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.  

Saturday, 22 October 2022 ~ Lazy Saturday

Today has been an extremely lazy Saturday for us.  It's a day of takeout and food delivery for us.  

After sending Alycia to the cafe for her weekly part-time job, I went to a nearby shop to pack 'chap fan' for brunch. 

Then I went for my morning exercise.  I love my mid-morning brisk walk + jog around our condo compound with lush greenery. It's my daily chillax and mind-detox session while I soak in the glorious morning sun. 

Cass who usually finishes all her meals by 2-ish p.m. on weekends (she's been on IF for more than a year now) began bugging me to order her dinner at 1-ish p.m.. She loves the healthy cauli rice poke bowl from The Fish Bowl @ Gardens Mall.  So I got her that through Grab Food.  This smarty-pants always knows how to claim tons of vouchers from Grab Food, Shopee Food, and other online shopping platforms.  Today she found a RM9 voucher from Grab Food for her poke bowl. From an almost RM30 poke bowl, I paid only RM19 for it.  We both shared the poke bowl from Fish Bowl and that was our lunner.

By 3 p.m., my stomach was already rumbling, and as I was browsing food from the 'Shocking Sale' section, I saw 'tong sui' (sweet soup dessert).  Perfect, as 'tong sui' was exactly what I was craving to have!  I ordered taro cha cha for myself, black sesame tong sui for the mil and tau fu far for Sherilyn from Tong Dessert @ OUG Lucky Restaurant. I managed to claim and use a free delivery voucher as well as a RM3 food discount voucher for this order.  I made another order of Hong Kong-style fried rice from Tsuen Wan Restaurant and also managed to claim and use another free delivery voucher as well as a RM3 food discount voucher for this order.

That's why I love ordering from Shopee Food!  It's cheaper than eating at the restaurant itself.  I hope Shopee will continue to give away these discount vouchers.

Very delish Hong Kong-style fried Yang Chow fried rice and 'tong sui' ordered from Shopee Food. The  two 'tong sui's have just the right sweetness level and are not too cloy.

I love lots of thick coconut cream in my taro cha cha!  Kara brand of coconut cream is by far the best, i.e. tastes the closest to fresh coconut milk.

My order of organic flaxseed meal and organic almond + oats + cocoa powder from Lazada.  I drink this combo every morning and sometimes switch to instant oats with plain organic almond milk.

Cass had online Math tuition and then spent hours in the afternoon doing her Math homework, as well as revising for her upcoming finals.

Sherilyn has been having a marathon of tuition and is in the trenches of revising for her forthcoming SPM trials.

Monday, 17 October 2022

Classes are held online every Monday for Cass. In between classes today, she cooked konjac noodles and shared them with me.  She added a packet of plain noodles (sans the seasoning), lettuce, frozen garden peas, two eggs, and some leftover takeout chicken.

For the soup, she used Melaleuca's Simply Fit instant vegetable dashi. 

Our brekkie today - spinach konjac noodles and healthy banana bread from Front Room Cafe.  Konjac noodles are my guilt-free way of enjoying instant noodles. They're keto-compliant, full of fiber, and may help lower cholesterol. 

Love this instant vegetarian dashi from Melaleuca.  Cass loves to cook konjac noodles with this vegetable dashi.   It's priced at RM76.40 for a pack of 30 sachets.

My stock of different flavored konjac noodles (spinach, sweet potato and carrot), which I ordered from Lazada.  At RM7+ a pack, the konjac noodles are very versatile - they taste great when cooked with clear soup, broth, dry or stir-fried.

Lunch for Cass is an egg mayo sandwich from Tedboy. I got this from our neighborhood supermarket.

Wednesday, 12 October 2022

Alycia is having a short term-break and she's off gallivanting again.  She got back from a sleepover and hike yesterday evening and with less than 12 hours with us, she went to Melaka with another group of friends this morning.  They are staying at a lovely Air BNB house, set within a rubber estate.  It's her third trip to Melaka this year, and with different groups of friends.

Below are the photos of the Air BNB house where Alycia and her friends are staying in Melaka today. The photos were taken with her new iPhone 14, unfiltered.

Wish I was having fun with them girls too!!

From a reserved and shy little girl who didn't like to socialize, Alycia's now become a social butterfly.  She's got many groups of friends, from high school to college to her workplace (a cafe that she works part-time at every Saturday and sometimes on Sundays), church, to university now.  

I can't help but feel sidelined by my eldest daughter as she hardly has the time to even have a meal with us now 😥. The only time she talks to her dad and me is when she needs something from us, like money or our help 🙄

And this girl bought herself an iPhone 14 early this week. It's the most expensive phone she ever owned.  Her dad and I didn't pay a single cent for it and we would never have for such an expensive phone!

