We Need New Dining Table Chairs

I have been bugging hubby to replace our rickety 11-year old dining table chairs before either Alycia or Sherilyn falls off the chair again but hubby has always been so busy at work. The gals have had a couple of falls from the rickety dining table chairs when they tried climbing on it and the chair fell on them. The other day, we saw some nice dining table chairs that match our marble dining table but we did not buy them as they were expensive and were not on sale. We waited till today and still there is no sale on the chairs. If only there is a furniture store here that has discount furniture all year round like the Boyles Discount furniture stores, we don’t have to wait forever to get those dining chairs. I should really get hubby to buy those dining chairs now though there is no sale coz I don’t wish for another accident to happen to our gals.

We Need Another Digital Camera

Yesterday I had missed capturing so many beautiful moments of my 2 gals on the camera as hubby had taken my digital camera to snap pictures of his function. I told him that since the both of us need a digital camera in the course of our work, he should be getting another digital camera. There are so many shops offering year-end and holiday discounts on digital cameras now and a decent one with fairly good features only costs less than $200. I really hope he will get me one for Christmas!

Tomato A Natural Skin Moisturizer

Do you know that tomato juice can be used as a natural moisturizer and astringent for our skin? I was watching TV the other day and got this beauty tip from the Home and Health channel on Astro. All you have to do is to cut up a tomato, hold the outer part of the tomato, ie. the part with the skin with your hand and rub the inner part of the tomato onto your face and neck and leave the juice on for at least 15 minutes before washing it off with water. I tried it and true, my face felt so smooth and I don't even have to use expensive moisturizer on my face. Keep the remaining tomato in the fridge and use it on your face a few times a day.

Steamed Chicken With Salt, Ginger And Wine

Though this is a very simple dish, it is one of our all-time favorites. This chicken (preferably 'choy yuen kai' or farm bred chicken with no hormone jabs coz the meat is firmer and tastier) is steamed with salt, chinese cooking wine and slices of ginger and goes well with the minced ginger-garlic-spring onion sauce with olive oil and soya sauce.

Ingredients and method for steaming the chicken:

1) Mix the chicken well with 1 tbs of corn flour. The corn flour will make the chicken meat more tender and not rough. Some people don't like corn flour in the chicken but I prefer it as the meat is much more tender and easier for my 2 toddlers to chew and swallow.

2) Around 2 tbs of chinese cooking wine.

3) Rub chicken with salt.

4) Sliced ginger

5) Steam chicken for around 15-20 minutes.


Ingredients for sauce:

1) Garlic

2) Ginger

3) Spring onions

4) Olive oil

5) Soya sauce

You can blend the garlic, ginger and spring onions together or simply mince them.

What's For Lunch Today

My tummy is rumbling now. My maid is cooking fried vermicelli now and I have a pot of hot fried black beans and red beans soup with kampung chicken and red dates. Too bad I don't have a camera to snap a picture of the soup coz hubs took it today. This fried black bean and red bean soup is a very nutritious soup and I drank lots of them during my confinement. Black and red beans are a real good source of protein and iron. The black beans taste much better when pan fried in a wok without oil. My maid had fried the black beans yesterday and this morning, the house was filled with the aroma of the fried black bean soup. I shall make another pot of this soup next week and snap a picture of it and post it in my blog.

Thank You For Being My Friend

This mummy with 2 adorable kids from Canada gave me this award in appreciation of our new found friendship. Thank you Clumsy Mummy (sorry, I don't even know your name) for this little gift and I hope we will have a long and lasting friendship. I would love to pass this award to all the friends whom I have made ever since I started blogging in April this year. Some of you have always stood by me and have never failed to help me in times when I needed help the most. You know who you are and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Mandarin Enrichment Class

Last week Alycia’s Mandarin enrichment class teacher gave her a Mickey Mouse pencil. When she came home, she happily and excitedly showed me the pencil and asked me to sharpen the pencil for her. Then she quickly took out her Mandarin workbooks and started doing her homework without being told to. Little gift like this can really motivate a young child to work, amazing!

For Once

For once, hubby has just volunteered to babysit the gals without any complaints whilst I went downstairs to work on my computer. He will normally be watching TV and will complain when I ask him to put the gals to sleep. But just now, he was happily showing the gals the video that he shot at Alycia's 4th birthday party on Sunday. Now he is in the room sleeping with the gals. If only he could be this helpful and nice everyday.

Braised Arrowroot Chicken

This is one of my favorite dishes - braised arrowroot with chicken. The arrowroots taste much better with pork but because my maid can't eat pork, I made a little sacrifice and modified the dish with chicken.

Ingredients :
1) Chicken
2) 5 large size arrowroot or more (up to you how much you want to eat but please note that arrowroots are seasonal)
3) 3 cubes of 'Nam Yue' of fermented tofu which is red in color
4) Garlic and shallots
5) 5-spice powder
6) A dash of brown sugar
No need salt as the fermented tofu is already very salty


Method :
1) Marinate chicken with 5-spice powder and some pepper for at least 2-3 hours.
2) Stir-fry the garlic and shallots.
3) Add in the fermented red tofu.
4) Add in the chicken and pan-fry for at least 15-20 minutes until they turn brown and fragrant.
5) Add some water or chicken stock and cover for at least 15 minutes or until the arrowroots become soft.

