Merry X'mas To All!

We spent our X'mas day at Mid Valley Megamall after church service today. Read more about our X'mas day here.

How was your X'mas day? Hope you all had a swell time having your reunion with your family and loved ones. Did you have any stuffed roast turkey this year? This is the only year that we did not get to eat turkey coz they are freaking expensive this year. Moreover, we don't really fancy turkey as we find the meat a tad tough and bland. Why pay through the nose for something that we don't really enjoy right? Anyway, here's wishing everyone a very Merry X'mas!

Pregnancy Worries

Reading stories about unlucky couples with deformed babies and sick babies make me sick with worries. This morning, I read about this 18-month old baby with both kidneys that are damaged and his parents need more than RM70k for his kidney transplant in India. Later in the afternoon, I received the latest copy of my Reader's Digest and had read the story about a baby boy (who has a twin sister) born without any eyes. Though his mother had done an Amniocentesis during her pregnancy and the test showed that she would be having 2 healthy babies, the baby still turned out with deformed eyes. Whenever I turn on the TV, there are always documentaries on babies with some form of deformities. The latest one I had watched was about a baby girl born without a chin. Both the parents were very good looking and it is just so sad looking at their baby girl who can't eat, talk, smile or make any facial gestures as she did not have a chin. Worrying about my unborn baby is something that I hate to do, yet I can't help but worry once in a while.

Not Much Mood To Blog

Woke up this morning feeling really sleepy and tired though I had 7 hours of sleep last night. I still have a 6 more outstanding tasks to complete before they expire and I keep getting emails from the advertiser reminding me to complete my assignments. I am just forcing my brain to work, forcing my eyes to open and forcing my hands to move. Feel like doing nothing but just lie down on the couch and sleep or watch TV. Funny though, when I have more than 20 outstanding assignments and offers pouring out to me left, right and center, I don't feel this way. Maybe I am just feeling demotivated that the last few days have been really dry and not getting many offers. It's the holiday season anyway and I just have to wait till the end of next week to get offers again.

Curiosity Killed The Cat

Ever since the X'mas tree was set up, Sherilyn, the one with the itchiest hands and one who is the most curious has broken 4 baubles as well as the star on the top of the X'mas tree. We don't normally light up the X'mas tree but one morning a few days ago, I turned on the lights and when the gals came down after they had woken up, they ran to the tree in delight. Sherilyn pulled out a bauble from the tree and it dropped on the floor and broke into pieces.


Sharp pieces of the plastic bauble were scattered everywhere. I was fuming as I had warned the gals endless times not to pull out anymore baubles or ornaments from the tree but as usual, they always seem deaf to my warnings.



When I walked to the X'mas tree, Sherilyn looked up at me with this guilt-stricken look on her face. When I saw that look on her face, the fire in my heart doused off instantly but still I reprimanded her. She kept quiet and was on the verge of crying (which is very rare as this brat is normally one tough cookie who even laughs when hit with a cane). Her eyes turned red and lips drooped and trembled. Again, she had succeeded in her plot to defuse the anger in mummy. She hugged my legs and I hugged her back.

It's Snowing At Mid Valley Megamall

Want to experience snow falling in KL? Hop on to Mid Valley Megamall. We were there on Thursday and the X'mas atmosphere was awesome. There were 4 snow maker machines from the top floor that shot out real snow. It really felt like a white x'mas. There was also a Santa Clause and elves for you to take pix with. It was Alycia's and Sherilyn's first experience with snow.



Wah.... mummy.... snow falling from the sky!

I Feel Obese!

My brother and sil came from Singapore today and we celebrated my brother's birthday at PJ Hilton. I didn't eat a lot but definitely more than what I usually eat and I feel so bloated now. Only drank some chicken watercress soup and nibbled on my gals' french toast with cheese for dinner. I can now feel my boobs touching my belly when I sit and slouch and it feels awful. I feel obese! I feel really fat each time I am preggers though I didn't really put on much weight. That's the problem with a severly self-conscious vain-pot who is a health and fitness freak!

I Can Go Nuts Over Nuts

These days I can't eat much, especially meat and sweet stuff. On some days when I have totally no appetite to eat anything for breakfast, I will just nibble on nuts and a glass of milk. These nuts can keep me full till 10am when I have another light breakfast with the gals where I will much on some fruits and crackers and share a hard-boiled egg with Alycia. Alycia only eats the egg white and I always wallop the egg yolk.


Walnuts, pecan nuts, macademia nuts, hazelnuts and almonds - I just love these nuts.

X'mas Pressies

We received a huge parcel from Hong Kong several days ago. When I ripped open the box, the gals were so happy to see X'mas pressies for them from koo mah. They received some coloring books, a Happy Feet UNO cards and a beautiful octagon shaped box containing strawberry flavored cookies from HK Disneyland.