Taken at our condo at 6.55 a.m. today.  It was a very, very wet Wednesday morning today.  The weather has been chilly and wet for the past two weeks. It's so cooling that I have not turned on the air-conditioner in my room for two weeks. Our electricity bill this month is RM100 cheaper, but still on the high side at slightly over RM400!

Negitama Gyudon - our dinner yesterday from Sukiya Tokyo Bowls & Noodles @ Mid Valley Megamall, ordered via Shopee Food.

Yakiniku Don

Sunday, 2 October 2022

Today is Cass' second ice-skating lesson at the Blue Ice Snow Park skating rink @ Pavillion Bukit Jalil.  Cass and I took a Grab car to and fro as hubs had to work. 

Cass went into the skating rink about an hour earlier to practise skating before her class started.   After sending her off, I walked around the mall, window shopping with nothing in mind to buy, until I stepped into Sports Direct, and ended up spending 1.5 hours there. And came out of the sports shop with a pair of Adidas running shoes 😬

I'm one who will invest in a pair of comfy walking/running shoes as I walk and run quite a bit every day.  Ever since I ditched my sandals and wear only sneakers, my feet are cleaner, my cracked heels have healed and I chalk up to at least 10,000 steps every day. Plus I managed to shed some weight after I replaced sandals and slippers with sneakers.  When I wear sneakers, I walk faster more comfortably and don't mind walking long distances, not to mention bidding good riddance to achy feet and painful blisters.

Since I have 101 reasons to buy new sneakers, I got myself this pair of Adidas running shoes in my favorite color.  

Reasonably priced at RM229.

Cass with her pretty coach.

The cheapest pair of skates cost RM800.  Cass has saved enough money to buy it. But her doting koong koong and granny surprised her and told her that they will pay for the skates. Woo hoo!  Cass is truly blessed to have such loving grandparents 💓

After we left the skating rink, we went to get takeout at Grandmama's and Sushi Empire.  And the last stop was at the supermarket to get our favorite Ready-To-Eat Triple Washed salad and coleslaw before we went home.

Friday, 30 September 2022

A while ago, Cass told me that she had a light bulb moment when she collected my parcels from the lobby of our condo. She usually helps me to collect my parcels at around 9-ish p.m. after working out at the gym.  

Yeah, I have quite a number of parcels to look forward to every day.  About 70-80% of my stuff are purchased online since the pandemic started, from food items to underwear to pet supplies, supplements, and much more.

When the Government imposed a lockdown 2.5 years ago, delivery riders were no longer allowed to go up to the residents' units to deliver items.  Instead, all parcels and food items are to be left on a long table at the lobby and the respective recipient has to collect their stuff themselves. 

When Cass saw the amount of parcels left on the long table at the lobby every day, her money-minded brain suddenly had this idea that popped out on how she could earn a little pocket money -- by helping residents collect their parcels and sending them to their doorsteps! She would charge RM1 for delivering to each unit.

Cass asked me if she could do this so that she could build up a nice little nest egg. 

I'm hesitant as I don't want Cass to be spending too much time delivering parcels and neglect her studies. All I want is for her to focus in her studies and her health.  She could consider working on a  part-time basis after her SPM.  

Also, a Committee Meeting of the condo would have to be held before this side hustle is allowed in the condo grounds. And this involves an under-18 child.  I don't want to be known by neighbors as the infamous parent who allowed her young teen to work!

I've told Cass to forget about this whole side hustle idea and just focus on being a good student. But she's not about to give up yet. 

Cass whipped up this one-tray grill on Monday in between online classes. 

Homemade pork burgers, Japanese pumpkin, garlic, onions and potatoes.

My kind of meal. So delicious!

Cass wanted to make Japanese sando but it was a flop.  She made this in between online classes, thus didn't have enough time to do deeper research on how the sandwiches are wrapped and cut.

And it turned out to be a regular sandwich that didn't look too pretty after it was cut into half. It's bursting with fillings of egg mayo, chicken chop, salad greens and cherry tomatoes. Very delish, nonetheless.

Weekend Is Here

The weekend is finally here. I hear someone rejoicing and planning fun activities to do over the weekend. Going to school is torturous for her as it's not easy to cope in a Chinese Independent High School.  I'm talking about mini-tests almost every week, on top of homework.  But I ain't rejoicing at all. When she's at home, I have extra work to do. She cooks and bakes almost the entire morning and messes up the kitchen. She badgers me for things the whole morning. I actually prefer her to be in school 😬.

Even though it's the weekend, it's not a rest day for me.  Sherilyn has to be in school before 6.30 a.m. tomorrow to take part in a marathon. The school bus will leave at 6.30 a.m.  After sending her to school, I continue with some chores at home before sending Alycia to the cafe for her weekend part-time job. Then I get home and settle more chores before going for my morning run under the glorious sun to soak in some sunshine vitamin and mood-enhancing energy.  

