Home-cooked food – Page 6 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

MCO Day 70 ~ 26 May 2020 (Tuesday)

Sherilyn got up very early this morning. She wouldn’t get up early if she doesn’t have an activity… or have something up her sleeve. Since it’s the school holidays now and online classes by school teachers are suspended during the holidays, I knew she’s up to something in the kitchen because for the past few days, she kept saying that she wanted to cook Pho!

Today our baking queen has been very productive in the kitchen. She whipped up Wanpaku Sando for breakfast and Pork Pho for lunch, that’s enough to last us till dinner.

Meet the newest style of healthy sandwich from Japan that looks absolutely enticing, tastes incredible and totally Insta-worty – Wanpaku Sandwich or Wanpaku Sando. Stuffed with colorful cooked and raw vegetables and layering ingredients, these solid Japanese sandwiches present endless possibilities!

This time Sherilyn stuffed the sandos with egg rolls, boiled sausages, cheese, tomatoes and crisp Ice Plant. You can slather the bread with butter, mayo, tomato ketchup and whatever your mouth desires.

She prepped the Sando while the pot of bone marrow broth was boiling on the stove and the ginger + onions + garlic were toasting in the oven. After she was done with the Sando, she toasted a heap of herbs and spices – bay leaves, cinnamon bark, cardamom, star anise, cloves, black pepper corn… and the aroma from the toasted herbs, spices and roots roasting in the oven is SO therapeutic. Even if you are in a bad mood, the aroma from all these healthy spices and herbs can instantly give your mood a boost.

A healthy pot of immunity-boosting ingredients slow-boiled with pork bone marrow for over 5 hours, seasoned with fish sauce.

While the bone broth was boiling, she quickly made Char Siew. It’s her first try at it and I must say that it’s pretty good, albeit the next time, she can reduce the soy sauce for a healthier low-sodium version.

The pork belly (not marinated) was seared before braising with sauces.

Tender meat that falls off the bone – every pore, fiber and muscle in every mouthful resonates with the aromatic flavors from the myriad of herbs and spices, a result of an almost 6-hour slow simmering.

Laborious work but the end result is such a hearty temptation.

Sherilyn spent over 6 hours in the kitchen to whip up 3 meals for the entire family 👏🏻💕 . Of our 3 girls, she’s the only one who likes cooking and baking. She baked her first cake when she was almost 9 years old, baked her first pie the following year, broke a dozen of plates and bowls and cut her fingers umpteen times to reach where she is now.

We had Pho again for dinner and a side of delish chicken rendang from hubby’s shop.

This is Catermate’s menu for bento box delivery. Kindly Whatsapp Alan at 019-266 4297 to order. Thank you for your support 💓

No. of times viewed = 26

MCO Day 68 ~ 24 May 2020 (Sunday)

When I came back from my morning jog at 10 a.m., breakfast was almost ready. Our baking queen was whipping up some pancakes in the kitchen!

She made button pancakes and regular size pancakes in 3 flavors – original, matcha and chocolate.

Cute as a button – these super cute button pancakes are so easy to pop into the mouth. Perfect for toddlers and adults don’t mind some too 🤤

Sherilyn poured the pancake batter into a squeeze bottle and squirted the batter onto the frying pan.

Perfect match – pancakes and caramel sauce, which Sherilyn made last week.

Today hubs deserves plenty of Brownie points! After my computer got struck by lightning yesterday evening, hubs brought it to the computer shop at Low Yat Plaza today to have it fixed. Despite today being the first day of Hari Raya, the computer shop is still open. Times are bad and business owners can’t afford to rest even on public holidays.

When hubs got back, a surprise awaited me! I got more than what I’d asked for. Not only was my computer fixed, he got me a brand new set of computer, complete with a new mouse, keyboard and speakers! As we don’t have enough computers at home for online classes, Cass gets to inherit my old desktop computer. Alycia and Sherilyn who don’t have a webcam for their desktop PCs got new ones too. I guess there’s peace at home now. Everyone has their own desktop PC and hubs can use his laptop in peace 🤟

Hubs helped to set up my new desktop PC before going to his shop to supervise his chef. There’s going to be lots of beef rendang and lemang for the coming week for customers who’ve placed order for this special dish for Hari Raya. His Indonesian chef cooks one of the best beef rendang.

Stay tuned for Catermate’s Menu for the coming week!

No. of times viewed = 41

MCO Day 64 ~ 21 May 2020 (Thursday)

When hubs told me to get ready as he was on his way from his shop to our condo to pick me up to collect my baby from the car repair workshop, I was ecstatic! I have not seen my car for almost a month after it was struck with a ‘car stroke’ that rendered it partially paralyzed. The electrical system had to be replaced and a new car battery was replaced as well. The ‘hospital bill’ dented hubby’s wallet. Had he chosen an original part, the damage would have cost over RM5k! The bill is now half of this amount.