Don't Plant Unnecessary Fear In Your Child

Last night was the 3rd night in 1 week that Sherilyn cried and screamed in her sleep. If you had followed my blog, you would have read that last week, she cried till she puked and caused a big mess in the bedroom. It was around 11:30pm and I was downstairs working on my PC and hubby was watching TV in our room when suddenly, we heard Sherilyn screaming and crying on top of her lungs. I got a real scare coz the cry was a painful one. Immediately, I ran upstairs to check on her. Hubby had also rushed into the gals room to comfort Sherilyn coz we knew that she has a tendency of puking each time she cries. It took a few minutes before she stopped crying. When she had calmed down, we asked her what she was scared of to which she replied sobbing “big bad wolf”. I then comforted her and told her that there is no big bad wolves in our house and reassured her that wolves are only found in the jungle. I then put her back to sleep and got down to continue working on my PC but within 10 minutes, she screamed and cried again. This time, I stopped working and put her to sleep and slept with her all night till 7am this morning.

The moral of the story is do not plant unnecessary fear into your child though it may be to prevent her from doing something dangerous. I’ve told hubby not to scare the gals with ‘big bad wolf’ anymore coz both Alycia and Sherilyn seem to be really terrified when we mention “the big bad wolf is coming to catch you!”. Good lesson learnt for the both of us.

Bee The Movie Toy

When daddy brought us to MacDonalds last week, he got the gals a Kids' Value Meal each. Inside was a Bee The Movie toy. The gals, especially Sherilyn was crazy over the toy as the bee can move after winding it at the back with a key.




Sherilyn brought the bee everywhere - to the dining table, the bathroom and even to bed but after a few days when the craze has subsided, the toy is now dumped in our Toyogo toy box.

Alycia's Birthday Lunch at Pavillion

Yesterday when I asked Alycia where she'd like to have for her birthday lunch, without any second thoughts, she said "I want to eat spaghetti at Delicious". Today, daddy had wanted to bring us to Delicious at Bangsar Village but we diverted to Pavillion instead as we remembered that Delicious is always packed to the brim during lunch time, even during week days.

Daddy brought us to the world famous Tony Roma's beef rib restaurant @ Pavillion. This restaurant that specializes in beef ribs has outlets worldwide from Europe to America, Mexico, Saipan, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and currently, there is only one outlet in KL and it's at Pavillion.

We ordered :

3 bowls of seafood chowder soup that come with a packet of very tasty crackers with each bowl. There was also a basket of hot french bread accompanied with a very tasty chunk of garlic butter. Sherilyn did not eat any of the food there except for all 3 packets of the crackers and her good old cereal.


A club salad - when the waiter served us the salad, we were all gob-smacked with the humungous size of the salad. It was so large that we could not even finish half of it and had to pack the remaining salad home.


Ribbon pasta with roasted chicken breast. The portion was very big and we also could not finish even half of it. We didn't know it was spicy (lots of black pepper) so the gals could not eat it. Also packed the remaining portion home.


Roma's beef ribs. Though the portion was big but hubby and I could not get enough of these very tasty and very tender ribs. Next time, we will order the large size ribs. Alycia only ate the mashed potatoes and some crackers.

Roma's beef burger.


Alycia did not eat much as she could not stomach the spicy ribbon pasta. Instead, daddy bought her something else after lunch.

Hop on to my other blog to see what's next......

Happy 4th Birthday Alycia

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY TO YOU, MY DEAREST PRECIOUS BABY, ALYCIA

4 years ago at around this time, daddy was on his way driving mummy and granny to Sunway Medical Centre. It was the day that mummy, daddy and your grandparents had been waiting for for many years. Mummy was all jittery and anxious as she just couldn't wait to see you and hold you in her arms. Mummy had gone through so much pain, heartache, hardship and emotional roller coaster rides just to conceive you and carry you to the 38th week.

Mummy could still remember very vividly every single hour that ticked away in the hospital whilst waiting for your arrival. At 12:30pm, mummy was finally wheeled into the OT. She was shivering as she lay bare on a stainless steel operating table in the room which was freezing cold. The anesthesiologist, Dr PK Wong then administered the spinal cord anesthetic into mummy's spinal cord. It was really painful and long but mummy endured.

When Dr Jason Lim came in, mummy got really excited but terribly terrified. Mummy could feel Dr Jason cutting her up but she could not feel any pain. She could only feel movements on her numbed body and as the doctor cut her up deeper, she could feel that there were a lot of movements going on at her belly area. Mummy was shivering and her teeth were clattering due to the effects of the epidural and also the fear in her. Mummy's body and face were itching terribly, also due to the effects of the epidural.

As Dr Jason was trying to bring you out from mummy's womb, he told mummy that you had already poo pooed inside. Oh dear, thank God mummy had listened to Dr Jason and went ahead to deliver you 2 weeks earlier via elective c-section, else you would have eaten your own poop and gotten sick!

