All About Cass

This is Cass' latest pose whenever she is in front of the camera...



 Do you know why?

Wait, I'll let you know why later.  Let me first show you Cass' latest love - a bottle of paper cubes that her best friend  Megan gave her yesterday.  Megan's mummy made all the paper cubes out of gift wrapping papers. How very awesome! Cass has been admiring every single paper cube since yesterday and has been telling me how much she loves those cubes, which are very, very neatly folded.  Megan's mummy must have spent days folding them.  The best things in life are indeed inexpensive!

Cass is going to be really upset on the last day of school this year as she will then have to say good-bye to Megan. Perhaps they may never see each other again as Cass and Megan will be in different schools :(




Two days ago, Cass' shaky front tooth finally fell when she was eating sweet corn and chicken chop for dinner.  Before dinner, she was already telling me that her shaky tooth was making it very difficult for her to eat her dinner.  She kept touching her tooth throughout dinner.  Half way during dinner, I asked Cass to open  her mouth for me to check the tooth and what did I know?  The tooth had already come off and Cass was not even aware of it!  She quickly spat out her mouthful of dinner and we heard 'ting' on her plate!  The tooth along with blood and her half-chewed food was all over her plate!  Thank God I asked her to open her mouth for me to check, else, I dare not imagine what would have happened if she had accidentally swallowed the tooth *GULP*!



Missing front tooth - the epitome of the transition from 'baby' to a 'big kid'.  My baby girl is growing too fast.  In less than 3 months, she will be the 'big kid' going to a 'big kid school'

Thus, the reason why she has come up with a brand new pose of putting her finger right across her lips to cover the gap in her mouth :D  She keeps telling me that she looks hideous but I have been reassuring her that she looks as cute as ever.



Cass enjoying her bowl of potato salad that I made for lunch today.  She's wearing her new Hello Kitty dress from my online store :)

Fried Rice With Young Lotus Root & Minced Meat

My 14-year old microwave oven konked off about a month ago.   Hubs said that it ain't worth it to get it fixed as the repair fee would probably cost almost the same as a new microwave oven of some not-so-popular brands. Though I am so used to having a microwave oven to reheat food, I am however, having qualms using it now after reading all the negative reports on the hazardous radiation emitted from microwave ovens and how it will affect our health. So... I guess I will just have to live like I used to before I had the microwave oven and go back to basics - wok to reheat food!

So back to my lotus root fried rice:)

My menu for the day was to reheat some rice from the fridge and to stir-fry young lotus roots with minced pork.  As I was frying the lotus root, I was thinking "why  not just dump in the rice with the lotus root and dish out a lotus root fried rice?"  It was already 7ish pm and I had started cooking dinner late on that day.  I had not much time left to steam the darn rice. We have no steamer and I hate having to use another pot to steam the rice. More pots = more washing and more drying to do!  So yeah, what the heck, I dumped the entire container of overnight rice into my wok of lotus root with minced meat - added some soy sauce and pepper. Then I swept the rice and lotus root to one side of the wok, added some more oil and whacked in 3 eggs.  After a few stirs, I had a very aromatic and delish 'Fried Rice With Young Lotus Root, Minced Pork, Eggs & Macadamia Nuts'   Sounds like a dish off the menu of some high end Chinese restaurant, hor?

So how do you like my creation?  Served with Ipoh salt baked chicken and blanched yau mak veggie :)





The little Miss Drama loved the fried rice so much that she asked me to keep some for her to be brought to school for recess the next day :)

Eating Clean

Lunch for a health freak mommy today :)




Composition of HFM's healthy salad...
Organic broccoli and alfalfa sprouts, organic cherry tomatoes, mashed hard-boiled eggs with mayo (I used two free-range chicken eggs), toasted almond flakes, raw pumpkin seeds, toasted sesame seeds, grated parmesan cheese and a drizzle of goma salad dressing.  This is what I like about eating clean.  I eat without an iota of guilt and I feel so good after my meal - no phlegm clogging up my throat, no tingling sensation in my throat, no bloatedness, no cloyness, no feeling of unquenchable thirst and it's low in fat :)

Buying Herbs and Spices Online

Cooking wholesome and nutritious food for my kids is now something that I look forward to. Though I do not look forward to the washing, chopping, oil splatters and greasy kitchen tops and floor, the happy and satisfied looks on my kids' faces make all the hard work sweating it out in the kitchen all worth it.

