Loh Kai (Braised Chicken)

Loh kai (braised chicken) is one of the easiest and most convenient dishes to prepare and it tastes really good. Almost every child would love this dish. Even Baby can polish off 2 drumsticks within minutes and can wallop the 3rd piece if I would allow her. Each time before her trip to HK / NZ, I will always request my mil to prepare a pot of loh kai sauce so that I can use it whenever I don't have the time to cook dinner. When there's loh kai placed on the dining table, I can be assured that there's no complaint from my fussy eaters.

My 2 little carnivores.

Burnt out

We had spent the whole afternoon at Mega Kidz @ Mid Valley Megamall. Baby was climbing, crawling, running and jumping non-stop like a little pup let off the leash. By the time we had lunch at 2pm, her batteries had almost konked out. While feeding her, her eyes were almost shutting and she had no mood or appetite to eat even her favorite food. And I think she looked too cute too. I tried so hard not to let her doze off in the car on our way back coz if she really dozed off, she would have to sleep on our bed without her shower. You know how dirty these places are and how germ covered kids are when they are out of these places. Call me a health and clean freak but no way am I taking a chance of letting my kids contract HFM!

Impulsive Buyer

We bought a laptop after an eleventh hour decision last month. I had decided that I wanted a laptop and I asked my hubs to buy it for me immediately. I can be an impulsive and impatient buyer. When I want something, I want it right away, irregardless of the price of the item. I did not even want to wait for the best deals on laptops or for the PC fair to come. I just wanted to have a laptop overnight and my hubs got it for me right away hah!

Shopping for CNY

Sales at my online store have been brisk for the past one week. Business will always be good before major festivals like Xmas and Chinese New Year. I am working at full steam and can’t wait for Chinese New Year to arrive so that I can take a break. Many people also prefer to do green shopping (aka online shopping) so that they don’t have to drive to the shopping mall, get caught in the traffic jam, waste time trying to find a parking space and spend money unnecessarily at the mall. Have you done your shopping for Chinese New Year yet? If you have not done so, why not hop over to my online store?

A Gift From A Dear Friend

I got a big surprise when Chanel gave me a call on Xmas Eve. She told me that her hubby was on his way to deliver pressies for my girls for Xmas, oh wow!

My girls could not contain their excitement and quickly ripped off the wrappers and were really happy to see a musical box for them each.

How sweet and thoughtful of Chanel. Thanks very much for thinking of us, muaks to you!! You're really a great friend to have!

Twisties Craze

Whenever Baby takes her nap at 6pm, I know that it will be extremely hard to wake her up at 7pm for her dinner. I had tried using her favorite snacks to tempt her into waking up from her beauty sleep including using Magnum ice-cream but none of it could wake her up. But recently I found another bait to lure her. It's with Twisties. At the smell and sound of the "Twisties" bag being ripped apart, this rascal will jump up from the couch (she usually dozes off on the couch if she naps at 6pm) with a wide smile and mouth wide open... as if she were pretending to sleep prior to that.

Caught in action....


I hope that the Twisties Management reads this post and rewards me with a year's supply of Twisties muahahahahah! I'll bet my girls will get sick of Twisties if we have a year's free supply of this snack!

Boost Juice Bar

We were at Bangsar Shopping Centre before Xmas and the Boost Juice Bar kiosk was giving out free sampling of their fruit smoothie. We got hooked on it after sampling it and bought a cup (buy 1 regular cup, free 1 cup for kid!). Though a tad expensive for a cup of fruit smoothie, it was worth it as the smoothie was very refreshing and natural. Boost juices and smoothies are free from preservatives, coloring and flavoring.


Boost Juice has been juicing in Malaysia since June 2009. Boost Juice, the famous Australian juice bar brand started firing up the blenders in its first store in Suria KLCC, KL in June 2009. Since then there are now stores open in Subang Parade (Selangor), Bangsar Village 1, Bangsar Shopping Centre, Mid Valley Megamall, LCCT Airport and Gurney Plaza in Penang.

My girls loved their wild berries Boost Smoothie. It's definitely a healthier alternative to fizzy drinks, ice creams and packet drinks laden with sugar, fat and coloring. I have even 'like' Boost Juice on Facebook too!

Next Target Is iPhone

My old mobile phone is driving me bonkers. The battery is konking out and needs recharging everyday though I hardly use the phone. Sometimes when I need to use the phone urgently, the battery konks out and sometimes the phone shuts down by itself. An iphone is something that I am planning to buy for myself this year. I have bought a lappie for my girls for Xmas last year. This Xmas, I will get myself an iPhone!

Moonlight Dinner

One night some time last month, there was a full moon that shined brightly and lit up the dark sky. It was very clearly seen from the 5th floor of our unit. Rascal #3 had just woken up from her nap at 8pm and Rascal #2 was still eating her dinner having sat there since 7pm!! It's very common of this rascal to spend 2-3 hours to finish her dinner! When they saw the huge moon, they decided to reposition themselves on the dining table so that they could watch the moon as they eat.

