Pining for Pineapples - The Yan Kee Variety

Pineapple has many health benefits. It contains bromelain enzymes that helps breaks down meat protein, manganese, anti-oxidant and host of vitamins. More information on pineapples available here. I always make sure the family has pineapples when we take a lot of meat especially during barbecues or festive dinners like Christmas or the New Year.

We're all fan of pineapples. Me,hubs and the in laws. We're always on the lookout for nice, sweet and juicy pineapples. I remember the first slice of pineapple I had was horribly sour, cuts my tongue and yet, I finished the whole slice. I was 8yrs old then and I bought a slice of Morris from the school canteen. There's a small bowl of salt with a piece of cut chilly for us to slather salt with and I'd slowly relish the slice of sour and salty pineapple.

Many years later, sweeter and juicier types pineapples appeared were available, namely the Sarawak pineapple and Johor pineapple and later the Josapine (hybrid of Sarawak and Johor pineapple).

We also had the imported Dole pineapples from Philippines, very sweet, juicy, consistently shaped and easy to handle. As more and more pineapples were available in the market, our tastebuds for pineapple upgraded from Josapine to Dole. Dole is the most expensive and can cost around RM6-RM9 per fruit.

MIL gave us one 'Yan Kee Pineapple' recently , very unique coneheaded pineapple. Initially she didn't know what it was called, she just said... funny shaped but very delicious !

I searched and googled and found nothing until I saw some at the OUG market last weekend and the lady told me it's called 'eng kee wong lai' and from Klang.. That too yields nothing from the search engines until I typed Klang pineapple and found out here that it's known as Yan Kee or Selangor Super Sweet Pineapple

The Selangor Super Sweet or YanKee pineapple. I picked up 3 large fruits for RM20. It's seasonal and do pick up one if you chance upon it. It's juicier and sweeter than Dole and less fibrous. I give my thumbs up to Yan Kee !

Coming up - how to peel a pineapple !

Up Genting Highlands Again

School reopens today.

We took a trip to Genting yesterday and renew-ed our Theme park pass. Another year of fun (or not-so-fun) rides. Choosing the last day of school holiday to go up Genting was a good choice. We didn't have to queue that long for the rides and weather was good even though there's short shower spells, it was, well, short and we managed without umbrellas.

The Theme Park was running a Annual Passport Promotion for month of June and we renewed our pass with heavily discounted rates. The pass entitles us to selected unlimited rides in both indoor and outdoor theme park. The indoor rides are more for younger kids and the exciting and nerve wrecking ones are outoors.

Amber was most happy to meet her cousin sister Yuen Wen there. Both of them queued up for rides and freed us from accompanying her all the time *winks*

The Paris deGenting ride is a must have. This was her first ride at Genting and she never gets bored going up and down the 'eiffel tower' in the little vehicle. I think in a year or two, she'll be too tall for this ride. Let her enjoy while she can :)

 Then we went to the outdoor park. There's some balloon parade going on.

 Balloons and clowns that makes the kids go ga-ga !

 

 Up the rodeo rider. Up and down and up and down again. Multiple times ! I ain't complaining as the queue was short and hubs and I took turns for ice-cream break while watching over her.

 This girl in a balloon costume. Looks like an Alien species to me .. lolol...

We went for boat pedalling too. Only 2 person per boat, Amber decided to tag along with me while hubs took another boat. We must be the only family who's constantly bickering and shouting in the waters. Amber's legs were too short to pedal but she insist and I couldn't wait to get us out of the way as there's out boats waiting to get out too and we were blocking.. and there's the hubs who.. was ahead of us, decide to turn back and complain of his faulty boat and BANG to us... tsk tsk tsk. .. 3 of us caused a big commotion and I bet many eyes were staring at us. Turns out hubs boat is not faulty but the steering works the opposition direction. U're supposed to steer left to go right and vice versa. Trust my hubs to complain when no one else did.. LOL.. tiring but FUN !!

