Family outings – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

2 May 2022 ¬ Random Updates

Alycia is back in Ipoh to visit her grandparents. She followed her grandma’s (mil) friend who’s driving back to Ipoh and there’s one more seat in her car for Alycia to tag along. It’s been more than two years since Alycia went back to Ipoh and has not seen my parents for this long. This is the perfect time for her to go back to Ipoh coz she will not have any break until August this year when she completes her Foundation program. After a short break, she will commence her first year in uni.

The journey from KL to Ipoh took them almost 7 hours, using the old trunk road (as directed by Waze). The traffic on the highway was a bumper-to-bumper crawl. She met up with her course mates who are from Ipoh who took her for dinner. The traffic in Ipoh has been insane because of the Hari Raya holidays with much relaxed Covid SOPs. It’s crowded everywhere and the roads are jam-packed with cars. By the time Alycia finished dinner, she reached my parents at close to midnight.

We had lunch at The Butcher’s Table @ SS2 PJ before we sent off Alycia and the mil at her friend’s house.

Crackling siew yoke (roast pork) with salad.

Wild mushroom soup with warm sourdough toast.

House-made sausage. The sausage cost Rm10.50 each. Very costly but very yummy!

Sirloin steak with mashed potato and green peas.

After we dropped off Alycia and mil, we went to Barista Guild Asia for coffee and cakes, just Cass, hubs and I.

Sherilyn was at work at the cafe and couldn’t join us for lunch. She only works once a week, usually on Saturdays but she couldn’t work this Saturday because of a dance competition, thus replaced it with a Sunday instead.

As Sherilyn couldn’t work at the cafe on Saturday and weekends are the busiest at the cafe, Alycia covered for her. It was Alycia’s first day at work at the cafe yesterday and she very much prefers working at this cafe than at an international pre-school as a temporary teacher after her SPM last year. She totally didn’t like the job.

No. of times viewed = 38

Winter Solstice & Eve of Christmas Eve 2019 (21 & 22 December 2019)

My big brother Raymond from Singapore always tries to make a trip back to either Ipoh or KL to celebrate his birthday with our family. His birthday falls on 22 December, which is Winter Solstice festival. This year the celebration was held in KL. Despite an unfortunate car accident that happened on his way to KL from Singapore on the eve of his birthday, we managed to have a happy celebration on 22 December. Praise God for keeping my brother’s family safe. His car has to be towed back to Singapore for repair and they flew back to Singapore today.

Dinner on 22 December was held at Greenview Restaurant @ PJ. It’s a joint birthday celebration. My niece Raelyne’s birthday is a day before my brother’s on 21 December but due to the unfortunate accident, they had to spend the entire night at the hospital. The celebration dinner was supposed to be held on 21 December but had to be postponed to the next day.

The cousins:

Everyone simply adores baby Rayzen, who’s really chatty, sociable and super duper adorable. His cuteness can melt even the coldest of hearts.

Sang Har Mein, signature dish at Greenview with jumbo size fresh prawns and fried noodles drenched in egg sauce.

We requested the staff to help us crack the shells of the crabs for ease of eating. Disposable gloves are provided too, thus it’s quite a breeze to indulge in these jumbo size crabs. We also requested for an extra bowl of sweet and sour sauce for dipping with the crispy fried mantou buns.

The twinnies are such a joy to be with. They’re now 2 years old and at the stage of learning to talk and it’s hilarious to hear them baby talk.

Raelyne had a sleepover at our house. Cass took really good care of her, to the point of mothering her: coaxing her to eat, drink water, dried her hair after shower and even cut fruits for her. I’m amazed at how matured Cass can be and how she’s replicating everything that I do for her for her cousin. Their age gap is 3.4 years apart.

We spent half our day at Sunway Pyramid the next day. After lunch at Din Tai Fung, the four cousins went ice-skating while I went shopping!

Our table at Din Tai Fun overlooks the Sunway Lagoon Water Park:

Damage for our lunch at Din Tai Fung for 14 pax (including the twin toddlers) came up to RM600++!

After ice-skating, hubs treated everyone to Häagen-Dazs ice-cream. As you can see from the pix below, the kids were famished and couldn’t wait to dig into the ice-cream. I had to stop the kids from attacking the ice-cream platter before quickly snapping a few photos.😂

While we were seated at the bench waiting for our table to be ready at Din Tai Fung, I found an abandoned shopping bag. When no one seemed to claim the bag after it was there for half an hour, I opened the bag and found an iPhone 11 box. Inside the box were an iPhone, ear phones and phone charger. Check out the price! The owner must be a rich, slap happy young girl who could carelessly afford to leave her RM3k+ phone behind and left without coming back to look for it! I even left our mobile phone numbers to the restaurant captain so that the new iPhone owner could call us but no one called. Had I been greedy and heartless, I could have taken the phone (since I’m planning to get a new mobile phone), but I believe that karma is a bitch and she’ll come back to get me one day.

I asked the captain of the restaurant to check with the customers if anyone had left a new phone behind but no one claimed it. After lunch, hubs brought the phone back to the phone shop and hopefully the sales person who sold the person the phone would be kind enough to give her a call.

