Braised Chicken Drumsticks

My mil makes very yummy braised chicken drumsticks which my 3 girls absolutely loves! Did you know that it's really easy to make braised chicken drumsticks and no frying is involved? Just pour soy sauce, star anise, pepper corn, cloves of garlic, some ginger, sugar, rose wine, yim sai (Chinese parsley) and water into a pot, enough to cover all the chicken drumsticks or chicken wings and let them simmer in the sauce for about an hour.






When there's 'loh kai' (braised chicken), I can be rest assured to see a big grin from my 3 girls!

Bread Pudding

I am a sucker for bread pudding. Yeah I know, the carb-laden, zero calories dessert that it is. But I will go weak when I see hot bread pudding in the warmer at the buffet counter. I love the bread pudding at PJ Hilton. Goes so well with vanilla sauce *fei sei lor* LOL!


This bread pudding from RT Pastry House, my favorite bakery looks pretty appetizing but I was disappointed with the taste. It didn't have the ooomph factor.... no milky, vanilla taste that I was looking for. And it ain't cheap too. Next time, I'll ask my mum to bake me some bread pudding. She bakes very good bread pudding, right mummy?

Attracted To The Throne

Lately, Baby is resisting sitting on her potty. Instead, she wants to sit on the throne, aka the adult potty. She is also very attracted to those American Standard toilets that she sees at hotels. When she’s at a hotel’s toilet, she will willingly ask to wee wee in those toilets. I think this is a good start to potty train her and I hope that very soon, she will be diaper-free.

Homecooked Dishes

One of our dinners last week, all of which was cooked by my mil the great cook:


"Sam Pei Jie" - this is a Taiwanese chicken dish cooked with ginger, Chinese cooking wine, sesame seed oil, soy sauce and Chinese basil leaves.


Braised Chinese cabbage with dried scallops and Chinese parsley.

Shallow pan-fried Japanese tofu with minced pork, fresh mushrooms and dried cuttlefish. This dish was a big hit with the kids.

This is one of the luxuries I enjoy when my mil is around - hot piping meals 2x a day and freshly baked breads and cakes every week. She may leave for HK again after Alycia's first term exam and then I will have to take over the kitchen and wok again :(

Junk Food Girls

Apart from ice-creams, the other occasional junk food that I allow my girls to indulge in as treats is fish muruku. Yup, the Popo brand fish muruku which I myself have been eating since I was a kid. According to the food label, there is no MSG wor, only Australian yellow dhall powder, fish sauce, palm oil, sugar and salt.


And after nibbling on the muruku, I force them to chug down gallons of water :D

Hakka Mien With Fresh Mushrooms And Minced Pork Sauce and Homemade Fish Balls

My mil bought some fresh Hakka mien back from Ipoh. I am not one who likes yellow noodles but my mil can always whip up something really yummy with the Hakka mien. She either shallow fries the Hakka mien till they become crispy and prepares an egg sauce with meat ala Cantonese style. Munching on the crispy fried mien can be really addictive and my kids love them. They pretend that they are eating Mammee!

The other day, she prepared the Hakka mien in another style. She blanched the Hakka mien with hot water, some salt and sesame seed oil. This way the noodles are smooth and flavorful and doesn't clump up into a block of starch. Then she prepared the sauce by frying some shallots with minced pork, dried cuttlefish and fresh mushrooms. She also boiled some homemade fish balls and blanched some sweet, fat and crunchy bean sprouts which she bought from Ipoh.


This bowl is for Baby and she loved it to bits. I also deep-freezed some of the mushroom-fish ball-pork sauce into smaller portions for future use. On days when I am in no mood to cook for her, I just heat up the frozen sauce and boil some noodles for her.



This one is for me where the 'liu' (ingredients) are more than the mien, yumsss!! :D

Free White Board From Scotts Emulsion

The girls were super delighted when the mini market owner gave us 2 white boards when we purchased 2 bottles of orange flavored Scotts Emulsion. This free gift that comes with the Scotts Emulsion is every kid's favorite toy. Which kid doesn't like to doodle and draw with a marker pen right? The marken pen ink is also easily wiped off with paper or water. 2 weeks later, we bought another 2 bottles of Scotts Emulsion. Now we have 4 white boards at home and the girls don't have to fight for the white board anymore. Each of them have their very own white board and marker pen. This reminds me that I should get another 2 more bottles of Scotts Emulsion tonight. My 3 girls have been consuming Scotts Emulsion since they were 1 year old.

