Old Treasure

I found some of my old photos taken when I was working at Southern Bank (now CIMB Bank).  These photos are over two decades old.  They were taken circa 1994 ~ 1997 during my tenure at the Corporate Human Resources Division (CHRD) where I worked as a HR Officer.  I spent 8 years at CHRD and created lots of memories and friendships as well as gained tons of invaluable experience in this department.

Taken at our bank's annual dinner and dance.  If I remember correctly, that was in 1993/1994.

The Corporate Human Resources Division team.  I'm seated fourth from left. Irene, on my left was my supervisor and she's now living in Australia.  The lady wearing glasses in green baju kurung was the HR Manager.

I'm the one in a yellow blouse.  On my right is Shareefa and we still keep in touch.  On my left is Ayu, my assistant. We were in charge of staff loans that year before I got rotated to the Recruitment section where one of my duties was to interview candidates.  The girl on the extreme right is from the Kelantan royal family and she's in charge of the Training Dept.

Are Silicone Products Safe To Use?

Silicone was recognized by the FDA as a safe-to-be-used food-grade material (food-grade silicone) in 1979.  Silicone is a lab-made material that consists of several different chemicals such as silicon (a naturally occurring element), oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen. Usually produced in liquid form or flexible plastic, silicone is used for cooking, baking, medical, electrical, and other purposes.

Like plastics, silicone can include a mix of chemical additives, fillers, and raw material impurities.  In general, silicone has fewer chemical additives than plastics.  Food-grade silicones that are FDA-regulated should not have any fillers.  If the white shows through in the silicone when twisted, pulled, or pinched, the silicone contains a filler.  And if it cracks or loses elasticity, this indicates the inclusion of fillers in the silicone.

Whether you are looking to purchase household silicone utensils or custom silicone molds, always opt for silicone products that are made from the best silicone materials, such as those manufactured by Newtop Rubber.

Silicone Baby Fruit Feeder Pacifier

Newtop Rubber uses food-grade and medical-grade liquid silicone materials to produce high-quality products. As a source manufacturer, they have better price advantages than intermediate traders and stricter quality control.

Silicone cookware has made cooking and baking super convenient.   Not only are the colours of these quirky utensils captivating, these silicone moulds, muffin cups, cake pans, ice moulds and what nots have paved their way into almost every household around the globe. 

BPA Free Food Grade kitchen Storage Bag

Most food-grade silicone utensils can endure very high heat. However, heat tolerance for silicone cookware varies.  It is still possible for silicone cooking utensils to melt if they are exposed to extremely high heat, causing silicone liquid to leach into your food.  If this happens, it is important to discard the melted utensils and food. Do not expose silicone cookware at temperatures above 428°F (220°C).

 

Silicone Mold For Cupcake Decoration

Not only is silicone cookware heat-resistant, they are freezer safe, and oven safe, but only up to 428 degrees Fahrenheit or 220 Celsius.  Due to its bonded composition, silicon is non-biodegradable, non-toxic, and non-recyclable.  Although silicone products are non-biodegradable, they can however be recycled and remoulded into other products.

As silicone is considered chemically stable, experts say it’s safe to use and likely not harmful.

If you’re looking for a silicone overmolding supplier for your business or for bulk purchases, check out Newtop Rubber for an extensive range of silicone products.

Thursday, 1 December 2022 ~ Random Updates

Hello December! 

We're on the last leg of our journey in 2022, yo! We survived another year of the pandemic, even though every single member of our household got infected by Covid this year. Alycia got infected twice within a span of 4 months. Thank God she's spared from getting infected the third time when almost everyone at home was down with Covid recently.

Sherilyn is still having a dry cough and had to skip school this morning when she felt nauseous.  She's supposed to sit for her SPM Trial Biology paper today as she missed a week of school last week due to Covid and now has to sit for the paper tomorrow instead.

Alycia returned from yet another short vacay in Ipoh and Penang with her college mates on Monday.  This girl can really play hard and study hard as well. I hope she'll succeed in getting another year's scholarship from the university for her second year of studies next year.

Cass came home from school today and gleefully told me that she fared better in all her papers in her recent final exam. She dug out all her old papers from this year's Mid Term Exam as well as last year's Final Exam and compared the marks and proudly showed them to me 😁

After I'd cooked lunner for Cass today, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to cook rice for her! So I  quickly blanched some soba noodles for her. It was already 3-ish p.m. and Cass would be back by 3.40 p.m. and cooking noodles is always the quickest.