The glee and excitement were all shown on Alycia's face when she saw the coloring and activity books.


There was also a pretty pink Harrods bag.

Thanks koo mah for all the pressies!

Sooooo Many Toppings For Our Teppanyaki Ice-Cream

This is the display of close to a hundred types of toppings for our Teppanyaki ice-cream at the Latest Recipe Coffee House @ Le Meridien Hotel. When I saw this display, my jaw almost dropped.... just kidding..... well my saliva dropped actually, LOL! There were roasted pecan nuts, hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, almond nibs, almond slices, peanuts, pistachios, wafers, wafer rolls, marshmallows, jelly beans, M&Ms, dried fruits, cookies, crackers and the list goes. I bet no one can resist the myriad of goodies stored attractively in this casing.

Cha Soba

Cooked organic Cha Soba (Japanese green tea noodles) for the gals yesterday. Added some crab sticks, fried eggs (cut into strips), Japanese seaweed (cut into strips) and organic lettuce. Soup used was chicken, watercress, honey dates, carrots and 'loh hon koa'. The gals loved the noodles but didn't like the crab sticks. Next time, I should just stick to homemade fish balls.

Stuffing Myself With Stuffed Stuff

Several weeks ago, I had told the gals' former nanny that I was craving to eat her 'yeong tau fu' or stuffed tofu and stuffed vegetables with homemade fish paste. Several days ago, she finally made a big batch of stuffed bitter gourd, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed puffed tofu, stuffed beancurd sheet and fish balls, all stuffed with her homemade fish paste. They tasted sooooo good and all of us enjoyed them. She made so much till we had some leftover for the next day. I can never get fed up of eating this dish and I can't wait for her to make the next batch.

Explore and Experiment

2 very curious toddlers exploring and experimenting their blue glasses. They were intrigued when everything that they saw through their blue glass 'turned blue' and asked why. I explained to them that if the glass is red, everything that they see will also turn red. That's how kids learn - by exploring, experimenting and asking questions.

Sherilyn, The One With Lots Of Artful Ideas

Sherilyn's latest tactic to melt my heart whenever I scold her is she will say "mummy, I love baby" as she points to my belly. She knows mummy's cold heart will surely melt when she says that. When I ignore her (though my heart has already melted), she will smack her lips loudly as if making a kissing sound and then 'throws' the kiss to my belly with her hand (as if to kiss the baby). This cunning little rascal is full of artful ideas that can really melt the coldest of hearts.

Teppanyaki Ice-Cream

This is not a run-of-the-mill cup of ice-cream. It's a mixture of green tea ice-cream with vanilla ice-cream, pistachios, peanuts and almonds all mixed and mashed on a flat hot-plate, though it's without any heat. It's a teppanyaki ice-cream. Hop on to my other blog to see how the chef 'cooks' this teppanyaki ice-cream!

Gai Gai Day For Us

Since it's a public holiday today, daddy is bringing us gai gai to Mid Valley. We still haven't done our x'mas shopping yet and there will be lots to buy. Just hope we will be able to get a place to park and the crowd will not be crazy. I just hate crowds and queuing up for everything - queue up to eat, queue up to use washrooms, queue up for fitting rooms, queue up to pay, crazy! I also have phobia of loosing my kids in crowds....knock on wood!! I better hold on tight to my gals today. Also better let Sherilyn wear a pull-up diaper pants coz she may not be able to hold her bladder for long whilst queuing up to use the loo. Ok, gotta get the gals ready to go out. Updates later......

How To Make Fish Paste

A few of my readers have asked me how to make fish paste several months ago. I don't normally make them myself as the gals' former nanny would make them for us but since she's been busy lately, I decided to make them myself coz fish balls is the ONLY meat Miss Spitty Spat fussy-pot Sherilyn would eat. I don't like her to be eating fish balls bought from supermarkets as they are loaded with salt, MSG, acid boric and maybe food coloring.

Here it goes :

First, debone the fish meat with a sharp kitchen knife. You can buy 'kau yue' or ikan parang from the market. Not sure what it's called in English though - mackeral??

Then, chop and pound the fish meat till it's smooth. Pour a little salt in a small bowl and dissolve it with some water. Mix the salt water evenly into the fist paste.
Then, break an egg - take only the egg WHITE and beat it up. Pour the egg white mixture evenly into the fish paste. Sprinkle some pepper evenly on the fish paste.

To make the fish paste texture 'bouncy', 'throw' the entire lump of fish paste meat repeatedly on the chopping board. That's what my late maternal grandma used to do and her fish balls are oh so bouncy and chewy.

