What's In That Pressie?

The hubs carted back a really HUGE X'mas pressie late last night. When the girls saw the pressie, they thought that it was yet another pressie for them but no no, it's mine, haha! I am itching to know what is beneath the gift wrapper. Could it be something that I have been eyeing from Ikea? I have penned down a few items that I want from Ikea and have been bugging the hubs to bring me to Ikea to grab them with my gift vouchers but my man is always bogged down with work. But he likes to give surprises hehe.

I hope the pressie is either a little side closet next to our big closet, to put Cass' clothes. I am also hoping that it is the clothes hanger I told him about. And I am wishing that it is this water-saving tap too. Our kitchen tap now gushes water out at a really heavy flow at the lift of the lever. I think half a liter of water is used just to wash a spoon that is not oily! Our water bill is shocking at almost RM100 a month! Piped-in gas another RM120 and electricity bill another RM400+!! Horror!

This water-saving water tap from Ikea comes with a flow control function, thus saving us flowing amount of $$! I snapped this picture when we went to Ikea last month. In fact, I have taken pix of all the stuff that I want from Ikea so that I can go straight to the section to check it out when we go to Ikea next.




Can you spot the BIGGEST pressie? It's MINE, HO HO HO!!!



Here's also wishing everyone happy Winter Solstice festival, Merry X'mas and flowing happiness throughout 2012!

Down Memory Lane

I was going through my pictures folder to save some pix into my thumbdrive when I came across this pic. This picture was taken almost 4 years ago at our old house. Can you recognize the cute little girl seated next to Alycia? Barb - I almost forgot that you came to visit us 4 years ago :D

Sherilyn was seated on the lap of our previous Cambodian maid. She was not even 3YO then.

Orange Sorbet @ Hai Nan Town, Tg City Marina, Penang

Our first stop for lunch when we reached Penang for the past 2 trips was at Hai Nan Town Nyonya & Hainanese Restaurant @ Tanjung City Marina, between QEII and the ferry terminal. We like this eatery, though it is slightly more expensive than Sin Kheng Aun (which is also the hubs's favorite eating place for decades) because the ambience is more conducive, cleaner, has air-cond and the toilet is a far cry from Sin Kheng Aun's pre-war one. Our favorite dishes are pomfret fish assam, braised chicken for the kids, jiu hu char (braised turnip) with fresh lettuce leaves, deep fried spring rolls and pan fried prawns. This time, we tried their orange sorbet for dessert :


10/10 for presentation, 9/10 for taste and 7/10 for price. Will definitely try this again next year, when we make our year-end 'pilgrimage' to Penang :D

Lazy Bum!

After a visit to the hair saloon just now, we stopped by a road-side stall selling fresh coconut to quench our thirst on this sizzling afternoon. When we told the man that we wanted 4 packets of coconut water, the seller told us that he does not provide service to chop off the tip of the coconut and pour the coconut water into bags. When we requested him to do it, he told us arrogantly that he does not sell coconut water in this manner. He then pointed to the soya bean milk stall next to his and told us buy from the soya bean milk seller instead, as though telling us "too bad I won't sell to you. Drink soya bean lar, it's more convenient"! Most people would find it very troublesome to lug home 4 huge and heavy coconuts, spend half an hour chopping off the tip of the coconut to get the coconut water and flesh, and messing up the kitchen, just to have a glass of refreshing coconut water to drink.

Wonder why some people are so lazy when it comes to earning money. Money is hard to come by. Make hay while sun shines. I'll bet he will earn double or maybe even more if he sells not just whole unopened coconuts but also fuss-free coconut water. No wonder that bugger has such a gigantic beer belly, lazy bump!

Cute Things She Says

During shower time just now...

Baby - when I grow up I will buy you many things and sayang you. I will go to the market to buy you lots of food. I will spend a lot of money on a big bungalow for you too.

Me - what will you buy me from the market?

Baby - yummy mushrooms, fish, 'char siew', hanger, panties, (and then named out a long list of things that she will buy for me in future.... when I am OLD, LOL!!)

Baby - and I will buy maggie mee for daddy because he likes maggie mee. But I won't put a lot of salt for him when I cook. I will put LITTLE bit of salt on his maggie mee and some vegetables, just LITTLE bit salt only.

Me - will you take care of me when I am old?

Baby - yes. I will also take care of che che, er che (sister no. 2), koong koong, granny and everyone. I love everybody.


My sweetie pie at 3 years 8 months.

OMG, Neglected For Over A Week!

OMG, just realized that I have neglected this first 'baby' of mine for over a week. Have been away in Penang for a few days and am still in Ipoh with the girls and my helper. After our trip from Penang, I felt a tad under the weather and feel slightly better today.

You can hop over to my dot com blog to read updates. Meanwhile, here are some pix taken in Penang.

The girls in the jaccuzzi @ G Hotel, Penang





Check out my hau por model wannabe LOL!



Night view of Gurney Drive from the 14th floor of the Executive Lounge @ G Hotel



Surfing the net at the Executive Lounge



My not even 7YO daughter, who is always dressed up to the nines in necklace, bracelet, headband and hair accessories. She is always the fastest to pose whenever my camera is fished out from my bag.






