MCO Day 79 ~ Thursday, 4 June 2020

Today is the first time in over 3 months that Cass step foot into a mall.  It's her bi-annual eye check-up at ISEC International Specialist Eye Center @ Mid Valley.  Just a quick recap, Cass was found to have mild Lazy Eye exactly a year ago during an unplanned eye checkup at our neighborhood optician. The sharp increase in power was only on her right eye and the optician urged me to bring Cass to an optometrist / ophthalmologist for a diagnosis and treatment, which was then confirmed that she has mild Lazy Eye. I brought her to ISEC to see Dr Choong YF as he's the ophthalmologist who performed a Chalazion surgery on Cass' eye when she was almost 2 years old.  To curb the power on the right eye from shooting up rapidly, Dr Choong prescribed Myopine eye drop - Cass needs to put one drop on the right eye every night before bedtime for years, with a review on her eyes bi-annually.  A bottle of 5ml Myopine costs a whopping RM95 and this can only last 6 weeks! I can't get this eye drop from any other pharmacy except from ISEC.






With an overload of screen time for over two months throughout the MCO and most times, this girl forgets to wear her glasses until I realize it and nag her, I was beyond belief that there is NO increase in power on both Cass' eyes. Praise God!  The expensive Myopine eye drop is working and credit needs to be given to Super Lutein as well.  Since the start of the Coronavirus outbreak, Cass has been popping 2 Super Lutein daily.  She's more worried of being infected by Covid19 than I am, and has been secretly popping an extra Super Lutein everyday to safeguard her health until she told me recently. Super Lutein is a supplement for eyes and an antioxidant for our general health.  We've been consuming Super Lutein and Izumio for 5 years now.

The Covid19 SOP at Mid Valley City are pretty impressive.  At the escalator entrance of Centrepoint South for ISEC patients, temperature was taken, bar code scanned and I had to fill out a detailed online declaration form for Cass and myself for submission before we were allowed to go up the escalator and then take the elevator to ISEC.



All these are necessary for easy contact tracing, should the need arise.


After Cass' appointment at ISEC, we segued into Mid Valley Megamall. This time we were scanned by a Face Recognition Thermometry Terminal, which looks like a tablet / mobile phone.  Bar code was again scanned with an app on my phone and details filled out before we were allowed into the mall.



Cass scanned by the Face Recognition Thermometry Terminal:


The bar code scanning on my phone, filling out of online form, temperature taking and hands sanitizing SOP are now compulsory at each individual shop inside the mall, which is applaudable but this repels me from entering a shop as it's too time consuming. Hubs who's in a hurry to go back to his shop waited for us at AK Noodles House @ Gardens Mall for lunch.

While we waited for hubs to arrive at the mall to join us for lunch and fetch us home, Cass dragged me to her most favorite place on the earth - the book store! We walked to MPH, which is the nearest book store on the floor that we were on and Cass quickly chose her latest favorite series - novels by Karen M. McManus and she bought two books by this author. She's a very very happy camper today!





Our quick lunch with hubs at AK Noodles House:

MCO Day 76 ~ 1 June 2020 (Monday)

Hello second half of 2020!   As we journey through the second half of 2020, I pray that the ride will be smoother and less bumpy not only for me and my family but for you as well. Hopefully we will ride out the stormy weather and come out unscathed.  The pandemic curve is flattening in our country and I hope the same is seen in your country too.

Yesterday I was mad as hops with the littlest brat again. This home-quarantining is driving the both of us bonkers.  She spent close to 14 hours hooked to the screens again.  I didn't give her the password to her desktop computer but she has her alternatives - she took her grandma's iPad and mobile phone whenever she wasn't using them. And again, she's hooked on an addictive online game called Roblox. If school does not reopen anytime soon, I think the brat and I will have to book an appointment to see a psychologist, I kid you not.  The effects of this lockdown on a child's mental health (and adult's too!) are detrimental to the point I think there is no turning back if the MCO is extended and school continues to be closed.

