Homemade Chocolate Brownie And Healthy Roselle Tea

Whenever there's a holiday, my handy girl's hands would start to itch ~ itching to bake her favorite cookies and cakes.

During the long Merdeka weekend, Drama Queen baked a tray of chocolate brownie, using a new recipe. Instead of using regular baking chocolate, which I wasn't too keen to buy as I find those too sweet and too junky, I bought Whittaker's dark chocolate and another imported brand of organic milk chocolate.

This brownie is about 90% organic, made using organic flour, antibiotic and hormone-free chicken eggs, organic brown sugar and organic salt, organic cocoa powder and organic vanilla essence.  What's not organic are the Whittaker's dark chocolate. baking powder and UCC coffee powder. I bought Whittaker's as it's my all-time favorite brand of chocolate (from New Zealand).  And it cost me a frigging RM80 for all the ingredients!





This Drama Queen sure knows how to enjoy her food and life!  She took a scoop of her daddy's Häagen-Dazs macadamia ice-cream to go with the brownie.  The blueberries are organic too.



At the pasar malam on our country's Independence Day, Drama Queen saw some fresh Roselle flowers and asked if I could buy them to make Roselle tea. I told her that if she wanted to make Roselle tea, she would have to help with cleaning and peeling the flowers, which can be pretty time-consuming if you are time-strapped.  Some flowers may be covered with soil and insects and needs umpteen rounds of washing. The petals have soft spikes, like ladies fingers and if you are not careful, can poke your fingers. Be careful of the sharp pits too.

Our Roselle tea boiling in the pot, after Drama Queen helped to wash and removed the pits from the flowers.

How I love the bright ruby red color of the roselle tea!  And it's chock-full of health benefits from lowering blood pressure to boosting our immune system, aids digestion, relieves menstrual pain, nourishes the liver,  has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, contains anti-cancer properties and is high in iron, among other health benefits.

Roselle tea has a taste that is very similar to cranberry juice. It can be described as tart, so you can add sugar or honey to add a little sweetness to it. Also, you can try adding spices like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger depending on your taste preferences.  I prefer mine without any sweetener.



A big bag of fresh Roselle flowers (at RM5 only) managed to yield about 2 liters of Roselle tea. I add Manuka honey for the girls as the tea is too sour for them. If you can tackle pure cranberry juice without sugar, you can down this Roselle tea sans any sweetener.


Cass made ice popsicles with the Roselle tea. She threw in some fresh orange cubes and cubed Japanese jelly into the mold.


Such a refreshing and healthy dessert on a sizzling hot afternoon.

Someone blew lots of bubbles on her Roselle tea with her new glass straw!



The reusable glass straws can be purchased from my online store. The starter kit comes with 3 straws (straight, bended and bubble tea straw) and two straw brushes.  If you prefer reusable stainless steel straws, I carry them too at my store! Check them out!

It's good to start training your kids from young to stop using plastic straws. These plastic straws are killing turtles and other sea creatures when these poor fellas swallow them thinking that they are jelly fish. We now return all plastic straws and disposable cutlery to the seller when we buy takeout. I even have a few stainless steel tiffin carriers and food containers stashed inside my car trunk so that I rarely have to use disposable plastic containers when buying takeout. Plastic containers release carcinogenic chemicals when in contact with very hot food and soups.

Finding The Best Bracelets

Whether it's for you or for someone else, you may be looking for a specific bracelet that says a lot about you, what you stand for, and what you love about life. Finding this perfect bracelet at a great price can feel like a never-ending task, but there are a few things you can do to find your chosen bracelet at a great price.




Speak With Recent Shoppers
The first thing you can do is speak with recent shoppers who purchased a bracelet that was meaningful and beautiful. It would be best to speak with shoppers who purchased a bracelet in the last 30 days because this is how fast bracelet designs and prices change. You should also speak with at least 10 different people because each of these individuals will have purchased their bracelet at a different place.




Trust Online Shopping
Many people have a hard time trusting online shopping when it comes to purchasing bracelets. The main reason is that they cannot try on the bracelet they are purchasing. However, if you choose the right online company, you can be sure to receive a great product. The best way to find the right online company would be to search for as many online bracelet dealers as possible, but you should only purchase from a dealer with excellent ratings and reviews and with a great customer service department. A great example of this is Coppin's, which is known for Bella Ryann bracelets. Every bracelet made by this company is made to reflect a person's birthdate, a special engagement, or some other important meaning. Customers can also have their bracelets custom made, too.

