Ipoh Trip (8 - 11 December 2019)

We made a trip back to my beautiful hometown of Ipoh without the hubs this school holidays. He's been too bogged down with work and had to be around to ensure that all his functions run glitch-free. Sometimes without the boss around, the staff tend to snafu things up. In the food catering industry, once a function is screwed up, it's hard to gain the confidence of the client again.  Imagine your event being screwed up by your caterer. How do you like it? Would you call him again for future events? Most likely no.  And this is why we can hardly go on holidays with the hubs as he can never leave his business behind. We were actually planning a short holiday to Penang or Pangkor Island but had to cancel the plan due to hubby's work commitments.   So it was just me, the girls and the mil, by ETS (Electric Train Service) from KL Sentral to Ipoh.

We've not traveled by ETS to Ipoh for almost a year and thus, have not eaten at McDonalds @ Sentral for this long too and I didn't know that orders are now done on a touch-screen computer outside the restaurant. You then get a number and collect your order at the counter when it's your turn.  We took the 9 a.m. ETS and the girls had their brekkie of McD in the train.




Upon arrival at Ipoh, papa was there to fetch us. The 5 of us had to squeeze into his car (6 plus papa). We had our lunch at the Stadium Food Court, my favorite food court in Ipoh where I can find almost all my favorite Ipoh hawkers food here.







The next day was the mil's 74th birthday and papa treated everyone to a sumptuous dinner at Kok Thai Restaurant and bought a cempedak cake from JJ Swissroll, which is the mil's all-time favorite cake.









I wanted to sleep in the next day and mom baked some very yummy low-carb gluten-free bread for us for breakfast. The only time that I can wake up without an alarm clock without an iota of worry of having to do house chores is when I'm back home, where I'll be treated like a princess 💓



We spent the entire afternoon at the shopping mall. We had our first lunch at Sushi King, a restaurant that the hubs wouldn't bring us to back in KL, but the food was so unsatisfactory that we left after just a few plates of sushi taken from the conveyor belt. We walked round and round the mall trying to find something nice to eat and finally settled for Secret Recipe - again another restaurant that hubs wouldn't bring us to back in KL 😆



After lunch, we watched Jumanji, a movie that we thoroughly enjoyed. I watched the first Jumanji over 2 decades ago, starring Robin Williams, who'd passed on several years ago.




Can't believe how much grown up and lady-like my fashionista drama queen is. She's always been one very fashion-savvy girl, always dressed up like a peacock and accessorised like a Christmas tree since she was a toddler.


After Jumanji, we shopped for X'mas presents, courtesy of mom. Alycia and Cass both wanted jigsaw puzzles whilst Sherilyn chose novels.






A trip to the mall will never be complete for Cass without a few tries at the claw machine at the arcade.  This time I spent more than RM10 for 2 bouncy balls and rubber ducky. Seriously, these would have just cost a few Ringgit from a toy shop but Cass says she loves the adrenaline rush when she tries clawing a toy out of the water.



When we got out from the mall, we saw a beautiful rainbow in the sky!



We had the smoothest tau fu far from papa's favorite roadside stall. The girls love tau fu far and so do I but I've been avoiding soy products (estrogen) ever since my gynae detected a fibroid in my uterus, which was removed via laproscopic surgery two years ago.


Cass had a RM13 only hair cut at Orchid Salon, a no-frills hair salon at Kg Simee, a salon which the girls normally have their hair cut since they were a year old.



Our dinner on our last night in Ipoh was Ngar Choi Kai (bean sprouts with chicken) at Bercham.

Alycia's 16th Birthday, 5 December 2019

My 'precious baby' is 16 today!

16 years ago today was the happiest day of my life and I still remember very vividly every detail that transpired on that day. Thank God we chose that day to bring her into this world via elective C-section as she'd already pooped in utero.  Alycia is the baby that hubs and I wanted really badly and went through great pains to get. And today she turns 16. Though it's been 16 long years already, we will never forget what we went through to get her and the immense joy she's brought us and our families the moment she came into this world.

