Electronic Gadgets Era Kids

During my time as a tween and teenager, my brothers, friends and I, we used to run on the road outside our house.... to play 'Eager Catching Chickens', hop scotch, fly kites and to play marbles. We would also look forward to catch tadpoles in the drains after a downpour, cycled within 5km radius away from our house to the nearby river to enjoy the scenery, plucked flowers as we cycled, climbed trees, played real masak-masak by frying dried leaves and twigs with fire and anything that we could think of that was outdoor. It was pretty safe then and my mum did not have to worry about us being kidnapped or being ran down by vehicles. I really really do miss those younger days of mine and wished that my girls could enjoy such care-free and happy childhood with their friends. But it's an entire different picture now with kids these days. My kids never have the opportunity to do the activities that I did when I was their age. Instead, they are very attached to electronic gadgets like the TV, laptop, iPad, iPod,iPhone and Nintendo.


Baby playing with her Nintendo and is very adept with it too...

Most kids that I see these days have their hands and eyes glued to an electronic device, including mine! I think it's mainly because it's safer to be at home than on the road or outside their homes. If you are unlucky, you will be seriously injured by an acid splasher! Yeah, acid splashers are lurking everywhere now and it's scary to walk alone on the street.

I'll bet your kids are the same, aren't they? Let me know.

Thean's Curry Laksa Paste

Thean's ready-to-cook curry paste is one of our favorite instant curry mixes. When I crave curry, all I need is to buy a bag of fresh coconut milk, pour in a sachet of Thean's curry paste into a pot of boiling water, throw in some chicken meat, long beans, tofu pok, cabbage and fish balls and half an hour later, voila... I have some fragrant and yummy chicken curry or curry laksa for lunch! And my 2 older girls love it too!

My pot of chicken curry with 1 whole chicken, tofu pok and long beans... for lunch and dinner. Yup, I cook only once on most days and eat the same thing for lunch and dinner to minimize washing and to save time.

Our lunch - chicken curry with vermicelli. Delish, easy to whip up, no frying involved and it's oil and mess-free. Easy-peasy and nice ^^

Lunch At Delicious, Bangsar Village

One of my girls' favorite places for lunch is Delicious. As the moniker says it, the food there is simply delicious! Though pretty costly, the Delicious outlet at Bangsar Village and Mid Valley are perpetually packed with patrons. Delicious serves both Western food and local delights.

We were at Delicious @ Bangsar Village again on Sunday...

Try their mushroom soup. It's thick, creamy and full of blended fresh mushrooms. Goes well with warm bread and butter. We ordered 3 plates of spaghetti cooked in 3 different styles, specially for the girls who are fans of the Italian noodles. But not me. I try to steer away from noodles and spaghetti made of flour and reserve my carbs entitlement for the day for cakes and pastries ^^

Roast chicken with pesto sauce is a must-try too. Pretty healthy and of course delish!

My meal at Delicious will never be complete if I don't get to eat my flour-free orange-almond cake, which is simply delish without much guilt. Hubs ordered an apple pie too but apple pies are never my favorite so I gave that a pass too.

The Drop of Sherilyn's 3rd Tooth

It was yet another memorable one for Sherilyn. The first tooth that dropped - she had to dance and jump round the house deliberately to loosen the tooth, where the nagging pain caused her discomfort for months. The second tooth that dropped - it fell when I was brushing her teeth and she cried blue murder. She blamed me for causing the tooth to drop. The third tooth that dropped last week - it came off when she was eating some papayas during TV time muahahahahaha!!



Blood stained papaya....

Can't wait for the 3 gaps to be filled up with nice, white and straight pearly whites.

Ficelle Boulangerie @ Taman Desa KL

One of our favorite patisseries is Levaine Boulangerie located at Jalan Delima, Off Jalan Imbi. But this place is a tad too far for us when we need to grab some pastries or have breakfast at 8am. Hubs was so excited when he found out that Ficelle Boulangerie has opened its door right at our neighborhood @ Taman Desa KL. Ficelle is under the same management as Levaine. For those of you who are die hard fans of hand crafted pastries and buns, you will fall in love with Levain and Ficelle. Price wise, I think it is still cheaper than The Loaf. We love the pastries at The Loaf too and hubs even has membership at this patisserie.

Your first entrance into Levaine and Feticelle, you will be greeted by an explosion of fresh and nice smelling pastries and of course the bursting aroma of brewing coffee. I love stepping into such places, for it gives me a feeling that I am in a luxurious hotel, enjoying my 5-star continental breakfast.

Last week, hubs woke up and without any notice announced that he wanted to bring us to Ficelle for breakfast. I had just stepped into the house, drenched in my sweat after my work-out session at the gym. When my man wants to go anywhere, he does not like to wait and I have to rush like a mad woman to get my kids and I ready. And I donch like rushing, it drives me delirious! Anyway, it was worth the rush for I really enjoyed my breakfast at Ficelle. So did the girls. Oh yes, if you are a fan of macarons, you can pick your choice of flavors and bright colors at Ficelle.

