Glorious Ipoh Food

My parents were in KL last week and today they left for Ipoh. We all look forward to their coming for various reasons - the good old Ipoh food that we so crave, my dad's cooking (my dad would cook us lunch and dinner almost everyday!), they would entertain the girls and my mum would help me with QA check of my stock. She even helps me perform tailoring jobs for slight defects in some of the clothes.

Our dining table filled with food to the edge, with all our favorite food : famous Ipoh salt-baked chicken, fish balls, egg tarts, Nyonya kuih, famous Ipoh chicken hor fun, yam cake, radish cake, tong sui, Teochew dumplings, yong tau foo....

and this time, I had a special request - Ipoh JJ Swissroll, cempedak flavor, YUMS!!

Check out the generous filling of cempedak paste! Drooling leh??

Fits of rage

Baby can be very aggressive at times. One time, in her fits of rage, she flung the toilet roll onto the floor and screamed...

and when I tried to snap a picture of her, she ran for her dear life.... and then buried her face onto the dining table chair.

But when she's good, she can be really angelic and her smile can melt even the coldest of hearts.

Our Easter Sunday

The girls had a fun-filled Easter Sunday in Sunday School today.

Kids seated and waiting for the kids hymns singing session...

Arts and Crafts session. Sherilyn and Baby's group had to draw an empty tomb, which showed that Jesus had resurrected and left the tomb on Easter day....

Next to Sherilyn is Ashley, who is also Sherilyn's classmate in pre-school.

The kids swarmed round the table and all eyes and hands were targeting the 2 awesome cakes...

And of course there are food, lots of snacks,junk food and goodie bags with Easter eggs too, which the kids all loved.

Nap Skipper

Baby does not take her afternoon nap on most days lately. She will spend most of her time fixing jig saw puzzles or on the laptop learning her ABCs, playing games and watching cartoons and songs. She can spend the entire afternoon doing these 2 activities and she's only just turned 3! Oh yea, her computer skill is getting better and better with each day and I cannot believe how adept a just turned 3YO is with her nimble fingers and her speed of learning. It's true that the experts say that a child learns very well from newborn - 6YO, after which the window of opportunity will slow down.

By 9pm, her batteries will run flat and many times while spoon-feeding her milk, she will struggle to keep her eyes opened. The second I leave her to get something, she will doze off and all hell will break loose if I try to jolt her up to finish her milk or brush her teeth.

Boobies Addict

Baby is weaned off my boobs about half a year ago but she still needs the boobies to help her fall asleep in the afternoon on some days. Here's the little boobies addict getting her fix to lull her to sleep!

Restoran Lap Meng Kuan @ Taman Desa KL

Restoran Lap Meng Kuan @ Taman Desa KL is one of our favorite Chinese restaurants now. The food and seafood are fresh and tasty, restaurant is clean and cozy and price pretty affordable.

Yesterday we threw my youngest brother a surprise birthday dinner celebration at this restaurant. My hubs had earlier bought a RM400+ wild river Patin fish and we brought half the fish to the restaurant to get it tastefully steamed.

Here are the dishes that we ordered.

Deep fried nam yue chicken and stir fried minced pork and dried shrimps with cabbage...

Steamed pork with watercress and fish paste, a dish that is very suitable for kids...

Koong poh deep fried pork with cashew nuts...

This is one of the signature tofu dishes of this restaurant - braised tofu on a huge bed of steamed pumpkin. Love the soft steamed pumpkin - sweet and creamy!

The highlight of our dinner - a prized wild river Patin fish which cost a bomb. Recently some food connoisseurs went to a 'tai chow' restaurant in a small town here and ordered some 'kampung' dishes, including Patin fish. The bill chalked up to a whopping RM13,000!! Now I know why Patin fish is terribly costly. This morsel is almost second to none in the fish family. There is not a hint of fishy odour in every part of the fish and the flesh is really sweet and smooth. We dug on the entire fish tail (which weighed close to 2kg) and licked every part of the bone clean!

The girls, their mummy and Roy kau foo the birthday boy...

with our favorite green tea-red bean cake from our favorite bakery, RT Pastry House.

Bubble Blower... With Toothpaste!

Here's my avid bubble blower and she's really good in it. She can create bubbles from toothpaste in her mouth. She can even create a huge bubble using both her arms and armpit, with the bubble forming between her arms and upper part of her body. She does this everyday, twice a day during bath time.

Say I'm clever, see, see, see mummy!!

Never Meant To Be Together

Many years ago, my friend broke off with her boyfriend of 7 years when her then boyfriend did not listen to her advice to resign from his offshore oil rig engineering job. My friend was worried that the man that she loved would be involved in an Offshore Accident, leaving her widowed. They were engaged and almost married and because of one disagreement, the marriage never materialized. Now, both my friend and the man who worked at the offshore oil rig are happily married respectively.

Internet-Enabled TV

I think it would be just awesome to be able to surf the internet on a TV that is internet-enabled. Imagine logging on to my Facebook page that is almost 4 times bigger than what I normally see on my desktop PC screen and laptop. My girls will be delighted to be able to read from the internet on a huge TV screen. I will be able to save up enough money to buy a HDTV that is internet-enabled with indoor hdtv antennas in another 6 months if my business continues to be good. Does anyone have a TV that is internet-enabled to comment on?

The Durian Season

As I am typing this post, there is a bowl of durians on my table top and I am spooning up the durians to eat while typing. I am having durians for my breakfast again and I can never get bored of them! After all, the durian season comes only a few times in a year and I better devour all the durians I can while they are still in season. During the durian season, I have to work out 5-10 minutes longer in the gym everyday to burn off the extra calories that I pile up from my durian binging. I am all for exercise to stay slim and don’t need fat burners like adapexin-p.