When searching for the perfect bracelet, it is important that you do not stop searching until you are truly satisfied with a specific company. A bracelet is meant to last forever, so you should make this purchase like your life depends on it.

Kindness From A Neighbor

Our neighbor who lives opposite our unit gave me a very pleasant surprise a few days ago.  When our house door bell rang, I opened the door without first checking through the peephole who it was thinking that it was Alycia who was back from school. When I opened the door, I was shocked to see my neighbor (who has a slight resemblance of Tony Fernandez) who lives opposite our unit standing there! Smiling at me 😀.  He hardly ever smiled at us and always has a serious look hanging on his face.

He is an Indian bachelor and we hardly talk to each other except for the occasional hi and bye.  He did strike a conversation once when he commented that Cass was very pretty. That was about 2  years ago.


I could see that he tried hard to appear relax and friendly the moment the door was opened.  It was a pretty awkward moment for me.  I could see that he felt awkward too. On his hand was a big plastic bag with a packet of coconut buns inside, which he passed to me while telling me the story of how the buns came about. He told me that he had queued up for almost an hour to buy the coconut buns from Hiap Joo, a very well-known bakery in JB (popular for their coconut buns and banana cake) the previous night.  This bakery is perpetually swamped with customers with long queues, it seems. He wanted to buy only a packet but then he was told that he had to buy like 10 packets?  He was talking so fast that I could barely catch every word he was saying.  He further added that the buns were very nice and still fresh as he had reached home at 12 midnight. He said that he gave some of the buns to his sister, friend and then remembered that I have 3 daughters.  I tried very hard not to appear awkward and was suppressing myself from laughing 😆

And you know what? After he left, I actually googled Hiap Joo Bakery JB to find out if what he was saying was true muahahaha!  But I couldn't find any information that says that there is an MOQ for the buns🤭

Though we felt awkward, the ice was finally broken. All these while since he moved in 3 years ago, our girls and I had the impression that he wasn't very friendly. And I actually have the suspicion that he was errr, gay, as I see young men coming in and out of his unit regularly.  Till today I still wonder what he does for a living. The hubs thinks that this man doesn't have to work as he is always walking around the neighborhood and working out in the gym. I have never seen him in a corporate suit but he drives a Volvo.  We suspect that he must be the son of some tycoon and he really never needs to work.  Anyway, that's his life and I have no right to poke my nose into his personal life.  But it was so sweet of him to have thought of us when he bought the buns 😊

Papa's 75th Birthday ~ 19 August 2018

On the morning of papa's birthday, despite having had a very heavy and sumptuous dinner the previous night, the hubs brought us all to dig into yet another very heavy meal for brunch. He chose Indian food as papa is a huge fan of spicy food. According to mum, papa eats curry almost every day.

It was our very first time trying out Vishal Food & Catering Restaurant @ Brickfields. The restaurant was bursting at its door with patrons when we stepped inside on a Sunday morning.  Thankfully we managed to get a table pretty quickly. And thank God it wasn't a hot and humid day and the heat inside the restaurant was bearable for me. But papa and Roy were sweating buckets after scarfing down hot and spicy food.



As a Chettinad restaurant, Vishal specialises in the spicy and aromatic cuisine that hails from Tamil Nadu. Heady curries are heaped onto rice (choose from biryani or white rice) on individual banana leaves. Scoop up the rasam, warm rice and dhal into your mouth and that will guarantee your place in the queue that snakes around this joint every Sunday.

Once we were seated in a "mess-hall" setting, huge pieces of banana leaves were laid on our table.  The girls were excited that they were going to eat from fresh banana leaves. Then  a staff came by our table to serve us the accompaniments for the rotis and rice. His tray was loaded with individual plates of the usual favourites of varuval chicken, mutton, bean curd, egg, fish curry, etc. that you can add on to your meal if you wish.  We were also given a 3-in1 tray filled with curry, dhall and chutney where we can help ourselves to for our rotis.





The hubs ordered a plate of mutton nasi briyani and the portion of the rice was really huge! So was the piece of mutton bone!  It was so good that he ordered another plate for us to share so that we could all leave his plate of rice and mutton alone 😆


All mine and keep your hands off my mutton rice!

I love the vegetarian accompaniments for my tosai:



Feel free to help yourself to these mouth-watering accompaniments for your rotis and nasi.




We enjoyed our Indian cuisine very much and were really stuffed to the max.  But the hubs suggested having cakes and coffee next! Very typical of him.