Lion Eats Lunch Too

Baby was in a mood to play with her toy lion. She didn't want to let go of it and insisted that lion sat on the dining table and watch her eat lunch!


"Mummy, lion sit here peeeeash......"

And after her lunch, lion had to take a spin in the washing machine as it had food all over its mouth too :)

I Know Where To Get Discount Glasses

For the past few months I have been sitting in front of my own idiot box aka my beloved desk top computer for more than 6 hours a day. I know this ain’t good for my eyes but heck, when it comes to work, I tend to overlook my own health. I am beginning to see double now and I think I should get the optometrist to check my eyes when I bring Baby to ISEC for her post-op eye check-up next week. It doesn’t matter that I have to wear glasses. I know where to get discount prescription glasses!

Insomnia

Despite being severely sleep deprived, for the first time in years, I experienced insomnia last night. Despite only hitting the sack after midnight, I just could not fall into a deep sleep. I think I only fell into slumberland past 1am. I got up at 4am to change Baby's diaper and then woke up again at 6am to start the day. I guess there were just too many issues on my mind. I was drafting on my head on what to write about auto insurance quote, how to increase sales of my eStore and a host of other matters. My head is feeling a little heavy now and I ought to take a forty winks now!

Eleventh Hour Rush

Alycia had asked me to help her re-do her art by drawing boxes. She had colored the boxes wrongly in school and her teacher wanted her to re-do it. After coaching her in other homework, I put aside the piece of art work and had forgotten all about it until the next morning at 6am. When she woke up, Alycia threw into a fits, stomped her feet, complained in a shrieking tone non-stop which made me throw into a fits myself!



So how? With less than 5 minutes in our hands to re-do, I had to think quick. Those boxes needed the right measurements to draw. Think, think, thinkety think.... idea popped up.... I quickly zeroxed a copy using my printer and since it's quite transparant on the reverse side of the paper (I held the paper up under the lights to see cleary and dotted all the corners first, then joined them), I traced the boxes hurriedly. Alycia then colored it and vehemently refused to listen to me when I told her that she's still coloring it wrongly. This girl is very pig-headed as well... and I was so pissed off with her that morning... that she kept arguing with me that she's doing it right. When she came home from school that afternoon, she was too embarrassed to tell me that she had done it wrongly again, after confirmation from her teacher, HAH! "SEE, told you you're wrong Alycia. You think mummy has never done this before meh, haiyah!!!"

Socks Fetish

Baby's latest quirk is wearing socks at home. She would rummage her drawer and fish out her favorite socks, then wear them (she knows how to dress up by herself now) and walk round the house. Most times, she will go to the shoes area and wear her jie jies' shoes and play pretend to go kai kai :D

Who Wants To Lose Some Weight?

If you want to lose weight fast, come over to my house and help me babysit my 2 younger girls! Anyone is bound to lose some weight if they have to handle, supervise and discipline these 2 rascals. I have a reader who commented that I should not call my kids rascals. I challenge that person to come to my house and mind my kids for 3 days. Maybe she will take her words back after the first day :D

Don't Like Rice But Love Chicken Rice!

Baby does not fancy eating rice too much. Her taste bud is very much similar to Sherilyn and thank God Baby eats better than Sherilyn. Baby can feed herself pretty well and she chews her food. Sherilyn still needs my mil to feed her at times, especially when it comes to eating rice with dishes. When Sherilyn was younger, she used to store her food in her mouth for the longest time before spitting them out! My mistake of blending her food until she was 3 years old.

Last week my mil cooked a very flavorful pot of chicken rice. She cooked the chicken, mushrooms and chinese sausages with sesame seed oil, a little sodium-reduced soy sauce and a little black sauce. The chicken rice wasn't too salty and I gave some to Baby to try. I thought Baby wouldn't eat the rice but I was wrong. She lurved it and polished off the whole bowl of rice with chicken and mushrooms!


