Avocado bread spread

The other day, I cut up a half ripe avocado. I wanted to spread it on my bread but it was pretty hard and a tad tart in taste. So I whipped out my Shimono food processor, cut up the avocado, add in 1 tablespoon of milk, 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and pulsed the concoction for a few seconds and voila.... I had a very yummy avocado bread spread to go with my low GI bread!

Worsening Haze -- Schools Ordered Closed

This was how the KL skies looked like yesterday, Saturday, 23 June 2013 at 7ish am, taken from the 5th floor of our condo.  It was by far the worst in the past one week. A jog to the nearby stalls to buy breakfast for my family resulted in itchy nose and a very uncomfortable feeling in my chest.

After breakfast, we headed to The Gardens Mall to seek 'refuge' from the terrible haze.

At 5pm yesterday, my friends were sending me Whatsapp messages, informing me that the Government has directed that all schools in the Klang Valley be closed until further notice.
 



Here is an excerpt of the news taken from The Star website:

PETALING JAYA: The Muar and Ledang districts in Johor are now under a “haze emergency” after the Air Pollutant Index (API) readings surged over 700 in these areas. Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the emergency status would remain until further notice. “However, it must be clarified that this does not involve a curfew and there will not be any change to the existing system of the ruling state and federal governments. 

“All related ministries and agencies at the federal, state and district levels must plan and take action to ensure the safety and health of the public,” the Prime Minister said yesterday. 

He urged the people to abide by the emergency guidelines issued by the National Security Council (NSC). Under the guidelines, aimed at ensuring public safety and health, federal, state and district level natural disaster, management committees must advise the closure of schools and childcare centres, government and private sector offices and other work premises, including factories, plantations, construction sites, quarries and earthwork sites. However, services related to water, electricity, public health, safety, radio and telecommunication, transport and finances are exempt. 


The windows at our house are now 90% shut and I guess that we will have no choice but to turn on the air conditioner in the living room too during the day under such emergency situations. Well, if the hubs has given the green light for the air conditioner to be turned on during the day, I'll gladly abide so that our sweaty, hot and smoggy days will not fare that bad after all :)

Crazy, Hazy, Sizzling Weather!

Today is yet another crazy, hazy and sizzling hot day here in KL. At about 4ish am, I woke up upon smelling smoke in my room. I knew it wasn't a fire in our house but was the hazy air outside.

It has been very hazy for the past few days and many parts of our country have recorded unhealthy air levels.
As of typing this post, I had just finished hanging out a load of laundry and I think I got half grilled by the scorching sun rays. Though I had just taken my shower an hour ago, I had to take another quick shower as it is just impossible to sit comfortably at my work area with a sticky and sweaty body.

Yesterday, I showered 4 times and I think today will be 5 times!



Temperature at 10am was a freaking 35 degrees Celsius!  Note the hazy skies and the blurred vision of the KL Tower.

I am certain the temperature will climb up to 37 degrees in the afternoon. Gawd, I am so tempted to shut all our windows and enjoy the air conditioner in the living room but the thought of seeing a RM500+ figure on our Tenaga bill puts off my desire.  With 2 air conditioners turned on throughout the night plus usage of the usual electrical items, our monthly electricity bill is an average of RM400! Crazy!!

A Wacky Girl's Seaweed Craze

Sherilyn's love for seaweed has now gone a few steps deeper. She now requests for seaweed sandwiches in her school lunch box at least thrice a week.  The other day, she added seaweed into her hard boiled egg, which she had with her sandwich for dinner, as shown in the below picture.

Sher used to love eating hard boiled egg but I guess too much of something ain't too good as she now frets whenever there is hard boiled eggs.  I forced her to eat her 'brain power food' (this is what I tell my girls eggs are) anyway and she  obediently ate it, but with some seaweed and a dash of pepper in her eggs.  And guess what she did to her sandwich?  She concocted a cream crackers cheese sandwich by  adding 2 slices of cream crackers on the bread, then topped it with a slice of President sandwich cheese!  This girl is always up with wacky ideas to satiate her wacky tastebuds!

 

That's what she had for dinner, after a very heavy lunch at a hotel earlier.