The worst ride I went up to was The Spinner. Amber wanted to go up with her cheh cheh cousin but it looks scary and being the protective parents, I roped hubs in. Both of us and the 2 kids buckled up and I was expecting the worst, if Amber cried and screamed for help, she has to endure the whole ordeal before the ride stops but our little friend was very brave and laughing ! I was the chicken hearted one, closed my eyes and prayed my amitabh waiting for the ride to stop. Once down. I reached for my tiger balm. sei mou ? really getting old and my heart cannot take this kinda excitement anymore.... LOL....  

We had early lunch McDonalds. Amber had the fried chicken and fries and she also had a mashed potato for tea.

We left at 8pm, pooped.. skipped dinner with my BIL at the Mushroom Farm as Amber konk-ed out before we could leave the First World Car Park. We ended up having instant noodles at home while Amber slept through till morning.

A fruitful and fun day !

Family Trip to Malacca - 24 April 2011

Backdated post - 24 April 2011.. 

We made a daytrip to Malacca, the Tan family. A very rare occasion to holiday with Father, so, this is an occasion to treasure.

Big Brother was back visiting with his family. This trip, he's a little bit more adventurous, took the kids to Sunway Lagoon and climbed up Batu Caves with his friend. (Shame !!! I've never been to Batu Caves and it's just a short drive from our home. shame ! shame ! A to-do in 2011 for us)

We left KL early Sunday morning, with an empty tummy. First stop was the chicken rice balls at Jalan Tun Sri Lanang. 

Adults congregation :

 Not so adult (yet, not so kiddo) congregation of the cousins :

Next, Jonker's Street. Got a decent car park opposite the to-be opened boutique hotel  - Casa del Rio Melaka. Uhh.... I think the hotel is opened now that my post is 2 months late.

Next stop : Makan again.. Cendol at Donalds and Lily's. I think father had a shock, his children and grandchildren can really eat !!

Walking down Jonker's Street, sightseeing and souvenir shopping. Amber had the best view, this spoilt brat was on Papa's shoulder's.

Hats, umbrellas, sunnies and sunblocks, we were ready to tackle Jonker's Street

 Quaint and interesting places ...

We were ready to tackle St Paul's Hill to check out the ruins of St Paul's Church, Christchurch and A Famosa fort. Father and hubs rested at San Shu Gong. There's no way father's gonna walk up the hill and down. Too strenuos and hot for him. Amber insisted on coming along and I know she cannot complete the whole walking journey of going up the hill to the ruins and coming down at A Famosa fort. Oh well !!!

Lots of energy running up the hill... but her battery went flat short after.. :(

 Statue of St Francis Xavier in front of St Paul's Church. This is a-must for holiday keepsakes.

 

The cousins ..

Her lovely cheh-cheh cousins from Melbourne

 

They left for Krabi and Singapore before flying back to Ozzieland the following week.

Looking forward to have you here again (or better still, if hubs can take a week off, we'll be at your place soon !!!.. )

The Holidays

This has to be the laziest holiday ever. We had nothing planned except watch movies. Last week, we caught Pirates of The Carribean on 3D and couple of days later, Kung Fu Panda. Tickets were hard to get on weekends and we almost wanted to watch Diary of A Wimpy Kid when we couldn't get tickets for the movie we wanted. All we wanted to do was slouch in the cinema seats with pop corn and Coke (and bubble tea for me).

She looks forward to movie nights at home too. We'll switch off the lights and the hall is really dark. She sits on the middle of the sofa and insists hubs and me to sit beside her. She calls it a 'Happy Family Seat', papa on her left and Mama on her right. She'll give us each a couch pillow to hug in case we are cold. :)

We allowed her late nights and she'll sleep through when we send her to the babysitters and continue her naps till almost 10am. After all, it's holidays !!!.  Iron Man 1 & 2 almost every other day.. *sigh* and watched some very silly movie like Splice (go read reviews on the sex scene, you'll know why but we had to ff the scenes 8x with the little one also watching), I ordered a stop halfway through the movie, too many f*** words.

Watched Shaolin last night and Amber's watching Diary Of A Wimpy Kid now.

