Emergency School Holiday Contributed By Haze - 28 Sept 2015

Hey folks, in case you are not aware yet, tomorrow is declared a school holiday.  Yes, another school holiday declared by the Ministry of Education (MoE) this afternoon caused by the unhealthy level of haze in certain parts of the country.

Here's the notice from the MoE dated 27 Sept 2015:







And here is the article from The Star online on the holiday announcement:
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/09/27/Haze-schools-to-close/



My girls will be affected by the school closure. While I am glad that I'll get an extra 2 hours of sleep, I ain't happy that they are missing their lessons again!   Final exam is exactly a week away and their teachers have yet to cover all the topics included in the exam. So how??  ** shrug shoulders **

In the meantime, keep yourself healthy during this hazy period. Drink water like a fish (we are gulping down packets of Izumio hydrogen water), pop your multi-vitamins (I am popping up to 6 a day!), stay indoors and eat healthily ok.  Steer clear of junk food and fried food.  We are still A-OK here.   Someone mentioned that we have "sun seen sui" (Godly water, LOL!!) to help us stay healthy in this dreadful weather ha ha ha!!  You want to try our Izumio and Super Lutein too?  Email me at shireenyong@gmail.com if you're game to try! ;)

My Soon-To-Be 12-Year Old Alycia

What makes the big girl happiest?

Novels, lots of them. And I think she intends to fill every walking space in her bedroom with novels!

Ice-creams

Chocolates

Oreos

iPod / iPad / iPhone.  To me, these iGadgets make one idiotic when one spends too much time on them. And this is what the big girl is doing right now since her major exam is over now and she has no more homework to do until next January when she starts junior high school.

This is her daily indulgence now - her favorite Sunnyside Farms chocolate mint ice-cream on cone and a book.




I can get her to do ANYTHING when she's at the book store!  The book store is her enchanted fantasy island!




And these are the kind of books that this girl likes o_O





I am truly stunned that my soon-to-be 12-year old girl loves reading novels on psychotic magicians, ghosts and ghouls, mysteries, spells, ancient Egyptian gods, after life and things that will never happen in the world that we are living in!

Do you have a pre-teen girl who loves reading Rick Riordan and Michael Northrop's novels as well?

Restaurant 9888 @ Cheras, Kuala Lumpur

Nestled in the maze of shop lots off Jalan Cheras just a little after the PGRM building is Restoran 9888 which dishes out renditions of  familiar and exotic Chinese dishes for lunch and dinner.  If not for the foodie hubs who traverses the Klang Valley with his basketball mates in search of new eateries and discovered this restaurant, I would never have thought that such an awesome Chinese restaurant that serves such good food exists in this obscure place in Cheras.

And so the celebration of my mum's 69th birthday continued on the second night of her stay in KL.





The first dish that came was suckling pig.  Everyone gave their thumbs up and commented that the meat tasted unique and very delish -- it's different from other suckling pigs. I can't attest to that as I am no fan of suckling pig and did not eat any.  Errr, I think it's too cruel to grill a baby pig :(   Don't crucify me fans of suckling pigs!




Steamed fish ala Thai style with very appetizing lime, garlic and chili sauce. This will definitely be our repeat order the next time we patronize this restaurant.




Crabs in salted egg yolk...




Stuffed puffed tofu with fish paste soup...




Pumpkin rice wrapped in leaves...




Everyone's favorite - steamed free-range chicken with jelly fish...




Tangy appetizer of julienned white and purple cabbage...




Combo of deep fried spinach with salted egg yolk on top and red spinach in salted egg yolk soup below. This dish is very interesting and tasty but the portion is SO huge that we only managed to finish half the plate. What a waste!   We were told that there is only one size for this dish.




We wound down our scrummy meal with an exotic dessert - coconut jelly with custard served in whole coconut shell.










We will definitely be back to sample other dishes from their extensive menu of unique and exotic dishes.  This restaurant is worth braving the traffic, parking and crowds to discover!


Restaurant 9888
No. 111-117G, Jalan Cerapu Satu
Off Jalan Cheras, Batu 3 1/4
56100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel. 603-9283 7889
Mobile. 012-360 5967

N03′ 11.945 E101′ 72.932

Mum's Birthday Weekend

My parents came to KL over the weekend.  Mum's 69th birthday was celebrated in KL this year, as in previous years.

After dinner at Hiong Kong Restaurant @ Pudu Plaza, we segued into Les Deux Garcons to have the cake-cutting session.





Honey Bunny feeding Best Buddy birthday cake.




Cass calls my mum Best Buddy and my mum calls her Honey Bunny! :)

The next day (Saturday, 20 Sept 2015), we spent the entire morning and afternoon at Mid Valley Megamall shopping and eating.

Breakfast was at Nyonya Colors and lunch was at Sushi Tei.  Cass stuck to my mum like ants to sugar!