Hubs has a good friend who was an online game addict. He's from an affluent family and both the parents held senior management positions in banks. His friend is a very smart dude who did very well academically until he went to high school and got hooked on computer games. The addiction got so bad that he burnt his school books when he was reprimanded by his parents. His action scared the living daylights out of his parents who thought that he'd gone kooky! They stopped putting pressure on him academically ever since that fateful day where he burnt his books. He continued with his online gaming addiction until he passed out one day. His terrified parents called hubs (who was like a big brother to this teenager) and they accompanied him on an ambulance to the hospital.   This boy used to work as a part-time waiter for hubby during his schooldays.  He went to college and university but never graduated.  That was over 20 years ago.

Fast forward many years later, this dude finally turned over a new leaf and became repentant.  He finally grew up and was serious in being financially independent.  He finally realized his past follies. He tried his luck in getting a job in China and was incredibly lucky to clinch a lecturer job at a college, teaching English to Chinese nationals.  Fortunately he possesses an excellent command of English and has a sunny disposition, thus he soared at his job. He has been an English lecturer in China for many years now and has even found the love of his life and got married several years ago.  This is a happy ending to an online game addict and he's lucky that he didn't lose his life to it.  I certainly do not wish for this to happen to Cass and I can only pray hard that she will soon get tired of online games and when school reopens, she will be too busy with homework and extra curricular activities once again.

This morning I needn't drag Cass out of the house for a walk. She got up at 9 a.m. and asked if we're going for a walk to the shops. Although I wanted to run at the jogging treks at our condo, I quickly agreed to walk with her to the shops to get breakfast and snacks.  Our stroll to the shops and back home chalked up almost 4,000 steps.  Tomorrow I will take a longer route to the shops so that we hit more steps 😬.  I'm targeting for Cass to walk at least 6,000 steps a day, sweat more and be more active for the remaining days of this MCO.





Sunrise today:







Our lunch today - scrumptious Nasi Lemak with chicken rendang drumstick, otak-otak and the usual condiments from Catermate. The sambal sotong is add-on.   A bento box of Nasi Lemak costs RM15.






Drooling already? 😆  You can satiate your craving too!  Just Whatsapp Alan at 019-266 4297 for a pre-order lunch or dinner, sit back and relax and have your warm bento box delivered to you the next day.

MCO Day 74 ~ Saturday, 30 May 2020

When I got back from my morning jog at 11 a.m., Sherilyn had already prepped breakfast of Tamago Nigiri sushi, no-frills version. What I mean by no-frills is that the sushi rice is not seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar, salt and konbu.  Sherilyn assembled this delight in a rush as she had an online class to attend at 11 a.m. Plus she made this in a whim and we don't have rice vinegar and konbu in our pantry. She put in quite a bit of time on the tamagoyaki, which, to me is quite a daunting and time-consuming task.  Kudos to her as her maiden master piece was almost impeccable. I should stock up on rice vinegar soon so that she could dish out more varieties of sushi during our sheltering in place.

I would give her a rating of 7/10 despite this being her very first time making these pretty 'gift parcels' that are not only aesthetically done but taste delightful as well. The seaweed sheets are organic.







Lunch was chicken chop in bento box from hubby's shop.







Dinner was Raya dishes from hubby's shop (catered for a client's board meeting) from yesterday, which still taste yummy today.  Thankfully our girls love Malay food and have no complaints eating spicy food almost daily ever since hubs starting churning out food boxes for delivery during the MCO.  To prevent heatiness, we drink good quality Matcha green tea powder everyday.



If you're craving to dig into some authentic halal Malay food, do give Catermate's daily bento boxes a try.  There's a different item on the menu everyday from their kitchen to your doorstep, delivered via food delivery service.  To order, kindly Whatsapp Alan at 019-266 4297.

MCO Day 71 & 72 ~ 27 & 28 May 2020 (Wednesday & Thursday)

Wednesday, 27 May 2020

My head was pounding the entire night, no thanks to PMS and I didn't sleep well last night. I went for my usual MCO-style workout at 10 a.m. with a nagging headache anyway as I really needed my daily 40 minutes of exercise under the morning sun surrounded by lush greenery around our condo compound.  My daily outdoor workout is very essential to me and I always get an instant mood boost from an endorphin high after the workout. No matter how busy I am, no matter how tired I may be, I try not to skip my morning outdoor exercise.  On days when I can't exude enough stamina for a sweaty run, a brisk walk with deep breathing works just as magical. I can't stress enough how important exercise is to everyone and if you haven't already started on an exercise regimen, there is no better time to start than now! All you need are two things to get started - discipline and sacrifice and you'll be promised with plenty of health promoting benefits.

