4-day work week

I took the day off last Friday to attend my grand-aunt's funeral. Her daughter (my aunt) had to fly back all the way from Vancouver, hence the 5-night wake services.

Lazy bones were creeping all over me when I woke up on Monday to drag myself off the bed and prepare for the day. However, I consoled myself that its going to be another short week - Labour Day falls on a Friday - yippee!!! And instantly I felt energized again!

What shall we do on another long weekend? Oh well, feel like taking a drive up to Genting Highlands. Our last time there was probably more than 2.5 yrs ago. I wonder if I can survive the drive there with my brat??

Then again, its HomeDec this weekend, starting on 30 April. So how? Go hunting again for some leads? Aiyoh so sien lar, been there like 4 times for the past 2 years and kinda know what to expect already. Moreover, I think I need a reliable contractor cum woodwork expert more than anything else.

I realise that we tend to spend so much time & money in planning for the kitchen. Wonder why hor? Its like we spend like an 1-2 hrs a day in the kitchen at most but say 8 hrs a night in our bedroom but we never did put in as much thought and effort in our bedroom planning!

Having a long weekend seems like so much time left .. but before we can blink an eye ... we will be back slogging at the office desk!

Lovely Get-Together

I miss my ex-colleagues and my ex-bosses so much. They are such lovely friends and they are kind enough to take turns to hosts a gathering every now and then for all of us to gather & gossip!

One of our ex-boss returned to Malaysia for a holiday and what else! Gathering!!!! There were about 12-14 of us and it was a really nice number for a cosy evening with lovely food and drinks and most of all - great conversations about the good old days.

Thanks KL for hosting this round at your place and personally baking the chicken! We all didnt know you had this hidden talent all these while!!!! Thanks AL & ML for the lovely flied-lice! And RO, the kajang satay - fantastic! And AP, WC & JZ - thanks thanks thanks!

I brought my lil one along lar .. so that they could all see how he has grown and thanks to hubs, he took care of him quite well and I actually managed to have some decent conversation with all of them - phew! Felt so good!

It was a pot-luck party (to be fair to all) and my contribution was ......... tada!

No lah, I did not make them. I ordered them from here. Just as good but cheaper than this one.


But ar . I promise to make this myself someday ok.

Got future?

He looked so "pro" until his dad just stood there speechless and motionless!

It was my brat's first time visiting such places .. and he went crazy over so many choices. The thing with my brat is .. give him too many choices and he will be so distracted by all of them .. sampai he wont know what he wants .. and will be running everywhere to everything.

I really have a hard time "controlling" him everytime we go out. Be it for dinner or grocery shopping (well, that is the only 2 reasons I tag him along!) he will surely either want to run or be carried! I mean, he is 2 and averagely tall for his age, and when you carry him, its like, oh man, so big boy also wanna be carried?????

If I let go of him, he would run. Most of the time, he would swing off your hand and does not want you to hold him. Dont even have to think of this! He will not allow it on him!

If you insist, he would just sit down on the floor and once, he actually just slept on the floor - staring around at all the people walking around him in Mid Valley - he finds it cute!!!! I just let him be! I walked over and asked him (while he was still lying down flat on the floor and people were smiling & looking at us) - Bryan, why are you sleeping here? Why? Nice ar here ... you want bolster? He smiled at me.

I guess boys will be boys?

Proposed Kitchen Design

Do you like this? I love it but white is definitely a no-no for me since I dont intend to have a live-in maid to help me with house chores. However, the clean lines and simplicity does appeal to me.

Any words of advise from any of you on kitchen cabinets before I work out my final design with my contractor? Appreciate it - thanks!

We love you & will miss you.

A special dedication to my one and only grand aunt who just passed away today. She was 99.

A woman of strength and courage, a lady full of passion and compassion, a wonderful mother who loved her child so much although she was thousands of miles away in Canada. A woman who gave her love to others unconditionally and without any expectations.

















Rest in peace, Yee Bor. Dont worry about anything ya. We will all take good care of each other and will forever remember you as almost our own mother & grandmother.

Rainbow Layered Jelly

Here is my simple recipe for a simple jelly dessert.


Ingredients

11gm (one pack) of agar-agar powder
180gm castor sugar
750ml purified water
some food coloring

Method

• Mix sugar and agar-agar powder together in a pot so that when we boil it, the agar-agar powder melts well.
• Add water to the pot and boil under slow fire till sugar melts.
• When melted, turn fire to low and keep it hot so that the agar-agar mixture does not harden.
• Take one cup of the mixture and add in some food coloring.
• Pour into mould and let it cool and slightly harden.
• Then take another cup of mixture and mix with another color of food coloring of your choice.
• Repeat process till all agar-agar mixture has been used up.
• Let it cool and harden completely in the fridge.
• Best enjoyed cold.