Address:
Vishal Food & Catering Restaurant
22, Jalan Scott, Brickfields, 50470 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur

Phone:
03-2274 0995;  03-2274 1995
Email: vishalfood@hotmail.com


After brunch, we walked to the Indian stalls located opposite Vishal to have a look-see.  The hubs was intrigued by the beautiful garlands sold at the roadside flower stalls. He suggested getting a garland for papa, the birthday boy. What a brilliant idea! What other way to make my simple papa happy than to gift him with a garland on his birthday.













Next, the hubs took us on a short city tour of KL around the vicinity of Little India Brickfields, Central Market, Petaling Street, Bangsar and Jalan Parlimen. Having lived in KL for 27 years, I've hardly had the time to visit all the touristy places in and around the Klang Valley. KL indeed has many beautiful and interesting places to visit. But to the hubs and me, living in KL has always been a mad rush from one place to another and being caught in perpetual horrendous traffic jams.

No prize for guessing who put the flower behind the hubs' ear eh?  😆





Our next stop was at Naj & Belle @ Bangsar for cakes, coffee and juices and another surprise for papa. This will be told in another post 😉

The Long White Socks

A relative gave us a brand new bundle of white cotton knee-length socks from Marks And Spencer a few years ago. The socks are of excellent quality. She had bought them for her daughter but the girl didn't like those holey socks.


When your kids breach the 6 years old mark, it is TOUGH to get them to wear anything that they do not like.  Post-millennial kids are a whole lot of different species from Gen-X kids.  Had I dare to reject what my mum bought for me to wear 30 years ago, my life would have been really tough. I remember mum bought a bright pink long jumpsuit for me for CNY when I was 13 years old and I hated that jumpsuit. I felt like a clown wearing it but I was forced to wear it on the first day of CNY. And that was the only time I wore the jumpsuit. Later I resorted to wearing my school PE T-shirt during the remaining days of CNY that year as I felt like I was in my skin better in the PE T-shirt vs. the clown's jumpsuit 😆  But I still obeyed my mum and pleased her by wearing what she had bought for me.

When I showed the socks to Cass, she didn't like them the moment she saw them. There was no way I could make her wear those socks to school. She rather wear her torn socks than to wear those brand new socks. I have been keeping those Marks And Spencer socks for 4 years now, gave more than half of them to my niece and now there are still a few more pairs left.  Before the socks turn yellow and loose elasticity, I brought them out from the closet recently and tried to convince the two younger girls to wear them. At least to sleep!

In my best effort to try to entice Cass again to wear them, all she said was "NO WAY  am I going to wear those ridiculous socks.  You can give them away!"





This morning, I took out the socks and tried my luck to entice Drama Queen to wear them. But I already knew what her answer would be.

Me - do you want to wear these socks?

Sher - YOU THINK??! (SARCASTICALLY!)

Me - You used to LOVE these socks remember? You used to like everything princessy!

Sher - yeah, that was like 10 years ago mum.  Ooops, MY BAD!!


It looks like these beautiful brand new white socks will be given to our helper again. I can fit into these socks but me wearing them? For jogging? No way!

My drama queen, with a wicked sense of humour really cracked me up with her snappy answer this morning.  But most times, her sarcasm and arrogance piss me off. Wonder where she got the genes from 🤔

Dinner At Jogoya Buffet KL @ Starhill Gallery

My eldest sil from Hong Kong treated us to dinner at Jogoya Buffet KL at Starhill Gallery on her last weekend with us.  She wanted to bring us to some classy fine-dine restaurant with good food  and good service. The hubs asked around and one of his friends suggested Jogoya.  It was a mistake that he listened to his friend. We were utterly disappointed with the food there.

We should have Googled for reviews on Jogoya first before the hubs even booked the place.  Both the hubs and I had been too busy with our own things and work that we had forgotten to Google for the reviews on the restaurant before he booked the table.

No doubt, the buffet spread at Jogoya was very wide and looked gastronomical.  Ambience was pretty conducive too.  There were crabs, huge prawns, clams, abalone, scallops, oysters, mussels, all types of fish cooked in a variety of styles, sashimi, sushi, Dim Sum, double boiled soups, sharksfins soup, Japanese food, Chinese food,  Western food, fresh coconut water,  Haagen Dazs ice cream, New Zealand ice cream, awesome spread of desserts and many, many more. I was really excited on seeing the panoply of food on display when we first stepped into the restaurant. The restaurant is so huge that one can actually get lost inside.  There were so many types of dishes that we did not even managed to try every single dish. BUT somehow, something was missing and it was the quality of the food served.