Baby happily whacking her chicken rice and kombu soup.

Angels in pink.... when there's chicken rice, I am rest assured to see 3 happy, smiley faces. I wish I had a wrinkle-free and line-free face like theirs. Wrinkles are starting to sprout out around my eyes and I hope I don't have to use eye wrinkle cream soon :S

If Only I Had 2 Extra Hours Each Day

My friend who came to visit me the other day commented that I look like I have shrunken and my eyes look like they have sunken. I couldn’t agree with her more. I may even need to apply the best anti wrinkle eye cream on my eyes very soon. You know, I wish there were 2 additional hours in a day granted to me so that I could have that extra 2 hours of beauty sleep each day. The hours tick away really quickly everyday and I always go to bed at the end of each day feeling that I still have lots more to do.

Bye-Bye Bath Tub

The day came last week when I finally had the heart to part with the huge bath tub that my 3 girls used to bathed in. I bought it 4 years ago when Alycia was 2yo and Sherilyn 1yo. Then Baby bathed in it but stopped using it a year ago. Since it's really bulky and taking up a lot of space in our bathroom, I finally decided to give it away. I am always very sentimental when it comes to giving away stuff that my girls once used.


Baby stepping into her bath tub for the last time before daddy took it away :(

Sticking To Sticks

Of all the biscuits and cookies that they have tasted, sticks biscuits still top my girls' preference. With sticks, the biscuits are often polished off in a jiffy. No need to keep for weeks and months in the cookie jar till they turn soft and rancid. No wastage with sticks. I love sticks too. They were my childhood favorites too. I'll stick to sticks for rewards if they are good :)

A Not So Disciplined Ballerina

This is a typical scene on a Monday night. Sherilyn comes home from ballet class at around 8:30pm and without even changing, she would sit at the dining table to eat her second dinner. As usual Miss Dilly Dally will take her own sweet time to eat, turning a deaf ear on my nagging her to quickly eat, she would walk round the house, join daddy who's watching TV and dilly dally away until she's threatened to hurry up or get caned. When all is done, shower taken and pjs on, she would only be ready to go to bed, with battery all conked out at around 10:30 - 11:00pm.

Zoom over to Old And New Stuff For Sale to check out my latest collection!

New Bib Again

I chilled out at the 100 Yen Shop 2 Sundays ago while the hubs brought Alycia to the hair saloon for a haircut. While browsing through the stuff there, I spotted a stack of plastic bibs with pocket (with cute pictures too!) and it only cost RM4.90. Plastic bibs must be their latest added items. It's rare to find cheap and nice plastic bibs with food tray / pocket. Without any hesitation, I quickly put one in the basket. Was so tempted to get all the colors too haha! Now, Baby has another new plastic bib to add to her collection. And did I tell you that I still have 2 brand new plastic bibs at home?

Free Great Tasting Recipes

Many mothers whom I know of struggle everyday to whip up tasty and healthy recipes for their family. This includes me as I have 4 pernickety eaters at home – 3 young babies and 1 big baby! When my mil is around, I can leave this hair splitting chore to her but whenever she’s away on her few-times-a-year overseas stay, I have to crack my head to draw up the week’s lunch and dinner menu every week on end. When my kids were younger, they were not that picky in their choice of food. Now that they have tasted the ‘real food’ aka adult food, they no longer want their bland, healthy stuff. They want food that tastes great - salty and flavorful food. They prefer take-out food that’s often laden with sodium and MSG but I try to limit their intake of take-out food.

I get annoyed whenever my kids tell me “oh no, not again mummy. I don’t like this!” to the dishes that they see placed on the dining table. Being greeted with such remarks after sweating it out in the hot kitchen preparing their food is really discouraging. On one hand I feel really unappreciated and taken for granted. On the other hand, they are just kids and they mean what they say. In times like this, I tell myself that I have to get some great cooking tips and recipes to whip up something different to whet my fussy eaters' appetite.

