Fluffed Cafe & Dessert Bar

I am surprised, very surprised with Cass' position for her first term exam.  Despite putting in only 30% effort in her revision and me putting in 70% effort in encouraging, guiding and pushing her, this laid-back little brat managed to emerge no. 18 in class and no. 19 in the entire Primary 4 consisting of over 200 students.  This is not my ideal position for her.  Her grades are not up to my standard this time.  My ideal position is top 10 in the entire standard but what more can I ask for from this brat who just wasn't in the right mood to study for an exam after a half-year break from exams?  This brat has mood swings like someone going through PMS. She has to work extra hard for her mid-year exam in July and extremely hard for her final exam in October to remain in this class or she will be kicked out.

This said, even if Cass fails to remain in this class, I think I will be ready to let go. By letting go, I am letting go a big burden off my shoulders that I have carried for 3 years. Oh well, a child has to be a child and should have  more time for play and outdoor activities. With a new Education Minister on board the new Government, I am hoping for a revamp in our current crazy education system, which is treating school kids like guinea pigs with systems that keep changing resulting in syllabus that only gets tougher with each change, not to mention school bags that are heavier than the kid.  Thus, this is the reason why many parents have opted to send their children to international schools and private learning centers (home-school). I may do the same for Cass when it's her turn to go to high school but if Dr M M our new Education Minister and his team has something really promising in store, then I may change my mind.

Ok enough of boring academic talk and now on foodie talk!

On Sunday, after a heavy lunch at Gold Dragon City Seafood Restaurant @ Paramaount, PJ, we segued into Fluffed Cafe & Dessert Bar.

For the foodie hubs, a perfect Sunday means digging into a sumptuous lunch followed by coffee and cakes before he shoots off to his weekly basketball match at the Bukit Kiara Club.




This cafe makes much of its fare in its kitchen, including ice cream with flavours such as macadamia crumble, strawberry cheesecake, lavender blueberry and hokey pokey honeycomb.  Their range of whimsical cakes and latte are pretty impressive, thus there is always a crowd on weekends, patronized mostly by millenials.

The waffle that the girls ordered was very delightful but I think the smell of the lavender in the lavender blueberry ice-cream is a tad overpowering. It tastes like my lavender essential oil, which I add into my DIY personal care and skin care products 😂.







The cakes are more for the girls. I just had one mouthful of the cheesecake and waffle and kept myself busy with photography. I can't afford to stuff in more carbs and empty calories into my 45- year old body anymore.


Fluffed Cafe And Dessert Bar
55, Jalan 20/7, Taman Paramount,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Tues-Sun, 12pm-10pm.
Tel: 03-7865 1833

Low-Carb Light Meals

I am a regular at the 'chap fan' (economy rice) stall at our neighborhood coffee shop. Drama Queen and I have our brunches there at least thrice a week. Each time I am seated at the table tucking into my dishes, surely one of the stall vendors will comment on my food. They can't believe the amount of food that's on my plate, which is a measly portion of dishes sans any rice and big chunks of meat. As I grow older by the year, I tend to get repulsed by the sight of big chunks of meat of all kinds. It's as if my inner body is trying to tell me not to put that stuff into it.  My tummy can't store too much food either as I have a pretty small stomach.

Here's what I had two days ago:


A scoop of steamed egg, a scoop of blanched ladies fingers with garlic, sambal minced pork with onions and fish paste with salted egg yolk sauce; a bowl of sugar-reduced red bean tong sui for more protein, iron and fiber boost.


And this was what Drama Queen had:


Fried chicken with sesame seeds, braised brinjal with minced pork, sauteed long beans, fish paste with salted egg yolk and sambal minced pork on a big plate of rice. Both Drama Queen and Cass eat way more than I do and I am always  amazed with how much food their stomach can store! It's unfair that they have flat tummies and mine is bulging!

I have stopped eating rice for 18 years now. It was in the year 2000 after my diagnosis  of having PCOS that I did an extensive research on PCOS and learned that it is an insulin-resistance disorder. A low-carb diet with exercise to reduce insulin levels is ideal for reversing PCOS. And it's proven. My years of staving off high-carb food with daily exercise have helped reversed this disorder 💪🙏

Weekend (19 - 20 May 2018)

Last week, I had quite an eventful weekend. Papa and mummy were in KL to visit.  Papa drove to KL. I always get the heebie-jeebies each time he drives to KL from Ipoh. He is 75 years old this year and starting to get a tad absent-minded, according to mummy. Other than that, papa is a sprightly 75-year old who walks an hour every morning with his morning walk pals, cooks fantastic dishes, makes the best kaya (coconut jam) in the world and is a politician wannabe. He can jaw away and get all hyped up just talking about politics 😁  Speaking of politics, my late paternal grandfather was an Independent Assemblyman in Cameron Highlands in the 1960s and awarded a Justice of Peace title. I remember seeing a JP plate affixed to his Merz each time he visited us.