I’d like to wish all my readers a very merry Christmas and happy new year! 🎅

No. of times viewed = 37

Helloooo!

Hey everyone, HFM is back! Sorry for the lack of updates. I haven’t been out of town but have been hibernating at home, dishing out not dishes but close to 40 articles for my online boss. That’s an average of between six to eight articles a day. This marathon of assignments reminds me of the good old days of 2007 – 2009 when I had to write up to 20 articles in a day. I remember holding a newborn baby C with my left hand whilst she suckled to her heart’s content and with only the fingers on my right hand, tapped the keys on the keyboard to finish 20 articles in one afternoon before the job offered expired! That’s how hard my job was and still is. My brain is often squeezed to the last drop of creative juice whenever I have to write over 20 posts on the same product, over and over again in a different style and flavor. But I have no complaints. It’s a blessing to still be able to earn some pocket money from what I love to do most.

Last night, we tasted the most expensive pizza in KL at Pizzeria Dihyang @ Yap Ah Shak Road! But we were a tad disappointed with everything from where we were seated to the pizzas. And the bill came to a whopping RM276.10 for only 2 medium sized pizzas, 2 glasses of Draught beer and 1 plate of salad!

Insalata Caprese salad with buffalo mozzarella cheese, flown in from Italy.

Salsicce Friarielli pizza – toppings of watercress and sausage and cheese flown in from Italy.

Verace Margherita pizza.

As we did not make any reservation, we had to be seated outside the restaurant. It was pretty uncomfortable in the current heat wave but our consolation was we could dine under the moonlight, though it was still very dim.

The damage! And we were not even satisfied with the quality and taste of the pizzas, albeit we’ve read rave reviews on how good these sticker shock pizzas each costs – a choking RM88 and RM86 respectively.

We were however consoled by the fact that the ingredients were flown in from Italy – the ingredients are either – DOP-certified San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella DOP, and Parmigiano-Reggiano DOP. The long-fermented pizza dough that comprises a high-protein wheat flour mix are meant to fulfill regulations set by Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana.

As everyone was still hungry after our pizza dinner which was akin to our appetizer, hubs brought us for Japanese for supper and by the time we finished eating, it was already close to 11 p.m.!

We also had Chawan Mushi and Udon and dessert of Inside Scoop ice-creams but I was too drowsy and sleepy to snap the photos as it was already way past my bedtime! 😬

No. of times viewed = 39

Excursion at Sunway Lost World Of Tambun ~ 23 December 2018

The dreaded day came. This ‘Puteri Lilin’ wasn’t really looking forward to bringing the kids to outdoor theme parks in our hot Malaysia weather. Hell no! It’s a totally different experience spending a whole day at Disney Land or Ocean Park in winter vs. a whole day under 38C scorching sun in Malaysia. But it’s the school holidays and I can’t be a party pooper. And we had promised the girls that we would bring them to the Lost World of Tambun. So we got up early on our Sunday morning in Ipoh, had a quick breakfast and packed our 3 girls along with my niece into the MPV and off we went to Sunway Lost World of Tambun.

But on a Sunday during the school holidays on the eve of Christmas eve? We’re in for trouble! We waited for almost an hour just to get the tickets! The crowd was just CRAZY! And it was hot! Double whammy for the ‘Puteri Lilin’!

The hubs got us the X-press ticket on top of the regular ticket to enjoy shorter queue and free access into the Haunted Chambers and Adventure Park’s Zipline.

For X-press tickets, there were staff to help us wear the wrist tags!

As you can see from the photos, it was really scorching HOT on that day. The 2 older girls went gallivanting together and went on every ride at the theme park. Hubs, my niece, Cass and I went on the Viking boat ride only, which wasn’t really that terrorizing as the one that hubs and I went on at The Mall’s indoor theme park yonks ago. Nonetheless, I got a tad woozy after the ride. I can never get on a roller coaster or any similar ride without getting a dizzy spell afterwards as I have motion sickness.

At one of the souvenir shops, which is the very first place that visitors step into upon gaining entry into the theme park:

Cass was eyeing a brown monkey plush toy at the games stall and she begged her doting dad to win it for her!

Notice Cass’ hair under the sunlight? It’s almost blond and it’s natural!

You think daddy won the monkey for Cass?

Sure he did! He’s a sharp shooter basketball player! Cass was SO happy!

Tsk tsk, daddy spent almost RM30 on tokens just to win the monkey for his princess!

The only problem was Cass had to lug the fury stuffed animal on her shoulders and back the entire day we spent at the theme park! And it’s like putting on a fur coat over your shoulders under the 38C sizzling sun! At the end of our excursion, the monkey was drenched in sweat and rain water. Cass had to hand-wash her precious monkey when we got back to KL 🤩

We had hamburgers (photo not taken), fried chicken and fries for lunch, purchased at the amusement park. Food was totally disappointing and yet expensive, especially the burgers and fried chicken. The fried chicken smelled foul (like the odor of rotten chicken!) and we discarded 2 pieces.