My sil who is very persnickety about the quality of the food that she eats was the first to notice the quality of the food, especially the seafood. Being a well-traveled gourmand who enjoys fine dining and fresh seafood,  she was obviously disappointed. But being a very happy person generally, she laughed it off.  Even the four kids were not too pleased with the food except for the ice creams where Haagen Dazs and New Zealand brand ice creams were served. Most of us stuffed ourselves silly by scarfing down scoops after scoops of Haagen Dazs ice creams.  Towards the end of the meal, we ordered two types of fish, steamed ala Chinese and those were pretty good.  The sil who was worried that the kids were not full wanted to bring the kids to another place for pizza but we adults objected as they already had a lot of ice creams swooshing in their tummies.  Moreover Cass and I had to sleep early as we had to wake up early the next day for Cass' full day motivational camp in school.

Overall, the quality of the food is not comparable with the price. At RM132 nett per person (total bill was over RM1k), the quality of the food is really lacking.  It will obviously be our first and last time dining at Jogoya.  But we had a great time bonding and laughing.  I am very sure that this experience will be a joke that the sil will talk about repeatedly each time she comes back to Malaysia and dines with us.

Homecooked Meals

The mil was away for a few days with her  visiting eldest daughter and grandson from Hong Kong early this week. So I had an extra chore for the few days that she was away.

Cooking is not really my forte, though I can excel at it IF only I have a full-time helper to help me in the washing, chopping and prepping, especially the aftermath of cooking and eating. The thought of peeling and chopping garlic and onions turns me off.  And the washing of greasy pots and pans!  I know I am spoilt like that and Alycia takes after me. I never needed to cook all my life as I had my por por who was an excellent cook to dish out 3 meals for us everyday.  She even washed our dishes while we lazed around. Best por por in the world. Sadly, she did not live long enough till today to allow me the opportunity to cook for her and wash her dishes.

On Monday, I grilled chicken drumsticks for lunch;



Chicken drumsticks were marinated with organic extra virgin coconut oil, turmeric powder, coriander powder, curry powder, black pepper, salt and Lea & Perrin sauce. Fifteen minutes before the heat in the oven was turned off, palm sugar syrup (Gula Melaka) was drizzled on the drumsticks.  It was my first time grilling meat with coconut oil and thankfully, the smell of coconut oil wasn't overpowering. The 3 fussy eaters walloped all 6 drumsticks.




Finger licking good with drumsticks gnawed clean by the littlest fiery creature!




The next day, I cooked mushroom sauce to go with the grilled lamb that the hubs' chef cooked in his kitchen.  The mushroom sauce recipe was taken from Recipe Tin Eats, my favorite Japanese recipe blogger  who is an Aussie.  I tweaked the recipe by swapping canned / packaged beef broth with homecooked chicken broth.  I boiled half a pot of broth using chicken keel, carrots, onions and potatoes.





Wholesome goodness mushroom sauce!  The green onions are from my balcony garden!



The girls loved the mushroom sauce and I am SO proud to say that for the first time in our history of having grilled lamb at our house, everything was scarfed down, even the greasy lamb skin! 😆 We are not lamb or mutton fans. Not everyone can tolerate the smell of lamb or mutton. But this time, I win them over with this winning mushroom sauce! Definitely a keeper.

Black Friday Coupons

Lately I have included some basic strength training in my exercise regimen before I start my early morning jog.  This includes arms, legs and body stretching, squats, frog jumps, spot jogging, jumping jacks, push ups and bicycle crunches. The most energy and stamina zapping strength training for me is frog jumps.  This exercise can maximize the calorie burn within a couple of minutes. It is intense, innovative and something that will elevate your heart rate like never before. I often go breathless after frog jumps /frog hops but  feel great as I begin to sweat. Next is my usual morning jog.