After viewing pictures of Tun Mahathir, our 93-year old Prime Minister (and also the oldest PM in the world) driving around Putrajaya in his humble Proton Perdana, I take comfort that 93 years old ain't that old after all. Hitting 93 years old can just be the new age for pre-retirement now! And 90 plus is the new age where your expertise and prowess are still much sought after. Think Robert Kuok too.  So, papa driving long distances on the highway at 75 years old is still pretty acceptable.  I hope I can still drive around at 75 or even at 90, if I am blessed to live this long la...This, I leave it in the lap of my heavenly Father.

Dinner on Saturday was at Coco Steamboat @ Old Klang Road:




We waited quite a bit for the soup to boil and only found out much later that the induction cooker was inadvertently turned off. The girls were famished. They couldn't wait to scarf down the food, as can be seen here:

Ready... get set... attack!!


The moment the lid was removed, they attacked the food like piranhas 😅

Brunch on Sunday was dimsum at Grand Harbour:





After brunch, we segued into VCR Cafe, Bukit Bintang for coffee and cakes of course:



Gentlemen - royal vs. the common
Papa with mummy and the mil; Prince Charles with his wife and Meghan Markle's mum:



Sunday, 20 May 2018 marks an important date for me. My daughters are finally baptized.  My parents and the girls' grandaunt were there to witness the ceremony in church.




Me, the girls and their grandaunt.


Papa and mummy left for KL on Monday. It will be another 3 weeks before we see them again in Ipoh.  In a week's time, they will be touring Eastern Europe with my younger brother.

Wednesday, 16 May 2018 ~ Teacher's Day

I had a quick breakfast this morning before I popped by at the stall to collect my pre-order Mee Siam to send it to Cass in school for a Teacher's Day party at 10:15 a.m.  The hubs would usually get his chef to cook fried rice or spaghetti for Cass' school parties but his chef is on compassionate leave this week.

Breakfast was a hard boiled free-range chicken egg with raw organic cabbage, drizzled with my favorite Creamy Parmesan Caesar Dressing Fit For A King Like Uncle Jeff from Beerenberg Farm Australia. Such a long name for a salad dressing eh? But the ingredients ain't long, else I wouldn't have bought it.

Also gulped down a packet of Ningxia Red from Young Living for my immunity boosting and eye power.



Today I was feeling hungrier than usual, thanks to my Aunt Flow.  After the cabbage salad and egg, I still felt hungry, so walloped half a bowl of  corn flakes with granola and pistachios drizzled with extra virgin coconut oil and gula Melaka syrup. I don't like milk in my cereals.  I like eating my cereals crunchy.





After sending the Mee Siam to Cass in school, Drama Queen and I had an early lunch of economy rice. My pick today was a piece of fried fish with ginger slices, blanched lady's fingers with garlic and brinjal. Zero rice.  My carbs came from a bowl of red bean and mung bean sweet soup (reduced sugar).

I raised my eyebrow when Drama Queen showed me her plate of rice. I asked her why didn't she choose a green vegetable and her reply was "brinjal is a vegetable!"

NO, brinjal is NOT a vegetable! It's a fruit!

Bet many of you don't know this eh?


After lunch, I walked to a nearby stall to buy fruits. Then Drama Queen had a brainwave. She asked me if she could give fruits to her class teacher for Teacher's Day instead of chocolates and I said "why not?" It's an excellent choice and I am pretty sure that her teacher would prefer to receive fruits vs chocolates.


Drama Queen's pick was maroon dragon fruit and mango. Back home, she ransacked grandma's cake-making drawer and fished out a pretty cake box that grandma bought from Taiwan to put the fruits.






Hopefully Drama Queen's teacher likes the gift, as much as we do.

Lunch on Election Day - 9 May 2018

The month of May has always not been a good month for me.  Now that I mention, I just remembered that 9 years ago in the month of May, Cass and I went through 3 weeks of nightmarish stay at GMC Penang. She went through a complicated Uretheral Reimplantation surgery which ran into complications and was operated again 2 weeks later, after umpteen X-rays, CT Scan and other scans failed to pick up the cause of her persistent vomiting and bloating. Her surgeon did an emergency operation and found a kink at the end of her guts. 

