Chicken Paitan Ramen and Sous Vide Chicken

Wednesday, 12 May 2021 ~ Today's lunch is Chicken Paitan Ramen (original and spicy flavors) with Sous Vide chicken breast, by our in-house chef Sherilyn.

This is one tedious meal with many steps. She started off with boiling the chicken soup with dashi, kombu, chicken feet and chicken breast for hours yesterday.  The ramen eggs were also prepped yesterday and marinated overnight in the fridge.  The chicken breast + garlic + onions were blended in the TMX6 and then sieved and added back into the pot of broth.  

Multiple steps are involved to bring out a milky white soup that's umami (hence the name Paitan/white soup in Mandarin).

Every step involved is homemade -- from the broth to the ramen shoyu tare, ramen eggs, Sous Vide chicken breast, chili oil and even the ramen noodles.  The noodles dough was prepped from scratch and churned out using a noodle maker.

This is an inexpensive meal with chicken breast and feet, eggs and flour for the ramen noodles but chef Sherilyn makes it taste like one from a Michelin star restaurant 😋

Haru In Our Home

Cass is sitting for an online test here, with her beloved Haru on her lap 😆.  Boring online classes and tests are not so torturous anymore with her favorite pet on her lap keeping her company.

Cass is so smitten with this kitten😸

Haru hates wearing a collar. I bought her a pink collar with a bell on it but she gets berserk each time  the collar is put on her neck. We tried putting hair scrunchies on her neck and they don't stay long on her neck too.

Yesterday Cass put on a cat leash on Haru and it was hilarious! She refused to walk with the leash on and Cass had to drag Haru on the floor, like a mop 😆

Collar out, hair scrunchies out, leash out too...

Haru The Terrorizer

Haru can be a terrorizer at home.  She damaged our mozzie netting door in the kitchen with her sharp claws -- she loves clawing her way up to the top of the net like a monkey. Today the entire netting fell off from the door frame!  Someone is of course fuming mad!  

When her 'sakai' mode is turned on, she chases her favorite people and bites us on our ankles. I've got one painful inflamed wound on my leg now.

Two weeks ago while I was out with MIL, Cass left Haru out of the cage during her online class.  She didn't watch Haru who was roaming happily in the kitchen and on our dining table, sniffing our food and drinks.  Haru hopped onto our kitchen counter top and I think she must have hopped over the cups and knocked down her father's cup!! It was a big big mess with broken glass and water all over the kitchen floor. Cass couldn't leave her desk during the online class and left the mess there for me to clean up when I got home. I wanted to leave the mess for her but we couldn't even get into the kitchen with sharp bits of glasses scattered on the entire kitchen and dining area floors.

I. Was. Enraged. With both Haru and Cass 😡 

Cass had the cheek to send me a Whatsapp message telling me what Haru did but didn't clean up the mess!

Sometimes when the rascal wants to get out of the cage, she will scratch, dig and splash the litter sand all over as a sign to protest being locked up!

Despite the felony this goblin commits, we're still very forgiving parents and sisters. We still love her to bits.

Haru looking very much like the tiger from Maybank logo, don't ya think so? 😸

Sunday, 25 April 2021

Everyone is unavailable for lunch today -- hubs was busy with food prepping at his central kitchen, Sherilyn had online MYF meeting with church friends and Alycia just wanted to lounge around in the house. Ever since she started working at an international pre-school and after-school care centre, she feels enervated having to teach kids and even babysit toddlers 9 hours a day! She can't wait to start her new duties in May (which is related to what she'll be pursuing in college/uni), still at the same centre. 

So only my boo and I had lunch together, at Pee-Chai Thai Kitchen. Cass feels stressed out having to attend online classes 6 days a week, from 7:20 a.m. to 2-ish p.m.. But she should have no complaint as she's the one who requested to be transferred to this high school knowing very well how tough it is and how taxing it is on our wallets.

We shared this yummy green curry vermicelli.

Cass spent the rest of her only rest day of the week playing with her beloved Haru, completing homework and attended online piano class.

