Coliseum Cafe, KL

Last Sunday, hubby was in the mood to bring us to the most jam-packed place in KL - Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman (TAR). I cringed when he announced that he wanted to revisit Coliseum to have steak and Chinese style chicken chop and fried noodles. I never like going to that place. I rather stay home and eat bread than to go to Jalan TAR on a hot sunny day. Talk about Jalan TAR and memories of my days on the pink Mini Bus no. 10 that ply the roads of the perpetually jammed Jalan TAR will come flooding. Those were my college days and my room mate (Cheng Cheng) and I would be on one of these sardine-packed pink mini buses on our way to college, while listening to the blaring 'Joy Ride' music played on the mini bus every morning.

Anyway back to our trip to Coliseum. This restaurant is by far the oldest restaurants in KL. The restaurant is over 90 years old and I tell yer, the workers there are as old as this restaurant. The waiter who served us was over 70 years old but still looking strong and alert. The rest of the staff were all over 45 years old. This restaurant is not a place where everyone would love to go to but yet, it is always packed.

Here's what we had:

Ox tail soup...

Chinese style white bread with chunks of butter...

Fish and chips...

Chinese style chicken chop...

Hokkien style fried vermicelli, which iLike...

Frice rice, also yummy...

T-bone steak...

Inchi kabin chicken... I find the chicken a tad tough and really nothing to shout about...

We also ordered lamb chop.

Overall, I would rate the food 5/10. After lunch, we headed to Lot 10 and then to Restoran Sari Ratu (an Indonesian restaurant) along Jalan Sultan Ismail for Indon desserts. After a day's pigging out, all 3 girls were down with purging and high fever, one after another....

Darn Tired

I have been feeling really really exhausted, lethargic and burnt out for the past few weeks. While I am happy that business at my eStore is good, I am nevertheless sacrificing my sleep and time with my 3 kiddos. I should have done more revision with Alycia and Sherilyn to prepare them for their exams but I just can't squeeze out the time in a day. What's with the 3 kiddos down with purging and high fever for the past 5 days, I am really jaded now. For the past 5 days, the girls have been pooping almost every hour of the day (and night!) I have been washing their pooped out bottoms every hour of the day, checking their temperature, feeding #2 meds, spoon feeding Baby (she now screams on top of her voice in defiance whenever our helper tries to feed her) and all that jazz that a full-time mom has to do.

At 11pm when all the kiddos are asleep, I will creep out of my bedroom to have some really quiet time to do stuff related to my online store and to complete my online assignments. But my eyes would droop as my fingers tap on the keyboard. It's really really dangerous to work when your mind, body and soul are shutting down. Once, I wrote a customer's address wrongly and suffice to say, the consequences was costly. Another time, I sent out a customer's order before all her stock arrived. Again, it was a costly consequence as I had to send the remaining stock to her later. Once bitten, twice shy... I will never repeat these mistakes again. Sigh... well having said all these, I think this arrangement is still better than me being a working mum. Not really regretting but just need to rant out all the frustrations in me.

Testing Our Patience

Baby has been testing our patience with her mischief. For the past 2 weeks, she has been throwing stuff out of her sisters' bedroom window. First she threw down some books, papers, Alycia's watch and toys. We reprimanded her and she looked repentant. The next day, yet again she threw 2 Dr Seuss books off the window, which landed on the ledge. Several days later, she threw out some hair ties. Though we had reprimanded her and hit her hand (very lightly though... didn't have the heart to hit her till she cries), this fler is still testing our patience with her monkey business. Now, we have to lock the windows to prevent this rascal from throwing more stuff down! Can't wait for this rascal's Terrible Twos phase to past. Hopefully it will not accelerate to Terrible Threes and Fours and Fives... just like rascal #2!!!

The 2 Dr Seuss books resting on the ledge.

Jade Pot Steamboat And Dim Sum Restaurant

2 Sundays ago, we had lunch at Jade Pot Steamboat and Dim Sum Restaurant. We had a little dim sum and ordered steamboat too. The food was good, restaurant is new, cozy and clean. Price is quite reasonable too.

Here's what we had:

An assortment of Dim Sum...

Love the Hong Kong style cee cheong fun (flat rice noodles with prawns)... very smooth, tastefully and uniquely served.

