Hari Malaysia and what we did

Am so glad today's a Public Holiday. The city's celebrating Hari Malaysia with Dataran Merdeka and Jalan Raja closed for celebrations and Chinatown, aka "Petaling Street" is abuzz with Mid Autumn celebrations. There'll be cultural performances, photo exhibition and such.

We did none of those. I had my heart set on Isetan Foodmarket's reopening at KLCC concourse floor. Jaclyn already ajak-ed me couple of days ago, she knows I'm a diehard presale kaki (and that's about the only time I find worth shopping, for kids clothes, food, sundries and my personal stuff). Our usual routine is to have breakfast at the Old Racecourse Kopitiam at Level 4 foodcourt. The best breakfast set you can get around KLCC, RM5.90 for a nasi lemak and coffee/tea set.

Was so afraid of missing my breakfast and I had to rush my 2 roommates. One was taking his time doing his stuff, the other was taking my time doing her stuff. I spent a good whole hour cleaning the wound on her knee. She fell in the kindie playground 2 days ago. Her knees scraped and bled. I cleaned and dressed the wound but it fell off and her teacher put on a plaster over her still bleeding knees but she used the cloth plaster, very icky and sticky type. Her graze is a lot bigger than the plaster and I can imagine the pain of having your wound taped with icky sticky plaster and nothing could be worst than tearing off the plaster before infection sets on the wound, not even waxing a hairy leg with melting wax ! 

So, it was an hour of 'crying - please don't touch but please help me- please don't touch but  please help me' from her and threats from me : ' don't take off the plaster - your knee will be scarred - we'll have to take you to clinic - we'll have to take you to HOSPITAL'.. Gawd... the whole episode lasted one hour until hubs had the quick mind of asking me to run cold water down her knee to help the plaster unglue.  She even said 'Papa quite clever hor.. can think about using water to rinse away the plaster glue'..
I hate handling dressings.. aiyer.. very painful to see the little kid in pain but a moms gotta do the dirty job.

Once done.. I shooed both of them with warnings that we gotta leave soon coz I must have my nasi lemak at KLCC or else ........... jeng jeng jeng jeng...

Anyway.. made it in time to meet Jaclyn for breakfast. She was alone, enjoying her 'me' time away from her 4 men !!

We went to Isetan Foodmarket and was shocked by the crowd. Trolleys were taken up and a lot of best buys were also snapped up but we managed to get what we wanted.  I queued for the honey baked ham and Jaclyn queued to pay. It's a bonus having  a friend to shop with. :D :D

I like the Foodmarket for it's service and quality food. For a slight premium, I'm getting my money worth. Some other supermart (for I shan't name), charges premium but does not deliver the service or quality we are paying for.

Amber was a little naughty, she helped herself to samples of Japanese grapes. My eyeballs popped when I saw the price. RM145 for a punnet   :(  but they're darn nice, aitelyu.

Once done, I shooed hubs and her off, I didn't want to stay at KLCC any longer, couldn't stand the crowd. We went home, unload our stuff and went for lunch and then for a haircut for 3 of us.

My helper cooked tau yew bak. Must applaud her for her effort, hubs said ichiban. I was all smiles not only because the tau yew bak was good but ' I trained well ' kinda feeling.

We all watched Ong Bak - a muay thai flick and that was our day today.  A happy day and I feel elated knowing I can sleep in for 2 days more. Tomorrow's only Saturday :D

Sorry for kissing your butt!!

Something really stupid happened today. I had to be out of the house for some reasons and I had no idea where to go. In my mind , I wanted to go for a facial but have no a place in mind. I called hubs to chk tomorrow's schedule, if we were gg Ikano and if we were, then I wouldn't go there today. My mind was hazy and while plugging on my handsfree at a stop junction, I didn't realize my car was not in complete stop, still in D mode.


KRANNNGGG!!!!

I kissed the butt of a black Perodua!!

S*** !!!!! We both got down and the driver was a middle aged lady. I apologized profusely and requested to stop somewhere safe so we don't block traffic behind us.

The lady got down and assessed the damage, minor scratches to her paintwork but my front bumper was dented. She said it's ok but I volunteered to pay and gave her my number.

2 hours later, while I was having my facial done, I received 4 missed calls from her, then came a message: Repair RM120, pls pay o/wise I'd have to make police report.