 
 

Yeast Bistronomy @ Bangsar

The hubs had wanted to bring us to Yeast Bistro @ Bangsar for months but never really got to it due to a variety of reasons. Finally we made a trip to Yeast Bistro last week, on a week day during the school holiday.

When we stepped into Yeast Bistro, we were a tad disappointed as we expected something more than just yeast centered food. On the glass displays were cakes, pastries, breads and everything yeast. The kids wanted pastas and spaghetti very badly while I wanted something more filling like some chops but none of these were in the lunch menu. The kids were very disappointed and urged daddy to walk over to our favorite Aussie bistro, Antipodean to check on a table but daddy came back with tail behind the legs. So we had no choice but to flip the menu at Yeast and order something to eat as everyone was famished.

I was really glad that Antipodean was packed and we were 'forced' to have lunch at Yeast, as originally planned. Though everything that we ordered were yeast based, we nevertheless enjoyed our French lunch very much.


Yeast is a newly opened, chic and cozy bistro that offers unique French cuisine.  The founder of Yeast is a French man and his  Malaysian-born wife. Yeast, specializes in traditional Artisan French breads. I heard that their breads are made using home-grown and natural yeast, which gives the breads a better texture, perfect crust and flavor. 


The first dish that arrived was green pea soup with a slice of artisan bread.  The kids with rumbling tummies polished off the bowl of soup in a jiffy and daddy had to order another bowl.

 



Mesclun Lardons. This is a french salad with egg and tiny chunks of bacon.  Not sure what style the egg was cooked though but this salad dish was yummy!




Spinach quiche set.  The girls polished off this set too and daddy ordered another quiche set, this time Salmon quiche set (not in picture)

 


 
Egg Florentine - love the way the eggs were cooked and I love this kind of healthy and crusty artisan bread with seeds and rye flour.

 


For someone who loves everything almond, I ordered this almond croissant with a generous filling of almond paste, yummae!

 



Egg Ben Turkey. What I love about this French bistro is the way their eggs are cooked.




The Cappucino which I shared with the hubs, which has a swirl of pretty foamed-shaped  swan on the coffee.  But the caffeine in the coffee was SO potent that I felt giddy and heavy-headed immediately!   This seldom happens to me but if I drink really 'kau' artisan coffee, I will get a caffeine overdose, with such symptoms.




For dessert, we ordered a Round Cala Passion Tart and a slice of  Moka Choco cake.  I love the Moka Choco cake while the Cala Passion Tart which has a slightly sourish lemony taste was nothing to shout about.




The bill came up to RM207.64 which is pretty steep for a lunch but for the number of items that we ordered, I think it was reasonable, considering the location of the restaurant and the quality of the food.

Would we go there again?  Most definitely and this time, to try their dinner menu.

Girls' Play

During the recent school holiday, on days that we stayed at home, the girls entertained themselves. Alycia, my TV-addict would be glued to the idiot box and the younger girls would play with each other whenever they were not fighting with each other.

Check out what they did with their soft toys...

They dolled up their soft toys with their hair accessories LOL!  I can see that these 2 vain sisters are very creative and imaginative.  I love the pink hair tie on Cass' 'baby'. Cass said that it was her baby's tutu skirt.

 



And on days when the 2 older girls boycotted Cass, she played on her own.  Her favorite was making food from blue tac.  I got Cass a pack of blue tac which comes in not only blue color but in an assortment of  bright colors.  She will 'take orders' from me and then 'cooked' the food.  She rolled the blue tac with a rolling pin and then cut them into 'cookies', 'doughnuts', 'mushrooms' and just about any type of 'food' with a pair of scissors :D

Coffee And Sinful Indulgence At Ficelle

The day before my parents returned to Ipoh, we brought them to Ficelle Boulangarie to have coffee and desserts after lunch. 

If you have a weakness for pastries and cakes but are on a diet, stay away from Ficelle!!   I succumbed to the temptation and chomped down quite a bit of sinful delights!









I was very, very tempted to grab a piece of Madeleine and Financier but to pay RM2.50 for a minute piece enough for one or two mouthfuls? NO!  I put them back on the tray. The mil said that she will bake them.  She bakes very tasty Madeleines.