To hasten the cooling process, I shoved them into my freezer for 2 mins at each layer! That is me ... so 'tak sabar'!

Now I know why they can sell these at such expensive prices! The costs includes tonnes of PATIENCE!!!!

Fav Perfume

For those who know me, I am one that does not fancy dressing up. I have no make up at all every day and most to most, some face powder to make it not-so-shiny and cover some dark circles under my eye .. hahaha!

But one thing that I love most and use every single day when I get out of the house is perfume. Eau de toilette, vaporisor spray, parfume - you name it - I love it! I remember when I was in Amsterdam couple of years back, I went crazy over their perfume sale at the Schipol Airport. It was like 50 euros for 3 bottles or something like that! Big bottle some more! So I spend 100 euros in 5 minutes! My greatest ever impulse buy!

Temporary Solution to hair-loss

Exactly 6 months after giving birth to my lil one, I experienced hair loss. It must have started off gradually and I thought then that it was "normal" to experience hair loss after childbirth. But I am still having this problem and my son just turned 2!!!!

I used to experience heavy hair loss every single time I washed my hair. They come off in big bunches! Scary! Every single time I brush my hair, sure there will be at least 5-6 strands of hair on my comb, plus another 5-6 strands on the floor. Then when I tie my hair after combing, a few more will drop off. And to untie my hair, a few more will stuck on my hairband. And if I tie & untie my hair say 5 times a day .. I dont even dare do the calculations !!!

My SIL recommended me to use Rene Furterer Hair Tonic from Sasa but Sasa Malaysia does not import them. So I ended up buying A'Kin shampoo & conditioner for sensitive scalp.

I have now used up about half a bottle. I still experience hair dropping while I wash it but far less. When I dry my hair and comb it, there is usually about 2-3 strands of hair on my comb and say 1-2 strands of hair on my hairband. I feel much better now. My hair feels good! It is soft and manageable too probably due to the conditioner.

I paid RM56 for both the shampoo & conditioner after a 31% discount. Normal price is RM40 for each of them. I will continue using it see if can help me solve my hair-loss problem.

If you guys have any sure-works solutions for hair-loss, please do share it with me please ... please ... please.

Bryan's 2nd Birthday

We celebrated the lil fella's birthday last Friday. It was again a family-only affair as I dont see a point in hosting a big birthday celebration since he is too young to understand. Moreover, he does not have any friends of his own yet, right?

Both Mommie & Daddie took the day off to spend some time with him. First thing that morning, we headed off to the Buddhist Maha Vihara Temple for a blessing service.


Then off we went to Aquaria KLCC to let him see some fishes .. but as usual he ran more than anything else! We had to cover the place in 2-3 rounds cos most of the time we had to run after him and did not have a chance to view anything! And since we had to pay a bomb, we had to just view the not-so-impressive fishes. I feel like suggesting to them to have special cheaper prices for us, Malaysians! It's too expensive for what they can offer inside!

By noon, both of us were like dead cows! Sent him back to mom's place for his nap while we went out to collect his cake.



Then it was dinner at Lala Chong .. one of our favourite place for tau fu kang! Its damn good! A bit far .. but once in a blue moon, what the heck!








So glad to be back at home at the end of the day. It was more tiring than going to work! I bless my mom .. who can (no choice, have to) take care of him at least 10 hours a day while we are at work!

Hopefully next year when he turns 3, he will have some friends from his playgroup at his nursery and then perhaps Mommie will hosts a small party for him at our new house then ... yeah!

P/S : Coming to think of it, perhaps I should be the one that needs "blessings" .. oh god! When on earth can I stop the night feeds!!!

The now blog-famous yam kaya

Heard alot about the charcoal bread and yam kaya from the blogsphere and when RT went public with her cravings over them via facebook, I decided to check it out.

A couple of night back, we dropped by MV (again, yeah) to check out some safety gates for our new home. After an unfruitful research trip, I decided to get some yam kaya to try. Our first time. I decided to get a loaf of multi-grain bread and a jar of yam kaya.

I must say the looks of it .. not too good .. but taste is pretty good! Its not too sweet or overpowering with coconut and sugar. And I was surprised that they had chunks of yam in there too!