Outside food is not allowed into the Lost World of Tambun. At the entrance, all your bags will be checked by the personnel and outside food will be confiscated and returned to the owners during exit. Water bottles are allowed though.

The next time we visit Lost World, we would have our meal at the Dulang Tea House @ the Tin Valley instead. I think the food sold there is more decent than at the amusement park.

After lunch, we covered the Tiger Valley, Haunted Chambers, Petting Zoo, Tin Valley and Zip Line. The Haunted Chambers was surprisingly pretty spooky. My just turned 7-year old niece was so terrified that she clung on to me and Cass.

Petting big, fury and cuddly cats at Catopia. These cats are housed in an air-conditioned room. Such good life these cats have!

Alycia did not enter the Catopia enclosure as she has Ailurophobia aka fear of cats. Yup, I only recently found out that she’s terrified of cats coz whenever we are out eating at an outdoor place and if a stray cat comes near our table, she will start to put her legs up on the chair 😞. Not only does Alycia fears cats, she does not like any kind of fury animals too. Weird, as I love fury animals and so do Sherilyn and Cass! Thank God Alycia does not have a phobia of cockroach coz Cass and I are horrified of it and we need someone at home to help us catch them cockroach. 😬

Next was Swan Lake, which is next to Tiger Valley. Here, you and a partner can lazily paddle the darling swan boats around a lake. Fishes aside, we saw a crocodile in the lake too!

Feeding fish at the Swan Lake. Fish feed can be purchased at a Ringgit a packet.

While the girls paddled lazily under the burning 3pm sun, I sought shelter at a small hut meant for storing life jackets, next to the jetty, dabbing sweat with a towel and wishing that I could leave soon 🤭

After the swan boat paddling, everyone was sweating bullets. We walked to the Tin Valley and petting zoo. By this time, the sun had gone down a little and the weather was much more bearable. We love this part of Lost World the most. The scenery of natural limestone hills and greenery is just breathtaking.

Feeding carrot sticks to deers:

Up-close with Juwita the giant female hippo and a humongous crocodile:

The highlight of the excursion for our girls was at the adrenaline-filled thrilling Zip Line at the glamping site.

Tents under trees at the beautiful glamping site:

At the Zip Line site:

The last part of our excursion was at the petting zoo but it had to be truncated as it suddenly poured cats and dogs. We had to run into a souvenir shop to seek shelter from the rain. When there was no sign that the rain was going to stop, we had to buy an umbrella.

By the time we reached the entrance of the park, it stopped raining! Dang it! It was already 4pm and everyone was tired, so we left.

The girls, especially Cass enjoyed themselves very much. The park is pretty well maintained and naturally beautiful with lush greenery, limestone hills and soothing background. Even my very persnickety hubby had positive things to say about the park.

Will there be a second visit? YES! This time, we will go in the evening to cover the night park, night safari, luminous forest, hot springs & spa and exhilarating Flaming Percussion show. This time we missed the hot springs & spa, which is the place that I looked forward to the most because of the dang rain, which really did rain on our parade and ruined our visit. We’ll definitely be at the Lost World of Tambun again and this time, only in the evening. We can skip the amusement park and the sun.

No. of times viewed = 43

Guang The Movie 2018

I can’t remember when was the last time I watched a movie at the cinema. I think it was Avengers a few years back. And I slept half the time in the cinema. I always snooze off partway during the movie, especially if the movie is a fantasy movie or a cartoon. Movies like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Avengers, BumbleBee ALWAYS lull me to sleep! I remember sleeping through the Harry Potter movie many yonks back 😴

On Tuesday I brought the girls and the mil to the mall for a movie marathon. After lunch, the 2 older girls and the mil watched the cartoon Ralph Breaks The Internet: Wreck It, while I went shopping with Cass. I joined them to watch Guang later.

I did not even know that movie tickets are now bought from e-Kiosks stationed outside the cinema.

And instead of having tickets printed out, only two receipts are printed out from the e-Kiosk, no matter the quantity of tickets bought. At the entrance of the cinema, one of the receipts with the bar code will be scanned.

So canggih now!

I am really living in the dinosaur age! What do you expect from a middle-aged aunty who has no interest in movies, right? 😆

Guang is perhaps the only movie that I’d watched in a decade that managed to make me stay awake from start to the very end.

Guang tells the story of Wen Guang, a young man who struggles with autism. His brother keeps coercing him to find a job so that they can share family expenses, and he does go looking but it’s an extremely difficult process fraught with a lot of stumbling blocks. Unknown to anyone, Wen Guang who has perfect pitch, has a gift for music. The film is loosely based on the real life director’s brother who is autistic and is musically gifted.

Source: 'Guang' The Movie Facebook page.

Be warned that this movie is a real tear-jerker, so do bring lots of tissue papers. Some scenes are hilarious though. Guang is an excellent movie with an excellent cast.

Guang was nominated in four categories at the Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) Asian New Talent Awards – Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress .

Source: cinema.com.

