The year that was at Lai Meng

Yesterday was an emotional day for Amber. She graduated from Tadika Lai Meng. Parents of 6 yr olds were invited to join the graduation ceremony along with performance from the kids.

Her initial days at Lai Meng was tough. Her Mandarin was weak and it didn't help that she's placed in a class with 80% non Chinese speaking students. We were worried more for the grasp of Mandarin language than other academic subjects. We eventually engaged a tutor for her and she has improved tremendously.

Looking back, her initial days : 

   

First day at school

First day at school with papa on the playground.

10 months ++ and she is a more confident, independent child. She now does her homework on her own (with a little nudge and threat, not quite there yet but we are definitely getting there) and I will sit in to do revisions with her when exam is near. Teacher commented is a 'OK' student, not to worry too much about and only to improve on her ability to follow instructions (yes, we're still working on it.. for 6 years !!)

She graduated yesterday and was given a prize for second best student in class. We were laughing our socks off  gleaming with pride :) :) . Her class may not be the creme of the crop but we think it's a job well done for the teachers, tutor and her.

With her 'yuen chang' - kindie principal.

I have no regrets switching her to Lai Meng kindy from her previous kindy. Lai Meng has provided a very conducive study, play and grow environment with very caring teachers, carers and principal. The slideshow yesterday on the years activities - Chinese New Year, Class trip, Childrens Day, Mooncake Festival, Sports Day brought tears to many parents and kids, it hit us that goodbye is now and what a great year it was. 

Amber was in tears and wiped away her tears with her teddy bear. 

She had a pep talk with her father at night, asking if she could go back to Tadika for a visit.. well... of course dear Amber, I'm sure the teachers felt sad having to depart with the kids too.

One year on.. and my girl has grown and matured..  *sniffs*

Toothless, nevertheless :D

Some people whom you'll never forget

A friend's kid, a keen rhythmic gymnast recently joined one of the elite squads. For purpose of anonymity, I wouldn't post names of places here.

The coach..produces medalist for our country and she is, no doubt the most sought after RG coach in the country.

Out of the blue.. my friend whatsapped me y'day with her side profile photo.. taken from afar. She asked if I knew who she was.

Of course I do, at any angle and also that she has doubled in weight, I do remember her.

She was my class teacher in Standard 2. I admit, I wasn't the brightest of student. I wasn't her pet either.
I remembered my Standard 2 teacher more than any other teacher because...

... she was Ms Mean.. the mean teacher who drew cat's whiskers on our face. For reasons I do not remember. I also do not recall being a bad student either. I had no disciplinary issues and perhaps I talked too much or didn't do my homework. Ohhh.. Ms Mean drew whiskers on our face to punish us.

... Ms Mean also tested us on our multiplication.. 2x2, 3x2.. and so forth.. She had the better students test us on the multiplications. If we got the answer wrong, the better student had the authority to smack our palms with a ruler.

Such are the inhumane actions of Ms Mean. I didn't complain to my parents then and I made sure I quickly rubbed away the cats whiskers before I went home. Looking back, what she did would be so wrong, wrong that it'll make headlines in the papers.. to demean and draw on a pupils face ?

I told my friend to please walk up to Ms Mean and tell her.. I do remember her, very well, especially for the whiskers she drew on my face and the slaps the students received from her as a punishment.

Of course, my friend didn't do that.. her daughter was chided as being too fat for the RG team and was asked to lose 2kg immediately. I told my friend to seriously consider if she wants Ms Mean to mental torture mentor her daughter.

If I have a chance to meet her, I would walk up to her and applaud her contributions to Malaysia's RG sports and also to thank her for a job well done, drawing perfect cats whiskers on our face.

30 years on, Ms Mean has more than doubled in size and unmarried.

My friend says she looks like Shrek !

What Happened at Kidzania

 Earlier on I blogged about Amber going to Kidzania with her enrichment class.

Here's what she came home with :

Reached home around 2.30pm and I guessed they didn't do much. I was told you need to spend at least 6 hours at Kidzania (god forbid, how to stand 6 hours there ?)

The teacher assigned a girl, in her early teens to look after Amber and another kid.. much to the girls annoyance :(  .. but she did anyway.

