A friend has just found out that she's 8 weeks pregnant and I'm so excited. Hehee! Mostly because I'm not the one experiencing the morning sickness.
She asked how I handled my morning sickness (answer: very poorly) and I told her about my 'yang' diet which worked somewhat when I was pregnant with Farah. Then I thought about those pregnant days and started reading the blog entries I wrote when I was pregnant. Reading that took a loooooong time and suddenly it's 1.34am.
Honestly? There's no point to this entry. Just me being excited that someone I know is pregnant. :D
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Sabah
When I was doing my Sabah research, I depended a lot on various blogs. Now, I'm returning the favour by writing about our Sabah trip hoping that it might benefit those who plan to go there.
Getting there
We took an AirAsia flight (but, of course); I'm not insane enough to pay through my nose for a full-service flight. AirAsia is the reason why we've been flying to and from KL repeatedly over the past few years. Hooray to AirAsia! These are some tips on traveling with AirAsia (can't say much about Jetstar cos I've only taken it twice and I've never taken Tiger).
1. Book your tickets very very early. TheHusband will snap up tickets whenever there are promotions because it's really cheap then. Our tickets to Sabah cost slightly more than $300 for 2 adults, 1 child (with a seat) and 1 child below 2 years old (no seats).
2. Book your seats online. AirAsia will auto-assign seats. That means, if you do not wish to pay more to select your seats, they will just dump you anywhere on the plane (not likely to be in the cargo area, though; or the cockpit). My sister found out the hard way when we were on our way to Sabah. She, her husband and her 4 children (aged 7, 5, 3 & 2) were seated in different sections of the plane, far far away from one another. Eventually, they managed to swop seats with enough people such that she managed to sit with 2 of her kids and her husband with the other two. Nightmare, or what?
So, on the way back, we booked our seats online so all of us were seated together. It costs slightly more than $2 per seat. It's a small amount but worth it.
3. Book your meals online, more than 48 hours before your departure time. With kids, it is always best to keep them occupied so it's best to have varied activities while on board. Having a meal keeps them occupied for a good 20-30 minutes. While you can always buy your meals on board the plane, the meal that you want may not be available. And worse, should everyone else decide to buy a meal, they will soon run out of supplies and you will not have anything to eat. Whiny, cranky little kids may detect the delicious smell of food wafting through the air and will demand to be fed. That is a possibility too frightening to even consider.
---
And now, on to Sabah.
Our itinerary was planned based on our online research on Sabah. We reached Sabah not really sure how to get to places 2 hours away from our hotel but we were quite sure that we did not want to engage a tour company that would charge RM200 per person for the trip there. We were lucky that the driver of the taxi my sister took offered his services to take us around town. Initially he quoted a price of RM500 to take our group (4 adults and 6 kids) to those far-flung places. He gave us a good discount later. :D
Poring Hot Springs/Kinabalu Park
We left our hotel at 7am in the morning. 7am in Sabah is like 8am in Singapore because the sun rises about an hour earlier in that part of the world. (This means that our beloved kids whose body clocks seem to be ruled by the sun were already up and about and raising a ruckus by 6.30am in the morning. I miss my sleep.)
The journey was a loooooooong one and we stopped along the way to stretch our legs and to throw away plastic bags filled with vomit. Yes, yucks. 3 of the kids (one of whom is mine) got bad carsickness and we, ill-prepared parents that we were, did not have enough plastic bags. So, bring plenty of plastic bags and wet wipes on your way up. And a change of clothing too if your kid plans to throw up on his T-shirt.
Besides the hot springs at Poring, there's also a butterfly park, a nature trail and something else there. But we went only to the hot springs. Honestly, I felt that the hot spring was a bit of a letdown. I know that I won't go back there. There's a swimming pool with a slide but the water is not from the hot spring. Kids being kids, they die die wanted to go to the swimming pool which I felt was not worth the time. And us being obliging parents on a holiday, let them have their way.
Now the hot spring. The management of this place built 'bathtubs' so you can get into a tub and soak in. There are at least 20 tubs or so. (I didn't count. Just an estimate.) You can turn on the tap to get the ultra hot water which is from the hot spring or you can mix it with cooled water (normal tap water?). Unfortunately, we were there on a Saturday and there were just way too many people there. A lot of the local Sabahans picnicked there and their idea of a picnic will put us to shame. They bring pots of food, cartons of bottled water, baskets of clothes and towels to change into, plates and cutleries and everything you can possibly think you need for a picnic.
If you are thinking of coming here, do not come here on a weekend. Weekends are best spent traipsing around town visiting one pasar malam (which also happens in the daytime) after another.
After Poring (where we spent a much longer time than we should) , we had our lunch at a warong (something like a coffee shop) in Ranau, along the way to Kinabalu Park. 3 wedding processions took place while we were having our lunch. It's a bit different from what you have in Singapore or West Malaysia. In Sabah, you have a truck as the lead vehicle and in the truck you have some people playing gongs and other musical instruments. There might be another truck with a man capturing the events with his video camera following behind. And finally, the bridal car. It's a pity that I couldn't see what the bride and groom were wearing.
The kids were tired and cranky but we insisted on going to Kinabalu Park anyway. If we don't, when will we ever get to go there again. It was such a pity that we had too little time there! It was about 3.15pm but the weather was so great. The sun was shining but it was nice and cool, perhaps about 22-23 degrees Celsius. And our driver said that it would be even cooler on a cloudy day. It wasn't humid at all. The great weather and the ice cream we had there took away the last of the kids' crankiness. It was perfect weather and a perfect situation for a short trekking expedition and I still regret not having enough time for Kinabalu Park.
Entry to Poring hot springs is RM10 for non-Malaysians and RM3 for Malaysians.
The same ticket can be used to enter Kinabalu Park so don't throw your ticket stubs after you're done with Poring. (If you're wondering why I put the price for Malaysians here...)
Mamutik Island
Mamutik Island is part of the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. There are 4 other islands that make up this TAR National Park. All along, we intended to go Manukan Island but when we were at the counter buying tickets for the boat ride, we decided to go Mamutik instead because the fella selling the tickets said that Mamutik has fewer visitors than Manukan. And we could snorkel in Mamutik just as we had planned to do at Manukan. (By the way, Mamutik also has public toilets and a cafe selling food. Somehow, reading all those other blogs gave me the impression that only Manukan is tourist-friendly whereas the other islands are completely undeveloped. So wrong. All the islands have facilities like toilets and cafes. I read that food on the island was very pricey so we bought mee goreng from a coffee shop before setting off.)
We went to Mamutik from Sutera Harbour jetty. The boat ride (return trip) from this jetty is RM50. If we had taken the boat from Jesselton Point jetty, it would have been RM23. But, safety has no price tag and we chose the former because they are equipped with kids-size life jackets.
The trip to the island on the boat was a nightmare for my 2 not-very-rugged princesses. Farah hates her life vest. Huda was holding on to her father for dear life. These two kids aside, I thought the boat ride was very thrilling and enjoyable. It was, to sum it up succinctly, very shiok.
When we got there, our boatman picked a spot for us. Wah! I'm impressed with the service. It was a good spot: shady, near the beach. Then he hawked the services he provides. Parasaling is one (RM90/person). You can choose to go up alone, have a partner or make it a threesome. TheHusband decided to go for it and asked me to come along. But Farah had to be brought along while Huda was left with my sister's family. Initially, the idea was for me to just stay in the boat with Farah. But, when I saw how completely not frightening it was, I decided to go for it too.
Me - No pictures of me high up in the air because TheHusband was recording the entire thing on video.
Getting there
We took an AirAsia flight (but, of course); I'm not insane enough to pay through my nose for a full-service flight. AirAsia is the reason why we've been flying to and from KL repeatedly over the past few years. Hooray to AirAsia! These are some tips on traveling with AirAsia (can't say much about Jetstar cos I've only taken it twice and I've never taken Tiger).
1. Book your tickets very very early. TheHusband will snap up tickets whenever there are promotions because it's really cheap then. Our tickets to Sabah cost slightly more than $300 for 2 adults, 1 child (with a seat) and 1 child below 2 years old (no seats).
2. Book your seats online. AirAsia will auto-assign seats. That means, if you do not wish to pay more to select your seats, they will just dump you anywhere on the plane (not likely to be in the cargo area, though; or the cockpit). My sister found out the hard way when we were on our way to Sabah. She, her husband and her 4 children (aged 7, 5, 3 & 2) were seated in different sections of the plane, far far away from one another. Eventually, they managed to swop seats with enough people such that she managed to sit with 2 of her kids and her husband with the other two. Nightmare, or what?
So, on the way back, we booked our seats online so all of us were seated together. It costs slightly more than $2 per seat. It's a small amount but worth it.
3. Book your meals online, more than 48 hours before your departure time. With kids, it is always best to keep them occupied so it's best to have varied activities while on board. Having a meal keeps them occupied for a good 20-30 minutes. While you can always buy your meals on board the plane, the meal that you want may not be available. And worse, should everyone else decide to buy a meal, they will soon run out of supplies and you will not have anything to eat. Whiny, cranky little kids may detect the delicious smell of food wafting through the air and will demand to be fed. That is a possibility too frightening to even consider.
---
And now, on to Sabah.
Our itinerary was planned based on our online research on Sabah. We reached Sabah not really sure how to get to places 2 hours away from our hotel but we were quite sure that we did not want to engage a tour company that would charge RM200 per person for the trip there. We were lucky that the driver of the taxi my sister took offered his services to take us around town. Initially he quoted a price of RM500 to take our group (4 adults and 6 kids) to those far-flung places. He gave us a good discount later. :D
Poring Hot Springs/Kinabalu Park
We left our hotel at 7am in the morning. 7am in Sabah is like 8am in Singapore because the sun rises about an hour earlier in that part of the world. (This means that our beloved kids whose body clocks seem to be ruled by the sun were already up and about and raising a ruckus by 6.30am in the morning. I miss my sleep.)
The journey was a loooooooong one and we stopped along the way to stretch our legs and to throw away plastic bags filled with vomit. Yes, yucks. 3 of the kids (one of whom is mine) got bad carsickness and we, ill-prepared parents that we were, did not have enough plastic bags. So, bring plenty of plastic bags and wet wipes on your way up. And a change of clothing too if your kid plans to throw up on his T-shirt.
According to our driver, out of 10 times he's been here, he only managed to see the summit of Mount Kinabalu 3 times. We were lucky that we got here early otherwise we'll only have clouds in the background.
Besides the hot springs at Poring, there's also a butterfly park, a nature trail and something else there. But we went only to the hot springs. Honestly, I felt that the hot spring was a bit of a letdown. I know that I won't go back there. There's a swimming pool with a slide but the water is not from the hot spring. Kids being kids, they die die wanted to go to the swimming pool which I felt was not worth the time. And us being obliging parents on a holiday, let them have their way.
Now the hot spring. The management of this place built 'bathtubs' so you can get into a tub and soak in. There are at least 20 tubs or so. (I didn't count. Just an estimate.) You can turn on the tap to get the ultra hot water which is from the hot spring or you can mix it with cooled water (normal tap water?). Unfortunately, we were there on a Saturday and there were just way too many people there. A lot of the local Sabahans picnicked there and their idea of a picnic will put us to shame. They bring pots of food, cartons of bottled water, baskets of clothes and towels to change into, plates and cutleries and everything you can possibly think you need for a picnic.
If you are thinking of coming here, do not come here on a weekend. Weekends are best spent traipsing around town visiting one pasar malam (which also happens in the daytime) after another.
After Poring (where we spent a much longer time than we should) , we had our lunch at a warong (something like a coffee shop) in Ranau, along the way to Kinabalu Park. 3 wedding processions took place while we were having our lunch. It's a bit different from what you have in Singapore or West Malaysia. In Sabah, you have a truck as the lead vehicle and in the truck you have some people playing gongs and other musical instruments. There might be another truck with a man capturing the events with his video camera following behind. And finally, the bridal car. It's a pity that I couldn't see what the bride and groom were wearing.
