Heinz Pasta, Heinz Fruit Drink And Yau Char Kuai!

Last week, I went to Babyland to get some stock of Heinz bowled pasta as we will be going to Penang for a holiday soon. These will be really handy for outings and holidays.

Baby only loves bolognaise style or anything that has tomato and mixed herbs but dislikes white sauce pasta. She does not really like milk in her food. She hates cow's milk anyway except fresh human milk :S

I also got this Heinz apple and strawberry puree, which to my surprise Baby loved. I added some water to dilute it though as the puree is quite thick and sweet.



After shopping for baby's stuff, mil requested for Yau Char Kuai, so hubby went to Chow Yang (in SS2) to get the tastiest and 'cleanest' yau char kuai in town. The road side stall is located a few stalls away from Mee Yoke Lim. I could not snap a pic of the stall as there were many cars blocking the stall and the traffic there was quite horrendous.



The gloriously sinful yau char kuai, hum chim peng with red beans filling and khap choong. It's 'clean' coz the oil used to deep fry the flour sticks is fresh and not recycled and 'black'.

My Online Store

When I told my mum that I have created an online store that sells new clothes, second hand clothing and second hand baby stuff, she suggested that I sell second hand electrical appliances too lol! I told her that my store is not a ‘rojak’ blog that sells everything under the sky, including used rv for sale. Well, perhaps I should consider her suggestion and sell off some of the electrical appliances that I no longer use like my Mothercare sterilizer and soy bean maker. What say everyone eh?

We're Off For A Vacation Next Week

In a few days’ time, we will be traveling up north, first to Ipoh and then to Penang for a holiday. While I look forward to the holiday, I absolutely hate the packing part. There’s just too much to pack and I normally have a few huge suit cases. Hubby always complains that I have too many things and always shakes his head looking at our luggage. He said each time we travel, he would feel like hiring some cross country movers to ship our paraphernalia lol! I always tell him he has not just 1 kid but 3 kids and a health freak wife. I need 1 bag to put all our health supplements and Baby C’s food et al.

Backache And Stiff Shoulders

My days of sitting long hours in front of the computer are back now that my online fashion store is finally up. I used to sit more than 8 hours in front of the PC 2 years ago when times were good and offers from advertisers were plentiful. I tell you, this is hard work and stressful when you have to handle 3 young and hyper-active kids at home. I tend to lose my train of thoughts with distraction from my kids and get really edgy over the slightest boo boos my kids make. Health wise, I am starting to have stiff shoulders and backache again. I haven’t been diligent enough to work out on my fitball everyday. I guess I have to start arching my back on the fitball again everyday, lest I need spine surgery Mexico to reduce the nagging pain in the back.

Burnt Out

Ever since I started my online fashion store 6 days ago, business have been quite good. I have been losing sleep and losing weight too, working hard on my online store, on some online assignments and handling my 3 monkeys. Gosh, I tell you, I am burnt out. Zits are also starting to pop out on my chin and cheeks and if I continue to lose my beauty sleep, I will soon need some acne treatment products to treat my zits.

Insurance Claims Rejected Again

Our insurer has rejected our insurance claim and subsequent appeal for Baby C’s second surgery bill. Our surgeon has told us that he will help us fight all the way to court to get a reimbursement from our insurer. Somehow, I just have a feeling that the smart insurer will steadfastly reject our appeal. These insurers and their agents are darn shrewd. When they want you to sign up for a policy, they will promise you everything under the sky. When there is a claim from them, they will do everything under the sky to try to reject your claim. There goes our RM50k. And it’s time we look for another insurer and a more efficient insurance agent. Who wants life insurance leads? We may want to look for a new insurance agent to provide us with better service.

Alycia's Birthday Lunch at Seoul Korea Korean Restaurant

We had Korean food for lunch on Saturday, 5th December, on the actual day of Alycia's 6th birthday. My parents were in KL too and the following day, they flew to Hainan Island for a holiday. Alycia picked the Korean restaurant herself. What expensive taste she has eh? First she chose Tony Roma, then Korean and for dinner, she chose Japanese. Her future husband better be rich to satiate this foodie's expensive tastebuds! She has definitely inherited daddy's DNA!

Alycia and her best friend. She always says Baby is her best friend, haha...



Alycia giving Baby a peck on the cheek...


The hot stone bowl rice, an authentic Korean specialty. Make sure the raw egg is thoroughly cooked before serving it to young kids...


A table placed with appetizers, which are served FOC (and replenishable too!) if you order a set dish...


I would say this Seoul Korean Korean restaurant is 'peng, leng, cheng' - cheap, pretty and good! It's all our-time favorite Korean restaurant.

Homeschooling

In less than a month’s time, Alycia will be wearing the dark blue and white uniform for primary school students and pushing a trolley bag, ready to start Primary 1. She has just turned 6 years old and I think she will be one of the youngest in her class. I can’t believe how fast time has zoomed past us. Exactly 6 years ago, she was my long-awaited, first bundle of joy and now, she’s so grown up and ready to start primary school. I really don’t know how she will fare in a Chinese public school. Right now, she is already struggling with her written Mandarin. Each time she asks me for help in her written Mandarin, I have no choice but to turn her down and say “sorry, mummy can’t help you”. I feel really bad about this. When she officially starts school, I hope she will eventually catch up and cope well.

