Avocado Egg Roll

Our finicky teenage chef doesn’t like her school canteen’s food. So she preps her own food everyday. This week she made these for her lunch box:

  1. Jumeok-bap or rice ball or Korean style onigiri. It’s cooked rice mixed with boiled kombu, sweet corn kernels, seaweed and soy sauce and rolled into balls. You can use any ingredient that you fancy to mix with the rice.
  2. Salad (pesticide-free) with avocado and cheese.
  3. Mashed green peas and ham with cartoon shaped pasta
  4. Avocado and egg rice rolls

I always tell this girl that if she doesn’t get a highly paid job or a rich husband in future, she will find it extremely hard to live a life with humble and simple food. Blame it on her dad who’s spoilt them with good food all their lives 😑

No. of times viewed = 29

What We Did With Leftover Christmas Turkey And Roast Lamb

Our fridge was stuffed with leftover turkey, roast lamb, ham and Christmas desserts after our Christmas dinner. For the following week after Christmas, we tried to finish up all the leftovers and have only recently finished the homemade ham and super decadent homemade chocolate brownie. I ate 90% of the chocolate brownie ðŸĪŠ

With a creative and talented teenage chef at home whose cooking centers on healthy dishes, we had the privilege to feast on new dishes this holiday season.

Cabbage omelette topped with leftover roast lamb cooked with tomato puree, big onions and green peas.
Turkey stew/soup with barley, loads of vegetables, homemade mash potato and honey glazed ham. The ham was cut into several portions and stored separately.
This is definitely my kind of meal – turkey (leftover from Xmas dinner) and chicken soup with lots of big onions, carrots, potatoes, herbs and spices.
The portion was so huge that we ate this for 3 days, yet I didn’t get sick of it. I can have this kind of meal every single day! Sheer comfort food and comforting for my tummy too.

Hello from Haru!

The audacity she has to sit on her sister’s desk while waiting for her to wake up! Sometimes she even sits on her sister’s phone and face mask ðŸ˜đ.  Haru’s a very smart cat. She knows who to take advantage of and who to steer clear of ðŸ˜ļ
Haru likes to spend her day sitting next to the window to observe the world below her. She is also a sun worshipper. Whenever we let her out of the house, she will sit outside our unit and bask in the sun in delight.

No. of times viewed = 32

Throwback Photos

Hi-ya all!

I have a few hours of free time on hand today as Maria is here to help me out. I only have time to update my blogs whenever Maria is here. So thankful that Maria can still come into our home 🙏

I was going through my Google Photos and realized that I have not posted these photos yet. So here goes!

Throwback of photos taken in early December 2021:

Strawberry milk that chef S made, using frozen strawberries, fresh milk and Lakanto sugar. She intends to sell this but would you buy it if it’s with a price tag of RM12 – RM15 per bottle?
Very refreshing and pretty filling too. This can be a diet meal. Chef S is going to use fresh strawberries if this is for sale.
Mui Fan or Mun Fan – Rice doused with silky eggy gravy with lots of prawns, fish cakes, carrots, and veggies. Chef S cooked this dish to satiate her craving.
She first tried it at YMCA restaurant in Ipoh a few years ago when my dad ordered it.
Heartwarming dish served with Basmati rice and black rice.

Pumpkin tart, made with a whole pumpkin and aromatic spices. Tart shell is made from scratch.
Flour-free whole orange cake, made by chef Sherilyn.
Eldest sil from England commissioned chef S to bake this cake for the mil’s 76th birthday on 9 December. This is mil’s favourite cake. It’s my favourite cake too as it’s made using almond flour and 2 whole oranges blended resulting in a very aromatic and very orangy cake that’s not too sweet and not cloy at all.
Chef S used Sweet Williams flowers to decorate the cake.

MIL’s birthday dinner on 9 December 2021.
All our family’s favourite dishes.