If you have been following my blog, you will know by now that I will only cook dishes that are fast and easy to dish out.  I allocate an hour to a maximum of 2 hours a day in the kitchen to dish out lunch and dinner.  I seldom prepare Chinese dishes as it involves a lot of garlic and onion chopping, as well as frying and braising.  Thank God for my oven, I use it almost everyday to grill meat and to bake wraps or toasts.   My oven is my life savior when I do not have enough time to fire up the wok to fry a fish or braise a chicken.  With an oven, I can easily whip up a very flavorful meat dish without the need for chopping up garlic or onions.  And there is no oil splatter on the floor or on my hands :)

What I find extremely useful in adding flavor to my grilled meat dishes are herbs and spices.  Some of the spices that I use almost daily are ground coriander seeds, dried rosemary, ground cumin, Chinese spices and black pepper.  These spices impart such aromatic flavor to the chicken and fish dish that I do not even need to use any bottled sauces for marinating my meat.  However, it may not be easy to find certain herbs and spices in some of my recipes.  Today I found a website for ordering great herbs and spices online.  This website has such an awesome range of herbs and spices to flavor up your dishes as well as for health supplements. Check out the link above to find out more!

Our Saturday - 5 October 2014

We had dim sum brunch at Grand Harbour Chinese Restaurant @ Mid Valley after dropping Sherilyn at the enrichment centre  - just hubs, Cass and me.  Alycia 'ter-slept' on Friday night and had to be homebound to complete her homework before the Mandarin tutor comes.





We gave this cute piggy pau with lotus filling to the Mandarin tutor.  She deserves lots of freebies from us for being such a dedicated teacher.  Did I tell you that Alycia would Whatsapp this teacher till midnight at times for help in her homework?  And she has never failed to reply her, with patience and love!




Cass spent her day making 'pastries' and 'fruits' from colorful blue tac, with help from her daddy...









We had dinner at the Japanese restaurant at our condo as it rained the entire night and we could not get out to eat.  After dinner, daddy and the girls continued sculpting with blue tac.

Here's part of their production...





From left to right:  hotdog with mustard, plaid bun, Hello Kitty, burger and lemon pie :)

Kiddos Lunch - 3 October 2014

Simple lunch for the girls today...




On Mickey's face - Green tea noodles, seasoned with organic soy sauce, sesame seed oil, chopped scallions and crispy nori.

On Mickey's ears - hard-boiled eggs, mashed and seasoned with a pinch of sea salt, pepper and mayo.  Cherry tomatoes.

Fruit of the day - jackfruit and kiwi

Favorite Ipoh Street Food

Before we left Ipoh for KL on 18 Sept 2014, hubs left the house very early in the morning to hunt for all our favorite Ipoh street food.  He managed to catch the nyonya kuih seller at Ipoh Garden South and got a box of my favorite black glutinous rice ang koo with generous mung bean fillings. It's been yonks since I last sank my teeth into this kuih with super soft and chewy skin. A bite of it can send me straight to foodie heaven!




Pulut sambal - not my favorite but my mil's though.







Soft, sticky and smooth kuih talam and pulut tekan kaya with decadent kaya...




Homemade yam cake, which can be so addictive, even for someone who turns her head away from high carb food!




Famous Ipoh 'kai see hor fun' (chicken with flat rice noodles) and of course kopi ais.





Food is one of the things that I miss a lot in Ipoh.  Our most recent trip was only a short 2 days.  But  we managed to cover many of our favorite street food, including my  childhood favorite Hakka fishball noodles.