... and steamboat

Rascal #2 enjoying the Udon from the steamboat.. Yup, totally no table manners. Have chided her many times but this fler just won't listen wan, sigh....

I would rate the food 8/10 and would definitely return there again. There will be a 10% discount if you lunch in during weekdays.

Jade Pot Steamboat Restaurant:
Location:
DSH branch : No.5, Grd Flr, Plaza Prismaville, Jalan 19/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas.
OKR branch : No. 413, Batu 5, Jalan Kelang Lama, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Phone: DSH : 03-6201 1918 / OKR : 03-7987 9918

Mon - Sun:
11:00 am - 3:00 pm
6:00 pm - 11:00 pm

Jade Pot even has a Facebook fan page and I noticed that some of my FB friends are fans of this restaurant!

Check out their FB page here:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Kuala-Lumpur-Malaysia/Jade-Pot-Steamboat-Restaurant/85092482613

Alycia's Final Exam Finally Over, Phew!

Ever since Alycia's final exam was over yesterday, I can feel a big bag of burden off my shoulders. I feel more stressed up and tensed than her. Alycia is super cool and has no sense of urgency or discipline when it comes to doing revision for her exam. During last minute revision with her, the second I leave the table to do something else, this fler will zoom to the TV and get hooked on it. Can't really blame her too as there's too much distraction from her 2 younger sisters. You will say why don't you keep the TV off limits during exam time but if I don't allow the 2 younger brats to watch TV, there is no way I can have a one-to-one revision with Alycia. Baby would be all over me and targeting my boops and Sherilyn would be inundating me with loads of questions.

Today Alycia got back almost all her test papers. I really thought that she would fare very badly as I hadn't done enough revision with her and have in the past did not do much regular revisions with her. But she made me really proud of her. She scored 90 marks and above for all her test papers. If it weren't because of her careless mistakes and failure to double check her work, she would have scored 100% in her papers. This girl of mine can be very very forgetful. I have been drumming into her head to DOUBLE CHECK YOUR WORK, DOUBLE CHECK YOUR WORK but she never checks her work, AAARGH!!

Little Thief

I have a little thief at home who would forage for forbidden food and junk food whenever she seizes an opportunity... like when I have just turned my back on her or when there is no one at the kitchen. That's when this smart little opportunist would hurriedly grab the Ikea stool or push the dining table chair to the kitchen, quickly climb on it, grab the forbidden food and shove it into her mouth at lighting speed and then she would smugly say "mummy, look..." with her mouth full of kuih, chips or crackers!

We have learned our lesson. Now, we can no longer freely put food that we have just bought on the counter top, dining table or anywhere that's within her reach. We have to hide it or hang it on the highest level of the kitchen cabinet door. Having said all these, I still think that she looks absolutely cute with her mouth stuffed with food (so stuffed that she could hardly move her mouth LOL!!) and both her cheeks protruding side ways, complete with the cheeky and smug look on her face!

What’s Your Choice Of Color?

When it comes to choice of color for clothes and bedding, I prefer colorful ones. I find that my mood lifts up when I don on bright colored clothes or sleep on a bed that has lively colors and designs. I never like dull or plain colors, as it would make me feel like I am in the hospital. I have a friend who would only buy white or cream colored Luxury bed inens. She finds colorful ones too gordy for her eyes! What’s your choice of color for bed linen and clothing?

Natural Growth Stimulator

When I was a teenager, one of my ambitions was to become an air stewardess. But I lack the height to be accepted into certain Airlines. I was obsessed with wanting to grow taller. My grandma would boil soup with peanut roots to help me grow taller. Well, that was the Chinese believe – that the roots of peanuts can stimulate growth and height in kids. I don’t know how effective this is but I was eventually successful and was accepted to be an Air Stewardess. This is the natural way of gaining height. Some people would resort to hgh releaser.

Stinky Poop Everywhere!

Baby has been having constipation issue for the past 1 year, ever since she started to eat more solids, especially meat. From a veggie lover when she was a baby, she has now regressed and hates her greens. I have to give her Duphalac Lactulose everyday to help her to move her bowels. At times, even with Duphalac her stubborn bowles just won't budge a wee bit. That's when I have to give her full strength of Duphalac. With full strength Duphalac plus red dragon fruit (which is really good in moving her bowels), she would sometimes have watery poop. And this was just what happened the other day. This fler pooped in her diaper and then ran round the house, with the trails of watery stinky poop all over the house floor and bedroom floor. Eewwwww, I tell yer, that was horrid and gross! Rascal #2 who can never sit still was jumping round the house and stepping on the poop! My helper and I had to clean up the absolute mess and finished off with Disinfectant!