Oven grilled wingettes and drumettes. 

Japanese Chocolate Persimmon

My SIL from the UK is in town.  Yesterday she went grocery shopping and got us some Japanese chocolate persimmons, one of the finest persimmons around.  At RM28 each, it's our first time trying these elusive persimmons.

Chocolate persimmons have a very sweet and sugary flavor with subtle spice-filled undertones. The fruits are named “chocolate” for their brown, variegated flesh, not for their taste. 

Aside from the color of the flesh, chocolate persimmons taste very much similar to regular persimmons with orange and yellow flesh.

13 November 2022 ~ Traipsing Around @ Pavillion Bukit Jalil

It's been almost two months since Cass started figure skating lessons at the Blue Ice Snow Park @ Pavillion Bukit Jalil.  Spending my Sundays at Pavillion is not something that I look forward to. I'd rather be loafing at home than jazz around aimlessly at the mall with nothing in mind to buy.  Most of my purchases are now done online since the pandemic started 3 years ago.

While traipsing around at Pavillion Bukit Jalil on Sunday, I chanced upon Tokyo Town.  Located at the mall's second level, Tokyo Town celebrates all things Japanese including food, retail, and culture.

Once at the entrance of Tokyo Town, I felt instantly transported to the land of the rising sun with two larger-than-life artistic sumo sculptures greeting shoppers.

Shoppers will be further greeted into a shopping street in Tokyo Town precinct, also known as “Nakamise” in Japanese with a symbolic and grand Torii Gate – featuring unique and cultural decorations such as cochin or Japanese traditional lanterns, beautiful Sakura trees adorned with tanabata wishes and carp streamers as well as a grand and gorgeous Kimono Art Tapestry on exhibit.

From Nakamise lots to specialty stores, shoppers can find a rich selection of Japanese food, retail, arts and culture.

Visitors can satisfy their Japanese cuisine cravings with a wide variety of F&B from popular sushi dishes at Fuji Sushi, delicious deep-fried succulent meats at Tonkatsu by Wa Kitchen, mouth-watering teppanyaki at Tokyo Teppan, best of bite-sized Maki sushi to Japanese street food at Yatai Mura.

I told hubs that the next time we're here, we have to try Tonkatsu by Wa Kitchen.

Spend a minimum of RM80 at any store in Tokyo Town, and buy any instant noodles at RM1 each.

A long row of claw machines outside Tokyo Town.

For lunner, I had Indian Rojak & teh tarik at Sedap by Grandmama's located at Level 5 (same level as the skating rink).

Toilet shot, all because I had too much time and didn't know what to do 😁

This Sunday I'll be going to Pavillion again with Cass, just the two of us as hubs has to go to Ipoh for a dinner. Whenever I'm not with my eating partner, I find it really hard to kill the hours at the mall.

Sherilyn's Meals

Sherilyn who's recovering from Covid at home air-fried this cheese and egg sandwich for breakfast today.  She didn't have much appetite yesterday as she vomited once and felt nauseous the whole day.  Today the nauseous feeling is gone and her appetite came back. 

Thankfully she can still taste her food, unlike me who lost my olfaction partially.  Since yesterday everything that I eat has been tasteless and I can't smell anything too, except for essential oils.

Sherilyn made KongGukSu (콩국수) - Korean Cold Noodles with Tofu after the rubber on her braces were changed recently.  Whenever she has an appointment with the dentist for her braces maintenance, she'd ask me to get her tofu from the supermarket as she prefers to eat soft food after new and tight elastics are replaced, which would cause her discomfort for several days.

Refreshing but not my kind of meal.  Tofu and soybean milk are blended together to prep the broth and served cold.

First Half November 2022 ~ Short Random Updates

I am so enervated today. I spent yet another Sunday at Pavillion Bukit Jalil walking for 3 hours while Cass attended figure skating lesson.

I've not been totally resting myself the past few weeks ever since Cass started figure skating lessons at Pavillion Bukit Jalil. I even have to 'work' on weekends. 