Minutes later, mummy heard a weak wail and the anesthesiologist said "you've got a chubby and fair baby girl. What have you been feeding her with?" He then brought you over to mummy and there you were winking at mummy with your cheeky looks. Your face was as white as snow and you were oh so chubby, the most beautiful baby mummy had ever seen. Daddy began snapping your pix.

When mummy was wheeled back to her ward, the nurse brought you in. As she was walking in, she said "your baby has blond hair!" When daddy, mummy and granny took a closer look at you, indeed we saw streaks of blond hair. You were so terribly fair. You then opened your beautiful eyes and everyone's heart melted. You have big eyes with double eye lids and you have the 2 sweetest dimples on your cheeks too. Everyone who saw you commended on how beautiful you were. Mummy was beaming with pride and joy. The years of going through infertility treatments to have you were all worth it. The 38 weeks of sufferings and worries that mummy went through were all worth it.

Alycia, you are indeed mummy and daddy's pride and joy. Happy 4th birthday to you and we love you very much!

What Is This?

Is this a savoury pizza, tosei, chapati or what? Find out what it is at my other blog.

No Proper Meals

When Sherilyn took close to an hour to swallow 2 teaspoons of rice with fish during dinner several days ago, I knew there's just no point forcing her to eat something which she doesn't like to eat. I then fixed her cereal, which is her favorite. After a few spoonfulls of cereal, she puked! As she had practically no solid food in her tummy the whole day (she also did not finish her lunch), I decided to open up a box of rice bubbles. When she saw me pouring out the rice bubbles into her bowl, she screamed "put some milk too!". I then poured some cool Marigold HL milk into her bowl of rice bubbles and within 15 minutes, she chomped it down without any fuss or hassle. As she ate, she kept saying "very nice, I like it"!


Sherilyn enjoying every bit of her rice bubbles and touched none of the other food on the table.

Future Basketballers

This is another birthday pressie that Alycia received, a toy basketball net. The gals have been practising their shooting skills day and night. Very soon, they can join daddy in his basketball games and matches. Daddy is an avid basketball player and he plays basketball almost everyday after work.

Sherilyn The Little Terrorizer

This drum was one of Alycia's birthday pressies and one of Alycia's favorites too coz she just loves drums. But the drum did not even survive for one day coz Sherilyn the little terrorizer stepped on the top of the drum that is made of a thin plastic sheet. When Alycia saw the top of the drum dented, she was really upset and furious with Sherilyn. She kept scolding her and snatched Sher's toys away to vent out her frustration. Luckily daddy the handyman knew how to fix the top of the drum. He used a screwdriver to unscrew all the screws and placed the tiny plastic sheet back in place. And Sher the terrorizer got a stern warning from daddy and mummy!

Alycia's Birthday Pressies

These are just some of the pressies that Alycia received from daddy and mummy's friends who attended her 4th birthday party on Sunday. There were still many party packs left and the gals are having a swell time blowing the party whistles and party horns the whole day. I just can't stand the sound of the party horns - it's loud and irritating! The gals also made kakak inflate all the balloons for them.

Nicholas Tse and Cecilia Cheung's Baby Lucas

My cousin sent me these pictures. Who do you think baby Lucas look like? Hard to see right now but he is definitely cute!

These wealthy superstars even celebrate their baby's 100th day of birth. I wonder if they celebrate and publicize their baby's day of birth every 100 days!

Baby Lucas with daddy - superstar Nicholas Tse, mummy - superstar Cecilia Cheung, grandpa - legendary actor Patrick Tse Yin and who's the young pretty chick there? Is she Nicholas' sister?

Maid Story - Part 3

When hubby asked our maid if she wants to leave the house with her boyfriend, our sobbing maid said 'no'. Hubby who was really mad with our maid told her that if she wants to continue working for us till mid Jan 08, she'd better behave herself and stop giving us problems. I've never seen hubby this angry with this maid or our previous maids before. I know he was really worried that history would repeat itself when she brings her Nepalese boyfriend (whom she barely knows) home to sleep. We had overly trusted our previous maids but they had really disappointed us when they sneaked out to meet their boyfriends in the wee hours of the morning leaving our house door wide open. The worse was when they brought their boyfriends (construction workers) back to our house, men whom they barely knew themselves. What if those men were really bad? They could have harmed us and thinking back, I did not even lock my room door at night.

After I had asked hubby to tone down and to stop pursuing the matter, we all went to the park. Our maid felt much better when I bought her the lip balm that she had wanted to buy earlier. At least she felt reassured that we will not ask her to leave anymore. During dinner time when hubby had cooled down, he started to talk with our maid and joked with her a little.

Later at night when I was in my bedroom with my maid and the gals, my maid asked me why 'sir' was so angry with her. I then told her the reason - about her breaking her contract of service and our bad encounter with our previous maids. I also told her that I did not like her showing her tantrum when she slammed the door and stormed upstairs. We had a heart to heart talk and this managed to cheer her up a bit.

It's really not easy keeping a maid, both financially and emotionally. If I have a choice, I would not want to have a live-in maid anymore.