The kids were tired and cranky but we insisted on going to Kinabalu Park anyway. If we don't, when will we ever get to go there again. It was such a pity that we had too little time there! It was about 3.15pm but the weather was so great. The sun was shining but it was nice and cool, perhaps about 22-23 degrees Celsius. And our driver said that it would be even cooler on a cloudy day. It wasn't humid at all. The great weather and the ice cream we had there took away the last of the kids' crankiness. It was perfect weather and a perfect situation for a short trekking expedition and I still regret not having enough time for Kinabalu Park.
Entry to Poring hot springs is RM10 for non-Malaysians and RM3 for Malaysians.
The same ticket can be used to enter Kinabalu Park so don't throw your ticket stubs after you're done with Poring. (If you're wondering why I put the price for Malaysians here...)
Mamutik Island
Mamutik Island is part of the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. There are 4 other islands that make up this TAR National Park. All along, we intended to go Manukan Island but when we were at the counter buying tickets for the boat ride, we decided to go Mamutik instead because the fella selling the tickets said that Mamutik has fewer visitors than Manukan. And we could snorkel in Mamutik just as we had planned to do at Manukan. (By the way, Mamutik also has public toilets and a cafe selling food. Somehow, reading all those other blogs gave me the impression that only Manukan is tourist-friendly whereas the other islands are completely undeveloped. So wrong. All the islands have facilities like toilets and cafes. I read that food on the island was very pricey so we bought mee goreng from a coffee shop before setting off.)
We went to Mamutik from Sutera Harbour jetty. The boat ride (return trip) from this jetty is RM50. If we had taken the boat from Jesselton Point jetty, it would have been RM23. But, safety has no price tag and we chose the former because they are equipped with kids-size life jackets.
The trip to the island on the boat was a nightmare for my 2 not-very-rugged princesses. Farah hates her life vest. Huda was holding on to her father for dear life. These two kids aside, I thought the boat ride was very thrilling and enjoyable. It was, to sum it up succinctly, very shiok.
When we got there, our boatman picked a spot for us. Wah! I'm impressed with the service. It was a good spot: shady, near the beach. Then he hawked the services he provides. Parasaling is one (RM90/person). You can choose to go up alone, have a partner or make it a threesome. TheHusband decided to go for it and asked me to come along. But Farah had to be brought along while Huda was left with my sister's family. Initially, the idea was for me to just stay in the boat with Farah. But, when I saw how completely not frightening it was, I decided to go for it too.
Me - No pictures of me high up in the air because TheHusband was recording the entire thing on video.
According to TheHusband who parasailed in Phuket, he found this one nowhere near as thrilling as the one he did in Phuket. In Phuket, it was really high but over in Sabah, it was pretty low. For me, it was a good introduction to parasailing. It allowed me a great view of the islands around Sabah and made me appreciate the magnificence of the entire place. Subhanallah!
TheHusband, my sister, her husband and 2 of her kids snorkeled. (Snorkelling gear can be rented at the jetty when you purchase tickets to the island. Rental is slightly less than RM40. It's much cheaper to rent at the jetty than on the island itself.) There were plenty of corals to look at and lots and lots of fish too. We brought bread to feed the fish (based on blog-research) but as of September this year, they have banned fish-feeding. So, leave your bread at home (or in the hotel room).
Now, the way back. By 12.40pm, we decided to go back because we could see dark clouds gathering. Unfortunately, by the time we packed up and got to the jetty, it started pouring. Thankfully, we got to a shelter in time and managed to stay away from the worst of the storm. By 3pm, the boatman told us that it was safe to go across to the mainland although it was still drizzling slightly. I expected choppy waters but it wasn't any different from the ride to the island. However, the speed that the boat was traveling meant that the rain was pelting down real hard on our faces. It felt like being attacked by little grains of sand. It was a fun ride, nevertheless.
Note to self: Don't forget to bring your ponchos wherever you go. We were all wet and Farah caught a cold as a result. (Which is frightening because she's asthmatic and a simple cold can very easily degenerate into an asthma attack)
Gaya Market
Gaya Market happens from 6am to about 12 noon on Sundays. Early in the morning (6am), my sister and I left our sleeping kids with The Men and we took off to Gaya Market. Over here, you'll find lots and lots of pearl accessories. I've always thought of getting a pearl necklace BUT I DID NOT!!! I don't understand why I didn't. Sigh sigh sigh. Maybe it's because I'm not the type to spend on accessories and the thought of spending more than RM100 for a string of pearls sounds too ridiculous to my ears. Now I regret lor. I also regret not getting more brooches and bracelets and bangles. I hate this. Next time, don't think. Just buy.
Back to Gaya market. There are also stalls selling herbs, plants, CDs, souvenir stuff like keychains, pets (yes, pets. rooster, dogs, rabbits, hamsters etc). It was a bit like a very very mini Chatuchak in terms of variety.
Handicraft Market/Filipino Market
The handicraft market is also known as the Filipino market for reasons I don't know. It's just diagonally opposite Le Meridien hotel. It sells touristy stuff like strings of pearls (gaaah! dont ask me why I didnt get them!), brooches, bracelets, musical instruments - the guitar we bought for RM13 makes pretty good music,
What I find so appealing about this market is the lack of heat and humidity. If you've been to the old Geylang market, you would understandably expect the place to be extremely uncomfortable, what with all the shops packed close together and not even enough room for a stroller to pass through some aisles. Perhaps it's because we were there early in the morning (around 10-ish) or perhaps it's the sea breeze. Whatever it is, it's a cool place to be.
Pasar Malam opposite Le Meridien
This pasar malam will magically sprout late in the evening and in the morning, it will all disappear. On weekends, the tents seem to be up all day and all night long.
At night, you can find stuff you'll find at a wet market on one side and on the other side, barbecued seafood. There was a HUGE lobster going for RM190 (or was it RM170, or perhaps RM120?). It was huge. Unfortunately, the person before us snapped up the lobster. The various stalls display all their seafood and you choose which ones you wish to have grilled. Some stalls season their seafood but some don't. It's a case of hit and miss. We bought a couple of fish and some are barbecued without any seasoning so it tastes quite plain. What enhances the taste is the sauce. But again, this is a hit and miss. Sometimes, you might pick a stall which has nice sauce. Sometimes, the sauce is just average. Chicken wings are also available and it seems like all the stalls selling wings have got their formula right and the chicken wings are delicious. Chicken wings went for RM6 for 5 pieces while the grilled seabass we bought was RM13 for a large one.
Shopping Centres
There are a few shopping centres around Kota Kinabalu. Suria Sabah is one that we visited but really, don't waste your time there. (Note: This place has nothing to do with my friends Suriah and Sabar who are married to each other.) As of December 2010, most of the shops are not open yet. However, the shops may be open a few months from now. So it might be a happening place then.
Another shopping centre we visited is 1Borneo. It's huge but we only had 2 hours. So we didn't get to look around much. We went to this place at 7 in the evening and the roads were quite dark by then. There were 3 motorcyclists whizzing past our taxi. My sister noticed that one of the motorcyclists was standing while riding (instead of resting his bums on the seat), as if trying to do a wheelie. True enough, a few short moments later, our taxi overtook the bike and the fella was doing a wheelie. All of us in the taxi got very excited. The motorcyclists amused us some more by doing more wheelies. One of them even did a wheelie with both his legs on the same side of the bike. Xiao liao. But, last we checked, they were still alive. (All those lousy and noisy mat motors who could only make Os at carparks, go pick up some skills from the mat rempets in Sabah.)
Anyway, 1Borneo is huge and there's 1Borneo Seaworld which I think, is similar to Bangkok's Ocean World. I'm not too sure if this is open or not. Most internet postings suggest that it is not but once it is, it should be an interesting place to visit.
Near our hotel, there is a shopping centre called Centrepoint. It has a supermarket, which is of great importance when you are traveling with kids.
Getting Around
After my brother-in-law got the number of the taxi driver that they took from the airport to the hotel, we just depended on him for all our taxi needs. He has a son who also drives a taxi so it would either be him or his son who would drive us to places. However, for short distances, we just hailed a taxi by the road. It seems like they all charged a flat RM10 fare for tourists. Most of the time, when we needed to hail a taxi, we *really* needed one so we didn't haggle. Otherwise, getting around Kota Kinabalu CBD area can be done on foot.
Other Places That We Didn't Visit
Rafting:
My friend whom I bumped into has 2 kids, a 3yo and a 4yo. They planned to go white-water rafting and their guide told them that it's okay for their kids. But when we did our online research, we found that there are 2 white-water rafting areas - Kiulu and Padas. Kiulu accepts children above 5 while Padas does not allow children under 12 to go rafting. For a while, I thought my friend had a lobang for another rafting area that had gentler waters. I met her again after she was done with the rafting and found out that it was at Kiulu. Her 3-year-old did not enjoy it and she had her heart in her mouth the entire time.
Lahad Datu:
When my neighbour found out that we were going to Sabah, he and his wife strongly recommended that we go to Lahad Datu. They said that the beach is pristine white and the water is so clear. Unfortunately, Lahad Datu is a 6-hour drive from Kota Kinabalu. That's like Singapore to Malacca before the North-South highway was built. (Imagine the level of carsickness!)
Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary:
We decided to give this a miss as we have seen proboscis monkeys at the zoo a number of times. However, the online guides suggested that seeing them in their natural habitat is a completely different experience.
Cultural Village:
I have always been interested in the way tribal groups lead their lives but in both Sabah and Sarawak, I didn't visit the cultural village. I did not even consider visiting these cultural villages. Partly because I'm not too sure how authentic the cultural villages are and partly because I think there's plenty to learn from TV documentaries. But, I can't really tell how authentic the cultural village experience is considering I've never been to one.
A Return Trip?
TheHusband and I both want to go back to Sabah for another trip. But, this trip to Sabah made me realise that there's so much of Malaysia and Indonesia I haven't seen. So, maybe we'll come back or maybe, we'll check out where else AirAsia flies to and plan our next trip there.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Sabah Episode 1
(Yati, a huge thank you for all the Sabah tips!)
Here we are in Sabah! I'm very very impressed with the size of the hotel room. We're staying at Le Meridien Hotel and our room has a spectacular view of the South China Sea.
The room is more than 50 sq m. That's more than half the size of our teeny eeny weeny little flat in our homeland.
It helps that my sister's family is in the adjoining room. When the kids have gone to bed, we all took turns going to the pasar malam downstairs. That was the first time TheHusband and I have gone out on our own in years. The last time was when I was pregnant with Farah. :D
So far, our impression of Sabah has been very positive. It feels authentic. The food is great and the pasar malam just in front of our hotel has great (and cheap) seafood. That will be our dinner tonight.
We've bumped into some friends here. Apparently Sabah is the choice destination for a number of people who choose to do regional holidays.
We're looking forward to a walk through Kinabalu Park, a trip to a hot spring, snorkeling (well, not me; I will just enjoy the view from the beach), possibly some kind of rafting and generally lots and lots of fun with all the additional kids.
Here we are in Sabah! I'm very very impressed with the size of the hotel room. We're staying at Le Meridien Hotel and our room has a spectacular view of the South China Sea.
The room is more than 50 sq m. That's more than half the size of our teeny eeny weeny little flat in our homeland.
It helps that my sister's family is in the adjoining room. When the kids have gone to bed, we all took turns going to the pasar malam downstairs. That was the first time TheHusband and I have gone out on our own in years. The last time was when I was pregnant with Farah. :D
So far, our impression of Sabah has been very positive. It feels authentic. The food is great and the pasar malam just in front of our hotel has great (and cheap) seafood. That will be our dinner tonight.