Ficelle Boulangerie & Patisserie
11-0-12, Jalan 3/109F, Danau Business Center,
Taman Danau Desa, 59100 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-7983 0211
Fax: 03-7983 2210

Squashed Cuppies!

We were at Bangsar Village for lunch last week. After lunch, hubs bought some nice cuppies from Bisou. When we got home, I was in for a shock when I opened the box. What were supposed to have been some really pretty cuppies greeting me were replaced with some yucky looking cuppies, with the icing and cream slathered to the sides of the inner box. That was no ordinary box of cuppies ok. They cost quite a bit. Thanks to the person who was holding it, eeeeesshhhh, really felt like smacking her!

Cobwebs In My Blog

Gosh, I have been so uber busy for the past 1 week that I have totally forgotten to update this blog for 6 days!! When I logged into this very first blog of mine that I created over 4 years ago, I almost could not read the words or any pix on it. I had to dust those cob webs away before I could read muahahahaha! I was very obsessed with updating this blog for the first 2 years. I used to have 3-5 drafts ready and I even schedule dated my posts. But when paid posts got lesser and lesser, my mojo just slowly dwindled away. I still do paid posts now, albeit reduced dramatically ever since the global recession 2 years ago. Now, I am blogging for passion, not so much for money as my source of income has changed direction and I am diverting my time and energy towards my online store. Nonetheless, my 3 blogs are still very dear to me and I shall update them for as long as I am able to.

Here's a pic of my belated 11th wedding anniversary. The cake was only cut 3 days later! Go read my previous posts to find out why. Happy weekend and school holidays peeps!

Soaked In Stinky Vomit

See this baby doll who is as cute as a button... but she makes me worry the most with her medical condition since birth. But thank God, she's all OK now. We were supposed to be having a nice dinner at the Japanese restaurant on Friday to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary but she was down with a supposedly stomach flu and was puking non-stop. Instead, we spent our night at the A&E Dept. of the hospital. Our cake was not cut that night. It is still not cut yet and sitting nicely in the fridge haha!

Instead of a nice, sumptuous dinner and a happy night with the girls, I was soaked in Baby's vomit - twice. Once at home and the second time at the Japanese restaurant. The vomit spewed onto my long flowing hair and soaked my dress, eeeeewwwwwwweeee!! Not exaggerating but my dress was really drenched with strawberry flavored Nutrifresh and half digested cream crackers, eaten by Baby half an hour ago, before she puked. The stench was horrid! Even after 2 washes, it still smells yucky! My helper wasn't spared and she had hot, stinky lava spewed on her face and clothes too.


No complaints. This is part and parcel of motherhood. Mothers all get vomit, poop, wee wee, goo goos and all unpleasant stuff on themselves, especially during the first 5 years of the child's life.

Our Eventful 11th Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday was our 11th wedding anniversary and a very eventful one too. We seem to be celebrating anniversaries and important occasions in hospitals quite a bit. 2 years ago, we celebrated our anniversary in the pediatric ward after Baby’s second surgery. Last night, it was Baby again who had to be rushed to the A&E of the hospital. I shall talk in length about this in my upcoming post. Last night, Baby did not sleep with her sisters. Instead, she slept on a tatami mat on the laminate flooring of our room. I did not sleep well the whole night. The whole night, I kept feeling her body and to see if she had puked on herself. Thank God, she’s all well again today.

A Big Boy Who Wishes To Fulfill His Small Boy’s Dreams

Remember my post on my hubs, the big boy who recently fulfilled his childhood wish of owning a toy machine gun that emits sounds of gun shots? Well, this big boy has other childhood dreams which have yet to be fulfilled. Among some of the toys that he still wishes to own now are expensive remote controlled toy cars and toy helicopters, toy soldiers, eotech 552and figurines of Star Wars characters. If only he had the opportunity and time to go to a huge toy shop that has all his favorite toys when he was a little boy, I’ll bet he will buy them all at once!

Holiday In Thailand

My parents have just returned from a holiday in Thailand. My mum has bought some nice pajamas, funny t shirts and shoes for the girls and me. Things are pretty cheap in Thailand, especially clothing, shoes, bags, bed linen and food. The last time I went to Thailand was 11 years ago. I am hoping to make a trip to Thailand next year and this time, I’m bringing the girls along! Can’t wait for this to happen.

Teaching Sherilyn Money

One of the topics covered in Sherilyn's recent mid term exam for 6YO pre-schoolers is money, i.e. all the denominations, how to add up Ringgit note and sen and questions in comprehension format. The standard is equivalent to that of Primary 2 kids. I remember I had a hard time teaching Alycia 2 years ago. It's the same with Sherilyn now. I had to use real money to explain the concept to her, which I think helped her to understand better. Hmm, I wonder why the kindergarten teacher did not take the effort to ensure that all the kids understood before they tested them on this topic. I'll bet other kids had a tough time grasping the whole concept too.