Guang is a well-crafted debut that goes beyond the telling of the intimate struggles of a familial relationship. The plot presents a platform that questions on the issue of the treatment towards people of different abilities especially in the working environment and further mirrors the society’s approach on the matter.

Our girls loved it, especially Cass, who says that she does not mind watching it again. We are all hoping that a sequel will be in the making soon to tell how well Guang is doing at his new job at a piano shop and whether his loving younger didi will be in a relationship with Sue Ann, the kind-hearted kindergarten teacher at a special needs school.

Here’s another activity for your kids this school holidays. Go watch Guang with your kids and support our local film industry. HFM says you’ll love this movie as much as she does! ☺️

No. of times viewed = 41

Saturday, 1 December 2018

We spent the first day of the last month in 2018 away from home almost the entire day. It was a daycation of sorts as we were at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel from morning through midnight to attend the wedding of our very close and dear family friend, Jess’ daughter.

The theme of the wedding was a traditional Chinese wedding. Jess’ daughter, Kheng married her sweetheart of 11 years.

Jess is on the extreme right. I’ve known Jess since I was 17 years old. She’s my mil’s godsister’s daugther. Kheng was only a toddler when I first met her, cute as a button and is still cute. So happy for her that she found her soul mate who gave her a magical proposal that any girl would have dreamed of.

After the morning tea ceremony at Mandarin Oriental, we had lunch at KLCC before we headed back to the hotel for some camwhoring fun. But only Drama Queen agreed to pose with me 🙄

So I syiok sendiri alone first 🤩

Check out the samseng girl’s legs. It’s her first time wearing heels and she hijacked my new Alain Delon slip-on heels.

The wedding dinner was held at the same hotel. It was a grandiose affair with Tan Sris, Datuks and celebrities in attendance.

Old-time Hong Kong superstar, Seong Tin Ngor was engaged to perform at the dinner. This is the best photo of her that I could capture with my dying phone. When she came to our table, my phone died on me. Again! It’s time I ditch my 2-year old Huawei and get a new phone!

Recognize this celebrity with Cass?

Alan Yun is one of our closest and dearest friend whom the hubs and I have known since he was only a teenager and worked part-time for the hubs before he launched his stardom career and is now a successful entrepreneur. We will be attending his wedding next month!

Recognize this couple? 😉

No. of times viewed = 45

Chocha Foodstore and Merchant’s Lane @ Petaling Street, KL

On our Awal Muharram public holiday today, the hubs took us to one of the most happening touristy places in KL for brunch. I always have this holiday feel whenever I step foot into Petaling Street. Today I felt like a tourist walking the streets of Petaling Street and hopping into two quaint cafes that I have never been to for brunch.

Our first stop was at Chocha Foodstore. Chocha is Hakka for sit and drink – the tea culture is alive and well here, with steaming-hot pots of Aged Fujian Shui Hsien from Mount Wuyi (RM18; served with chestnuts) & other representatives of the dark or scented classifications. You’ll also find cold-brewed tea – Taiwanese Dong Ding Oolong & Yunnan Black Tea with osmanthus flowers & star anise (RM16 per bottle). We had a pot of aged Liu Bao (RM18) to wash down our appetizer of Kerabu Mango Rojak and CFC (Cencaluk Fried Chicken).

I had a deja vu of sorts when I walked into Chocha Foodstore. As I walked to the back of the cafe, the deja vu got stronger. I felt as if I had been there before and then I remembered that the structure and design of the colonial shoplot with a long sunny court yard, its interior and decor were somewhat very similar to that of Mugshot Cafe @ Chulia Street Penang, a cafe that we went to two years ago.

Chocha is another brothel-turned-cafe that’s rather similar to Merchant Lane, the next cafe that we hopped into just minutes later but this one looks more “raw” and unchanged. I’d definitely get the creeps if I were to walk right down to the back of the cafe where the toilets are at night! 👻

Love this tantalizing and very delightful Kerabu Mango Rojak (RM20); I can chow down the entire plate myself!

The CFC (Cencalok Fried Chicken) (RM26) with the aromatic flavor of fermented shrimp sauce is succulent and well balanced by a sweet and sour fresh summer salsa of tomatoes and pineapples, plus thick, kitchen-made tomato chutney.

This part of the building upstairs will definitely look creepy at night!

Chocha is housed at the now defunct Mah Lian Hotel. This is one Instagram and Facebook worthy cafe to pop by for camwhoring while tucking into some very good food and sipping tea. Good food, good ambience (not at night though, for me!) and reasonably priced morsel.

Chocha Foodstore
156, Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur.
Opens from Tuesday – Sunday
Opening hours: 11am-9pm.

After our appetizers at Chocha, we segued into Merchant’s Lane located just a few steps away, for our main meal and desserts!

Merchant’s Lane is beside a stationery shop run by a friendly old couple. The mil later bought a 2019 calendar from them.

I got fooled by the tiny door leading up to Merchant’s Lane Cafe. Inside, you’ll be amazed to see how spacious and huge it is. Old colonial buildings tend to have a very long hallway, leading to the bathrooms at the back.