She was given some Kidzania money to start off with and our little missy went to the tattoo station, choosing an elaborate butterfly, taking up a lot of her allocated Kidzania hours.

They had lunch at Kidzania but she didn't take much of it. She came home, screaming "HUNGRY"...

Her response on Kidzania ?

- no good !!
... and she sulked


I probed further.. apparently, tattoo was all she did ! They wasted too much time queuing up and listening to instructions and I do think she's still too young to read the map and understand the whole concept of Kidzania.

She's been bugging me to go again I'm planning to ponteng one fine day to make a trip Kidzania.

A Quick Trip to Malacca

 On the last day of school, the Friday before the school holidays, we took the afternoon off and headed to Malacca. We wanted to get there when there's no crowd, no traffic and no queues. Friday evenings at Malacca is the best choice, that is.. if you can afford half a day off. We had no plans for this holiday and taking half a day off isn't too much eh ?

We arrived Dataran Pahlawan, Malacca close to late afternoon and hubs wanted to check out a magic shop. He wants to learn magic. HE WANTS TO LEARN MAGIC !!! yeah.. he does. I left him there with Amber and strolled around Pahlawan on my own - bliss !

 He spent close to 2 hours at the magic shop and we had to cancel initial our plans to the Coral Wonderland. The little one wasn't complaining as she's just as keen in magic as hubs.

He spent close to RM300 buying up some sort of magic package *rolls eyes*, I hope he puts to practice and not let it collect dust somewhere in the cupboard but hubs claims they have an outlet at Berjaya Times Square and he could go there for tutorials if he couldn't pass up some of the magic tricks.

We shall see !

We stopped by Pinkberry's for desert after the magic session. They have moved to basement level, next to the fountain area but I didn't quite like the new place. There weren't any chairs for us and we had to sit by the fountain and their prices has gone up !

I can't remember how much I paid for the durian cendol but on their website, it's noted RM4 per bowl. I remembered paying more but anyhow, it's worth every sen. This has to be THE durian cendol, if you're looking for one in Malaca. Comes with cubes of frozen durian pulp and it's soo yummy! Unlike those famous durian cendol at Jonker's Street and other touristy places, this one comes with yellow frozen durian pulp, not some brownish gunk that leaves a strong pungent durian essence aftertaste.

 See the pulp ? I'd definitely go there again, just for the durian cendol and try other deserts. I was saving my tummy for crepes and only had their durian cendol. We met a guy there who was on his 4th bowl of desert - durian cendol, mango lo lo and few more. He came from Batu Pahat with his friends and every Friday evening, without fail, after work, they'll go to Pinkberry's followed by dinner in Malacca town.

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 We crossed the road to Mahkota Parade to check out Nadeje's new cafe. I heard the queue can be crazy and long but it wasn't a weekend, we could easily get a table.

We had the rum and raisin and mango yogurt crepe.

I still like plain crepe or rum and raisin the best. No heavy creams for me, no thanks...

Poor Amber couldn't have any crepes as she's allergic to eggs so I let her have the whipped cream decorations. We also let her have a sachet of sugar. We're bad parents, indulging in crepes while the little one had a sachet of sugar but she's not complaining !! :D :D

After paying a bomb for the crepes, I want to make m





Dinner was at Geographer Cafe. It was bad, very bad but it's my policy to write a bad review on any outlets. Maybe it was just bad timing and bad staff on the day but really... the food and service wasn't like before. It's wayyyyyyy off !!!
That was our short stopover at Malacca

My Kyocera knife

 I've been eyeing on a ceramic knife for the longest time.
Anyone who knows me knows I'm obsessed with knives. I have a a couple of Zwillings, 2 Victorinox tomato knife - these are excellent for fruits as well, a Santouku stainless steel knife and a couple of Made in Thailand cheap Goldfish brand knives.

Been told never to drop the ceramic knife or you can kiss your hundreds of ringgits goodbye. A blogger mom recently cracked her Kyocera by cutting lemongrass. Who would have thought a mere serai (lemongrass) can crack up a ceramic ? I have to be more careful and never be forceful with the Kyocera.

Isetan had an offer for Kyocera knife and peeler during it's opening at new outlet at 1Utama recently. The offer was RM159 for the santoku knife and peeler but I was eyeing only on the knife.

