Restaurant Sek Me Choy

After a scrumptious lunch at The Farm Foodcraft followed by calorie-laden yummo desserts at Sunbather Coffee, I was stunned when, on my drive back from evening service at the church, the hubs suggested going out for dinner.  We would usually skip dinner and have something really light and easy in the evening after a heavy lunch.  He hadn't decided where to bring us for dinner though and after a lazy evening Sunday drive around KL, he remembered a famous 'tai chow' restaurant in Salak South that serves really good traditional Chinese dishes. The hubs used to patronize Sek Me Choy with his pals after basketball matches but it's the first time for the rest of us.




Sek Me Choy is well known for their signature pepper Bak Kut Teh.  Sek Me Choy’s Bak Kut Teh has a history of more than 20 years. It is one of the first shops in Malaysia to start making pepper Bak Kut Teh. In 2006, it was chosen as one of the “Top 20 National Kings of Bak Kut Teh”.

Sek Me Choy's pepper Bak Kut Teh is reminiscent of pig's stomach and intestines pepper soup.  As it was our first time tasting it, we were confused as to why it's called Bak Kut Teh when the soup tasted like pig's innards hot pepper soup. Instead of using pig's innards, pork ribs, puffed tofu, mushrooms and vegetables are used in the claypot of piquant hot pepper soup. Hubs couldn't get enough of it and ordered another pot!  The Sarawak pepper soup mix sachet is available for sale at the restaurant.



French beans with salted egg yolk has a very creamy and aromatic taste of salted egg. Every strand of bean is well coated with salted egg yolk. The beans are crunchy and not overly cooked. This was nicely executed. I loved it!

I super duper love the claypot chicken cooked in rice wine and wood fungus topped with fried egg and finely julienned ginger strips. I had so much of this during my three confinement and till today, I've never gotten bored of this dish as well as other confinement dishes.

The aroma of the claypot kangkung fried with belacan can mesmerize you!  Even for someone who's not hungry will suddenly have his/her tummy rumbling just from the aroma of the belacan!



Sweet and sour deep fried fish can really whet one's appetite and the claypot fish paste cooked in vegetables soup is soothing and not salty.


Mui Choy Khau Yoke (braised pork belly with preserved vegetables) served with mantou and signature Kai Choy (bitter mustard green) rice.  The signature Kai Choy rice is very flavorful but a tad salty for my liking. It would score an A+ if they go easy on the sodium.


Sek Me Choy is a family run business.  One of the lady bosses who attended to us is very jovial, witty and vivacious. She and her sister, who is the chef at the restaurant regularly appears on 8TV cook shows and had even hosted Chef Martin Yan at their restaurant.  This is one gem of a Chinese restaurant that I will revisit again and again.


Restaurant SekMeChoy
199, Jalan Besar, Salak Selatan
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Call 03-7982 3132

School Holidays Bakes and Makes

School's out and someone's aching to bake and cook in the kitchen again!

Thus, I've been grocery shopping almost everyday! First for fresh basil, then for flour, butter and nuts.

First baking project was pesto sauce. We tweaked the classic recipe a little.    Here's what we used to make pesto sauce:
1.  3 packets fresh basil leaves
2.  3 cloves garlic
3.  Extra virgin olive oil
4.  Nuts ~ mix of pecan, walnut and cashew. Sorry, no measurement was used.
5.  Salt to taste.

This time we omitted the cheese so that the sauce can last longer.  Plus it's healthier sans cheese.

This pesto sauce is keto-friendly and perfect for weight watchers. Plus it's so yummo and healthy!

You just need to adjust the taste and consistency during blitzing in the blender. If it's too dry, add a tad more olive oil and if it's not creamy enough, add in more nuts.


Directions:
1.  Wash the basil leaves thoroughly and dry them in a salad spinner. Make sure that the leaves are dried so that the sauce can last longer in the fridge.
2.  Separate the ingredients into half and pulse all ingredients together in blender in two batches.
3.  Store in sterilized bottle.

What was supposed to be enough to fill up 2 bottles was only enough to fill up 1 bottle coz the second the pesto sauce was poured into a bowl, everyone charged at it, dipping bread and crackers into the sauce!

Sherilyn said that pesto sauce was unexpectedly so easy to make. That's music to my ears as I'll definitely be asking her to make another batch 😁






Second holiday baking project was cookies.