 A good pair of running shoes is very important to me when I run.  Good running shoes prevent tripping and injuries to the feet.  I always stick to brands like Nike and Addidas.  The outer soles of my Adidas running shoes are starting to peel off and I almost tripped on the dangling soles while running a few mornings ago.  I keep forgetting to look for a  new pair of running shoes each time I go shopping at the mall.  Cass has been reminding me to change my running shoes as she's worried that I may fall.  Thankfully for 2018 Adidas coupons on Black Friday and 2018 Black Friday shoes coupon deals,  I can get discounted running shoes without having to make a trip to the shopping mall! What I need to do now is to double check my running shoes size and at a few clicks of the mouse at hasoffer.com, my running shoes will be at my doorstep in a few days.  I just love receiving parcels!  Don't you, too? ;)

Ok, sharing time now!  Let me share with you the various Black Friday coupon deals from hasoffer.com:

 


There are coupon deals from various popular brands of running shoes and sports apparel with 20% off, including Black Friday Nike coupon deals.  The choice is limitless.

 

Now that I have shared these coupon deals with you, be sure to utilize them soon as they  have expiration dates.

Generation Z Kids Problems

Today I spent RM250 on Drama Queen’s eye glasses and it is the cheapest available plastic eye frame at the optical shop. Knowing her trend of having to change glasses three times a year, I told the staff to find me the cheapest possible eye frame. It’s Drama Queen’s second pair of glasses in under 3 months!

And I had to walk for 15-20 minutes under the sizzling sun from the kopitiam to the stationery shop to get her a pair of scissors first, then walk to the eyewear shop and back to the car park, drenched in sweat and cussing away.

Because she couldn’t be bothered when I told her to take very good care of her glasses, she broke the frame out of her carelessness and lackadaisical attitude.

Because she didn’t listen when I told her not to read in dim lightings, the power on her right eye increased.

Because of her stubbornness, I had to pay RM250.  Is this even fair?

Me – I am going to take money from your Savings account to pay for your glasses. It’s totally unacceptable that I have to pay for two pairs of glasses in less than 3 months.

S – Up to you…

Me – No, I think I shouldn’t take from your Savings account. The money is for your college. You have to work for me FOR LIFE FOR FREE!

S – Don’t I already?

Me – Without any complaint and eye-rolling and to do whatever that I ask you to! Get it? NO COMPLAINTS!

S – Whatever..

Last week I spoke to a friend with a 14-year old son and she told me that her son is rude to her too, with eye-rolling, “whatevers”, grunts and disobedience.

Is this a post millennial / Gen Z / iGeneration or whatever you call it teenager issue that we parents are facing now? I was never like that towards my parents when I was a teenager. I would not have lived through the next day peacefully had I dare to be disrespectful to my papa.

Do your teenage children behave in a disrespectful manner to you?

Cassandra's BFFs

Half my Saturday was spent at the Bukit Kiara Golf & Country Club last week to accompany Cass who had a birthday party at the bowling alley of the club.

Cass' bestie, C only invited two of her best friends to her birthday party. You read it right. There were only 3 girls at the party, including the birthday girl but the 3 girls had a swell time.  It's not the quantity but the quality that matters 👍

Cass with C:



C is one of the sweetest, most polite, friendliest and unassuming girl I've met. She is a Math genius and top student since Primary 1. And I just love her dimples!








While the 3 girls played bowling and had lunch at the bowling alley, I had lunch with their mummies at another restaurant in the club.   The girls were watched by C's helper.




It's my hope that Cass, C and D will be best friends forever.  I love the girls and get along well with their mummies. Sadly, I doubt this is going to happen as C and D will be leaving the current primary school for international schools latest by mid of next year.  Hopefully with Facebook, Whatsapp and video calls, the girls will keep in touch with each other and have an everlasting friendship.

Friday, 27 July 2018

Today is the last day of Cass' mid-term exam, finally! Hurrah! 😁

Cass did not put in her 100% in revising for this exam, not even 30%.  I told her from the very start that she would have to be prepared to accept mediocre or even poor grades if she didn't try her best.  I don't even want to think of her grades now.  I want to enjoy my weekend before another hectic week begins.  I'll just let Cass face the music from her teachers and get an earful of unpleasant comments from certain critical relatives.  Next week is going to be an anxious week for this girl as she and her classmates get back their marked exam papers.  For now, I'll let Cass enjoy her play date cum bowling birthday party with her two besties tomorrow... with me tagging along as usual 😛

This is Cass' breakfast today ~ a Portugese egg tart and Izumio.


I'll let Cass enjoy a few workbook-free days before tuition begins with homework and all again.

Just a moment ago while on the way to fetch Alycia back from the tuition center, I had a glimpse of the super huge blood moon! It was really huge and reddish-yellowish in color.  I couldn't take a better look at the moon as I was driving. But the sight of the humongous Moon against the black backdrop of the sky was indeed a sight to behold  and Insta-worthy. If only I wasn't driving, I would have tried to steal a picture of the Moon. I didn't even know that today is the longest lunar eclipse in 100 years until Alycia told me.