Just like Chocha Foodstore, Merchant’s Lane is yet another former Petaling Street brothel, reincarnated as a crazy-atmospheric cafe that has launched thousands of Instagram and Facebook photos.

Merchant’s Lane is an intricately crafted cafe (its designer has links to the group of Sekeping Retreats) and is an irresistible magnet for cafe enthusiasts.

This is a pork-free cafe, thus you’ll see a good show of Malay patrons.

Patrons queuing to be seated:

Our breakfast set:

Taukay Burger with juicy meat pattie:

Kuli Eggs with crispy Roti Canai. The half boiled eggs are cooked with potato dhall and served with cheese so that when you scoop it up from the clay pot, the mixture gives you the ‘pulled’ cheese effect.

Hot chocolate for Cass:

New York cheese cake ~ very yummy:

Dessert named ‘Better Than Sex’ but we did not find it orgasmic enough to be named so. It is composed of pandan flavored Roti Jala served with ice-cream, strawberries and toasted almond flakes. I find the Roti Jala a tad thick and dry with not enough syrup and ingredients to go with it.

The menu:

The damage:

Merchant’s Lane KL

First Floor,

150, Jalan Petaling, Off Chinatown,

Kuala Lumpur.

No. of times viewed = 90

Trip Back To Ipoh (18 Oct 2017)

I got up at 4:45 a.m. on a very lovely Wednesday today. We have a mission and that’s to reach the KL Sentral station by 8 a.m. to have breakfast before catching the 8:30 a.m. ETS to Ipoh.

After 2 rounds of laundry and some house chores, I woke the girls up to get them ready.

I could not resist the magnificent colors of sun rise splashed on the sky and snapped a couple of pix. Can you spot the crescent moon and star? The moon and star are aligned beautifully for us today.

Thank God we were on time and managed to hop onto the train at 8:28 a.m. The train departed at 8:30 a.m. on the dot.

We were warmly greeted by my dearest papa and mummy who were already at the train station half an hour before we arrived.

My papa took us to Thean Chun @ Ipoh Old Town for lunch. This part of Ipoh is the most popular place in Ipoh where tourists and locals flock to savour the best ‘ngar choi kai’ (bean sprout chicken) in the world. Bean sprouts from Ipoh are the crunchiest, freshest, fattest and juiciest in the world.

Beef balls, beef belly with radish, satay, ‘kai si hor fun’, bean sprouts…

Wanton mee with chicken fillet (best in the world!) and ‘sui kow’ (meat dumplings).

Beads of sweat were dripping down our head and body while we tucked into our piping hot bowls of ‘kai si hor fun’. The weather today has been scorching hot and the sea of people at the coffee shop and the entire stretch of road made me dizzy. It’s definitely not a good idea to visit this place during public holidays.

After a satisfying and sweaty lunch, we adjourned to Concubine Lane, located just opposite Thean Chun coffee shop. It was our first time visiting this tourist hot spot.

Concubine Lane on Lorong Panglima is known to locals as ‘Yi Lai Hong’. Rich Chinese tycoons in the past were known to have kept their mistresses on this lane.

Image may contain: 3 people

Concubine Lane is a 120-year old lane in Ipoh Old Town. It is part of Ipoh Heritage and one of the icons in Ipoh. Concubine Lane is most vibrant on weekends and public holidays where many pop-up stalls sell souvenirs, candies, desserts, refreshing drinks, toys, handmade crafts, etc.

Below – Drama Queen shopping for souvenirs of cute pencil cases for her school’s upcoming canteen day.

Below – dream come true for Drama Queen and Cass when they came across a stall selling DIY dream catchers.

Below – the ever indulgent koong koong bought these fruit popsicles for his precious grand daughters. At RM8 each, these ice fruit popsicles sure don’t come cheap.

Below – I spotted this concubine wannabe walking down the Concubine Lane.

Below – Cass and Drama Queen checking out drinks packaged in light bulb bottles. And no, I did not succumb to Cass’s plead to me to buy her one bottle to try.

No. of times viewed = 11

Our 2nd Day Of Hari Raya 2017

On the second day of Hari Raya, we left our house very early in the morning, so that we could avert the horrendous traffic jam leading to Sunway Pyramid and easily get a parking spot at the car park. During weekends and public holidays, it’s quite a feat to inch your way into Sunway Pyramid and if you’re lucky, get a spot to park.

We reached the mall at 9-ish a.m. Our friends were already there and their kids were already skating.

When our girls first went into the skating rink, they had totally lost touch of their ability to ice-skate. The last time that they went ice-skating was 3 years ago in Auckland, New Zealand. It was in Auckland that our girls learned ice-skating.

For a start, the girls had to hold on to the side railings to walk.

After about 5 rounds walking round the rink holding on to the side rails, they managed to walk on ice without holding on to anything. But they weren’t gliding and skating just yet. The big girl found ice-skating to be such a bore, haha!