My condition to my baking queen before I consented to her baking cookies was that sugar must be reduced by at least half as I cannot stomach anything that's too sweet.  Sweet cookies, cakes and desserts often make me feel sick.



Same dough baked into 4 different flavored scrumptious cookies:

1.  chocolate chip for the girls
2.  organic oats + pecan for moi
3.  premium matcha cooked with white chocolate and
4.  Nutella for the girls.

The cookies have a hint of caramel aroma as the butter was cooked on the stove before being mixed into the dough.



Next baking project for the baking queen when we return from Ipoh next week will be tortilla wraps and probably another batch of pesto sauce! 😀💓

After the holidays, Sherilyn will be hyper busy choreographing and practising for the inter-school Berjaya Teen Challenge dance competition semis and inter-school Taekwondo competition.  She's really a very busy teen 🙋🏃

Teacher's Day 2019

Teacher's Day gifts for the girls' teachers this year:



Grandma's home-baked biscotti and a bottle of body lotion / shampoo from Melaleuca.  Cass topped up the gift with a cute keychain for her favorite teacher who's been her class teacher for 3 years but  this year she's no longer the class teacher but History teacher instead.


Freshly baked from the oven, Cass helped to pack the pistachio and almond biscotti.

Teacher's Day was celebrated on the last two days of school this week at Cass' school with a pot-luck buffet-like spread class party complete with games that ran for two days.

The two-week school holidays started today. Besides a trip back to my hometown in Ipoh and catching several movies at the  mall, I still haven't planned anything yet. I suggested a one-night stay in Pangkor Island as I've been 'poisoned' by my friend's beautiful photos of her recent stay at Anjungan Beach Resort & Spa Pangkor. 😆  But the hubs said NO as he's always avoiding crowds during school holidays. It's going to be a double celebration ~ Hari Raya and school holidays; crowd and traffic will be double too!  Well, maybe we'll go in December then.

#keepingmyfingerscrossed

Wednesday, 22 May 2019

I was feeling bone-idle and didn't feel like lifting my finger in the kitchen on a public holiday today.  I just didn't feel like leaving my super comfy portable Osim massage chair while I worked on the computer.  I'm not a kitchen person to begin with but thanks to my middle child who loves cooking and baking and who gets better each time with her culinary skill, I can now order what I want to eat from her!  I pay and buy the ingredients and she'll take care of the rest 😆

Today Sherilyn grilled beets and vegetables for lunch. 



The boiled organic beets were seasoned with rosemary, salt, olive oil and Balsamic vinegar and grilled with garlic at 170C for almost an hour. Super yummy and healthy, these grilled beets can be really addictive. 

Sherilyn pureed some of the grilled beets with garlic, walnut and the juice from the boiled beets in our Blendtec blender to go with pasta. She made this for her school lunch box for tomorrow. Her mid-year exam is still on-going and only ends this Friday.



Also baked some organic pumpkin seeds for snacks. In our home, there are plenty of nuts, beans and seeds, fruits, sugar-free yogurt and frozen yogurt as snacks. When I don't buy flavored yogurt, the girls have now learned to enjoy sugar-free skinny yogurt topped with nuts and seeds 😁


Throwback bake ~ Sherilyn baked some healthy oats muffins with blueberry, pecan and chocolate chips two weeks ago. The muffins are butter-free (replaced with peanut oil) and lightly sweetened with organic Javanese coconut sugar.

Tuesday Dinner From Dah Makan

Since the fasting month started two weeks ago, food companies are striking it big time while the iron is hot. Browsing Facebook  these day is too distractive when food delivery, food promotion and tons of ads on food keep popping up in between every two posts. And I finally succumbed to food delivery order today! The mil doesn't fancy food delivery but she's not feeling well today (Vertigo again) and I told her to rest and not to cook. But I don't have the mojo to cook too!! How?

So yeah, I ordered some healthy meals from Dah Makan today 😬.  Dah Makan approached me to do a review for them several years ago and since then, I've ordered from them several times already. The girls and I are pleased with their food which has a rather 'restauranty edge' as their team of chefs have a wealth of experience from previous attachments at restaurants and hotels. If you're feeling bone-idle or just too pressed for time to cook, do give Dah Makan a try.

Dah Makan's menu consists of healthy and wholesome meals at reasonable prices.  Just order from this link and you'll get RM40 off your bill!