I excitedly took out my red denim mini skirt and a crop singlet ready for a spin out of our neighborhood but the red skirt slid down my waist! These days, having a valid excuse to get out of the house gives me a dose of endorphine rush. I was never this excited before Covid19. In fact I always yearned to stay home and not having to drive anywhere. I used to make up to 10 trips out of the house daily for school and tuition runs and errands.

I couldn’t believe my eyes that the red skirt slid doesn’t fit my waist anymore. I had a quick measurement of my waist and lo and behold – it’s now 66 cm, down 4 cm from 70 cm! This is how much I’ve lost ever since I practised Intermittent Fasting and intensified my daily workout. The current MCO and CMCO devoid of a daily part-time helper provided me with more calorie-burning boost. All the chores that Maria used to do are now done by yours truly.

Mind you, I had brought the red skirt to the tailor to have the waist tightened last year and yet I can’t wear it snugly now. I bought this skirt 3 years ago, before my fibroid removal surgery.

When I was back, a late lunch awaited me. Sherilyn had cooked a pot of Korean style noodles with the Gochujang sauce that she made from scratch last week. She pan fried some slices of pork belly and homemade dumplings to go with the noodles.

Ingredients used in the noodles soup: homemade Gochujang paste, homemade anchovies powder, organic dehydrated Wakame, organic radish, eggs, big onions, spring onions, glass noodles and pan-fried thinly sliced pork belly. I gave it a 5/5 rating. The taste is almost 100% similar to the real deal!

No. of times viewed = 47

MCO Day 64 & 65 ~ Wednesday & Thursday (20 & 21 May 2020)

Wednesday, 20 May 2020

The sunrise at 7 a.m. today was rather spectacular – the sky was not sure whether to cry buckets or smile sunnily. It was dark and ominous yet amidst the stormy blue colored sky, the sun peeked out fleetingly from the horizon. The colors projected on the sky were too beautiful not to be snapped for keepsake. Minutes after I’d snapped the photo, the sun was out of vision and it tipped down for a couple of hours.

After the rain stopped, I went jogging at the jogging treks of our condo, then walked to the mini mart to get some stuff. My car that’s been stuck at the car repair shop for almost a month is finally ready for collection. I’m just waiting for hubs to squeeze out an hour of his time to bring me to the repair shop to collect my baby back.

We had brunch of dried olives and char siew fried rice and sweet potato tong sui boiled in ginger, pandan and brown sugar water.

Mil baked a big batch of Biscotti too.

Thursday, 21 May 2020

Hubs walked to our favorite kopitiam to get us breakfast. It’s heart-warming to see our favorite hawker stalls reopening again after being closed for almost two months. After breakfast, I went for brisk walking at the jogging treks and then walked to the mini mart again to get some stuff. As my post Carpal Tunnel Syndrome hands can’t carry heavy weights, I have to split my groceries shopping by foot into a daily affair. Now that the Authorities have warned parents not to bring small children to the shopping mall, I guess I have to toe the line and not bring Sherilyn or Alycia with me to help me carry stuff. Though they are not classified as small children, it’s best not to court trouble as I don’t have the time to deal with shit and don’t want to part with a few thousand Ringgit in fine.

Today hubs finally took the time to bring me to collect my car from the car repair shop. How I miss my baby! I gave the interior a good wipe with antibacterial wipes before driving it again. Now I don’t have to lug heavy groceries back by foot under the sizzling hot sun anymore, yay!!

Last Sunday, hubs and I dined in at Canton-I @ Gardens Mall after shopping for groceries at Jaya Grocer (for home and shop). It was our first time having brunch together during the MCO and CMCO. When I looked at the wefie that hubs snapped, I noticed a stark difference in skin color on my chest. Can you see the two colors in stark contrast? At a brief look, Cass commented that the white patches are shadows but on a closer scrutiny, they’re actually my original skin color. My daily jogs under the 10 a.m. sun has given me a nice tan, though I am not a fan of tanned skin. The heck with having fair skin! As long as soaking up 40 minutes of sun gives me a boost in my mood and immunity, I’m fine with being a ‘hitam manis’ aka black beauty ☀️ 😍

A study in Canada revealed that women who had the most sun exposure as teenagers and young adults reduced their chance of developing breast cancer later in life by almost 70 percent. So I think getting a soak of 30-40 minutes of sun before 11 a.m. several times a week is A-OK. Just don’t sunbathe in the grilling afternoon sun though – I’ll get a migraine if I did that.

No. of times viewed = 40

MCO Day 58 ~ 14 May 2020 (Thursday)

After my usual MCO-style morning workout of stairs-climbing (5th floor > 18th floor > Ground floor), I jogged for another 30 minutes in the 10-ish a.m. sun. I find that jogging under the morning sun gives me a lot of energy and elevates my mood (not to mention the sunshine vitamin / Vitamin D), besides giving me a dose of a much needed serotonin. Usually, I will use the stairs to walk back to my unit on the 5th floor. Today after stairs-climbing and jogging, I walked in the sizzling sun to the nearby shops to buy red dates and kuih from my favorite stall. The kuih seller has recently re-opened her stall. I was so happy to see her and her kuihs, my ultimate kryptonite!

