Day Trip To Sekinchan - 3 May 2015

On our Wesak Day holiday yesterday, we went on a day-trip to Sekinchan with our usual group of buddies and their kids.  Sekinchan is a small fishing village in the outskirts of Selangor with luxurious fertile paddy fields.

First stop before we reached Sekinchan fishing village was the paddy fields.  Though it was really SCORCHING hot with temps of 36C, we got down the car for a camwhoring session. I summoned the hubs to bring down the XL umbrella to shelter me, else I melt under the blazing sun's wrath!



Green green grass of rice...









The girls and their playdates since birth.





We spent over an hour at the Paddy Processing Factory and Paddy Museum. We bought rice grains and attended a short video presentation on how rice is planted, harvested and processed.

At the Paddy Museum...


















At the paddy processing factory...










After the tour of the factory and museum, we had ice-creams sold at the paddy factory.

Next up, we adjourned to the fish products factory to see how salted fish and fish products are made.




Geez, the 'hum yue' (salted fish) sure smells fishy!!





Next, we  drove to the nearby Pantai Redang Beach to throw red ribbons onto a wishing tree.  The red ribbons are obtainable free from a Chinese temple situated just next to the wishing tree.  Whether your wishes come true or otherwise, the red ribbons entangled all over the tall tree sure provides a gorgeous backdrop for photography.












Cass' ribbon was nicely flung and lodged onto a high tree branch with just one good fling!  Bravo to this cili padi with good flinging skill, lol!   Alycia and Sherilyn had to make a few attempts though.




After the ribbon flinging session, we walked across to the beach.  We rented bubble makers for the kids to make gigantic bubbles!

Whilst the kids had fun under the burning sun, I sought refuge at a nearby gazebo and guzzled down a packet of Izumio Hydrogen water to hydrate myself. How I  hate the sun and was waiting impatiently for the kids to finish off their bubbles solution.













We had just only gotten back a fresh layer of fair skin after 3 weeks of sun-grilling in New Zealand just 4 months back, only to lose the fair skin to the brutal sun again.  Everyone spots a brand new tan now.








With everyone soaked in stinky sweat and a sticky body, we adjourned to an air-conditioned restaurant for lunch. Finally, air cond for all of us!!






The roe crabs were small and not meaty.  We could get much bigger ones in KL.




Ho chien (oyster omelette)




Ikan keli  spicy stew.




Seafood was not that fantastic and I would definitely not make a 1-hour drive all the way to Sekinchan to sample the seafood.  And they do not come cheap too!  We could get much better fare in KL.

Of all the dishes that we ordered, I must say that the Teochew Oo-Ni (芋泥 - a yam paste) was the best.  It's absolutely one of a kind and really delicious!  It's  steamed pumpkin with yam paste and gingko inside the pumpkin.  It's my first time sampling this Teochew delicacy and anyone visiting Sekinchan must try this delicacy.  The kids did not fancy this dessert and we adults wolfed down both the pumpkins!



Restoran Guan Seng Loong, Sekinchan




After a heavy lunch, we strode across the road to buy some fresh fish.  We were told that the fishing boats return from sea at about 2pm everyday. There was a small shop selling the fresh catches. But the selection was not many. Hubs and I personally still prefer to buy our fish from NSK as the selection at NSK is really HUGE and cheap!   Still, hubs bought a pomfret (costing RM60+) and a packet of fish balls. We don't think that the fishes at this shop are that cheap, yet visitors were seen thronging and buying fishes without a batting an eyelid... like, are they really that cheap??








Baby sharks, anyone?






It was an enjoyable day-trip for everyone, especially the kids, who did not wish to say their good-byes :)

Should I Or Should I Not Let My Blogs Die?

My 2 dot com blogs died again!! Apparently, some Inode issues cropped up... yet again!  So pissed off with the technical staff at the website host.  They are suggesting that I pay several thousands to upgrade my Inode.  And mind you, I had just paid RM800 in November last year to renew the domain for 2 years! WTF!