I stumbled upon ivillage.com when I was searching for healthy recipe for kids. There are hundreds of great tasting recipes from recipes for kids to low sodium recipes, healthy recipes, low fat recipes, vegan recipes, low budget recipes, quick recipes, recipes for breakfast, appetizers, main course and much more. One recipe that I have to try out is the sweet and sour chicken. This recipe does not require any stir-frying and it’s mess-free, quick and easy to prepare and looks absolutely delicious too. I have already book-marked ivillage.com and will definitely refer to this website to try out the sweet and sour chicken recipe when it’s time for me to take over the wok and spatula again!

You Mess Up, You Clean Up

Baby must have seen her 2 jie jies cleaning up the mess they created. I have a rule in place at home. This rule was created recently as I just cannot afford the time to keep cleaning up the mess my 2 older girls create. Whoever spills drinks and food, they are accountable for cleaning up. Whoever plays toys and takes out the jig saw puzzle, they are responsible for keeping them once they're done.

When Baby spilled a bowl of Cheerios the other day, she ran to the table and pulled a few pieces of toilet paper.... and then began sweeping the Cheerios with the toilet paper. She then finished off by wiping the floor with a towel that Kakak had left outside the kitchen, just like how kakak does it everyday. She sure has a sharp learning curve haha!






Just like how kakak and mummy wipe the floor.

Sleeping Child

Baby and Sherilyn were sleeping on my mil's bed one afternoon. Kakak was cleaning the girls' bedroom. Alycia who came back late from school after Calligraphy class was so worn out that she plopped herself onto the floor and went into lalaland like this....


I'm really amazed with this girl. She can sleep anywhere and anytime, even in the most awkward of positions and places, even on a stiff and hard log furniture LOL!!

Drink Lots Of Water Baby

It ain't an easy task to get Baby to drink water. Whenever she's given her sippy cup, she will run away, sometimes as if inviting me to chase her... which I have absolutely no time and energy to chase her round the house in order to get her to drink water. I threaten and bribe her a lot in order to make her gulp down water.

Everyday, I say this to her whenever she refuses to drink water. I say this so much that I now recite this like a nursery rhyme and I'm sure very soon, Baby can also recite this "Drink Water' rhyme HAHAHAH!!

Drink Water Ryme:
If you don't drink water, you will get infection,
If you get infection,
You will get injection,
Please drink water
Mummy has no more money to pay the doctor
Drink lots of water
You don't need to see doctor
Baby, drink lots of water
No infection
No injection



One sure way of getting her to drink water willingly is to give her a new cup or tumbler. This was also the case with Alycia and Sherilyn last time when they were about Baby's age. That's how my kichen cabinets are now filled with tumblers!

On a typical Sunday

On a typical Sunday, daddy will bring the girls swimmng and cycling in the evening. It is during this brief 1 hour that I get a respite from the girls...


First go cycling round the condo, then off for a dip in the pool...


Daddy fixing Alycia's bicycle...

Cassandra's 2nd Birthday

Yesterday Baby was aware that it was her birthday. She knew that being the birthday girl, it was her very special day and was given the immunity to being naughty and mischievous. She played with the water faucet and sprayed water at Sherilyn jie jie in the toilet/bathroom and wet the entire toilet area, yet mah mah did not cane her. After playing with the water faucet when mah mah reprimanded her, she did monkey faces and pulled the comforter off mah mah's bed and onto the floor... yet she wasn't caned.

After her shower yesterday morning, she refused to wear the clothes she's supposed to wear at home. Instead, this pig-headed girl insisted that she must wear kai kai clothes and wore this dress meant for outing at home.

The whole of yesterday, she kept saying she wanted to eat ice-cream and Daddy dearest went to Mid Valley to get her Baskin Robbins.