Can you spot the moon?

When was the last time you received a physical greeting card?

Years ago before Facebook existed, I used to receive stacks of greeting cards during festivals like Xmas and Chinese New Year. Ever since Facebook was created, I received fewer and fewer greeting cards. The past 2 years I received nilch! Now, everyone sends greetings and wishes to their friends and family members through Facebook or with eCards via email. Even I communicate with my mum via Facebook! And my mum communicates with my brother and my SIL using Facebook. Some people don’t even send save the date cards anymore for their wedding or parties. Everything is done via the internet now. I think very soon, these card printing companies will go bust when the internet dominates our lives and everything goes paperless. Whoever created the internet is truly a genius. When was the last time you received a physical greeting card?

Gift For My Former Boss

When I was still working as a PA to a Dato’, one of my biggest headaches was to get him a gift that he really liked on his birthday every year. My erstwhile boss had almost everything. Well, we knew what he didn’t have and really liked but there was no way we could get it for him as it was way, way beyond our budget. I remember one year, my colleague went round town looking for some good cigars like arturo fuente for his birthday. We went to more than 3 places and finally got them at a shopping mall. We would never go wrong if we got him good cigars as gifts. If he was still around today, I would still buy him some cigars for his birthday. He passed on 2 years ago.

Kum Kee Chicken Rice Shop @ Happy Garden, Old Klang Road

There is this unassuming coffee shop at Happy Garden named Kum Kee that sells one of the tastiest siew yoke and char siew (different types of roast pork). And it's pretty expensive, considering that the coffee shop is non air-conditioned and quite run down. We normally ta pau back to eat as it can be pretty hot to eat there in the afternoon.

Check out the siew yoke with crackling skin. The skin is really crispy and the meat is tender and moist. The siew yoke is the star of the coffee shop and the main crowd puller. iLike! Great lip-smacking fat and protein but darn fattening lor!! I had to gulp down a big mug of lemon juice to neutralize all the uric acid and dissipate all the fat haha!

The char siew is also sweet, tasty and aromatic...

Roast chicken, nice but nothing really special...

Kum Kee Chicken Rice is located at:
No. 94 Jalan Rukun 2
Taman Gembira
Kuchai Lama
58200 KL

Note : Kum Kee Chicken Rice Stall is actually housed in a corner coffee shop, Kedai Kopi & Makanan Mooi Mooi (Little Sister).

A Day Of Fun At Mega Kidz @ Mid Valley Megamall

Today is the 3rd day in a row this week that we had spent at the shopping mall. We were at Mega Kidz @ Mid Valley Megamall to attend my friend's daughter's 6th birthday bash. Mega Kidz is a place every kid would dream to go.


When Baby saw Barney, I thought my Barney-crazed girl would open her mouth to watch in awe her favorite cartoon hero but her reaction was the exact opposite as I had expected. She was terrified of the purple dino, whose face looked out of shape and very un-Barney except for the body... and she clung on to me and daddy like a koala bear while screaming in fear...

Baby jumping on the Air Bouncer. This is pretty fun and she jumped so much till her pants almost dropped muahahahahahaha!!

Alycia and Sherilyn with M the birthday girl, my classmate's 6yo girl who is the same age as Sherilyn. They also attend the same ballet school.

Baby going down the slide, which is almost 2-storey high with her nervous Alycia jie jie waiting to catch her beloved baby sister...

Alycia, the bestest jie jie in the www helping Baby cross the suspension bridge which is about a storey above ground...

Hubs and I also climbed up the play equipment and crawled through those kid-size tunnels. I tell yer, if you'd tried this, gawd, this is back breaking and bone cracking. I felt slightly nauseous and dizzy when I came down after climbing up, crawling through and contorting my body into those 2-3 storey high tunnels to reach to the top of the slides! Good exercise to burn off the calories that I had piled up these few days!

Guess How Much These Helium-Filled Balloons Cost

We saw a booth selling animal-shaped balloons at Pavillion. Just make a wild guess on how much these helium-filled balloons cost. The helium makes the animal shaped balloons look like the animals are walking. The balloons can be brought back to the shop for helium replenishment at a charge of RM3 per filling.

These animal shaped balloons cost a whopping RM35 each!!! The transparent balloons with smaller balloons inside costs almost RM50 each!

I would never buy such expensive balloons for my girls as I think they are an utter waste of money. Would you?

Last Minute Xmas Shopping

We spent our whole afternoon doing last minute Xmas shopping at Pavillion today. Initially we had planned to go to Mid Valley Megamall -- first to the movies and then to complete our Xmas shopping. But when we saw the long queue of cars at all the entrances of Mid Valley Megamall, we made a detour and went to Pavillion. The Xmas décor at Pavillion is really grand and there is a very Chrismassy atmosphere at the mall. We love the Xmas trees that were almost 3 storey high and the humungous reindeers at the concourse area of the shopping mall. The mall was packed with people snapping pictures. Many people were doing last minute Xmas shopping like us. Most of the shops were packed with people though there were no on-going sales.

