platter with sides of egg rolls, spicy radish salad, Napa cabbage kimchi and Ssamjang dipping sauce for an online contest organized by Green N Fresh. She made everything herself.
It took Sherilyn 2 days to assemble her submission – 1 day for the napa cabbage kimchi and another day for the Bossam, egg rolls and spicy radish salad.
A day after I received Sherilyn’s vaccination date (1st dose) via my MySejahtera app, Cass received hers via her MySejahtera app. I’m impressed with how efficient the minister in charged of Covid vax is in arranging vax for everyone in our country, including non-Malaysians and illegals.
This means I’m going to be very busy next week with all 3 girls receiving their vaccines one day after another, 3 days straight!
Monday ¬ Sherilyn’s first dose at Axiata Arena at 12 noon
Tuesday ¬ Alycia’s 2nd dose at PPUM at 10am
Wednesday¬ Cassandra’s 1st dose at Axiata Arena at 1.15pm
I need lots of luck and prayers that everything will go smoothly. I don’t want to be stuck at the youth PPV for hours as there will be mass students including their parents at the PPV. I’m worried of the crowd and Covid risk.
Sherilyn’s entire class will be at the vax centre on the same date and time and so is Cass’s class the next day. I pray that the girls will experience not much to no side effects after their jabs 🙏
Cass fixed herself this oat, granola and fruit bowl for breakkie this morning. It’s composed of half cup of organic instant oats, a little fresh milk, Amazin’ Graze Gula Melaka granola, jackfruit, green kiwi and banana. She ate this in between online classes. I’m glad that my healthy eating habits have rubbed off on the girls as they now prefer healthy snacks. Also, I don’t really stock up on unhealthy snacks albeit I still stock up on certain ‘health snacks’ 😜 Cass even likes raw sprouts and raw bell peppers now, so proud of her! Cass has to attend classes even on Saturdays, with 1 Saturday in a month off.My lunch of chicken porridge, my all time favorite comfort meal.The porridge is cooked in the TMX 6 using leftover roast chicken. A good fried gave us a full-moon gift box which has half a roast chicken.
Yesterday I finally received a vaccination appointment for Sherilyn via my MySejahtera app. Earlier this week her school sent out the application and consent forms to the parents. Within 2 days we received the vaccination date, which is next Monday. All her classmates have been given the same date and time as well.
After Sherilyn’s first dose on Monday, the following day will be Alycia’s second dose. I foresee that the wait will be pretty long on Monday as there will be many students at the PPV. I dread going to the PPV so many times. After next week, I will have another 3 more trips to the vax centre for Sherilyn’s 2nd dose and for Cass’ turn, which is still under process by her school.
On another note, both Sherilyn and Cass will most likely remain at home for remote learning until the end of this year. They have only gone to school for two weeks this year and for about 3 or 4 months last year. As I’ve mentioned before, online learning is not effective for my girls. I can’t wait for them to return to school for proper learning once again.
Alycia will finally be stepping into campus next month! I’m so happy and excited for her! The driving academy has also Whatsapped me to collect her L license and once this is done, she will be able to start her driving lessons, yes!
My simple low-carb lunch today of kimchi soup with lots of vegetables, lean pork slices, fish balls and a handful of raw broccoli and radish sprouts. Yup, this is how little I eat. I have a tummy as small as Haru’s, thus my size 😹
Focaccia bread art The Focaccia bread art is her first try at it and it turned out superb – crispy on the outside and super pillowy on the inside. A light and fluffy bread with garlic and olive oil littered with some token bits of herbs blanketed with scallions, red onions and tomatoes. Just love the vibrant colors. Not very complicated to make as the kneading was done by the TMX6, just a handful of simple ingredients and everybody loves it! It’s so delish it can be eaten on its own 🙂
I can confidently list her Focacia bread art for sale! Who’s interested? 😁
The Focaccia texture and taste were still good after 3 days at room temperature. We had chicken sliders with it the next day.Refreshing salad of ice plant, onions, tomatoes and sweet cherry tomatoes.Shrimp and squid pancake for lunch.I bought the ice plant and Garden Medley cherry tomatoes from an online seller in our neighborhood and had them delivered to my condo.Super sweet cherry tomatoes in all shapes and sizes.What do you see? I see a snowman but it is a bowling pin in Cass’ eyes 😁
Sherilyn’s cooking and baking mode is switched on at full speed today. These are what she churned out today:
Kkakdugi (Cubed Radish Kimchi) fried rice with cheese, chicken chop and eggs for lunch. She made the radish kimchi a few days ago.
Korean honey sesame fried chicken for dinner. These are way better than KyoChon fried chicken!
Burnt matcha cheese cake (using Niko Neko matcha).
Kkakdugi (Cubed Radish Kimchi) fried rice with cheese, chicken chop and eggs for lunch. The chicken is fried Hainanese chicken chop from hubby’s central kitchen, leftover from yesterday. So we repurposed it 😉Super delish but oh so tedious. The chicken wings are deep fried and I hate everything deep fried in the kitchen! I made sure that Sherilyn wiped the greasy stove, wall and floor or there will be no more deep frying in future. I also made sure that she poured the used oil into a used bottle and placed in the refuse chamber for recycling. Chikin Mu is a Korean side dish made with cubed radish. It is normally served with greasy food like Korean fried chicken so that the mouth feels fresh after a greasy meal. Sherilyn made the pickled radish early this week, together with the radish kimchi.Burnt matcha cheese cake made using Niko Neko Yuri matcha. It’s made using a packet of cream cheese that expired a week ago but the cheese cake is still yummy 😁Burnt matcha cheese cake with Niko Neko matcha latte. Everyone in the family loves Niko Neko Yuri matcha. I bought it from Niko Neko @ Lazada with free shipping 🙂RM189 for 500gm – value for money. It’s cheaper than Ohkuraen matcha, the brand of matcha that we’re currently consuming. This can probably last us for half a year.