Happy mid-week holiday peeps!  I can finally have a sleep in tomorrow!

Remember your order at Dah Makan has to be via this link to get the RM40 rebate off your bill yeah! By the way, this is NOT a sponsored post 😉

Our sweat-free scrumptious dinner from Dah Makan tonight consists of:

1 x Nasi Kerabu

RM 19.9

1 x Roast Chicken Breast with Ratatouille

RM 23.9

1 x Spaghetti Chicken Bolognese

RM 14.9

1 x Roast Chicken Breast with Sweet Potato Mash

RM 26.9

Super love the mashed sweet potato with grilled chicken breast and roast vegetables.

Jumping Jacks / Star Jumps Health Benefits

I started incorporating strength training into my daily morning exercise regimen sometime in August or September last year. That's about 9 months ago. With strength training, lower abdomen exercises, brisk walking and running, I clock in 40-45 minutes of workout five times a week. Ever since I increased my workout duration with strength / bodyweight training, I lost 2kg of stubborn post-pregnancy fats that I gained after the birth of Cass 11 years ago!!  My weight now hovers between 44.1kg - 44.9kg. It fluctuates throughout the menstrual cycle and I'm always fattest just before Aunt Flow visits.

One of the exercises that I do during bodyweight training is jumping jacks / star jumps.  This is one of the simplest bodyweight exercises to do and it makes you perspire  real quickly.  Just two or three minutes into jumping and I already start to sweat bullets. Enter frog jumps, jumping squats and lower ab exercise and I'll be drenched in sweat.  The more you do it, the more agile your body gets and the happier you'll get each time you step onto your bathroom scale 😁💪

Sometimes jumping gets a bad rap, but when it comes to increasing bone density it is a great thing. A jumping jack is one of the best plyometric exercises out there and it is a fantastic cardiovascular drill. If you are looking for a way to improve your quickness, this is the exercise.

Health benefits of jumping jacks:

1.  Jumping jacks are highly beneficial to the overall health of the heart. It has been found that this exercise aids in combating serious health problems like cardiovascular-based diseases, obesity, and diabetes.

2.  The heart rate is increased while performing jumping jacks, which increases the amount of blood and oxygen that reaches the muscles.

3.  Jumping jacks aids in improving the stamina of the body and its overall endurance level. These simple exercises will improve the overall flexibility of the body; therefore, improving circulation and mobility.

4.  When performing jumping jacks, you are exercising against the force of gravity. As you perform each jumping jack, the muscles actually pull at the bones of the body. This, in turn, strengthens the bones and increases their density. As a result, the chance of developing osteoporosis is drastically reduced.

5.  Jumping jacks burn calories and fat. This will aid in combating against obesity and obesity-related health complications.

6.  Jumping jacks have the ability to increase your metabolic rate. Not only does a high metabolism aid in burning unhealthy fat from the body, but, it aids in toning and sculpting your body so that you are able to look your absolute best!

You don't need to be attired in sports wear to do jumping jacks. I used to do stretching and jumping jacks in my corporate suit bare footed in my room during lunch hour. I also used to run outside the house at 5:30 a.m. with a stick in my hand to ward off muggers and stray dogs and did a second round of running after work at 7 p.m.  That's how I overcame the symptoms of PCOS 19 years ago!

Diabetes

Today the hubs Whatsapped me a photo of his staff who's warded in the hospital. He had one of his legs amputated yesterday from the knee down as a result of complications from diabetes.  Now I can't seem to shake off the image of his staff with just one and a half leg from my mind. 🤦‍♀️

This morning I bought a punnet of onde-onde from the supermarket. There are 6 bite-size pieces in a punnet. I took two pieces and the other four pieces will be shared among the 3 girls. That's how little sweet stuff we eat. Most times during cafe happy hours, a slice of cake will be shared by the six of us in the family. Each one gets a mouthful or two. I don't really suppress my cravings for sinful food but will satiate them with a bite or two. The girls are much more sweet toothed than us adults but they are well informed of the consequences of having too much sugar in their body.