The longest blood moon in 100 years is taking place today (Friday), giving stargazers and the general public the chance to see something pretty special. Starting at around 9pm on Friday 27 July, people will be able to watch the Moon turn the colour of blood red in a phenomenon that usually takes place once every few years.  Blood moons may be fairly common, but the sheer duration of this spectacle will give the best chance yet of capturing the perfect photo.

YIANNIS KOURTOGLOU / REUTERS

Happy Fri-yay peeps and have a great weekend y'all!

Wednesday, 25 July 2018

Today is shopping hump day! I really needed to de-stress after a stressful week revising with a vomit-blood inducing kid for her exam.

My main intention of going to the mall is to shop for a gift for Cass' classmate.  Cass has been invited to attend a bowling birthday party this Saturday at a private golf club. And only 3 friends will be at the party, including the party girl 😁  It's an exclusive invitation for the 3 besties.  I'm really glad that Cass has two classmates who have been her besties since last year.  Sadly, the two girls will be leaving the current school for international schools next year. I wonder if this is one of the reasons why Cass has lost her mojo to study since last year when she found out that these 2 friends will be leaving.  It's like Cass has lost her meaning to remain in this class as her 2 besties will no longer be there next year 😥 I know how she feels as I had gone through this when I was 13 years old when one of my best friends, YY had to leave MGS Ipoh for KL when her dad who was a bank manager then, got transferred.  But YY and I remained good friends for many years, communicating via snail mail and later emails. YY was at my wedding 14 years later and  I was YY's bridesmaid when she got married.  We are still friends till today but only on Facebook, though she's been really silent and rarely updates her Facebook page. I must take the bold step to send her a message one of these days just to find out how she's doing now.

After shopping, I wanted to have lunch at Pho Viet but my Handy Girl (think I will change her blog name from Drama Queen to Handy Girl!) begged me to go to Nana's Green Tea instead.  Guess what's attracting her to Nana's Green Tea?

The Matcha Latte is the bomb!  Nana's Matcha Latte is the top drawer and this girl claims that it even beats those that she's tried in Hong Kong hands down.



While waiting for her crazy mum to shop, my Handy Girl did her homework at Nana's Green Tea while enjoying her lunch and Matcha Latte. What a luxurious life for a 13-year old huh?



Fruit box of the day for the girls today : organic tomatoes, sweet cherries bought from Aeon Supermarket, blush pears and avocado for Cass.  Alycia and Handy Girl had avo sandwich in the morning.

As some parts of the UK face one of the hottest summers on record, we in Malaysia are also experiencing billy boiling temperatures soaring above 30C and basking in perpetual heat wave.  But spare a thought for Japan, where temperatures have hit a staggering 41.1C in Kumgaya, northwest of Tokyo, a new record.

Weather in KL today ~ 32C but really feels like 38C:

First Month On Braces

It's exactly one month since Alycia started to wear dental braces. She went for her first month dental appointment to have the wires and rubber changed on 19 July. This time she chose Tiffany Blue for the rubber, which looks almost the same as the first color, blue.



Thankfully there isn't much pain with the new wires on and Alycia can still eat normally.  She eats everything now, including  chowing down hard crispy Muruku, nuts, messy chocolate chip cookies and sticky 'Heong Pneah' that grandma bought from Ipoh.

Mangosteens and duku langsat are Alycia's favorite local fruits. She didn't eat what her grandma cooked for dinner last week as she had a heavy lunch at school. This fruit-lover ate almost 1kg of mangosteens and duku langsat for dinner.









Avocado is another favorite fruit of Alycia. Avos are a staple in our kitchen and this girl puts avo into almost all her food, in the weirdest of combo. Her latest avo combo frenzy is with 'char siew pau'!

Alycia's breakfast on a Sunday yesterday ~ 'char siew pau' topped with avocado with a handful of brown rice butter crackers and a good book.


Afterwards she spent half a day at a nearby supermarket with 3 of her classmates to work on their PT3 History project.  And my job on Sunday was to be a full-time driver to Alycia and Drama Queen and full-time BM tutor to a vomit-blood inducing 10-year old kid who's sitting for her exam this week.