So did I care a jot about the muffin top spilling out from my hot short pants as a result of all these high carb food?  Not really this time.  I have discovered something that works well for me where I can eat all that I want, cut down on exercise and yet not gain an ounce of weight ;)

And for those of you who are less than perfect in your body, here's a very catchy song by Meghan Trainor that will make you accept and love your body - All About That Bass. I can't seem to shake this song out of my head today haha!  Do enjoy your favorite high calorie food while you listen to this song.  It will make you feel less guilty for sure! ;)

Famous Char Koay Teow @ Lorong Selamat, Georgetown

After our 'starter' consisting of no-frills baked crabs and baked prawns at Sea Pearl Lagoon Cafe @ Tg. Tokong, we adjourned to Lorong Selamat to tuck into the world famous Lorong Selamat char koay teow!   To my hubs, a trip to Penang will never be complete without tucking into Penang char koay teow, cendol and ice-kacang.

Honestly, I think that the standard of the char koay teow has dropped.  The 'hor fun' that we got did not have enough 'wok hei' (this means not fried thoroughly) as the noodles appeared pale and did not have the 'wok hei' aroma.  Well, I guess the standard has dropped when there is mass production.  Aunty obviously could not handle the surge in customers during the school holidays.  The only thing that made the plate of noodles stand out were the huge prawns.  Each plate came with about 4 huge prawns.  Even my daughters commented that they preferred the char koay teow from our KL neighborhood coffee shop char koay teow seller.









The somewhat old auntie manning the stall is as famous as the char koay teow itself.  She is always seen donning a red beret.  With alleged arrogance towards her by her customers, yet the coffee shop is always full to the brim!  And yes, I think she and her workers are arrogant. When we asked for extra chopsticks and plates, they were very reluctant to provide and mumbled some Hokkien words which we could not comprehend! We ordered 3 plates and there were 6 of us, so asking for extra plates and chopsticks is understood. I heard that recently, there was a Facebook campaign to boycott her stall!

Sneak Peek Of Cass' Concert Costume

Cass' kindy concert will be held on Sunday this week. Yeah, it will be another long and tiring Sunday for me. Cass and I have to arrive at the concert hall by 8am!

Today was photography session in kindy in full costume and make-up.  She brought back her sexy pink dancing costume with tutu rara skirt.  Since she still had her make-up on, I made her dress up again and coerced her to do a few poses for me... and bribed her with 6 pieces of Tortilla chips muahahahaha!!





 

 My sexy maxi, rosy posy baby girl. Can't believe that this will be her last concert in kindy and next year she will be in Primary 1!
 



 


I also coerced her to wear this Princess Anna (Frozen) costume from my online store
 


 

Cute as a button my baby Cass but when she transforms into the devil's twin, she makes me spew out hot acid from my mouth!

The Many Healthy Diets of the World

These days, it seems that everyone has their own unique ideas on how to live a healthy life. Commercials about new pills or diet programs populate the television. Books concerning each emerging perspective stock bookstore shelves. The people behind the pills and programs and books give sold-out lectures on their viewpoints.

The persisting question is, do any of these ideas actually work?

They certainly do for some people. There are fervent testimonials from unpaid people, sincerely telling of their experiences and extolling the products and concepts. However, since each person’s body is different, some ideas work for some people but don’t seem to for others.
It’s intriguing to read about the various ideas and how and why they seem to work at all, even though a steady diet of such investigating can prove confusing. There are so many conflicting methods to choose from. Still, perhaps with a little knowledge of one’s body, it can be more easily determined which ideas to try.

One idea emerging on the market is the elimination of yeast from one’s diet. There have been books written on the subject and literally several hundred available yeast-free recipes. There are online blogs that discuss ideas about yeast-free nutrition, illnesses and other relevant topics. This diet certainly seems to work for some. While it likely isn't for everyone, the Wisconsin Institute of Nutrition, LLP is a strong supporter of the idea and their website at http://nutritioninstitute.com/ is worth a look for the interested.

Indian Breakfast On A Saturday - 27 September 2014

Hubs has some work to settle at his shop today, in preparation for several clients' functions. So today I am on my own again to settle the meals.

For breakfast, we had Indian rotis again at a nearby Indian restaurant.



