We Can Never Get Tired Of Japanese Food

After the dissatisfying dim sum brunch at Ah Yat Abalone Restaurant in PJ, we hopped to the Japanese restaurant next door (can't remember the name of the restaurant) and ordered some California rolls, a bowl of Edamame beans and green tea ice-cream with red beans. Alycia and Sherilyn seem to have inherited daddy's taste buds and love California rolls, especially Alycia.





The gals never seem to get fed-up of Edamame beans.... which is good as they are packed with calcium and protein.

Maid Bummer

Remember I had posted earlier that I have found a maid agency that provides temporary live-in maids? Somehow, I just have a guts feeling that this agency is not reliable. I've been trying to call the owner of the agency the whole of yesterday and I only got a message on his mobile phone saying that "the number that you have dialled is not available".

This morning when I called up his office, his staff was not even aware that he has promised to send me a temp live-in maid on Sunday. She also said that Mr L** is overseas and will only be back next week. I was dumbfounded and just couldn't believe that this Mr L** had left the country without informing his staff about my order. Mr L** had promised me that he will send the maid to my house on Sunday himself! The staff also told me that there isn't any available temp live-in maid at the moment. I was even more shocked to hear that coz this Mr L** had told me earlier that he has a pool of temp live-in maids available at his agency and I can get the maid from him at any time. All I could say to Mr L**'s staff was I could not believe this is happening. What kind of company is this. Does this company even exist? Luckily I have not paid anything.

Now, I am left in a lurch. I have been calling maid agencies almost the whole morning today to look for part-time maids. My Sikh neighbor has given me a contact of the maid agency that she had previously used and I have called and arranged for part-time maids to come every other day (2 hours per session with 2 maids) starting next Monday. I just hope that this maid agency is reliable, else I would have to look for another maid agency again.

Ah Yat Abalone Restaurant

We had dim sum at Ah Yat Abalone Restaurant in PJ 2 weeks ago on hubby's birthday. We wanted to go to Unique Seafood Restaurant which was just next door for dim sum but as we were climbing up the stairs from the car park, we saw banners advertising that the dim sum at Ah Yat were all sold at a 30% discount. So we headed to Ah Yat instead.

On top of the dim sum, we also ordered a black vinegar pigs' trotters, a congee and a bowl of sharks' fins soup. We didn't know that these items were NOT entitled to the 30% discount.


We were quite disappointed with the dim sum as they did not taste as good as we had expected.


The sharks' fins soup was disappointing - tasteless! Even my mil's homemade sharks' fins tasted better.


I only enjoyed the pigs' trotters and this banana fritters filled with red bean paste.

As daddy wasn't feeling full and satisfied with his birthday brunch, he hopped next door to the Japanese restaurant.

To be continued......

Kelly Wannabe

If you find Sherilyn hilarious wearing this ridiculous singlet, read more about it here.

Ichiban Boshi Japanese Restaurant

On New Year's Eve, we had dinner at Ichiban Boshi @ Pavillion. The food was good.

We ordered an Udon soup with vegetables and Shitake mushrooms,


a Terriyaki beef with beef balls cha soba which was very tasty. The beef was tender and the soup was very tasty. We will definitely order this dish again if we go to Ichiban Boshi the second time.


A deep fried cha soba which was a big hit with the gals,


And of course Chawan Mushi for the gals.

We also had ice-cream for dessert.

Ichiban Boshi is located at the ground floor where the Food Republic food court is. I love going to this food court as there is a good variety of stalls that sell good food (continental and local) but pricey though.

If you're looking for a place with plenty of hawker stalls and restaurants for you to choose from, Pavillion's Food Republic is the perfect place for you. J.Co Doughnut is also there but when you see the horrendous crazy queue, you better think twice! I prefer to hop opposite to buy Beard Papa's delicious cream puffs or get a New Zealand ice cream!

Sherilyn Loves Her Baby Sister

Read about it here.....