Kinda pissed me, I sincerely wanted to pay her, she needn't threaten me w a police report. I could have ignored her as I don't think there was grounds to make a police report. She didn't know my name or took any photo. Would the police be bothered w such remeh temeh claims ?

She'd probably think I was scooting off when I didn't pick up her call.

Anyway, I transferred RM120 to her bank ac asap. A cheap price to pay for a reminder to be more alert when driving.

Me, The Medicine Man

Been feeling under the weather lately. Stressed or dunno what.. I can't exactly pinpoint out. Not sleeping well and Amber's nightmares ain't helping either. I engaged a helper and things around the home have to change. Schedule need to be in placed, fridge needs to be stocked up, food labelled and house rules set in place.

I don't embrace change easily. In fact I hate changes especially nail biting ones, like engaging a new helper, changes in Amber's schedule or changes at work. It stressess me out !!!!

I had sleepless nights and the worst was after a few rounds of coffee from a nights out with friends. I stayed up till 3am .. typing out helpers schedule, dos and don'ts and house rules. Having made mistakes with my Cambodian maid before, this time I wanna set things right.

Sleepless nights + stress from re-organizing the household = Anxious Me !

My body was weak, vision blurred, mind blur and part of my face was numb. Hubs was worried about hypertension and quickly got my blood pressure checked from the home bp monitor.

Turns out.. I'm not hyper but have hypotension

and I googled.. classic symptoms of low blood pressure include :

Changes in mental status (difficulty concentrating, confusion) or a sense of "impending doom" or anxiety


...ooopps....

gotta boil some red date water and nourishing soup tonight.

and that is me.. being my own Medicine Man.

Local Avocados

The local avocados are back in season.  I was back to the in laws last weekend and I was in luck. Her friend, with the avocado tree, shared some of her bounty harvest with MIL. No one likes the fruit at home except MIL and me. She gave me a few fruits and I've been gorging on avocados. 

I had a fruit this morning, spread on crackers and with coffee.

 

 Rich and ripe avocado

 I scooped out some flesh

 Smashed it up, add instant coffee, evaporated milk and little sugar

 Avocado Coffee !!! It'll be nicer if I added ice cubes.

I ate the balance with crackers. Yummy !

How to Slice a Pineapple

I shall show you how I handle pineapples here. Not too difficult a task if you have the correct technique and tools.

Mamapumpkin and Barbara, this tutorial is for you.

How I slice away the skin depends on the shape of the pineapple. Today's example is a Yan Kee pineapple, not easy to slice due to it's irregular shape.

 

Here's what I did. Cut of the crown. Keep the stem, handy as a handle especially when managing a big pineapple.

Wash pineapple.

Start from base and slice away, going round the pineapple. This is when the stem comes handy. Turn slice, turn slice. Like this :

And this is what you should get. Don't worry if it breaks halfway. Continue slicing in circulars. I find this method of slicing saves me time and I waste less, ie I don't accidentally slice away much of the flesh

Rinse pineapple with filtered water. Do not rinse after removing the pineapple eyes as you'll remove some of the sweetness and it clogs the fruit with water. If you want a clean and neat looking pineapple, rinse before removing the eyes. The pineapple eyes will run from lower right to upper left or lower left to upper right, depends on how you see it but the direction you slice towards is important. Look at the pineapple below. Look for the direction that gives you a longer strand of pineapple eyes.

Next step - the tricky part, to remove the eyes. Where to slice first ? I always start from bottom, the stem and you need to check the direction of the eyes.

 For this pineapple in sample, you should start from lower right to upper left. Remove the eyes with only one direction of the knife. Do not go zig zag. Too much zig-zag will damage the fiber walls and your pineapple will be juicing (a lot of juice dripping). Use a very sharp knife. The sharpest you can handle. 

 Slice and remove 2-3 eyes. then move to the next line and start slicing and go back to the first line and slice away . Keep this direction. You can also slice one whole line from bottom to top and then slice another line but I'd rather not turn the pineapple so many times. Less handling is better. Less juicing and neater cuts.

 

Tadaaa.... . total time : 7 minutes.

 Slice away the handle and slice to half and then quarters. Some pineapples like Sarawak and Dole presents better in  horizontal slices but the Yan Kee is tall and long and irregular shaped (large bottom, narrow top) looks better sliced vertically.

 

Use a very good knife. Not necessary big as long as it's sharp and thin blade knives are preferred. I used a Victorinox paring knife here. The serrated blades are excellent for slicing the tough fibrous skins.