We've bumped into some friends here. Apparently Sabah is the choice destination for a number of people who choose to do regional holidays.
We're looking forward to a walk through Kinabalu Park, a trip to a hot spring, snorkeling (well, not me; I will just enjoy the view from the beach), possibly some kind of rafting and generally lots and lots of fun with all the additional kids.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
12 December
1. 12 December! All my civil servant friends have been waiting for this day to see a 5-figure sum in their bank accounts but oh no, not me. I am just a lowly civil servant on unpaid leave.
2. Guess what I had just now for dinner? Mee Goreng Mama. Then I remembered that I swore off MGM (that's my affectionate nickname for my all-time favourite food) just last week. But, well, the stomach had a mind of its own and insisted on MGM. Of course, now, I can't sleep because my stomach is all bloated. I'm not sure when I started developing this reaction to MGM. When I was a poor little girl growing up in a large household, treats meant eating out at hawker centres. I would always order MGM (I don't remember ordering anything else). Sometimes, my father would come back late and around 10-ish, he'd call home and ask if we were still up. If we were, he would come back with a few packs of MGM. See? MGM is such a great part of my life. How then is it possible for my body to react this way when I eat MGM? Huuuuaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhh!
3. My bloated tummy makes me look like I'm 4 months pregnant. Sucking it in does not completely flatten the tummy. Despite what I make myself out to be, I'm a bit vain and I cant stand seeing my bloated self in the mirror so when I'm in front of the mirror, I normally suck in my tummy.
4. Talking about pregnancy - one of the few things I enjoy about being pregnant is that I have an extremely good reason to have a tummy and I dont have to control what I eat (the way I do when I'm not pregnant) just so that the tummy wont show. Then again, when I'm pregnant, I have zero appetite and can't keep much in my tummy. All the food I eat will be jostling among themselves to see who can come out first.
5. I had a great time meeting old friends in the past 2 weeks! I love it! I'm gonna catch up with a couple more friends in the coming weeks. Hoooray!
----------------------------
Enough about me already!
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About the kids now...
1. Farah and Huda are so lovable. At times (must put disclaimer). Say, I scold A and A cries. B will go to A and hug A. Cute. Both of them do it to each other as long as the person who made them cry is not one of them. Of course, if Farah made Huda cry, both would refuse to hug the other. It only works if they have a common enemy.
Just now, we were late for our dentist appointment so TheHusband and Huda went up to the waiting area to register first. I took some time with Farah (who is at this point, keen on inspecting every single thing around her). Throughout the short journey to the third floor where the dentist is, Farah kept on asking, "Ne Ayah? (Mana ayah? Where's Ayah?) Ne Tatak Tuta? (Mana Kakak Huda? Where's Kakak Huda?)"
Finally, we reached the third floor. The moment she saw her Ayah and Kakak Huda, she screamed out for them. Huda ran to her and they hugged each other, as if they have not seen each other for days.
2. And then, there are exasperating moments because Farah dearest has entered the Terrifying Twos stage although she's not 2 yet. NO is not an answer she wants to hear. Even if it's couched in the most delicate of phrases, it's still not pleasant to her ears. She will respond this way:
a. pick a spot on the floor and lie down
b i. wail
b ii. hit the floor repeatedly with her arms and legs
b iii. roll around
b iv. arch her back; straighten it again
b v. wail (oh, I've mentioned it already?)
(b i - b v happen simultaneously)
This happens on a regular basis. And she doesn't care where we are. It has happened in friends' homes, in buses (she was strapped in her baby carrier so her movements were limited), in her stroller (strapped in, so limited movements), everywhere.
I normally leave her alone when this happens. Sometimes, however, she chooses to display her vocal prowess and physical strength in unsafe places such as inside the toilet. So, in such situations, I'll throw her inside her playpen so that she can release her frustration (I'm simply using polite phrases here) in a safe place.
I read various literature on handling tantrums and most agree that waiting it out is a pretty standard practice. However, I realised recently that I'm also supposed to validate her concerns. That, apparently, is the missing component in my tantrum management standard operating procedure. So I've been telling her in my ultra calm voice when she is exercising her vocal chords things like, "You are feeling upset because I do not want you jumping down from the sofa while holding on to my bunch of keys which you have taken from my bag without my permission. Later, when you are feeling better, we'll do something which I feel is safer and more age-appropriate."
I'm still new to this validating exercise. At this point, it sounds like a very wimpy thing to do. Parents in the past would just smack their children hard and that's that. But living in this new-age world, we need new-age tactics to handle children.
It also seems like this validating thing is good for future use. I read this book on child-raising recently (I think it's called 'You Can't Duct-Tape Your Child') and when you have pre-teens and angsty teenagers, validating their concerns will help in keeping the lines of communication open. So, from now til then, I better work harder on the validating. It will be some time before I truly believe in it, though. It's a good thing that I'm starting when these kids are impressionable and believe everything that I say.
-
I'm stopping here for now because it's almost 1am and I must force myself to sleep despite the bloatedness I'm feeling. I'm gonna make sure that the next entry I write will be kid-centric. Tataaaa!
2. Guess what I had just now for dinner? Mee Goreng Mama. Then I remembered that I swore off MGM (that's my affectionate nickname for my all-time favourite food) just last week. But, well, the stomach had a mind of its own and insisted on MGM. Of course, now, I can't sleep because my stomach is all bloated. I'm not sure when I started developing this reaction to MGM. When I was a poor little girl growing up in a large household, treats meant eating out at hawker centres. I would always order MGM (I don't remember ordering anything else). Sometimes, my father would come back late and around 10-ish, he'd call home and ask if we were still up. If we were, he would come back with a few packs of MGM. See? MGM is such a great part of my life. How then is it possible for my body to react this way when I eat MGM? Huuuuaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhh!
3. My bloated tummy makes me look like I'm 4 months pregnant. Sucking it in does not completely flatten the tummy. Despite what I make myself out to be, I'm a bit vain and I cant stand seeing my bloated self in the mirror so when I'm in front of the mirror, I normally suck in my tummy.
4. Talking about pregnancy - one of the few things I enjoy about being pregnant is that I have an extremely good reason to have a tummy and I dont have to control what I eat (the way I do when I'm not pregnant) just so that the tummy wont show. Then again, when I'm pregnant, I have zero appetite and can't keep much in my tummy. All the food I eat will be jostling among themselves to see who can come out first.
5. I had a great time meeting old friends in the past 2 weeks! I love it! I'm gonna catch up with a couple more friends in the coming weeks. Hoooray!
----------------------------
Enough about me already!
----------------------------
About the kids now...
1. Farah and Huda are so lovable. At times (must put disclaimer). Say, I scold A and A cries. B will go to A and hug A. Cute. Both of them do it to each other as long as the person who made them cry is not one of them. Of course, if Farah made Huda cry, both would refuse to hug the other. It only works if they have a common enemy.
Just now, we were late for our dentist appointment so TheHusband and Huda went up to the waiting area to register first. I took some time with Farah (who is at this point, keen on inspecting every single thing around her). Throughout the short journey to the third floor where the dentist is, Farah kept on asking, "Ne Ayah? (Mana ayah? Where's Ayah?) Ne Tatak Tuta? (Mana Kakak Huda? Where's Kakak Huda?)"
Finally, we reached the third floor. The moment she saw her Ayah and Kakak Huda, she screamed out for them. Huda ran to her and they hugged each other, as if they have not seen each other for days.
2. And then, there are exasperating moments because Farah dearest has entered the Terrifying Twos stage although she's not 2 yet. NO is not an answer she wants to hear. Even if it's couched in the most delicate of phrases, it's still not pleasant to her ears. She will respond this way:
a. pick a spot on the floor and lie down
b i. wail
b ii. hit the floor repeatedly with her arms and legs
b iii. roll around
b iv. arch her back; straighten it again
b v. wail (oh, I've mentioned it already?)
(b i - b v happen simultaneously)
This happens on a regular basis. And she doesn't care where we are. It has happened in friends' homes, in buses (she was strapped in her baby carrier so her movements were limited), in her stroller (strapped in, so limited movements), everywhere.
I normally leave her alone when this happens. Sometimes, however, she chooses to display her vocal prowess and physical strength in unsafe places such as inside the toilet. So, in such situations, I'll throw her inside her playpen so that she can release her frustration (I'm simply using polite phrases here) in a safe place.
I read various literature on handling tantrums and most agree that waiting it out is a pretty standard practice. However, I realised recently that I'm also supposed to validate her concerns. That, apparently, is the missing component in my tantrum management standard operating procedure. So I've been telling her in my ultra calm voice when she is exercising her vocal chords things like, "You are feeling upset because I do not want you jumping down from the sofa while holding on to my bunch of keys which you have taken from my bag without my permission. Later, when you are feeling better, we'll do something which I feel is safer and more age-appropriate."
I'm still new to this validating exercise. At this point, it sounds like a very wimpy thing to do. Parents in the past would just smack their children hard and that's that. But living in this new-age world, we need new-age tactics to handle children.
It also seems like this validating thing is good for future use. I read this book on child-raising recently (I think it's called 'You Can't Duct-Tape Your Child') and when you have pre-teens and angsty teenagers, validating their concerns will help in keeping the lines of communication open. So, from now til then, I better work harder on the validating. It will be some time before I truly believe in it, though. It's a good thing that I'm starting when these kids are impressionable and believe everything that I say.
-
I'm stopping here for now because it's almost 1am and I must force myself to sleep despite the bloatedness I'm feeling. I'm gonna make sure that the next entry I write will be kid-centric. Tataaaa!
Monday, December 06, 2010
6 December
Mustafa Centre
1. I just came back from Mustafa, minus TheHusband and Kids. *gleeful* My parents wanted to go there and TheHusband and I thought it was such a wonderful idea. We planned to tag along. Unfortunately, the kids were tired. It was Sunday after all, the day when the kids meet up with their cousins and play x 1 000 000 and forgot all about their nap time. So TheHusband, knowing that I die-die wanted to get this thing called Pink Himalayan salt from Mustafa, stayed home with the kids and made them sleep, while I go gallivanting abouttown Mustafa.
Vroom vroom
2. Somehow, being away from little charges that require my urgent attention all the time, I started thinking about my driving test. (Somewhat unrelated: I realise I'm gonna have a problem with babysitting when I go for lessons because my parents are going to be away for 2 weeks! Gaaaaaaah! I never made the connection when I booked my new test date and I'm in trouble now!)
I wondered about my panic attack during my test. I can't recall the last time I was that nervous about anything. Yes, before exams, I always got a bit jittery but once the examiner says 'Your time starts now', I'll just start writing and my anxiety went away.
In 2008 when I had my first driving test, I was nervous but again, it went away the moment I started driving. Then, I failed because for every component of the driving test, there were quite a few ticks in the section 'Failure to confirm safety' ie., all the blind spots. At that time, I just started working again after being on unpaid leave for a year and it was a stressful period for me.
So, I had this flash of insight and figured that my extreme case of anxiety during the test was caused by an absence of nerve-wracking moments in my present life. As a result, all my anxiety, instead of being spread out throughout the year, was channeled to this one moment.
In other words, to avoid this panic attack, I have to introduce many, many moments of anxiety and near-nervous-breakdowns into my life. I have slightly more than 4 weeks to do this. By the time I take the next driving test, I'll be completely unfazed. My heart will beat gently. I'll be as cool as a cucumber. (I wish.)
3. I also had this other thought.
That, even if I fail this coming test, I will get a new test date and go for it til I pass and get that license. Getting a license was my goal a long time ago but I pursued it half-heartedly. Now, I want to make sure that I'll get it, "(even) if it's the last thing I'll ever do."
Well, I hope it won't be. But I can't help quoting Gargamel because his line shows how tenacious he is. And I better channel some of that tenacity my way.
