Friday, 11 June 2021

I was at hubby's central kitchen to help him with the photography for the past two days. I was donning on my face mask and suffocating, with bullets of sweat dripping down my face while coughing in his kitchen. The culprit was this super duper huge commercial wok filled with dried chilies boiling. And also a huge industrial oven in use at the same time.  Can you imagine how suffocating and choking it is to inhale the hot and spicy smoke in the hot kitchen that feels like a sauna everyday? 

This is how much dried chilies are used to cook one batch of sambal and this is done several times a week. Everyone in the kitchen including hubs has to bear with the chilies, onions and spices bubbling in the wok, inhaling the tear-jerking yet aromatic smoke emitting from the wok, while donning on face masks.  I couldn't wait to run out of his kitchen and back into my car to remove my mask to breathe in some cool air from the air-cond 😅😷   

Sambal for Catermate's best seller Nasi Lemak is made from scratch.

The compensation for helping him with the photography is of course food.  I almost never leave his kitchen empty handed.  For the past two days, we had kuih (which is my ultimate kryptonite) which we will never get enough of and fried chicken, which is everyone's favorite!

We've been having Western chicken chop and Hainanese chicken chop from hubby's kitchen almost everyday the entire week last week till we want to take a break from chicken for a week now 😂

Random Updates ~ 7 June 2021

Alycia received her 2nd pay check last week. Though it's only a small amount as she worked for only  two weeks at the international pre-school last month, she was nonetheless still very thankful and happy.   Yesterday she treated her sisters and me to milk tea from Tealive, delivered to us via Grab.  After receiving her first pay check last month, Alycia gave me RM100 and bought cakes  to treat everyone at home.

With the pandemic at its peak now, Alycia will not be looking for another temporary job anytime soon. She has 3 more months before she goes to college and life for her now is really relaxed and stress-free.  Lights are only turned off way past 1am and she gets up some 10-12 hours later, after which she lollygags at home waiting for all her meals!!  Oh how I miss those carefree, stress-free easy life without any commitment. I wonder if I will ever get to live like this again? 😜

I am missing our pre-Covid19 days very very much. The weekly mall shopping, the monthly shopping for clothes or shoes, the weekly splurges at cafes and restaurants, the daily coffee shop and kopitiam brunch sessions with hubs, Sunday church, gatherings with friends, reunion with my family members and siblings in Ipoh, traveling and much more. Gawd, I'm missing Ipoh so much.  Again I'm wondering when we can ever do this again 😓 

This is our Sunday dinner yesterday -- Hainanese chicken chop from hubby's central kitchen, Catermate.  

Chicken chop and Nasi Lemak will likely be our lunch tomorrow as there's a bulk order for chicken chop and Nasi Lemak tomorrow for a customer's Zoom Meeting lunch with all her staff.  

Though we've all been eating the same kind of dishes from hubby's shop almost daily throughout the MCO for the last 1.5 years, I have no complaints. As long as we don't have to cook at home and clean up a greasy kitchen and floor, everyone is happy. The girl who's on dirty dishes duty will be the happiest too 😁. Win win for everyone.  

Lifting Your Assets - Your Butt!

Have you ever noticed that old folks have flat buttocks?  If you're in your late 50s,  you may start to notice that your butt is getting flabby and flat.  Losing your butt to shrinking butt muscles with age is a real thing.  As the muscles atrophy, their tendons end up getting frayed and torn. Thus,  older people have flat butts with more tendon tears in their gluteal muscles.

Worry not. There are several ways to prevent or delay those muscles from sagging and atrophying.  There are plenty of butt exercises that you can find from the internet to help you achieve super toned glute muscles. Some women take butt enhancing pills, go on a diet or resort to implants or surgery.  When it comes to giving your rear an instant lift, there's a solution that's effective that you don't have to worry about its side effects. It's something that's worth investing in -- butt lifter or bum bra!

Butt Lifters are specialized shapewear garments designed to raise and firm your buttocks. As our body ages we lose the natural elasticity in our skin and begin to lose important muscle tone. Butt Lifters help the butt keep its original form and helps the muscles and skin retain its strength.  Butt Lifters worn under your wardrobe leave your bottoms and dresses fitting you the way you want it to.  With a good butt lifter along with a booty boot camp (with some floor exercises targeting the gluteal muscles), a healthy diet and a neoprene waist trainer, achieving an  hourglass bod may be a reality for you. Try it to see if it works!

Butt lifters are a popular trend right now, especially amongst celebrities. That's the reason why you hardly ever see muffin tops, tummy pooches or back fat issues on celebrities at red carpet events. This is Hollywood's little sexy secret - shapewear!

1st Dose AstraZeneca Shot Side Effects

After the 1st dose of AstraZeneca shot on 2 June, the first side effect that I experienced within half an hour after getting the shot was a mild sore on the injection site.  Several hours later the sore on the arm intensified and my mouth tasted bitter the entire night.

The next morning I was still feeling alright except for the sore on the injection site.  My arm felt like I had lifted a 10kg dumb bell the previous day and felt raw when touched. At around 10-ish in the morning, the headache started to kick in.  I skipped jogging that day, as well as the next day.  As the hours passed, more side effects kicked in.  I felt aches on my neck and shoulder blades. I felt lethargic, sleepy and malaise but there was no fever and chills.  The feeling I felt was similar to how I'd feel whenever I don't get enough sleep or am about to get a flu. I continued with house chores and settled some customers' orders.  