If my hubs and I have enough money, we will definitely send our 3 girls to a private school. I have even considered homeschooling my girls but in our country, homeschooling is still not widely practiced and accepted. In Western countries, homeschooling is a very common practise. It is way cheaper than sending your kids to a private school and you can select from a wide range of homeschooling curriculum from such websites as globalstudentnetwork.com. I have visited their website and am impressed with their range of curriculum online. I may want to use their curriculum for comparison with our country’s education curriculum. If you are interested in homeschooling, you may want to check out this website.

Birthday Lunch At Tony Roma's @ Gardens

On Thursday, daddy brought us all to Tony Roma's @ Garden, Mid Valley to celebrate Alycia's 6th birthday in advance. For days prior to her birthday, Alycia had been subtly dropping hints that she wanted to eat at Tony Roma. This girl, she seems to love Tony Roma. Last year, we celebrated her birthday at Tony Roma's @ Garden too. This year, we were seated at the table at the same spot of the restaurant that we sat at last year, what a co-incidence! And how FAST time has zoomed past us!

Here's what we had. If you haven't had your lunch or dinner, you'll surely be salivating, hehehe.....

Spaghetti with generous amount of prawns...


Salad with croutons and parmesan cheese...



The rack of lip-smacking, tender and full of flavor beef ribs....


My baked cod fish coated with black and white sesame, yums! I didn't touch the rice a wee bit and my maid ate it.

The birthday girl enjoying her bowl of mushroom soup...



Sinfully delish ice-creams, on the house from TR for the birthday girl....



I didn't cook any food for Baby, so I bought her some buns from Bread Story - opposite Tony Roma. She also ate some of the cod fish.


On Sunday, 5th December, which was Alycia's actual birthday, we had lunch at our favorite Seoul Korea Korean restaurant and for dinner, we had Japanese at the restaurant at our condo.

BTW, do check out my online fashion store. I've posted pix of tons of new clothes. This time I have XL size clothing, office wear, jackets, Korean fashion accessories and more dresses at low prices!

Goodies From Hong Kong

3 days ago, we received a huge box of goodies from my sil all the way from Hong Kong. She had sent over Alycia's birthday pressie, X'mas pressies and some snacks for us.

The box full of goodies....
Sherilyn is admiring the tin of cookies from HK Disneyland.

Alycia quickly tried on her Minnie Mouse dress which koo mar bought from HK Disneyland...


2 huge loafs of Italian Panettone Christmas bread. One is filled with raisins and dried fruits (which tastes very much like a cross between fruit cake and bread) and another loaf is filled with dried fruits and chocolate.



The chocolate Panettone Christmas bread. Yums, really delish, sinful and fattening! But what the heck, I only get to eat them once a year and it's not widely available here in Malaysia. My aunt told me that she had only seen it at Hock Chun's in Ampang and costs between RM40-RM50 a loaf.

My sil also got me some Crabtree & Evelyn hand lotion and shower gel. Thank you very much for all the goodies tai kar cheh. You're the best, as always!

The Best Way

... to get Baby to eat her fruits is to give the fruit to her jie jies. Baby does not fancy eating fruits much. The only fruit that she truly likes is durian! No coaxing and no forcing her to swallow the king of fruits. In order to get her to eat and swallow the fruit (she has a habit of spitting out the fruit after chewing it), I don't offer her the fruit BUT offer her 2 jie jies. Whenever she sees her jie jies eating anything that is NOT offered to her, she will surely scream "I wan, I wan, I wan.....!" See how effective reverse psychology is on kids!

Here Baby is munching on a small slice of apple. When she saw her 2 jie jies munching on an apple, she too wanted to eat.
See what my 2 older monkeys did to the gym mats? They are bored to the core during the school hols and have been up to silly tricks and ideas.

Here rascal #2 is munching on some cut guavas. Initially, she did not want to eat them. She's another one who doesn't really fancy eating fruits. But after tasting just 1 slice and seeing how sweet and crunchy it was, she polished off the entire container of guavas, in front of the tellie! Better than polishing off a box of popcorns or chips right?



When Baby saw her 2 jie jies munching on the guavas, she too went "I wan, I wan, I wan...."! But she didn't swallow it though. She spat the guava out after chewing it and swallowing the juice. This brat still prefers munching on celeries, capsicums and leek flowers! Wierdo toddler hor?

Alycia Is 6 Today

We celebrated Alycia's 6th birthday at our favorite Seoul Korea Korean restaurant this afternoon with my mil and parents. My parents had just arrived in KL from Ipoh today and will be flying off to Hainan Island tomorrow for a vacation. Tonight, we will be having dinner at the Japanese restaurant at our condo. Alycia shares the same birthday with the owner of the restaurant! Let's hope she will give us a small treat, hehe! Shall post pix soon.