Salt
4. Pink Himalayan salt: I read in a friend's cooking blog that it makes her baked chicken taste a lot nicer and I'm a sucker for things that supposedly enhance my (very mediocre) cooking. So, that was my motivation to go to Mustafa.
Friends
5. I'm very very pleased with how December is shaping up. I've made plenty of plans to meet many old friends. (Not that my friends are old. We are as young as the skin at the back of our hands lets us pretend to be.) I've met some (friends, not old skin). Gonna meet more. But dont tell the kids my plans. They might schedule their fever and various other illnesses this month.
Skin
6. Two weeks ago, my sisters and sis-in-law were talking about their skincare regime. (I have none.) They quoted various sources and they all agreed that the single most important thing that a person must use is sunblock. The age when you start using sunblock is the age your skin will be locked in and if you are lucky, you'll be forever-that-age. (I honestly think that's a bit far-fetched but my sis-in-law has truly flawless skin and naturally rosy cheeks.)
I have been lucky to have a relatively problem-free face (occasional pimples; but none too big to cause a panic attack) but the fine lines are appearing already. The back of my hands which are routinely exposed to the sun looks like it's 42 years old. I must get that sunblock soon. In the meantime, I'm going to wear tops with extra long sleeves so the back of my hands can be covered as much as possible and I'll start pulling my tudung forward a lot more so it can also act like a sun visor.
(I actually wanted to load some pictures of the girls but our network server has gone to sleep and refused to be found by the laptop I'm using so I cant get to the pictures which are stored there.)
That means, this is goodbye. Tata!
1. I just came back from Mustafa, minus TheHusband and Kids. *gleeful* My parents wanted to go there and TheHusband and I thought it was such a wonderful idea. We planned to tag along. Unfortunately, the kids were tired. It was Sunday after all, the day when the kids meet up with their cousins and play x 1 000 000 and forgot all about their nap time. So TheHusband, knowing that I die-die wanted to get this thing called Pink Himalayan salt from Mustafa, stayed home with the kids and made them sleep, while I go gallivanting about
Vroom vroom
2. Somehow, being away from little charges that require my urgent attention all the time, I started thinking about my driving test. (Somewhat unrelated: I realise I'm gonna have a problem with babysitting when I go for lessons because my parents are going to be away for 2 weeks! Gaaaaaaah! I never made the connection when I booked my new test date and I'm in trouble now!)
I wondered about my panic attack during my test. I can't recall the last time I was that nervous about anything. Yes, before exams, I always got a bit jittery but once the examiner says 'Your time starts now', I'll just start writing and my anxiety went away.
In 2008 when I had my first driving test, I was nervous but again, it went away the moment I started driving. Then, I failed because for every component of the driving test, there were quite a few ticks in the section 'Failure to confirm safety' ie., all the blind spots. At that time, I just started working again after being on unpaid leave for a year and it was a stressful period for me.
So, I had this flash of insight and figured that my extreme case of anxiety during the test was caused by an absence of nerve-wracking moments in my present life. As a result, all my anxiety, instead of being spread out throughout the year, was channeled to this one moment.
In other words, to avoid this panic attack, I have to introduce many, many moments of anxiety and near-nervous-breakdowns into my life. I have slightly more than 4 weeks to do this. By the time I take the next driving test, I'll be completely unfazed. My heart will beat gently. I'll be as cool as a cucumber. (I wish.)
3. I also had this other thought.
That, even if I fail this coming test, I will get a new test date and go for it til I pass and get that license. Getting a license was my goal a long time ago but I pursued it half-heartedly. Now, I want to make sure that I'll get it, "(even) if it's the last thing I'll ever do."
Well, I hope it won't be. But I can't help quoting Gargamel because his line shows how tenacious he is. And I better channel some of that tenacity my way.
Salt
4. Pink Himalayan salt: I read in a friend's cooking blog that it makes her baked chicken taste a lot nicer and I'm a sucker for things that supposedly enhance my (very mediocre) cooking. So, that was my motivation to go to Mustafa.
Friends
5. I'm very very pleased with how December is shaping up. I've made plenty of plans to meet many old friends. (Not that my friends are old. We are as young as the skin at the back of our hands lets us pretend to be.) I've met some (friends, not old skin). Gonna meet more. But dont tell the kids my plans. They might schedule their fever and various other illnesses this month.
Skin
6. Two weeks ago, my sisters and sis-in-law were talking about their skincare regime. (I have none.) They quoted various sources and they all agreed that the single most important thing that a person must use is sunblock. The age when you start using sunblock is the age your skin will be locked in and if you are lucky, you'll be forever-that-age. (I honestly think that's a bit far-fetched but my sis-in-law has truly flawless skin and naturally rosy cheeks.)
I have been lucky to have a relatively problem-free face (occasional pimples; but none too big to cause a panic attack) but the fine lines are appearing already. The back of my hands which are routinely exposed to the sun looks like it's 42 years old. I must get that sunblock soon. In the meantime, I'm going to wear tops with extra long sleeves so the back of my hands can be covered as much as possible and I'll start pulling my tudung forward a lot more so it can also act like a sun visor.
(I actually wanted to load some pictures of the girls but our network server has gone to sleep and refused to be found by the laptop I'm using so I cant get to the pictures which are stored there.)
That means, this is goodbye. Tata!
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Oven Baked Fries
Description:
Farah loves fries. SIGH SIGH SIGH. And I don't like to get fries from fast-food outlets because I have no idea what goes inside the fries. That also means that I rule out the frozen fries from the supermarkets because if you look at the ingredients list, there's a whole lot of stuff that goes in there.
So I searched for a recipe for oven-baked fries which is much healthier than frying them in oil. Actually, my main concern is the frying. I hate frying because after that, I've got to mop the kitchen floor.
This recipe that I found involves some frying but not with 2 litres of oil. Just some oil and butter. And not enough of it to require a wipedown of the kitchen after that.
(Pssst. Just because I don't like fries from fast-food outlets, it does not mean that the kids don't have them.)
Ingredients:
ngredients
4 potatoes; skin removed, cut and soaked in salt water for 15 minutes
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper
Directions:
In a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat. Add butter and stir until melted. Add potatoes and toss to coat. Cook the potatoes for 10 minutes, occasionally tossing and stirring them. Transfer potatoes to a baking sheet and roast in oven at 400 degrees for another 20 minutes. Bake until potatoes are golden brown and crispy. Season with salt and pepper
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/oven-baked-steak-fries-recipe/index.html
Farah loves fries. SIGH SIGH SIGH. And I don't like to get fries from fast-food outlets because I have no idea what goes inside the fries. That also means that I rule out the frozen fries from the supermarkets because if you look at the ingredients list, there's a whole lot of stuff that goes in there.
So I searched for a recipe for oven-baked fries which is much healthier than frying them in oil. Actually, my main concern is the frying. I hate frying because after that, I've got to mop the kitchen floor.
This recipe that I found involves some frying but not with 2 litres of oil. Just some oil and butter. And not enough of it to require a wipedown of the kitchen after that.
(Pssst. Just because I don't like fries from fast-food outlets, it does not mean that the kids don't have them.)
Ingredients:
ngredients
4 potatoes; skin removed, cut and soaked in salt water for 15 minutes
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper
Directions:
In a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat. Add butter and stir until melted. Add potatoes and toss to coat. Cook the potatoes for 10 minutes, occasionally tossing and stirring them. Transfer potatoes to a baking sheet and roast in oven at 400 degrees for another 20 minutes. Bake until potatoes are golden brown and crispy. Season with salt and pepper
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/oven-baked-steak-fries-recipe/index.html
Friday, November 26, 2010
100 Books
100 Books: How Many Have We Read?
Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.
Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES.
Bold those books you've read in their entirety.
Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read only an excerpt.
Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses! Feel free to add comments too.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 1984 - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Dapne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt (Great story!)
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy (one of the most depressing books I've read)
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazu Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Total books read: 15
Books that I started to read but have yet to finish: 7
Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.
Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES.
Bold those books you've read in their entirety.
Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read only an excerpt.
Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses! Feel free to add comments too.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 1984 - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Dapne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt (Great story!)
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy (one of the most depressing books I've read)
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazu Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Total books read: 15
Books that I started to read but have yet to finish: 7
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Schoolbag
Hmmm.. Is that supposed to be one word or two?
Anyway, this is an entry that is a reflection of an idle mind. Tsk tsk.
1. I don't understand why my beloved daughter, Huda, die-die absolutely MUST get a pink bag and it die-die absolutely MUST have either Barbie/Princess/Dora on it. She needs a new schoolbag and I've been trying to get her to think outside the pink but I have not been successful at all.
The good thing is, the bag she most likely will get is gonna be cheap (read: pasar malam; copyright lawsuit waiting to happen) but I hate the boxy design and well, the pinkiness of it all.
2. Farah has a new name. She still responds to Farah but now if you ask her:
Anyone: Farah, nama sapa? Farah, what is your name? (I know that this is such a less-than-smart question.)
F: Nunumeh
Anyone: Nunumeh Binte?
F: Tan
So, now she's Nunumeh Tan. And little Miss Nunumeh Tan is awake now so that's all for today!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
iGot
No. Not a driving license. That one, I no got. Maybe I'll get it on 10 January but if I get too jittery and panicky, I may need 7 tries before getting that license. And yes, I've overcome my misery.
iPod touch is what I want to talk about. It's TheHusband's latest acquisition and with it, I have finally understood what all the fuss about the iPhone is. No wonder it's so popular. It's fast, it's sleek, it's idiot-proof. The little kids could work it out in a jiffy. Amazing. Despite all this, I still won't get an iPhone.
I've been playing Angry Birds on the iPod. It's a terribly addictive game. At first, all I wanna do is to kill all the pigs so that the next level can be unlocked. Now that everything is unlocked, I'm replaying everything to get 3 stars for each game. Apparently, Dec 11 is Angry Birds Day and flash mobs are planned all over the world. But I doubt I'll be there.
Besides the games, I like that there are lots of kids-friendly apps available. The kids have been fighting over it. H is allowed about 15 minutes of it daily. After that, it's hidden. F uses it when H is not around. But she gets stuck at the enter-passcode section and then the iPod gets disabled and she'll still be jabbing at the screen.
iPod touch is what I want to talk about. It's TheHusband's latest acquisition and with it, I have finally understood what all the fuss about the iPhone is. No wonder it's so popular. It's fast, it's sleek, it's idiot-proof. The little kids could work it out in a jiffy. Amazing. Despite all this, I still won't get an iPhone.
I've been playing Angry Birds on the iPod. It's a terribly addictive game. At first, all I wanna do is to kill all the pigs so that the next level can be unlocked. Now that everything is unlocked, I'm replaying everything to get 3 stars for each game. Apparently, Dec 11 is Angry Birds Day and flash mobs are planned all over the world. But I doubt I'll be there.
Besides the games, I like that there are lots of kids-friendly apps available. The kids have been fighting over it. H is allowed about 15 minutes of it daily. After that, it's hidden. F uses it when H is not around. But she gets stuck at the enter-passcode section and then the iPod gets disabled and she'll still be jabbing at the screen.
Forty
That's the number of points I got for my driving test. So, Yati, it is definitely very possible to fail with an auto car. Sob sob.
To get 40 points, I had to strike the kerb twice, once during parallel parking and once during vertical parking. I thought it was immediate failure so once I hit the kerb, I had somewhat given up hope. Then I hit the kerb again. Sigh sigh sigh.
I'm going to wallow in misery for half the day.
I've booked a new test date and between now til then, I must find a way to keep my nerves in check. I was shaking like a leaf from the time I entered the waiting area to the time I hit the first kerb. After that,it was a feeling of hopelessness. So very very terrible lor.
