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.

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 🙏