Cass was lucky as she got free lessons from strangers at the rink! She was a happy camper when she could finally walk on ice unassisted! Cass was very enthusiastic right from the start. She loves sports of all kinds. She watched in awe a group of young Malaysian team figure skaters strut their stuff while practising her own walk-on-ice. I’m pretty sure that with another session, the girls will be able to glide on ice and do the real thing. IF only Sunway Pyramid were nearer to where we stay, I would have sent Cass and Drama Queen for lessons as they love ice-skating. I find it very therapeutic to watch those little kids as young as 4 years old skate so well during their lessons. But it’s a pain to drive to and fro the mall and then drive round the mall to find a place to park. That in itself takes up 1.5 hours.

After 3 hours of ice-skating, we had McDonald’s ice-cream and Tokyo Secret cheese tarts and then adjourned to have lunch of curry noodles and chicken rice at a restaurant in Happy Garden.

After a long and leisurely lunch, the whole jingbang arrived at our condo for swimming, table tennis and basketball.

Cass with her favorite uncle Kevin

The gang of 6 kids playing basketball at the court.

Dinner was at New Sek Yuen Restaurant @ Pudu. No pictures were taken as I found it too much of a fag to aim and shoot when everyone else looked impatient, waiting to dig into the dishes 😀

It was another long day for us and we only reached home way past 10 p.m. Thank goodness the hubs didn’t plan any activity for the next day as all I wanted to do was to sleep in, saunter around at home and complete some chores.

No. of times viewed = 3

New Year’ Eve and Happy 2017

Our New Year’s Eve on 31.12.2016 was a peaceful and quiet one at our cozy home, unlike previous years where we would either be counting down in a hotel or be gallivanting the streets of Bukit Bintang joining other rowdy revelers. Our girls and I prefer a quiet New Year’s Eve where we could watch fireworks display from KLCC, Mid Valley and other parts of KL at the comforts of our own home in our jammies. Two families from our usual group of friends had some emergencies at home, thus we didn’t have our usual New Year’s Eve count down. Nonetheless, we had a sumptuous lunch at Overseas Restaurant, Jalan Imbi on that day.

Below – backdrop of KLCC and KL Tower taken just before the fireworks were released at the stroke of midnight.

On 1.1.2017, we were at the Gardens Mall. Hubs, the mil and the girls watched Rogue One: A Star Wars Story at the premium cinema at Gardens while I did what I loved most – retail therapy 🙂

Below – Cass enthralled by her favorite author, killing time while waiting for the movie to start…

Image may contain: one or more people and people sitting

On 2.1.2017, we hung out with our usual group of buddies. After a light lunch at The School, we adjourned to a Japanese eatery and German pub and snacked on grilled saba and pork knuckles with crackling skin while sipping on beer and sake – chatting and laughing over everything.

2.1.2017 marked the end of the girls’ 6 weeks of school holidays. Today we are back to reality, back to structured days and me, I started the first day of ‘work’ feeling zombified and crabby, no thanks to my Aunt Flow. My darn alarm clock died down on me this morning. Thankfully I had my phone alarm as back-up!

No. of times viewed = 4

Weekend Getaway In A Jungle

In under an hour’s time, we will be off to Ratu Rening (near Genting Highlands / Batang Kali) for a weekend getaway with our usual group of buddies and their kiddos. Hubs and I have been friends with these group of friends since we were teenagers. Our girls and their kids have been friends since they were infant. Our girls look forward to this ecological retreat in a forest reserve very much. Errr, but not me. I used to be a sucker for the jungle, camping in the wilderness, swimming at the waterfalls, bathing in the streams and rivers but ever since having kids, I have morphed into a clean freak haha! Well, guess it’s time to un-morph myself back to what I was when I was a kid. Who knows I’ll love the wilderness and adventurous life once again. I’ve stashed away bottles of lemon grass essential oil, tea tree oil, lots of mozzie repellent and band aids in our bags for our jungle adventure! ha ha ha!!

No. of times viewed = 4

Our Deepavali Holiday Weekend (29 – 30 Oct 2016)

On Saturday which was Deepavali, we spent our afternoon at Mid Valley and Gardens Mall.

Hubs the epicure wanted to try something different and we settled for An Viet @ The Gardens. Good choice made as we enjoyed the delightful and very flavorful authentic cuisine of Vietnam, comprising mainly of fresh aromatic leaves, flowers and vegetables.

Ãn Viet’ translates into ‘Eat Viet,’ and its aim is to encourage people to truly eat their food and to curb wastage. Serving portions of noodles and rice can be customized so that patrons order only what they can finish; plus, for everyone who finishes his or her entire meal, the restaurant channels RM0.10 to KOTO, a social enterprise that helps disadvantaged Vietnamese youths gain access to skill development opportunities.

The first item that arrived was a hot bowl of beef Pho Bo. I love Ãn Viet’s concept of curbing wastage and order only what you can eat. You can order an amount of noodles based on weight – 80gm, 120gm, 160gm or 200gm – all for the same total price of RM18.90 per bowl.

The coconut ice-blended creation is simply delightful, aromatic and refreshing. It will surely tantalize the taste bud of any coconut fan. We all fell in love with it, even the hubs.

I ordered a glass of lemon grass & ginger drink and it was really refreshing as well with the aromatic fragrance of lemon grass.