When I got back from my 40-minute exercise, the headache was miraculously GONE!  Next time if you have a headache,  instead of reaching out for a pain-killer, try going out for a stroll. But not under the scorching afternoon sun yeah 😁 The best time to exercise is in the morning (5am - 10am) or anytime in the evening when the sun has gone down. I used to jog at 5:30 a.m. with a stick in my hand (to ward off muggers) before going to work and again jogged in the evening when I am back from the office. On wet mornings, I would jog down the wet roads with an umbrella. This was before the girls came along and dominated my world.

Sherilyn attended her tri-weekly online taekwondo class today. This will be her last month attending taekwondo classes.  The gym owners have been forced to shutter the gym for good during this pandemic 😭   I hope that they will be able to set up a new gym in another rented shop when the situation improves.  Sherilyn still hopes to get her black belt one day.
   

The moment she realized that the paparazzi mom was secretly stealing a photo of her, she dodged and went after me demanding that I deleted the photo, thus the shaky photo 😔. What happened to the cheeky girl who would give me her sweetest dimpled smile whenever I asked her for a photo to be snapped? 😭


Thursday, 28 May 2020
Today I managed to drag Cass the lazybones out of the house to exercise. She got hooked on some addictive silly computer games called Roblox throughout the MCO and wouldn't want to exercise. I had to resort to all sorts of  threats and bribes any concerned mom would be forced to think of just to stop this dopamine frazzled zombie from being zombified by a brainless gadget. Can you see how serious the problem is, that a person with a brain can be controlled by a brainless machine?  I can't wait for school to reopen so that this merciless and damaging addiction can be broken! Cass misses her friends and school a lot and prefers to spend all her time in school than at home.

Besides her class teacher, no other teachers are conducting online lessons for her class. This is unbelievable, coming from a supposedly High Prestige School (Sekolah Berprestasi Tinggi) that is famed in the Klang Valley! The least the teachers could do if they do not own a computer is to borrow one from the computer lab. I am wondering how the students are going to catch up on their studies when school reopens and our next guess is when will school ever reopen? There's really hell a lot of catching up to do and I don't think that there is ample time to finish the syllabus by this year.

For Alycia's high school, as it's a private school, online classes are conducted from Monday through Friday, from 8am through 3pm. Classes are sometimes conducted on public holidays and even in the late evening.

Today we walked to the nearby shops to buy breakfast and snacks and this managed to 'lure' this girl out of the house to partake in some exercise while she gets a much-needed dose of Sunshine Vitamin from the 10 a.m. sun.  I guess I'll have to continue luring her with snacks from the shops just to get her to walk out to the shops with me for a short 30-minute exercise 😪

MCO Day 69 ~ 25 May 2020 (Monday)

Today yet another restaurant at our neighborhood shuttered for good. It's one of our favorite Thai eateries. The food was authentic and really delicious and they served really nice Thai milk tea too. I've always wanted to dine in this restaurant again to satiate my Thai cravings but this will never be possible anymore. It's really heartbreaking to see our favorite eateries and shops forced to belly up one after another during this pandemic.

Many of us learned that we were not as prepared for the unexpected as we thought. So many things we took for granted in the past now look like quaint relics or worst, have now become history, just like the eateries that have shuttered.  The gym that Sherilyn used to go to for her mixed martial arts classes has also just shuttered. A Facebook friend of mine who owns a diving resort in the East Coast of Malaysia with her husband are facing dire times now as business has been reduced to zilch. They have two young kids.  And only God knows when they will have customers again to their resort.  My heart bleeds for all those whose businesses have been impacted badly by the global pandemic.

Amidst all the negativity happening around us, there is always hope.  Hope is a powerful force in these difficult times. Our world is facing the war on Coronavirus, a pandemic that has changed life for millions of people.  In such bleak times, hope is our powerful source of reassurance.

This beautiful shot was taken on my cheap Oppo phone at 7:29 p.m. today and I was really awed at how beautifully it has captured the colors of the sky and the skyscrapers against the beautiful backdrop of the darkening sky.





