A Wide And Interesting Collection

I’ve got customers looking for all sorts of clothes from my online store. Most of my customers shop for office attire, many of them buy smart casuals and dinner dresses. Once I had a customer who wanted 9 units of dress in yellow for her bridesmaids. Sometimes I have customers looking for prom dresses and dresses to wear for a church wedding. I have even sold clothes to women aged 60 and above! Yup, my collection is for woman of all ages from infant to infinity age 

Daily Morning Walk

When my parents were here during the school holidays, the girls looked forward to waking up early every morning. Every morning, they would go for a morning walk with koong koong and granny round the condo compound that has a very nice junglewalk-like trail. And then they would walk to the nearby coffee shops to buy breakfast. Back home, everyone would eat nasi lemak. Sometimes they would eat roti canai and drink teh tarik with koong koong at the nearby mamak stall. Yup, my girls love nasi lemak! Alycia can stomach the spicy sambal very well too.

All set to go 'walk walk' with granny and koong koong, complete in sports attire, caps, sunnies and even a binoculus!

Wake Up Cheh Cheh

Alycia dozed off at the dining table chair 15 minutes before we were to leave the house for the restaurant for a dinner. She was curled up comfortably like a worm on the chair and didn't want to leave the chair. She wouldn't budge when I called her. It was Baby who woke her cheh cheh up.

Tapping on cheh cheh's leg, baby said "cheh cheh, wake up... wake up cheh cheh.... we are going for dinner now..."

Affordable Health Insurance

One of our greatest regrets is that we did not take up any medical or health insurance for Baby while she was still in my womb. We only found out that there is such an insurance for the unborn child after her surgery last year and when our claims were rejected by the insurance company. Had we taken such an insurance for Baby, her surgery bill amounting to over RM50k would have been covered by the insurers. My advice to couples expecting their baby is that it is important to get your child or your unborn child an affordable health insurance. You never know when you will need it. We had spent a big part of our savings on Baby’s medical bills and surgery bills and these are all not claimable from our insurer.

Xenri D'Garden Terrace @ Menara Hap Seng

Since Xenri started their first outlet in Old Klang Road (Wisma Elken), this upscale Japanese restaurant has been doing pretty well. My famliy and I love their food at the Wisma Elken branch. The food is fresh, tasty and price is reasonable. Now, the Xenri at Wisma Elken is having buffet lunch too and the price is pretty reasonable and they serve good quality food. Their latest outlet (opened last year) is at Menara Hap Seng in KL.

We went to Xenri @ Menara Hap Seng to try their buffet lunch 2 Sundays ago. We were quite disappointed as we did not expect the same buffet range as what we had at Xenri Wisma Elken. Overall, the food was satisfactory only and the beef in the sukiyaki was bad and tasted horrid. That was my major turn-off. I told the hubs, next time just stick to Xenri At Wisma Elken.

Fresh sushi...

My plate of grilled protein....

Cozy and classy setting at the restaurant....

Japanese appetizers....

Buckwheat noodles with deep fried soft shell crabs...

Shireen's angels enjoying macha....

After our buffet lunch, we had a photography session at the ground floor of Menara Hap Seng. Till today, my girls are still very fascinated with fountains!

Xenri D'Garden Terrace
Lot 2.04, Second Floor
The Podium
Menara Hap Seng
Jalan P Ramlee
Kuala Lumpur

Restoran Green View @ Jalan 19, Petaling Jaya, Selangor

If you want to get superb sang har meen (fresh prawns noodles), Green View is the place to head over to.

The prawns are fresh and the noodles are very well done. We had a plate of sang har meen and steamed crabs for lunch 3 Sundays ago. It was a light lunch but very satisfying. My 3 angels enjoyed their lunch as all of us are seafood lovers.



Here you go, get ready a piece of tissue paper to wipe away your dribbling saliva....

The sang har meen


Macro shot of the yummy big prawns....

Even Baby ate the noodles and loved them... but I rinsed the noodles with some hot water to get rid of some of the sauce and oil before serving her. Baby is also another crabs and prawns lover!


Steamed crabs - so fresh, sweet and juicy....

Daddy's crab makan kaki....

Love the pandan flavor coconut water but it's frigging expensive at RM5 each!


Live crabs are placed in big baskets outside the restaurant....