What I felt sorriest about is the time I've invested in the lessons and all the times when my father had to clear his schedule so he could babysit Farah while I go for lessons.
I think I've gotten everything off my chest. Now I will marinate in my misery for a while more.
To get 40 points, I had to strike the kerb twice, once during parallel parking and once during vertical parking. I thought it was immediate failure so once I hit the kerb, I had somewhat given up hope. Then I hit the kerb again. Sigh sigh sigh.
I'm going to wallow in misery for half the day.
I've booked a new test date and between now til then, I must find a way to keep my nerves in check. I was shaking like a leaf from the time I entered the waiting area to the time I hit the first kerb. After that,it was a feeling of hopelessness. So very very terrible lor.
What I felt sorriest about is the time I've invested in the lessons and all the times when my father had to clear his schedule so he could babysit Farah while I go for lessons.
I think I've gotten everything off my chest. Now I will marinate in my misery for a while more.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
14 November
1.
Girls having breakfast. Farah's having an issue with clothes now. She refuses to put on her t-shirt after bathtime and I am soooooo not going to fight over this. Like her sister, I'm sure that it's a phase and it'll be over soon enough.
About breakfast - what they are having in the picture is crackers with leftover spaghetti sauce spread on them, lots of mushrooms and cheese. (Thanks to H's Nursery 1 teacher for the idea.) Huda loves mushrooms and mushrooms have been making regular appearances in our meals. We even have mushroom pancakes for breakfast. I hope Farah will have a preference for something healthy too, say tomatoes or something that won't taste too strange in pancakes.
And sometimes, they make their own breakfast too.
2. 
Worms. That's how they want to be wrapped up after bathtime. It's called the worm wrap.
3.
Free Child Labour. Saturday morning, and suddenly the number of little people in my house trebled. What do you do with extra kids? You make use of them. * insert evil laugher* They seem to enjoy it tremendously, though. And the older ones even appointed themselves as Quality Control Officers.
4.
East Coast Park. I like. 
Farah was hesitant about the sand at first but she steeled herslf and overcame her hesitation. Mostly because she is at a copycat stage - she follows whatever Huda does - so if Huda can walk on the sand barefooted, so can she.
5.
Just outside our house, there is a little hill. I once aspired to walk up the hill at least once a week. That is a target but not quite realistic. In reality, we go up the hill about twice a year.
These kids wanted to go up the hill. Unfortunately, it started drizzling when we were halfway up and we had to turn back. Poor kids. Another time, perhaps. (And if the next time happens within these two months, I will hit a record - going up the hill three times this year, instead of our usual two.)
6. 
No no. These boys are not part of the Free Child Labour. Yet. They miiiiight be coming to our place early next month and then, they will be co-opted into the group. Heh heh heh.
7. 
And here's someone who seems to be enjoying hospital stays too much.
I don't understand why the English are tasked with the responsibility of caring for Farah at the hospital. How about the Scots, the Irish and the Welsh?
8. 
And finally, I managed to make kuih lopes! All thanks to Cikgu Zahra's instructions!
Saturday, November 06, 2010
6 November
1. As always, I have a lot of things to write about but I somehow avoided this multiply page. But today, after reading an article in the Life section of Straits Times, I decided that I must write now. Now. The story is the one about Nora Ephron's book. The point of the entire story is you must do what you want NOW. Because when you are old (if you don't die tomorrow, that is), you can't walk, can't see and in my case, the fingers would be too stiff to type. So, do everything now when you are young(er).
2. Part of the reason why I haven't been writing is that the laptop I'm using occasionally tries to be funny with me and will somehow deactivate the following keys: w, e, r, u & i. Today, it is much better behaved and combined with the Nora Ephron story, I'm somewhat motivated to write.
3. Now, about the kids (which this blog is primarily about). Recently, I updated my facebook status with H's nonsense:
Daughter #1, who is selectively OCD, was eating spaghetti. She often wipes her mouth on her sleeve so I have a supply of tissue paper beside her when she eats potentially-messy food.
Once, when I took her to meet a couple of friends, Murniyati noticed how she couldn't stand seeing the spaghetti sauce on the table. So, each time the sauce landed on the table, she would move her plate to cover the sauce. (Hmmm.. it seems like spaghetti is our staple diet but really, no, it's not.)
Another OCD moment of hers happened when she was about 2-ish. She just came out of the bathroom, did something wrong and was scolded. She cried. In the middle of her crying, she noticed that the corner of the mat outside the bathroom was folded. She stopped crying, straightened the bathmat and then continued crying again.
4. Asthma and Eczema - the disgusting duo that Farah has been diagnosed with: I was a bit disheartened initially but I've come to realise that it's not that bad. There are worst things out there and asthma is manageable.
I've read up a bit on it and it seems like a diet rich in fruit and vegetables is one way to keep asthma in check.
I also believe in eating the real stuff. Not fruit that has been whittled down into a capsule or a tiny little pill. I'm sure there's a very good reason why apples, oranges, pears, mangoes etc are in the shape they are in. So, I try not to be overly dependent on supplements either.
For now, what I should do is to record down diligently all episodes of her falling ill and try to look for a pattern to establish the allergen that's causing her asthma. I did this before when she was getting fever/runny nose/cough about twice a month. But, as the months went by, each of her fever/runny nose/cough episode was getting milder and with longer stretches of good health in between and I figured that she was developing better immunity. So, I stopped the recording. Then, she was hit by her most recent asthma attack. I still hate using that term. In the past, the doctors didn't want to label it as asthma because it's too alarmist an approach. So, they called it bronchialitis. But, when confronted with many wheezing episodes, it's time to call a spade a spade. So, asthma it is.
4. F is now a very feisty almost-21-month-old. She is doing well in all areas of development except in the height and weight area. But we all know that I'm resigned to fate when it comes to weight issues.
Speech: She calls her Kakak Huda, Tatak Tuta. Attempts to correct her have not been heeded. She also calls her youngest uncle Bubu although she's supposed to call him Pak Usu. When corrected, she will say Pak Usu once or twice but will still address him as Bubu. She can string together 3-word sentences and recently surprised my mother when she says ta-tih (sounds suspiciously like terima kasih - thank you) when given a biscuit.
Food: There are good days and not-so-good days. The good thing is, she is an easier person to feed. But the bad thing is, she has already started on french fries and salt.
Trans fats trans fats.. sigh.. And she likes them.. double sigh..
As long as we eat at home, she eats what I cook and that means loads of vegetables, fish and rice. On weekends when we go out, if we go somewhere that serves fries, she wants them. "Fai! Fai!" she calls out to them. Even if the fries belong to somebody two tables away. So, we get it for her but I'll wipe away as much of the salt as possible.
Play: Like most other children, she likes toys which another child is playing with. And Huda also seems to prefer whichever toy Farah is playing with. So, fights between them break out very frequently. And boy, does Farah fight; she bites and scratches. Huda has some battle scars to prove what the younger sister has done.
Despite the frequent fights, they enjoy each other's company. At bedtime (they are both sleeping on the mattress on the floor; I wish I knew their preference before we bought a bed for them), they will play and laugh together before finally falling asleep. Too much, sometimes. So, to ensure that they fall asleep quickly, I have to lie down between them to physically separate them.
5. Back to Huda: She and her cousin were talking about junk food. Being a health-conscious (well, not really) mother, I told them that they shouldn't eat too much of junk food because it is not good for them. Huda then said,
Diamond Castle is some Barbie-related rubbish. Don't ask me what it is. I'm assuming that it has something to do with Barbie being a princess and living in a castle called Diamond Castle.
6. Talking about Barbie, I will never ever buy my children Barbie dolls (both the original ones and the pirated versions). The girls once received an imitation Barbie doll and I threw it away after they've played with it for a few days (thank goodness it was of low quality so I didn't feel bad throwing it away after the arms fell off repeatedly). There are just so many things wrong with Barbie. I don't think I'm even gonna start on it now because I'll take too long and my keyboard has shown signs of retiring. (I have to press the i key a couple of times before the i appears. Most annoying.)
Okay. Gotta go now.
This entry feels somewhat constipated. I know I'm so eloquent to describe it as such :rolls eyes: but this is what I feel after reading this entry. Maybe, I'll be more coherent next entry. Here's hoping for diarrhoea in the next post!
2. Part of the reason why I haven't been writing is that the laptop I'm using occasionally tries to be funny with me and will somehow deactivate the following keys: w, e, r, u & i. Today, it is much better behaved and combined with the Nora Ephron story, I'm somewhat motivated to write.
3. Now, about the kids (which this blog is primarily about). Recently, I updated my facebook status with H's nonsense:
Daughter #1, who is selectively OCD, was eating spaghetti. She often wipes her mouth on her sleeve so I have a supply of tissue paper beside her when she eats potentially-messy food.
In between each mouthful, I saw her wiping her fork and spoon with the tissue paper. And her mouth with her sleeve.
Once, when I took her to meet a couple of friends, Murniyati noticed how she couldn't stand seeing the spaghetti sauce on the table. So, each time the sauce landed on the table, she would move her plate to cover the sauce. (Hmmm.. it seems like spaghetti is our staple diet but really, no, it's not.)
Another OCD moment of hers happened when she was about 2-ish. She just came out of the bathroom, did something wrong and was scolded. She cried. In the middle of her crying, she noticed that the corner of the mat outside the bathroom was folded. She stopped crying, straightened the bathmat and then continued crying again.
4. Asthma and Eczema - the disgusting duo that Farah has been diagnosed with: I was a bit disheartened initially but I've come to realise that it's not that bad. There are worst things out there and asthma is manageable.
I've read up a bit on it and it seems like a diet rich in fruit and vegetables is one way to keep asthma in check.
I also believe in eating the real stuff. Not fruit that has been whittled down into a capsule or a tiny little pill. I'm sure there's a very good reason why apples, oranges, pears, mangoes etc are in the shape they are in. So, I try not to be overly dependent on supplements either.
For now, what I should do is to record down diligently all episodes of her falling ill and try to look for a pattern to establish the allergen that's causing her asthma. I did this before when she was getting fever/runny nose/cough about twice a month. But, as the months went by, each of her fever/runny nose/cough episode was getting milder and with longer stretches of good health in between and I figured that she was developing better immunity. So, I stopped the recording. Then, she was hit by her most recent asthma attack. I still hate using that term. In the past, the doctors didn't want to label it as asthma because it's too alarmist an approach. So, they called it bronchialitis. But, when confronted with many wheezing episodes, it's time to call a spade a spade. So, asthma it is.
4. F is now a very feisty almost-21-month-old. She is doing well in all areas of development except in the height and weight area. But we all know that I'm resigned to fate when it comes to weight issues.
Speech: She calls her Kakak Huda, Tatak Tuta. Attempts to correct her have not been heeded. She also calls her youngest uncle Bubu although she's supposed to call him Pak Usu. When corrected, she will say Pak Usu once or twice but will still address him as Bubu. She can string together 3-word sentences and recently surprised my mother when she says ta-tih (sounds suspiciously like terima kasih - thank you) when given a biscuit.
Food: There are good days and not-so-good days. The good thing is, she is an easier person to feed. But the bad thing is, she has already started on french fries and salt.
Trans fats trans fats.. sigh.. And she likes them.. double sigh.. As long as we eat at home, she eats what I cook and that means loads of vegetables, fish and rice. On weekends when we go out, if we go somewhere that serves fries, she wants them. "Fai! Fai!" she calls out to them. Even if the fries belong to somebody two tables away. So, we get it for her but I'll wipe away as much of the salt as possible.
Play: Like most other children, she likes toys which another child is playing with. And Huda also seems to prefer whichever toy Farah is playing with. So, fights between them break out very frequently. And boy, does Farah fight; she bites and scratches. Huda has some battle scars to prove what the younger sister has done.