At the steamboat restaurant last night, Alycia jie jie would perhaps remember Baby's 2nd birthday for the rest of her life. Before the food came, Daryl khai yeh (god father) accidentally knocked down Alycia's glass of 100 Plus and spilled the content on her clothes. She was soaked in the sticky 100 Plus from top to bottom!! Daddy had an extra sleeveless basketball vest in the car but she wouldn't wear it coz it looked SO awful on her. Imagine donning on a bright red XXL sleeveless basketball vest muahahahahah! Die die also she wouldn't want to don on the chilli red XXL vest. Khai Yeh was corroded with guilt and felt really bad. He wanted to go out to buy her a t-shirt but mah mah said no need. It so happened that he had an extra t-shirt (which was also XL size) in the car and he got it for her. But she also die die didn't want to wear it. After much persuasion, she finally donned on the XL adult, men's t-shirt over her 100 Plus-soaked jeans. And nope, she didn't look like a fish out of water, in fact we think she looked CUTE in the oversized t-shirt. I tried to snap her pix but she kept avoiding me and was enraged :D

For those of you who are my Facebook friend, you can view pix of Baby's birthday dinner and Alycia in the oversized t-shirt.

Cassandra Is TWO Today!

My sweetie-pie Baby Cassandra is no longer a baby. She's now a toddler, a big little girl who speaks like she's 3yo. Exactly 2 years ago around this time, I was lying on the bed in a 2-bedded room at Sunway Medical Centre, just out from the recovery bay in the OT. I still remember everything that transpired inside the OT, the other patients who went into the OT room and everything that I saw.

Back in the ward, I was really anxious to take a closer look at my 3rd princess... though I remembered only vaguely that she was very fair during the brief 1 minute or so first-time-ever, fresh-from-belly moment in the OT. I was still shivering from the side effects of the spinal cord anesthetic. I could not move, only felt pins and needles on my feet and could only feel partially the lower part of my body.

The year 2008 and 2009 had been very, very eventful, emotional and painful for Baby and me. For those of you who have been following my blogs, you will know that Baby, my tough little cookie had endured a lot during the first 14 months of her life.... 2major surgeries (not including 1 minor eye surgery 3 weeks ago), countless jabs and IV drips.

Fast forward 2 years on, she's now healthier, no longer on daily antibiotics and no longer gets monthly UTI attacks which required hospitalization / IV drips.

I thank God for this sweetie-pie that He has sent to me. I pray to God that He will bestow Cassandra with good health, longevity and happiness always.

Happy 2nd Birthday Baby girl. Everyone loves you VERY, VERY much!

I Need A New Digital Camera

The top three items in my wish list include a new digital camera or a DSLR. My 3.5-year old digital camera is giving me the peeves as it is on the verge of conking out and has been acting up lately. It does not snap pictures instantly and most times, the capture effect is delayed by a few seconds. To snap pictures of babies and kids’, you need a camera that has an instant capture effect (what do you call this?). Do you have any good digital cameras or DSLR to recommend? I’m not sure whether to get a Samsung, a Nikon or a Sony.

Safe Weight Loss Pills

I wonder if there is really such a thing as safe weight loss pills in the market, safe as in a pill that does not cause any negative side effects to the body. If you have taken a weight loss pill and have not suffered from any type of ill side effects whatsoever, I’d love to hear your story. I have never taken any weight loss pills and the nearest to a weight loss product I’d taken was some kind of tea that helped me move all the sludge out from my guts!

Baskin Robbin's Pink Day

This picture was taken 2 Wednesdays ago. It was the day before Baby's Chalazion eye surgery at ISEC. After the appointment with the ophthalmologist, we brought her to buy ice-cream as promised. We didn't know that it was Baskin Robbin's Pink Day. BR's Pink Day falls on every Wednesday and if you have anything that's pink, you will be able to get 2 scoops of ice cream of your choice at a discounted price of RM7.50. Coincidentally Baby was wearing a pink t-shirt so YAY, it's her lucky day!

BR's Pink Day:
All you gotta do is : Show up with something pink to BR staff... eg : finger nails painted in pink, pink pen, pink hand phone, pink shirt, pink tie and etc.

Get a Double Jr. Scoops at the price of a Single Regular Scoop!

Pay only RM7.50+ to get 2 of your most favorite flavors!

Additional : you can upgrade your sugar cone/cup to a yummy Waffle Cone with only RM1.50+ !



Cheeeeeese mummy... see, I'm wearing pink!