When I got home, I quickly gobbled down the fattening kuihs which I missed so much. Sherilyn also prepped a droolicious Wanpaku sandwich (or Sando). Stuffed with colorful vegetables, eggs, meat and layering ingredients, these solid Japanese sandwiches are pleasing not only to one’s eyes but appetite!

Sherilyn used whatever that she could find in the kitchen — eggs, onions and carrots. She made two types off eggs – mashed eggs with mayo, scallions and sesame seeds and ramen eggs.

The onions were caramelized and carrots sauteed. Bread is organic and homemade by mil.

This Sando recipe is a real keeper. It’s a cinch to prep, it’s healthy and the ingredients for layering are endless. The only snag is that you have to eat it immediately, otherwise the bread will turn soggy.

I hit 6,670 steps from my morning workout and another 2k steps at home doing chores. OK la, I can still hit over 8k steps during the MCO!💪🏻

Lunch was yet another super mouth-watering, lip-smacking Indonesian delight cooked by hubby’s Indon chef today. Selling at RM23 a set, the bento box consists of Nasi Minyak with Ayam Percik and peanut sauce, prawns + petai (stinky beans) Sambal, Vegetables Dalchar and Acar. The fried shallots are housemade and are delightfully crunchy, sweet and aromatic.

Dinner: leftover Acar, Ayam Percik and prawn sambal, blanched celery and braised potato chicken.

My fridge is now empty and I have walk to the supermarket again tomorrow! Hubs has been busy at his shop and my poor car is still stuck in the car repair shop for the second week now as the mechanic is unable to find an OEM electrical system for my car. It now looks like hubs has to buy an original part and that is going to burn a BIG BIG BIG hole in his wallet as it can cost up to RM4.5k 😭🥵

To place your order on Catermate’s Halal bento boxes, kindly Whatsapp Alan at 019-266 4297. Thanks ❤️

No. of times viewed = 66

MCO Day 57 ~ 13 May 2020 (Wednesday)

Today is payment day to the girls’ tuition centers and transporters, all done via online banking since last month. Though there is still no formal directive from the Government on bus fare to school transporters throughout the MCO, there was however an opinion by a Minister in the newspapers recently that parents do not have to be obligated to pay the fare throughout the MCO and CMCO.

Last month, Alycia and Cass’ transporters sent a Whatsapp message to me requesting for a half month fare to be credited into their bank accounts. Initially I was a tad reluctant to pay as I have not been using their services since 18 March and I had paid them a full fare for March.

But if I, as well as the rest of the parents don’t pay at least a half month fare to these transporters, where are they going to find the money to feed their families and pay bills? As the half month fare is only RM125 and RM100 respectively, I agreed to pay the transporters every month, throughout the MCO. I’ll just treat it as a good deed. None of us are prepared for this totally unexpected pandemic. Never in my most frightful nightmare would I have dreamed that I would have to go through World War 3. I hope that the half month fare will sweeten the transporters’ days a little because life is tough and bitter for most of us during this difficult time. Some people lost everything during this war — the businesses that they worked so hard to build just collapsed overnight without any warning.

For lunch, our baking queen cooked mushroom pasta using fresh Portobello, dried Porcini, onions, ground black pepper and a few tablespoons of champagne. The outcome was superb! The splash of champagne added an extra edge of flavour. Restaurant secret! And the flavorful Porcini, which is the Porsche of mushrooms imparted so much mushroom flavor to the pasta.

Future celebrity chef in the making but this girl says she will never choose cooking and baking her choice of study in uni or core area of specialization in future. Her passion is in dancing and she’s bursting with creativity.

She whipped up this impressive matcha oat bowl for herself for breakfast. Lately, Sherilyn and I are experimenting with food photography and I’m considering buying a special lighting gadget for photography. And heck, I really need a better phone with high end camera feature! Huawei, I’m waiting to get you again!

Hubs brought back his shop’s signature dish of Nasi Briyani for dinner today. His chef’s Nasi Briyani is one of the best I’ve tasted and never fails to impress anyone. Everything about this dish is sensational, from the fluffy aromatic spiced Basmati rice to the California raisins, toasted cashews, Ayam Masak Merah, Indonesian pickled salad (acar), mutton rendang (not in picture) and vegetable Dalcha.

Catermate’s Ayam Masak Merah is a hearty temptation. It is a casserole of chicken drumsticks in dried chilies sambal. The chicken drumsticks are first fried to a golden brown then slowly braised in a spicy dried chillies and tomato sauce.

Super refreshing fresh vegetables Acar Jelatah.