We spent the entire day celebrating Alycia's sweet 16th birthday at Lot 10 and Pavillion today.  I brought the girls to The Tokyo Restaurant (TTR) to sample the launch of something incredibly yummy – the marriage of Crème De La Crème’s artisanal, beautifully-crafted ice creams with TTR’s famed 6th Avenue Cheesecake (burnt cheesecake).  This marriage has created the ultimate dessert infused with the best of two worlds. And  I was invited to sample this divinely delish ice-cream and burnt cheesecake.

Before the event, we had lunch at the Lot 10 Hutong food court, which is one of the best food courts in KL and possibly in Malaysia.  Let me just tell you a little about Hutong Food Court, an award-winning non-Halal food court, to benefit those in search of the best of the best hawkers fare in Malaysia:

Lot 10 Hutong is a Malaysia's first and only heritage destination that pays tribute to one of the best loved national treasures - good food and the art of local cuisines.

A gourmet heritage village, Lot 10 Hutong offers more than 30 of the country's best eateries that have survived the 2nd and 3rd generations. Each is hand-picked from the best of the best, distinguished by its all-time favourite signature dish.

Kong Tai Singapore Prawn Mee. Campbell Mini Popiah. Ho Weng Kee Wanton Mee. Soong Kee Beef Noodles. Hainan Chicken Rice and Kim Lian Kee Hokkien Mee are among some these national food treasures at Lot 10 Hutong.   And now, Ipohmalis / Ipohites can get their favorite childhood biscuits from Ching Han Guan at Hutong Lot 10.

Sherilyn had Soong Kee beef noodles while Alycia and Sherilyn had Porco Macau pork chop rice and noodles. Me? I only have to tax a spoonful or two from each of the girls and I'm good 😁  I LOVE Porco Macau's pork chop as the rice / noodles / bun come with a very generous portion of pork chop, fried to a tee - juicy, tender and porkalicious succulent.  The curry broth that comes with the pork chop rice is absolutely flavorful and not spicy, thus perfect for me.  We ordered the set meal (RM15.90 and RM17.90 respectively) which comes with a big mug of iced milk tea and a packet of tissue papers. Hands down a bang for your buck with delish food at Porco Macau.  We enjoyed our food thoroughly in a clean air-conditioned food court. 




After lunch, we went shopping for boba tea. Each time we're at a shopping mall, a new brand of bubble tea seems to pops out.  The girls have tried almost most of the boba tea brands except for this Machi Machi (which we've never heard of before and just popped out near Lot 10), housed in a cute little shop.  Sherilyn pulled me in. We were too blinded by Machi Machi that we did not even notice that our favorite Tealive is just right opposite. 

And the verdict? We'll stick to Tealive, any time - cost wise and taste wise.


















The girls enjoying their free flow of mocktail @ The Tokyo Restaurant before digging into Crème De La Crème’s just launched ice-cream flavors: Tokyo La Crème and Burnt Caramel Cheesecake.






After sampling decadent ice-creams and burnt cheesecake at TTR, we shopped at H&M before walking over to Pavillion before hubs came to join us for dinner.  The birthday girl who's still not over her K-pop fever yet chose Korean for dinner.








Pavillion's Christmas decor this year is Star Wars themed, so fans of Star Wars, you know where to go for camwhoring! And try to go at night as the lights are fascinating and Insta-worthy.










We were dog-tired after being out shopping and walking for almost 8 hours from noon to night. But before hubs rushed off to his client's function, we did the cake-cutting thingy at home.






And finally, what motivates me the most after shopping or walking the entire day is checking my Oppo phone's step tracker at the end of the day. Today we chalked up to over 10,103 steps equivalent to 6.8km and just 2 days ago, we managed 13,331 steps when we went shopping at Mid Valley Megamall and Gardens Mall 💪😝  Though I don't exercise much per se during the school holidays, we still walk a lot.  And on days when we are home bound and pretty sedentary, we go to the gym in the late evening.