Sweet splash of freedom for Baby! Her surgeon said no problem to go swimming, yay!


A crabby lunch at Tg Tokong before heading to Ayer Itam to tapau asam laksa for my dad.

My Precious Baby Is 8 Today!

10 years ago, I stayed at the maternity ward of SJMC (Sime Darby Medical Centre now) but not for the delivery of a baby. It was for a Laproscopic Ovarian Drilling of both my ovaries so that I could conceive. A year later, I stayed at the maternity ward of PMC but did not have a baby too, but lost a pregnancy. That was the saddest and most painful day of my life. Staying in a maternity ward twice and hearing cries of newborn babies but leaving empty handed is a very painful experience. The following year, I stayed at the maternity ward of SYMC. This time, I was the happiest woman in the ward. I had a beautiful baby to cradle in my arms. That was 8 years ago on 5 Dec 2003. That day will forever be the happiest day in my life. Thank you very much dear Lord for Alycia. May you bless her with many more happy birthdays and grant her good health and happiness always.


Pic of Alycia at the same age with Cassandra now - 3.5YO

Funny Conversation With Cassandra

I had wanted to jot down this funny conversation with Baby last night but I was so sleepy that I dropped all my work and went straight to slumberland.

I was feeding Baby her before bedtime soy bean milk and we were watching SpiderWick (a thriller for kids on goblins and unruly creatures) ...

Me - baby, what if these monsters entered our house and climbed up your bed? Scary eh?

Baby - this is NOT real.. this is only a movie, it cannot be real, YOU SILLY!

Hmmm, my 3.5yo baby girl out-talking me yet again!

After she had finished her milk, I stroked her hands and legs...

Baby - why are you touching me mummy?

Me - why? You don't like me to touch you and sayang you?

Baby - is it because I am C-U-T-E?
and then gave me her cute smile :D

Cassandra at 3 years 7 months

What Makes Her Happy

Some of life's simplest and greatest pleasures for a 3.5YO girl - munching on a plate of honey stars while watching the TV. And I caught this rascal chuckling to herself as she stuffed the honey stars into her mouth, one by one whilst watching a comedy on TV... over breakfast. I wish I had the luxury of time to do this too - no need to work but just eat, watch TV, sleep and have everything taken care of!!

Lazy Sunday

I'm feeling really lazy today. Though I have some work to complete but nah, I am just too lazy and in a holiday mood haha! 10 more days and we are off to the North for our yearly 'pilgrimage', the trip that we must commit to for the next 9 years. Can't wait to stuff myself fat with Penang and Ipoh food. We are dropping our plan for a holiday in Singapore as we are unable to grab the SGD888 package at Universal Studio / Sentosa Island. All the decent hotels in Singapore are also fully booked or priced sky high around X'mas, which is the time that we intend to go. Anyway, we are looking at another holiday spot now, somewhere that's not too far.

Happy long weekend peeps!




This is often the first thing that they will do whenever they are back from a long and hot morning walk at the park - by sprawling themselves on the cool floor and then let out a satisfied giggle.

Loh Mai Kai Within A Pau

This must be the perfect marriage of dim sum for lovers of Char Siew Pau and Loh Mai Kai. The creators of this dim sum deserves a pat on the back for marrying the Char Siew Pau with the Loh Mai Kai to deliver something that's so unique. My good friend gave me a few boxes of this unique looking pau when she went to this dim sum place in Sri Petaling. A box of this pau is enough to fill you up for lunch or dinner, if you are a small eater.




A whole Loh Mai Kai with something that tastes like abalone is held inside the pau!

Sorry, I cannot tell you the name of the dim sum place as the name is printed in Chinese and I can't read Chinese. Anyone please? Anyway, you may call this number to make inquiries :

140 Jalan Radin Anum
Sri Petaling
57000 KL
Tel : 019-382 5455

A Bag Of SURPRISE from Alycia's School

A week before the school holidays started, Alycia gave me a shock when she brought home a heavy bag of curtains from school! Her teacher had asked her to bring the dirty curtains home for a spin in the washing machine! Oh my, what a big pack of end-of-school term surprise her teacher had given me! Her school involves all the students in the cleaning up of the school. Each student has to bring his/her own cloth to wipe the windows every week. Students are also compelled to bring old newspapers to the school for their recycling project. Now, they even rope in the kids to bring home the curtains for a wash LOL! This is the first time in my life that I have seen a school getting the pupils to bring home curtains for cleaning. Well, I think this is better than hanging a dust-covered dirty curtain in the classroom eh?

Baby's Singing Prowess

Baby's next favorite pass time is creating her own songs and belting them out, complete with some twists to her waist and butt. This girl is really good with her words and lyrics, though at times the tune would go a bit out. She can create songs related to just about anything from her family to a song about snakes (that's because we recently witnessed the guards at our condo catching and killing a long snake at our condo!)

Yesterday, she created a song called "My Family", which goes like this, to the tune of Auld Lang Sye:

I love my family
Because they bring me everywhere
I love my mummy
I love my daddy
I love everyone
Because they are my family.