Before I even get to rest, it's time for me to fetch Sherilyn back from school, get the girls lunch and do another round of laundry. Then it's time to fetch Alycia back from the cafe. But that's not it.  I have to be Alycia's driving instructor, which is a nerve-racking 'ordeal'.  I let her practise driving every weekend when she gets to drive home from the cafe. At the car park, I teach her reverse parking.  In my entire motherhood journey, I think sitting next to my teenager, who's a new driver, is one of the most difficult tasks. I have cold sweat and have to hang on tightly to whatever I can grip in the car while stepping on the imaginary brake all the time that Alycia's driving 😂.  

Alycia's driving has improved slightly but is still not good enough for her to drive independently yet.  There will be many more nerve-racking sessions with her before she passes my stringent test requirements. 

Oven-baked prawns with garlic butter, prepped by Sherilyn early this week.

Sherilyn hardly has the time to cook and bake now as she has intensive tuition classes to attend. She has less than half a year more to go before her SPM exam! 

Spaghetti aglio e olio with baked prawns. Very, very aromatic and yummeh!

16 September 2022 ~ Malaysia Day Outing @ Pavillion Bukit Jalil

One of Cass' greatest desires is to learn ice-skating.  For more than a year, she saved money to pay for her ice-skating lessons. She did odd jobs for me and her dad as well as saved money from ang pow collected during CNY and birthdays.

Hubs finally had the time to bring Cass for her first ice-skating lesson on Malaysia Day, a public holiday.  Cass had earlier called the Blue Ice Snow Park @ Pavillion Bukit Jalil to book an appointment for ice-skating lesson but was told to walk-in to try her luck as it was a public holiday and all the slots were already taken up. If she's lucky, she may get a slot.

As expected Cass didn't manage to secure a slot for the skating lesson.  However, she and Sherilyn went for casual ice-skating @ RM35 for 2 hours.  While they skated, hubs and I had breakfast and checked out the mall. It was our first time at Pavillion Bukit Jalil, a newly opened mall.

We walked quite a bit before we finally found the Blue Ice Snow Park. The mall is very huge and if it's your first time to the mall, it's a tad difficult to locate the skating rink.

Very good exercise for us - it took us a good 15-20 minutes of brisk walking from the car park to the skating rink.

Very much smaller than the skating rink at Sunway Pyramid but we prefer Blue Ice Snow Park as it's new and the facilities and skating shoes are newer and cleaner.

Sherilyn & Cass paying for the locker rental using their dad's credit card.

The last time the girls went ice-skating was 3 years ago, before the pandemic, with Raelyne their cousin from Singapore.

There's a huge screen outside Blue Ice Snow Park that life screens the activities in the skating rink.

Cass balancing herself.

Sherilyn skates better than her sister, but ice-skating is not her jam.  

With two hours to skill, hubs and I had breakfast at Oppa Toast Cafe.

The BBQ beef teriyaki toast that hubs ordered was super scrumptious. Juicy BBQ beef slices wedged between crispy toasts topped with a jiggly egg and cheese. And you don't have to worry about messing up your hands as disposable gloves (packed in a tiny cute bag) are provided so that you can enjoy your killer toast.  The coffee was superb too.

Crispy Korean fried chicken. For the first time I really enjoyed holding my piece of fried chicken with my hands at a cafe as I needn't have to worry about having oily hands afterwards.

After the girls were done ice-skating, we brought them to Oppa Toast again for them to have their breakfast.  

Cass ordered egg toast and Korean hotdog.

Right after leaving Oppa Toast, we segued into Sedap to have roti canai and satay! 

Revenge feasting after almost 2.5 years of modest eating, mostly at home 😂

The girls wanted to try IlaoIloa's Milo froyo, only available for one day on 16 Sept as it's Malaysia Day. Their verdict - not much Milo taste but nonetheless still refreshing and yums.

The girls wanted to check out Tsutaya Books, a popular bookstore originating from Japan but what we saw before our eyes was jaw-dropping.  The queue into the bookstore was at least 500 meters long! This is the first Tsutaya Books in South East Asia.

Before we left, we had our lunner at Dai Cha Dim.  While we waited for the food to arrive, Cass and Sherilyn quickly darted off to Tsutaya Books as it's just opposite the restaurant. They were not about to give up trying their luck to step into the bookstore.  Fortunately the queue moved pretty quickly and they managed to get into the bookstore.

Lunner at Dai Cha Dim.

We clocked up almost 10k steps after spending over 4 hours at Pavillion Bukit Jalil. My total number of steps for the day was over 14k.