Despite the frequent fights, they enjoy each other's company. At bedtime (they are both sleeping on the mattress on the floor; I wish I knew their preference before we bought a bed for them), they will play and laugh together before finally falling asleep. Too much, sometimes. So, to ensure that they fall asleep quickly, I have to lie down between them to physically separate them.
5. Back to Huda: She and her cousin were talking about junk food. Being a health-conscious (well, not really) mother, I told them that they shouldn't eat too much of junk food because it is not good for them. Huda then said,
"A'ah. Tak boleh makan banyak sangat. Nanti jadi gemuk macam ayah. Ayah Huda dah tak boleh jadi princess tau."
Yes. You can't eat too much of it. Otherwise you'll be fat like my father. He can't be a princess now.
In case you are wondering, despite not being exposed to much television, this girl - thanks to all the children around her - wants to be a princess or (no! no! noooooooo!) Barbie. So, everything is about reaching that ultimate goal - to be a princess. And she thinks everyone has the same goal, regardless of gender.
This reminds me of another exchange we had:
Me: You must apply cream on your leg. You have dry skin there.
H: But I don't like cream. They make my legs oily.
Me: If you don't apply the cream, your legs will get even drier and the skin will bleed each time you scratch your legs. And then (I thought I was a genius when I said the next line) you can't be a princess if you have all these scars on your legs.
H: Never mind, I'll apply the cream when I'm living in Diamond Castle.
Yes. You can't eat too much of it. Otherwise you'll be fat like my father. He can't be a princess now.
In case you are wondering, despite not being exposed to much television, this girl - thanks to all the children around her - wants to be a princess or (no! no! noooooooo!) Barbie. So, everything is about reaching that ultimate goal - to be a princess. And she thinks everyone has the same goal, regardless of gender.
This reminds me of another exchange we had:
Me: You must apply cream on your leg. You have dry skin there.
H: But I don't like cream. They make my legs oily.
Me: If you don't apply the cream, your legs will get even drier and the skin will bleed each time you scratch your legs. And then (I thought I was a genius when I said the next line) you can't be a princess if you have all these scars on your legs.
H: Never mind, I'll apply the cream when I'm living in Diamond Castle.
Diamond Castle is some Barbie-related rubbish. Don't ask me what it is. I'm assuming that it has something to do with Barbie being a princess and living in a castle called Diamond Castle.
6. Talking about Barbie, I will never ever buy my children Barbie dolls (both the original ones and the pirated versions). The girls once received an imitation Barbie doll and I threw it away after they've played with it for a few days (thank goodness it was of low quality so I didn't feel bad throwing it away after the arms fell off repeatedly). There are just so many things wrong with Barbie. I don't think I'm even gonna start on it now because I'll take too long and my keyboard has shown signs of retiring. (I have to press the i key a couple of times before the i appears. Most annoying.)
Okay. Gotta go now.
This entry feels somewhat constipated. I know I'm so eloquent to describe it as such :rolls eyes: but this is what I feel after reading this entry. Maybe, I'll be more coherent next entry. Here's hoping for diarrhoea in the next post!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Creamy Salsa with Fish
Description:
I know I owe this blog a lot of updates but before I do that, I just absolutely have to share this recipe. My mother saw this on TV and she tried it out. She made some modifications to it. It tasted so good and she shared the recipe with me. I did it my way and it's just as delicious as my mother's!
(Well, I'm not sure what to call this dish. The original dish is Something-Salsa-Something-Something. So I anyhow name the dish and call it Creamy Salsa - just because it's hot.)
Ingredients:
Sutchi fillet (or any fish you want). Pan fried lightly in olive oil and butter. Set aside.
1 large onion, cubed (those yellow ones - what do you call those onions?)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped (I took the easy way out and used the mortar and pestle and smashed them)
2 tomatoes, cubed (I used about 12-15 cherry tomatoes instead and cut each into 4)
4 bird's eye chillies (or less if you can't take hot stuff but you need to add at least 1 otherwise this sauce will be just a boring 'ol sauce)
Lime juice (Oops. I forgot to add this)
100ml cream
Some milk
Some water
Salt
Sugar
Black pepper (Didn't add this)
Coriander leaves (Didn't add this either)
Directions:
1. Heat some olive oil and butter in a saucepan.
2. Add the onions.
3. When it's translucent, add the garlic. Stir well. Make sure the garlic doesn't get burnt.
(At this point, I took out some of the sauted onion-garlic mixture and put in a smaller saucepan to make a kids' friendly version of this. It has everything that the adult version has minus the chillies.)
4. Add the chillies. Mix everything for a short while.
5. Then add the tomatoes.
(I'm not sure when the lime juice is supposed to go in since I didn't use it.)
6. Add the cream. Mix well. I then poured some water. Not much. Just enough for everything inside to be covered by the cream-water mixture. Then I worried that it'll be too diluted but I didn't want to add more cream for fear of clogging my arteries. So I added some milk instead.
7. I threw in some sugar and salt - maybe about I metric teaspoon and about 1/2 a metric teaspoon of salt.
8. Voila, it's ready!
To serve, lay the fish on a plate and drizzle the sauce over it. But if you don't care about clogged arteries, you can always bathe the fish in the sauce. Which is exactly what I'm doing later.
I know I owe this blog a lot of updates but before I do that, I just absolutely have to share this recipe. My mother saw this on TV and she tried it out. She made some modifications to it. It tasted so good and she shared the recipe with me. I did it my way and it's just as delicious as my mother's!
(Well, I'm not sure what to call this dish. The original dish is Something-Salsa-Something-Something. So I anyhow name the dish and call it Creamy Salsa - just because it's hot.)
Ingredients:
Sutchi fillet (or any fish you want). Pan fried lightly in olive oil and butter. Set aside.
1 large onion, cubed (those yellow ones - what do you call those onions?)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped (I took the easy way out and used the mortar and pestle and smashed them)
2 tomatoes, cubed (I used about 12-15 cherry tomatoes instead and cut each into 4)
4 bird's eye chillies (or less if you can't take hot stuff but you need to add at least 1 otherwise this sauce will be just a boring 'ol sauce)
Lime juice (Oops. I forgot to add this)
100ml cream
Some milk
Some water
Salt
Sugar
Black pepper (Didn't add this)
Coriander leaves (Didn't add this either)
Directions:
1. Heat some olive oil and butter in a saucepan.
2. Add the onions.
3. When it's translucent, add the garlic. Stir well. Make sure the garlic doesn't get burnt.
(At this point, I took out some of the sauted onion-garlic mixture and put in a smaller saucepan to make a kids' friendly version of this. It has everything that the adult version has minus the chillies.)
4. Add the chillies. Mix everything for a short while.
5. Then add the tomatoes.
(I'm not sure when the lime juice is supposed to go in since I didn't use it.)
6. Add the cream. Mix well. I then poured some water. Not much. Just enough for everything inside to be covered by the cream-water mixture. Then I worried that it'll be too diluted but I didn't want to add more cream for fear of clogging my arteries. So I added some milk instead.
7. I threw in some sugar and salt - maybe about I metric teaspoon and about 1/2 a metric teaspoon of salt.
8. Voila, it's ready!
To serve, lay the fish on a plate and drizzle the sauce over it. But if you don't care about clogged arteries, you can always bathe the fish in the sauce. Which is exactly what I'm doing later.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Mememememmeeeeee
All about me:
1. It's 12.13am now and I'm baking a tray of chocolate chip cookies. This is because
a. I have frozen cookie dough in the fridge from a few days ago. I was running low on the cookies and decided to bake more but after making the dough I realised that I have enough cookies to last 1 or 2 more groups of guests so I put the dough in the freezer.
b. I just bought a new circular baking tray that fits perfectly into my convectional microwave oven.
2. I have started Attempt #3 in getting my driver's license. A quick recap:
i. I failed my driving test (manual - oh what was I thinking?) in January '08.
ii. I shelved all thoughts of getting a license til May (thereabouts) last year when my sister was about to get hers. I decided to go for classes at BBDC to get my license (manual, again - my brain cells must have been fried when I gave birth to Farah). BUT, I went for all of one lesson. When I was supposed to go for the next lesson, Farah fell ill and I only stepped into BBDC again last month to cancel my account with them.
iii. And here I am, Round 3. This time round, I'm going for auto. I don't foresee myself ever having to operate a truck or any other big vehicles that function on a manual transmission. So, auto's good, yes? I'm learning from a private instructor. Not going to learn from the schools because they require you to sit through the basic and final theory lessons even if you've passed the tests. I do not have that kind of time to waste. My poor mother would have to babysit my screaming daughter and I try to minimise my imposing on her (for now). When I start working again, that's another story.
And auto - oh my goodness! - auto cars are a dream! I don't have to think about half clutches and my feet don't have to perform a dance revolving around the three pedals. I don't have to worry about the car stalling in the middle of the road if I don't get my half clutch correct. I don't have to worry about slow gear changes. I don't even have to care about changing the gear!
With an auto car, I may actually pass my driving test. Hur hur hur! Okay okay. I'm counting my chickens way before the mother chicken even lays her eggs. :P This is only the first lesson and I haven't even done parking with an auto car, without poles.
For those who got their license in the days when policemen wore shorts, now, learner drivers are expected to park without poles. During the test, there'll be no poles. I was completely dependent on the poles to park the car perfectly the last time. (Just for recap purposes also, I failed the last time because I accumulated a lot of points in the not-checking-blind-spots category and other similar categories. In other words, I'm haolianing about how great my parking with poles is and my s-curve and crank course thingamajigs are. but actually not worth haolianing also because fail is fail.) I dunno how I'll park without poles but the instructor told me it's all quite easy. 1 and half turns of the steering wheel and such and a bit of agak-agak. Errrr, sure. It took me about 7 years of failed agak-agak cooking before I can come up with something edible using the agak-agak cooking method.
3. Talking about cooking, the chocolate chip cookies turned out good!
If you noticed that half the tray is empty, errrrrrmmmmmm, I had to test the cookies (again. and again. and again again again) to make sure that they are really nice. If you are interested, I got the recipe from here. I'm not sure if the cookies can last til tomorrow morning, though. I think I have no choice but to finish everything up. After all, there's more cookie dough in the fridge.
1. It's 12.13am now and I'm baking a tray of chocolate chip cookies. This is because
a. I have frozen cookie dough in the fridge from a few days ago. I was running low on the cookies and decided to bake more but after making the dough I realised that I have enough cookies to last 1 or 2 more groups of guests so I put the dough in the freezer.
b. I just bought a new circular baking tray that fits perfectly into my convectional microwave oven.
2. I have started Attempt #3 in getting my driver's license. A quick recap:
i. I failed my driving test (manual - oh what was I thinking?) in January '08.
ii. I shelved all thoughts of getting a license til May (thereabouts) last year when my sister was about to get hers. I decided to go for classes at BBDC to get my license (manual, again - my brain cells must have been fried when I gave birth to Farah). BUT, I went for all of one lesson. When I was supposed to go for the next lesson, Farah fell ill and I only stepped into BBDC again last month to cancel my account with them.
iii. And here I am, Round 3. This time round, I'm going for auto. I don't foresee myself ever having to operate a truck or any other big vehicles that function on a manual transmission. So, auto's good, yes? I'm learning from a private instructor. Not going to learn from the schools because they require you to sit through the basic and final theory lessons even if you've passed the tests. I do not have that kind of time to waste. My poor mother would have to babysit my screaming daughter and I try to minimise my imposing on her (for now). When I start working again, that's another story.
And auto - oh my goodness! - auto cars are a dream! I don't have to think about half clutches and my feet don't have to perform a dance revolving around the three pedals. I don't have to worry about the car stalling in the middle of the road if I don't get my half clutch correct. I don't have to worry about slow gear changes. I don't even have to care about changing the gear!