Spoilt for choices, it was pretty hard to decide on which to order. Here's our sinful loot and I liked the chocolate cake the best.

No-Frills Hair Cut In Ipoh

Our girls have their hair cut at least 4 times a year, during our trips back to Ipoh.  Their hair cuts would be at this village style hair saloon called Orchid located in a village.  They will have their no-frills but very neat hair cut done by the owner of the saloon. My mum has been patronizing this hair saloon for decades.

The total cost for 3 no-frills hair cut was only RM22, which is not even enough for one hair cut for Alycia at a glitzy hair saloon back in KL. Her hair cut normally costs RM36 with NO wash.  Being a school prefect, she is very, very pernickety on the length of her hair as a school prefect has to be exemplary. She gets her hair cut once every 2 months.

Do check out the silai on the left -- she was engrossed playing with Candy Crush on her iPad whilst the hair stylist worked on her hair! These days, everyone seems to be engrossed with Candy Crush. Some people always complain that they have no time for this and that, yet they have time for Candy Crush LOL!  I suppose this game can CRUSH away their STRESS! I don't know, perhaps I will also get obsessed with this online game if I were to try my hands on it.

 


#2 and #3, looking fresh after their hair cut :)
 

When My Right Eye Lid Twitches...

The Chinese say that if your right eye lid twitches, some inauspicious news are looming.  I try hard not to believe so much in this old wives' superstition but you know, I think this superstition is somewhat true.  Nine out of ten times, my forewarning comes true whenever my right eye lid twitches. Most times, it is someone dear to me who fell sick.

For the past few days, my right eye lid has been twitching throughout the day. Today, I received a very unfavorable text message from our part-time maid. She informed me that she does not want to work for us anymore. I knew that this day would come. How could someone so good be mine for so long? Mariatik is by far one of the best maids whom I have known. She is very hardworking, easy-going and has a very pleasant personality.  Good things will come to an end and good people whom we have in our lives will one day leave us too. I have to accept her decision.  I think her decision to stop working for us is caused mainly by a growth in her neck.  For the past one week, there has been a lump on the right side of her neck and she has been worried sick over it. And  exhaustion is another reason. She holds a full-time job as a janitor at a nearby office. After work, she would come to our place to work until 11pm.  She has been working for us for exactly 5 months.

When the tough gets going, the going has to get tough.  My girls who have had the luxury of a kakak for so long have to get back to some serious work and help out in the household chores. And I am going to make watching TV and playing laptop or iPad a reward for helping out in the household chores. They have to learn to earn their rewards and not take things for granted anymore. And once again, I have to brave myself for some tiring days ahead of me until I find another part-time maid. Wish me luck!

Fuss-Free Way Of Spot Cleaning Bags

When we had a live-in maid, she would help the girls scrub their school bags with detergent and then sun the bags for days. Now that we are without a live-in maid, the girls and I have to do this chore ourselves.  Thanks to Pre Spot laundry stain remover from Melaleuca, we can now spot clean the school bags with just a few sprays. For stubborn black stains, I use concentrated Sol-U-Mel from Melaleuca and scrub the surface with a piece of wet tissue.  Once thoroughly cleaned with Pre Spot, I spray some Sol-U-Guard disinfectant from Melaleuca onto the bags interior and exterior.  I bet their bags were teeming with germs as the girls place their bags everywhere on the floor and even on the road.

Heartburn Treatment

Millions of people suffer from heartburn every single day. Are you one of those people? You may have heartburn and not realize it. Fortunately, there are all kinds of medications, both over and under the counter, that you can take to help manage your symptoms. Some people are even able to completely eliminate their heartburn with some simple diet and lifestyle changes. Some of the most common symptoms of heartburn include a burning feeling in the chest, throat burning, pain in the chest, sore throat, hoarseness and even trouble swallowing.

If you are suffering from one or more of these symptoms and you live in Maryland, you may want to make an appointment with your local Maryland gastroenterologist to seek treatment. What will your gastroenterologist do for you? First off, he will talk to you about your symptoms. He may even order a scope procedure to determine whether or not your problem is heartburn or possibly something more serious. If it has been determined that you do have heartburn, you can expect your doctor to prescribe some medicine to help you. He may also suggest some changes to your diet that might help you, such as switching to blander and less processed foods.