Annie's husband was kind enough to get it during the pre-opening. He had to make a minimum purchase of RM100 storewide before purchasing this item. Another colleague also got me a set but I sold it to Jaclyn.

I tried slicing sour mangoes with my new ceramic knife, except for the slight resistance when slicing theough the seed, slicing is so effortless.

I also tried slicing a Dole pineapple with the knife. Easy peasy, glided through, like peeling a mango and guess what ??? The sliced pineapples reeked less juice and the cuts were much neater.

Can't wait to chop up some acar soon :D :D :D

Never Ask What A Kid Wants For Dinner

One Saturday, hubs was away for his CPD points training. It was just me and Amber, we visited Barb in the morning, went home, had lunch, ,sent her for gymnastics and back.

It was a whole day out for me and I didn't feel like preparing dinner, even though I have a helper.

I asked Amber what she would like to have for dinner.

I expected answers like  noodle, rice or pasta (standard stuff lah..)

She answered :

Renaissance Hotel ! I like the salmon

Nooo... no Renaissance Hotel. Our hotel card expired and we're not going to pay full price for dining.

What about the hotel near KLCC? The one very nice wan.. with a big piano ? Their white chocolate very nice !

*Mandarin Oriental*  KAPUT !!!!  Lesson learnt. Given them choices but don't ask them to choose randomly  

June 5 - Venus Crossing The Sun

On Monday night, she said  :

Mummy.. can you stay home tomorrow ?
Why ?
Because it's a special day..
the planet is going into the moon
I love you and I want you to see it.

On June 5, Venus will cross the sun, a phenomenon that occurs in 117 years and she doesn't want me to miss this special moment. She heard it from kakak and wants us all to watch it together.

I'm sorry but mummy have to work and I did warn her NOT to watch anything in the sky. I'll show her pictures and photos from the newspapers or internet.

Our Illy coffee machine

 We're both coffee lovers. We met over coffee, talked over coffee and ran a cafe together before we tied the knots.

He even purchased a manual Gaggia machine with a separate coffee grinder and vacuum pots to store the beans but the hassle of washing up, descaling and calibrating the machine wore us out.

We've patronized SFX almost every other day including weekends and that, burnt a big hole in our pocket, not to mention time spent in the cafes idling.

Hubs came across a coffee machine at Espressamente Illy - Pavilion when he took the side entrance in to the cafe from the elevator area. We never noticed any espresso machines after months of patronizing.

The barista was there to give us samples and explained to us the convenience of capsule machines. No maintenance needed, just top up water and clean the steam vent (only if used for steaming milk).. There's 3 choice of capsules.. light roast, dark roast and decaffeneited - maybe more.. but we only take dark roast and that, costs us RM2.70 per pop. After few samples. . . we were awed  ... and sold...

Walked away with 2 machines... one for the office and another for home..

No regrets... it looks great in my kitchen and I could whip out hot coffee or latte anytime of the day.

This is a good buy and do check it out at http://www.espressamenteilly.com.my/.

There's no shortcut in learning Mandarin

 We started her on Mandarin tuition. Call me a kiasu mom but I'm not confident she can pull through her standard 1 without me pulling some hair.

I admit being slack on her Mandarin. Her previous kindy covered only 1 Mandarin subject and adding on, her teachers were always part time and temporary. I have not met or seen her Mandarin teacher. .. and when kindie ended in 2011, the kids did not complete their Mandarin books.

We've placed her in a Mandarin centric kindie this year. Last attempt to brush up her huawen before she goes to Standard 1. Since she's a newbie, she's placed in a class of newbies.. The kindie has 3 class for 6 year olds.. 1 for follow up kids whose well versed in Mandarin , 1 for follow up kids who is not-so well versed and needs brushing up and 1 for newbies. Follow-up class are for kids who have been with the kindie since 4 or 5 years old

Her newbie class consists of 2 Chinese girls, 4 Koreans and the rest, mixed. Teacher had to speak to them in English since the kids Mandarin are just very elementary.
We tried requesting her to be placed in the advanced class for follow-up kids but she failed the assessment test. The principal thinks she's better off where she is now and we couldn't not agree with the teachers, so be it lah.. she'll have to start from scratch.