My dearest papa and mama...








Delish Japanese grub for lunch...



























After spending almost 2 hours at Uniqlo, we had dessert of cream puffs at Beard Papa's.







More photos on our eating adventure up next....

Homecooked Dishes

Yummy dishes whipped up by the MIL for the past 2 days...


Dinner on 17 Sept 2015...








1.  Sauteed zucchini with fresh baby shrimps bought from Kuala Selangor last week.
2.  T-bone pork chop with big onions.
3.  Fish soup with tomatoes and tofu. It's her first time dishing up this soup and it's so yummy. The kids love it!  You can even add in some veggies and chicken fillet to make this a one-pot dish.
4.  Steamed black rice with Korean rice



Dinner a few nights ago...









1.  Stir-fried organic red spinach with garlic
2.  Assam fish with ladies fingers, tomatoes and brinjals
3.  Sauteed celery with pork slices. You can replace it with chicken fillet or minced beef.

The MIL will be leaving for Hong Kong by end of this month and well, the kitchen's all mine again. I'm having bitter and sweet feelings about being a cook once again for the next few months. Right now, I have totally lost my mojo to cook. I'll need a few days to pick up the momentum.  Thankfully my new part-time maid  told me that she loves cooking (she used to be a cook!) and does not mind cooking for us **BIG GRIN and feeling thankful**

New Batch Of Izumio And Super Lutein Stock!

I received another batch of Izumio and Super Lutein on Sunday!  Since my friend sent the stock to me on a Sunday, Cass was around to help me  lug them up to our unit on the 5th floor.




We are pumping up extra packets of Izumio hydrogen water during these crazy hazy days and thank God, everyone is still in the pink of health with no throat irritation, cough, flu or other ailments.

Did I tell you that I managed to meet the company's deadline and won myself a FREE all-expense with free pocket money trip to Japan to visit the Super Lutein factory? Yup, I made it just in the nick of time on the day of the deadline, phew!!!  But sadly, I can't go as the trip is during a school-going week!!   Nonetheless, our big boss has kindly allowed me to swap the Japan trip with another full package of Izumio worth over RM5,000, woohooo!!!   Working for Naturally Plus is really rewarding. I can work at my own pace and the benefits are awesome!

If anyone of you is interested to know how this Naturally Plus business works to help you earn passive income, do drop me an email me at shireenyong@gmail.com to find out more :)

Crazy Hazy Days Are Back

The haze is getting worse each day. Today is really really bad, so bad that we have to shut all our windows and get baked inside our house at 33 degrees Celsius.  I can even smell the smog inside the bathroom when I shower!






But thankfully we have Izumio hydrogen water to help us stay healthy and keep those vexatious throat irritation and coughs at bay.





And not forgetting my daily dose of fresh smoothie for everyone.  Today's smoothie composes of pineapple, orange, cucumber and fresh coconut water.





The MIL has also been diligently boiling a medley of cooling herbal drinks for everyone everyday.





Lin Chee Kang with Luo Hon Guo - a sweet herbal dessert with a concoction of cooling and nourishing ingredients - Luo Hon Guo, lotus seeds, suet yue (white snow fungus), dried longan meat, dried lily bulbs, palm sugar and pandan leaves.

Cass At 7 Years 5 Months

Here's a rare picture of Cass with her hair let down...





Picture was taken this morning when she was watching the idiot box.  Today is a school holiday for Primary 1 - 3 pupils in her school due to the UPSR exam ongoing in school.

My baby girl ain't a baby anymore, though I still call her 'baby girl' and carry her like a baby.  She is very much a vain pot, thank GOD!!  I would be very worried if she has this "I don't care about my image" kind of attitude, like someone in the house!  But thank goodness that 'someone' is starting to put more effort in her appearance these days, unlike her younger days.

Cass would examine herself in the mirror everyday before leaving the house. If something is not right with her hair or outfit, she'll fix them until she looks pretty enough to leave the house. Sometimes we would be late coz this vain pot wouldn't leave the room until her hair is tied to perfection!

Choked!

This baby girl of mine is a big big fan of noodles, in particular bitter gourd pork vermicelli and pan meen. She'll squeal in delight whenever I tell her that there is her favorite noodles waiting for her when she comes back from school.

Last week, Cass almost choked and puked when she was gulping down her pan meen.  Half way through eating, she was gagging on her noodles. I asked her to spit out whatever that's in her mouth, which she did.  But  she was still trying to pull out something that's still gagged inside her throat... and holy moly, she pulled out a looooong strand of mok yue (wood fungus)!! OMG, had I not asked her to spit everything out, this girl may have tried to swallow everything in and then....

I daren't think of the consequences.

And she could still do monkey faces for me to snap this picture!