Pilot's Creoroll Mess-Free Crayons

My generous sil from Hong Kong sent another big box of goodies to us last week. In the box was what Alycia had been persuading me to buy for her - mess-free crayons encased in plastic holders that can be rolled up and down. I saw them at a stationery shop in Gardens Mid Valley but didn't buy it for her as it was way too expensive. Moreover the girls have too many crayons at home, so many that I can find them at every nook and corner and often, they were thrown away.

The awesome Pilot Creoroll Mess-Free crayons in 8 smashing colors...

The mess-free crayons are perfect for toddlers as their tiny hands will not get dirty. There is very little falling crayon dust as compared to conventional crayons...

Poor Eater

No prize for guessing who ate this slice of papaya. This rascal takes forever to eat her food and fruits. I gave this slice of papaya to her for breakfast on Saturday and after almost 2 hours, I got this back - teeth marks on the papaya and only 1-2 bites of the fruit eaten. Since daddy wanted to bring them out, she didn't finish the papaya. Sigh, this rascal #2 has been a very poor eater since young... and she puked a lot too. And she still take 1-2 hours to finish her dinner on most nights, sigh...

Bestest Jie Jie In The WWW

Alycia and Baby are really an item. They love each other very much and Alycia is very possessive of her baby sister. The other day, Baby fell off the chair at the dining table. She fell face down and hit her forehead on the cold hard floor. God must have sent a guardian angel to cushion off the fall. My helper was feeding her lunch and Baby was moving about... and I think my helper must have been careless and then I heard a thud. I had expected to see bruises or blood from the mouth or head but after putting ice compress on the forehead, no one would have even realized she fell from the dining table chair with a booster seat on top. I tell yer, my heart beat must have been flat-lined for a good 1 minute. I was so shocked I felt like puking.

After the fall, I told Baby not to be like a monkey and move so much when she's seated on the chair. I explained to the 3 girls that the head is very important as the brain is inside the head. I told them that our brain is like the CPU of the computer (I had just done revision with Alycia on the computer parts) and if it's hurt, then the entire body will be useless....and they will not recognize mummy or daddy or anything else anymore. At that point, Alycia quickly tested Baby and asked her "Cassandra, what is this?", while showing her things around us like my mobile phone, chairs, books, etc. She was happy that her baby sister was A OK. She's indeed the bestest jie jie in the whole wide world!

"Cassandra, what is this, tell cheh cheh..." and Baby was busy playing and licking the ice cubes that was meant to be put on her forehead.

Fuming Mad

2 days ago, I was really cheesed off by the soya bean milk man. I have been his loyal customer for so many years and yet he had the cheek to say such defensive things to wind me up. I had bought a 1.5L bottle of cold soya bean milk from him early this week. On that day, I saw him taking out a big bottle of soya bean milk from the ice box instead of pouring the soya bean milk out from the huge stainless steel dispenser. The bottle was 3/4 full. I then asked him why it was not full and he told me that sometimes he would get customers who would order a few big bottles. It would be faster that he fills up some bottles with soya bean milk up to 3/4 full whenever he has the time. If the customer wants syrup for the soya bean milk, he would fill the remaining 1/4 of the bottle with syrup. Fine, I was satisfied with his answer but still felt dubious. Back home, I immediately kept the bottle of soya bean milk in the fridge. Several hours later when I poured the soya bean milk out, it had coagulated, like bean curd. I knew instantly that the coagulation was partly caused by the man putting the bottle of soya bean milk in the ice box. I threw the bottle of soya bean milk away.

The next day when I asked the soya bean milk man casually why it had coagulated, gosh, this man was highly defensive. He started hurling defensive words that would irritate any customer.

Man - definitely your fridge is not cold enough, this will not happen if your fridge is cold enough...

Me - my fridge is cold, it's new!