Today after I'd shoved the second piece of onde-onde into my mouth, the image of the staff's pre and post-surgery leg flashed momentarily in my mind and  I almost spat out the kuih! 🤮 I know a mouthful or two of kuih won't hurt but I may have the predisposition of developing diabetes (though my blood sugar is still pretty good now) if I eat without caution as my maternal grandmother had diabetes and this disorder tends to run in the family. Imagine  waking up from your sleep one day only to realize that you now only have one leg and the bad dream that you thought you had has now become your lifelong nightmare! Scary! 😱

Breakfast On A School Day

Breakfast on one of the school days last week:




The mil got up at 5 a.m. to boil dumplings which she made and organic baby sweet potatoes for her beloved grand-daughters. Because the littlest grouchy girl is fed-up of eating eggs, toast, sandwiches and cereal for breakfast at 5:30 a.m.. She doesn't like eating biscuits in the morning. Because this little manipulative brat will just turn her head away from the 'usual breakfast stuff' and go to school with an empty stomach, we have to think of new breakfast menu for her. Just for the littlest brat. See how much loved she is, even though lately she's been really really manipulative and challenging.

Because boiled dumplings are not her kind of breakfast food, my health freak daughter #2 prepped her own healthy low-carb high-protein breakfast consisting of organic traditional rolled oats with premium matcha powder, vanilla, organic Javanese palm sugar, banana and low-fat sugar-free yoghurt.  She made some for me too and it was surprisingly yums!



Early quick lunch with the hubs at PappaRich before rushing back with takeout lunch for Sherilyn and then went out again to drop her off at school...













Love this new item on the menu at PappaRich ~ fried meehoon with chicken curry and sambal sotong. I had less than a quarter of it and doggy-bagged the rest for Sherilyn.

Pesticide-Free Sweet Potatoes

Last week I chanced upon some super slim and short pesticide-free sweet potatoes at the night market.  These purple and orange sweet potatoes are farmed by Orang Asli in Pahang and according to the organic vegetables seller, they are pesticide-free.  The skin can be eaten and the flesh has no thread-like veins.

Some of the purple sweet potatoes are about the size of my fingers. Never have I seen such slim sweet potatoes in my life!



Just like human fingers, some of the purple sweet potatoes are fat and stumpy while some are slim and long.




We had them steamed ~ the flesh is soft, smooth and free from thread-like veins/fibers.



These sweet potatoes are sold at RM12 for 3 packets.  These tubers are one of the best I've tasted. They'll taste even better when roasted.

Our Sunday, 28 April 2019

When the girls were younger, we always had lunch together every Sunday - the hubs and I and our 3 angels and sometimes with the mil if she's around. There was hardly a Sunday when we didn't have lunch together. When Alycia and Sherilyn were toddlers, we used to have buffet lunches at hotels every single Sunday as it used to be the cheapest place for us to go to!  Our favorites were PJ Hilton and Sheraton Subang.  Throwback to 10-15 years ago, there was this buy-1-free-1 buffet lunch or dinner freebie when you join a certain hotel membership. The hubs was a member of two of such hotel chains for many years.  Thus, we had all the buffet lunches and dinners to our hearts content for the price of ONE ONLY!  The girls ate for free every time. How I miss those days of gobbling down the spread of fresh sashimi, raw oysters, grilled Unagi and salmon head with unlimited servings.  And my appetite was bigger back then vs. now.  Cheap buffet meals aside, we had free hotel stays too at 5-star hotels!

Those were the good old happy days of  cheap hotel meals and free staycations. I do miss those days very much when the girls were younger, cuter and easier to manage; no tween and teenage temper tantrums and they cost cheaper to maintain too with fewer activities in their lives.  Those were the days before the invasion of electronic devices and social media, before the girls morphed into dopamine frazzled zombies. 🧛‍♂️ 🧟‍♀️

These days, hubs and I find that we could no longer eat like champs with a bottomless pit. As we age, so do our metabolism.  Food cravings are fewer now than before. Hotel buffet meals have been cut down to only once or twice a year during special occasions like Ramadan dinner with his staff or gathering with friends. 

Lunch and dinner during weekends these days are hardly with the entire family together. One of the teenage girls will almost always be unable to join us as she'll be either cramming for an exam, attending tuition, rushing to finish a project or practising for a dance competition.

My dinner on Saturday and lunch yesterday (Sunday) was a quiet one, spent with just Cass and the mil.

Breakfast on Sunday, prepped by the mil and Sherilyn:



Turkey ham with egg and avo mash (seasoned with lemon juice and black pepper), organic kyuri and organic cherry tomatoes on multi-grain rye bread.

Korean for lunch at Kimchitiam with Cass and the mil.