Shopping Marathon, 3 December 2019

Cass is the only one who hasn't got dresses/gowns for hubby's cousin's wedding on  the first day of 2020. So we went to the mall to hunt for suitable dresses for this super duper persnickety tween who now despises skirts and dresses. It's an extremely tall order and we walked the entire Mid Valley Megamall and Gardens Mall for over 7 hours to find what she needed. When we still could not find her a dress that she likes after 5 hours, the mil who was already having achy jelly legs and bone-weary went home first with Sherilyn and Alycia.

We stopped at Metro Jaya, Lovely Lace, Robinsons, Aeon, Isetan, Elle, Voir and a dozen other shops but still could not find her dream dress. When she finally found a dress that she liked, there wasn't a size for her age. And when we found dresses with her size, she hated the color and design. Dark purple and hot pink! She was disgusted LOL! We were both getting frustrated and enervated after 7 hours and by 6 p.m. when we still could not find her dresses, we went back to the first shop that we went to - Metro Jaya to get her gowns, though they were not what she really wanted. But she just wanted to get two dresses and get over and done with the whole 'ordeal' so that she could go home and do nothing but bury her face in her Harry Potter novels 😆



When we were at Alexis to have our lunner, I suddenly remembered that we had left our shopping bag somewhere!!! But we could not remember where as we stopped at more than 20 places - mega bummer!!  It was already 4-ish p.m. and  we had just walked more than 6 hours. I wanted to forget about the shopping bag and the item that I bought as I was just exhausted and wanted to go home. But I persevered and together with Cass, both of us brisk-walked to all the shops and toilets that we went to and finally found the shopping bag at Lovely Lace, 😹

And the biggest consolation for us was knowing that we had walked more than 13,000 steps just at the mall alone, totaling almost 9km, woohooo!!




So I had no worries indulging in carbs the entire day, including milk tea from Cha Time (shared with Cass) as calories output exceeds input 💪😉

Our breakfast at Little Penang Cafe:


Lunner at Alexis:





Sherilyn redeemed her Grab points at the Grab booth; got to play a few rounds of game and won herself a stainless steel cutlery set and metal straw with straw brush.




Beautiful winter themed Christmas decor at Gardens Mall.



Cass' gowns cost more than mine and she's already stated explicitly that she'll just wear the gowns once, just once at the church and hotel and that's it. 😩 She got really irked and tired with the 7-hour marathon gown shopping and told me that if she ever gets married in future, she'll tell her guests to wear anything that they wish to her wedding, including t-shirt and jeans. 😆



So I will have to sell her only-worn-once gowns after the wedding - available on 2 January 2020. Who wants to buy? Original price is RM279.90 each and willing to let go at RM100 each.  Help me spread the word please, thanks!! 

I can be contacted at shireenyong@gmail.com.

Prepping For Another Dance Competition

Week 1 of the 6-week school holidays just whirled past us. Alycia spent most of her days with her friends at their homes, cinema and malls. It's her last 'honeymoon year' in high school before her SPM next year.  Cass has been spending her days with her face buried in her novels, drawing papers and watching videos on You Tube. And I spent two days this week sitting at the dance studio for over 2 hours each session waiting for Sherilyn to learn a choreographed routine from a dance instructor from a well-known dance studio in Subang Jaya.  Our dancing queen will be competing in Asia Junior Got Talent this Sunday and this reality show will be screened on national TV soon!  This Sunday I will be camping at FINAS (National Film Development Corporation Malaysia) the entire day to give her my moral support.

First session at the studio:



Second and final session at the studio:


After 2.5 grueling hours of dancing non-stop on both days, we walked to the next road @ SS15's Bubble Tea Street for boba tea treat. I may be a  health freak but my ultimate kryptonite are 'kuih' and milk tea (sans the pearls) 😁 Almost every shop on that street sells bubble tea and we were left with the boba bombardment and couldn't decide which shop to walk into. At a glance, there are more than 15 bubble tea shops within walking distance from each other, vying for dominance and I wonder how each shop can stay afloat with such fierce competition. I wonder when the bubble tea bubble will burst.