Last weekend was spent bringing Cass to Sunway Pyramid and Pavillion Bukit Jalil to get new figure skates and for her lessons.  When we're at the mall, I walk at least 3-5 hours with weights on my shoulders (my handbag and light shopping loot). I've been having achy shoulders ever since the lockdown was lifted when we started to go mall shopping again.  To begin with, I have a long history of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome which has affected both my shoulders and neck. Carrying even the slightest weight on my shoulders tend to aggravate the underlying problem.

I may bring a small trolley luggage bag with me the next time we're at the mall to keep my shoulders free of any burden.

After we were back home, Alycia called me to fetch her back from her workplace. At her workplace, Alycia takes over behind the wheel. As she's still a new driver, I feel tense sitting next to her when she drives.  Though she's shown some improvements in her driving and I don't step on my imaginary brake as much as I did before, I still have that jittery feeling when there are many cars on the road, when she drives up a narrow ramp and when she parks the car 😅

Ju, my childhood friend (almost 4 decades of friendship) came from Singapore to KL yesterday. Hubs and I met her and her hubby and another childhood friend at a restaurant in Paramount for a late lunch yesterday. 

Ever so generous with me, Ju gifted me this box of Royce chocolates.   Thank you so much for your love, Ju 💓

Some forgetful people finally killed the microwave oven. This is the second time that they killed my microwave ovens despite me reminding them umpteen times what not to use in the oven. 
They're not supposed to use stainless steel or any breakable plates and bowls with metal trimmings and paintings with metal elements in the microwave oven.  And their forgetfulness or rather a lackadaisical attitude caused a big dent in our wallets.
There were sparks of fire and an obnoxious sound of metal about to explode when Miss Forgetful put a small bowl with metal trimmings into the microwave oven to heat up food. 
Hubs finally got a new microwave oven two days ago after being microwave-less for a month. Life was so hard for them girls who are ever so reliant on the microwave oven for just about anything. Serves them right!

Low Carb Meals

When I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2000, I did tons of research on this disorder and from what I gleaned from the internet, it is a hormonal and insulin disorder that would affect fertility and other diseases.  

With daily exercise and following a strict low-carb diet, I managed to shed some weight and my hormones started to stabilize. It wasn't an overnight cure but required lots of hard work, discipline, and a life-long lifestyle change.

22 years on and I'm still on a low-carb diet, albeit not as strict as I used to be. And I'm still exercising almost daily.

Below is what I usually eat on a daily basis.

Hubs bought Hakka noodles and curry noodles for lunch from Restoran Ipoh Sedap @ SS2 PJ and I replaced the noodles with coleslaw. 
Oh yeah, if you're craving for some authentic Ipoh Hakka noodles, Chee Cheong Fun and curry noodles, Ipoh Sedap is the place to go to. Hubs loves the food from this restaurant.

For dinner, I ate the Hakka fish balls and meatballs with blanched greens.

My 'chap fan' dishes and replaced rice with coleslaw.

The only occasion when I'll eat rice is when there's fried rice (parboiled rice or Basmati rice). And the most that I'll take is just 3 tablespoons of fried rice.

Sri Lanka apam with egg, my favorite. This is not exactly low carb but it's much lower in carbs and calories than other Indian rotis.  Apam is prepped with ghee, which is a healthier alternative to packet oil.  I also love Rawa Tosai.

Keto-friendly brekkie - smoked salmon on Egg Benedict with Hollandaise sauce and a refreshing nutty salad.

Yesterday's lunch was coleslaw with chicken rendang, kailan and cili fish from hubby's central kitchen.  The mil cooked the spam and fried egg for breakfast.

Yummy for the tummy, from hubby's central kitchen ~ aromatic Nasi Jagung (sweet corn rice cooked with ghee and spices), cili Mackeral fish and stir-fried kailan.

Spicy and appetite-whetting cili fried mackerel fish.

Coleslaw omelette, cooked by chef S, for her school lunch box. She cooked extra for my brunch.

As you can probably gauge the size of my meals from the photos, the portions are befitting a 4 to 5-year-old child, thus my size.  I think I've inherited my mom's DNA as she also has a tummy as small as mine and is even skinnier than me 😁

Friday, 4 November 2022 ~ End of Final Exam

After a gruelling two weeks of exams, Cass' final exam for the academic year 2022 is finally over.  

I can finally turn on the radio again to listen to my kind of music.  And I don't have to hear her purge out memorized lines throughout the day.  Cass' method of studying involves lots of verbal purging, just like her mom 😬

The first thing that Cass did when she got home from school today is to assemble a burger for herself.  And she chomped it down within minutes.