Location :
Jalan 19, Petaling Jaya, Selangor
No. 6 & 8 Jalan 19/3
46300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
(Located near the famous Rothman’s roundabout)
Cuisine : Chinese
Ambience :Comfortable

My Saturday

My parents are in KL again, yippeeee! The girls have been missing them and have been counting down to the days granny and koong koong would be here again. This afternoon the weather was perfect - not too hot but cloudy and breezy. So the girls went swimming with granny and koong koong for almost 2 hours .... again... until their skin got all wrinkled and 'chlorinxicated'.

We had good old Ipoh food that my dad brought from Ipoh for lunch this afternoon. I ate so much till I felt so queasy after my lunch. I made myself a big mug of lemon juice and drank it the whole afternoon to ease the queasiness. We were all so stuffed that we had a late dinner at 8pm. We went to a nearby restaurant for dinner and my dad and I decided to walk there to burn off some calories (though it was drizzling) .... while the kids and my mum took a car ride there. After dinner, it was still drizzling but my dad and I still insisted on walking home instead of getting into the car. I tell yer, I felt so much better after the half an hour walk (15 minutes each way). Knowing that I had burnt off at least 80 calories from the half hour of brisk walking also burnt off my corrosive guilt of eating so much carbs today :P

Tomorrow is going to be another binge eating day for us. We will be having buffet lunch at our favorite Japanese restaurant - Xenri. It is a an advance birthday celebration for my mum.

I better hit the sack now as I have to pull myself out from bed to run at 7am! But I MUST wipe off the cob webs from this blog before all my readers stop visiting my blog! Have a great weekend peeps!

Get The Right Shoes For Your Kids

When Alycia was younger and was my only child, being a first-time mum, I was quite clueless when it came to buying the right shoes for her. She started to walk at 10 months old and could walk quite stably at 12 months old. But she used to trip quite a bit when she walked and I thought she was plain clumsy. Some kids are just pretty clumsy and tend to trip / fall a lot. Later, I found out that it was the sandals that made her trip all the time. After I got her a sturdier pair of baby shoes with anti-slip soles, she stopped tripping.

Getting your child a good pair of shoes is very important so that he/she will feel comfortable in them and will not trip easily. Did you know that babies’ feet don’t have bones and are just soft cartilage which can easily be pushed out of shape by badly fitting shoes? Even socks that are too tight can damage their feet at this crucial stage.

Getting your child an ill-fitting pair of shoes can also risk your child’s feet from being severely hurt. I am sure you had heard and read about some kids’ feet being caught in a moving escalator when they wore this particular popular brand of plastic shoes.

Shoes are one of the things that I find very hard to get for my 2 older girls now. When they were younger, I could easily shop for nice and affordable shoes from shoe shops and shopping malls. I find that shoes for girls aged 5 years and above are very limited in choices and they are very costly too. That’s why I have resorted to buying my girls’ shoes from online stores. One very cool online store for baby shoes and kids shoes is startriteshoes.com. They have a wide selection of shoes for babies and children from shoes for pre-walkers to shoes for toddlers, school shoes, non-school shoes, English classic shoes, boots and many more.

There are even handy tips on how to care for your kids’ feet and shoes at startriteshoes.com. If you have a toddler at home, you really have to check out this video here.

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Cheap And Tasty 'Tai Chau' Food @ Old Klang Road, KL

We had lunch at this 'tai chau' coffee shop housed in a shack located along 4 1/2 Miles at Old Klang Road KL. From the outside, the place looks really uninviting but the food is tasty and reasonable. This restaurant is famous for their 'phei phar ngap' (roast duck). We went there for lunch on a hot and sunny Sunday. Though there was a misty fan in the restaurant, I was sweating profusely and didn't quite enjoy myself. The place is not baby/toddler-friendly and if you are a health / clean freak like moi, you will not enjoy your meal there.


Here's what we had:

Phei Phar ngap (roast duck), which is the restaurant's signature dish. Almost every patron who goes there will order a roast duck.

Roast char siew and siew yoke...

Stir-fried lala with ginger and garlic....

Steamed pork ribs....

Deep fried chicken with 'nam yue' (fermented beancurd)...

Deep fried tofu, which iLike!