We engaged a home Mandarin tutor. Costs us a bomb but we think that's the only way to go. We're both bananas and can't help much but I do try and sit down with her to practise her writing and  ting xie that tutor sets for her every week. We had hair pulling moments like above.. when I tested her on  Ni Men, Wo Men, Ta Men, she had the cheek to write, Ni, Wo & Ta and ask me to read the Men below.. to be shared !!

This girl.. is going to have a hard time in Standard 1 if she don't take her studies seriously now.

Going Kidzania

She's going Kidzania with her reading class today. I've heard so much about Kidzania, the events for kids, the prices and also the long queue. I hesitated to go, not at this moment when it's still a hotspot for kids especially during school holidays but when the reading school organized the trip, I quickly put her name in.

We've prepped with a little bit information about Kidzania and showed her Kidzania whenever we passed the building on the way to Ikea. She's associating Kidzania with being next-to-McDonalds :D

The kids had a dress code - long dark pants, white top and sports shoes. 40 from her school will be going and with kids from another 2 outlets, it's going to be a big bunch to handle.

The trip is opened to kids 6 and above, the younger kids have to wait for another year. Understandable coz 6 yr olds and above are easier to manage and they could understand and benefit from Kidzania's acitivities better.

Lunch is provided and I've requested for nuggets and juice.

Can't wait to hear from her tonight. I'm sure she'll ask us to go with her again :D

Decency

We received a wedding invitation today, by snail mail, from a colleague who works in the same office floor as us. Isn't it strange to send an invite by snail mail ? Never mind, that we cannot attend due to proximity, the wedding was to be held some 200km away, but by snail mail ??

I think it's impolite to not personally hand us the invitation when we're just 2 doors away or even a phone call informing us an invitation have been mailed will do, but via nail mail is .. duh..

Meanwhile, the invite is shelved aside.

Gifts from her Kung Kung

My father is not the sort that enjoys company of children but deep down, he cares. I do not want my kid to remember Kung Kung as the haughty man who always asks her to keep quiet, don't jump, don't run, eat faster, don't ask questions !! Kung Kung doesn't play much with her, he's from the typical chinese era where kids are meant to be seen and not heard.


He gave Amber a handsome angpow for her 6th birthday. He's not the sort who buy gifts and always thinks angpow is the best way to convey his wishes. I still get an angpow from him for my birthday too. Bless my dear father, for his kind thoughts.

For a kid, an angpow is money that goes in her investment account, not something she can play, hold and enjoy.

My father is getting old and I wanted Amber to remember her Kung Kung in a nice way.  I used part of Kung Kung's ang pow money to get Amber things she likes - a Ben 10 tee, Ben 10 crocs, klik klok shoe and klik klok sandals, ALL her favourite things. All these and there's still substantial change to deposit to her 'investment account'.

She's soooo happy and can't wait to thank Kung Kung :D

Testing Recipe 5

This one is also a keeper.

A common hawker dish but I could never find a stall I was satisfied with. The dish is always too soggy or lacking in taste but I followed the recipe to the dot and it does give you some hints on how to cook up a firm dough for the recipe.

You don't need 'high fire-charred wok' to dish this out. Just a simple non-stick frypan will do.

This is the last recipe I've tested and can't wait for the cookbook to be out .... so I can reveal more !!!

Testing Recipe 4

This one's a keeper. I intend to replicate this same dish for Christmas party this year.

A large piece of pork shoulder, slow marinated overnight and slow roasted. I can tell it's going to be very yummy even before I roast it. The combination of spices and sauces for marinate looks very thick and delish and it's a sure guarantee that the recipe will work. 
 The pork is served in bowls of lettuce leaves.

Very delicious !

I hope this one makes it to the recipe book. A keeper !

Testing Recipe 3

Third on the list is a spicy Asian salad. I'm sure you can guess by looking at the ingredients :D

I'm having lots of fun testing this recipe as I've always wanted to cook this dish but never had the courage to. Seems daunting, with so many ingredients and steps to follow but when the recipe was emailed to me, I followed step by step. Not that difficult at all and I love cutting vegetables.

Some vegetables had to be cut to perfection, exact length.. well not exactly, the recipe stated to cut to  xxx length and I took a ruler to measure and made sure the carrots, cucumbers and beans were of same length. My hubs thought I had gone mad. He'd never seen me using a ruler in the kitchen.