“Hope is a renewable option: If you run out of it at the end of the day, you get to start over in the morning.” - Barbara Kingsolver, Novelist

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller, Author

MCO Day 67 ~ 23 May 2020 (Saturday)

Exactly eleven years ago on 23 May 2009, Cass had to be rushed into the OT for an emergency surgery, though none of the battery of scans that she went through showed a problem inside her abdomen. When Cass' stomach got so extended that she would cry in pain every half hourly (it looked like a balloon on the verge of exploding) the surgeon had to make a decision to open up Cass' abdomen again to find the fault. It was an extremely frightful moment that I had to go through all alone in the hospital as hubs had returned to KL to work. I was fighting back my tears so that my baby wouldn't see me cry, because if I did, I  would scare her even more. From the moment we were in our room until I placed Cass on the OT table, I was controlling myself from breaking down. Even after I left the OT, I fought hard to stay calm and composed as crying wouldn't help. I did not know
whether I could see my baby girl again when I placed her on the OT table for the second time in a short 2.5 weeks. I could only leave Cass in the Lord's good hands.  Praise God all went well and we were finally discharged 4 days later on 27 May 2009 on hubs and my wedding anniversary.

This morning hubs and I went to Gardens Mall again. It's our once-weekly affair during the weekend ever since the MCO rulings have been relaxed a little. Our main intention today was to send my portable Osim massage chair to the Osim shop for repair. My massage chair was only a few months shy of its first birthday when it conked out. And because it conked out during the MCO, albeit still under warranty, the fact that I only brought the chair to the shop for repair 2 months later, the 1-year warranty period is null and void. The previous Osim massage chair expired after 2 years. I'm totally disappointed that such an expensive product does not deserve the quality it should. If the massage chair conks out again after this repair, I will not send it back for repair and I will never ever buy an Osim brand massage chair again. Period. I will look for a cheaper alternative from Shopee or Lazada.

After dropping the massage chair at the Osim shop, we queued up to get into Jaya Grocer for groceries shopping. The queue was easily over a hundred meters long! After queuing for half an hour and with at least 100 people ahead of us, we gave up and went for brunch instead at An Viet.




Pho for him:



Lemongrass chicken thigh with no rice for me.


Soothing hot lemongrass tea:



Hubs' treat from Gong Cha for the girls:



Back home, I had a one-hour video call with my BFFs since pre-school -- Jo from San Francisco, Jennifer from Seattle, Ju from Singapore and SP from PJ 💖





Then a 'tragedy' struck at 6 pm!  My computer was struck by lightning and it's now brain dead 😭😭😭😭

I am now using hubby's laptop but have to share it with Cass as well, who has to use it for online tuition and piano class. When hubs gets home in the evening, it's his turn to use it. With the Hari Raya holidays spreading over 4 days starting from tomorrow the earliest that hubs can send my computer to the IT store is mid of next week. I have a hunch that I may have to end up buying a brand new computer, which would cost a few thousand bucks. First it was my car to conk out, then my massage chair and today my desktop computer - all in the month of May!

Hubs inspected the computer and as usual, his OCD-ness was activated when he saw how dusty the insides of the motherboard were! He fished out the vacuum, unscrewed the motherboard and gave it a good vacuum, assembled it back and vacuumed my work station. And just as I was helping him to keep the vacuum cleaner, I accidentally pressed on the release button and the vacuum cleaner detached into two!  All the dust and dirt accumulated over the months spewed out like lava of a volcano!  And we spent the entire dinner time cleaning and moping the dining area. 😭




When it rains, it does pour.  Yeah bring it on, May.  Next month will be an awesome month for me, like it always had been.🙏

Tales From The Pediatric Day Care Ward

I gain weight effortlessly and I can also lose it pretty easily. All it takes is for me to get overly stressed up or busy with work, skip one meal and eat very little for dinner for just one day and the next day, I'll be at least half a kilo lighter.

After a nerve-wracking and anxiety-filled day at the hospital with Cass yesterday and fasting along with her for 13 hours, I lost almost 1 kg, as shown on my scale this morning:

42.1 kg, which is by far my lowest weight! Cass is just 1kg away from catching up with me!