Steamed fish. This restaurant is also well known for its steamed fish dishes. We ordered 3 types of steamed fish!

Deep fried prawns...

Stir fried koong poh sotong...

And after lunch, hubby walked outside to a nearby roadside stall to buy mangosteens, which everyone had as dessert.

I can't recall the name of this 'tai chau' restaurant but here's the name card, written in Mandarin, which I could hardly read, except for the word 'meng' (the shop's name). This 'tai chau' is located on the same road with the Old Klang Road market.

The bill came up to RM247.20 for 10 adults and 3 kids. Pretty cheap eh?

Overall, the food is tasty (plenty of sauces, seasoning and MSG used) but I wouldn't go there again in the afternoon because of the hot weather and the restaurant isn't air-conditioned. It's also not toddler-friendly and hygiene is not up to my standard.

Built-In Human Auto-Sensor

This morning I woke up early in the hope of completing some of my online assignments and read some of the Amazon books that I had bought. But my plan rarely ever goes into place smoothly ever since my kids came along. Baby woke up at 6:30am and whenever this happens, I can’t do much. Lately, this fella has been waking up really early. She sleeps late and wakes up early too. It’s as if she has a built-in human auto-sensor that can sense me leaving her. Sigh… can’t wait for her to grow up so that I can have my ME TIME once again!

Sherilyn's Antics

These are some of the things that only rascal #2 will do :

She finds it amusing and appetizing to eat porridge with her hands.... novelty always attracts this fella who likes to try new things! Many times, she will scratch her head with her OILY hands, eeeeesssshhhh!!

And on some days, she would even doze off at the dining table. This fella, it's a challenge to get her to nap in the afternoon and by 8:30pm, her batteries would be almost konked out. Plus getting her to eat rice + dishes (which is something that does not whet her appetite), that would surely bore her and induce her to lalaland....

Finally After 27 Months

For 2 years 3 months, I had not had my menses as I was and is still breastfeeding Baby. Over the past 1-2 weeks, my milk factory has sort of shut down by default. It sort of wants to tell Baby to stay away from mummy's boobies as she's getting older now. 2 days ago, my menses came back after 27 long months of experiencing menopausal symptoms!

When Baby saw the pad stuck to my panty, she was terrified! She kept saying "What's that on your panty? I don't want!" I guess the pad reminded her of some pads used after her surgery. Her memory is very good and she still remembers the hospital, the X-ray rooms and I think she still remembers her 3-week stay in the hospital after her surgery last year.

Yesterday, she saw the red stuff when I was in the bathroom. She showers with me together everyday. She was both stunned and curious.

BBC - why got blood? Cheh cheh hit you?

Me - no....

BBC - lizard bit you?

Me - no....

BBC - cockroach bit you?

Me - no....

BBC - why (got blood)?

LOL!!!! She's too cute with all her questions and expressions. Naive and simply adorable.

Things To Occupy Her Time

When I need just 15 minutes to get some work done on the computer, one of the best activities to give Baby is a hard-boiled egg for her to shell. She, like her 2 jie jies just loves shelling eggs. Perhaps I should boil a pot full of eggs and assign her the task of shelling the eggs so that I can have a good half an hour to rush off some online assignments haha!

Would You Spend A Few Thousand Bucks On A Fashion Item?

The most expensive thing that someone ever bought me in my life was a branded leather handbag from my previous boss. It cost a few thousand bucks! I still have it with me now though I hardly ever use it. Even if I were still working now, I don’t think I would spend so much on a Gucci bag, shoes or a designer dress. Call me el cheapo but I really don’t buy the idea of spending a few thousand bucks on one single fashion item. Would you?

Ups And Downs Of Running An Online Store

Yesterday was the first day I started selling sandals and ladies shoes in my blogshop. Response has been pretty good. Barely 5 minutes after uploading the pictures, I had already received orders. My good blogger friend advised me to state clearly in my website that these are only RM36 shoes, thus customers should not expect to receive Privo quality shoes. I have been really upset and hurt by one customer whom I considered my friend for writing negative remarks indirectly about my online store in her blog. She had only paid RM37 for a dress (with free postage) and was disappointed when she did not expect the kind of superb quality in her dress. Most of my customers are easy-going and about 70% of them are return customers. I have a good number of customer who have been supporting me ever since I started my business. Well, in business you’ll get good customers and difficult customers. For those difficult customers, you just have to deal with them with a pinch of salt. Business has to go on.