Such an adorable pair they are. Cass is such a happy 13-year old now, ever since Haru came into her life 💓

Haru At Home

Sherilyn made an Onigiri out of blended boiled chicken breast meat with bits of salmon inside (meat from salmon bones) for Haru. She wanted to capture Haru's facial expression and reaction on video on her new treat. And it's priceless!  Haru's bewilderment when she saw the piece of strange looking meat followed by her coltish antics had us all laughing in the aisles 😹

Sniffing the chicken onigiri first and refusing to eat it.  Smart kitten!

Sherilyn broke the chicken onigiri and spoon fed Haru to let her know that it's her favorite meat.  She loves chicken and fish.

With her two sisters convincing her that it's alright to eat the strange chunk of meat, Haru walloped the entire thing. She's quite a big eater. She looks quite big for an almost 4-month old kitten.

Haru still loves her milk bottle time. Like a human baby who refuses to be weaned off the milk bottle, even when she's finished sucking milk from the bottle, she'll suck the teats with air in it.  Her can of lactose-free goat milk from Netherlands is almost finishing. Don't think I'm going to replenish it. She has to be weaned off her milk and bottle.  She does not even know how to drink water or milk from a bowl!  It's time we teach her to drink from a bowl or plate 😸

Random Updates

Friday, 15 April 2021 ~ Hubs brought Cass and I to HKL for a drive-through Covid-19 swab test that Cass had to do prior to a Urodynamics procedure at HKL on 20 April 2021.  We were really surprised at how fast everything was done in under 5 minutes! It's the second time that Cass had to do a Covid-19 swab test. The first was done in August last year as part of the hospital's pre-admission requirement when she was hospitalized at Pantai Medical Centre (PMC) for a UTI.  She did a nose swab (Antigen / Rapid Test).  Today she did a nose and throat swab test (PCR test).  As usual, I am always very amazed with how strong and super calm Cass is in dealing with pain. I am no where near her level.

 

Our super talented in-house chef Sherilyn dished out some yummy sushi for dinner in a jiffy when hubs told us at the eleventh hour that he didn't have enough food for us from his central kitchen, Catermate. 

Saturday, 17 April 2021 ~ The pipe in our dry kitchen was leaking and I only discovered it yesterday evening when I opened the kitchen cabinet to get some stuff.  The entire floor was flooded with water.   Cass offered to help me clean up the absolute mess, which took her almost an hour!   Hubs called our handyman and thankfully he was on his way home and dropped by our condo at 8 p.m. to have a look.  And it turned out that the screw connecting the pipes was loose and there was no breakage/hole 😨

Evil mommy put a fruit protective net over Haru and she got really agitated trying to remove the net from her head and body.  Haru doesn't like anything put on her body, thus till today we are still unsuccessful in putting a collar with a bell on her neck.

Haru is getting more adorable and lovable by the day. Cass is besotted with her. This is one of the hundreds of photos that she took of her beloved Haru on her phone.

Sunday, 11 April 2021 ~ Random Updates

Alycia has just completed her first week working as a temporary teacher at an international pre-school and after-school care / daycare centre at our neighborhood. She doesn't like the job at all. She's been assigned to teach kids who are slow in their studies. She says that she doesn't have the patience to teach kids nor does she have the skill to tackle young kids. She never even wanted to be a teacher in the first place. However, since there was an immediate vacancy, she accepted the job. She now tells me that she will give herself only 3 months in this job instead of 5 months before she starts college in September 2021. If she happens to find another part-time job that pays her better, she will resign from the pre-school and daycare centre.  

I've paid for Alycia's driving lessons in full last Friday, which costs a frigging RM2,100+!! This is exclusive of any resit of exams should she flop.  Everything is super costly in KL. It only cost my parents around RM500 when I learned driving in Ipoh 31 years ago.  My consolation is after Alycia gets her driver's license, I get to be chauffeured around and I can sometimes be relieved of my driver's duty.

One of Sherilyn's homecooked dishes cooked two Fridays ago. 