No. of times viewed = 38

Monday, 29 November 2021 ~ Random Updates

This week Sherilyn is staying home for remote learning. She went to school last week. Next week will be the last week that Sherilyn attends physical classes in school before the year end school holidays begin.

I’ve been clocking in only 5-6 hours of shut-eye for the last two weeks, including Saturdays and Sundays. I was up early on both weekends as Alycia had to leave the house by 7 a.m. for the van driver from the driving school to fetch her to the driving academy in Puchong. She’s been attending driving lessons on Saturdays and Sundays the past two weeks. After 16 hours of lessons on the road (4 hours for each session), she’s now scheduled to sit for a trial exam this Thursday. Honestly, I’m not sure if 16 hours is sufficient. I’ve not sat in with her in my car for practice lessons as it’s technically not legal for her to be driving around without a driver’s license. I can only 🙏 that Alycia will pass the test in just one sitting. If she flunks, more money will fly out of my wallet for extra driving lessons. And losing more sleep as well ðŸĨą

Just a little update on Alycia’s foundation program at Sunway College. Life in college is much more hectic than life in a Chinese independent high school. Chinese-style education is said to be one of the toughest institutions to be in and students from Chinese schools are always under pressure to be the best of the best. I’m somewhat thankful that she attended Chinese schools for 11 years and thus, has been conditioned for heavy load in homework and regular tests.

There are lots of projects, assignments, presentations and tests in college. Alycia sat for her first exam two months into the course. On some days when it’s her turn to be in college, she would only reach home after 7pm.

Alycia takes Grab to college on some days and on other days, her former classmate who stays in our hood who also goes to the same college, gives her a ride to and fro.

With the school holidays around the corner, Sherilyn is already planning to sell her best seller items to earn some money. Today she made strawberry milk for us and her friends to try. Next, she will work out the cost and price tag for the strawberry milk. She also intends to sell kimchi, tarts and other signature items. This girl has big plans for herself.

Refreshing strawberry milk made using frozen strawberries, Lakanto sugar and Australia fresh milk.

Chef Sherilyn’s new dish – sesame crusted pan fried salmon served with mayo wasabi dipping sauce.

No. of times viewed = 37

Crispy Chicken Sandwich With Homemade Japanese Tartar Sauce

Chef S made crispy chicken sandwich with homemade Japanese tartar sauce for dinner yesterday. This is both a time-consuming and messy dinner to prep as it involves deep-frying the chicken breast (coated with panko crumbs) and making the Japanese tartar sauce.

Chef S started prepping the chicken a day earlier by brining the chicken breast. Brining keeps the chicken meat incredibly moist while adding an excellent flavour. It’s a bit more labour intensive than a simple spice rub, but it’s worth the effort for that extra special chicken dinner. Brining is basically soaking meat in a salt water solution, but the flavour doesn’t stop at just salt. And even though breast meat was used, the meat wasn’t dry at all.

Super crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Most of them were deep fried and some were air-fried in the Airbot.
Lately I’ve been buying a lot more chicken breast than other parts as breast meat is healthier and has lower calories.
A succulent sandwich that’s bursting with flavors and textures – everyone loved the homemade Japanese tartar sauce with eggs, homemade pickled cucumbers, chopped onions, lemon juice, mayo and black pepper. Love the juicy tomatoes and organic baby spinach tucked between the meat and bread.
The bread is homemade by the mil.

This is quite a labor-intensive meal and both Chef S and Cass worked together to dish out a pretty impressive and yummy dinner for us.

No. of times viewed = 56

Spanish Paella

Our teenage chef whipped up Spanish Paella for dinner early this week. It’s loaded with fish, prawns and homemade sausages. For the grain, she used Japanese rice. It tastes as good as the one that we had at the farmers’ market in Auckland years ago 😋

For the leftover Paella, Sherilyn baked it the next day. She sauteed a handful of chopped big onions with a can of green peas and topped with mozzarella cheese before popping it into the oven.