I enjoy slicing my pineapples. I find it therapeutic and I always strive to slice it as neat looking as possible.

How do you slice yours ?

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.

Goodies Galore !

My childhood friend from school was back to Malaysia. Her family migrated to Perth when she was in Form Two and it's remarkable that we still do keep in touch today, especially so in the recent years with the help of internet and emails, keeping in touch is only a click away. 

Sometimes I catch her online at night.. and we had a good laugh when realise both of us were whiling away leisurely on the internet coz we're waiting for our laundry to be done. Hilarious !

She brought back many goodies for me. Stuff I can't get here :

Cookie cutters :

  Shape of elephant, hippo and rhino

 

Biscuit cookie cutter with center designs.. great for jam filled cookies

Angel 3D cookie cutter 

Snowflakes

 

 Christmas themed cookie cutter

premium tomato and passiofruit preserves

and an allergy free baking book for Amber :)

Thank you very much Ka Yean. Lovely having you and yours here and soon, hopefully, me and mine will go visit Perth !

Back On Track

I hopped on  the cross trainer this morning, after a long hiatus.. with various reasons of course. I stopped working out when I fell sick last year.. it was high fever or something.. I couldn't even remember what but just a mere and lame reason to stop exercise. Then came Christmas and the fruitcake frenzy. Then came the birthday, new year and CNY.

Can't think of any good reason to skip the cross trainer now and after hearing of one heart attack after another during the new year period it scares me. Over the past 3 years, we've heard of so many sudden heart attacks . . of relatives, friends, clients and politicians included. All boils down to lifestyle and diet :S

During sometime mid of last year, I started exercising diligently and ate consciously. I lost 4kg before I fell into the "anythings-a good reason-not to exercise"  trap. I've gained some weight but I'm determined not to tip the previous high.

Hubs gave words of encouragement. He said as long as I don't hit a higher high and always look towards a lower low, it's an achievement. He said :

"your weight management should be just like a bear market"

:D :D :D :D :D

wishing you a Happy Monday and a Happy Week :D

Updates

Been yonks since this blog was up-to-date. Any matters to blog about then,  is no longer blogworthy anymore now. Busy, busy, busy, just plain busy-ness.

Few things to note before :

Amber started Yr5 of preschool. Not sure if it's K1 or K2 and what's the difference anyway? I'm so blur with it all and this blur mama here got all her dates mixed up. I thought school starts on Wed but found out last minute that it's Monday and not Wed and was rushing to get her uniform ready.. yaddaaa.. yaddaaaa .. yada. !
Then, school hours were short.. till 10.30am only not 12noon as I thought. I didn't know until the third day. Thankfully, the transporter is reliable, good for blur mamas like me.

Her schedule starts earlier and she has to wake up at 7am sharp. Feed her probiotics and wait for another 30 minutes before she takes milk. Will update on her allergy later.. no good news :( .... BUT.. we are hopeful :)
She watches a lot more tv now, I must say, I am glad !  She's never keen on tv before and now that she can watch a whole cartoon show, I can work in peace.

She has to be up and changed to her uniform by 7.30am and the motivation ??? Angelina Ballerina!!!! She absolutely loves the dancing and prancing rats :) She insists they are rabbits and not rats, I stopped arguing with her that bunnies do not have long tails like rats but as long as she's happy to be up early, Angelina Ballerina is my saviour, rats or not, I don't care.

She's completed Abacus Book 2 , subtractions and addition of double digits. We are considering to stop her abacus class and enrol her to dancing or music. Abacus is good but the homework is killing. Killing us and her too. Max 240 sums per week. Very taxing for me, not to mention 5 yr olds. On top of that, she comes home with homework form her kindy too. Bad news ! Homework almost every other day. I thought kindy and abacus is too much work for her. Every evening the poor girl is greeted by "Have you finished your homework ? How many pages of maths have you done ? Why didn't you finish ? etc etc.. instead of relaxing and goofing around with her. Why would kindy have homework ? Why ? why ?   I don't  remember homework during my preschool days... err.. I don't even remember doing homework when I was in Primary school !!!

We'll see how she fare in her next abacus exam. She likes the class but absolutely hates the homework.

At home, it's been exactly a year since Sopheak, my ex Cambo helper left us. We still think of her occasionally. I wonder if we are in her thoughts as well. hmmm.. most likely not. hahaha...
We don't intend to get another maid anytime soon. Despite the house being a lot little more messy than usual and always loads or laundry unironed, I'm still alive and kicking !  Mei sei tak !!