I can't wait to get my hands on a Kyocera ceramic knife to cut the vegetables. My good friend Annie's husband got me a set from the Isetan 1 Utama grand opening. I just love slicing, chopping and cutting any vegetables and fruits, except onions and garlic, don't like the smell lingering on my hand whole day..



We walloped the spicy vegetable salad without any rice. Can't wait and too lazy to whip up some rice and anyway, we already had our dinner. It's good enough to eat on it's own... Hubs licked the plate clean :D

Testing Recipe 2

Second item of list of recipes I'm testing, for an upcoming cookbook of a food photographer/blogger.

This one, is chilly based paste, made from scratch from raw ingredients peeled, boiled and blended. I took the easy way out to blend instead of pound. I don't think I can survive a kitchen splattered with chilly paste all over, actually my pounding skills are bad.. I cannot handle the pestle and mortar like a true blooded nyonya who knows hows the proper rhythm and force, manipulating the pestle with accuracy and chilly juice do not get splattered all over.

I've tried using blender but it's hard to blend semi moist ingredients without adding water and I've shifted to my Tefal food processor. Blends nice and fine :D

Sambal anyone ??

Testing Recipe 1

 I was one of the lucky ones selected to test some recipes for food photographer/blogger who's coming up with a new cookbook.

I've tested here.. something similiar to yorkshire puddings but with a twist.

Love this recipe, except that egg is an essential ingredient here. When Amber is finally rid off her egg allergy, I'll definitely bake this snack for her school break.

The cookbooks' scheduled out in September 2012. I hope this item makes it to the cookbook.

I can't reveal which cookbook at the moment but am looking forward to it's release and we can all ponder of the recipes :D

Rewards

Sometime last year, we implemented a reward system for Amber's good behaviour. She'll get stars for finishing her meals, completing her homework.  I drew out a chart for her to accumulate her stars. I get her to draw and color the stars too.








Her rewards are always material stuffs that I deem as extras and luxuries that she has to work for. It can be a cartoon rubber stamp, art puncher, sniff-fruity erasor, liquid paper, Ben 10 ruler or even a box of water color. She likes all things craft and artsy.

She wanted a multi colored blink pen. She had one, given by my friend who came visiting from Singapore but it was spoilt very soon upon using.

I scoured all stationery shops in Klang Valley looking for the same pen and Aunty Annie even gave her a box of metallic pens, which she's still using till today. I finally found the same pen at Sogo.

I'd like her to know that mummy will go all ends to look for something she wants dearly but I do expect her to work for it.

Stretch-Kick-Pull

Amber has taken a liking to acrobats. It all started from a live performance she saw at Mid Valley of a group of young acrobats from China. I've recorded it in my iphone and she loves replaying and watching in awe. This little missy gave us many heart stopping moments when she tries to imitate the stunts at home. stretching and hanging her leg over the dining chair or over railings at the malls. She's super duper hyper and will never stop stretch herself and pull her leg up (shame shame) over chairs and tables.


 Once we went shopping with my sister and she did her usual, stretching her legs up the railing and did all kinds of funny stances. When you're not an expert, any kungfu kick and stretch in public will look funny. Strangers stopped to look at the awkward 6 yr old  who-doesn't-walk-properly but stretch-pull-tumble-kick in a mall. Awkward !!

Her teacher complained that she couldn't not sit still in class and keeps stretching here and there and sometimes performing very dangerous stunts. What have you done to her ???? the teacher asked !!!

We've channelled her endless energy to good use and enrolled for junior gymnastics. She's enjoying the class for the moment and let's hope her interest remains for as long as she is able to gain something good out of it.

Not in a rush to wean off....

 Call me a lazy parent and yes, shamefully, Amber is still on the bottle. She's addicted to the bottle.

The Avent bottles are a killer, costing more than RM50 each. I've asked my sis to get me new ones from Singapore (a lot cheaper!!) and I've also changed to NUK brand from Germany. Not as handy as the wide mouth Avent but quality's just as good.

She's promised to be off the bottle for her afternoon milk but mornings and nights, we still give her the bottle. If we're out for late nights, I'll change her to pyjamas and give her the bottle and she'll drift to la-la land in the car.