It was also in May 2008 when Cass was a mere 3 weeks old infant that she got her very first UTI attack and was hospitalized. That day was the beginning of my long and arduous journey with my baby, who was later diagnosed as having Grade 3 Right Kidney Reflux with a duplex right kidney.

Last year on 31st May, I went for a Laproscopic Myomectomy surgery to remove a fibroid from my uterus.  3 years ago in May, I went for a nightmarish tooth extraction, which was my worst ever tooth extraction experience.  Even on my wedding day on 27 May 2000, things did not go smoothly.  On the hotel wedding dinner night, I had left my wedding bouquet in the hotel room and we paraded into the banquet hall without holding the flowers! Hah! 

But I believe that when you think of only positive things you attract positive vibes. When you are closer in your walk with God, things will be right. This year, things are still pretty smooth in the month of May *keeping my fingers crossed* and I'm praying hard to God for his continued blessings and protection. 

In the early morning of 10 May 2018, the entire Malaysia rejoiced when the Opposition Party won the General Election. This year's May is by far the happiest for me. Waking up knowing that I have our former PM (who is the PM I grew up knowing) as your current PM is one of the best feelings ever.

On the Election day, after a hot morning queuing up for our turn to cast our vote, we adjourned to our good friend, Alan Yun's restaurant (Limapulo) for Nyonya food.  Alan and us went to the polling center together and had lunch together at his restaurant.  I always look forward to going to Limapulo to tuck into all my favorite Nyonya delights. No where in the heart of KL can you find such tasty Nyonya food at Limapulo's affordable prices in an air-conditioned restaurant. Thus, there's always a crowd during lunch time. 















Sweet endings with Ice Kacang (left) and Sago Pudding with shaved ice and gula Melaka (right).


Limapulo (Baba Can Cook)

Address	50, Jalan Doraisamy, 53000 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Phone	03-2698 3268

GE14

I voted for the first time at the GE14 on 9 May 2018. This day will forever be etched in my memory, as well as my three daughters' for they have witnessed not only a Malaysia history made but world history as well. Soon they will have to study this historical event in their Sejarah text books.

We reached the polling centre at 9-ish a.m. on the polling day.  As expected, there was already a HUGE crowd and long beeline from inside the school to the road outside the school. Not wanting to join in the queue blindly without first asking, I tramped straight to one of the police on duty and asked him where I should go.  Smart me for asking 😀 The police told me to check what 'saluran' (or stream) I was given and smart me again, I checked my polling details which I had printed at home and told the police that it's no. 7.  He told me to go straight to the 2nd floor. Those who do not know their 'saluran' would be joining in the long beeline outside the school with the merciless sun grilling them.




The entire building from the 1st floor right up to the 3rd floor was filled with people. There was hardly any space to walk!!  I was worried that the building (over 30 years old at least) would collapse!  I saw a lady in her 60s sitting on the steps of the stairs and she was shaking and on the verge of fainting. I joined in the long queue, prepared to wait for at least 1-2 hours.  My bladder was  full and I was thirsty but I persevered and continued queuing.

Though we were queuing up at the corridor of the classroom, it was SUPER HOT!!  The sun was torching directly at us. We were all suffocating there. Everyone was sweaty. The corridor was so squeazy that we were touching each other's sweaty arms. As more voters came and jammed the narrow corridor even more by the minute, it got stuffier. I couldn't wait for my turn to reach the classroom!



After over an hour of queuing, it was finally my turn to cast my vote. I was SO excited! The whole process from checking my IC to checking my hands, dipping my finger and casting my vote was under 3 minutes.

This is what we Malaysians did to fulfill our duty and to seek a change, a new Malaysia!




The nerve-racking moment started after 5pm on 9 May 2018, right up to 10-ish p.m. on 10 May 2018.  For 29 hours, the entire Malaysia waited and waited ~ first on which Party was leading. My girls refused to go to bed and insisted on waiting for the results with their dad.  The hubs only slept at 3:30 a.m. when the results were announced.  When it was finally announced that PH had won and our beloved Tun Dr Mahathir would be the 7th PM of Malaysia, words could not explain how happy I was.

From something that was deemed IMPOSSIBLE, we Malaysians united by putting race and differences aside to make it POSSIBLE.  TDM was the only PM that I knew of when I was growing up. From Proton to Wawasan 2020, KLCC, KL Towers, KLIA, among others, I watched and grew up with so many firsts under TDM's dynamic leadership.  I was then proud to be a Malaysian with him as the leader until...  and now I am proud once again to be one. And I'm glad that now I am no longer anti-government but have switched camp to pro-government!💓

And it was worth the wait and sleepless night...