Alycia's Finally Getting Better

Yes she is... finally! When Alycia woke up this morning, she was still coughing and had lots of phlegm. I made her very little diluted milk and she finished the bottle of milk (6 ounces of milk, instead of the usual 8 ounces). She must be feeling really hungry as she had puked thrice yesterday and went to bed with an empty stomach. Thankfully, she did not puke after drinking milk today. She also managed to eat the whole egg white of a hard boiled egg and a slice of plain chiffon cake for breakfast before eating her medicine. Thankfully, she also did not puke. Today, I can finally see smiles on her face and hear her laugh and play with Sherilyn. She even ordered to have spaghetti for lunch, though I had earlier wanted to cook her some noodles with homemade fish balls. So spaghetti she had for lunch and even asked for more. She also managed to finish a small bowl of watercress chicken soup. She's coughing a lot lesser now and I hope she will be able to go back to pre-school on Monday. She certainly has a long way to catch up with her peers.

Last night, I applied baby Vicks on Alycia's chest, back, neck and soles of her feet before she went to bed. Dont' know if it's coincidental or what but she did cough at all and slept soundly throughout the night.

Eight-citing Wedding

My friend who is getting married to a Tan Sri’s son was telling me the other day that since she’s getting married on 8 August 2008, she would like to order 888 stalks of red tulip to make the event even more auspicious. Every guest will be given a stalk of the tulip on top of a unique wedding favor. She’s also going to have 88 stalks of pink Calla Lilly as her wedding flowers bouquet. There will also be 8 cute flower girls and boys. Everything is in eights, maybe she will even have 8 kids in future! I am really eight-cited about her wedding!

Gold, The Best Gift Of All

An aunt of mine asked me the other day if I’d like to receive a gold chain in the form of an anklet for my baby’s full moon. I went “huh, I’m only 6 months pregnant and you’re already thinking of getting my baby a full moon gift?” That was just so sweet and thoughtful of her to be thinking so far ahead for my little one. I told her that I would be really pleased if she would buy gold jewelry for my baby as the price of gold is high now and I foresee that it would even go up further. Gold jewelry makes a great gift and investment too and I don’t mind receiving them, lots of them!

Poor Alycia

That's how sickly and weak Alycia looks now. The medication is making her listless, drowsy and really whiny. There were only two other times when Alycia was this sick and listless. The first time was when she was 13 months old and was hospitalized for Rotavirus (and I was 37 weeks pregnant with Sherilyn). The second time was 1.5 years ago when we had just moved in to our house. She normally gets well within 3-4 days but this time, looks like it's going to last at least 7-10 days.



See how red her lips are.

Her face is also flushed and there's hardly any smile on her face.

Black Vinegar Pig's Trotters

This is definitely my all-time favorite and I can never get bored of it. The best part about having a confinement lady is that you can ask her to cook 'gee qeuok choa' or black vinegar pig's trotters every week. However, I don't eat any parts that have fat, I only eat the lean meat and the hard boiled egg. Oooh, I just can't wait to indulge in this dish again.

We had black vinegar pig's trotters with hard boiled egg and dim sum at Ah Yat Abalone Restaurant last week. The gee queok choa tasted really good. As for the dim sum, do wait for my next post on the review soon.....

The Jealousy Streak In Sher Is Starting To Show

Today, all of a sudden, Sherilyn is starting to display the jealousy streak in her over her little baby sister. These are some of the things she said today :

1) Mummy, baby cannot sleep in my playpen.
2) Mummy, baby cannot wear my pants ok?
3) Baby, cannot sit on my high chair ok?
4) Mummy, is this shoes for baby? (when I said yes, she said 'NO'! Then her lips gradually turned downward into a crescent and her eyes started to be teary).

Nevertheless, she is still hugging my belly all the time and would always remind me to pray for baby.... so sweet of her.

Ham and Cheese Bread

Yesterday, I asked hubby to buy me a loaf of black sesame wholemeal bread and a green tea chiffon cake from the bakery. Since he had been really busy yesterday, he only managed to go to the bakery late in the evening and those items that I had wanted were all sold out.


Instead, he bought a loaf of ham and cheese bread with cuttlefish flakes.... and it was really tasty. Even the sick cat Alycia who had no appetite for anything else loved the bread.

and a honey cake which is plain, not too sweet and tasted just right.

Simply Irresistable

Ever since I was preggers, I have to try really hard to resist my temptation whenever I see hubby gorging on fresh sashimi and sushi. Writing this post and looking at the picture of the sushi have already made me salivate. I just can't wait to sink my teeth into some freshly cut raw salmon and butter fish and dip them into dollops of wasabi in Japanese soy sauce.