Never watched so many movies in a week !

Allergy Updates

We had Amber checked for her allergies 2 weeks ago.. and the result is :



:)  :)  :)



I'm all smiles, really. My heart skipped a beat or 2 when Dr Wong tested her for each allergens. I was very nervous as she had very itchy eyes recently. I suspected dust mites and was hoping, praying, pleading, that it wasn't a new allergy or an old allergy cropping up.

Her results :

House Dust Mites  -  10
Eggs        - 0
Dairy       - 0
Yeast      - 0
Latex       - 0
E110 and E103  - 0

Five ZEROS !! Yippee... yippee .. hurray !!! Can't put in words our jubilation, but I tell you, it was like striking lottery over and over again when Dr. tested zero for each of the food items and latex.

Her dust mite allergy came back and Dr. explained that there are some things beyond our control. We can remove all carpets, change our linens diligently, vacuum and mop like a robot BUT... we can't control the weather. The recent hot spells brings about many floating dust mites. We cannot put Amber in a controlled environment 100% of the time. We cannot eliminate but we can, at our best, control her exposure to dust mites at home.  That means more mopping, cleaning and changing bedsheets for me :(

Her food allergy is under control and with god's grace and our persistence, we can start introducing dairy into her diet by February next year. I asked her what food she'd like to have first and she said.. with glistening eyes .. "BUTTER".. I LIKE THE SALTINESS IN BUTTER :D    I dug back this old post and reminded myself how much she likes butter.

We hopped to the kopitiam near the clinic for tea. I quickly ordered lor mai kai for Amber and hubs and I had tea. I was longing for their rotikaya but I kept my thoughts to myself and then the devil name 'hubs' said he wanted some and ordered 2 sets for us. When the rotikaya came (with thick slabs of butter slotted between the toast), Amber lao kai-ed  "Why you all order things I cannot eat ??"   She knew the rotikaya from the coffeeshop is very yummy We swallowed the rotikaya quickly like guilty thieves.

Over all, she's been a darling with the diet. Yesterday at the abacus class, some kids' mom bought pizza and coke for the kids. She didn't kick a fuss , she avoided the little party and just asked for a small cup of Coke. Amber never steals forbidden food and I must giver her credit for her sensibility in dealing with her food allergies.

I really can't wait to see her indulge in butter again.

cobwebs and crap :(

Been off blogging for a while. Been busy as a bee or sick as a dog. One after the other.
First it was me sick, then Amber, then Amber again and then me.  Taking turns, in and out of the medical officers office.

Today is one of the rare days I read papers in the morning. Usually I'll wait till late evening, after all my chores (laundry, ironing, folding clothes, ... what not la) and then something crops up or my eyelids need some toothpicks for support, I'll miss the papers. I'm so ashamed when a friend asked "didn't you read the papers???".

yikes !

I try to catch up with just a few minutes of flipping the papers while having my breakfast now and I found
2 crappy news in the papers today. One's a 71 yr old lady pining for her children she has not seen for 35 years. I really feel for her. Imagine the emotional baggage she has lugged for 35 years.. pining for her 7 children. Wondering how if they are well, thin, tall, married, with kids, etc ?  Wondering if they ever think of her, wondering if they'll ever want to see her again ?
For gawd's sake.. 35 years ??? I'm sure some of her kids would have been married and had kids of their own and would know how it's like pining for your own kid. Why hasn't any of the kids searched for her ? Didn't they ever thought of their mother's pain, leaving 7 kids behind ?  Crap !

Another crappy article ... or joke of the day, shall I call it ? 'Oat zhang' - a healthier alternative. The mere thoughts of having oats in my 'zhang' turns my appetite inside out. Yeah... oat as a healthier alternative but then add on the salted egg yolk, dried shrimps and fatty pork ? Healthy ka ?
Gimme a traditional 'bak zhang' with glutinuos rice, lean pork, beans and chestnut anytime.

Crap !!!!!!

A Day of Sorts !