CNY is around the corner. I'm cutting down on my baking after grating my own thumb nail off yesterday while grating pineapples. Ouch ! No nice Konad nails for new year ! :(
Had a good lashing from hubs, no more pineapple tarts but this is one cookie I heart so much. No other tarts live up to mine.. (cheh .. perasan betul !!). I spent the whole of Thursday baking peanut cookies, I smell like peanut butter and I dreamt of burnt peanut cookies in the oven. LOL ! I think enough is enough.. I don't know what got of me.. all 5kg of peanuts hopped from my wok to the miller and in and out of my oven. I'm so done with peanuts !

9th Anniversary

Today marks our 9th wedding anniversary. 

16th December 2001 - hubs and I tied the knot. 9 years has passed with a blink of an eye. Time passes by fast when you are having fun right ?  :) :)

We should be celebrating our union but after 9 years together and many many nights of baking fruitcakes, all I want is some quiet time together and a good rest.

The first few wedding anniversaries were celebrated with much anticipation, having a nice dinner somewhere.. notably Ma Maison, Federal's Revolving, Chalet and Chalet Suisse with us 'cling' - ing our glass.

 

Then came the little one, the joy of our lives, the purpose of many things we do. The dim lighted dinners slowly faded away. We felt guilty leaving her behind and any celebrations  is always a threesome affair.

Last weekend, we were back to the place where we held our union for another occasion. Amber knows we celebrated our wedding there and hubs took her for a long walk up the stairway. Feels so nostalgic, he says..  9 years ago, walking up with me and now, holding her little hands up the stairway..

Happy Anniversary and any day is just as special as long as 3 of us are together, safe, healthy and happy : )

of... football.

and.. that has gotten into me ! Me.. not a sports fan and certainly not football fan. And when I watch a match.. I have to ask.. Joanne. another 'wife of football fan' .. eh.. which team, goalpost where ah ? hushhh.. I ask quietly lar....

I don't understand the rules.. offline.. or what not.. but I do understand the basics. .. feet and head can touch ball.. hands.. NO-NO.

.. don't bother asking about football rules during the match.. or be deemed as 'so stoooopid'

We watched Holland trashing Brazil on Friday night at mamaks. Wuah... it was so tense.. I can see so majority Brazil supporters and only a few Holland supporters seated upfront, near the screen. With every goal Brazil scored, those fella at the back, trashed.. threw chairs and cursed..

... and then, we also bump into a friend or two who came to the mamaks alone. Obviously, the wifey's are not football fansee..

... and we ordered paper tosai, roti tisu, chapati, tandoori and teh... lotsa lotsa teh..

and then.. we see Brazil drifting away in the gane. Very sad and unexpected.

Then Sat came.. another big match. Germany vs Argentina. I planned a nice dinner of 'lap mei fan' and 'har cheong kai' and walnut cheesecake.. timed perfectly, dinner at 8.30pm, desert at 9.30pm, wash up and ready and comfy by 10pm.

I wanted Argentina to win. Not because I'm a fan but I felt the goal that Lampard lost last Sunday was really injustice to England. So what if they sack the referee ? What's done cannot be undone.

Then one by one.. German scored.. I loved their footworks..both Argentina and Germany, so fast, furious and tactical. .. and watching German score and goal after another.. again unbelievable !

.. and shouting GOOAALLL ! at home so isn't like shouting at Mamaks.. every shot at goal.. every attempt, the whole place vibrates.. teh tarik glass shaking..

.. Sat's match was full of energy.. and so... now Argentina lost.. all hubs favourite team are out..

.. and my father told me he also watched the German Argentina match.. alone..
.. and I was surprised... with his failing eyesight , he'll stay up till midnight to watch the match.
.. and I asked him.. eh you know the rules ka ?

you know what ?

.. of course he knows. He plays football and was a 'Midfielder'

.. aah.. my father, the footballer.. I really didn't know that.. *shame*

Now,

.. and the semi's are all at 2.30am
.. and finals at 2.3am too (I think)..

no more WorldCup for me, I think.. watching a replay is ever so different.