No. of times viewed = 27

Korean boiled pork (Bossam) – For A Contest

Sherilyn dished out a Korean boiled pork (Bossam) platter with sides of egg rolls, spicy radish salad, Napa cabbage kimchi and Ssamjang dipping sauce for an online contest organized by Green N Fresh. She made everything herself.

It took Sherilyn 2 days to assemble her submission – 1 day for the napa cabbage kimchi and another day for the Bossam, egg rolls and spicy radish salad.

If you have a few seconds to spare, kindly hop over to the Green N Fresh page on Facebook to like the post. Here’s the link ~ https://www.facebook.com/Green-N-Fresh-%E7%BB%BF%E8%89%B2%E7%89%A9%E8%AF%AD-109753914511981/photos/a.109761811177858/236905315130173

Thank you for your time 😊

No. of times viewed = 36

Cassandra’s 1st Dose Pfizer Vaccine – 29 Sept 2021 (Wednesday)

A day after I received Sherilyn’s vaccination date (1st dose) via my MySejahtera app, Cass received hers via her MySejahtera app. I’m impressed with how efficient the minister in charged of Covid vax is in arranging vax for everyone in our country, including non-Malaysians and illegals.

This means I’m going to be very busy next week with all 3 girls receiving their vaccines one day after another, 3 days straight!

Monday ÂŽ Sherilyn’s first dose at Axiata Arena at 12 noon

Tuesday ÂŽ Alycia’s 2nd dose at PPUM at 10am

WednesdayÂŽ Cassandra’s 1st dose at Axiata Arena at 1.15pm

I need lots of luck and prayers that everything will go smoothly. I don’t want to be stuck at the youth PPV for hours as there will be mass students including their parents at the PPV. I’m worried of the crowd and Covid risk.

Sherilyn’s entire class will be at the vax centre on the same date and time and so is Cass’s class the next day. I pray that the girls will experience not much to no side effects after their jabs 🙏

Cass fixed herself this oat, granola and fruit bowl for breakkie this morning. It’s composed of half cup of organic instant oats, a little fresh milk, Amazin’ Graze Gula Melaka granola, jackfruit, green kiwi and banana. She ate this in between online classes. I’m glad that my healthy eating habits have rubbed off on the girls as they now prefer healthy snacks.
Also, I don’t really stock up on unhealthy snacks albeit I still stock up on certain ‘health snacks’ 😜
Cass even likes raw sprouts and raw bell peppers now, so proud of her!
Cass has to attend classes even on Saturdays, with 1 Saturday in a month off.
My lunch of chicken porridge, my all time favorite comfort meal.
The porridge is cooked in the TMX 6 using leftover roast chicken. A good fried gave us a full-moon gift box which has half a roast chicken.

No. of times viewed = 28

Thursday, 23 Sept 2021

Yesterday I finally received a vaccination appointment for Sherilyn via my MySejahtera app. Earlier this week her school sent out the application and consent forms to the parents. Within 2 days we received the vaccination date, which is next Monday. All her classmates have been given the same date and time as well.

After Sherilyn’s first dose on Monday, the following day will be Alycia’s second dose. I foresee that the wait will be pretty long on Monday as there will be many students at the PPV. I dread going to the PPV so many times. After next week, I will have another 3 more trips to the vax centre for Sherilyn’s 2nd dose and for Cass’ turn, which is still under process by her school.

On another note, both Sherilyn and Cass will most likely remain at home for remote learning until the end of this year. They have only gone to school for two weeks this year and for about 3 or 4 months last year. As I’ve mentioned before, online learning is not effective for my girls. I can’t wait for them to return to school for proper learning once again.

Alycia will finally be stepping into campus next month! I’m so happy and excited for her! The driving academy has also Whatsapped me to collect her L license and once this is done, she will be able to start her driving lessons, yes!