I've been busy with my new online store for the past 1 week. It's really difficult to juggle my time having to manage 3 kids, my 4 blogs, my hubby's catering blog , my new online store and a few personal matters that need urgent attention. Plus, with a handful of orders from my first few clients and having to deal with my suppliers and courier company, my head is spinning lol! To all my clients, thanks so much for your support. Sorry if I've been a tad slow in responding to your emails and SMSes. I am very confident that in days to come, everything will run more smoothly and you can all get quicker replies and receive better customer service from me.

Homemade White Sauce Pasta With Fish

I whipped up yet another very tasty and wholesome dish for Baby the other day. She loved it very much. It's so simple and quick to cook too. You can volume cook this dish and deep freeze into small batches for future quickie meals.

You'll need some fresh mushrooms, any variety will do but I prefer white button mushrooms and shitake.
Chop up the mushrooms and some french beans. Marinate a few slices of fish with some McCormick mixed herbs and sea salt.

Then cook some Heinz iron-enriched ABC-123s pasta al dente. At the same time, using another pot in another stove, pour in some mixed milk formula and butter. Then boil the french beans first for about 5-10 minutes. I boiled for 10 minutes as I want the beans softer coz Baby only has 6 teeth. Next, dump in the pasta, mushrooms and the fish and cook for another 5 minutes. Lastly, toss in 1-2 slices of processed cheddar cheese. I only use a slice as I didn't want Baby to eat too much salty cheese.



After the pasta has cooled down, immediately transfer them into small containers and deep freeze them. They are REALLY handy on busy days when you don't have the time to cook.

My New Online Store, Finally!

With my extremely limited time, money and resources, I have finally created my very own online store. Well, it's not exactly a professionally created online store with shopping cart, one that accepts credit card et al but a pretty simple blog that showcases my range of products. Here, you will find new clothing as well as second hand clothing, second hand baby essentials and second hand kids' stuff for sale at a song.

I welcome you to hop over to Old & New Stuff For Sale and I hope you'll find an item or two or three or four (LOL!) that you'll like. All the products are sold at prices that you'll love!

Creative Girls

Both my older girls love art and craft and I must say they are pretty good in their drawing. They definitely have daddy’s genes as he has talent in his art and has quite a creative mind too. Decades ago, he almost enrolled himself in a designing course but as fate had it, he ventured into something completely different. I wouldn’t be surprise at all if Alycia and Sherilyn become a designer one day – where they design furniture, design clothes or design houses.

It Ain't A Flying Saucer Sweetie!

I'd say this little cili padi is pretty imaginative. Not only does she double up cups and containers as roller skates, she also imagines her plate is a flying saucer lol!



Her 2 jie jies have never done this before (lest they get whacked by me), so where'd did this little cili padi learn this from?


Sitting on her imaginative flying saucer to fly to Barney Land perhaps, this fler is just too cute!

Practising Math And Time Telling the eWay

I recently found a very good website for kids to practise solving Math questions. KidsNumbers.com is a free math resource designed by teachers, specifically for students and children of all ages. It's a place where students can practice all aspects of math, including addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, in a fun and stress free way. Both Alycia and Sherilyn love solving Math equations at this website and can sit in front of the PC for at least an hour solving Math questions. I can even use their free Worksheet Generator to create customized worksheets.




Alycia having fun solving Math questions and brushing up her time-telling / clock reading skill which she is still not perfect yet at KidsNumbers.com.

Pee Accident

Rascal #2 has been off diapers at night for almost 2 weeks and so far, she has had 2 pee accidents in the middle of the night. 2 nights ago, she had a major pee accident where she peed big time in her pants. Her clothes, bed sheet and blanket were all soaked in smelly pee. I only realized she had peed in her pants when I went into her bedroom at 6am to turn off the fan and smelled the familiar stench. It was really messy and everything on the bed had to be washed. Thankfully I had placed a plastic mat under her mattress and the mattress was protected from the stinky pee. My mistake, I shouldn’t have given her water to drink at 10pm when she kept telling me that she was thirsty. No more drinks for her after 9pm from now onwards, until she has a better control of her bladder just like Alycia.

Bonding With Granny And Koong Koong

My girls seldom see their granny and koong koong and when they do, they only get to enjoy each other's company for several days. That's because we can't stay too long in Ipoh and my parents can't be too long in KL either. Whenever my parents get the opportunity to be with their only 3 grand children, they enjoy every moment bonding with them.

Here they are sharing a light moment together, playing tic-tac-toe...









"Koong koong beat you this time, hahahaha...."

The gals bidding good-bye, I love you and take care to granny....


I can't wait to bring the gals back to Ipoh again in 2 weeks' time before we all head to Penang for another family vacation.

Random Pix

Mah Mah's 3 earnest helpers helping her to grind coffee beans into coffee powder each morning. Each time Alycia and Sherilyn see mah mah grinding coffee beans, they will surely run to her and volunteer to help. Now, mah mah has one extra helper. Whenever Baby sees her 2 jie jies running to the kitchen and attacking the coffee bean grinder, she will scream "I wan, I wan, I waaaaaan......"



Breakfast With Mah Mah. With 3 brats swarming around her when she eats, she has to sacrifice a portion of her breakfast to feed 3 greedy little mouths. But it's good isn't it? Eat less and gain less, the more the merrier!