Thankfully I still have my faithful  and super user-friendly Blogspot blog. This is my very first baby you know?  When I first started blogging in April 2007, I started with a free blog host, speaking of which, I just remembered that this blog is 8 years old this month!!!  I started to blog way before Cass was born.  This blog journals the moment I conceived Cass to when the gynae broke the bad news to me that Cass had a dilated right kidney, to the day she was born to the day she was operated on. And it pens down lots of happy moments and sad ones too. Oh, how I love my first baby blog!   It was only months later that I purchased my own domain.

If all avenues to save my dot com blogs fail, I may have to let them die *SOBS*  Honestly, do you think that it is feasible for me to pay a few  thousand Ringgit each year to save the 2 blogs?   Sometimes I wonder why I am paying so much to maintain 2 extra blogs.  It's not like I can earn thousands of USD  from the blogs like I used to way back in 2007.   Or  that I am a super star blogger garnering millions of readers each month, though I must say that I get tens of thousands of visitors each month to each blog :D

Decisions decisions to make now!  No wonder my right eye lid has been twitching the past few days. Each time danger, sickness or problem looms, my right eye lid would twitch on end for days as a sign of premonition to me. Pretty creepy eh?

So, wish Health Freak Mommy a very happy 8th birthday!  And honestly, do you think that I should  pay my website host to save my 2 dot com blogs?

Our Sunday - 26 April 2015

Yesterday hubs went round and round the KL city centre trying in vain to bring us to a restaurant for a decent lunch before dropping me off for a talk on Izumio and Super Lutein at Menara Multi Purpsose, where the Naturally Plus office is.

Everywhere that we went to, the restaurant was either closed or fully booked, dang it!

Finally he drove into Changkat Bukit Bintang and got a place to park his car. We walked into Magnificent Fish and Chips (it's been years since our last visit) and shiats, the place was full to the brim too.  Then we walked a few steps into Healy Mac's Irish Bar and Restaurant and got a table.  This Irish bar and restaurant is not exactly kids friendly as it's primarily a pub and even the bar stools were a tad high for the littlest one to climb up. But what choice do we have? I was already running late and only had 1/2 hour to gobble down my food!  The majority of patrons were Caucasians. We were the only Chinese in the restaurant!







As I was already late for the talk, we had the Hawaiian pizza taken away for dinner.





Pork chop was really meaty and chunky - as in really white and lean meat, thus was dry. Maybe Caucasians like it this way?  Gwai los like eating lean breast meat, no?  Not for us!




Hubs' roast beef was not too bad.






The bill - which I find on the steep side.




After lunch, hubs sped off to Menara Multi Purpose to drop me off for the talk. I was 15 minutes late but did not miss out too much. Luckily I did not miss my friend's talk. She was the second speaker.  It was a very interesting product sharing session and I learned a  lot on how Izumio hydrogen water and Super Lutein can heal and repair the body. I also met some of my blogger friends there, who are also consumers of the products.








One of the speakers, a businessman and user himself spoke of how the products have healed the terminally ill.   There was a doctor who is a user herself.  She was introduced to the products when she was wheelchair bound and was healed from the ailment after months of consuming the products.  Currently, she has over 50 doctor friends who are also users of Izumio and Super Lutein.  It's uplifting to hear of amazing stories of how some of the terminally ill patients got healed which left their doctors baffled.  My friend will soon be meeting the oncologist of one of her customers, at the doctor's request.  The doctor was amazed with how the products can reduce the cancer markers of this patient, though no chemotherapy was administered.

Lunch For Cass - 22 April 2015

Lunch for Cass yesterday...

Smoothie of the day, comprising of oranges, green apples, white dragon fruit, fresh coconut water and Sunkist Pure Premium 100% orange juice (no sugar and additives added. About RM11 a box).
The orange juice is to mask the earthy and raw taste from the white dragon fruit.  I used dragon fruit so that the constipated ones can evacuate easier. Dragon fruits have a very good laxative effect. Cass poo-ed twice after this powerful concoction!!




The smoothie nicely stored in a glass jar with screw tight cap in the fridge. Do remember to fill up your juices and smoothies to the top of the jar and tightly close the jar or bottle to prevent oxidation from occurring. Everyone in the family gets a jar of smoothie every single day!