Chicken breast and pork char siu (grilled in the oven) made on 25 March 2021:

Onigiri made on 25 March 2021:

Sherilyn hardly cooks for us ever anymore since school reopened last Monday. She's been extremely busy with homework and preparation for exam. She now has dance class or meeting with her dance team members every Sunday.  But she still preps lavish meals for her bento boxes for school recess and lunch.  This girl wont bring simple food like bread with jam, buns or biscuits to school anymore. She prefers something more sustaining like rice and eggs.  Fortunately with a special knack for cooking, she can transform inexpensive ingredients into 5-star meals in a jiffy.  Today she cooked Korean style sauteed potatoes and zucchini and Tamago for her lunch box in school for tomorrow. She cooked extra for Cass too.

Sunday, 4 April 2021

Today is the last day of the long school break during the MCO and CMCO. The girls had a break of more than 5 months since the MCO was re-imposed in early November 2020.  They barely went to school last year, except for a short few months.  I am so glad that they can finally go back to school! Online learning is not effective and does not really work for many students.  Cass is especially excited as it's her first day in high school, in a brand new school.  I was feeling anxious that I won't be able to hear my phone alarm ring at 4:30 a.m. and screw up her first day of school. I barely slept.

Our Sunday lunch was at Restoran Sin Kee, our favorite Hainanese restaurant.  We've not gone to this restaurant for more than 3 years and I really miss their Hainanese style chicken chop. 

Hainanese chicken chop - my comfort food.

As usual, lunch on our Sunday now is sans the girls as they have their own activities.  Alycia and Sherilyn went out for lunch with church friends and then adjourned to the dance centre where Sherilyn had her first meeting with her dance performance/competition team members. And Cass prefers to stay home to be with Haru.  It's party time for Haru when someone is not in the house 😆

Deep fried fish belly, stir-fried yau mak, fried Nam Yue pork ribs and sweet and sour prawns. 

Our dinner is Japanese curry with Japanese rice from our Japanese neighbor and it's so delish!  

And she gave us such a huge tub! The girls finished every drop of of it.

Here's Haru playing hide-and-seek with us again. The fella loves to hide underneath the yoga mat, behind the curtain, under slippers or under our beds but leaves her tail out. She thinks that when her head is under the mat or bed, we can't find her 😂

29 March 2021 ~ My 48th Birthday

The girls and I were out at Mid Valley Megamall / Gardens Mall today.  My main intention was to bring Cass to see the ophthalmologist to get her eyes checked and to get prescription for Atropine eye drops to slow down the progression of myopia  The damage was RM555 for consultation with ophthalmologist, optometrist and 4 bottles of Atropine (RM95 for a 5ml bottle)!!  

Lunch was at Go Noodle House again as Cass wanted to go to MPH.  Book stores are her playground and she could spend all day at the book store and be very very content and happy.  Go Noodle House is just next to MPH.  While she browsed the books, I had lunch with Alycia and Sherilyn.

My eldest daughter treated me to my favorite Yomei purple rice yoghurt and I received a free drink - any juice/smoothie in any size of my choice from Boost Juice.

Cass made me a card with Sweet William flowers on it.  She borrowed RM5 from me to buy the flowers from the florist when we went to the supermarket two days ago and told me a fib that it was for her school's art project.  The next day, she didn't follow us out for lunch and stayed home to work on her 'school's art project' which is my birthday card 💓

Sherilyn made me a strawberry birthday cake and totally caught me by surprise with it!  She also told me a fib and said that she would be at her aunt's vacant unit (in another block) to do a recording of her dance for some online competitions. But she went to her grand aunt's unit and baked the cake there!

Cheese cake from hubs.

We were in the early days of the MCO during my 47th birthday last year and everyone was stuck at home except for hubs, the head of the family, who was allowed to go out.  This year, though our state is still in a CMCO, we are allowed to go out and things are pretty much back to normal now, except that we're still not allowed to do inter-state travels.  

My birthday wish is for me and my loved ones to be bestowed with good health and happiness always and for the Covid-19 pandemic to end so that our lives can return to normalcy 🙏

Sunday, 28 March 2021

Our dancing queen had a dance audition at a dance centre at Kuchai Lama today.  After dropping her at the dance centre, we walked across the road to have lunch. Our K-pop craze Alycia chose Choi's Don & Dak Korean cuisine.  

Food was just average.  Sherilyn's homemade Korean dishes taste way better 😜 and she's previously cooked every dish that we ordered today. Even Sherilyn's homemade kimchi and banchan taste much better.  