Happy Mother's Day to all !
I had a very busy day (busy is nothing new nowadays). Hubs asked what I'd like, where I'd like to eat for breakfast, dinner etc. Basically he just wants to make sure I'm happy but whadaya know.. this Mom's Day, we did everything but celebrate. I'm just happy as it is, even though we had a busy peasy weekend, alls well with the 3 of us and Amber came home with a pot of handmade cardboard flowers from the school and hubs did squeeze in the little extra surprise of a card and mug ! I got a mug last year and this, I think soon I'll have a collection of Mother's Day mugs to blog about :D :D... The excitement isn't  about receiving the gift but how father and daughter hides the 'surprise' from me.  Tell Amber a secret and she'll tell the whole wide world it's a secret. SECRET. S-E-C-R-E-T !!!   Few days ago, I came out from the shower and heard father and daughter 'chee chee chum chum' in the study. I peeked in and Amber waved a 'no - no' .. OK.. I know a surprise is in order for me.. and she must be writing me a Mother's Day message..  Then.. the gift.. where's the gift ? In moments like this, best to act dumb and act really dumb dumb, I mean very very DUMB when the girl asks you to guess the present ??? She'll give out very OBVIOUS clues but noooo.. I have to be very dumb, to the point of not knowing my spelling (she gives out clues in alphabets) or even not knowing English ! She'll ask "YOU GUESS MUMMY!! It starts with "M".".. the glee in her face, I laugh just even thinking about it.

Then.. the next secret.. Where is the pressie hidden ? Very easy.. anywhere around house that she tells you 'NOT TO ENTER'  is a BIG giveaway but again, act DUMB and play along. That's the job of a mother. She even blocked the walkway with a big bean bag when I wasn't looking.  LOL !!! Sigh.. I hope she'll make things as exciting for me for many years to come :D

The day came and went with many events. Never had I met so many friend, relatives and schoolmates within 24 hours.

Started with cathing Thor at Mid Valley on Saturday morning. Hubs been wanting to watch Thor. We puchased tickets on the spot, 2 rows from front. I had a stiff neck looking 'up' and slept halfway through the movie. In the evening, we attended Ken and Ember's wedding at Carcosa. Ken was our emcee at our wedding reception 10 years ago and we felt honored to be invited to his very private wedding, a small do, a small crowd of personal friends and relatives. We left Amber's at Sharon's. I didn't think it was appropriate to bring Amber along and when I saw rose petals strewn over the hard wood flooring, I knew I did the right thing. I laughed as hubs and I imagined Amber will be running around picking rose petals and I'd be like a mad woman chasing and shouting at him not to.  The wedding reception was a small do, a very intimate affair, food was awesome and we really enjoyed the evening with the 'gym kakis' - the group of friends from the Flamingo gym where I met hubs.

During the dinner, I received a phone call from second aunt. Aunt #1 was admitted to hospital for mild heart attack and internal bleeding due to long term aspirin dosage. I could only visit her the following day as IJN had restricted visiting hours.

I went home and prepared some mango pudding and cupcakes for my friends who was coming over on Sunday. Although only a small gathering with kids, the agenda was 'cupcake decoration' . I had planned something interesting for the kids to get busy with while we chatted over tea. Amber even planned a prize for the best decorated cupcake.

I checked my mail around midnight and read that my bestie's father had passed away on Friday night. She sent a chat message to me the day before and assumed it had reached me.

On Sunday morning, I informed the rest and plans changed. Tea time at my place was called off and they went for Uncle Roland's wake.

I visited my aunt at IJN, kids weren't allowed and I had to leave Amber at the reception with hubs, when it was hubs turn to visit my aunt, Amber cried (rolling on the floor). I promised Amber we'll try again in the evening when kids are allowed in the ward but but.. I had so many things to do (attend wake, prepare for Monday's presentation, get gift for guest speaker ... etc) and I knew I could not make it back in the evening.

A quick thought and I smuggled Amber up. The guards didn't allow her into the lift up to 3rd floor but they didn't block the stairway. We sneaked up (and I hope no one from IJN is reading this !!). Amber gave Kor-Mah a get well card and I met up with my aunts from the Tan side. We quickly left before the staffs found us out.