As I was savoring this vegetable Dalchar for dinner, I thought to myself that if I turn vegan or flexitarian, I could eat this everyday and never get sick of it. Plus it’s healthy and bursting with flavors.

Blanched celery.

Today hubs’ phone was flooded with compliments on his Nasi Briyani ❤️ It’s hard work to ensure that food that’s churned out from his kitchen is tasty and even harder to send the food boxes out as soon as they are packed so that they reach his customers while the food is still warm and on time. And hubs has to literally split himself in the kitchen and in his office (few shop lots away) so that he’s around to do the QC check on every pack of food that goes out. It’s a lot of hard work to do food delivery with limited reliable staff but the comments he gets from his customers make it all worth his sweat and stress.

This is Catermate’s menu for week 11 – 15 May 2020. To order, kindly send a Whatsapp message to Alan at 019-266 4297. Thank you for your support 💝

No. of times viewed = 36

MCO Day 53 ~ 9 May 2020 (Saturday)

My day didn’t start off too smoothly today. I’m utterly disappointed with someone but I shall not talk about the specifics here. The person may be reading this post or someone known to this person may be reading it and this post may get to this particular person somehow. The internet can be agathokakological – it can save and make lives easier and also destroy them. This issue is going to bother me for some time and there’s still no solution to it. Only time and divine intervention can resolve this issue. 😓

After a hiatus of almost two months since the MCO started, Sherilyn’s gym has finally started its first taekwondo class via Zoom today, for a short half an hour. Hopefully lessons can be more regular now to keep this girl occupied with something productive. I’ve paid for her grading fees before the MCO started and it looks like the grading may be conducted via Zoom. Besides taekwondo, her Muay Thai and Kickboxing classes will be cancelled indefinitely until a vaccine for Covid-19 prevention is available in the market, I think, as close contact sports are still prohibited. Even if it’s allowed, I’m not sure if I would risk Sherilyn going to the gym and dance studio.

She pushed her bed to a corner of the bedroom and attended her taekwondo lesson in the room.

The girls made dumplings with their grandma in the afternoon. A good activity to keep them away from their gadgets for a couple of hours. But the aftermath is very messy with powdery floor, table and kitchen tops. The girls helped to clean up and I had a few more rounds of wiping to do. 🥴

Filling of minced meat, julienned cabbage and carrots, sesame seed oil and soy sauce. Sherilyn made a batch of vegan filling composed of shiitake mushrooms and onions.

Dinner: braised organic bitter melon with chicken, stir-fried organic sweet potato leaves and 12345 pork ribs.

The moment that Sherilyn has been waiting for finally arrived at 8pm today. The announcement for the winners of the Star of AISS Talent Award was made and she’s the second runner up! The prize consists of RM500 in cash and a RM6k scholarship to study at Aspiration International School!

With so much uncertainties over the near future caused by La Corona, I don’t think we will accept the partial scholarship. Even after subsidy from the partial scholarship, it’s still a hefty sum to cough out every month for tuition fees. The prize came at the wrong time but Sherilyn is very contented with this achievement. With her tenacity and will power, I am sure she will be able to win something bigger in the near future, perhaps a full scholarship and perhaps even realizing her wildest dreams of studying in a renowned university in Canada.

No. of times viewed = 46

MCO Day 51 ~ 7 May 2020 (Thursday)

Today is Wesak Day but Buddhists in our country and in most parts of the world have to celebrate quietly while sheltering at home.

The photo below was taken on Wesak Day 11 years ago from the 5th floor of our hospital room in Penang. Cass, my helper and I were still camping at Gleneagles Medical Center, Penang. It was day 6 or 7 after Cass’ first surgery. I was dying to hear my baby girl fart or see her poo but it was impossible as something was seriously wrong with her guts resulting from complications from the first surgery. Her surgeon had no inkling of it as all the scans didn’t pick up the kink. We were discharged from the hospital the next day and went back to my parents in Ipoh. But a day later, we checked into the hospital again as Cass kept throwing up the moment I nursed her. And this began part 2 of our nightmarish stay at GMC Penang which lasted for another two hellish weeks.

Coming back to our Wesak Day today!

Today is my jailbreak from home quarantine! Hubs was to bring me to our neighborhood supermarket to do groceries shopping but at the eleventh hour, he drove to Mid Valley Megamall instead. It’s my first mall shopping trip during the MCO and it felt strange. I used to feel excited going to the mall but this time, I had a mixed of emotions – happy, excited, worried, tensed. I’ve now grown to be paranoid when I am near people and I know that they are afraid to be near me too. Everyone tries to maintain a physical distance. Yet we can’t help being near each other when we’re inside the crowded aisles in the supermarket.

Covid-19 preventive measures at the shopping mall is satisfactory. At the entrance of the car park and escalator, body temperature is taken and hands must be sanitized. Free face mask will be given as well, if you don’t have one.