Honeymoon Year

One of the best years of my life were those when I was 13 and 14 years old in 1986 and 1987.  We moved into our new double storey house when I was 13. It was a little girl's dream came true for me to be able to live in a semi-detached house with stairs and attached bathroom. We had rambutan, guava, mango and papaya trees in our garden.  My mum painted my room pink ~ pink walls with pink bed and pink dressing table.   It was also in that year that I finally had a puppy, given to us by our neighbor. But sadly, the following year, my much loved puppy was ran over by my older brother's school bus when he left the gate open and Ricky ran out to follow him.  Till this date, I can still remember Ricky frothing when I carried him into the backyard. With tears streaming down my cheeks, I ran to my papa who was in the bathroom prepping to get ready for work and begged him to bring Ricky to the vet to save him. Sadly, the vet couldn't do much and Ricky had to be  euthanized the next day.  I will never forget that sad fateful day when papa fetched me from the ACS swimming pool after swimming practice and brought me to the public vet for me to say my last goodbye to Ricky 😭

When I was in Form 1, like Drama Queen,  I attended school in  the afternoon session.  Form 1 was my 'honeymoon year'.  There wasn't that much exam or tuition pressure yet and I enjoyed every bit of being in Form 1 with my besties.  I remember we had a chapel / singing class period once a week, where we  had to sing old English folk songs, Christian songs and even nursery rhymes! 😂  Some of the songs did not make much sense but my besties and I enjoyed singing and laughing over the nonsensical nursery rhymes.  Has anyone of you sang "Ten Green Bottles Hanging On The Wall" before?  We had to sing from 10 green bottles, down to no green bottles giggling away like hyenas before our singing teacher, who was also a fierce disciplinary teacher reprimanded us.  It was also in that year that my besties and I caught a flasher flashing his fiddle to us. It was our first encounter and we were totally freaked out and traumatised.  Next to the toilets were a piece of vacant land with banana trees and that no-shame flasher was cat calling us while pointing to his fiddle.  My friends and  I screamed blue murder and ran for our dear lives back to our classroom. Our English teacher summoned other teachers to chase after the flasher.  He escaped. We really thought that we would be caught by the flasher and assaulted hahaha! We were really a bunch of dramatic crazy girls. 

I had the most laughter and giggles with my besties when I was in my early teens. I truly miss those years and wish that I could turn back the clock and relive those days all over again.

Seeing how Drama Queen is enjoying her "honeymoon year" in Form 1 now reminds me of my own, though my enjoyment and happiness back then (32 years ago!) and hers come from rather different sources. Her happiness now is being able to sleep in till 8-9am everyday, the liberty to have her own mobile phone to chat with her friends and having long lunches with me at different shops almost everyday.  I guess my middle child is luckier as she doesn't have to help to do the laundry everyday.  My mum delegated my first house chore to me when I was 13 and it was the laundry department. After breakfast each day, I would have to help hang the laundry.  At night, my brothers and I had to fold the clothes. We even washed bathrooms and mopped the floors but with a small fee from mum 😁

Today's lunch with Drama Queen was at Coffee Box, with the hubs.:


She had beef balls spaghetti and pandan barley and the hubs had char koay teow.  I was still stuffed to my throat from a heavy double breakfast consisting of an egg, dimsum fish ball (from Ipoh), granola and later, freshly opened organic durians delivered to us from our usual organic vegetables supplier, right up to our condo basement. It was super delish and I am now very, very tempted to sneak into the kitchen to have another helping 😋

Friday ~ 13 July 2018

Fridays are always very hectic for me, having to rush from one place to another. On some Fridays, my chaufeurring duty only ends at 10-ish pm ~ and this interferes with my strict bed time at 10 p.m. I could hardly open my eyes wide while I drive at 10+ p.m.. It's a torture for me.

Today while taking a super quick bite of dinner that I cooked (the mil is in Ipoh), I told Cass that I only had 10 minutes to eat as I would have to rush back to school to collect Drama Queen's report card. I was at her school at 5:30 pm, got a number and realized that the parents were taking an average of 15 - 20 minutes to talk to the teacher. When I was there, the teacher was talking to a mother with the no. 14 and I was no. 27.  It calculated the time needed before it was my turn to see the teacher and decided to go home, finish off cooking and do another round of laundry before going back to school in an hour's time.  From school, I braved through the horrendous Friday evening traffic crawl to fetch Alycia from the tuition centre, then walked to the nearby night market to get some fruits and organic vegetables before heading home.

Over dinner just now:

Me - my life is so hectic. I can never relax. I am always rushing everywhere like a driver. I can't even eat my dinner in peace everyday.  I am always swallowing down my food hurriedly without enjoying it. I hope that in future, you and your sisters can afford to hire a driver to chauffeur you and your children around.