On the first day, we settled for Black Whale and second day - Pin Tea.


I ordered a Milky Yam with no sugar and less ice from Black Whale while Sherilyn had milk tea (less sugar) with pearls.  With over 2 hours of dancing non-stop, she can afford the calories from the pearls. But I don't always allow her to order pearls with her milk tea.




Patrons will be given a free clear plastic transparent mini tote bag for take-away drinks, which keeps the cups in an upright position and ease of carrying. A single cup will be placed in a cutout paper carrier. I guess this feature gives The Black Whale the edge over other boba shops.


After the second dance class, we walked the Bubble Tea Street again and this time chose Pin Tea.
Pin Tea isn't exactly considered bubble tea as they don't sell pearls.  Sherilyn and I weren't exactly looking for milk tea, but for something healthier.  Pin Tea sells a wide selection of fruit teas using fresh fruits, they even load up their drinks with fresh fruit slices. Their drinks are packed with antioxidants, fibre, and Vitamin C.  I ordered Citrus fruits with jasmine tea (no sugar) which is very refreshing, not cloy unlike milk tea and has lesser calories.  Sherilyn ordered a strawberry milk shake.


I've signed up both Alycia and Sherilyn for a dance workshop scheduled to be held in 2 weeks' time at this dance studio and they can't wait to attend the workshop, conducted by competitive dance instructors from Singapore, Malaysia and Phillipines.

Do let me know if you or your kids are interested to attend this dance workshop and I'll PM you the details.

Sunday, 24 November 2019

My Sunday today didn't start off quite well.   In fact, everything seemed to go wrong.  At about 9 a.m, the water faucet in the wet kitchen suddenly 'exploded' and was yanked off from the wall by strong water pressure (see pic below), resulting in water gushing out in extremely high pressure, like something you would see when there's a burst water pipe on the road. I was drenched and the kitchen floor started to flood. The previous smart alec contractor removed the water switch from our kitchen (don't ask me why) and the water supply can only be turned off at the Water Meter room outside our unit, which is under lock and key and the resident needs to call the guard to come up to unlock the door to turn off the damn water switch. Dang it!  My mind was blank. I didn't know what to do to stop the water from flooding the kitchen floor!


I grabbed a pail from the floor to collect the water but the pressure was so strong that the water was shooting everywhere and the pail could not even contain the water as it was filling up to the brim within seconds and over-spilling everywhere really quickly. I quickly ran to the room and woke up the hubs, who nonchalantly (and rather cheesed that I woke him up from his much deserved beauty sleep coz it's a Sunday!) dragged his feet to the kitchen in a zombified state.

Hubs positioned the pail in a way that would stop the water from spilling onto the already partially flooded floor while I called the guard to come up to turn off the water switch. After the guard turned off the water switch, I realized that everyone still needed water to wash up and clean up.  The washing machine was also running in progress. The water cannot be turned off just yet; so I summoned the guard to turn the switch on again.  After I'd calmed down, I went to the Water Meter room and controlled the switch to lower the water pressure. Then I called our usual handyman, Ah Fai for SOS help.  I think he was still in bed and he only reached our condo some 3 hours later as he had to eat breakfast and had to buy a new water faucet from the shop.  Over the years of being our handyman, Ah Fai has become our good friend. Though he has survived a nasty fall from the second floor of a building recently and is now hobbling around in pain with a metal in his swollen leg, Ah Fai quickly obligated to come to our condo.



The figure on our water bill will surely double or triple this month!!  It's already very high at over RM120 every month.

When everyone had cleaned up and the washing machine completed its cycle, I turned off the water switch, then sent the girls to Sunday School in church.  The girls were already terribly late for Sunday School and the next stumbling block greeted us at the lift.  Both the lifts were not moving!  Great!!  So we used the stairs. I was praying that my car would not break down since Murphy's Law can be such a pain at times. 😂

Ah Fai came at noon and fixed the problem in under half an hour.  After he left, I had a major cleanup of the kitchen before rushing back to the church to fetch Cass back.  As Sherilyn was still at an outing with her Sunday School friends (last outing for this year), I told her to get Grab back home later.