Deep fried rice paper wraps.

A Vietnamese meal is never complete without Goi Cuan (fresh spring rolls). As expected, the girls hadn’t quite acquired the taste just yet just like I did when I was much younger. Hubs and I polished off this dish.

Grilled chicken with lemon grass is another mouth-watering aromatic dish.

Banana flower salad – this salad is highlighted by the hot-tart play of chili and lime off the crisp rings of the banana flower. It is a very refreshing and aromatic dish with such fresh and healthy ingredients as lime juice, julienned banana flower, julienned carrots, roasted peanuts, raw shallots, cucumber strips, mint leaves, basil leaves and prawns.

The girls loved this Vietnamese baguette pork chop the best. Cass didn’t even want to let me have a bite of it until I growled at her, ha ha ha!

The big princess enjoying every bite of the pork chop baguette.

And Drama Queen had takeout fish congee from Canton-I (just next to An Viet). She is recovering from inflamed tonsilitis.

Sunday, 30 Oct 2016:

Sundays are maid-free days. Today I taught Cass to mop the floor with a magic mop and wet floor wipes. She was pretty thorough I must say. My condition set on the girls before they are allowed to use any e-Gadgets is that they have to help out in house work. They will be very thankful to me one day for all these domestic on-the-job training 😀

No. of times viewed = 8

Awal Muharram Holiday – 3 Oct 2016

One of the best things to happen on a weekday is to have Monday off – off goes all our Monday blues 🙂 And we had just that yesterday. It was such a LUXURY to sleep in on a Monday morning of a school-going week. Total bliss.

We spent our holiday at Avenue K. It’s been more than half a year since we last visited Avenue K. The one restaurant that we craved to eat at was Tokyo-based Bankara Ramen.

Bankara Ramen serves one of the tastiest ramen in town. If you have tried their pork-infused creamy and luscious broth that comes with each bowl of ramen, you wouldn’t want to have ramen anywhere else.

Check out the spoonful of spicy bean paste chilli. It was so spicy that we wouldn’t eat it but when hubs told us that it costs a frigging RM2 (or maybe RM2.50) as add-on, Drama Queen quickly poured some onto her noodles.

If you are not into ramen, try their Oyakodon, soul food of steamed rice with succulent chicken, soft-boiled egg and shredded seaweed.

Ramen (volcano) egg and Onsen egg.

Deep fried baby fish.

As we walked out of Bankara Ramen, we saw the newly opened Hokkaido Cheese Tart stall at the concourse. Being the foodie that he is, hubs wanted to try this much raved about baked cheese tart from Hokkaido.

The baked cheese tart craze started in Hokkaido, Japan, took over the country and eventually invaded Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore, before making its way to Malaysia. The mousse centre is made with a blend of three different types of cream cheese, piped into a crunchy shortcrust pastry base. To ensure freshness and perfection, each tart is baked fresh daily at the outlet. With a crumbly exterior and warm, soft, meltingly cheesy filling, it is no wonder this treat has taken the world by storm.

Each tart goes for RM5.80, and there is a six-for-RM29 promotion going on currently.

So are the cheese tarts really worth a whopping RM5.80 each? If you are a cheese and tart fan, then it is absolutely worth the price. I would give it a 5-star rating for taste and quality. I ate one this morning right out of the fridge and the tart still tasted heavenly.

A few steps away from the Hokkaido Cheese Tart stall were some token-operated kiddie rides. Guess who wanted to ride on it (without buying the tokens of course)? Hahahaha! I guess the big girl missed being a kiddo again. Once upon a time, she used to love riding them. I remember hubs and I once collected so many one Ringgit and fifty sen coins just so we could use them for such rides during the weekends.

While I brought the girls shopping, the hubs went for a Thai massage to kill time. We went to H&M and were pleasantly surprised that there was a sale going on. Lucky us as we managed to grab some real good deals. We also popped by Popular Book Store and Daiso before meeting hubs at Franco Japanese French restaurant for a very early dinner at 4pm!

While waiting for our food to arrive, we sampled the Hokkaido cheese tarts. They were SO good I think I walloped 2 tarts! Drama Queen whacked a tall glass of matcha ice-cream milk shake. Gawd, I would have puked had I put this entire cup of creamy milk shake into my tummy.

Hubs ordered a squid ink rice with mushrooms, squids and omelette which was really rich and delish.

Ham, cheese and egg on a super thick slice of toast.

Warm and soft chocolate pudding.

After stuffing myself with so much rich food, I felt really cloy and had the familiar overeating stomach discomfort. For someone who eats very little food each day, my stomach had a hard time digesting so much high calorie food. But I think I burnt off all the calories by this morning. Before I plonked myself onto bed last night, I did 80 bicycle crunches on the bed. This morning I brisked walked for 40 minutes and back home, after downing a packet of Izumio, continued with a few sets of Swiss Ball crunches on my fitball.

No. of times viewed = 19

Hari Raya Holiday- 6 July 2016

Today we intended to spend our holiday at Mid Valley Megamall and Gardens Mall but we made a detour to Bangsar when we saw the long horrendous queue of vehicles lining the highway leading to the mall.