Had a quick lunch in McDonalds Cheras. It was 1pm and the McD was packed with the value lunch crowd. Fortunately, I bumped into my father's friend who was almost finishing and he kept his table for me. Hubs also bumped into a family friend from Tampin. Small world.

Went to the wake. I thought I'll be ok but I shed tears. I've known Jo and her family since Form 1. We've been to her father's restaurant - Futo Curry House at Chinatown many times during our school days. Over the years, her father saw us grow up, get married, had kids and he always knew what was going on in our lives. He may not recall our names but we are recognized by where we live. I am the Ampang girl, EeLeen is the Damansara girl and Suit Ling is the Jalan Ipoh girl. :D.  Uncle Roland, in his younger years, reminded me of Sylvester Stallone and he is, larger than life. I last saw him during Chinese New Year and it's very heartbreaking to see him reduced to a 'man in pain', Jo's family had an endearing time, caring for him till his last moments. I shed tears as I bid goodbye even though I know he relieved of pain now and his sufferings are over.

We then went to Ikea to get some stuff for a guest presenter tomorrow. Came home at 8pm and had instant noodles for dinner. Quick, easy and allergy free for Amber. Nothing fancy but 3 of us together, happy and healthy was more than I could ask for until I got a surprise call from my sis. Father fell down yesterday and hit his face on the concrete stairs. His face was quite swollen but has now subsided a bit. I felt very guilty, attending to affairs of relatives and friends and not being home for dinner tonight.

I consoled myself that there's nothing to worry about. Called him and 'warned' that he is to call us for any accidents happening at home, emergency or not.

Life's busy eh ??? All this happening in the span of less than 24 hours.

Amber's 5th Birthday - 22 April 2011

We celebrated her birthday with the inlaws at Madam Kwans, Mid Valley. It's our family ritual to celebrate at Mdm Kwans but no complains since Amber likes the fried chicken very much and it's allergy free - no eggs, no dairy.

It was a school day like usual, she goes to school and amidst our busy day, I reminded hubs not to make any appointment and to pick her up early from the childminders. I did prepare a box of cupcakes for her to celebrate with her friends at childminder's but she did not finish her lunch and the candle blowing-cake sharing episode was called off, she came back with a box of cakes and a sad face :(  but that didn't last for long before we dressed her up in a pink gown, couriered all the way from Perth. Thanks KY, Mike, Lauren, Owen !!!

She looked very regal that evening, in the pink 'wedding like' gown. She didn't want to fasten her seat belt in the car for fearing of 'crumpling' her gown :D

Yuen Wen cheh cheh gave her a big big birthday hug !

 She had her fried whole leg. No rice, just chicken for the birthday princess.

Yuen Wen gave her a beauty set !!! So timely as she asked me to buy her a vanity mirror but I refused (firstly, it's costly, around RM40 and the mirror is made of glass, not safe)

Here's Little Ms Vainpot fishing out each item from her beauty set :

The in laws ordered a durian cheesecake from Secret Recipes with Ben 10 edible image. I seriously think Secret Recipe should restock their edible image. Firstly, there wasn't many choice and the Ben10 image below is not very Ben 10, except for the 'Ben 10' logo but the cake was good. Very creamy and delish and durian pulps tasted fresh too.

Amber couldn't have the cakes but I got some cupcakes for her. She's happy just to have us sing her a birthday song and blowing the candles

To make up for her cake, we treated her to a Gelatissimo sorbet at The Gardens.

 

Lipsmacking goody stuff ! Better than cakes !

Happy 5th Birthday !

The Cousins Are Back

My brother and his family was back from Australia during the Easter break. His 3 girls, 3 wonderful, jolly and happy girls were back to Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore for a 2 week break.

Their trip coincided with Amber's birthday on 22 April 2011.

My nieces - Sharlene, Rosalyn and Natalie.

We did a small pre-bday celebration for Amber as it's such a rare opportunity to have the cousins around at this time of the year.

