Our Raya Holiday In Ipoh

The girls, all set for their journey back to Ipoh yesterday, to meet koong koong and granny over the Raya holidays.







We are now back in Ipoh and enjoying all the good old Ipoh hawkers' food. We went to Kwong Heng and Chun Tien in Ipoh Old Town for lunch today. But the queue and wait were horrid. The coffee shops were a sea of people. Even bowls and cutlery were not properly washed. And #2 and #3 did not behave themselves. Pretty stressful for me and I told my hubs that the next time we go there, we better go without the #2 and #3 so that I can enjoy my food.


Logging off now to enjoy a massage on my mum's Gintell massage chair and then my 2nd round of jogging to burn off some fat, before digging into a sumptuous dinner tonight!

Do You Allow Your Kids To Read In The Car?

On most Sundays, my girls will each borrow a book from the church library. Once they get into the car, they will enthusiastically read the books that they had borrowed. I think that reading in the car is better than having their eyes glued to the 2 screens watching DVD in the car. I don't like my kids to be such TV addicts.

Though I had told my kids many times not to read in the car, lest they get dizzy, they keep telling me that they are just fine! No dizziness or motion sickness. I can't believe that they are fine reading in the car coz I am one lousy fella who will surely have a bad bout of nauseousness if I ever read in the car. I remember one incident. I was 8 years old and had read a book that I borrowed from the library in the car, all the way from my school back home, for a good 20 minutes. When I got home, I got really nauseous and then developed a fever that left me puking for many days! Maybe it was just mere coincidence but that incident had developed a phobia in me reading in a moving vehicle.

Do you allow your kids to read in the car?


Pix of my girls reading in the car, taken today, after church... on our way to Xenri Japanese Restaurant. My girls read their books for 20 minutes in the car and were fine. No motion sickness and no nauseousness! Thank God! I would have puked!

My Kind Of Breakfast

While most Malaysians prefer to dig into a packet of nasi lemak, char koay teow, porridge, fried noodles, chee cheong fun and kuih for breakfast, my kind of breakfast is pretty simple and wholesome. I still prefer bread (strictly no white bread. Only wholemeal bread or multi-grain or multi-seeded bread) or the occasional whole wheat cereals.

Here's my kind of breakfast : a mixture of tuna with hard boiled egg, raw onions, a squeeze of lime juice, chopped spring onions, mayo and ground pepper... spread on a warm toasted wholemeal walnut bread. Yums!! And a big mug of hot green tea to wash away the fat and to jump start my metabolism.

Miss Dilly Dally

Rascal #2 is the most 'lau hei' girl I have ever met. She has no urgency at all in completing her homework and has no sense of punctuality too. She dilly dallies away everyday - to school, to tuition, to ballet class and just about anywhere *BIG sigh!!* Everywhere that she has to go to, I have to pull my hair and remind her to no end to hurry up. The moment I leave her alone, there she goes... ding dong ding dong wasting her time.

These days, the only way to get her to do her homework is to forbid her from having dinner if she does not complete her homework. But this girl will only start doing her homework the moment we are about to eat dinner, sigh!!

Do you have a child who is like this? I really need help for I really don't know how to manage this fella!


A common scene every evening. While everyone is eating dinner, this fella will be struggling to complete her homework, crying and whining.

Out-Talking Me

Yesterday after dinner, Baby went to the kitchen drawer, rummaged through it and found a packet of cheese rings. Then she ran to me with high hopes....

Baby - mummy, can I have this?

Me - NO, its' rubbish!

Baby - no it's not rubbish! It's cheese rings!

Me - yeah, cheese rings are junk food and junk food is rubbish. Cannot eat.

Baby - but M kam moh bought it (my sil bought it). It's so long d. If you don't eat it, you will waste it. Don't waste food!

O_o, I was lost for words. My 3-YO girl managed to out talk me to trick me into giving in and I did, albeit only 5 small rings :D







My online store's most highly paid junior model!

Buffalo Kitchens @ Bangsar (Opposite Bangsar Village)

We were at Buffalo Kitchens 2 Sundays ago. The first thing that caught our eyes and attention when we went up to the restaurant was the various 'F' words written with colorful chalks on the wooden steps leading to the restaurant, located on the first floor of a corner shop lot (opposite Bangsar Village). Don't get them wrong. The 'F' words have nothing to do with vulgarity. 'F' simply means FUN FILLED FOOD here :D

The next few things that caught my attention were the Buffalo brand pots and pans hanging on top. That is expected from a restaurant that is owned by the Buffalo pots and pans Management.


The open kitchen concept with tummy rumbling aroma of food and herbs cooking wafting everywhere in the restaurant will definitely move your heart to order every single dish on the menu!

Here's what we ordered:

Bread with vinegar and olive oil dipping - this was given on the house...



2-way deep fried soft shell crab with Thai sauce...


Grilled chicken salad...