Jig Saw Puzzle Aficionado

My little cili padi is one very determined girl. When she sets her mind on something, she will complete it, no matter what it takes, even if it means forgoing her favorite things. She can even skip going out to complete her jig saw puzzle piece, skip her dinner and even going to bed, cracking her head to finish the last piece of the puzzle up to 11ish pm!

Good job baby girl. Mummy's very convinced you will be one very determined, disciplined and hopefully successful girl in future.

Solving a 100+ piece puzzle meant for 4yo and above. Here's she's skipping her lunch to finish off the last few pieces of the huge Fun Fare pic puzzle.

With help from her jie jie, she managed to complete the puzzle at last!

Darn Those Mozzies!

AAARRRRGGGGHHH SHARKS.... mosquitoes!! That's what Alycia will say whenever she sees mosquitoes flying in the house. And here's why we hate those buzzing pests...

Huge mozzie bite marks on Baby's hands, legs, nose, face and forehead.

Sherilyn's face was badly attacked by those vicious mozzies. Both her upper and lower eyelids were attacked and her eyes are now swollen. She now looks like an abused child with a swollen face... picture isn't taken as she had refused for her pic to be snapped by the blogger paparazzi haaha!

My girls have sensitive skin and once they get bitten by the mozzies, the bite marks will 'expand' and swell up. With intense scratching, the skin will break and scars will form.

Jig Saw Puzzle Aficiniado

My baby girl is a jig saw puzzle buff. Of my 3 girls, she has the most patience and the longest attention span, when it comes to fixing puzzles. She can spend over 2hours fixing jig saw puzzles continuously and even refusing to go out, eat her meals or go to bed! That's how much she loves puzzles and it goes to show that she's one very determined girl... to solve a problem, just like mummy hehe!

My multi-tasker... just like mummy who is always doing something when she eats... so that precious time is put to good use.

Kids Sleep The Darndest Ways

Do you have a child who can sleep just about anywhere and at anytime? I have 3 and the champion is rascal #2. She can even fall sleep while eating and drinking and it happens all the time!

All hell will break loose if I jolt her up from her sleep to get her to brush her teeth and shower... and I hate doing this. Well, that's part and parcel of motherhood. Whether you like it or not, you have to do it. Just pull the bull by the horns!

Durians Galore

The durian season is here again, which means it's also the season that I have to work out extra hard everyday to melt away the calories that I had packed after all the feasting on durians. Yup, I have been having durians for breakfast for the past 1 week. Not a single person in our household dislikes durians. We can eat nothing but durians for lunch or dinner! One of the best places to get durians is at SS2 in PJ. You can even get them online from www.DurianSS2.com, where you can email the owner for orders and enquiries! Talk about the IT age. Even durian sellers are moving from selling by the roadside to selling them online... albeit the fact that they still sell their durians by the roadside.

Our premium Musang King... if you are living abroad and have no access to the king of fruits, sorry ah if I made you drool...

Monkey see monkey do. This little monkey saw mummy eating durians for breakfast and she too wanted to have durians for breakfast!

Impossible Target

An owner of an online gift shop approached me recently. He was targeting to get 10,000 fans/likes for his Facebook page within a time frame of 1 year and he asked me to help him. He told me that he will pay me 5 sen for every person who ‘likes’ his FB page. But I had declined his offer. The amount was way too low to motivate me to crack my head for ideas, though I had helped him write an ad for a product earlier, which generated some sales for his product. I really think that a target of 10,000 fans within a 1-year period is unachievable and fool hardy. Even well known online stores like Linkedin Personal Creations has over 4k fans. Well, if he can offer me a better monetary reward, I can come up with some better ideas to help him reach a more achievable number.

A Gift For Him

I never expected to get a bouquet of flowers and a new Canon IXUS digital camera from my hubby for my birthday recently. Can you believe that I have not been getting flowers from him ever since we got married more than a decade ago? So the bouquet of flowers came as a big surprise for me. I, too should get him something that he likes for his birthday. Old married couples should be lovey-dovey too right? Perhaps I should get him a pair of cuff links or a pair of shoes for basketball. I have not been getting him a gift for aeons!

All I Need Is The Endorphins

At times when I am caught up with work from my online store, I find that my mind is very muddled. A cluttered mind equals the inability to think straight. In times like this, my online assignments will pile up and I don’t even have ideas on what to write on such simple reviews as small business phone system. Do you know what’s the best solution to un-clutter my muddled mind? It’s simple – all I need is a half-hour run round the neighborhood or a good workout in the gym. I will just let the Endorphins or feel good hormones do the job!

After Tuition Classes

When my 2 older girls are home after attending tuition class or ballet class, it is hard to get them to do their homework. They will insist on having a rest, a snack of some crackers, mrs fields cookies or some fruits, a drink and then watch TV. Sometimes, Alycia will take a nap. They think tuition classes are a chore and uses up too much of their brain cells! So they need a little time to unwind and rest before setting their minds back to homework mode!

Great Help

My sil from Singapore is here for a holiday and will be here for the next few weeks. I am glad that she’s here as my mil had just left for New Zealand and will only be back in a few months’ time. My sil has been of great help to me. She helps me coach the girls in their homework, walks #2 to school and helps me check my stock every day. I even have the time now to write a review on cheapestautoinsurance.net. Had she not been here to help me out, I can only find the time to complete my online assignments in the still of the night at ungodly hours when everyone else is asleep. That’s when the house is quiet and my mind can be at peace, which helps me to think straight.