Cass and Sherilyn had the classic roti canai. I saw someone seated next to us eating something that looked like a crispy fishing net and it appealed to me. So I asked the waiter what it was and ordered a roti rava to try. Good thing I was adventurous and tried roti rava. I immediately got hooked on it and so did the girls!  Roti rava is a crispy net-like looking Indian roti cooked with semolina, onions, chillies, grated coconut and veggies.  I love the three dipping condiments, consisting of dhall, coconut chutney and onion chutney -- healthy, natural and so flavorful!

My delish and crispy roti rava. Love it to bits and definitely going to this restaurant again next Saturday morning!

 



Someone ordered the wrong roti and got upset and whiny.  To placate her, I ordered what she actually meant to order, which was  roti tisu sprinkled with sugar (flour + margarine + oil + sugar = SIN + FAT!).




Total cost of our breakfast today was RM14.40 vs RM30+ at our regular Chinese coffee shop for char kuay teow, cee cheong fun and noodles.  This Indian restaurant is air-conditioned and clean vs. outdoor seating, unhygienic and smoky at the Chinese coffee shop.  Thumbs up to this Indian restaurant!

What did you have for breakfast today and how much did it cost?

How Bariatrics Helps Obese Patients Lose Weight

Maintaining a healthy weight is an ideal all people want to reach. However, for those who are obese or extremely obese, weight loss can feel like an impossible task. That is where the science of bariatrics comes in.

Bariatrics is the field of medicine dealing with the prevention of obesity. Doctors who are trained in bariatrics provide advice to patients regarding losing weight. The most common advice given to patients include diet and exercise. But, for those patients who are struggling with obesity, such strategies may not work well. In order for many of these patients to control their weight, bariatric surgery may be necessary. Click this to find out more.

Bariatric surgery is surgery that physiologically deals with solving a patient's obesity issues. A bariatric surgeon is trained in the field of bariatrics and will be a certified surgeon like those who are a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS). These medical professionals approach their surgeries by restricting the amount of food that enters into the body. This is done by surgically altering aspects of the digestive tract. One example of this is a stomach band. A stomach band wraps around where the esophagus and stomach meet. This creates a narrower stomach entrance, forcing the person to eat less. Over time, the person will lose weight because they are unable to eat as much as they could before the surgery.

These bariatric techniques are some of the last resorts that need to be taken for obese patients. Although diet and exercise can work for some people, others need these physiological surgical changes in order to manage their weight. Patients can rest assured they will be in the right hands with the highly trained medical surgeons trained in the field of bariatrics.

2D 1N Stay At Four Points Sheraton, Penang (16-17 September 2014)

This is one of the best and most fun-filled holidays for the girls in Penang.  Ever since Cass' operation in Penang in 2009, our family has been making yearly trips to Penang, for Cass to see the surgeon for follow-up consultations and new treatments.

This time, we stayed at Four Points Sheraton, Penang and we loved this hotel and the awesome beach.



The beach was teeming with an assortment of seashells. Never in our lives had we seen such a bountiful of seashells on a stretch of beach. 

 



Can you spot Alycia, Sherilyn, Cass, my dad and me in the picture below?



 

The girls could not contain their curiosity and got their daddy and koong koong to climb the rocks with them to the other side of the beach to check it out and bruised their knees and hands.  I joined in the fun too!  I used to do a lot of these adventurous stuff during my teenage days.  I'll bet you won't believe that this puteri lilin here who would literally melt in the sun was a Girl Guides Patrol Leader and an avid beach camper eh? ;)  Well, that was yonks ago.



The girls found some life clams and did an experiment by submerging a clam in some water in the hotel sink but nope, the clam did not open up.

 


Part of the girls' seashells loot.

 


My mum having fun in the pool with the 3 girls.









Can you believe my mum is just 2 years shy of her 70th birthday?  She is exactly 68 years old today!  Happy birthday mummy!  May God bless you with many, many more happy birthdays. I pray that you will live long enough to witness Alycia, Sherilyn and Cass' graduation from university and witness their wedding and birth of their children too! :)





The girls burying a dead crab...





And collecting seashells...



My 71YO dad helping the girls hold their bagfulls of seashells...