One of the happiest and proudest moments in my life was when I witnessed TDM swearing in as the PM at the Palace in the King's presence. My entire family watched this momentous event online at home. Everyone, including our girls rejoiced, after a long and arduous wait. FINALLY!!





Ok, let this sink in:
Tun Dr Mahathir is back ~ the oldest PM in the world.
Dr Wan Azizah is first ever female DPM.
We have a fresh new Government.
We've created history.


The face that was once torn off billboards is now pasted on billboards, classrooms, offices and government offices.



TDM has created world history by being the world's oldest Prime Minister at 92 (turning 93 in July).  Witty and with a mind as sharp as razor, I wish this remarkable man "Long Live Mahathir".   Can't thank you enough for abolishing the GST and bringing down the price of petrol 💓

Rapunzel's Hair Cut

It is SO difficult to convince Cass to have her long bushy hair trimmed! She was never been this vain before nor did she love her hair this much when she was younger. Plus her hair was so much easier to manage when she was a baby / toddler. Lately, Cass seems to be very protective of her precious tresses. She affirmed many times that she wanted her hair to reach her butt before she would agree to trim just an inch. That's insane for someone who has to wash her hair 1-2x a day! It's a torture having to comb and detangle her hair every single day, especially in the rush hours of the morning, having to tie her hair into a bun before she goes to school. It took me a long time to convince her to go to the hair salon to cut just one inch of her hair.


For the easy peasy job which took the hair stylist a mere 10 minutes to execute, it cost me RM20! I tried trimming Cass' hair myself some time last year and Oh. My. Gawd. it was stressful! The amount of complaints shot to my ears plus a few days of snubbing me, I told her that I will never ever trim her hair again.

STAY CALM AND READ A BOOK ~ this was what I told Cass to do to take her mind off her hair while the hair stylist was at it 😁

Labour Day Holiday ~ 1 May 2018

My baby and toddler caring days are long over. I thought that as the girls are older now, I can slowly regain my freedom and some sanity.  But NO.  In the march of time, I realize that I am more and more consumed by the lack of sleep and jadedness. The girls have more activities now as teenagers than when they were younger and this does not mean that I have more time to myself. This means that I have lesser sleep and time to myself. And busier than ever too, as I am the one who has to wake up early and do most of the chauffeuring.

On Labour Day today, I had to force myself to jump out of bed at 6:30 a.m. to get Drama Queen ready before she leaves the house at 7:30 a.m..  She has Taekwondo grading at a school in Puchong. Darn the TKWD instructor who always conducts replacement classes and grading at this school in Puchong 👿 Had I known  about this earlier, I would not have allowed Drama Queen to join TKWD. I feel like I got cheated into signing up for something without being told fully what to expect. He should have told me earlier about this.  If traffic is clear, it takes 20 - 30 minutes to reach the school and I find it extremely inconvenient to have to drive so far. To begin with, my sense of direction sucks and I don't have an hour to waste on the road.

Thank God the hubs was willing to do the chauffeuring today. I stayed home to do some chores as our part-time helper isn't coming today.

Since it's a public holiday, the hubs decided to venture to the city center to tuck into our favorite kai see hor fun (shredded chicken noodles) at Wat Kai Fan (Kwong Kei) located along Jalan San Peng.

This kai see hor fun is by far the best that we've discovered (since 3 years ago) in the Klang Valley. It comes pretty close to the ones from our hometown of Ipoh.  For an Ipoh mali to comment that this dish is good, it has to be true.  Taste and texture aside, my only beef is that everything is too oily for my preference.  And comfort and hygiene  are not up to my standard ~ but that's besides the point and is often expected from a road side stall. Be prepared to sweat it out and sit on hawker style chairs and oily tables.  I have something to confess ~  I washed all the chopsticks, spoons and bowls at the sink before using them 😆




The steamed egg is silky smooth but again, too oily for my health freak palate.  Chicken feet are not my kinda food ~ the mil and hubs chowed them all down.  I find them too yucky looking and from a post-fibroid patient's perspective, I am avoiding collagen-rich food.



The chicken feet in the picture below look creepy and sinister! 😱  Sorry for the snub remarks on chicken feet to all my dear readers who are fans of chicken feet 😬









Since there's no helper around today, we ordered takeaway Capati and yummy curries from Capati Tiger Jit Singh, a stall that's just next to the chicken noodles stall.

It looks like I can only enjoy my hunky-dory days traipsing the world (like my parents now) and waking up at whatever time my body feels like it in at least another 12 years. That seems like a very long time to come but I am certain that those days shall be mine to claim. 😊