Surface Parcels

Recently I sent a box of goodies to my childhood friend in Perth. She's not been back to M'sia for what umpteenth years ? 18? or maybe 20? It all started with the pineapple tarts I made during the new year. I thought she could make some for herself since it's pretty easy to get pineapples in Australia, even the canned ones will do and butter is available. So, pineapple, butter, sugar and egg wash, that's just the very basic ingredients of pineapple tarts.

The only lacking item is the mould or dough pumps and it's so cheap over here. I'd send her some, I said.. and I thought why not add some Malaysian flavours to the parcel. A few packs of bak kut teh spices, local coffee and lots of instant curry paste. I even stashed some msg-free Knorr chicken cube stocks in the box. She's a busy FTWM so easy food is good !




Pack it up in a shoe box and cling wrap for protection against moisture.

Wrap again in brown paper, double layered.

and surface mail it. Estimated ETA around 1-3 months.. doesn't matter, the foodstuff has long expiry date. I was joking to her to have a Curry Christmas and the parcel will arrive just in time then.

Guess how much does the 3.08kg parcel cost ?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

RM36.80.

Cheap ? VERY !

Digital Photos

Today, I dragged my feet to get our photos developed. I have thousands of photos in my folder and am just too lazy to get them developed, and don't even talk about filing those photos to albums.. gosh !

I had to get a family photo up for MIL's bday card and that's a good excuse for me to look through my folders again and develop some photos worth keeping a hard copy.

I was very pleased with the finished product. I looked at the selected photos and see how my little Amber has grown and progressed in the past 6 months, from her first day at school, CNY, writing ABC and eating on her own.

I really should be more diligent. Digital photography is spoiling us rotten !

Harassed by Ah Long & Bad Tenants

I've been having a string of bad tenants lately. First was a Malay lady who promised heaven and earth (actually she only promised to pay monthly rental promptly, keep telling me "mou man tai") but when the tenancy came into force, trouble started on the second month. I have to read her incessant apologetic email, listen to her grouses, her husbands business issues, school reopening, Hari Raya, Hari Raya Haji and relative sick, passed away, and a WHOLE LONG LIST of excuses for not paying rental on time. She was always 2 months back and always manage to cook up some story when rental is due and I must give her credit for ingenuity. I always believed her and many times also shout at her "I don't want to listen to your story, I have to pay bank instalments and do you think the bank will listen to me ?".

Then came CNY, I thought, wuah... my turn to come up with a reason for needing money and wanting my rental in on time or even 1 month delay is fine. Before I can brew up my reasons, she disappeared ! Oh gawd !!!!!!!!!!

Then, another tenant came, 2 Chinese guys from Yong Peng, Johor. They seemed to need the place quite urgently and only for a year. I agreed and they seemed like hardworking and nice people. They only stay on weekdays and weekends, they'll go back to their family in Johor.

They smoke, but was very courteous and friendly when I met with them. I also saw a huge 52 inch tv on my living room, which was purportedly for drawings. These 2 guys are 'interior designers' on a project in KL, lasting for a year. They didn't request much, just a basic apartment and air cond. In fact, they a/c up the whole unit. Now, I have 4 ac units in a 3 bedroom condo.

Their first month rental was due on April 7. I waited till April 17 to call them. Give them a chance, I thought and in meantime, checking my Maybank account periodically, hoping to see my rental in. I could not get them on their mobiles, the calls went to the voicemail. I tried for couple of weeks and asked the agent to check on my unit. The place looked fine, a/c unit still around.

I assumed they could be overseas.. and kept calling few days later.
Then I panicked a bit, maybe he was involved in an accident ? Could he be dead ? How could I check ? Heck ! I could not do anything when I all have is his copy of IC with address at Yong Peng. It was too early to apply for court order, he has defaulted only for a month.

Then one evening, my agent checked the place and saw many copies of IC of 'Er Chan Loong' pasted on my condo grills and walls with $$ and $$ drawn on the walls.

Work of an Ah Long !!! The ruthless moneylenders came knocking on my condo..

So, what should I do ? I checked with a lawyer and he advised me to make police report.

We went to Balai Polis, waited for couple of hours to lodge our report and waited again to see the Sargeant. His advise to us was to get a Court Order instead. Police has not right to barge in the apartment. He can accompany us to break in with a Court Order.

And to the Mahkamah, we went, the following day. Oh I so hate the tenant ! Cursing him to choke on every grain of rice he eats ! Wasting so much time and don't know what that fella is up to or where he has gone !