Moral of the story is- cut cut cut up the noodles, veggies and whatever that's in long strands for small kids. Even a 7-year old can choke and if there ain't any adult nearby, well... *shudders*!!

Jipangi Ice-Cream

We spent our Merdeka holiday at Mid Valley Megamall - shopping, eating and trying out new snacks. Though it's exactly a week away from Alycia's UPSR exam, we are still doing shopping and all.  All study and no play makes the big girl mumpish and cantankerous . She still watches the TV, reads novels and newspapers and takes her usual 2-hour nap everyday.   And she needs her ice-cream on cone and chocolates everyday to keep herself sane during this stressful period!

Anyway, back to our food therapy at Mid Valley Megamall.  After 2 cones of Nana's Green Tea Ice-cream shared among the four of us, Sherilyn was pestering me for Jipangi. We walked past  Jipangi ice-cream stall several times recently but didn't get the chance to try it as the queue was very long.





Photo above credits to Eat Drink KL.

Jipangi is a soft-serve ice cream in J-shaped puffed corn canes, a conspicuous attraction that hails from Insadong in South Korea's capital. With the ice-cream on both ends, well, it transforms into something that's feast for your eyes!

It is unclear whether the shape was created intentionally or otherwise, but it sure hasn’t stopped people from taking pictures with it – some in very distasteful demeanor.




Photo above credits to Eat Drink KL.






Cass still munching on her Nana's green tea ice-cream and Sherilyn waiting for her Jipangi ice-cream.

Folks, be prepared to be the subject of stares and giggles if you walk through the mall while licking on this thingy. Many will have their imagination running wild looking at the shape of the ice-cream, including moi, :D   Each cane - which can be snapped into two and shared - is stuffed with a choice of vanilla, chocolate or their new flavor - durian (RM7). Or have two flavours, one on each end, for RM9.     Sherilyn chose durian and vanilla, which cost RM9.  She shared it with me.














According to Jipangi, the cones they use are made from pure corn, traditionally roasted in a Korean recipe. The brand further revealed that the corn is sourced from the highest quality farm in the US and the cone will be a healthier and tastier alternative for ice cream lovers compared to the conventional sugar coated cone.

To ensure that your ice-cream does not melt and get messy, lick the ice-cream on both ends in tandem.

Quality may not be a priority here. Nonetheless, this novel cool dessert is a fun snack and enjoyable.

What's For Breakfast?

My girls wake up at 5:30am everyday.

For Cass, after drinking half a packet of Izumio hydrogen water first thing in the morning, she is already half full.  For breakfast, the girls can't stomach heavy food like sandwiches or eggs. They normally have biscuits, cakes, buns, Edamame beans or cereals.

 


Here's Cass eating mangosteens for breakfast. Like mother like daughter. She's quite a health freak too!  On some days, she will eat a handful of baked cashew nuts or drink a quarter cup of yoghurt drink. That's the most she can stomach at ungodly pre-dawn hours.

What do your kids have for breakfast?

Actions You Can Take for Family Safety

You've taken steps by installing an alarm system monitoring home entry ways and systems for fire and carbon monoxide. You can sleep easy knowing the alarm will sound if someone comes into your home or if your teenager tries to sneak out. Plus, you feel secure that you'll be awakened in plenty of time if a fire occurs or carbon monoxide creeps to high levels. But, depending on the region where you live, other natural disasters could take place. Your entire family needs to know what to do if such an event transpires, and to practice the routines. Just like with fires and the Stop, Drop, and Roll routine, there are measures you can take to prepare and practice for each one of nature's furies. Whatever the potential danger in your region may be, set up a location for family members to meet and a communication routine so everyone knows who is safe and who may need help.

Earthquakes
If you live in an identified high-risk earthquake zone, some preparations you can take include double securing anything in your home that could topple, like heavy bookshelves and wall hangings. Practice the Drop, Cover, and Hold on routine. Drop to your knees so you're not knocked down, Cover your head and neck, and Hold on to something sturdy.

Tornadoes
Weather services can predict severe storms with conditions that could produce tornadoes. Pay attention to watches and warnings and take them seriously. Have a predetermined safety area in your home to gather during any warnings. Practice getting to safest area of protection.

Hurricanes
Evacuation is recommended when a hurricane is predicted. The 5Ps make up an evacuation plan in order of importance: People; Prescriptions and medically necessary items; Papers, such as insurance, deeds, and social security cards stored and packed as hard copies or on portable thumb drives; Personal needs, such as cash and credit cards, water, food, clothing, and a first aid kit; Priceless items that cannot be replaced like photo and mementos. Having the items stored in a bag labeled for evacuation is the quickest way to get them to safety with you.

Other disasters include floods and wildfires that could hit any region, therefore, plans should be in place. By preparing and planning you have a better chance to keep your family safe.