Tip - if you go there after 8.30pm or so, she might just offer you the buy 1 free 1 promotion - cos those jams are all free from preservatives and can only keep for a week the most in the refrigerator. Pick & choose what you like. Another good deal ya?

I won!

Oh my god ... you know ar .. I am never the kind who wins prizes at all okay. I mean, I never get lucky at lucky draws, never kena number or lottery and never win anything at any contests okay? The only thing I won many years ago was hubby's heart *double wink*.

I was sooooo surprised when I received an email from Lil Twinkle .. saying that I won the lucky draw prize wor ... feels so nice. Althought it was a small gift, but the feeling of participating in such mini-give-aways are so much fun .. all in the spirit of healthy blogging.

The gift was a Toddler Safety Harness Backpack which was perfect to keep my fart in place when we go shopping! For more details, visit here.

It is a bit small for my fart cos its meant for those below the age of 2 but nevetheless, I tried it on him and he didnt not quite like it ... gosh! He actually is pretty much like mommie. We dont like add-ons like scarf, sunglasses, hats, etc. We prefer something simple and comfy like jeans & tee *wink*. Nevertheless, I will try on him again when we go out shopping next.

For more details on Lil Twinkle, check out their online shopping site here. Its a baby & kids online store specialising in mostly boys attires but carries a good range for girls too.

Good deal @ House of Presentation!

Hubs & I had the luxury of a rare Saturday morning brat-free (thanks Mom for taking care of the brat!) so we decided to do some window shopping at Harvey Norman again, this time at Ikano Power Centre. Hubs surveyed for the fridge and his favourite item (LCD TV lor, what else) and we managed to shortlist a few.

While walking out to Ikea (yeah, JT, I know you will be screaming every time I mention the word Ikea!), we passed by House of Presentation.

What caught my eye was the RM99 price tag for a beautiful Le Gourmet stainless steel pot!

I didn't know the real retail price then but RM99 sounds like a good deal for that item. I decided to purchase it as I need EVERYTHING for my new home.





No, no, I dont mean everything in the photo above for RM99 but its a beautiful 20cm stainless steel heavy-bottomed pot! It was shining!

And oh boy .. was it a good deal .. cos last night while shopping at Jusco MV, I saw the same pot and had to quickly run over to check out its price. OMG!!!!!!

Wakakakakakakakakaa!!!.

Lil one goes bed-shopping!

Right after his shopping spree with DVDs, lil one headed straight to check out Harvey Norman. Well, actually mommie & daddie wanted to check our Harvey Norman .. to shop for a replacement water-heater since the one in our room broke down.


As usual, our dear lil fella cant walk. He has to run. Running all over the store until he came across the section where all the cute beddings and bedspreads for kiddos.


He decided to "test-sleep" them .. every single one of them! Climbing up onto one and then down to sleep on the next bed. So naughty of him .. but I allowed him to explore .. since the salesperson also did not bother.

Check out his dirty shoes ... eeee ... luckily the sales person did not notice .. otherwise, no way can lil one be allowed to climb onto the beds!

Naughty fella!
Naughtier mommie!!

What would you have done?

I visited a department store last week looking out for some bargains since I had some cash vouchers with me that will be expiring soon.

I spotted towels at a very good price and decided to purchase 2 pieces. These 2 pieces are of the exact same size and of the same brand but of different quality, hence the price was also different. The first piece I chose was only at RM29.90 and the 2nd piece with a much better quality was at RM59.90. I told my Mom to place it on the counter while I took the brat to the kids section to see if I could find more DVDs for him.

When I returned, the cashier was ready to punch in my purchase. She took the first piece and tried to locate the price tag. The tag was accidentally folded inside the towel by the store assistant who attended to me earlier. The cashier searched and searched and finally found the price tag folded inside the large piece of towel. She scanned it in. Then for the 2nd piece, she assumed that it was the same price and just scanned the first tag again .. meaning it was RM29.90 x 2 and charged me RM59.80 instead of RM89.80

For a brief moment, I rejoiced! Then I asked myself if I should inform her. Then I said, forget it - its not my fault. She was just too lazy to look for the price tag in the 2nd piece! And so yes, I did the evil thing not to inform her! Evil me! Yes! But its still not my fault!

What would you have done?

*scratch head*

Looking out for a pressie for my lil one who turns 2 this week, but so many choices .. dunno how or what to choose!

Visited a wholesaler nearby Jalan Raja Laut (near The Mall) and did some bargaining. Not sure if its a good price but I dont have the luxury to visit shopping malls that often these days.