My simple low-carb lunch today of kimchi soup with lots of vegetables, lean pork slices, fish balls and a handful of raw broccoli and radish sprouts. Yup, this is how little I eat. I have a tummy as small as Haru’s, thus my size ðŸ˜đ

No. of times viewed = 22

Sunday Specials

Chef Sherilyn’s Sunday Specials on 5 Sept 2021:

  1. Squid, shrimp and scallion pancake
  2. Focaccia bread art
    The Focaccia bread art is her first try at it and it turned out superb – crispy on the outside and super pillowy on the inside. A light and fluffy bread with garlic and olive oil littered with some token bits of herbs blanketed with scallions, red onions and tomatoes. Just love the vibrant colors. Not very complicated to make as the kneading was done by the TMX6, just a handful of simple ingredients and everybody loves it! It’s so delish it can be eaten on its own 🙂

I can confidently list her Focacia bread art for sale! Who’s interested?  😁

The Focaccia texture and taste were still good after 3 days at room temperature. We had chicken sliders with it the next day.
Refreshing salad of ice plant, onions, tomatoes and sweet cherry tomatoes.
Shrimp and squid pancake for lunch.
I bought the ice plant and Garden Medley cherry tomatoes from an online seller in our neighborhood and had them delivered to my condo.
Super sweet cherry tomatoes in all shapes and sizes.
What do you see?
I see a snowman but it is a bowling pin in Cass’ eyes  😁

No. of times viewed = 26

Thursday, 19 August 2021

Sherilyn’s cooking and baking mode is switched on at full speed today. These are what she churned out today:

  1. Kkakdugi (Cubed Radish Kimchi) fried rice with cheese, chicken chop and eggs for lunch. She made the radish kimchi a few days ago.
  2. Korean honey sesame fried chicken for dinner. These are way better than KyoChon fried chicken!
  3. Burnt matcha cheese cake (using Niko Neko matcha).
Kkakdugi (Cubed Radish Kimchi) fried rice with cheese, chicken chop and eggs for lunch. The chicken is fried Hainanese chicken chop from hubby’s central kitchen, leftover from yesterday. So we repurposed it 😉
Super delish but oh so tedious. The chicken wings are deep fried and I hate everything deep fried in the kitchen! I made sure that Sherilyn wiped the greasy stove, wall and floor or there will be no more deep frying in future. I also made sure that she poured the used oil into a used bottle and placed in the refuse chamber for recycling.
Chikin Mu is a Korean side dish made with cubed radish. It is normally served with greasy food like Korean fried chicken so that the mouth feels fresh after a greasy meal.
Sherilyn made the pickled radish early this week, together with the radish kimchi.
Burnt matcha cheese cake made using Niko Neko Yuri matcha. It’s made using a packet of cream cheese that expired a week ago but the cheese cake is still yummy 😁
Burnt matcha cheese cake with Niko Neko matcha latte. Everyone in the family loves Niko Neko Yuri matcha. I bought it from Niko Neko @ Lazada with free shipping 🙂
RM189 for 500gm – value for money. It’s cheaper than Ohkuraen matcha, the brand of matcha that we’re currently consuming. This can probably last us for half a year.

No. of times viewed = 42

Home-cooked Meals By Our Teenage Chef

These are the delectables cooked by Sherilyn on Sunday and Monday.

Sunday – Ratatouille.

Ratatouille – composed of zucchini, egg plant, tomatoes and traffic light colors bell peppers. A healthy dish for all and sundry. It’s labor intensive and time consuming but very yummy.


Monday – grilled chicken and baked smashed potatoes. Both dishes were decadent. If you like French fries, try making baked smashed potatoes. They’re healthier (and crispy too) and so much more yummier. Littered with herbs, black pepper, olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt, the potatoes are really addictive.

When the chicken thighs were in the oven, the sides of the baking paper touched the hot inner walls of the oven and there was fire in the oven!
I was out and when I came back, Sherilyn nonchalantly told me that she had to clean up the ashes in the kitchen coz she almost burnt down the kitchen ðŸ˜ē. I have been telling her repeatedly to be extra careful of the sides of the baking paper touching the inner oven walls but 🙄

Baked smashed potatoes – yummiest potato ever. Stans of potato must try this, which is a healthier version of French fries. The outer skin of the potato is super crispy and inner parts are soft.