When the fish paste is smooth, keep them in small containers in the freezer.

Easy peasy right? I am sure toddlers will LOVE these homemade and food additives-free fish balls and fish cakes (fried fish paste which tastes heavenly!).

And DON'T throw the fish bones and fish head away. Boil them with some water, tomatoes and some slices of ginger. The soup is REALLY tasty and sweet! Hop on to my other blog to have a look at the fish soup.

20 Interesting Questions Tag

Got this long tag from a pretty and young mum.

Instructions:

Remove 1 question from below, and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8 people in your list, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them in their chat box that he/she has been tagged. Whoever does the tag will have blessings from all.

1) Do you like rainy or sunny days? - Rainy days.

2) At what age do you wish to marry? - 25 yo.

3) What colour do you like the most? - Pink

4) If you have the chance, what would you probably say to your beloved one? - Beloved one meaning kids, parents, hubby? Well, I would tell them I love them all very much.

5) Where is the place that you want to go the most? - A romantic holiday resort at a beach

6) Which part of you that you hate the most? - It has got to be my varicose veins infested left thigh!

7) When you encounter a sad moment, what would you do? I try not to break down and put up a strong front.

8) What are you afraid to lose the most? - All my loved ones.

9) If you win $1 million, what would you do? - Keep for my kids' education, travel, charity, shop, shop and shop.

10) If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her? Or would you keep it to yourself and observe from afar? - I'll wait for him to confess to me first.

11) List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you. - very smart, writes well and pretty.

12) What are the requirements that you wish for your other half? - to be more patient with me, more practical in some of the things he does and to be more thrifty.

13) Till now, what is the moment that you regret the most? - I don't like to cry over spilt milk.

14) Which type of person do you hate the most? - a person who gloats and keeps blowing his/her own trumpet to the extent of belittling other people.

15) What is your ambition? - to see all my kids get a degree and be successful and happy.

16) What is the thing that will make you think he/she is bad? - The way she/he thinks and talks.

17) Christmas is coming, who do you like to celebrate with? - loved ones.

18) What do you think is the most important thing in your life? - First good health, second money

19) What brand of toothbrush do you use?- Oral B

20) My question : When was the last time your hubby gave you a kiss?

Only tagging 3 people :

1) Barbara
2) Wen
3) Hui Sia

Sunday School Teachers

On Sunday, Alycia and Sherilyn received a x'mas pressie each from their sunday school teachers. Sherilyn got a Barney magnetic board and Alycia got a Barney pencil box. Too bad their sunday school teachers won't be teaching them anymore as they will be leaving for Singapore to work early next year. This young couple who recently got hitched have invited all the kids from sunday school to their beautiful house at Sierramas to have a poolside farewell party cum x'mas party this Saturday.

Sunday school won't be the same anymore without Jeff and Shirlin. I know you will be reading this post Shirlin. Just want to say a big thank you to you and Jeff for being such dedicated teachers to the kids at sunday school. All the kids will miss you both. I wish you both all the best in your new endeavour in Singapore.

I've Been Tagged

I've been double tagged by QiQi's mummy and this lovely mummy who is bravely fighting for her life and is taking it so positively.

1. Do the following without complains.
2. Choose 5 people to do this quiz after you’ve done yours.
3. Tag the chosen one.
4. Start your post with “I’ve been tagged”

Favourites

Colour : Pink
Food : Steamboat
Movie : Have not watched one for ages.
Sport : Jogging and sea sports
Day : Sunday
Season: Winter
Ice cream: Green tea flavor



First
Best friend : Can't remember
Crush: Sshhhh... it's a secret
Movie : King Kong, Bewitched or Superman #1 .... I think, can't really recall... that was almost 3 decades ago!
Music : Baa Baa Black Sheep.... I think



Last
Drink: Plain water
Car ride: 7 hours ago back from the mini market with hubby and kids
Crush : Huh?... in my dreams.....
Phone call : From hubby
CD played : None
Gone out with good friends : That was ages ago....
Broken a law : When I exceeded the limit whilst driving back to Ipoh alone several years ago... and got stopped by the police on the highway.
Been arrested : Is being stopped by the police for speeding considered as arrested?



Not tagging anyone. Feel relieved you did not get my tag? LOL!

My Angels

They make my blood boil when they are mischievous and rebellious, they make me yell at them yet they can't hear me for they choose not to hear, they are rebellious and stubborn most times and drive mummy bonkers and out of sanity most times, but at the end of the day, how I relish putting them to sleep and watch them lay in bed so peacefully for they remind me of the times when they were so tiny and helpless, how I feel thankful to God for blessing me with 2 adorable angels who have brought me so much happiness.