Everyone Down

Everyone in our house is down with cold. Sherilyn got it first, followed by me, then Baby C, next Alycia and yesterday the hubs got bitten hard by the bug. Alycia, Sherilyn and I are getting better. We have been popping Esberitox (made from the the purple cone flower, Echinacea) for a week. Baby C's nose is runny and she has quite a hard time nursing. I have to prop her up in a sitting position so that she can breathe. I wanted to visit Montessorimum who has invited us to her lovely home but with everyone having goo goo dribbling out from our noses, I think she will be worried to have us to her home. Sorry Elaine we couldn't meet up this time.

Get Paid To Blog

Times are pretty bad. Offers from advertising networks have been really scarce. Even if there are offers, most advertisers do not want blogs with a PR0. One advertising network has even slashed down their payout amount from a minimum of $5 per post to a pathetic $0.50 per post! Many bloggers who blog for money have been hit hard by the worldwide financial tsunami.

It’s really rare to see opps at $10 these days, especially for PR0 blogs but this morning, I got a $10 opp from Paying Post, a new advertising platform that brings bloggers and advertisers together. Paying Post works pretty much the same as most advertising networks. In order to receive opps from Paying Post, you have to submit your blog(s) to payingpost.com. Your blog will then be reviewed by the support team and whether your blog is approved or otherwise, you will be notified via email. Once your blog is approved, you will need to install a chunk of codes into your blog before you can proceed to reserve opps at payingpost.com. There is a long list of opps at the Paying Post website and the opps will be available to your blog on a first-come-first-served basis. The opps are shaded in different colors to signify the availability for your blog. Once you have reserved an opp, you will have 6 hours to complete and submit your review to payingpost.com. Payment will be made out to you via your PayPal account once your earnings reach $50.

So if you have a blog and want to make money blogging or if you already have a blog and want to earn more moolah, quick register your blog at payingpost.com now. But remember, your blog has to be at least 3 months old before you can submit it to Paying Post. Don’t worry about the PR, PR0 blogs get approved too!

Bow Tie Pasta And Cheese With Pork Chop Strips

I cooked bow tie pasta with cheese for Alycia and Sherilyn the other day. They prefer the San Remo's macaroni and cheese but I find that a tad too salty, so I cooked my own. I added some milk powder, 2 slices of Kraft singles cheese, some butter and tadaaa.....




Also cut up some homemade pork chops into strips for added protein and iron. And cut another slice of cheese into strips for deco and a more cheesy taste. Yums... hochiak!

Bringing Baby C To The Gym Again

Baby C woke up early again this morning. Despite nursing her and patting her, this Energizer bunny didn't wanna go back to sleep. She's been waking up very early these days and she napped for only 1.5 hours the whole of yesterday. So again, I strapped her into her stroller and brought her to the gym this morning. Also gave her a teething rusk but this time, the rusk only managed to keep her still for 15 minutes, after which she kept hitting the mushy stick on the stroller... and messed up the stroller, her hands and clothes. I had to pause the treadmill and clean her up. I then gave her a packet tissue to play with but this fler now knows how to lift the sticker and remove the tissue papers... play with them and of course chuck them into her mouth. Haiz... again, I could not fulfill my 30-minute workout target and had to leave the gym after 20 minutes.

Killing Two Birds With One Stone

That's what I like to do - kill two birds with one stone lol! Instead of merely feeding Baby C her meals, I flash cards to her, show her alphabet and numbers foam, teach her colors and show her cheh cheh's toys like fish, burger, pot, cup, etc, point out to her all her body parts, point out things in the house to her, among others. Babies just love activities when they have their meals, instead of sitting and doing nothing. They will surely get restless within minutes. Baby C is learning well and I'm amazed with her progress, despite the challenges that she has to grapple with.

Of All The Toys

Of all the toys in her playpen, Baby C likes the tissue box best. Well, the forbidden apple sure tastes good eh?


BTW, this tissue box is empty. When I need just 5-10 mins to get some work done, I'll throw in an empty tissue box or my handphone into the playpen and then I'll get peace!

Guests At My Condo

I had some guests at my condo yesterday. They were none other than Barb (Chumsyashley.info), her cutie and social butterfly daughter, Ashley and Andy. Ashley was just smitten by Baby C and she kept touching her face. Barb, I think it’s high time you consider giving Ashley a baby brother or sister *wink*! Too bad you could not stay longer. I’d love to have you over for coffee or perhaps wine of the month some other time. We can do that at the pool side of my condo next time k? I don’t mind cooking some simple dishes so that you can stay for dinner too. We’ll do that next time k? You can hop over to Barb's blog to view pix of Ashley and Baby C.