Super decadent burger with homemade thick pork pattie, homemade caramelized onion burger sauce, homemade pickled cucumber slices, sliced tomatoes, and salad leaves.

And then she started to badger me again to bring her to the skating rink @ Sunway Pyramid tomorrow to get new figure skates, talk to her coach about competing and bring her to Pavillion Bukit Jalil for her figure-skating lessons on Sunday.  Cass stopped pestering me for two weeks as she was busy revising for her exam.  The moment she got back her mobile phone from the teacher after school dismissal, she started to Whatsapp me on the list of things that I HAVE to do for her and with her! 😳😳

Her list of To-Do things involves $$$$$$ as figure skating is a very expensive sport and even more expensive if competition is involved. 

I managed to talk Cass out of competing next year and to only compete in 2024.  She has two matters to settle next year, which are much more important than the competitions i.e. her UEC exam and probably surgery if her upcoming Cystoscopy is successful in capturing clear images of the possible ectopic ureter in her urinary tract.

Restoran Grandpa, Paramount PJ

Hubs had wanted to bring us to Gold Dragon City Restaurant @ Paramount, our favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch two Sundays ago.  As we left the house late and reached there around 12-ish noon, the restaurant was extremely packed. We were told by the captain that there was no table available for us and that waiting for one would take hours.  As we were famished, we walked to the next shop - Restoran Grandpa to check out the restaurant.

If you ever reach a famous restaurant in the Klang Valley after 12 noon on a Sunday, be prepared to queue up for at least half an hour for a table and wait at least another half an hour for the food to arrive. 

We were all so happy as Grandpa had vacant tables. We quickly ordered a few dishes and the food arrived promptly.

Grandpa is an old-school restaurant that serves comforting, traditional dishes. 

We ordered 3 types of rice - white rice, yam rice, and fried shallots on white rice.

The clay pot bak kut teh was delish, so much so that hubs ordered another pot. The clay pot fish head was very flavorful too.

Clay pot chicken cooked with wine and black fungus; homemade savory Teochew Cai Kuih.

Teochew Steamed Sweet Yam Paste (Orh Nee). A quintessential old-school Teochew dessert with decades of history and nostalgia, it is a smooth yam + pumpkin paste with gingko nuts, served warm.  I liked this so much that I bought 2 frozen bowls home to savor on days when I crave for dessert.

We will surely be back again soon to try other dishes, and for me, I will surely stock up on the frozen Orh Nee again.

The service was excellent. The old aunty who attended to us was extremely helpful, friendly, and accommodating. 

Restoran Grandpa

Address: 12, Jalan 20/16a, Taman Paramount, 46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Phone: 016-392 9982

Operating hours:

Monday - Closed

Tuesday - Sunday : 8:30am–2:30pm, 5:30–8:30pm

Is It A Blessing To Live Up To 100?

While waiting for our turn to see the doctor at HKL recently, a nonagenarian sat next to us.  The moment she sat down, she struck up a conversation with Cass in Mandarin.  Then I joined in the conversation and talked to her in Cantonese.

The frail lady was very chatty as if she hadn't talked to anyone for a long time.  The first few words that came out of her mouth were that of self-condemnation.  She told me that she felt like a burden to her family as she frequently needs someone to bring her to the hospital.  She has an age-related bladder issue and needs a urine bag.

Lady - what's the point of living so long?   A few of my sons are living overseas and I dare not ask my other children to bring me to the hospital as they are all very busy.  Only my 3rd child, a daughter is willing to bring me to the hospital.  It's a blessing to have daughters.

Me - how old are you?

Lady - I am 90 years old. I feel like a burden to my children because I am useless and need a urine bag.  I keep waking up at night to go to the toilet.

And then she kept harping on the fact that it's pointless to live such a long life.  I wanted to chat with her longer but her daughter pushed her away in her wheelchair to another waiting area.

This kept me thinking.  Is it a blessing to live up to a hundred years old?  The Chinese are fond of wishing the elderly good health and long life during Chinese New Year and birthdays. 