Cutting Baby's Fringe

Baby is getting a fringe cut here from mah mah. Whenever my mil is around, she will help me trim Baby's bangs but when she's overseas, I have to take over this chore. It really ain't easy to trim them real straight when she keeps fidgeting. I usually need 2-3 days to get her bangs straight!



For those of you who are looking for a second hand ring sling to wear your baby, do hop over to Old And New Stuff For Sale. I'm selling my Baby Loft purple silk ring sling at only RM60 inclusive of shipping (original price is RM149.90) .

Homecooked Dishes

Here's a meal from one of our dinners last week, all of which was cooked by my mil:

Organic brown rice cooked with organic Japanese pumpkin. This is good stuff but my girls don't know how to appreciate this yet :( They prefer plain white rice.


Braised chicken with potatoes and tomatoes. The sweet and sour taste from the tomatoes can really whet one's appetite.... this dish is really palatable, yums!


Hakka pork with wood ear fungus and dried oysters... another of our favorite dishes.


Stir-fried leek flowers with fish cake... Baby's favorite dish.


Stir-fried brinjals with XO sauce and Chinese parsley... my mil's favorite dish. My girls and I don't really fancy brinjals but I like fish paste stuffed brinjals though :)

My 2 Little Earnest Babysitters

Getting Baby to pee and poo poo in the potty these days is a back-breaking, nerve-wrecking chore. She's now at a stage where she is resisting the potty. When she's in a good mood, she will obediently sit in the potty to pee or poo but when she's in a horrid mood, all hell will break loose. At times, my helper has to help me carry her and put her on the potty when she's in a screaming and struggling mode.

Here she's in a bawling and struggling mode at the potty. Both her jie jies had to coax her to pee in the potty... while I just had to snap a pix for remembrance... especially for Baby to see when she grows up, so that she will know how she had tortured me!








Alycia managed to coax Baby to pee by giving her the toothbrush (which is Baby's favorite item now!) and helped her to brush her teeth :D

Clean Up, Clean Up

The other day, rascal #2 took out the kids' Scrabble from the drawer to play. After playing with it, she left the scene and refused to pick up the squares that were strewn all over the bedroom floor. Before I could even reprimand her, Baby who saw the mess said this "so messy jie jie"... and then she began to pick up the squares to put into the bag and sang the "clean up, clean up" song that Barney And Friends always sing hahahahah!! She is really learning fast. I hope she remains this helpful and not regress as she grows older.

Restoran Wai Kei, 4 1/2th Mile Old Klang Road KL

We had lunch at Restoran Wai Kei at 4 1/2th Mile Old Klang Road, KL 2 Sundays ago.

This coffes shop type restaurant serves very tasty homecooked-like dishes. One of their specialties is homemade fish paste.

Here's what we had:

Baby spinach cooked in superior soup with fish paste...


Steamed 3 types of eggs (chicken eggs, duck's eggs and century eggs)...



Braised pork ribs with peanuts and mushrooms...


Jue Geok Choa (pigs' trotters in black vinegar and ginger)... iheart this dish, but only the lean pork and the broth. I eat no fat or leg ligamen, eeeeks!


Braised fish slice in claypot....


My favorite 'yeong liu' (fish paste stuffed tofu, bean curd sheet, brinjal, red chilli, bitter gourd and tofu pok).

Restoran Wai Kei is located at :
S/Lot 2, Batu 4 1/2
Jln Kelang Lama
58000 KL
HP : 013-391 8269 / 016-227 6210

Business hours : 11:30am - 3pm; 6pm - 10pm
Closed on every Monday.

This is one of my favorite tai chau restaurants. If you want to eat there during lunch time, be prepared to sweat it out. I normally leave the coffee shop all soaked in my own sweat :S

Snacks For The Kids

Bought these snacks for the kids from Mercato d'Marketplace @ Pavillion:


Biscuits from Meiji. Each biscuit has a picture of a vehicle printed on it. Great and fun way of teaching the kids, especially Baby the different types of vehicles. The sugar-free nuts biscuits (made in Taiwan) tasted bland and dry though. They are not cheap too. Oh well, biscuits that are healthy are usually flavorless.


Plump and juicy dried cranberries.