I Am Really Exhausted

These days, I have been so terribly exhausted at the end of the day that when I put Baby C to sleep at around 9:30pm, I would doze off first before her. For the past few nights, I told myself that I will put her to sleep and once she'd dozed off, I have to wake up to get some work done on the PC but that never materialized coz I slept along with her. I even switched on the room light to prevent myself from dozing off but my battered body and mind were just too jaded and I just fell into a deep sleep. When I woke up last night, it was already 2ish am and I was so dead beat that I could not even bring myself up to shut down my PC. Nonetheless, I still forced myself up to change and sniff Baby C's soiled diaper. I have been waking up every 1-2 hours every night for the past 7 months just to change Baby C's diaper. I wonder when I can ever have uninterrupted sleep and just sleep without any worries from night to morning.

Binging On CNY Cookies And Didn't Gain A Pound

When my parents came to visit me last week, they brought with them jars and jars of Chinese New Year cookies for the kids and me. Oh gawd, I just love gobbling on those cookies! I always tell myself that I only get to eat them once a year, so eat now and worry later! When I stepped on my scale this morning, I was overjoyed that my weight went down to 47kg again from 47.5kg. With so much stress and worries plaguing me right now, I can eat to my heart’s content and don’t even need weight loss pills to help me shed off some pounds. I think I'll lose more weight when Baby C goes for the surgery later this month.

Lost And Found

The other day, I panicked like a headless chicken when I couldn’t find my expensive Longines watch. I searched high and low and at every nook and corner of my bedroom but couldn’t find it. I really thought that I had lost it or someone had stolen it. I even suspected my maid took it, so evil of me! I told the hubs that if my watch was lost, he has to buy me another watch. It doesn’t have to be another Longines watch though. In fact, I would be glad if he would buy me one of those elegant Swiss Army watches for ladies. Anyway, about a week later, I was ecstatic when I found my Longines watch inside a box in my drawer. That wasn’t the first time I lost my Longines watch. The same thing happened to me last year and again, I found it several days later. Am I getting old or what?

Steamed Nin Goa With Grated Coconut

This sinful dessert is the only dessert that I get to eat only once a year and that's during Chinese New Year coz no one sells them other times of the year. I like it best when steamed and eaten with grated young coconut with a pinch of salt.




That's the most I can eat coz if eaten excessively, Id feel damn jai. It's damn fattening and sweet but it's ok since I only eat it once a year. I surely need to gulp down a cup of hot green tea after eating my nin koa to help me eliminate some fat!

Feeling Under The Weather Again

Sherilyn's having the sniffles again, with a little cough. She had just recovered from a bad cold and throat infection and darn it, she's getting it again. Her immune system seems to be a tad weak ever since she attended pre-school last June. That's what happened to Alycia too and it took over 2 years for her to gain a strong immune system. I'm also having a weak immune system myself as a result of lack of sleep an stress. Poor Baby C can't escape with almost everyone in the house having goo goo dribbling out from their noses. She's also having a slight stuffy nose. I hope she doesn't get a full-blown flu. Both Sherilyn and I have been popping on Esberitox (made of the herb Echinacea) and it really helps in controlling the flu into accelerating into a full-blown flu. I need sleep, really I do but it's really hard when my mind keeps thinking of changing and sniffing Baby C's soiled diapers. We'll be meeting up with the pediatric surgeon this morning. Will keep everyone posted on the outcome. Do check out my health blog.

Dinner At Imbi Palace

Since we could not go back to Ipoh for CNY this year, my parents came to visit us yesterday. Last night, my dad treated us to a sumptuous reunion dinner at the Imbi Palace Chinese Restaurant. These are some of the dishes that we ate:

This dish was selected by me.... The Four Seasons, which is my all-time favorite Chinese restaurant dish. We made a mistake and did not specify a budget for this dish and the smart alec captain must have given us one of the most expensive ones. This dish alone cost us a bomb at RM300!! It consists of deep fried fresh oysters, fresh big scallops, sausages wrapped with bacon and fresh shitake mushrooms.


2 types of chicken dish and a stir-fried veggie with Chinese sausages and intestines sausages.

There was also a jelly fish 'lou sang', claypot pig's trotters dish and a 'lou foo pan' fish (Tiger trout??). The fish cost a whopping RM250 and it was not worth the money spent at all as it was overcooked and the meat came out tough. We asked for a discount from the captain as we felt cheated coz at RM250 for a medium-sized fish, we didn't get the quality that should have come with the price.