We stepped into a boutique that specializes in kids’ shoes as I wanted to get a pair of good shoes for Alycia. But there were too many shoppers and there were no sales assistants to help us to check for shoes. I am surprised that many parents are willing to spend over a hundred ringgit for a nice and comfy pair of shoes for their kid. It’s always stressful to shop for clothes and shoes for my girls before major festivals like Xmas or Chinese New Year. That’s when I’ll shop for their shoes from online stores. One brand that’s worth buying is Startrite. 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. Here’s an interesting video that I’d like to share with you on how to select shoes for your kids from Startrite. If you have a toddler at home, you really have to check out this video.

Water Baby

Ever since Baby had a first post surgery UTI attack after a swim in the Hard Rock Hotel Penang pool in December last year, I had tried to keep her away from public pools. But Baby's pathetic pleas to daddy to bring her down to the pool each time her 2 sisters go swimming never fails to move daddy. Daddy would normally put Baby on his shoulders when he's inside the pool so that her bottom will be kept dry. But lately this fella is getting braver and wilder and she would act like a fish out of water and yearning to get back into the water. She would struggle and wriggle her way out of the inflatable boat and into the water!


Pictures taken in November 2010.

Baby in action. She managed to climb out from the inflatable boat, clung onto the boat and kept kicking the water with her legs.

She did not even cry when daddy submerge her briefly under the water! It's more than a month now. Thank God she did not get a UTI attack after 2 swims in the pool in our condo. She will definitely be getting more dips in the pool soon :)

O Gourmet, Bangsar Shopping Complex

One of the places that we like to frequent to pick up good snacks is at O Gourment @ Bangsar Shopping Complex. The bakery at O Gourmet has a good range of healthy bread for the health freak and diet freak (like moi) and delish cakes and pastries. My hubs lurves the danish pastries from the bakery. He normally buys like 10 pieces and they are all chomped down in less than an hour by us all. The bakery and cake store at O Gourmet are frequented by many Caucasians.

A galore of healthy nuts and they are a tad pricey. I bought some organic flat almonds, walnuts and almond flakes. I normally munch on nuts when I'm hungry.

The girls were lucky as we bumped into a Santa Clause (a gwai lo one some more haha!), who gave the girls very good pressies - teddy bear for Baby, stickers and nail stickers for Sherilyn and some sparkling paint for Alycia from ELC. Check out Baby staring at the weird looking man muahahahah!!

After lunch at Chillis, we bought some cakes from the bakery ...

I'll bet you would want to pick a slice of everything as all the cakes there look so sinfully heavenly!

This is where we got the cakes from...

And we picked these 2: tiramisu (love this) and a cherry cheese cake...

... and also a chocolate walnut brownie (not in pic).

Zhong Meng Restaurant, Tapah, Perak

There is this 'tai chau' restaurant in Tapah that serves really good 'sang yue' (ikan haruan), 'wong sin' (eel) and 'theen kai' (toad) dishes. The restaurant has been around for many years. I think the owners get their supply of these fish and toad from the nearby rivers and jungle. My dad loves to bring us to this tai chau restaurant to savour their few signature dishes. Price is very reasonable too.

Here's what we had the other day, on our way back to KL from Ipoh at Zhong Meng Restaurant, Tapah:


Sang yue (ikan haruan) cooked with vermicelli. MSG is 0% and the soup is not salty. The only ingredients that I could taste is sesame seed oil, some pepper and salt. This dish is suitable for kids as it is rather bland yet tasty. The fish is very fresh.

Stir fried sweet potato leaves with fu yue (fermented bean curd)...

Stir fried sang yue (ikan haruan) with spring onion, big onions and ginger. This is really good, very fresh and tasty, iLike~

Stir-fried wong sin (eel)...

We also ta pau the eel dish for my hubs and mil to sample the freshness of the eel.

So if you are making a trip up North, remember to stop by this tai chau restaurant to sample their sang yue, wong sin and theen kai dishes. Oh yea, they have petai dishes too. One thing you have to bear is the restaurant's loo! Can't help it as the restaurant is housed on a pre war shop.

Konnyaku Jelly Craze

Whenever we are back in Ipoh to my parents or whenever my parents are here in KL, Alycia will surely bug my mum to make Konnyaku jelly. She enjoys helping my mum cut the fruits into bite size and throwing them into the jelly moulds.

Here's our pineapple flavored Konnyaku jelly with red dragon fruit and kiwi fruit, ready to be put into the fridge...

Of all the flavors, we love strawberry and pineapple the best. I don't allow them to eat too much though as there are coloring and other food additives in the jelly powder. The best is still to make agar agar from dried agar agar strips. Those are more natural.

Flowers For Christmas

Christmas is just a week away. During my trip back to Ipoh last week, we had done our Christmas shopping for my dad and mum. We also had a Christmas celebration done early before we returned to KL. For those of you who will not be going back to celebrate Christmas with your loved ones, you can still send them a gift. Fresh flowers ordered from Tampa flower delivery will surely put a smile on your mum’s or your wife’s face.