Everyone had a blast in Penang. Not forgetting the seafood - we had crabs and prawns for 2 days.  Hubs also brought us on a 'jalan-jalan cari makan' tour of Penang to search and tuck into the best hawkers food in Penang.  Hubs commented that he ain't going to touch crabs and prawns for the next 3 months. Hmmm, I shall see how long he can abstain from his favorite food!

If Only We Were Wealthy

Yesterday Cass and I bumped into a friend's daughter at the lift of our condo. Her live-in nanny cum maid was accompanying her to the music school. I asked her where she was going, to which she told me that she was going to attend violin and drum class at a musician's friend  shop located at a shopping mall  about half an hour's drive from where we live. Their driver was waiting in a big MPV. My friend has a driver and bodyguard and her husband has some kind of title awarded to him. Apart from drum and violin lessons, this girl who is a year older than Cass is also learning hip hop dance with Sherilyn and attending swimming lessons. This girl and her siblings have a dozen of extra-curricular activities to attend and they are chauffeured around by their driver and bodyguard.  If only we could afford the various lessons and a driver to chauffeur the kids everywhere with a nanny to accompany my kids, I would do the same for my kids. Ah, how nice would that be  if we were wealthy!

Sin Kheng Aun Penang - Hainanese-style cuisine and Apom Ah Guan

It has been more than 2 years since we last lunched at Sin Kheng Aun.

Upon arrival in Penang on Monday, hubs drove straight to Chulia Street. Thankfully hubs has an impeccable sense of direction. After our 3-week stay in Penang during Cass' surgeries in 2009, hubs has mastered the roads in Penang, mostly the roads to all the good food of Penang. That's my hubs - food will bring him to anywhere :D

Sin Kheng Aun is more than 60 years old and still standing strong and definitely not losing out to the newer and more modern air-conditioned competitors mushrooming in Penang.


What we had this time:

Gulai assam tumis with white pomfret fish. This is Sin Kheng Aun's signature dish and the crowd-puller, five-star dish.  We can never get fed-up of having this assam fish dish and ordered 2 bowls this time!

 

Lobak and assam pan-fried prawns.  Tofu with prawns and a veggie dish.




Kerabu chicken feet.




Caramelised fried chicken with dark soy sauce



Egg omelette with julienned turnip, crab meat and fried shallots




After this hearty lunch, we headed to Burma Road to get my all-time no. 1 favorite food in Penang - apom by Ah Guan!  And mind you, in order  to indulge in this fluffy and aromatic apom, PATIENCE is a MUST  due to the sheer popularity of this apom!  As usual, my darling hubs stood at the roadside and chit chatted with Ah Guan whilst I napped in the car for a little over an hour! 

For almost five decades, Ah Guan has been patiently flipping this fluffy local pancake for his legion of fans from his humble roadside stall.   He speaks English too and on the day that we were there, he was joking with a couple of German girls while flipping apoms!




I think Ah Guan's Apom is the best in the world and second to none.  Try it and you'll be hooked on it. 




We walloped close to 20 pieces of the apom from the drive from Burma Road to our hotel in Tg Bungah. 




Till we meet again Ah Guan, I can now only dream of your mouth-melting and fluffy aromatic apom!

Homecooked Dinner - 12 September 2014

Another simple and healthy homecooked dinner dished out in under an hour by a self-declared super busy no-time-to-even-shit health freak mummy :D

Grilled chicken drummets, steamed tofu and stir-fried organic veggie.




The chicken drummets were seasoned with all my favorite types of herbs and darkened with blackstrap molasses.





I tossed in some deep-fried crunchy vegetarian anchovies on the tofu.  To safe time, I placed the tofu on a stainless steel plate and heated it in the oven for about 10 minutes while the drummets were still in the oven.

As usual, one of my photos was once again photo-bombed by someone who could not wait for mummy to snap the pix. 







The vegetarian anchovies are made of mushrooms stumps and are very yummy!  They can be eaten on its own as snacks.

 


For getting a greased face and hands and clothes splattered with hot oil, my reward  is always getting a happy smile on my girls' faces :)