At the entrance of Jaya Grocer, body temperature is taken again and the guard spritzes disinfectant on your hands and gives you a pair of disposable gloves. Another staff hands out a card with a number to you and at the exit later, the staff collects the card number back.

The queue into the supermarket was super long, spilling out to about 20 meters long outside.

Our loot – groceries for home and hubby’s shop.

I grabbed these so-called healthy snacks for the girls and I to munch away our quarantine blues at home. They’ve not gone out for over 51 days and are getting restless and insomniac at night!

Hubby ordered takeout from Din Tai Fung and was told to wait for at least 20 minutes for the food. To kill time, we walked around that floor and bought more food! I got myself a cup of Tealive with grass jelly (no sugar and no ice). I was supposed to claim a free cup of Tealive in March, which is my birthday month but due to the MCO, I guess my free treat is now null and void.

We got some bread, buns and cakes from Barcook, one of my favorite bakeries.

I must have sanitized my hands more than eight times today at every specialty store stop that I made and whenever there was hand sanitizer available. My hands feel so chapped now. And when I got home, I had an allergy attack with a super itchy and irritable nose that lasted for several hours. I guess it must have been caused by inhalation of the chemicals used in the face mask that I wore 😷

Dinner of oven baked salmon with garlic and black pepper with a dip of raw garlic and vinegar; anchovies egg drop soup with organic ‘Yeh Heong Fah’ edible flowers aka Chinese Violet Telosma Cordata, stir-fried organic baby spinach and Japanese curry chicken tenders.

No. of times viewed = 60

MCO Day 49 ~ 5 May 2020

Today is just another uneventful MCO day at home. My poor car is still stuck at the car repair shop as the boss is facing difficulties getting the spare parts to his shop due to the MCO. I can’t wait to have my car back and give it a good scrub. She’s not taken a shower for almost 2 months! I imagine myself dusting away inches of dust from my baby before getting into the car 😷

When May rolls in every year, my mind automatically brings me back to the year 2009 – 6 May 2009 to be exact. It’s the day that Cass’ life and mine would change forever. 11 years ago today was the eve of Cass’ major surgery. Cass and I and our helper, Dyah, checked into GMC Penang exactly 11 years ago. I couldn’t sleep the entire night with too many what ifs and worries on my mind. I could never sleep well in any hospital. Never in my worst case scenario imagination would I have expected to be cooped up at GMC for almost a month. And during our 3 weeks stay at GMC, everything that could turn wrong, went wrong. Even hubs was hospitalized (in GMC too), in an isolation ward for suspicion of H1N1 on the day of Cass’ surgery! And I was all alone, worried and having chills outside the OT, waiting for half a day for my baby C to be wheeled out of the OT. I, too, had high fever on the day of Cass’ surgery.

The GMC nightmare is now behind us, though Cass is still not 100% out of the woods yet. She’s scheduled to undergo an MRU at HKL in 2 weeks. Hubs went to Cass’ school to collect a letter from the principal today, to confirm that she’s a student at the school so that we don’t have to pay for the procedure. This procedure would burn a big hole in our wallet if done at a private hospital.

May has always been an eventful month for me. I’ve never liked the month of May. But this year’s May may be a better May for me, maybe? I hope and pray that it will be. ❤️

Our lunch today – reheated beef bolognese dip that I’d made a week ago, to go with baked wholemeal tortilla.

Our baking queen used the entire packet of Gardenia wraps to make the tortilla chips.

Many of my friends asked me why I’m still so slim despite having a hubby who lives to eat and who’s in the F&B industry, and now Sherilyn’s favorite past time is baking. Well, the answer is here —

By the time I’m done snapping the best photos of the food, what’s left for me is just one miserable spoonful of whatever that’s on the plate. I have 3 perpetually hungry piranhas with bottomless pits.

Dinner of bitter melon omelette, pan fried scallop nuggets, braised organic Japanese pumpkin with dried shrimps and garlic, ‘pak choy’ soup with pork bones, braised sand ginger organic chicken and blanched lady’s fingers.

Something light-hearted in the light of Coronavirus 😆

No. of times viewed = 49

MCO Day 47 ~ 3 May 2020 (Sunday)

I sacrificed my morning workout today to go groceries shopping with hubs. It’s a relief that the Government now allows two people from the same household to go shopping together. When we buy groceries, we buy a lot, enough to last us for several days. And that’s a heavy load to carry to the car, unload from car and cart up to our unit. We usually need two trolleys to cart the groceries back to our unit.

Our baking queen’s itching to unleash her creativity in the kitchen again! Today she made an assortment of delightful gourmet tarts. She made the tart dough a few days ago and the lemon curd yesterday.