When we were at the Radiology Department ward, a chubby and cute 6-year old Malay girl with Cancer and her dad were next to Cass' bed.  From the Day Care Ward right up to the Radiology ward, her dad had been trying to cajole her to guzzle down a red-colored sedation syrup from her milk bottle.  But she just wouldn't drink it and was bawling away.  At the Radiology ward, her dad was still trying to cajole her to drink the sedation syrup but she kept bawling whilst complaining that the syrup tasted bad, hurt her throat and she wanted to "muntah" (vomit). The girl kept calling out to her mummy.  When her dad made a video call to her mummy, being able to see and talk to her mummy and baby brother cheered her up. When the video call ended, daddy again tried to coax her to drink the sedation syrup.  About half an hour of coaxing later, the girl drank a pathetic amount of sedation syrup from her bottle only to puke out everything onto the bed! O.M.G.!! The frustration that overwhelmed her poor daddy!  That scene looked really familiar and the experiences I had with Cass when she was a baby felt so raw. I wanted to help the man but the nurse quickly came to his rescue.

Shortly after the little girl threw up, daddy and a nurse tried cajoling her again to drink the red sedation syrup. The nurse did a great job and the little girl guzzled quite a bit of it but it ended with the same fate. This time she puked and retched till nothing was left. Finally, everyone gave up on the sedation syrup and brought the girl straight into the room for the CT Scan and within 15 minutes, all went well and she came out without a fuss!  That's the reason why I made the decision for Cass not to be sedated for an MRI when she was 6 years old. From young, she's never been easy on drinking medicated syrup. There were countless of puke incidents resulting from force feeding her with medicated syrup.   All I did was to explain to her why she had to remain still for the MRI and she obediently listened. She was also matured in her thinking for her age after going through umpteen invasive procedures since birth.

From the time Cass was a 6-week old infant till she was 13 months old, I have had a tough time feeding her prophylactic antibiotics on a daily basis. Those days were tough and bitter and I had to find novel ways of feeding her the antibiotics everyday!  I remember hubs and I had to cajole Cass who was about 2 or 3 years old, to drink some sedation syrup before a MAG 3 scan of her kidneys. She was just like the 6-year old girl today and after an hour of coaxing her, we resorted to buying an ice-cream and rewarded her with a few licks of ice-cream before she knocked off for the scan.

MCO Day 60 ~ 16 May 2020 (Saturday)

It's day 60 of the Movement Control Order today and we have 23 more days to go💪

This morning I walked to the nearby mart to buy eggs and butter as Sherilyn needed to prep another batch of fresh cream for cream puffs and eclairs.  The cream puffs and eclairs are for her ertswhile Sunday School teachers - S & J.

When Alycia and Sherilyn were 3.5 and 2.5 years old respectively, we moved back to our current neighborhood from Shah Alam as our house in Shah Alam was damaged in a great flood in 2006.  After the move, I went back to my very first church in PJ. I was baptized in this church in 1998.  When Alycia and Sherilyn attended the pre-schoolers' Sunday School at this church, S & J were the volunteer teachers at the Sunday School. The girls hit it off with S & J immediately as they were really good with kids.  When S & J tied the knot some months later, almost all the Sunday School kids and their parents attended the wedding. Sherilyn who was not even 3 years old was their flower girl.  Months later, S & J moved to Singapore. But I still kept in touch with S till today.



Fast forward some 13 years later, S & J's flower girl made them eclairs!

Sherilyn says: Thank you Shir Lin che che and Jeff kor kor for teaching me about Jesus in Sunday School many years ago. And thank you Shir Lin che che for being my cheerleader.

But before the eclairs were sent by Grab Delivery to them, a little drama happened.

The Choux Au Craquelin that she baked yesterday and reheated in the oven today turned hard. She had left it too long in the oven. The batch of freshly  made cream filling was ready but not the puffs and it was already 4-ish p.m.  I had promised S to send the cream puffs to her by today. Not wanting to disappoint S, Sherilyn quickly whipped up a new batch of eclairs (though she would prefer to make Choux Au Craquelin but time was not on her side), which took her less than an hour.