 Mornings are such a rush....and Ms Dilly Dally Clumsy Pot does not have the luxury to sit down and slowly sip her milk from cup and we do not have the time to clear any spills or change uniform, so the bottle is it ! 

On very rushed days, we dash to the car with a bottle in hand and she'll have her milk lying on my lap before dozing off for another 15minutes in the car. I'll wash her bottles in the office and my some colleagues look at me in disbelief .. isn't she already 6 ????

I don't really care, as long as she gets her nutrition and calories. I'm sure one day, she'll be weaned off.

You Call My Mother ah.....

We started her on Mandarin tuition recently. We felt she's not getting enough from her kindie and since both hubs and me are not Mandarin educated, we were put on red alert when we saw the Standard 1 KSSR revision books.

I got in touch with her previous kindie teacher and was lucky she has time slot to tutor Amber on Mandarin to prepare her for Standard 1

The first few weeks went well, she started from basics, mainly words she has learnt before. Then, it got harder with weekly ting xie, reading and writing.
She started complaining to teacher that she's tried and she has 'A LOT' of homework from school and abacus, and no time for Mandarin.

I gathered this from her Mandarin teacher who gives me weekly reviews :

I don't want to learn Mandarin
I know English and Bahasa enough already.
You tell my mother , I don't want to learn already.
Teacher : OK ! I will tell your mother. I will call her
You have her number ?
Teacher : Yes, I have
Never mind, I give you again, this is the number.. you call and tell her I don't want to learn Mandarin already !!

*** teacher zips mouth  - flabbergasted !! ***

Luckily Teacher persevered and held on, not calling me. The following day.. she was happy and dandy, no complains.. she even told teacher.. bye bye teacher !  See you next week !!

One thing I learn - never take her complains seriously !

Amber's 6th Birthday Party

My little girl is 6.

 We celebrated her 6th last month. I have been a very lazy mom, procrastinating a birthday party every year but I took a bold move to hold a birthday party for her. A small little party but nevertheless, still a party. She's been asking for a 'party' and I've been delaying the idea. We celebrate her actual day with the inlaws every year and I couldn't squeeze in time for a party (always the same excuse I gave her) but her birthday falls on a Sunday, I decided to go ahead.

We kept the party small by inviting a few close friends of hers (and mine).  I toggled the idea of clowns, face painting and magician but scrapped off the idea as we had a very small crowd.

   

Her birthday wish was for an inflatable pool and we got her a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Playpool and somehow the idea revolved to a playpool party !

I digged out my recipe book and cooked almost all that I know. We had sheperds pie, spiral tuna pasta, bacon aglio olio, yam cake, curry chicken, vegetarian vermicelli, acar, sausages and pickles. 

 She dished out her birthday pressie from Aunty Annie and Aunty Shireen's online store.  She also wished for a frilly swimsuit with 'skirt'. She didn't like a one piece suit I got her from Cotton On because the boys from her previous kindy laughed at her skimpy swimsuit and made her very shy and shameful so when Annie asked what she'd like, I didn't hesitate la.. that's what good friends are for :D Thank you Annie and Shireen for the lovely swimsuit.
 

Friends came and hubs played some hip hop song - I Wanna Marry You and Move It Like Jagger, amongst others. My house turned into a little party avenue and I hoped everyone had fun. I know the kids did :D








Her birthday cake was egg-free chocolate chip with cream cheese frosting, baked by yours truly :D
She wanted a Ben 10 edible imaging and Minnie Mouse cupcakes for her friends. She's so infatuated over Ben 10 and insists no one else can have the Ben 10 cake except her. Ben 10 belongs to her and only HER... .. ** sigh **   She's only 6 and i-n-f-a-t-u-a-t-i-o-n  already ???

When she blew her birthday candles, I felt very happy for her. Happy that I could make her dream of having a birthday party come true and happy that she could celebrate with her close friends. For a kid, a birthday is a big deal. It's THE day to look forward too and THE day she anticipates for the rest of the 364 days in the year.

The kids jumped to the pool immediately after their food and cakes.  The boys took over the big pool and the girls were outlawed but Barbara came to the rescue with a mini pool. Girl power took over and they hosed the boys down. FUN!!!!!

I'd like to say thank you to her friends who made her day possible. Lastly a thank you to all mommies and daddies too for joining in the fun with your kids.