Waited at Mahkamah for our turn and somebody attended to us. He said :
- we can't apply for Court Order (Perintah Mahkamah) on our own
- we have to get the application in by a lawyer
- Application has to be heard by a judge before a Perintah Mahkamah is released
- and this will take time, perhaps a few weeks ???

**SHIT**

Then he kindly told us what to do, before applying for a Court Order :

- get a locksmith to break in to the place
- get a witness, preferbly the property manager to witness
- if there's nothing valuable in the apartment, ie clothing and such,throw it away and deem the tenant as left the property without notice
- if there's valuable items in the property, lock up the place properly and apply for Court Order.
- take photos.

My guts tells me there's nothing much left in the unit but I was secretly hoping he left the 52 ince tv behind though... LOL !!!

And so, we had to get a locksmith and property manager to the unit. I was really frustrated, having to spend my whole day attending to this matter. Luckily hubs was with me, he speaks excellent Bahasa and represented me to talk to the Mahkamah people.

The unit :

My agent threw away the copies of IC pasted on the unit but there's one more left on the floor.



Er Chan Loong !!! Darn ! You registered your IC with my condo address and absconded !

Jimmy! Jimmy ! It ain't nice to graffiti on walls you know! Didn't your mom tell you that ????

Blardy nuisance. Lock up the place with an Italian lock, a very difficult and expensive lock to pick !

The locksmith's gadgets. The darn lock was too hard to break and he had to cut the grills to break in.

The unit. 'Kering kontang'. Darn him, I was hoping he left tv behind but apparently he already planned this and took off with everything. Left nothing except garbage and leftover food. A loaf of Gardenia bread in the kitchen was dated 2 April 2010 and the newspapers was dated 31 March 2010.

We concluded he left the place sometime around 31 March and with all the lights switched ON !

He left me 2 souvenirs of electric bill on RM400 and water bill of RM200

Darn him ! Can't he be nice and not lock up the place when he leaves instead.

My run with bad tenants.. I hope this will be the LAST.

Another Mother's Day Gift

Last night, she brought back another Mother's Day gift for me. A belated gift from her school coz she was absent the whole week due to stomach flu.


Mama, I have present for you in my bag, smell very nice wan...


I suppose the teacher wrote the card instead coz she was absent from class and the Mother's Day activity was over already.



A scented sachet attached to the 'card'. She was more excited than me, kept asking me to smell. I asked her to place on the bedhead so both of us can share the smell..

Thank you Amber !

Happy Mother's Day

I read many moms blogging about what Motherhood means to them in lilhyppo's blog. Congratulations to mNhL and Barb who won the contest.

Every Mother's Day, I miss my own mom. Recalling all her sacrifices to bring her 5 children up with very little means, putting our interest forward, before her own health and self.
She passed away in 1995 and I saw her breathe her last breath and my biggest regret is not being able to tell her 'I Love You, Mom'. I did not even hold her when she collapsed as I was too shocked then. She passed away from an asthma attack that never made it to the ICU in time.

Mother was always there to greet me when I go home. The house smells of 'home' with her presence. She was always around to hear me out, my work problems, personal issues and every other thing.

I missed her most when I became a mother. I knew the sacrifices she had to go through, to make sure there's food on the table, there's boiled water to drink, clean clothes to wear and every single mechanical thing that makes a household running in orderly manner. Mind you, things has been taken for granted, has to be in place even when we mothers are ill. Now, I know ! Many times, I cried for my mom when I was in pain, ill and sick and had to drag my own 2 feet to get a glass of water to drink and cook my own food.

Motherhood means.... understanding, accepting and be honoured to be able to sacrifice as a Mother.

Amber doesn't know much about Mother's Day. To her, it's a celebration and she wants to cut a cake to 'celebrate' with me. I think it's the excitement of blowing the candles off a cake that she looks forward to.

The surprised that was supposed to be... but Amber's little big mouth blurt it all out 2 days before Mothers Day and I had to pretend not to know and act surprised...

She chose the card and mug.


I achieve the highest standard in home management, laundry service and as a Chef ... LOL ! Should I celebrate ????

This is a musical giggling card... chosen by Amber coz the music was 'cute'

Amber wrote the card, with a little help from hubs on the spelling. Hubs also helped her with the tiny thumbprints and wrote the 'kiri' and 'kanan'.. I had a good laugh...

Thank you hubs and Amber !

Motherhood means a lot more knowing I'm appreciated. I've still a long way to go in the Motherhood journey to ensure she grows up to be a morally responsible and filial daughter.