Alycia had a lunch date with her church youth club friends and Sherilyn stayed home to work on a project with her friends and then for dance practice. She'll be competing in another dance competition this Saturday!

My stalwart Harry Potter fan, always burying her face in a Harry Potter book, despite mid-year exam approaching in days!  *no eye see anymore* 🤦‍♀️

The Ultimate Mother's Day Gift

Mother's Day is around the corner and so is the gift scramble! A great “safe” option for Mother's Day gift is jewelry! This is a versatile gift that every woman loves and we're sure your mom will love and cherish it too. Celebrate the impact this amazing woman has on your life by gifting truly classic fine jewelry that will last for years to come.  If you're unsure what jewelry to gift mom, here's our ultimate gift guide for choosing the perfect jewelry for the special woman in your life this Mother's Day.

Monogram Necklace
A gold monogram necklace with a personalized pendant of engravable disc monogram initials allows you to engrave both sides of the disc with up to thirty letters. Initials of your mom's name on the front with a special message on the reverse side makes this necklace a unique one designed just for mom!




Hearts are perfect for moms
Show mom just how much she's loved by gifting jewelry with heart features.  Look for heart-shaped pendants on necklaces, rings, bracelets, or earrings. Adding elements like diamonds or gemstones are a great way to show mom how much she is loved.

Mom-themed jewelry 
Jewelry with the word “mom”, "super mom" or "awesome mom" designed into the piece will be something that she can wear everyday that reminds her that she's appreciated and loved.




Family-themed jewelry 
Jewelry that celebrates the whole family will guarantee mom will cherish the gift even more. There are lovely pieces that use all the children's birthstones, engraved names or initials to create a unique gift just for mom.


Knowing your mom's specific style and taste is the key to figuring out what type of Mother's Day Jewelry is perfect for her.  If you did not find any inspiration in the pieces we have listed here, you may be looking for a unique gift for mom.  Perhaps you can consider adding a pearl or a gemstone to the piece of jewelry you pick out for her to make it a stand out piece. Or consider a Gorgeous Personalized Small Celeb necklace in platinum, gold or rose gold.





No matter the piece of jewelry you choose for your mom this Mother's Day, she will be grateful that you took the time to think of her.  If you have not told your mom for the longest time just how much you love and appreciate her, this is the best time  to get her a Mother's Day jewelry gift to remind her of your love for her.  We're sure that your mom will be thrilled to show off her new piece to all of her friends and family! If you still did not find the exact piece you are looking for, you can browse the website here.

What's Causing Your Electricity Bill To Skyrocket?

Our electricity bills cost us the earth, every single month, with figures ranging from RM450 to RM500 every month, for the past few years. Shocking right? Considering we only stay in a 1,500 sq feet condo and there are only the 6 of us. I still don't understand how we can utilize so much of electricity every month. Air conditioner is only turned on for 2-3 hours in two rooms and for my room, it runs for 8-9 hours every night. That seems a lot but I have friends and relatives who literally turn on their air conditioner 24/7 and yet their bills don't exceed RM200 a month. They even leave the air cond turned on when they go out so that when they return and step into their house, it's cool and nice. Nice right? Wish I could do this too!  I don't even use the clothes dryer as this will jack up the amount further. So our clothes dryer is a white elephant sitting atop our washer since last year.

We boil water on the stove as well as use a tiny 500ml Russel Hobbs electric kettle once a day in the morning to make coffee and tea. Electric oven is only used occasionally. Ironing is done once every 2 days, for half an hour or shorter. We have two refrigerators and an electric airport flask. I was told by an electrician that the culprits that suck up hell a lot of power are anything that generates heat - iron, water heater, electric kettle, oven and electric airport flask, and of course the air conditioner.

For the longest time, I've been contemplating if I should get rid of the electric airport flask as we don't really need it anymore.  We bought it yonks ago when the girls were babies and replaced the airport flask with a new one last year.  Last month, the mil and I finally agreed to give the electric airport flask to our part-time helper as she's going to have a baby soon.  After a month, I saw magic on the electric bill!

The figures on the bill went down by a starking RM118! I can't believe that the electric airport flask could eat up so much power and money!  But I'll have to monitor our electric bill for the next couple of months to see if the figures have consistently remained at below RM400 before I can put the blame on the electric airport flask.