Fish head curry from hubby’s central kitchen, my favorite! So delish I could chomp down the entire portion 😎

No. of times viewed = 34

Lockdown Home-cooked Dishes By Our Teenage Chef

Sherilyn grasps every opportunity that she has in between online classes and dance & guitar classes to cook. When one has a burning passion in cooking (and of course eating!), one will not find it stressful to slog for hours in the kitchen to churn out comforting food for the tummy. I notice this in many of my friends who love to cook, including my mom. These ladies are all busy yet they can squeeze out time to cook and bake everyday. Some even indulge in midnight baking. Unfortunately I don’t have this trait yet and I don’t think I will ever sacrifice my beauty sleep to bake ðŸĨą ðŸ˜ī. Oh well many years down the road when I don’t have that much on my plate anymore, I think I’m going to spend my free time cooking and baking healthy foods. I’m waiting for this day to come ðŸĪĪ

Chicken breast meat satay – tender, juicy and flavorful. And healthy too.
New improved satay sauce with added blended lemon grass and shallots. This is da bomb! I enjoy my sourdough bread and sourdough pancakes by dunking them into this sauce.
She made this quick onions and bell pepper omelette with oozing cheese for breakkie yesterday, just in time before her online class started at 8am.
Check out the oozing mozzarella cheese. So cheesy and yummy! But not in favor of my fibroid and cholesterol 🙁
Hainanese chicken rice with homemade ginger scallion sauce.
I’m not a big fan of steamed chicken/white chicken but this is an exception!
With the remainder chicken rice, she rolled up the rice into balls. And we had chicken ball rice!

It’s such a waste that this budding chef doesn’t want to be in the culinary / F&B industry in future. She’s got such amazing talent and creativity. Instead, she wants to study something that’s science related. I’ll see..

No. of times viewed = 33

Lockdown Home-cooked Meals By My Teenage Chefs

Sherilyn has been busy with back to back online classes, tuition, online guitar classes and dance classes & practice for an online dance competition, thus has not been cooking and baking as much as she’d like to. Yesterday she managed to squeeze out some time to prep Sukiyaki. She even made the Sukiyaki sauce from scratch as we ran out of Mirin. It was yums!

I love the seared big onions; they’re so flavorful. Onions contain a wealth of chemicals that help fight cancer and help lower cholesterol.

Today, our 18-yo who does not fit in well in the kitchen was in a rare mood to try out a new recipe – shredded potato meat-free and flour-free pizza! Like a fish out of water, she created quite a mess in the kitchen, but the saving grace is the pizza was delish and chomped down in a jiffy! 😅 It’s not my kind of meal though as it’s high in cheese (bad for my fibroid and cholesterol!) so I ate chopped raw kale, a hard-boiled egg and sourdough bread with nut butter.

No. of times viewed = 37

Our Teenage Chef’s Home-cooked Dishes

Lately Sherilyn has not been cooking and baking as much as she used to. She’s been busy with dance rehearsals and online classes as the new school term has just commenced. She now sleeps at 10pm and wakes up at 6am to do her dance practice and feed Haru before taking a quick shower and off to online classes. She’s been rehearsing for an online dance competition with cash prizes for the winners. Our dancing queen is a sucker for dance competitions. Actually she loves taking part in all sorts of competitions and contests since her pre-school years.