Homecooked Feast - 23 May 2013

The mil's a champ when it comes to cooking and baking. She is capable of cooking up a storm for a small group of people single handedly.

Here's what she dished out for a bunch of relatives (about 16 of us) on 23 May 2013...

Stir-fried lotus root with pork belly slices, stir-fried assortment of veggie (the girls' grand-aunt cooked this dish), gado-gado (this Indonesian salad dish was a hit with everyone as it is healthy and delish), her famous Hakka braised pork belly with wood fungus and dried oysters, stir-fried long gourd with fish paste and ear fungus, braised turnip, a big pot of lotus root soup and red bean tong sui for dessert (not in picture) and....





 ... her signature dish - braised duck with ginger.

 


She spent hours at the wet market in the morning and upon return, she stood at the kitchen chopping, cutting, clanging pots, pans, woks and sweating it out till almost midnight.  I don't think I am capable of handling all these on my own without any help and secondly, I am not as ambitious as her when it comes to cooking and baking ;) 

Mobile Medical Units

When you use mobile medical units from LifelineMobile.com, you will be able to help anyone in need no matter where they are at that particular time. These mobile medical units basically allow you to bring the office with you on the road. Whether you want to do an amazing medical road trip or you just like the idea of helping people out when there is an emergency, these medical mobiles from Lifeline Mobile are the best place to turn. There are no limits to who you can serve when you have one of these medical healthcare facilities, and there are a large number of different situations where something like this could definitely come in handy.

First of all, you have to realize that all forms of treatment are covered by the Lifeline Mobile system. Whether you are a dentist or a doctor, you will be able to hit the road and find patients wherever you go. This is somewhat similar to the Meals on Wheels program, and the only difference is that you will be able to give people medical care instead of giving them food. The mobile healthcare stations are quite amazing, and a doctor would have everything they need to treat a patient with any kind of medical problem on the spot. You will be amazed when you take a look at the inside of one of these trucks for the first time because they look like a regular doctor's office once you open them up.

Teachers' Day Gift

Last year, the mil made some cuppies for the girls' teachers for Teachers' Day. This year, she baked cuppies again - Hershey's chocolate cuppies with pecan and they were delish! But darn, I now have to go on a diet after chomping down a few of these cuppies plus all the goodies that she's been baking and cooking! I even had to tighten my tummy during our 2D 1N stay at Westin Hotel over the weekend :(  It's SO easy to gain weight but takes SO much sweat and pain to lose it all again!!   And it takes a TON of will-power to stay away from those inviting desserts and meat at the buffet tables!!



The girls wanted to get a gift for all their teachers and that would be very costly, thus the mil baked cuppies and wrapped it up tastefully too with pretty plastic bags and bag ties that she bought from Taiwan! Well, home-baked cuppies ain't cheap too as she used free range chicken eggs and organic flour but wouldn't you be happy to receive a home-baked chocolate cuppie too on your day? It's A-Ok to treat all their teachers once a year to some goodies ;)

LED Curtain

If you're an aspiring college student, you're probably running low on real estate. After all, dorm rooms aren't exactly the beacon of our dreams, and those tiny apartments set aside for student housing can be equally as abysmal. So, you may be wondering what you can do to spruce up such a dim living space. One of the most important things students should remember is that they need to make purchases that serve more than one purpose. There's absolutely no sense in acquiring a wealth of items that are just going to take up precious space. In fact, it's much better to invest in something that has multiple uses, so that you're getting the most out of not only your space, but your money, and that's something a student on a budget can get behind.

Beaded curtains offer a fun way to infuse some whimsy into your home for a small price, and the beauty is that you can get them in a variety of distinct colors and styles. Some even feature images that span the length of the beads. If your digs are low on privacy, this is a great way to maximize your space and sense of sanctuary.

To push it further, an LED curtain will be an even greater investment. LED lights are low energy, so they won't sap you of your electricity. LED curtains can provide fabulous mood lighting and make your room sing with personality and positive energy. It's the best way to blossom some motivation for your daily studies.