Once we had an industrial fridge in our house and our electric bill was so high that we discarded the fridge after a year or so. Right after the industrial fridge was removed, our electric bill took a dive and we were so relieved!





A huge drop in the bill from RM465.80 to RM347 in just a month!

Is your house electricity bill on the high side? If it is, you should go around your house to find the culprit, discard the item if it's not very useful to you and you'll be happily saying good riddance when you receive your next electricity bill!

Our Monday, 22 April 2019

I haven't had breakfast with the roomie hubs for about two weeks as he's been too bogged down with work lately. No doubt we see each other every day, but the bevy of hurried and abrupt interactions we have throughout our busy day feel more like baton passes in a relay than anything close to meaningful connection between husband and wife. Feeling like we're like Box and Cox who only say hi and bye each day, we tried to find time to have breakfast together today, after sending Sherilyn to the tuition center. But even our breakfast lasted no more than an hour before I rushed off to drop him back at his shop before picking up the girl from the tuition center and then to the mart to stock up on water containers for the dreaded 4-day water cut that starts on Wednesday. 😰

Chicken And Potato Dishes

A dish with a combo of chicken and potato is magical at our household.  This combo of dish is the only dish that will be finished in a jiffy, with no coercion on anyone to finish their food. No special ingredients are needed when this combo is whomped up in the kitchen. It's a very forgiving dish, I can cook them in whatever ways I fancy and the dish will always be welcomed on the dining table.

These chicken + potato combos never fail to whet the girls' appetite:

Braised chicken with potatoes
Chicken curry with potatoes
Japanese chicken curry with potatoes
Ayam Pongteh with potatoes
Chicken stew with potatoes as one of the ingredients
Roast whole chicken with baked potatoes (one pan dish cooked in the oven)
Grilled chicken drumstick / drummet / chop with potatoes (another one pan dish cooked in the oven)
Fried chicken with mashed potato
Grilled chicken with mashed potato

The list is just endless! What's it with chicken and potato that pair so incredibly well like bread and butter?!





Clockwise from top - Cassandra's dinner and her lunch (after school) and breakfast (before school) for the next day. I can't have the same food for three meals straight but this girl is just A-OK with it!

Best Gift For Her

If you are looking for a gift for the woman in  your life, jewelry can be the best option to make your sweetheart feel special.

Below you will find best jewelry gifts for your girlfriend, wife, sister and even your mum to make your special someone thrilled on her special day.

1.  Couples Jewelry
Express your unity and love to her with a set of Couples Jewelry to show how much you mean to each other. This Yin Yang Necklace Set with Name and Birthstone from Get Name Necklace is the perfect gift for the both of you as you can choose your birth month birthstone embedded into the pendant.  According to Chinese philosophy the yin and yang represent light and shadow,  complimentary forces working together to create a beautiful balance.  Those who wear yin yang jewelry not only bring about positive energy but also good fortune and luck!









2.   I Love You To The Moon and Back Necklace
What better way to tell your sweetheart how much you love her than with this splendid I Love You To The Moon and Back Necklace in hand-finished sterling silver with unique detail that symbolizes everlasting connections.  You can add a custom birthstone on the heart pendant to make it one-of-a-kind. Lavish love on yourself or a loved one with this delicate heart pendant. This is truly an elegant expression of everlasting love.




3.  Custom Engraved Two Birthstones Sterling Silver Ring
Whether she's your girlfriend or wife, there's no better time to show your other half just how much she means to you with a beautifully crafted, thoughtful piece of ring, complete with a customized message engraved. It's a wonderful feeling to be receiving this piece of exquisite jewelry with love's promise engraved within.  Have it customized with 2 crystal birthstones and 2 engraved names - this 2 stone birthstone ring is a beautiful symbol of the forever love between you and your significant other.  Engrave the inside of these bands with a special date, names, or a special message for a personalized touch. These customizable rings from Get Name Necklace make an unforgettable proposal, anniversary, birthday, Mother's Day, or just because gift.



Every woman has her style and every couple has their own unique relationship and meaning to that relationship.  It doesn’t matter how much you spend or what you end up choosing because it is the thought that counts the most.  If you put true effort into finding the perfect gift and making it personal for her, then that is what will really melt her heart.  💗

Organic Food Products

Eating organic doesn't come cheap and I'm only a partial organitarian. Out of the 8 items in the above shopping cart, only 5 items are organic and the total bill already exceeded RM100!  The organic items are cherry tomatoes, raw honey, cucumbers, soy sauce and snacks (baby snacks!).