We had dinner at SKH Riverview  at 6 & 8 Lorong Embun 2, Kuala Ampang, Hulu Klang, Ampang. 

We like their giant tilapia -  'fei chau' fish here, done in various styles - teochew steam, ginger sauce, choy poh or sweet and sour.  We ordered sweet and sour and they fillet the fish before cooking so it's really easy to feed the kids boneless fei chau fillet.

 

 seong tong lala

 pork belly with salted fish

 baby bok choy with garlic

Actually there's a few more nice dishes.. the butter prawns were awesome but I always forget to take pics of food that comes halfway when I'm eating.. typically moi - always forget to take food that comes late !~

I had made some cupcakes meant for her celebration at the childminders but since the cousins were in town, we whacked these cuppies first and I made extra later in the night. She wanted princess cuppies and had requested for her favourites - Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, Belle... the whole long list but I'll always remember the cute look of hers when she described to me how she wants her cake to be like and naming the Disney princess one by one. I found the edible images at BWY (phew!!!) and she helped me bake and decorate the allergy free cuppies.

The birthday princess !!

We asked her to make a wish and she closed her eyes and whispered, mumbled. My brother said the wishes are meant to be a secret and she quickly mumbled to me :

She wants a scooter for her birthday and a yoyo car for her 6th birthday !

That's Amber. If you'd tell her it's a 'secret', she'll want to share immediately :D

Busy Busy Busy

Last few weeks has been hectic.
H-E-C-T-I-C

but life's been good.....

Few friends been asking why I never comment in their blogs or FB or why I never comment at all.
Busy-lah.. that's the typical answer I always give. I don't think anyone would want to hear the whole nine yards on what's been happening and I don't think I can repeat it over and over again, so if I've not been visiting your blogs or FB.. ampun maaf !

I've been blessed with many good friends and the last month, I've caught up with a few of my close schoolmates, pals since primary school.

A good friend from Perth visited us. She hasn't been back for more than 15 years and we caught up like how it was since school. That's the best thing about childhood friends from school, you can miss each other and not be in touch for years and years forth.. but when we meet, it's just like the old days.

Went to Langkawi with the hubs side (again !!!!!). Never get tired of this unassuming island. Lots of interesting place to fine dine and shop. MIL went with us this time and we did the touristy stuff like going to Oriental Village and getting up the cable car.

The brother and family came visiting too. Miss my nieces. Bless them. Came with lots of pressies for Amber and a whole basket load of cheese for hubs and me.

We went Malacca too. The first family trip and hopefully many many more trips to come. Poor ole Father can't walk much and didn't join us to the A' Famosa fort but he was the lucky one who didn't get sunburnt. Amber, my niece and me had to take the beca back to Jonkers Street. An experience we'll never forget.

Then came Amber's birthday. Something happened, very p***** and I'd rather not talk about how anal some people can be BUT bless that girl, she has so many pressies from friends, relatives and friends abroad. Been wanting to throw a birthday party but... next year I'll try again.. I promise.. the birthday party will come.. just .. 'one fine day'.

Something happened at work too. A pleasant surprise for hubs and me and a good opportunity for us and our clients. That kept us very busy.. hubs had up to 4 appointments on good days.

Bestie from London was back for Easter holidays and I only met up with her twice. She's busy. I'm busy. Enough said !

I went to Kuching to visit a dear friend. Went with another dear friend. My 'dear friends' are friends from school whom I've known since Primary 1. Thoroughly enjoyed my stay in meow meow land (as Amber calls it) and we've promised to do this girlie trip more frequent. I mean.. .. how often issit that I can go back to the hotel at 9pm and laze and sleep before midnight ? Or taking only 10 minutes to get ready for breakfast.
I've hinted to hubs I'll be going for more girlie trips  :D  ... you need to see the sad look on his face, can't say 'NO' and he kept telling me the home is very hollow without my nagging.. :D :D :D

Now.. I'm back to blogging and will be filling my future posts with what I've been busy about !

Life is Great  (San Francisco Coffee's tag - our favourite coffee !)