Homecooked Dinner - 21 May 2013

Our yummylicious dinner on 21 May 2013...






From top left clockwise : radish and beef tenderloin from the soup, stir-fried Japanese pumpkin with pork belly slices, stir-fried celery, red and yellow bell peppers, stir-fried baby butterhead veggie and steamed pork with preserved veggie.

The mil is now having a sauna of a time in the hot kitchen cooking up a storm for tonight's dinner, comprising mainly of traditional Hakka dishes. We are having a group of relatives to our house for dinner tonight :)

Opening A Restaurant

Opening a restaurant is one of the most common business dreams in the world. Sharing family recipes and special creations with the world is a highly rewarding experience that connects with people on a very instinctual level. Unfortunately, running a restaurant is also one of the hardest things to do in the world of business. Three quarters of start-up restaurants are said to fail within the first two years of business. There's no single reason why this happens. It's combination of high competition, high costs, labor intensity and low margins.

One of the biggest problems for new owners is kitchen equipment. Parts can easily break, and when they do, repair can be very expensive if you don't know where to look. Having an easy and affordable place to get replacement parts for a kitchen makes running a restaurant a whole lot easier. Parts Town can help restaurants of all types replace broken components from a wide variety of ovens and other kitchen appliances. Whether you're looking for Blodgett oven parts or components for an old mixer, their easy-to-search database makes it simple to find parts by manufacturer number or description. With live customer support and same-day shipping, there's no reason to go anywhere else if you're in the restaurant business. Keeping your kitchen running smoothly is an important part of restaurant success.

Whatsapp-ing The Tutor

This is one of the many photos of Alycia's Chinese school homework that I Whatsapp-ed to her Mandarin tutor yesterday.   I am thankful that I have found a very accommodating, diligent and easy-going tutor for my girls.  Alycia can Whatsapp or call her tutor anytime of the day and she would get a speedy reply from Ms M.  With the help of this tutor, Alycia managed to score an A for her Chinese papers in almost all her previous tests.  As for Sherilyn, she scored a B, which ain't too bad.  Before the Mid Year exam, Ms M had to go through lots of hair-pulling and voice-raising sessions with Sherilyn.  Ms M had forecasted a borderline pass  for Sherilyn's Chinese test papers.  I was not surprised too as I know Sherilyn's capabilities and interest in the Chinese language.  So when she got a B for her Chinese test paper last week, I could not be happier :D   Thank God too that Sherilyn scored 93% for her Math in Chinese papers. Thank God that she could recognize the key words in the Math papers :D

I think Sherilyn has plenty of room for improvement. She just needs to improve on her concentration power during classes and needs to put in a 100% effort in character recognition. In Chinese language, you need good memory to remember the characters.

Naughty Cass

My 5-year old rascal, still as naughty as ever...



She gets a kick challenging everyone at home with her words and actions but she is still as cute as a button when she's good. I love her yet I hate her. I love her when she is asleep as that's when she looks so angelic, so babyish and so demure.  It's a love-hate relationship with her now and I hope that this rebellious phase will soon pass.

In this picture, she dozed off while making another Mother's Day card for me. Since 2 weeks ago, she has been making me umpteen Mother's Day cards till I lost count of them but I have kept them all in a clear folder.  When my angels grow up and leave the nest, I am sure I will get a kick looking at the card, each and everyone of em'..

Homecooked Dinner - 16 May 2013

My brain has been feeling foggy for the past few days and I just did not feel like blogging or do much to my online store. My mojo seems to be slipping away from me.  Maybe my brain has been unknowingly switched to exam mode for the past one week and my utmost priority for the past week has been to focus on my 3 girls' exams.  Well, today is the last day of their exam and I am starting to feel that my mojo is slowly drifting back to me, weeeeee!!

I only have under 5 minutes to spend on this blog post before I pick Cass up, so this is going to be another short post with more pix.


Here's what we had for our dinner yesterday...

Stir fried organic spinach, blanched organic ladies fingers, chicken curry cooked using A1 chicken curry paste, pan fried fish roe and pan fried white pomfret fish.






Errr, does the fried fish roe look like some gory human body parts? With veins some more!!  Muahahahaha!!