Hubby ordered this plate of sushi at Iciban Doshi @ Pavillion on New Year's eve.

Alycia's Cough - Day 6

Last night, I applied Vicks on Alycia' chest, back, neck and on the soles of her feet and put on socks for her. She didn't cough until about 4am. I gave her some water and she went back to sleep without coughing much. The gals also slept without the air-conditioner turned on.

This morning she puked again when I fed her medicine. The phlegm kept irritating her throat and induced the vomit sensation. I let her rest for a while before feeding her the medicine all over again. Really don't comprehend why Alycia is so weak despite her eating healthily. It really could be due to all the outside food and heaty food that she ate during our short holiday that lowered her immune system. Sherilyn who didn't eat those food is still well, though she did show some symptoms of cough and a runny nose several days ago.

Art of Eating

Alycia and Sherilyn have mastered using the knife and fork and they would insist to use them whenever we eat Western food. When we eat Chinese food, they would also insist on using the chopsticks but they still have to fine-tune their chopsticks skills before they can eat at a faster pace.

But Sherilyn still causes quite a mess when it comes to feeding herself. She tends to have butter fingers. Blame it on mummy too coz she treats her too much like a baby.


Alycia does not even need mummy or kakak to feed her now. She can independently eat on her own now.

I Think I Will Fall Sick Next

With Alycia coughing, sneezing, puking and spitting at me the whole day, I think I'll be the next to fall sick. I'm already feeling hot inside my body and feeling really heaty. I'm trying to get more sleep and have been eating more fruits for the past few days. I really can't afford to fall sick myself - my maid will be leaving on Sunday and there will be no reliable person at home to help me with the kids. Hopefully my mum from Ipoh can come to help me for a week.

One More Week To Go Before She Leaves

Starting from today, I have asked my maid to cook batches of food for me to deep-freeze them so that when she's gone on Sunday, I can heat up those food to eat. Today, I asked her to make homemade burgers. Tomorrow, I'll be asking her to cook minced chicken meat in blended tomato paste. On Wednesday, I'll be asking her to cook yellow ginger chicken, then the next day, maybe I'll ask her to cook chicken braised with mushrooms, etc. etc. These can last us for about 1 week. Hopefully the temp. maid knows how to cook too.

Braised Fish

I hate the fishy taste of certain fish. One way of cooking these fish so that they do not taste fishy is to braise the fish with miso paste or fermented soya beans (tau cheong).

Ingredients :
1) Miso paste or fermented soya beans (tau cheong)
2) Chopped garlic
3) Sliced ginger
4) Tofu pok OR tofu sheets (foo choke)
5) Spring onions
6) Chinese cooking wine

Method :
1) Pan fry fish and set aside.
2) Fry the chopped garlic and sliced ginger until fragrant.
3) Add in some miso paste or tau cheong. Fry for another 5 minutes.
4) Put in the tofu pok or tofu sheets.
5) Put the fish into the wok and add some broth or water. Add a dash of Chinese cooking wine.
6) Cover wok for 5 minutes.
7) Dish out and sprinkle some spring onions or chinese parsley over the fish.

Fish head would go very well if cooked in this method. Hubby has bought a huge fish head costing RM39 from the pasar malam last Friday and I shall braise the fish head tomorrow. I would have stopped him had I known that it is so expensive. Men always don't know how to bargain when it comes to shopping !

Hi-5

My kids love watching the Hi-5 series more than Barney or any other cartoons.... and they are not the only ones who enjoy watching them, even I love watching them. They have learnt so much from these Australian educational VCDs. Whilst most educational VCDs are a tad boring and dry, Hi-5 is very entertaining and most kids I know of love them. Some of the things that Alycia and Sherilyn have learnt through these VCDs are phonics, body parts (not simple body parts but parts with scientific names that I don't even know!), cause and effect, musical instruments, colors, shapes, sounds that animals make, types of dance and much more. Of course, Alycia and Sherilyn's grammar and vocab have also improved.... and sometimes they even speak in Aussie slang. Sometimes, the three of us would dance together to the catchy music.