And the next problem greeted us.  Both Sherilyn and I could not get a Grab driver after trying for over half an hour. Finally she got her classmate whose a Malay to help her and she succeeded in getting a driver from MyCar at an even cheaper fare (RM10 vs RM15).



When Sherilyn met us at the Japanese restaurant for lunch later, she told us that the MyCar driver, an Indian man, was feeling dubious over the pickup order. When he saw from his app that his customer was a Malay but the pick up was at a church, he was worried that it's yet another prank. Why would a Malay be at a church he thought?  And when he saw a Chinese girl getting into his car instead of a Malay, he couldn't refrain himself from asking Sherilyn a ton of questions.  Earlier in the day, he had received several strange and prank orders and one was from an old lady from the East Coast.  We all had a good laugh over this hilarious encounter that the Indian MyCar driver had today with Sherilyn's order.😂



Dinner was at the girls' grand uncle's (hubby's uncle) house.  Uncle J has just returned from Christchurch for the year-end holidays and called us over for dinner.  Cass and I got our dose of pet therapy and we brought home homegrown bitter gourd, curry leaves, kafir lime leaves and bananas that we plucked ourselves from the garden 💓

Baking And Cooking Frenzy

Our baking and dancing queen (no longer calling her drama queen as she's prohibited me from calling her this moniker in my blogs, though she's still very much a drama queen 😆) is already starting to feel bored of the 4-day long SPM-so-no-school holiday.  So she started baking and cooking again. Though it's music to my ears that she's volunteered to cook lunch and dinner today and baked yummy tarts, I'm not too enthusiastic with cleaning after her aftermath.  So I let her be. Let her practise her culinary skills now.  I'm sure one day she can whomp up a storm for all of us or even build a successful food business empire in future. And I'll be the one reaping the fruits of our labour together. Once in a while, I love to build castles in the air and imagine it materializing 😇


Two days ago, out of a whim, our baking queen sauntered to the kitchen, took out all her grandma's baking apparatus and started to prep the dough from scratch.  A day earlier, she asked me to buy sugar-free dark chocolate for her bakes.  I wasn't too happy that she started baking at 3 p.m. as she's got dance class at 7:30 p.m. and knowing how a dawdler she is, I was nagging her to hurry up the entire afternoon. I knew she was not going to make it on time for her dance class and I quickly roped in Cass to help with the baking. This type of tart is pretty tedious to prepare as the tart shells have to be baked with beans atop (to prevent the tart shells from puffing up). And filling the tart shells with beans can be very time-consuming. 






When she got back from her dance class at 9 p.m., she quickly prepped the chocolate ganache with dark chocolate and cream. When she realized that there wasn't enough ganache, she used Whittaker's Almond Gold chocolate that her daddy bought (his favorite dessert). This tart is really costly!




Filling up the tart shells with chocolate ganache and salted caramel (which she made earlier for her grandparents' 49th wedding anniversary cake):


Cass also helped to poke holes on the tart shells. Can you spot what motif this is, coming from a Harry Potter devotee?


Tarts in different mould shapes:




The chocolate tarts are SO good, they taste like a million dollars!  They taste like something that you would find from some chi chi glitzy cafes. The tart shells are crispy, buttery and insanely addictive. I could just eat these plain tarts without any filling.  And the chocolate ganache are needless to say sensational, coming from Whittaker's Almond Gold; it's not sweet as no sugar is added. The only sweetness comes from the sugar from the Whittaker's Almond Gold and salted caramel.  One bite and I know that this recipe is a keeper.





Our baking queen asked if she could sell her tarts at our neighborhood Facebook group but I said no. Would you spend RM7-8 just on a chocolate tart? I know the hubs would but the majority of the people whom I know would not, unless the tarts are for some special occasions.  I told her that she could start selling her bakes after her SPM, while waiting for the results 😊