Cass - NOPE, I don't want a driver. With a driver, I'll be such a lame. When my driver is on leave I won't even know how to drive! I'll be so reliant on him.

Me - that's why you also need to know how to drive.

Cass - NOPE. Having a driver is not practical. Having a maid is more practical. I want a maid.

From my practical 10-year old Cass who sometimes thinks like a middle-aged aunty 😁

Petty Crime At Home

Someone left this glass pitcher with this much of lemonade in it in the fridge.





I was looking for lemonade to drink this afternoon and what I found in the fridge made me wanna strangle that kid.

It is SO obvious why this was done, right?

Because she didn't want to wash the pitcher. And she knows that I will wash it. Or grandma. As she would have already been in school by the time her crime is noticed.

Lazy girl.  Had she been around at that time, I would have made her wash it till it's squeak clean inside out.

This happens not only to the pitcher but to the ice moulds and wrappers of chocolate and biscuit with zilch content inside left inside the snack drawer and empty punnets left in the fridge. Can you believe it? And no one would admit their crime. When caught red-handed, they give me a cheeky grin and an apology. They know that their only punishment is that they will have to throw the empty wrapper / punnet away or refill water into the ice moulds. I must think of a harsher punishment now!

Risks Of Eating Raw Sprouts

Raw sprouts were once my favorite kind of rawsome vegetables to feast on. I loved all types of sprouts. Sprouts are nutritional powerhouses. For starters, they’re rich in many nutrients. They’re also said to improve your digestion and blood sugar levels, and possibly even fend off heart disease. But after I read from the newspapers recently on the health risks associated with raw sprouts, I decided that I should not take the risk.





Like any fresh produce that is consumed raw or lightly cooked, sprouts carry a risk of food-borne illness. Unlike other fresh produce, seeds and beans need warm and humid conditions in standing water to sprout and grow. These conditions are also ideal for the growth of bacteria, including Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli.



What is the source of the bacteria? 
In outbreaks associated with sprouts, the seed is typically the source of the bacteria. There are a number of approved techniques to kill harmful bacteria that may be present on seeds and even tests for seeds during sprouting. But, no treatment is guaranteed to eliminate all harmful bacteria.

Are homegrown sprouts safer? 
Not necessarily. If just a few harmful bacteria are present in or on the seed, the bacteria can grow to high levels during sprouting, even under sanitary conditions at home.

What can consumers do to reduce the risk of illness? 
* Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and persons with weakened immune systems should avoid eating raw sprouts of any kind (including alfalfa, clover, radish, and mung bean sprouts).
*  Cook sprouts thoroughly to reduce the risk of illness. Cooking kills the harmful bacteria.
*  Request that raw sprouts not be added to your food. If you purchase a sandwich or salad at a restaurant or delicatessen, check to make sure that raw sprouts have not been added.

Sharing My Cakes

The Taiwan traditional cakes from Yuan Taste are my kinda cakes. I love this kind of cake that's light, fluffy soft  and mildly sweetened, unlike butter and chocolate cakes which are heavy, greasy and can make me feel cloy and nauseous at times.  My favorite flavors are pandan and chocolate.  If I want to, I can nosh down half the cake on my own in one day. Of course I won't torture my body like that.  I could afford to eat  like a wolf when I was younger. I eat so much lesser now than I used to when I was 20 years younger. Wish I could still eat like that and not gain weight and don't have  to worry about the elevated cholesterol level. I was once a hardcore carnivorous 😈 with a sweet tooth but not anymore. Not one bit now.


Each time I have cravings to sink my teeth into this pillowy soft sponge cake, I will buy it on any of the day that Cass' Mandarin tutor comes. I will then share 1/3 of the cake with her.  The rest of the cake is shared with Cass and our part-time helper who has been with us for over 5 years.  Alycia and Drama Queen don't really fancy this cake. They prefer stodgier cakes ~ Alycia loves the latest 'Messy Cake' that's all the rage now and Drama Queen loves chocolate brownies. Thus, the reason why she bakes them these days.




The more decent looking portion goes to the Mandarin tutor.

The remaining cake is usually gone by the next day. I don't like keeping it in the fridge as the taste and texture change once it goes inside. For just RM15 for a cake, I am one very happy camper and so are the Mandarin tutor and our part-time helper 💗 

Happiness is all about sharing your carbs 😆