Seafood pasta for my pasta craze girls...



Love this fusion spring chicken. It has generous amounts of pound turmeric and herbs, served on a bed of mashed pumpkin. Very flavorful and lip-smacking. The only complaint is of its meager size.



Grilled fish....




Hubby's steak...



A plate of pasta was not enough for my 3 girls, so we ordered another plate of creamy vegetarian pasta...








All in all, the food was pretty good, albeit a tad pricey. But it is expected when you dine in a restaurant located in the up-class Bangsar area.


F Concept Dining by Buffalo Kitchens,
69-1, Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar Baru.
Tel: 2201-1710
Opening times: Open daily, 12noon-12midnight
Located above Chawan and opposite Bangsar Village.

Ribena Ice Lolly

Here's another way of getting the kids to drink water in an enjoyable, healthy and tasty fashion - by making ice lollies from Ribena, Vitagen and fresh fruit juices. Best of all, it's fuss free, albeit you have to bear with wiping away the drips here and there.


Baby's treat for finishing her lunch quickly -- Ribena ice lolly.

Black Vein Mango

Hubs bought a mango from his regular supplier of fruits and the mango cost a whopping RM9 each and it wasn't even an Australian or an Indian mango. When I cut it cup and saw what's inside, my tummy churned. The veins are all black. The mango looked really gross and there was no way I would eat it.



Eessshh, so geli!!

I cut away the top layer of black veins and the bottom part was ok. Would you still eat the bottom part if the top part of the mango has such horrible looking veins?

Sleeping Child

Poor Baby dozed off on her little desk while learning ABCs from the lappie. Alycia and Sherilyn's mandarin tutor will come to our house once or twice a week. When she comes, the only way to distract this rascal from disturbing her 2 sisters and the teacher is to give her the iPad or the lappie. Sometimes, she will be as good as an angel and sit still at the table for an hour, playing with her gadget.... albeit the inviting sounds from the iPad will distract her 2 older sisters. On some days, will climb over her sister's chairs to invite them to play with her or disturb the teacher to no end, just to get attention, where even the whip does not seem to scare this rascal! The same thing will happen whenever I do revision with Alycia and Sherilyn before their exams, sigh...

Big Man With A Soft Spot

This morning, Baby screamed and jumped up from the couch, where she was seated and having oranges, when she saw a bumble bee flying towards her. The baby bee flew away and landed on the curtain. Hubs then called kakak to bring a plastic bag to catch the bee, to which she quickly brought one and managed to catch the baby bee. Just as she was about to squash the baby bee, hubs screamed out "jangan bunuh dia" (don't kill it!). I asked him why and he gave an answer which was very thoughtful and responsible. He said that bees make honey for us, so why kill it? He then released the baby bee from the plastic bag outside the window.

One time, hubs saved a drowning kitty in the half full drain outside our house after a heavy downpour. He brought the kitten out and used a hair dryer to dry the kitten's fur, then let the kitten remain in our porch for a few days. I fed the kitten with milk. But the kitten went away by itself. My hubs can irritate me to the pit of my guts sometimes but he can be a fallen angel in many ways.

Linus For Primary 1 Students

Sherilyn has been accepted into the same Chinese primary school that Alycia is going to now. All primary 1 kids are now compelled to sit for a government LINUS test to gauge the child's efficacy in the national language - Bahasa Malaysia. Kids who are weak in BM will be placed in a special class, where they will be given extra lessons.

Here is just one of the lists given to the kids, which is the same list given to Alycia 2 years ago. All the kids have to know the suku kata and how words are formed using suku kata.

This book is something that's new, which was not given to Alycia 2 years ago. Again, the Primary 1 kids must know how to read all the words in the book, I think, else they will be placed in a special class.

Rascal #2 trying to read all the words. Thank God she's catching up, albeit she needs tons and tons of pushing, threats and bribes.

Just A Dream

Just want to put this on record... in this blog that I have created to chronicle my 3 angels' journey from infant through toddlerhood through childhood.

At about 4am this morning, Baby was sobbing softly in her sleep, while mumbling something like this "I don't want", repeatedly. I hugged her and whispered in her ears, telling her that she's only dreaming. She stopped sobbing.

When she woke up at 8am this morning, the first thing that she said to me was this "mummy, there's a lizard in daddy's car! And the lizard wanted to catch me!" LOL!! I told her that she was only dreaming. And I told her that she cried and sleep talked... to which she gave me a cheeky giggle.

Cassandra at 3Y 4M

Kids Say The Darndest Things

My parents will be coming to KL next week. It's my dad's birthday next week and we are celebrating his birthday in KL. For days, Baby has been telling me that she wants to make a birthday card for koong koong. But no one is free to help her with the card. Today, she tried making a birthday card for koong koong. Shs found an Astro flyer paper on the table and scribbled on the unprinted reverse side of the paper. Then she went to her che che's drawer and 'stole' her che che's glue and started to roll the glue stick on the paper. I was busy on the PC. When I brought her to the bathroom to wee wee,I saw that her hands were black and sticky. Her toes too LOL! The 'birthday card' for koong koong' was errrr completely out of shape and resembled anything but a card. I then threw the paper into the bin as there was glue everywhere... while hoping that she would not noticed that 'koong koong's birthday card' is missing. But she did noticed it right away.