I asked our baking queen recently why she likes baking so much and can spend hours on end at it and she said baking is so much fun!  Alycia and I looked at each other and cringed as we don't like baking and find it too troublesome, especially cleaning the aftermath. Well, if I have a helper at home who would clean up after my mess, I really don't mind baking. I would bake keto and healthy cakes, cookies and breads.

Freshly made cream with aromatic vanilla pods.



The eclairs were ready by 6pm.  Sherilyn filled the puffs and eclairs with coffee and homemade caramel flavored vanilla cream. The boxes and plastic bag were taped to prevent tampering by the delivery rider.


Going down to the lobby to pass the eclairs to the Grab driver.



These cream puffs and eclairs are for us. Cream puffs are my other kryptonite, besides kuih. Both are just as fattening 😬  We used to buy Beard Papa's cream puffs regularly but I find them too expensive.   Now that Sherilyn can bake and produce cream puffs as good as Beard Papa's, I don't have to spend so much on Beard Papa's again.



Caramel glazed eclairs and cream puff.  Can't wait to dig on them again for breakfast tomorrow. But not after I've jogged for at least 40 minutes in the morning!   All treats must be earned.😝

Helloice Hip Hop Jewelry For Men 2020

In the world of hip-hop jewelry, bling bling earrings, rings, heavy gold chains and bracelets, medallions and mobile phone covers studded with precious metals and stones have become mainstream style signifiers.   Also known as big fashion, hip hop fashion is a distinctive style of dress originating from African American, Latin and other inner city youth on the scene of New York City, later followed by Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, Detroit, Memphis, Washington D.C., Atlanta, St. Louis and others.  Each city has contributed various elements to the overall style seen worldwide today.







Hip hop fashion has changed a lot during its history, and today it is a prominent part of popular fashion all around the globe and for all ethnicities.   Rappers and celebrities like to don on hip hop chains and other kinds of hip hop jewelry as a sign of virility and status.  A part of the hip hop culture in this industry is to be flashy and bold with your clothes, hairstyle, make-up and jewelry.



For hip hop men, it’s all about big chains, hip hop pendants and medallions. And for the hip hop women, we're likely to see oversize hoop earrings, dangle earrings, nose rings, belly rings and even tongue rings.   Bling bling plays a big role in hip hop jewelry fashion; the more shiny and brazen, the more hip it is.



When it comes to hip hop jewelry, bling is all about the status.  From the beginning of time, flashy jewelry and expensive gems have always represented the wealth of monarchs to celebrities. With such a culture around hip hop jewelry, there is an endless number of styles you can rock to match your own personal style.  To get some of the hippest hip hop jewelry for men, hop over to Helloice, an online store that specializes in hip hop jewelry. The founder's objective is to create a brand that echoes class and luxury to the world, whilst being at the epicenter of mens jewelry fashion.

MCO Day 58 ~ 14 May 2020 (Wednesday)

Our dancing queen had an interview via Zoom with the Aspiration International School board and teachers today. It's an interview of the top 3 winners of the recent talent competition organized by AIS, which Sherilyn is the second runner up.  She won RM500 in cash prize and a RM6,000 scholarship to study at AIS.

To prep herself for the interview, she set up the laptop in her room, warned everyone, especially her sisters not to barge into the room like hooligans yelling away. I told her that we would forget that she's in the room having a VIP meeting unless she puts up a notice on the door as a reminder and this is what she wrote 😆




When I was cleaning the shelves in my room today, I found this photo of myself taken at The Great Wall Of China in September 1997! That's 23 years ago.  I was a 24-year old spring chicken then😆.  I was on a tour of Beijing, Tianjin and Chengdu with my parents and it was our first holiday in China together and my most memorable holiday with them.  I hope we can do this again, this time with the girls tagging along too.  I was actually planning a holiday to Vietnam with my parents and girls in December but with this global pandemic sweeping the world and shutting it down completely, only God knows when we can travel back to Ipoh again to see my parents, let alone abroad.

I wish that there was a time tunnel or time machine that could teleport me to September 1997. I really miss those juicy sweet peaches available in abundance everywhere in Beijing. They were so cheap that we ate peaches every day throughout our 10-day stay in China.

I remember very clearly that on the day we flew back to Malaysia, we read from the newspapers on the plane that Princess Diana had died in a car crash.