I made an eleventh hour decision to cook fried rice for Cass.  Since I had some overnight cooked white and brown rice in the fridge, I decided to fry them as Cass does not like plain rice.  I only used 5 main ingredients, with no meat in the fried rice, i.e. scallions, tomato, kafir lime leaves (yes, I still have some in the freezer!), 3 eggs and sweet corn kernels.  I was too lazy (and busy) to chop garlic or onions so I used scallions. Scallions are just as aromatic as onions and really handy dandy to always keep a bunch in your fridge. I add them to omelettes, fried rice, dishes and everything! After all scallions are the offsprings of onions, so they have pretty similar taste.  I hate peeling and chopping onions too. So scallions are my best alternative!




My result was a really aromatic and YUMMY plate of fried rice, ala Thai. And it's healthy too, with very little rice used. As you can see, the ingredients outnumber the rice.  You really got to give this super easy fried rice a try. No meat, garlic or onions are used yet the powerful natural fragrance from the kafir lime leaves and scallions add so much flavor to it. I seasoned the fried rice with sesame seed oil, garlic salt, pepper, a dash of light soy sauce and tomato ketchup.





The bowl of braised garlic soy sauce chicken with star anise, palm sugar and blackstrap molasses was leftover from last night's dinner.   Cass and I enjoyed our simple homecooked lunch very much and I even had enough of fried rice for Sherilyn to bring to school this morning :)

Product Sharing Session on Izumio Hydrogen Water and Super Lutein - Sunday, 26 April 2015, KL

Folks, there is a product sharing session on Izumio hydrogen water and Super Lutein at the Naturally Plus office in KL this Sunday, 26 April 2015.

For the many of you who have emailed me to inquire on the products, here's a chance for you to find out more on the goodness of the products and how they can help to battle diseases and disorders.

If you are interested to attend, kindly RSVP by Friday, 23 April 2015 by emailing me at shireenyong@gmail.com  :)



 

Easy Home-cooked Meals and Tips From HFM

No oil splatters, one-pot meals, steaming, grilling, sandwiches -- I am sure these are common words of busy mothers who prefer to squeeze out some time each day to dish out home-cooked meals for their kids. They are my favorites too and I have trained my kids to enjoy simple and nourishing home-cooked meals that are low in sodium, oil and sugar.

These are some of my simple and easy to prepare meals that I dished out two days ago.

Chicken bones soup with sweet corns and Chinese cabbage.  If you plan on only cooking this soup as a one-pot dish, you can even add in some minced meat, chicken drumsticks or fish paste into the soup.  I think this is good enough for the entire family. Get ready some organic soy sauce for dipping if your little one prefers some colors and saltiness in their food.  Or add in a teaspoon of organic miso paste into the soup. Or throw in some seaweed into the soup.  Be creative and throw in wholesome stuff into your pot! :D

You can also pre-wash the veggies on your free days and store them properly in the fridge. Buy organic veggies if you can so you don't have to do so many rounds of washing. Your kids can also help you wash the veggies.  On really busy days, just serve raw tomatoes, celery or cucumbers. They are just as good as green leafy veggies.




Steamed minced pork with eggs.  I prepared two plates of this.  One plate was for dinner and the other was for lunch the next day. I also cooked extra rice for lunch the next day. So, one less worry the next day :)




For busy mums, you can also pre-cook your meals and freeze them for future use. I don't like to freeze or chill my meals too long. I normally eat them within the same week.

You can also prepare a minced pork dish by chopping up some spinach or watercress veggie, carrots, mushrooms (you will have meat and veggie in one plate!) and add them to the pork.  Spice up the dish with sesame seed oil, garlic oil, pepper and salt or soy sauce.   Separate the meat mixture into a few stainless steel plates and freeze separately.  All you have to do is to thaw the frozen plate of minced pork in the morning before leaving the house and pop the dish into the wok when you return in the evening. And your entire family gets to eat a hearty and healthy home-cooked meal everyday :)

Just another tip for an easy peasy meal from a health freak mommy! ;)

Our Sunday Meals - 19 April 2015

We had lunch at La Casa @ Verve Suites Shops, Mont Kiara on Sunday. This cafe serves hearty fare, focusing on French and Italian favorites.