The Organix baby snacks are really yummy and crispy but expensive!  They are made from non-GMO corn with no added salt and sugar, with a sprinkle of onion powder, tomato powder, sunflower oil, apple powder and Vitamin B1.  At about RM4.50 a packet (one pack contains only 4 small packets), they make great snacks for the girls' recess.

If I were to go 100% organic, our grocery bills will triple the amount each month!

Are you a 100%, partial or occasional organitarian?

Cassandra's 11th Birthday (9 April 2019)

Cassandra's 11th birthday fell on a Tuesday this year.  Being a regular school day with tuition in the evening, we decided to stay home and have a really simple celebration with fast food ~ KFC! 😋😁

This year we couldn't have everyone in the family around to celebrate with Cass.  Her daddy has been super busy with a very important event with media (Mxxx-Bxxx Fashion Week) that runs the entire week. Alycia couldn't have dinner with us on the eve of Cass' birthday as she had Math tuition and Sherilyn was still in school when we had KFC.  Now that the girls are bigger and are busy with their respective activities, it is extremely hard to get everyone together to have lunch or dinner. Surely someone will be away for tuition, dance practice, martial arts class or in school.

On the eve of Cass' birthday, I took her out for dinner. We wanted to have Fusion food, Thai food or Japanese but being a Monday, all the restaurants that we went to were closed.  So we went to Charlie's Cafe, a restaurant run by a East Malaysian couple that serves East Malaysian hawkers fare.
The birthday girl ordered her favorite food - Sarawak curry laksa and Charlie's homemade dark chocolate gelato. 

We tend to bump heads with each other very often lately with me giving her the rough side of my tongue but no matter how furious this girl makes me each time, I still have a soft spot for this very manipulative tween with a mind of her own! Maybe it's because of what we had gone through together during the first few difficult years of her life that makes me value her a little more. And it is because of what she had to endure since birth that forms her character and tendency to be bull-headed.






True-blue Harry Potter fan...




Dark chocolate gelato for the chocolate lover and White Rabbit gelato for Sherilyn who's been itching to try it since its launch several months ago.



Happy birthday baby girl!  Though we're going through a rough patch lately, mummy just wants you to know that you are still very, very much loved.  We'll weather whatever obstacles that we are facing together and we'll come out even stronger and closer, like how we've always done it. Continue to pray to God for His guidance and blessings upon you.  Happy 11th Cassandra and may you be blessed with many, many more happy and healthy years ahead of you💗💗

Our Thursday, 4 April 2019

Today is retail therapy day for us! It's Alycia's school holiday today, a day off given to students as yesterday was the school's sports day.  As usual, it was a very rush 2.5 hours shopping trip as we had to leave by 12:30 p.m. so that Sherilyn could get to school by 1 p.m.  I finally figured that if I leave the house by 9:45 a.m., I'll be able to get my favorite parking spot right outside Aeon mall and I've also found out by chance that there's one exit at the end of basement 2 that brings me into the KL-Seremban highway and through this exit, it only takes me 5 minutes to Sherilyn's school vs. 20 minutes via other exits!

Within the 2.5 hours that we had today, we had to squeeze in brunch, shop for pants for the girls and hunt for a board game called Rummikub for the mil.  The girls wanted to have their ears pierced at Poh Kong Jewelry but our allocated time was too short, again.  So it looks like I will have to bring them to the mall again for ear piercing.

You think my girls will willingly pose for me to snap a picture? I had to bribe them each with milk tea from Tealive!  The things only blogger moms will do 😆




Just because I had forgotten to warn Alycia not to order milk tea with boba, this girl quietly asked for boba in her milk tea knowing very well that I would not have approved of it.  I was in the washroom and left the girls to get their milk tea. You would have read from the news a few years ago on carcinogenic agents found in bubble tea tapioca 'pearls'.  Whether the news is true and over the years have been sugar-coated with claims that the allegation is fake, I rather take the safe route of not consuming boba. Even if there are no carcinogenic or toxic ingredients in them, they are still very high in calories.  I like my milk tea with grass jelly and reduced sugar.




Brunch was at Ko Hyang, a favorite eatery for the K-pop fan of mine.



Someone doing homework at the eleventh hour!




Scrumptious economical Korean grub