Extremely foggy day at the Great Wall that day and the walkway was so steep that one could hardly walk up without holding on to the hand rails at the sides.



Mum and papa, let's do this again soon when the pandemic is over. Deal? 💓

MCO Day 56 ~ 12 May 2020 (Tuesday)

Today I received more Covid-related depressing news.  Two weeks ago, my papa informed me that Kok Thai Restaurant in Ipoh has shuttered for good.  Our family has created so much fond memories with birthday celebrations and anniversaries at this restaurant for over a decade and because of an invisible Virus, yet another restaurant has to belly up.  Several hotels in Ipoh have shuttered for good in these 2 weeks of MCO and more closures are in the offing. Two weeks ago too, Mercure Hotel in Penang (previously known as Four Points Sheraton) announced its closure.  My family has also created loads of happy memories at this hotel twice. Cass loves the replete of seashells at the beach of Mercure Hotel. Each time we were there, she would spend hours at the beach picking up her favorite seashells and corals. We actually planned for a holiday at Mercure Hotel last December but had to cancel our plan as there was a wedding to attend.

Today's depressing (yet expected) news is the closure of the gym that Sherilyn used to attend for her Taekwondo, Muay Thai and Kickboxing classes.  The gym is the sole income of the owners (a couple with two very young kids). With the closure of their lifeline and source of income, another family is brutally impacted.  😭  The next closure may be the dance studio that Sherilyn goes to, also owned by a couple with young kids and I pray that the dance studio does not have to go through the same horrifying route.  Unless your family is impacted financially, one would never comprehend the  feeling.

When will this war ever end?

Which is also why everyone MUST have ample savings for rainy days.

Onward and upward! We humans are extremely resilient creatures. When our wings are clipped, we struggle to be released; slowly but surely we will soar high again in the sky. Remember it's World War 3 now and almost everyone is not spared from hardship, unless you're in the essential business sectors. Only time will heal and repair lives.

I told the girls that when I was growing up, my maternal grandmother would regale me with her heartwarming WWII stories. I never got tired of listening to her war stories. She came from Guangdong in China to Malaya to escape poverty and built everything that she had single-handedly, bought a house with her hard earned money and raised her only child, my mum into a very smart lady.  I told them that they, too, will in future have WWIII stories to regale to their children and grandchildren 😁 although this WWIII is sans missiles, bombs and war planes but on an invisible enemy.

Dinner tonight: onion omelette, stir-fried Chinese spinach, braised Hakka pork with black fungus and braised pumpkin with dried shrimps.

MCO Day 52 ~ 8 May 2020 (Friday) & Catermate's Special Bento Box For Delivery This Mother's Day

What I miss most about Fridays is the Pasar Malam at our neighborhood. I miss the Apom, crispy Apam Balik, fresh coconut water and the girls miss the crispy fried squids and burger.  I miss buying fruits and vegetables that are so much fresher and cheaper than the supermarkets.  I hope these traders have found a way to sell their produce and food by delivery to their customers, otherwise there's no way they can survive for two or three months without any income.  It's unfathomable how an invisible Virus can destruct, destroy and mess up millions of lives and  people's livelihood. 😢

Today I received the guavas that I ordered from a seller on Facebook and I don't think I'm going to order from her again, simply because she doesn't have the right attitude and she wasn't forthright with me from the start. I ordered 6 guavas from her but only 4 guavas were delivered. When I asked the driver why there's a shortage of 2 guavas, the driver caller his boss to clarify.  I heard the seller telling the driver in Cantonese in an angry tone via loud speaker mode turned on: "tell her take it or leave it. If don't want, just bring them back!"  

OMG, how arrogant and that's not the way to deal with a customer, ever!

I was just asking why the number of guavas delivered doesn't tally with what I ordered and she started to get defensive. The seller and driver kept telling me that the weight of 3kg is correct BUT the seller never mentioned anything about the weight to me when I ordered the guavas.  We agreed on the number of guavas ordered and I paid her RM54 for 6 guavas and 1 box of pickled raw mangoes.  I didn't want to argue with the driver or the seller and just took the guavas and went back to my unit. Though the weight of the guavas is correct, what I am totally unhappy about is the way she handled the entire sale and her uncouth attitude towards her customer.  If she's not hard up for my business, so be it. Period.  I will never order from her again!