Man - new fridge does not mean it's cold enough. I can guarantee your fridge is not cold enough. You people open and close the fridge door so many times, surely your fridge is not cold. Did you use a thermometer to check the temperature?? (and asked in a harsh tone)
(on hearing this, I could feel steam spewing out from my head. This man was trying to challenge me to prove me wrong)

I just shook my head in disbelief of what I heard, took my bottle of soya bean milk from him (yup I still bought a bottle from him) and paced off. That will be my last time buying soya bean milk from him. I did not expect him to pay me back RM4.80 for the bottle of soya bean milk. I was just hoping to get an apology from him. Even a 20sen discount would make me feel better. If I were him, I would have given my customer another bottle of soya bean milk for free to placate a dissatisfied customer. Sigh, some people just lack the business mind and attitude.

Guess What We Bought From Ikea?

We were at Ikea the whole morning on Sunday. Our loot was so bulky that my hubs' 7-seater MPV was stuffed to the brim. My hubs spent twenty minutes at the car park, trying to figure how to shove our loot into the car. My 2 older girls and helper had to sit on top of the boxes of furniture and lie down throughout the twenty minutes drive home, thank God we were not pulled over by the cops!

Matching colorful rainbow cups for my rainbow color kawaii hat .....

My man busy at work fixing up my little home office...

Hop over to my other blog to see what my man had fixed up for me....

Fong Lye Restaurant @ Plaza Prisma Ville, Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur

Fong Lye Taiwanese restaurant is one of our favorite Chinese restaurants. The food is tasty, unique and we love the ambience. The price is reasonable too. There are about 3 Fong Lye branches in the Klang Valley and we have been to all 3 and love them all. The other day, we went to the Fong Lye at Desa Hartamas. Here's what we had:

Stir fried chopped chives with minced meat, fermented soy beans and chillies. I love this dish and I can even whip up this dish that tastes just as nice ! In the background is a bowl of white porridge with sweet potatoes.

Sweet and sour prawns, which was a hit with the girls...

Stir fried french beans with minced pork...

Deep fried spare ribs aka 'phai kwat wong'...

Fried rice...

The famous 'sam pei jie' (chicken cooked with ginger, chinese cooking wine and chinese basil leaves) in claypot....

Braised fish maw with an assortment of veggie and tofu...

After lunch, we were served a very refreshing lime juice with honey, on the house by the restaurant. The juice was a hit with the girls too and they kept 'yam seng' (bottoms up) with each other and we had to ask the waiter to give us extra servings, which he gladly obliged.

Baby who doesn't like drinking plain water, gulped down about 2-3 glasses of the refreshing and sour lime juice.

Fong Lye Restaurant
Plaza Prisma Ville, Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur
9, Plaza Prismaville
Jalan 19/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas
51200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 6201 7998
Business Hours: Daily (11 am – 2:30 pm; 6pm – 9:30 pm)

Big Stones On My Diamond Ring

My hubs was searching for something one day recently when he stumbled upon our wedding rings. You see, we keep misplacing our wedding rings as both of us just don’t have the habit of wearing rings. Actually the rings were not our very first wedding rings. My hubs had lost his very first wedding ring and I was really upset about it. 2 years ago, he gave me another wedding ring for my birthday and he also got himself another matching wedding ring. I was deeply moved. Recently, I could not find our new wedding rings and then he found them again! I should ask him to keep the rings in the safe deposit box in the bank, lest we lose them again. I don’t think we will wear those gold rings anymore. We can show our love for each other in other ways, other than through wearing the rings. But I will still hint to him to get me a diamond ring! I would love to have those green diamonds or lab diamonds on the ring, the bigger the stone the better :D

Sleep Walk Or Going To School Anxiety?

Over dinner just now, our helper told us that Alycia got up from bed at around 4:30am this morning and crept out from the bedroom. She got down from bed quietly, opened the door quietly and then walked to the living room. My helper who sleeps in the girls' bedroom heard the door open and quietly followed Alycia from behind to see where Alycia went to. She told us that when Alycia was in the living room, she stared blankly and said this to herself "why no nobody here?" and then went back into bed. Alycia's eyes were opened. When I asked Alycia if she could recall what happened last night, she told me she couldn't remember a thing!

Could this be sleep-walking? Or mere anxiety of missing the van that brings her to school and being late for school? I used to sleep-walk quite a bit too when I was young.