Today she made the fillings consisting of passion fruit, apple cinnamon, matcha and maple syrup meringue. And spent hours on end decorating the tarts because she’s got all the time in the world to create beautiful tarts for our eyes to behold, mouth to savor and for me to update on my social media site! Watching how she patiently and meticulously fills up the tart shells with beautiful fillings is therapeutic. I don’t have her patience for baking. Perhaps if I had all the time in the world too, with no house chores to complete and no online work to rush, I’ll spend my free time baking. Perhaps I’ll bake for our girls when I’m retired and have nothing to rush anymore, if our girls still haven’t left the nest yet. Half of me wishes that I still have my girls by my side and the other half of me wishes that they could fly high and soar in other countries.

My favorites are the lemon curd, matcha and passion fruit filled tarts. The matcha filling is fashioned out of quality matcha powder, organic black sesame paste/jam and Toblerone white chocolate – it’s her creation and really explosive in the mouth. Each mouthful offers so much euphoria. Diet be damned!

Dinner: radish soup, Assam curry squids with lady’s fingers, steamed cod fish, stir-fried organic sweet potatoes leaves and stir-fried mustard greens.

No. of times viewed = 56

MCO Meals & Nasi Briyani From Catermate

Friday, 1 May 2020
Our Labor’s Day lunch, prepped by Sherilyn – stir-fried assortment of homemade pastas that she hand-made a few days ago with olive oil, garlic, fresh button mushrooms, bacon, lemon zest, lemon juice and black pepper.

Dinner: oven-grilled salmon, sauteed organic long beans with minced meat and organic miso, steamed egg with minced pork and bitter melon soup.

Hubs bought this Oreo brownie from a friend’s teenage niece to support her fledgling home-based bakery. Our girls loved it. It’s the kind of dessert that teenagers will love – sweet, chocolaty, fudgy and with Oreos.

A little sweet note from the teenage baker:

Saturday, 2 May 2020
Hubs bought takeout dishes from our favorite ‘tai chow’ restaurant, Sing Kee Kitchen, to support the lady boss who is also very supportive of hubs’ newly rolled out bento boxes. The lady boss and her hubby who’s a chef at the restaurant and us have become good friends over the years as we have been regulars at their restaurant for over a decade. When Cass was born 12 years ago, she gave me a bottle of Dom and an ang pow. In such difficult times, everyone has to support each other so that we all stay afloat and weather the stormy weather together.

The rainbow colored vegetables are from our own kitchen.

Basque burnt cheesecake, also made by hubs’ friend’s teenage niece, which hubs supported with a purchase. It looks a tad over burnt on top but the interior of the cake is very yummy.

Nasi Briyani from hubby’s shop, Catermate. On Friday, he rolled out his chef’s special Nasi Briyani bento box for delivery.

Most of hubby’s staff are now back at work and adjusting to their new normal – no more serviced catering but 100% preparation of food boxes now until a vaccine is found for Covid-19 and social gatherings are allowed again.

If you’d like to try Catermate’s food, here’s the menu for Monday, 4 May and Wednesday, 6 May. Food is HALAL.

Monday, 4 May 2020 :
Nasi Lemak @ RM15 per pack:
Steamed rice in coconut milk and herbs
Ikan bilis & kacang
Cucumber slices
Half hard boiled eggs
Chicken Rendang
Otak-Otak

Wednesday, 6 May 2020 :
Nasi Briyani @ RM19.50 per pack:
Basmati rice cooked in herbs
Ayam Masak Merah drumstick
Mutton Rendang
Dalcha Vegetables
Acar Jelatah

For orders, kindly Whatsapp Alan at 019-2664297. Thanks for your support 😊

No. of times viewed = 71

MCO Day 45 & 46 ~ 1 & 2 May 2020 (Friday & Saturday)

Friday, 1 May 2020
I didn’t realize that today is Labor’s Day until I woke Alycia up at 7:30 a.m. as usual for her Monday – Friday online classes conducted by her high school teachers and she told me groggily that today is a public holiday. Oh well, it makes no difference whether it’s a public holiday or weekend as every day feels the same, for the past 45 days 😬 In our pre-MCO days, I would be checking my calendar regularly to see when the next public holiday would fall on. I was always chronically sleep deprived and always looked forward to public holidays so that I could catch up on my beauty sleep. I’ve repaid all my sleep debt now and I’m raring to get back to my old norm when school reopens, which is something that no one knows when. But people are speculating that school will reopen in June, for 5th and 6th formers first.

Saturday, 2 May 2020
My car is still stuck at the car repair shop and I am worried about her. The car is parked outside the workshop and exposed to all elements. She’s always sheltered in our condo car park and have never been exposed for so many days in the outdoors. I hope to have her back by Monday next week.

During this MCO, there seems to be a reversal of role between Sherilyn and me. I’m like the daughter telling her what to bake and cook and she’ll settle the rest 😆 As she has all the time in the world now, she does all the baking and experiments at home blithely. I would be happy to bake and cook too if there’s someone to pay and buy all the ingredients and clean up the mess for me after I’m done playing masak-masak. I do miss the 10 years when we had a live-in maid to help out. Those were the years that I cooked and baked bread the most as I had a good helper to help me in the aftermath. Now, whatever I crave to eat, I have to consider the aftermath first.