The ox tail soup was thick, luscious and absolutely lip-smacking.




Thick mushroom soup and roasted pumpkin soup were similarly delish.





One-pan breakfast. I find the sausages a tad salty for my palate, which has been trained to tolerate only low-sodium foods.




Bolognese and Carbonara Pasta for the kiddos. Good to the last strand of noodles!




Thin crust pizza. The kids loved it, so hubs ordered another one for take-away for dinner that night.




A Sunday will never be ticked as a satisfying day for the hubs without his indulgence in gourmet cakes and gourmet coffee.  He ordered a Green Tea Opera and Mont Blanc cake.













La Casa
Ground Floor, Verve Shops @ Verve Suites,
Jalan Kiara 5, Mont Kiara,
Kuala Lumpur



Our take-away pizza from La Casa for the girls' Sunday night dinner...




Hubs also bought some pastries from his friend's cafe, located just a few doors away from La Casa.


I knew that my rice-addict eldest daughter would not feel satiated with pizzas and pastries alone and not wanting  to be bugged by her for something more sustaining later, I bought her some sushi.  Veggie of the day was organic cherry tomatoes.






I felt so bloated after a carb-loaded dinner but all that melted away after sweating it out mopping the floor and washing 2 bathrooms :D

Eventful Dinner, LOL

After a successful first try grilling fish with kafir lime leaves, I could not wait to try it again.  And this time, I had a bad experience with this vengeful fish!!

There was this really big fish greeting me in the freezer each time I opened the door, ever since the mil went to Hong Kong 3 weeks ago and I have to take charge of cooking. I did not know who bought the fish. I only found out after that fateful night that hubby's friend gave it to him.

I have a confession to make.  I have a phobia of cooking big dressed fishes or chicken.  I normally buy small fishes or sliced ones.  For chicken, I buy specific parts like drumsticks or deboned thighs. I have no time and interest to chop a dead animal into pieces and I have never chopped a whole big chicken before!  Neither have I de-scaled a fish before. It's just too messy, fishy and dirty and I don't like having fingers that smell fishy the whole day.

Since the mil would be back soon, I thought I better cook that big fish, lest I get a tongue-lashing from her on why I did not cook it.

After the fish was thawed, I wanted to cut diagonal lines into the flesh but sharks, why was the fish so hard I thought?!  I used the kitchen chopper to scrape the skin and found out that the scales were intact!!  And it ain't gutted too!  I didn't know how to pan dress a fish, dang it!   I have never de-scaled a fish in my entire life coz the fish seller always does it for me.  So... long story cut short, the aftermath was a total disaster.  Plasticky fish scales were flying everywhere. I had to shower after that and had to clean up the freaking dirty kitchen too.   The fins on both sides of the fish were sharp like needles and I got bloody poked more than 5 times.   I so wanted to throw the fish away and tell the kids that we were going out to eat that night.

But I persevered. Nightmare for me. Did I tell you that cooking is just not my cuppa? Well, if I still had a full-time maid, I don't mind cooking. But I hate the preparation and the washing up, period.  I cook only for the love of my 3 precious.





And my perseverance paid off. My wannabe Thai style grilled fish was awesome pawsome.  The flesh was moist and the way I marinated the fish by cutting diagonal lines into the flesh and stuffing kafir lime leaves, spices and condiments into the flesh produced a very flavorful fish, right up to the bones.





I also did a stir-fried four angle beans with minced pork, which is the girls' favorite.




The girls licked the fish bones clean but at the end of the dinner, I learnt another lesson. I found out that I did not remove the fish stomach!  LOL!!!






Good lesson learnt for the girls as well.  I always tell them that cooking is a must-have survival skill. Now they know what to do if they want to dish out a perfect fish dish.

I told my girls the story that came with this delish fish dish and they all had a good laugh and Cass kissed all the holes on my fingers :)

iPrice Coupons – Asia’s Best Website for Discount, Coupon and Voucher Code

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