Though Sherilyn hasn’t been trying out new recipes lately, she still does simple cooking several times a week. She’s not the type who would eat bread or toast with butter and jam or biscuits for breakfast. Alycia and I always lament that Sherilyn’s got a ‘high class’ palate and can’t lead a simple and humble life. While Alycia, Cass and I have no complaints with a slice or two of Gardenia or Massimo bread for breakfast or lunch, this girl with a royal papillae has to crank up the stove to dish out some fancy-schmancy dish with a touch of aesthetic on her food 🙄

Yesterday she prepped Gilgeori Toast (Korean Street Toast With Cabbage and Egg) for brunch. I was busy and forgot to snap a photo of the toast. It looks something like the one below:

Korean Omelette Sandwich

Two days ago, she whomped up a quick sweet potato stew with onions and spices, topped with 2 eggs for breakfast (she shared it with me). She did a similar stew with pumpkin last week and I whacked half the dish for brunch as it was so yummy. This is my kind of healthy, wholesome and meat-free meal that I don’t mind having everyday.
Dinner on 29 May 2021 ~ Sous Vide Chicken Breast with grilled pistachio crusted carrots. Our amazing teenage chef can transform chicken breast meat into juicy and tender gourmet chicken dishes infused with decadent flavors. Just one bite is all it takes to send your taste-bud spiraling in gourmet ecstasy. You’ll then be convinced to be a convert from chicken thigh to chicken breast!
5 June 2021 dinner – A simple hot pot with two choices of soup – 1) anchovies + prawn shells and 2) Jjamppong (Korean spicy seafood soup)
14 June 2021 dinner ~ Jjimdak (ė°œë‹­, Korean braised chicken)

No. of times viewed = 39

3rd Veggie Box (Chemical & Pesticide-Free) From Farm To Home Delivery

My third chemical and pesticide-free veggie box from Farm To Home Delivery arrived! I always look forward to our weekly veggie box and the mil is even more excited that I am 😆

I ordered the usual favorites — Napa cabbage, siew pak choy, choy sum, ice plant, broccoli, French beans, cherry tomatoes, sweet potatoes, radish and Coral lettuce. They were all very fresh, just like the past few batches. The seller will inform me if the veggie that I’ve chosen is not fresh, which can be replaced with another type of veggie.
Japanese sweet potatoes are always a staple in our home. They’re highly nutritious and are a great source of antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals. Sweet potatoes support healthy eyes, promote gut health, may support immune system, brain health and may reduce the risk of cancer.

In case you’re wondering if we managed to finish so much veggies in a week, yes we did! Thus, it’s a breeze to order online from Farm To Home Delivery. You can choose to pay monthly, quarterly and 6-monthly and don’t have to worry about buying vegetables anymore for the rest of the month(s). I select our favorite veggies online and the veggie box will be delivered to me weekly. It’s so easy, fuss-free and safer than going to the market and supermarket in light of the surging Covid cases and the veggies are pesticide and chemical free. Win-win for us.

This week, besides stir-frying and blanching the green veggies, our in-house chef served the veggies to us in a variety of appetizing ways.

Soul satisfying salad composed of coral lettuce, ice plant and sweet juicy cherry tomatoes, topped with perfectly creamy julienned crab sticks, carrots and cucumbers in Japanese mayo. Perfectly crisp and juicy ice plant. Fresh coral lettuce with no black edges. It’s hard to say no to a bowl of the deliciousness no matter how much you dislike raw veggies, isn’t it?
Pan grilled chicken breast bulgogi and onions wrapped with cool, crisp and super fresh coral lettuce that’s pesticide and chemical-free. I’m training our girls to eat chicken breast, which has lower calories and it’s been great so far, with Sherilyn’s superb cooking. We use chicken breast for making char siu, Bulgogi, making soups and pan/deep-frying.
Breakfast of egg omelette oozing with melted cheese, served with juicy and cool ice plant and sweet cherry toms.

We used the radish for making pork bone soup, Napa cabbage for ‘luo hon jai’ and had boiled + grilled sweet potatoes for lunch earlier this week. I’m looking forward to receiving my next veggie box from Farm To Home Delivery next week!

Stay safe and stay at home my dear friends. We must break the chain of infection and infectivity rate from further surging. Today’s cases surpassed 8k!! If we don’t do our part by staying safe at home, the cases will even surpass 10k by next month!

No. of times viewed = 43

HEALTH FREAK MOMMY