Today Sherilyn made lemonade and a tantalizing zesty yummy lemon curd (Malaysians would call it Lemon Kaya). We have an excess of lemons in the fridge as hubs didn’t know that we still have lemons and bought another bag! The lemon curd is so yummy that I’ve asked our baking queen to make more next week 😋

The beautiful yellow hue comes from a little turmeric powder, besides lemon zest.

Today Sherilyn finally revealed the video that she’s been working so hard on for the past 3 days. It’s a talent video that she submitted to Aspirations International School for an online talent competition. She was recently chosen as the top 10 finalists and this video is for the finals. If she’s the winner, she gets a RM1k cash prize plus a scholarship to study in this school. So yeah, we appreciate your time and help to vote her 😘.

Sherilyn made the music for the video using piano, guitar, glass wines, sound of knifes clanking and a combo of computer generated musical instruments. She has no formal lessons on piano or video-making skill but managed to churn out a beautiful video. She learnt this piano piece in 3 days just for this submission.

How to vote:

You can view her video on these 3 platforms, which you also have to vote for her on the same 3 platforms:

1) On http://www.aspirationis.edu.my/SATA20-FINAL – click on finalist #2 Sherilyn Yap and click VOTE

2) On Facebook – just LIKE her post : https://www.facebook.com/AspirationIS/videos/681576175993970/

3) On Instagram – please click on the heart icon on the post: https://www.instagram.com/tv/B_pL8L2hw_g/…

Voting starts from 1 May – 7 May 2020. Please help to share and like / heart and vote her posts too.

Thank you SO SO MUCH for your votes and time peeps! ❤️

No. of times viewed = 36

MCO Day 43 ~ 29 April 2020 (Wednesday)

Today the Government announced that they’re going to consider allowing outdoor jogging and exercising soon. Just like how business sectors are slowly re-opening. That’s one of the happiest news for me, to date. Not that I’m going to get out of our condo to jog. At least I can jog around our condo compound without the fear of getting caught by the police. I was informed by one of our neighbors that the police came into our condo premises several times to do a random check for covidiots.

I was out at our neighborhood supermarket yesterday and the number of cars and congestion at the business park have some semblance of normalcy, but not quite so, yet. Mr DIY (one of my favorite places) has re-opened recently. Really happy to hear that more economic sectors will start re-opening. People need their jobs and pay for survival. Families will crumble with no income. I hope Maria, our part-time helper gets her job back as a cleaner at the office building. She’s been out of job since the MCO started on 18 March. And we can’t take her in as she’s not allowed into our condo. I can’t wait to have her back at our place again. I think of her all the time and always wonder how she’s coping with just a paltry income from her hubby who’s a leaves blower at our neighborhood.

Sherilyn has been spending the past few days learning to play the piano from some online sites. She’s never really had formal music lessons, except for 2 years of Ukulele in primary school. Something’s up her sleeve and she’s making music for a competition submission. This girl has an unquenchable thirst to partake in competitions since young.

Dinner: steamed cod fish (everyone’s favorite but they’re not exactly affordable), ‘Tai Yi Ma Kar Lui’ (braised hairy gourd with mung bean noodles, leftover char siew and dried shrimps), Great Burdock meatless soup again (good for detox), leftover braised chicken with potatoes and tomatoes and stir fried celery with red bell pepper and fish cake.

It’s going to be another busy day for hubs and me tomorrow. He’ll be at his shop to prep Nasi Briyani food boxes for delivery and I’ll be glued to my chair and keyboard to churn out articles again. Blessings, no complaints 🙂

Have a great quarantine day y’all!

No. of times viewed = 46

MCO Day 42 ~ 28 April 2020 (Tuesday)

Today hubs has Nasi Lemak boxes for delivery again. We’ve been having his chef’s special Nasi Lemak with Ayam Goreng Berempah twice in a week already. When I asked the girls if they still wanted the same thing for lunch today, I got a resounding “YES, why not?!” So off I went to hubs’ shop to collect the hot Nasi Lemak after my short shopping spree at the supermarket and pharmacy.

Crispy chicken right out from the hot wok of oil. Somehow I don’t get a scratchy throat or sore throat after eating this fried chicken. It must be the oil that hubby uses. He doesn’t use oil in flimsy plastic bags but uses Knife brand cooking oil.

After each cooking session, hubs disinfects the entire kitchen with PECA disinfectant water.

My main purpose of popping by the pharmacy is to get a new digital bathroom scale after my old digital Omron scale died on me a few weeks ago. I’m pretty sure health and fitness freaks out there would agree with me that a bathroom scale is an essential item in the room, eh? 😆

Very happy with this RM71 digital scale from BIG Pharmacy 😍

Sherilyn was up early this morning to make music. I’m not sure what’s under this creative girl’s sleeve but this is for a competition with cash as prizes for the winners. And I see knifes and wine glasses as part of her musical instruments, besides her guitar! I also see her learning to play the piano from You Tube.