After lunch, we did some cafe-hopping and bought some desserts and tofu soft serve ice-creams.   It's been a long time since our family indulged in cafe-hopping.  

The results were out the next day and Sherilyn is selected to be in the dance school's competitive dance team.  Team members will also be doing dance covers besides representing the dance school in competitions.  Sherilyn already has a clear vision on what she wants and according to her, this is just a small part of her resume to help her get a scholarship in college.   We'll see...

Life With Haru

The days seem to pass by so uber quickly lately that I can't accomplish every task on my eCalendar.  Today during my morning jog I tried to reflect why I have so little time for work and myself lately. And then I realized that I am now taking on more house chores than I used to.  When Maria used to come six times a week before the pandemic started, I had more time on hand. I could even submit more than 10 articles in a day to my boss.   And I didn't have a pet kitten to take care of back in the day.

Maria only comes in three times a week now and I now have a kitten to take care of. We cook almost everyday and I now try not to cook on days that Maria doesn't come.  I order food online or buy takeout in the morning on days that Maria doesn't come.   The girls can only help to feed Haru and clean the litter when their online classes are over -- their online school classes start in the morning and only end in the afternoon, which is followed by online tuition classes. It is especially difficult for Cass to leave her desk as her school (military style Chinese school!) requires that the web cam be turned on all the time.  So I'm caring for Haru myself most of the time. I pass the night shift to Sherilyn.  Cass' only duty is to cuddle Haru to placate her (even during class, on her lap 😸), and sometimes help to prep Haru's food.  Having a pet that is still a baby is akin to having another human baby. OCD me still wipe Haru's butt after she poops (which is 4 times a day or after every meal!) and I clean her litter after every pee and poo! Her litter box is emptied and cleaned every 2-3 days. Can you imagine the amount of work added into my already full-to-the-brim plate? 

Though I feel extremely tired everyday, each time I look at Haru, I let out a smile at her. She's too adorable to feel angry at.  I hope that when she's grown into an adult cat and not that cute anymore, she will still be able to tug at our heartstrings.

Haru still drinks water from the bottle and loves it. She drinks up to 2 bottles of  boiled plain water each day and I think it's quite a bit for a kitten.  Occasionally we still bottle feed her with the expensive lactose-free goat milk powder from Netherlands to finish off the can of milk.  And then she'll be done with milk and will only eat wet cat food (tuna and mackerel) and boiled chicken breast.

Sherilyn had the time to boil some chicken breast meat (sans salt and oil) for Haru yesterday and she loved it to bits.  Here Haru is being pampered with shredded chicken meat from Cass and Sherilyn.

Whenever Sherilyn or Cass goes down to the lobby to collect a parcel or food that I ordered, they put Haru in a shopping bag and bring her along for a short stroll. 

Haru Our Pet Kitten

These days Haru is getting more daring venturing the house.  She loves to run under the sofa and into our bedrooms and hide under the bed as this is where no one can ever reach her! She loves playing catching and hide and seek with us. Perhaps she doesn't want to get back inside her cage, thus she runs away from us.   When we put her back into the cage, she will try to escape by darting out swiftly.  She reminds me of how my papa used to catch rats in our house! 😂😹

Today she started to climb onto our sofa! And rolled and tumbled on it.  We have to be really careful that the queen doesn't see Haru on the sofa or she'll whack her!  But Haru doesn't seem to understand that she cannot go up the sofa coz her sisters love to put her on their laps while they sit on the sofa to watch movies on their mobile phones!  Each time Haru gets on the sofa, I bring her down and say NO sternly. But she still doesn't get it.

It's hard to keep a cat indoors when there's someone in the house who doesn't like it.  We bring Haru out whenever that someone isn't around. It's hard to be happy when there's a limitation in everything you do, right? 

 

Sigh, that's life.  

Haru is still very much loved by her sisters and me.  We hope that she'll grow up to be one very obedient and loving cat who doesn't cause us any problem. Do you think that it's possible with a cat?  I don't know much about cats and their behavior as we never had a pet cat before.  I only know that dogs are very loyal and lovable and they can be trained quite easily.   I had a pet dog for 11 years who gave us very little problem.