We went to Bangsar Shopping Complex instead but had no idea what to eat. Finally we settled for Japanese food but I had forgotten to take mental note of the name of the restaurant. After lunch we walked around the mall and had Morelli’s gourmet ice-cream. We also checked out a glitzy Hari Raya Open House lunch that was held at the concourse of the mall, catered by Dorsett Hotel. We so wished we were invited too as the buffet line of traditional Malay food was SO sumptuous!

After we left BSC, we went to Les Deux Garcons as the gourmand man of the house wanted to have gourmet coffee and cakes to de-stress. He’s had a long and tiring day working at a client’s function last night. Tonight he has another Hari Raya Open House to cater to and it will be another late night for him. His way of de-stressing is to indulge in food >.<

Today the 2 older girls are a little co-operative during photography. They usually drive me potty when it comes to getting them to pose for a photo or two. Their dad would have to holler at them to pose for the camera! If not for bribing them today, they wouldn’t have been so cooperative.

So I took the opportunity and snapped the camera away, before they change their minds and dodge when they see my phone 😀

Something really funny from Cass to her Alycia che che today:

“Che che, can you let me hold your hand? I’ll give you RM1 if you let me hold your hand”

That’s how much Cass adores her Alycia che che. But sometimes Alycia thinks that Cass is annoying when she hugs and slobbers all over her with wet kisses.

And yep, Alycia allowed Cass to hold her hand on condition that she behaved well.

In the evening, while the hubs was at work, I brought the girls down to flex our muscles outdoors and then to the gym. Dinner was takeout sushi.

Tomorrow will be another day at the mall for us 🙂

No. of times viewed = 6

Expedition At Aquaria KLCC

It was definitely a day for my family to spend time together bonding and sharing love across. Our 2016 father’s day was well spent at Suria KLCC. But prior to our trip, we attended a sumptuous lunch party, courtesy of our condo Management as get-together for the residents.

While the hubs brought our 2 older girls to watch Warcraft: The Beginning, Cass and I went for a fun-filled expedition at Aquaria KLCC organized by Wyeth Nutrition to reward their S-MAMA Club members.

In this family-day outing, we were treated to a tour around Aquaria KLCC to learn about the underwater world and how we should preserve it, followed by catching ‘Finding Dory’ at TGV Cinemas. To begin our journey in Aquaria, members of the S-MAMA Club gathered for a group memento taken with LEX the Lion.

Can you spot Cass and me? We donned on mother-daughter outfit with matching flower hair ties too, heeeh!

It was Cass’ first visit to Aquaria and she was really excited! What a great opportunity this is.

Below – we found these Moon Jellyfish really fascinating as the body is translucent. With the interchangeable neon spotlight above the water tank changing colors and highlighting the jellyfish every few seconds, these sea creatures look really magical.

Cass and I did some good exercise at KLCC yesterday. I believe we chalked up at least 3km walking to and fro the KLCC shopping mall to Aquaria, walked around Aquaria, then walked to TGV cinema, did some window shopping and then walked back to the car park. No wonder we were both unusually hungry yesterday as we had burnt so much calories. And guess what? We whacked 2 regular sized cups of caramel popcorns to subdue our hunger pangs and saved some for Alycia and Drama Queen! The popcorns were complimentary too. They were really addictive. Cass and I couldn’t stop stuffing them into our mouths, ha ha! It was really an experience to have with my youngest baby.

After the expedition at Aquaria, we adjourned to TGV Cinema for another round of photo session (with hand held prop signs this time) and were given hard copies of the photos (complimentary too!).

After the photo session, we were treated to the cinema to watch Finding Dory.

Through this one-day journey, I learnt that S-MAMA Club strongly encourage cultivating family bonds that helps to develop positive familial relationships. Also in our trip getting to understand more about Wyeth Nutrition, I noticed their much efforts in supporting children’s Multiple Intelligence in 3 areas of Smarts – Brain, Body and People. This is accurately important in our children’s growing development where parents are most concerned for.

I’d like to thank Wyeth Nutrition for the enjoyable expedition, addictive caramel popcorns, photos and movie (Finding Dory). Cass and I had a great time at the event together! 🙂

Website: https://www.wyethnutrition.com.my/en

Facebook:

WeChat: WyethNutritionMY

No. of times viewed = 4

Hello From Pa Loh!

We managed to get ourselves ready and leave the house at 7am to begin our road trip to Ipoh this morning to partake in Qing Ming tomorrow.

Fortunately we started our journey early, traffic on the North South Expressway was really smooth. We reached Ipoh at 9am and tucked into all our favorite Ipoh hawkers fare at our favorite coffee shop in Ipoh Garden East. Our friend who only started his drive from KL at 9ish am was caught in a massive crawl on the highway.

Weather condition is hazy and super duper HOT. My room feels like a furnace!

Oh yes, I know the title of this post have stoked the curiosity in some. Ipoh is also called “Pa Loh” in Cantonese and this name is only familiar amongst the aunties and uncles from Ipoh 🙂

No. of times viewed = 8