Baby - mummy, how do you like my song? It's "My Family" song. Cool eh? Did I sing well?

Me - yes, very nice and very cool!

LOL! Not bad for a 3.5YO girl who has not even started pre school yet eh?

Healthy Roasted Vegetables

The girls have a grand aunt whom they adore, who lives a few floors beneath ours. We often cook and share our food together for dinner. The other day, she made something that's healthy and packed with anti-oxidants. She roasted beet roots, pumpkin, baby sweet corns, carrots and zucchini.

Jamie Oliver's recipe - roast beet roots with a drizzle of Balsimic vinegar, olive oil and salt.



Roast pumpkin, carrots, baby sweet corn and zucchini, with a drizzle of olive oil and salt.


Since the portion was so huge, we kept the roasted vegetables in the fridge and ate them chilled the next day, yums! Here's another way of getting your kids to eat colorful vegetables, to pump in anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals into their little bodies. My kids love them and so do I!

Cute Stuff She Does

My 3.5YO baby girl's latest frenzy is cutting papers with a pair of scissors from Mothercare, meant for cutting finger nails. She can spent close to an hour cutting papers and that's bliss to me, for I can have 1 hour of peace and silence to do my work. But I make sure that she is seated next to me, under my watchful eyes.

The other day, she hijacked some of my expensive colored papers and cut them into strips. Then she ran to me and said in her sweetest voice "mummy, look at my bunches of flowers! Later, can you please give me a plastic bag to put them, please mummy?"


My sweetie pie with her home-made bunches of flowers :D

Sherilyn

Rascal #2 has finally graduated from pre-school. Can't believe she is going to Primary 1 next year. I earnestly hope that she will make some changes on her attitude towards her studies and discipline, will place importance towards punctuality and will have an intense liking of what she will learn in school. When Alycia was in pre school, I remember I had the same fears and worries on how she will cope in a Chinese school. Alycia fell sick and had to skip school regularly when she was in pre school. Consequently, she had some catching up to do in her studies. I remember she always made my blood boil too whenever I had to do revision with her before her exams. All that changed when she started going to Primary 1. All my fears and worries were unfounded. She did very well and I am surprised with the rate at which she picked up Mandarin and master Mandarin, in view of both her parents speak and read no Mandarin. I hope the same goes for Sherilyn too.

A pot shot of Sherilyn doing her revision. She ain't the type who will sit restricted at the table to pore over her books. She needs movements and lots of 'spices and flavor' to her study methodology.

Conversation With Cassandra

It was pouring outside during lunch time today.

Baby - mummy, the rain is good for the trees right?

Me - yup. We all need to drink water to live. The trees need to drink water too.

Baby - why mummy?

Me - so that the trees will grow taller and taller.

Baby - like Jack and the Beanstalk right mummy?

Me - yeah, clever girl!


After lunch in the bathroom...

Baby - mummy, what will happen if I eat soap?

Me - bubbles will form inside your body and the bubbles will come out through your nose, mouth, ears and eyes, scary right?

Baby - and what will happen if I eat this? (pointing to the water hose)

Me - you will die if you eat the water hose!! (LOL!! This rascal loves asking me cheeky questions when she already knows the answers.)

Cassandra at 3years 7 months



My most promising model at Old and New Stuff For Sale, donning on a cute cheongsam and Chinese embroidered shoes.

A Bento Set A Day

Here's yet another Bento set prepared for my kiddos...



Grilled salmon with butter and garlic, Terriyaki chicken and sushi, washed down with a mug of murberry-beet root-carrot-apple juice, with grapes as starter and Rocky sticks for dessert.
And no, I am not that ambitious and I don't have the luxury of time (though I would love to) to whip up such a luxurious lunch for my kiddos. It's my hubs and his chefs who cooked up the storm, for one of his customer's functions for that day. I heart days like this, when my hubs sends his staff to deliver hot food to our doorstep, for I don't have to get myself all sweaty and have my face, hands and clothes tainted with choking cooking oil :D

Weekend Midnight Supper

The weekends are here again, super hooray! Business will be slower over the weekends and that's the time I can breathe. I really do need the breather and catch up on my sleep as I feel sleepy all the time lately, a result of being severely sleep deprived.

Weekend also means midnight snacking with daddy for Alycia and Sherilyn. Last Saturday, daddy brought them out to buy supper of fried crabs and fried Hokkien noodles. The 3 of them had a whale of a time chomping down the noodles and sucking on the crab legs and claws till way past midnight. Me? I don't touch food after 9pm and have the will power to say NO, even to the most delicious of morsels put right in front of my eyes and mouth, with salivating aromatic smell permeating my nostrils. Can you resist? tee hee...

A Bento Set A Day

Here's one of the bento set lunches for the girls, prepared last week:



Jackfruit and grapes before the meal followed with mushroom pasta, fresh coconut water and a Loacker Mini wafer for dessert. The mushroom sauce was pre-prepared a week ago and stored in smaller portions in the freezer. Whenever I am busy, all I need to do is to reheat the sauce, broil some pastas and voila, my kiddos have hot piping food for lunch.