The Girls' First Real Karaoke Session

The girls had their first real karaoke session about 2 weeks ago during koong koong's birthday celebration at Unique Seafood Restaurant. We had booked a private room and the girls enjoyed themselves to the max singing. The room was also very big and Baby ran round and round the room as if she were jogging in a football field.


Alycia and Sherilyn belting out 'You Are My Sunshine'......


As there were only 2 mics that were in working condition, #2 and #3 had a tug of war over the mic.....




We had a scrumptious lunch. I was so busy eating that I had forgotten to snap the pix of the food and only remembered my camera when this unique-looking dish was served. Check out the tofu at the pic below this pic..............



... this is a tofu treasure box. All of us were in for a surprise when we flipped the top of the tofu over and found some 'treasure' inside consisting of prawns, scallops, mushrooms and veggie. YUMS!!! iLike!

Cheap And Good Worksheets For Primary Students

I had wanted to get these type of worksheets for Alycia to practise in preparation for her exam recently but did not know where to get them. I told my mum who was a teacher and tutor and right away, she knew where to get them.





My mum bought these worksheets for all the subjects and before her exam, she helped me drill Alycia with these.



These cost only RM2-3 each and can be purchased from Popular bookstores.

Sleeping Child

Here's yet another snapshot of Alycia dozing off. Ever since she started attending Primary 1, this girl has been very sleep deprieved. On school-going weekdays, she could just doze off anywhere - on the couch, on the floor and even whilst eating her lunch. Since baby, this girl of mine needs lots of sleep, unlike Sherilyn who is always bursting with energy and is seldom sleepy.


She dozed off while waiting for her slow-coach and dilly-dallying sister get ready for Mandarin tuition.

Homemade Chicken Chop

My kids and I, we love chicken chop. It's easy to prepare and I can cook a big batch and deep freeze them in smaller portions for future consumption.

This is the chicken chop with lots of big onions (my girls and I are onion lovers) that I whipped up, with no particular recipe.



I marinated the deboned chicken with soy sauce, sea salt, pepper, honey and Lea and Perrin sauce for about a couple of hours. Then shallow fry the chicken until they turn golden brown. Use the spatula and push the chicken aside. Then add in the big onions and fry them until they turn brown. Mix the chicken and big onions and serve hot. Cut some cool cucumbers to serve with the chicken. The cool cucumbers can expel some 'heatiness'. I cooked 8 pieces and thought of deep freezing half the batch but they were so tasty that my 3 girls walloped them all in a jiffy and licked the platter clean *satisfied grin*


Do hop over to my other blog to check out my homemade almond-cashew nuts bread spread!

Catered Food For Dinner

I started to cater food for dinner on Monday. I was promised that the food will be delivered to my doorstep by 6:30pm but on the first day, the caterer only reached our place at 8pm! Apparantly, her car broke down at Federal Highway during a heavy downpour. By the time she delivered the food, we were already almost done with eating our dinner - I dug out whatever frozen food I had in the freezer and reheated them as my kids were all complaining of a rumbling tummy. On the 2nd day, the food was delivered at 4:30pm! She said she had to send her konked out car to the workshop, thus she was early.

On the first day, we had these dishes:

Minced chicken with tofu...

Chicken chop with fried potato wedges. Tasty but I find that her food has too much 'wok loh' (burnt carbon from the wok).

Stir-fried long beans. My girls love the beans as they were sweet. I suspect she put sugar / oyster sauce.

On the 2nd day, we had fish curry, stir fried cabbage and foo yoong egg omelette.

On the 3rd day, we had these:

Fish bergedil (a Malay dish made out of mashed fish, potatoes, big onions, spices and chillies)...

Stir fried 'tai yee ma kar lui' (gourd with glass noodles, shredded carrots and fishballs) and the dish on the right is spam meat cooked with potatoes and curry leaves. This dish was SUPER SALTY and I didn't allow my girls to eat.

Overall, the caterer's food is quite satisfactory. Low in MSG and I don't feel thirsty after eating. But quite high in oyster sauce / sugar coz all the dishes are sweet! I'll see what she will serve us today.