Because of this incident,  I suddenly remembered about the guava seller from our Pasar Malam who has excellent PR skill and easygoing.  I Whatsapped her immediately and found out that she's now delivering guavas to her regular customers in our neighborhood. Awesome!! She'll contact me again next week for a delivery date for the guavas.


Dinner today:
Pan-fried Mackerel marinated with turmeric, 'Tai Pak Choy' soup, steamed egg plant with fried garlic and organic soy sauce and steamed egg with minced pork.



Hubs has a good friend who loves food and goes around KL to buy popular food and desserts to satiate his cravings during the MCO. Most of the time, he buys a portion for us and doesn't accept money back from hubs.  And hubs reciprocates by treating his friend to lunches from his kitchen.  They exchange food almost everyday and we at home are the beneficiaries of all these goodies 😋

Treat from hubs' friend today:

Kaya Swiss roll from the well-known Restaurant Yut Kee and my favorite Pandan Chiffon cake from House & Co @ Bangsar Shopping Centre.





Lunch of chicken chop bento box from hubby's kitchen today. Starting from next week, he will be rolling out bento boxes for delivery with a different item on the menu everyday!








Roast Italian herbs boneless chicken chop (L size) with black pepper sauce accompanied with creamy mashed potatoes, blanched broccoli, cauliflower and carrot + housemade coleslaw @ RM18 a set. 
For fresh shiitake mushroom sauce, price will be RM20 a set.

This chicken chop set will be on the menu again on Mother's Day this Sunday, 10 May 2020 and at RM20 a set, it comes with a piece of chocolate Danish pastry. 

To all the awesome mums out there - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! This weekend is all about YOU! So hang up your apron and give yourself a treat... or hint to your hubby and kids that you deserve a treat from them for all the hard work and sacrifice you've done for the family. 

We are having chicken chop too this Sunday as I am not going to cook and clean up the kitchen three times a day on Mother's Day. I will tell the mil to relax, sit back and enjoy chicken chop for lunch and takeout for dinner! We mothers deserve a break on our day!

For orders, kindly Whatsapp my hubby, Alan Yap at 019-266 4297. Thank you for your support! 💖

MCO day 50 ~ 6 May 2020 (Wednesday) - 11th Anniversary of Baby C's Surgeries

Today marks the 11th anniversary of Cass' Uretheral Reimplantation surgery at Gleneagles Medical Center, Penang.  While I miss Cass as a baby (she was such a doll!), I do not miss her pre-surgery days.  Everyday was constantly a worry. Those diaper-sniffing, prophylactic antibiotic, prodding and poking her hands and feet days were terribly tough and painful to pass.  Some days were a time bomb waiting to explode if I did not take prompt action at the first sniff of foul-smelling pee.  Every month entailed visits to her pediatrician at Pantai Medical Center or pediatric nephrologist at Subang Jaya Medical Center. Some days were spent staying in the hospital or going to the hospital three times a day for antibiotic drips.  Our time out of the house entailed hospital visits more than for happy trips. She had never been to a playground or birthday parties until she was about 2 or 3 years old. 

Sometimes I wonder why my Creator planned this route for Cass and me. He must have a reason that I can't see or fathom yet. Cass is not 100% out of the woods yet. She's scheduled to go for an MRU (MRI with contrast/dye injected) at HKL on 18 May 2020.

Photos from 6 May - 27 May 2009 at GMC Penang:



See how bloated Cass' tummy was. Something was brewing inside, resulting from surgery complication.



My pretty doll all bloated and retching green bile out and the surgeon didn't know why despite a string of x-rays, CT scan and all the scans that the doctor could think of. We were just stir-crazy in the hospital, waiting for her to get well so that we could go home in KL to be with my other 2 babies who missed their baby sister like crazy.




For many nights, I had to climb onto the tiny baby cot and contort my body to be next to Cass, holding her hands and tubes the entire night to stop her from pulling the nasal tube out of her nose.



Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka!!  Independence Day on 27 May 2009, the day that we could leave GMC Penang after 3 weeks. It was our 9th wedding anniversary that day.