Have I mentioned that Sherilyn has been selected as one of the top 10 winners in an online dance contest that she submitted a few weeks ago? She’s still not sure what exactly the prize is but she’ll be collecting the prize from the organizer after the MCO is lifted.

See those dishes behind the laptop? Someone shirked her responsibility last night and she had to keep them this morning.

And I finally had my hair cut today! I’ve actually wanted to make a trip to the hair salon way before the MCO started and ended up waiting for another 1.5 months before I had the confidence to let Sherilyn handle my precious locks! My first hair cut by my 15-year old girl! If not for my waist-length hair bothering me whenever I do house work, I’d have kept the hair even longer until the MCO is lifted.

The sound of the scissors snipping on my hair gave me similar feelings of when Dr Jason Lim @ SYMC snipped away layers of the skin on my tummy right into my womb when I delivered our 3 babies! The jitters and the fear that something might go wrong!

And I must say that my multi talented girl did a pretty good job!

Before and after photos:

Does this pass?

I got compliments from my two biggest critics – Alycia and Cass 😅
Cass commented that I look years younger with shorter hair.

Dinner of braised organic chicken with tomatoes and potatoes, leftover fried fish, blanched lady’s fingers and stir-fried baby spinach.

Assam laksa from Nyonya Colors, bought yesterday:

Roast duck from hubby’s friend. They swapped food today – Nasi Lemak exchanged with roast duck.

Hubs’ chef will be cooking Nasi Briyani for delivery this Thursday, 30 April 2020. The Nasi Briyani box is composed of 1) mutton rendang 2) ayam masak merah drumstick 3) dalcha sauce 4) acar @ RM19/box. For orders, you may Whatsapp Alan at 019-266 4297 ☺️

No. of times viewed = 47

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 37 ~ 23 April 2020 (Thursday)

Our baking queen indeed finds pleasure and satisfaction through cooking and baking. About an hour before her online class this morning, she quickly cooked Japanese rice in the rice cooker for Korean seaweed balls or Jumeokbap (주먹밥) and sushi and pan-fried some egg rolls. When the Japanese rice was ready, in hot-foot and swift hands, she quickly mixed the rice with sesame seed oil, sesame seeds, leftover salmon and seaweed and rolled them into impeccably round balls.

She also took out the sushi bamboo roller and quickly formed some sushi, then pan-fried the eggs before rolling and cutting them.

Brunch for herself and her two sisters.

Guess there’s where she gets her dose of dopamine and serotonin, besides her phone. And I think she takes after my mum who finds so much joy baking and cooking since she was a teenager. Thank God I have a daughter who loves cooking and baking as I don’t really enjoy them, mainly because I don’t like cleaning up the aftermath in the kitchen.

MIL pan-fried some ‘lin ko’ for tea time. Much as I heart them, I had to try hard to limit myself to only one piece. It’s not the best time to indulge to my heart’s content now as I can’t workout like I used to. I even struggle to hit 6,000 steps/day throughout the MCO.

Dinner of stir-fried broccoli + celery + red bell pepper + fish cake, braised Sanbanto pork ribs with tomatoes, sand ginger (grown in our balcony) and onions, tofu with minced meat and Great Burdock soup (aka 5 Elements Miracle Soup).

The Great Burdock soup is a meat free broth composed of daikon radish, daikon radish leaves, carrots (we left out carrots), Shiitake mushrooms and burdock root. This soup is beneficial for those who are detoxing, fasting, recovering from cancer and suffering from high blood pressure, nourishes the internal organs, expels heat and purges toxins.

When hubs got home from his shop in the evening, he gave us another surprise! I love surprises from him throughout the MCO as he’ll bring home goodies to cheer us all up, including himself. This time he ordered some mega delicious black ‘Oh Ku’ kuih and Nyonya white kuih kochi from Happy Nyonya Kitchen

They’re one of the best Nyonya kuihs I’ve tried. Sweetness level is just right. I’m going to pester hubs to order these again next week! But first, I must persevere and continue with my daily stairs climbing and corridor jogging, which I find monotonous.

And this was our dinner yesterday:

Braised pork ribs with yam, stir-fried water spinach with fermented bean curd and red chilies, old cucumber soup and Ayam Goreng Berempah cooked by hubby’s Indon chef.

Yesterday’s surprise from hubs were these yummy babies, ordered online from Devour Bites:

Teochew dumplings with filling of turnip and dried shrimps.

Finally, our day ended with announcement from our PM that the MCO will be further extended to 12 May 2020 with possibility of further extension!! Bring it on. We’ve already gone this far and what’s another month of house quarantine, right? Right? 😕

No. of times viewed = 26