With an auto car, I may actually pass my driving test. Hur hur hur! Okay okay. I'm counting my chickens way before the mother chicken even lays her eggs. :P This is only the first lesson and I haven't even done parking with an auto car, without poles.
For those who got their license in the days when policemen wore shorts, now, learner drivers are expected to park without poles. During the test, there'll be no poles. I was completely dependent on the poles to park the car perfectly the last time. (Just for recap purposes also, I failed the last time because I accumulated a lot of points in the not-checking-blind-spots category and other similar categories. In other words, I'm haolianing about how great my parking with poles is and my s-curve and crank course thingamajigs are. but actually not worth haolianing also because fail is fail.) I dunno how I'll park without poles but the instructor told me it's all quite easy. 1 and half turns of the steering wheel and such and a bit of agak-agak. Errrr, sure. It took me about 7 years of failed agak-agak cooking before I can come up with something edible using the agak-agak cooking method.
3. Talking about cooking, the chocolate chip cookies turned out good!
If you noticed that half the tray is empty, errrrrrmmmmmm, I had to test the cookies (again. and again. and again again again) to make sure that they are really nice. If you are interested, I got the recipe from here. I'm not sure if the cookies can last til tomorrow morning, though. I think I have no choice but to finish everything up. After all, there's more cookie dough in the fridge.
Monday, September 06, 2010
Slip Away
I feel rather bereft spiritually at the moment.
We are now reaching the final days of Ramadan. The days are slipping away and I have not done much, not done much.
I am afraid that Syawal may come without me achieving what I set out to do.
I want to read more, to know more about Islam. I want to be a better Muslim. Islam is so perfect and I am so imperfect.
Ya Allah, make me better than what I am but keep me humble all the time. Ya Allah, let me spend my time wisely and spend more time with you, ya Allah. Amin.
We are now reaching the final days of Ramadan. The days are slipping away and I have not done much, not done much.
I am afraid that Syawal may come without me achieving what I set out to do.
I want to read more, to know more about Islam. I want to be a better Muslim. Islam is so perfect and I am so imperfect.
Ya Allah, make me better than what I am but keep me humble all the time. Ya Allah, let me spend my time wisely and spend more time with you, ya Allah. Amin.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Z
(This entry is not suitable for those who are easily offended by graphic images.)
Today, I went to a hypermart in JB.
Some preschool books were sold there and I decided to get some Malay books for Huda. Almost all her books are in English and if I'm serious about ensuring that she has a good command of her mother tongue, I better get some Malay books for her.
I randomly selected 2 books from the RM1.00 pile. At this juncture, I can hear everyone telling me that quality books do not come with a RM1 price tag. Yes, yes. Point noted with thanks. :p
This is one of the books I bought.
When I reached home, I flipped through the book and I saw:
Today, I went to a hypermart in JB.
Some preschool books were sold there and I decided to get some Malay books for Huda. Almost all her books are in English and if I'm serious about ensuring that she has a good command of her mother tongue, I better get some Malay books for her.
I randomly selected 2 books from the RM1.00 pile. At this juncture, I can hear everyone telling me that quality books do not come with a RM1 price tag. Yes, yes. Point noted with thanks. :p
This is one of the books I bought.
When I reached home, I flipped through the book and I saw:
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sleep & Talk
1. Huda and Sleep
I don't understand why it's so difficult for Huda to sleep. She resists it like it's her worst enemy. It's now 10.45pm and when I last checked, she's still not asleep yet. She went to bed today at about 9.30pm (a bit late; normally, it's 8.30pm). We did the usual winding down activity - drink milk, pee, brush her teeth, say her prayers. I generally don't read books before bedtime because she will have a million questions after that. Not a good idea when sleep is supposed to happen. Admittedly Sundays, today being one, are always extremely fun for her because she sees her gajillion cousins and play, play, quarrel, cry, play, play and play some more. So, she's still a bit high when she goes to bed.
But this problem is not a uniquely Sunday problem. It's almost a nightly occurrence. As I nurse Farah to sleep (bad habit, I know) and they share a bedroom, I will be with them when they both go to bed. And Huda will still be awake when I'm done nursing Farah. I'll leave the room and her eyes will still be wide open..
Sigh. What am I to do with this girl? It is not healthy for kids to sleep so late.
2. But, of course, there are endearing moments. While all of us lie down on the mattresses (the bed is merely a showpiece; H refuses to sleep on it, preferring instead to sleep with F on the mattress on the floor), Huda will kiss each of us on the cheek. Cute. And if I had not talked to her about her day in school, she will ask me to ask her about it.
3. Her Day
I like reading Dr James Dobson's Focus on the Family articles in Today newspaper. The advice given is highly practicable and relevant. The fact that he is from a religious organisation helps too because we share the same conservative values.
One of the things which I read some time ago is about how to engage your children in a conversation. Some may think that asking a child 'How was your day?' is enough and shows some kind of concern but that is not quite right. If you want to engage your child, you shouldn't ask him 'What did you learn in school today?' either. Unless your child is a genius and enjoys lessons and pays 200% attention when the teacher is teaching and laps up every single word that the teacher says. Congratulations to you if you have such a child.
But if you don't have such a child, you should ask specific questions such as: 'What did you play during recess?', 'What did you eat?', 'Who did you play with?'. Basically, specific questions about the fun part of school.
When the child is in a chatty mode, you can include the more academically-inclined questions such as, 'What did Teacher F talk about in class today?'/'Did Cikgu ask you to colour anything?'/'What questions did Cikgu ask you today?'/'Did you ask your teacher any questions?'.
So far Huda enjoys talking about her school day and she looks forward to the conversations that we have. I hope and pray that this goes on for the rest of our lives. Keeping the channels of communication open is extremely important in building a good parent-child relationship.
(Edit #1)
Time check: 11.15pm. Still not asleep. I know because when I stood at the doorway, she immediately pulled her hand from Farah. She has this habit of holding Farah's hands once I leave the room.
(Edit #2)
Time check: 12.50am. I went to bed around 11.30pm. 12.15am, Farah started crying. I went to the girls' room and Huda made one of those sudden movements which very obviously showed that she was not asleep. I stared at her and she continued to pretend to sleep. But occasionally, she opened her eyes a little bit just to check if I was still there.
I am pulling my hair in despair. Why why why? Insomnia is not hereditary, is it? And even if it is, it doesn't affect kids this young, does it? I don't think it's the Sunday high that's keeping her awake.
For me, on nights when I cannot fall asleep, I know very clearly why I can't. Most of the time, it's because I wasn't cerebrally challenged in the day for days on ends and the part of my brain that wasn't used much starts getting overactive when the rest of the body starts to wind down. Well, that's how I try to explain my sleeplessness. If that were true, I am going to try to exhaust her mentally each night by making her do sums, read more pages in the Iqra' book, learn spelling, recite and memorise verses from the Quran, do more sight words recognition... I hope this will work. I'll give it a go for a few nights and hopefully, she'll sleep earlier. Big sigh.
I don't understand why it's so difficult for Huda to sleep. She resists it like it's her worst enemy. It's now 10.45pm and when I last checked, she's still not asleep yet. She went to bed today at about 9.30pm (a bit late; normally, it's 8.30pm). We did the usual winding down activity - drink milk, pee, brush her teeth, say her prayers. I generally don't read books before bedtime because she will have a million questions after that. Not a good idea when sleep is supposed to happen. Admittedly Sundays, today being one, are always extremely fun for her because she sees her gajillion cousins and play, play, quarrel, cry, play, play and play some more. So, she's still a bit high when she goes to bed.
But this problem is not a uniquely Sunday problem. It's almost a nightly occurrence. As I nurse Farah to sleep (bad habit, I know) and they share a bedroom, I will be with them when they both go to bed. And Huda will still be awake when I'm done nursing Farah. I'll leave the room and her eyes will still be wide open..
Sigh. What am I to do with this girl? It is not healthy for kids to sleep so late.
2. But, of course, there are endearing moments. While all of us lie down on the mattresses (the bed is merely a showpiece; H refuses to sleep on it, preferring instead to sleep with F on the mattress on the floor), Huda will kiss each of us on the cheek. Cute. And if I had not talked to her about her day in school, she will ask me to ask her about it.
3. Her Day
I like reading Dr James Dobson's Focus on the Family articles in Today newspaper. The advice given is highly practicable and relevant. The fact that he is from a religious organisation helps too because we share the same conservative values.
One of the things which I read some time ago is about how to engage your children in a conversation. Some may think that asking a child 'How was your day?' is enough and shows some kind of concern but that is not quite right. If you want to engage your child, you shouldn't ask him 'What did you learn in school today?' either. Unless your child is a genius and enjoys lessons and pays 200% attention when the teacher is teaching and laps up every single word that the teacher says. Congratulations to you if you have such a child.
But if you don't have such a child, you should ask specific questions such as: 'What did you play during recess?', 'What did you eat?', 'Who did you play with?'. Basically, specific questions about the fun part of school.
When the child is in a chatty mode, you can include the more academically-inclined questions such as, 'What did Teacher F talk about in class today?'/'Did Cikgu ask you to colour anything?'/'What questions did Cikgu ask you today?'/'Did you ask your teacher any questions?'.
So far Huda enjoys talking about her school day and she looks forward to the conversations that we have. I hope and pray that this goes on for the rest of our lives. Keeping the channels of communication open is extremely important in building a good parent-child relationship.
(Edit #1)
Time check: 11.15pm. Still not asleep. I know because when I stood at the doorway, she immediately pulled her hand from Farah. She has this habit of holding Farah's hands once I leave the room.
(Edit #2)
Time check: 12.50am. I went to bed around 11.30pm. 12.15am, Farah started crying. I went to the girls' room and Huda made one of those sudden movements which very obviously showed that she was not asleep. I stared at her and she continued to pretend to sleep. But occasionally, she opened her eyes a little bit just to check if I was still there.
I am pulling my hair in despair. Why why why? Insomnia is not hereditary, is it? And even if it is, it doesn't affect kids this young, does it? I don't think it's the Sunday high that's keeping her awake.
For me, on nights when I cannot fall asleep, I know very clearly why I can't. Most of the time, it's because I wasn't cerebrally challenged in the day for days on ends and the part of my brain that wasn't used much starts getting overactive when the rest of the body starts to wind down. Well, that's how I try to explain my sleeplessness. If that were true, I am going to try to exhaust her mentally each night by making her do sums, read more pages in the Iqra' book, learn spelling, recite and memorise verses from the Quran, do more sight words recognition... I hope this will work. I'll give it a go for a few nights and hopefully, she'll sleep earlier. Big sigh.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Remote Control Needs Reprogramming
One of the perks of having children is that they can function as your remote control.
For example, if you want someone to put your slippers in the kitchen, you can just get your children to do it. Why move when your children seem to have boundless energy and can move from the living room to the kitchen and back to the living room faster than you can get off the couch?
Lately, our dear Farah seems to have developed the ability to do whatever I want her to do. When I found a ladle which belongs to the kitchen among her toys, I asked her to put it back in the drawer in the kitchen. And that ladle went dutifully to the kitchen, into the said drawer. Amazing, right? So, I've been making use, erm, no, I mean, I've been training Farah to tidy up by directing her to put various things back to where they belong.
This afternoon, her pillow was in the living room. I asked her to put it on her bed, in her room. I didn't check.
Some time later, I went to the kitchen.
This is what I saw:
(For those who cannot appreciate blurry images taken by a phone, that's a pillow in a kitchen sink.)
For example, if you want someone to put your slippers in the kitchen, you can just get your children to do it. Why move when your children seem to have boundless energy and can move from the living room to the kitchen and back to the living room faster than you can get off the couch?