When you're a WFHM, work continues whether you're sick, have a bad headache, didn't sleep well the previous night or recuperating from a surgery or fall.  Several years ago, I fell on the road while jogging and injured both my palms so badly that I could see raw flesh!  I had to bandage both my hands followed with cling wrapping them. Cass was still a toddler and I still had to wash her butt with a heavily bandaged hand.  

I took 3 naps that day and downed a packet of Izumio. By late evening, I felt slightly better.  The next morning (today), the side effects were all gone and I am right as rain again, thank God! 

As for the mil, she had zero side effects! Not even a sore arm. She's so lucky!

I'm not going to let my guard down yet.  The side effects may only kick in later but I'm praying that I'll be fine. It bothers me each time I read news of people who died of complications from the AZ shot.  The latest death is that of a 39-year old British model who died 13 days after receiving her AZ vaccine in Cyprus.   On the 8th day after receiving the vaccine, she woke up feeling fine and then within an hour she had full body shakes, all her joints seized and she was struggling to breathe and was cold to the bone with a persistent headache and dizziness!  RIP Stephanie.

Have you taken your Covid vaccine yet? If you have, did you experience any side effects? Would love to hear from you! 😊

Monday, 31 May 2021 ~ Random Updates

I've been busy at home again. Ever since the Covid cases kept surging uncontrollably for the past one month, we've decided to stop Maria our part-time helper from coming. My SILs from overseas have been very concerned as we do not know who Maria mingles with the moment she leaves our home and we have a highly vulnerable person at home.  So I had to bite the bullet and broke the unpleasant news to Maria again. Since the first lockdown on 18 March last year, Maria had to stop working for us temporarily several times (for several months during each lockdown).  Thankfully Maria has been very understanding. She's been a gem to us for the last 9 years and I pray that Maria will be able to step into our home again soon.

Without Maria helping us, post-meal times are my kill joy.   And it doesn't help that the two chefs in the house love baking and cooking. And I have to do most of the cleaning of their aftermath. Oh my poor hands!! 😓  

This chicken satay and peanut/satay sauce were made from scratch by Sherilyn.  They're delish but the kitchen post-cooking is my nightmare, every single day. Though she helps to clean up, it's pretty slipshod work and I still have to clean up after her.

Haru is trying to catch a light shone on the wall with a torchlight by Cass.  It's entertaining watching her catch shadows and lights everyday. She's a joy in our lives (except for someone who finds her a nuisance😑) for all the laughter that she brings.

Unsuccessful Attempt At AstraZeneca 3rd Opt-In Registration

I sat down in front of my computer at 11:50 a.m. today at the https://www.vaksincovid.gov.my/daftar/ website hopeful of getting a slot for our 18-year old daughter for the AstraZeneca 3rd batch opt-in vaccine. Her details were pre-keyed in by 11:50 a.m. and at the strike of 12 noon, I hit the SUBMIT key. As expected, nothing happened. The site was unresponsive. I hit SUBMIT again and a '504 Gateway Timeout' error message popped out.  The system evidently buckled under the frenzy of millions of people trying to get a slot.  We were also informed at 12:05 noon that the registration was only going to open at 12:15 noon instead of 12 noon. 

After what seemed like more than 100 tries with more weird codes popping up and the 'Daerah' section greyed, Alycia took over. She repeated what I'd been doing - reloading, hitting the back key and re-keyed in her IC number and mobile number but we were unable to get into the registration system.   The both of us tried in vain for 1.5 hours until registration closed.  

GREAT!

What's next? 

Wait for notification from her My Sejahtera app for the National Immunization Program or next batch of opt-in vaccines.

In the meantime, it's going to be weeks of home quarantine for the girls. Cass is bearing the brunt of the cabin fever and kept asking if she could follow me to the nearby supermarket and pet shop to get supplies.  I have to keep turning down a dejected girl. Thankfully she has Haru to keep her entertained and keep the laughter rolling throughout the day. Poor kitten has to bear with Cass' tempestuous affection till she sometimes jumps away from Cass' lap to escape the rough man-handling 😆

This is Haru's latest place of solace -- she sits on the table and gazes outside to observe every living and non-living thing with awe and perhaps wondering how's it like to be living outside.

Haru's Visit To The Vet

Cass and I brought Haru to the vet's today for her 3rd vaccination and dewormer tablet. As Haru already knew what to expect, she was very aggressive today, especially when the doctor trimmed her sharp nails. She hissed (of course, she hisses at every stranger), snarled and growled uncontrollably. A man who was at the clinic with his cat commented that Haru snarled like a serpent 😂

Scaredy cat waiting to pounce on the doctor's hands 😂

After this vaccination, Haru is ready to be spayed! I will coincide the procedure with Sherilyn and Cass' school holidays, which is in another week's time, so that they can help to care for Haru after the surgery.

Curiosity almost killed the cat. Someone almost saw Haru sniffing the fruits and all hell will break loose if she saw it.  By the way, Haru wasn't interested in the fruits but the strings on the two bunches of bananas. She has an obsession with strings and thinks that all strings are some kind of interesting objects that can flip and retaliate when flicked and swiped  😂

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.