My visit to Q Jelly .. pretty!!!!

Last weekend, I also decided to check out Q-Jelly, the much talked-about bakery that specialises in jelly cakes. Oh my god! They are just so pretty! Especially those barbie doll cakes .. they all have such a lovely colourful jelly gown!!!!

From their display counter, I saw so many lovely jellies in such beautiful and cute designs. Hubby suggested we buy some to get a taste of their cakes. So we choose a pack of mini-animal themed jelly pieces that comes in both chocolate & strawberry flavours. Hmmm... yummy lah! But not cheap at all lah.

I went through their album to see if there is a Blue's Clues charactered jelly cake which I thought would be perfect for lil one's birthday next week. Unfortunately, they only have the rights to Disney's characters ..what a pity.

I went home thinking about jelly cakes and I was wondering how on earth people can sell such cakes for so much when the ingredients cost so little! I, therefore, tried, doing one on my own that same afternoon! With limited ingredients at home, I embarked on my jelly cake journey ... to some disappointment *sob sob*.

I must say I loved the texture of my own jelly cake attempt. Sweetness was just right and texture and "chewiness" was just right for me.

The only thing not right was it lacked the "vibrant" colors as I was too afraid they would turn out too "bright" and might look artificial if I added too much food coloring. I also did not have any milk or coconut milk to add to the "in-between" layers, so the colored layers looked as if they are all combined into one. And also, I dont have the proper moulds to mould them into cute little art pieces like the ones we bought lar. So many excuses eh?

Nevertheless, I was not demotivated. I vow to learn to make these lovely desserts to something more presentable someday! I promise!

But can someone show me a really good method to keep the remainder of the boiled jelly warm while the individual layering cools down? Should I maintain them over low heat in the pot? Waste gas wor ... Someone told me to place the boiled jelly pot into a larger pot of hot water and when the hot water cools, down replace with more hot water. But practically, I find it more troublesome since I need to boil more hot water every 10 mins or so to refill the pot right? How? How? Any easier fool proof method?

Lil one goes shopping!

For DVDs .. what else! He does not know how to request for sweets or junk food yet but we decided to let lil one go out and pick his own DVD last week when we visited Mid Valley Megamall.

There are loads of choices from the Speedy Video outlet and I decided to let lil one run about all he wanted .. after all ... even if the DVDs fell on the carpeted floor, cannot "pecah" one right? Worse case scenario .. even if the cover breaks apart, I will just pay for it lor .. DVD only mah .. cheaper than many other things my lil one is capable of breaking or even worse, throwing!!!

Lil one was busy touching every disk that looked familiar to him .. namely Barney, Blue's Clues, Preschool, Sesame Street and from his baby-days, Baby Einstein! We decided on more Preschool DVDs as we have noticed that he now loves to mimic what older kids do ... and he can sit still longer while watching all those "ko-ko" and "cheh-cheh" go about doing house chores, homework, coloring, etc etc.

April is here ... finally.

I am glad to have the opportunity to do my first post for the month of April 2009.

Since last year, I have been waiting for this month to arrive. As you may already know, my new house is ready but I am just waiting for the handover. Although it is far from being due, I have high expectations from this developer, whom I know has got excellent reputation and track records for completing homes in very high quality and known for early handovers, hence my expectations for handover this month.

On one hand, it is so exciting to know that you can have your very own home soon. On the other, I know it will have to start with lots of headache and purse-ache before it turns into your dreamhome. For me, dreamhome need not be utmost expensive. As long as it is comfortable to you and the your family, that is a dream home to us.

Everyday, I would log on to the property forum to check on feedback from the other owners to see and discuss on how we can make this place a better and safer home for us. There has been a tremendous increase in crime especially home robbery, car theft and even kidnap cases. Although my new home is in a G&G environment, it will not be an excuse for us to be complacent and assume it is safe. After all, guards are human. CCTVs are made by human. And humans err.

HomeDec will be at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre again come 30 April. It will be my last time there to see if there are any good buys in a non-favourable economic condition ... but having been there for the past 2 HomeDec exhibition, I dont have high expectations. All I can say is do your homework well and you can be rewarded. Dont believe it when they say its a "special exhibition price" cos I know for sure, you can get it cheaper after the exhibition, at least for 70% of the items there. Otherwise, they are just getting rid of old models, if you dont mind.

Now, its time for me to sum up my budget before the ringgit actually starts flowing out.