During revision with Sherilyn, as usual the impatience in me made me blew my top when this rascal just could not get it right. Her attention span is very, very short and her mind is always wandering far away. My SIL from Singapore who was up in KL came to my rescue. Then my mum. At long last, she finally got it right with the help of 3 tutors. She scored a 96% for her Math!

... and little nosy parker wants to be involved in all her jie jies' activities too!

Kids Nap The Darndest Ways

Here's another trademark of rascal #2:

She always falls asleep whenever she's told to eat food that she does not fancy like fruits, veggie or drinking soup. And if she ever naps in the afternoon, it's not a good sign. It's a sign that a fever or a throat infection is looming and I am 99% right all the time. If she's well, there is no way I can force her to take even a short nap in the afternoon.

Where There’s A Will, There’s A Way

I have never taken any fat burners before in my life. I find that the only sure way of losing fat and to keep it off permanently is to ensure that my calories output is greater than my input. And exercise is very important. Many of my friends who had set out on their weight loss program often fail as they don’t exercise. Cutting food intake alone is not enough. They always tell me that they don’t have the time to exercise, to which I will tell them that where there’s a will there’s a way. And I am speaking from experience.

Quick Fix For A Younger Look

My girls were looking at my old photo albums the other day and they commented that I looked very pretty and young about 15 years ago. I was like huh, do I look ugly and haggard now?? Though my size has not changed much (thank God!), I must admit that there are some differences in my appearance. 15 years ago, my hair was fuller, my complexion was better and I looked vibrant. Now everyone says I have tired and sunken eyes O_o Life is short and I must make myself look good again. Perhaps popping some GenF20 will give me a quick makeover?

Our Collection Of DVDs

The holidays are just days away. The only thing that I look forward to about the school holidays is that I can sleep for half an hour longer each morning. I don’t look forward to having 3 screaming and bickering brats at home though. Our initial plan was to make a trip back to Ipoh to my parents but something cropped up and we will most likely stay put in KL. One sure way of keeping the girls silent and still when I need some quiet time to do my work is to turn the idiot box on. Once the idiot box is turned on, the 3 rascals will be a good as angels!

I have over 4 huge folders of DVDs and VCDs on cartoons and educational programs and the collection is growing steadily, thanks to my hubs who is a huge van of movies himself. Now that we have a new MPV that comes with 2 TVs, the girls are enjoying their car rides ever more. In our car is another DVD folder complete with new DVDs, including one on Tangled, Disney’s latest cartoon, which is a marvelous adaption of Rapunzel. With hubs’ collection of DVD and the girls’ DVDs, we can really consider opening a stall to sell them to earn some quick bucks!

That's How She Drinks Watermelon!

Kids are innovative I tell yer! This is how my eldest finds novel ways of eating and drinking her fruit... by poking a straw into the soft flesh of watermelon and then sucked out the juice LOL!!

Tomorrow will be the last day of Alycia's mid-term exam and I can finally breathe a sigh of relief! By right today should be the last day of the exam. But Chinese school students have to sit for their Math and Science in English too, besides the tests in Chinese. Tomorrow when my hands and butt are finally free, I can whip up something yummy for dinner, instead of having steamed chicken and steamed fish for the past 2 weeks. Can't wait for the school holidays to start, yipee!!!

A Boy's Dream Fulfilled After 30+ Years

There was once a little boy who loved toy guns. He wanted very much to have a toy machine gun that could emit sounds but his mummy would say NO to his requests each time he begged for the toy. He could only play his friend's toy guns but they were not his. He wanted very badly to have his own big big toy gun.

30 over years on, he finally fulfilled his childhood dream. He bought the toy gun that he dreamed of every night when he was a little boy. And his daughters loved his toy gun too. He is now a very contented man. A very happy daddy who always fulfills his 3 princesses' wish, whims and fancies.

The big boy playing with his toy gun...

But he is very generous with it and shared it with his 3 princesses...

His 3 happy princesses...

My Little Ballerina

Sherilyn will be sitting for her primary ballet exam on Monday next week. She had already attended 2 trial exams over the past 1 month. She is also practicing pretty hard at home, with lots of cheers and encouragement from everyone at home... which she really enjoys getting. This fella seems to enjoy lotsa attention given to her!

My little ballerina in action...

Do You Buy Books Or Borrow Them?

We used to invest quite a bit on books for our girls. However, I stopped buying books recently in order to cut cost. Now, I borrow books from the library in our church and this library is awesome with so many titles to choose from!

Do you buy books for your kids or do you borrow them from the library?