Rainbow on Ching Ming Prayer Day

Last Sunday, my family did our Ching Ming prayer. Left for the cemetary at 6.30am, smooth traffic, nice drive, watching the sunrise and got ourselves a nice parking.

I made cupcakes and folded some 'kam ngan' for mother & brother. Not that they will be receiving these items in the afterworld but ching ming to me is to remember our loved ones who were part of our lives. Though they have departed, they are still remembered. Ching Ming is also a reminder for us to cherish our other family members who are still alive now.

A beautiful and cooling morning for us and I captured a double rainbow on my hp..



So, how was your ching ming prayers ? Was it elaborate or just a simple family affair ?

Accidents and Deaths

Been feeling a bit uneasy this couple of days. Must get it off my chest.

Sightings of accidents really bothers me, especially when I see the victim covered in white or black plastic. The scenes keeps flashing in my mind over and over again and I still do remember sighting an accident that happened 3 years ago, a motorcyclist and a lorry.

Last Saturday, we left home and was greeted by a very bad jam along MRR2. Very unusual, hubs said, must be an accident. True enough, just about 100 meters from our where we exit to MRR2. Very ugly scene. We saw a Proton Waja very badly damaged and a Proton Iswara bad smashed across the other side of the road, we guess it came from the same direction as us. Then I saw a body lying on the road, covered with white plastic sheets.

I said my amitabha prayers and we proceeded with our journey.. Hubs was not feeling well and we had to pick up my parents, go for dinner and then send sis to the airport. I was driving and it was a looong journey to the airport (using Garmin, will tell in another post). while I was behind the wheels.. Amber was seated back, chatting with BIL and I kept getting flashbacks of the accident scene.. thinking of the victims family and what nots. I reminded myself to drive really careful, to look front, side and back all the time. My family, parents and sis was in my car.

Then the next day, I read about the accident in the papers. The car was going along MRR2 from same direction as us, at very fast speed hit the curb, flung to the other side and hit an oncoming Waja (innocent fella). The driver, a young lady was flung out from the car and died on the spot. Her other passangers in the car suffered serious injuries.

I reminded myself to drive very carefully and look out, front, back and sides whenever I pass the accident scene.

Then, this morning,on the way to work, I read about a man who survived a car crash in Pahang only to climb out of the car and fall into a ravine below. Another very freak accident which left me puzzling on how fragile life can be. I was quiet about it and did not share with hubs.

Then in the office, hubs told me the man who fell into a ravine was our colleagues' brother and she's really devastated over the sudden loss of her brother and in such circumstances.

Life is fragile, appreciate it.

C2 Green Tea Drink

Last Monday night, the rep from C2 called me to collect 3 cartons of C2 Green Tea drink. I welcome this drink with open arms as it came very timely for me. I had a full day of baking, baking and more bakings (yes, I did say I 'sau tong' but last minute orders came in) and I wanted to gulp down a refreshing drink to chill out more than anything else.


C2 came in 3 flavours.. Lemon, Green Tea and Forest Fruits. Available at 7-11, Mydin, Giant and Jusco, C2 Cool and Clean Refreshing Green Tea Drink is now set to take over Malaysia by storm.

We used to gulp down cartons of soft drinks for Chinese New Year but not anymore, now we opt for a more refreshing and healthier option. C2 is a good choice, thirst quenching and taste good too. Packed with cathechin, a powerful water soluble antioxidant found mainly in unfermented green tea leaves, C2 is brewed and packaged fresh on the same day, therefore retaining all it's antioxidant goodness. Green tea is known to reduce the risk of four of the major health problems such as Stroke, Heart failure, Cancer and Diabetes and those who has Rheumatiod Arthritis, Cholesterol, Infection, Impaired Immune Function ought to give this beverage a shot and it's also good for detoxyfing too.





Drink chilled, preferbly on the rocks (my choice), it's a welcoming new drink for the New Year to neutralize the copious amount of unhealthy food and cookies we consume during the festive season.

I'm not the only one crazy over this beverage. Amber beat me to it and she gulped down the whole bottle of Apple Flavour yesterday. Mmmm. chen hao wei... if Amber likes it, then it must be good, my fussy eater is very picky over her choice of food and beverage. This beats any other sugar packed zero nutrition soft drinks.




Hurry, go grab a carton to share with your friends and relatives over the festive season.