A good family friend of ours who's in her late 80s has been bedridden and living in a nursing home in Ipoh for over a year now. She has dementia, doesn't talk, needs to be fed through a feeding tube, and has to be on diapers 24/7.  Stick thin and looking immensely forlorn, it pains us each time we look at her.  Everyone thought that she would pass on first before her husband but her husband died in his sleep recently. He was 92.   It's very costly to keep her alive but I guess God is not ready to take her back yet.  And so she continues to suffer 😥. So do her children.

Do you think that it's a blessing to have the gift of longevity if there's no quality of life?  Would you be happy if none of your children are living with you or near you in your golden years?   Imagine yourself in your eighties, alone and in ill health.  You feel like a burden to everyone because of your failing health as well as a financial burden to your children who each has their own commitments.  

It would be ideal if we have sufficient savings to live a comfortable life till the day we depart from this earth to meet our creator and be blessed with good health, mobility, and cognition till we breathe our last breath so that we will never be a burden to anyone.  One is truly blessed if he or she has no major health issues and dies peacefully in sleep. I pray I'll be blessed in this way.

Sunday, 16 October 2022 ~ Pavillion Bukit Jalil

Cass' figure-skating coach wasn't able to teach for two weeks since last Sunday.  What perfect timing!! This is because Cass has to prepare for her finals these two weeks.  

Before we received a text message from the coach about the class cancellation, Cass promised me that she would study after coming back from the skating rink. But I felt that Cass should not go anywhere but stay home to study on the eve of her finals.

I'm so glad that I don't have to spend my day at Pavillion Bukit Jalil (PBJ) for the next two Sundays 😜

Besides the vast options in eateries, cafes, and restaurants, there isn't much to do at PBJ. I'd rather be idling and paying my sleep debt with forty winks at home.

Anyway, Cass still wants to get her new figure skates before her next class and has been badgering me to bring her to the skating rink at Sunway Pyramid to buy the skates. We may go there this Saturday.

This time hubs and I had our lunch at the Ei8ht Avenue Foodcourt instead of his favorite Grand Harbour Chinese restaurant as I wanted to try other eateries.  

Ei8ht Avenue is a non-halal food hall that offers Chinese local delicacies that are loved by Malaysians. There are famous local food brands from all around the Klang Valley. These brands have one thing in common - a long legacy of incredibly delicious food. What separates Ei8th Avenue from other food halls is that, unlike typical food halls, customers can order their meals from their seats and be served when their food is ready.   Not to be missed are famous brands such as Prawn Noodle King, Chan Meng Kee, Samy & Min Bak Kut Teh,  Ah Fatt Gor Curry Mee,  Kim Lian Kee,  Restoran 38 Fishball Noodles, Little Eat Shop, Sin Hoy How, among others.

We tried the char koay teow, curry noodles and pork noodles.  

Nothing to shout about really as we've tried much better ones. So I don't think hubs will be ordering these again if we come here again.

We finally got our hands on the overly-rated thick egg tarts from Oriental Kopi.  Well-known for the insanely long queues at their Mid Valley Megamall outlet and now at Pavillion Bukit Jalil, we managed to take away their popular thick egg tarts, polo bun, and Mee Siam after queuing for about 15 minutes.

Hubs bought the buy-6-free-1 promo @ RM28.80

My verdict - the filling is very custardy and very filling.  Chomping down the entire egg tart was enough to fill up my small tummy, leaving very little space left to eat my main meal at the Eight Avenue food hall.
Nothing to shout about, despite rave reviews on the tarts.  I prefer the traditional egg tarts from Tong Kee and my favorite-est Portuguese egg tarts from Red Kettle.  This is my personal opinion. 
Sherilyn was the lucky beneficiary of these egg tarts as she got to bring them to school for 3 days in a row.  The tarts taste better after a few minutes in the air-fryer.

The Polo buns from Oriental Kopi were pretty good.  As I was too stuffed to try it on the same day, I  briefly air-fried it the next day. It was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, stashed with a wedge of butter. I omitted the condensed milk.

The Mee Siam was also nothing to rave about, in fact, I think it's rather vapid. I think the Mee Siam that comes out from hubby's central kitchen knocks this one hands down as it has much more ingredients 😁.  Again, this is just my personal opinion.

Cass requested for Rollney Kürtőskalács ice-cream and her ever-indulgent dad got it for her.  It's a unique ice cream atop a chimney cake or Hungarian sweet bread. The cylinder-shaped hollow bread is filled with a little cereal at the bottom. I find it too sweet for my liking.