Baby - mummy, where's koong koong's birthday card?

Me - I threw it away. There's glue everywhere. We'll make another card for koong koong ok?

Baby - why did you throw the PaPer away? (emphasizing loudly the P sound in both the P vowels). PaPer is expensive, you must recycle. Why throw away huh?

Me - it's ok. There's glue everywhere and it's very messy.

Baby - but that's PaPer. PaPer is very expensive. You must recycle, you cannot throw away you know.

And she went ranting on and on about me throwing her koong koong's 'birthday card' and emphasizing that I should not have thrown a good PaPer away LOL!!!


Cassandra at 3years 4 months

Gift Of Gab

Baby is getting more and more vocal each day. She can answer me back very, very well and logically too. Many times she out-talks and out-wits me. Her character is becoming more and more like rascal #2. Yesterday, I gave her a ceramic cup with a slice of cheese cake inside. She had just finished drinking fresh orange juice from the cup and I thought just put the cheese in the cup so that I don't have to wash another bowl. But she dropped the cup just when I was handing it to her. As I was cleaning up the absolute mess on the floor (my maid had gone down to pass clothes to my customer), Baby said this in defense "who asked you not to pass the handle of the cup to me? I didn't drop the cup. You didn't give me the handle! See, I am holding a spoon in my hand, how to hold the cup?? It's not my fault!" ..... to which I told myself how true. I admit I was hurrying as I was passing the cup to her and I think I did not pass the side of the cup with the handle to her. And yes, she was holding a spoon too.

I wasn't even scolding her but she was yakking away to defend herself in a real defensive manner, lest I reprimand her and do not give her a good behavior sticker at night. GOSH, this girl has a gift of gab but I really hope that she will put this 'talent' to good use and not use her words to 'kek sei ngor" just like rascal #2!

My Toys Story and Buzz Light Year craze 3YO baby girl, growing up really fast...

Brunch At The Han Room @ The Gardens

We had brunch at The Han Room @ The Gardens Mid Valley Megamall last Saturday. We rarely ever go out for brunch at Mid Valley on a Saturday. We were actually geared to go to Ficelle Patisserie to have breakfast but it was raining pretty heavily. So we changed plan and decided to go to a place with sheltered car park.

The Han Room is under the Oriental Group of Restaurants. This restaurant is pretty classy and the food is good, just like the other restaurants in the Oriental Group.

Apart from the usual har gau, siew mai, char siew pau, fried radish and fish balls, we ordered these too:

Egg tarts...

Deep fried stuffed crab....

This is no ordinary deep fried chicken wing, check out the pic below to find what treasures lie within when the wing was cut up....

Minced meat stuffed nicely inside the wing, beneath the crispy skin....

Cabbage fish balls...

Char siew, braised tofu and siew yoke. The siew yoke was super crispy and tasted top-notch, yums!

Every Minute Counts

Ever since my hubby’s friend got electrocuted and almost died when he touched a lamp post with his sweaty hands, I have always been reminding my girls never ever to touch any lamp post whenever they come across one in the park or roadside. The accident happened in the basketball court in a park. After a game of basketball, that guy with sweaty hands held on to a lamp post and that act caused his body to be flung backwards by the passing electricity. Thank goodness the hospital was near the park and he was rushed there by his friend. No air ambulance service was required. In cases of accidents, every minute counts. If no prompt treatment is given, a life will be gone within minutes.

Sticky Note Pads To Remind My Miss Forgetful

Alycia can be quite forgetful. She is very fond of leaving her books behind in class, inside her desk. And when she cannot find the book back home, she will throw herself into a fit of rage, blaming me and the maid for misplacing it or just blame herself by crying really hard. This week is Alycia's school exam. I was fuming mad on Sunday when she told me that she had forgotten to bring some of her text books back, as I had specifically reminded her last week to bring them home last week. So this is what I did to remind my Miss Forgetful :

A sticky note pad inside her pencil case. This way, there's no way she will miss the note!

I am a very forgetful person too and I have to remind on sticky note pads all over my house and my faithful e-Calendar from my computer all the time, even during my corporate days.

Learning from the iPad2

I have noticed that Baby is more keen to learn Mandarin than English. When she has the iPad with her, she prefers to go to kids learning apps that teach in Mandarin. She will repeat the words after the iPad 'talks' to her. She learns her colors, numbers, body parts and other general things in Mandarin from the iPad, which saves me $$ from sending her for tuition :D

"ar ser san..."