The damage to my dad's pocket? A choking RM800++ bill!! There were 10 adults and 2 kids. There is no better time than the 15 days during Chinese New Year for restaurants to slaughter merry makers and diners, eh?


Alan's angels.

A Traumatic And Painful Day For Baby C

I had a very stressful day in the hospital today. Today is the day that baby had been scheduled to do the IVP and MCUG procedures on her. Check out my health blog to continue reading.

Floor Time Fun

What makes Baby C happiest is when she's placed on the floor, freely gallivanting everywhere and playing with her 2 doting cheh chehs as shown in the pix here:





Her favorite spots are under the chairs and tables and her eyes are as sharp as an eagle's eyes for she could spot even a speck of dirt or a drop of white rice on the floor within one to two metres away from her vision.




But poor mummy would have to sacrifice her time to do the things that she loves to do to watch over her like a hawk, for fear that she would fall and smack the back of her head (like what happened 3 months ago), her chin, her cheeks or her forehead. I can't even keep my eyes away from her for just a few seconds for she will be out of my sight in just a flash.

Stress In Pre-School

I have been drilling Alycia with spelling for the past 1 week and it's paying off. She now knows how to spell the words Deepavali and Christmas. Today, I'm drilling her with the word Chinese (for Chinese New Year). She's going to have her first spelling on Friday next week for the above 3 words and thereafter every Friday. There is also Ejaan and Ting Xie (spelling in Mandarin) every week. Oh my, both Alycia and I are going to be all stressed up everyday practising spelling from now onwards for years to come. Her pre-school is preparing the 6 year olds in her class (Alycia is the youngest in the class being a December child) for primary school and this year, there will be more tests and the syllabus is getting tougher too.

Braised Pork Ribs With Ginger And Garlic

I cooked this dish the other day... it was my first time trying out this self-invented recipe and it turned out really well. Even my fussy-food-critique-foodie hubby said it's nice!

Here goes the self-created recipe (no specific measurement though) :

Pork ribs
Ginger wine / Hsiao Hing wine
Oyster sauce
Soy sauce
Brown sugar
Sliced garlic
Sliced ginger
Sesame seed oil

1. Marinate pork ribs with ginger wine / Hsiao Hing wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce and dash of pepper for several hours.
2. Heat up wok with sesame seed oil and saute sliced garlic and ginger until fragrant.
3. Throw in the pork ribs and stir fry for about 15 minutes. Add brown sugar.
4. Add water, enough to cover all the pork ribs and close the wok with a cover.
5. Let the pork ribs simmer in the water for 1.5 hours.... that's when the water dries up, the sauce thickens and the meat becomes tender.
Be sure to toss and turn the pork ribs intermittently, other wise they may get burnt. It happened to me twice when I was busy with Baby C and forgot to toss and turn the ribs! Anyhow, the partially slightly burnt pork ribs still tasted very good and there weren't any complaints from my fussy hubby!

Tempting Baby C With A Fruit

The other day, daddy tempted baby with a slice of pear.... but won't let her eat it. We used to do that to Alycia and Sherilyn too when they were babies and we just loved seeing them go crazy over the fruit. Alycia, who was the greediest amongst our 3 babies was so funny when we tempted her with a piece of pear when she was about 9 months. She was so geram and wanted the pear so much that her body turned stiff from all the screaming and drooling.... and she clenched her fists hard in frustration, hahaha... see how evil we were! We have that scene captured on camcorder and whenever we watch it, all of us will have a real good laugh.


Here baby, come and get the pear.....


Daddy letting baby lick on the pear....





...and she wanted more.... and crawled down to grab the pear.

Our CNY Reunion Dinner

We had our Chinese New Year reunion dinner at the Overseas Restaurant @ Armada PJ today. We had jelly fish loh sang (ate 1 plate and took away another set), sharks fins soup, half a roast suckling pig, roasted char siu, a huge steamed cod fish, steamed prawns, braised mushrooms with sea cucumber and dessert were fruits (watermelon, honey dew, papaya, pineapple) and a chilled sea coconut with longan and lemon. There were 5 adults and 2 kids (baby excluded). The price? Cut throat! Take a guess how much our damage was....


















a whopping RM700! That's the price we have to pay for eating out during CNY. Tomorrow, we'll stay home to eat. I'm going to cook braised pork ribs with pumpkin, steam a huge tau tai chong fish (pomfret), stir fry brocolli with sea asparagus and boil a good pot of soup. The price? Not even RM150!

Koong Hei Fatt Choy everyone!

Organic Cold Soba Sauce

Check out my health blog to find out how this cold soba sauce can be eaten with.