Lately, our dear Farah seems to have developed the ability to do whatever I want her to do. When I found a ladle which belongs to the kitchen among her toys, I asked her to put it back in the drawer in the kitchen. And that ladle went dutifully to the kitchen, into the said drawer. Amazing, right? So, I've been making use, erm, no, I mean, I've been training Farah to tidy up by directing her to put various things back to where they belong.
This afternoon, her pillow was in the living room. I asked her to put it on her bed, in her room. I didn't check.
Some time later, I went to the kitchen.
This is what I saw:
(For those who cannot appreciate blurry images taken by a phone, that's a pillow in a kitchen sink.)
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Ikan Masak Kicap
Description:
This is for my poor sister who's living in some place in Kuala Lumpur. Plenty of good food there but sometimes I think the student budget she's on and a longing for home make her crave for some simple home-made recipe.
And so, this is a very simple Ikan Masak Kicap (Fish in Sweet Soya Sauce) recipe which will definitely work.
The fish can be replaced with eggs or chicken. You can also use beef but the cooking method for beef is slightly different.
Ingredients:
Fish - about 3-4 slices. Marinate this with turmeric powder and salt. Fry them. Set aside.
(Nowadays, I like kerisi. I have no idea what that is called in English. The only reason why I can recognise more fish nowadays is due to my mother; it is only now that I find out her marketing schedule and shadow her when she goes marketing.)
Pound together using mortar and pestle:
2 cloves garlic
Ginger - same amount as garlic
2 bird's eye chilli (cili padi)
1 large onion - sliced
100ml kicap manis (sweet soya sauce; NOT light or dark soya sauce and not the Indonesian type of kicap manis either because that's much too thick and sweet for this recipe. I love Habhal's brand of kicap manis.)
100ml water
1/2 tablespoon vinegar
1 red/green chili, sliced
Oil (use the oil from frying the fish)
Note: There is some agar-ation involved here. This is (fortunately for me) one of TheHusband's favourite dishes so I cook this frequently enough to not have to refer to a recipe to make this. You might want to give it a taste after Step 3 below and give it either more kicap manis or vinegar according to your taste. I assure you, it's quite difficult to screw up this dish.
Directions:
1. Heat oil in a wok.
2. Add pounded ingredients. Then add the onions.
3. Once the onions have become translucent, add the kicap manis, water and vinegar.
4. Add sliced chilli after the mixture has started to boil.
5. Add fish. Turn off the heat.
Voila! Another simple but very delicious dish ready!
This is for my poor sister who's living in some place in Kuala Lumpur. Plenty of good food there but sometimes I think the student budget she's on and a longing for home make her crave for some simple home-made recipe.
And so, this is a very simple Ikan Masak Kicap (Fish in Sweet Soya Sauce) recipe which will definitely work.
The fish can be replaced with eggs or chicken. You can also use beef but the cooking method for beef is slightly different.
Ingredients:
Fish - about 3-4 slices. Marinate this with turmeric powder and salt. Fry them. Set aside.
(Nowadays, I like kerisi. I have no idea what that is called in English. The only reason why I can recognise more fish nowadays is due to my mother; it is only now that I find out her marketing schedule and shadow her when she goes marketing.)
Pound together using mortar and pestle:
2 cloves garlic
Ginger - same amount as garlic
2 bird's eye chilli (cili padi)
1 large onion - sliced
100ml kicap manis (sweet soya sauce; NOT light or dark soya sauce and not the Indonesian type of kicap manis either because that's much too thick and sweet for this recipe. I love Habhal's brand of kicap manis.)
100ml water
1/2 tablespoon vinegar
1 red/green chili, sliced
Oil (use the oil from frying the fish)
Note: There is some agar-ation involved here. This is (fortunately for me) one of TheHusband's favourite dishes so I cook this frequently enough to not have to refer to a recipe to make this. You might want to give it a taste after Step 3 below and give it either more kicap manis or vinegar according to your taste. I assure you, it's quite difficult to screw up this dish.
Directions:
1. Heat oil in a wok.
2. Add pounded ingredients. Then add the onions.
3. Once the onions have become translucent, add the kicap manis, water and vinegar.
4. Add sliced chilli after the mixture has started to boil.
5. Add fish. Turn off the heat.
Voila! Another simple but very delicious dish ready!
An Insect Story
If you have a facebook account and you log on to it regularly enough, you will know that I have ants and cockroach issues.
Ants
I wonder if ants will die when sucked up by a vacuum cleaner.
I searched the good old internet for answers but couldn't find any! This is almost shocking because the internet should have answers for everything, yes? While I found questions posed by a number of people on this, the answers are mere suppositions.
I'm inclined to believe that they can be sucked up whole all the way into the dustbag. Insects are after all, extremely hardy and cockroaches can survive even the worst nuclear explosions (or so I thought I read somewhere). I feel like doing a research on this when I next change my vacuum cleaner's dustbag. But, the thought of having to rip apart a dustbag that costs $3.25 stopped me. Besides, I'm not sure if SPCA/PETA/Acres etc will approve of what I'm doing.
Cockroaches
There was that one day when I lost my sanity and caught a tiny little cockroach cavorting among my kitchen things with my bare hands. Now, that is a story which I'll tell my grandchildren over and over again because that's as close to a heroic act that I'll ever get to do. But, no, the story doesn't stop there. As I held it over the kitchen sink and was weighing my options as to how to end its life ~ I ruled out crushing it to death because my hands will smell of cockroach juice for at least 326 days ~ it bit me. Bit. The little thing bit me.
Of course I didn't know that it just bit me. My first thought was, I've been stung by a cockroach! But, I remember sketching out rough pictures of cockroaches for science lessons and it has feelers on the top of its hands and six legs. To the best of my limited scientific knowledge, it does not have a stinging device. So after using a piece of kitchen towel to crush it to death and washing my hands repeatedly with antiseptic soap, I trawled the net while frantically calling TheHusband to tell him what happened.
In that frantic state, I misread some of the stuff online. I thought I read that a species of cockroach stings its victim with its eggs and the victim would give birth to little cockroaches. TheHusband immediately said, "Chop off your hands now." A few minutes later, I realised that the creature that does that is another type of something-cockroach-larvae and it uses cockroaches as its victims.
After that, I went through some serious cleaning of the drawers in the kitchen. I cleaned out each drawer, pulled them all the way out, cleaned the insides of the cabinet walls, wiped them with antiseptic solution, bought Combat bait for roaches and now, I'm monitoring the drawers for cockroach droppings. It involves more emptying and cleaning of drawers but it has to be done.
Ants
I wonder if ants will die when sucked up by a vacuum cleaner.
I searched the good old internet for answers but couldn't find any! This is almost shocking because the internet should have answers for everything, yes? While I found questions posed by a number of people on this, the answers are mere suppositions.
I'm inclined to believe that they can be sucked up whole all the way into the dustbag. Insects are after all, extremely hardy and cockroaches can survive even the worst nuclear explosions (or so I thought I read somewhere). I feel like doing a research on this when I next change my vacuum cleaner's dustbag. But, the thought of having to rip apart a dustbag that costs $3.25 stopped me. Besides, I'm not sure if SPCA/PETA/Acres etc will approve of what I'm doing.
Cockroaches
There was that one day when I lost my sanity and caught a tiny little cockroach cavorting among my kitchen things with my bare hands. Now, that is a story which I'll tell my grandchildren over and over again because that's as close to a heroic act that I'll ever get to do. But, no, the story doesn't stop there. As I held it over the kitchen sink and was weighing my options as to how to end its life ~ I ruled out crushing it to death because my hands will smell of cockroach juice for at least 326 days ~ it bit me. Bit. The little thing bit me.
Of course I didn't know that it just bit me. My first thought was, I've been stung by a cockroach! But, I remember sketching out rough pictures of cockroaches for science lessons and it has feelers on the top of its hands and six legs. To the best of my limited scientific knowledge, it does not have a stinging device. So after using a piece of kitchen towel to crush it to death and washing my hands repeatedly with antiseptic soap, I trawled the net while frantically calling TheHusband to tell him what happened.
In that frantic state, I misread some of the stuff online. I thought I read that a species of cockroach stings its victim with its eggs and the victim would give birth to little cockroaches. TheHusband immediately said, "Chop off your hands now." A few minutes later, I realised that the creature that does that is another type of something-cockroach-larvae and it uses cockroaches as its victims.
After that, I went through some serious cleaning of the drawers in the kitchen. I cleaned out each drawer, pulled them all the way out, cleaned the insides of the cabinet walls, wiped them with antiseptic solution, bought Combat bait for roaches and now, I'm monitoring the drawers for cockroach droppings. It involves more emptying and cleaning of drawers but it has to be done.
Itsy Bitsy Spider
1. I now am beginning to appreciate having documented (not THAT religiously, but well, whatever little I captured here) Huda's major milestones here. At this age, she's beginning to ask what she was like when she was Farah's age, the things she said and did. With what little I have written down, it managed to jog my memory about what she was like.
2. Farah is now one feisty little girl. If Huda disturbs her or takes something that she was holding on to or refuses to give her something that she wants, she will fight back. She bites, pinches and scratches. Poor Huda has some battle scars to show for it. When Farah is scolded, she'll look at me with big round eyes and then start rolling all over the floor crying. (And I'll just leave her there)
3. Farah is always horsing around. When I read the papers in the morning, I will sit on the floor and spread the papers on it. I'll sit cross-legged on the floor, bend forward a little bit and start reading. Up to about 2 weeks ago, whenever I lay the papers on the floor, Farah will lie down on top of the papers. What I did to counter this problem was to lay out two sections at the same time so when she lay down on one section, I'd just turn around and read the other section. Now, she has found something more enjoyable to do. When I'm seated in my newspaper-reading position, she'll climb up my back as high as possible, then slide down. Then climb up again, and slide down. And up again and down again. Sometimes, she even has the audacity to ask me to stand up and walk all over the house with her on my back.
4. Farah has suddenly started talking a bit more. Pretty basic stuff (but not limited to):
"Nak zuzu" (Want milk, but instead of susu, she says zuzu) when she wants milk.
"Biyak!" she'll shout out when she passes motion and at the same time, she'll clutch her diapers.
"Nak loll ler" when she wants the stroller.
And, strangely too, she has a special name for my youngest brother. He is otherwise known as Pak Usu to all his nieces and nephews. Huda used to call him Tutu which later evolved into Tutumat. Farah calls him Bubu. I don't know what is it with these girls that they can't just be like all their cousins and call him what everyone else calls him.
5. Farah's also beginning to develop an obsession with cats. She will pull out all the books from the bookshelf and flip through them in search of pictures of cats. She managed to find quite a few cat pictures this way and I am always stuffing books back into the bookshelf.
6. Farah is now on partial formula. She drinks milk from a bottle once or twice at night. It's really ridiculous how she's still waking up at night. Now I know she's not waking up because of hunger. Before she sleeps, I give her about 5-6 ounces of formula milk. Then I nurse her to sleep. You would think that that should be enough to last her through the night. But noooooo. She''ll wake up around 11pm/12midnight. If I refuse to wake up, TheHusband will wake up and feed her another 4-5 ounces of formula milk. Around 3-4am, she'll wake up another time. And I'll nurse her because it's just madness to feed her another round of formula milk. Around 7-8am, she'll wake up, all bright and cheerful because she has a very full tummy and her diaper, if it hasn't already leaked (which is almost always the case), will be at the point of bursting.
7. A bit more about Huda's fasting attempt - It's not quite justifiable anymore to use the word 'attempt' because she has shown that she can fast for a full day for many days in a row. Generally, she has no problems fasting when she goes to school.
At her school, before food is served, all the children who are fasting are brought to another room. However, she doesn't like that because she ends up with the bigger boys and girls from K1 and K2. Most of her classmates are not fasting and even if they do, they break their fast by lunchtime. So, I asked the teacher if it was possible for her to stay with her class while her friends were eating and that's been the arrangement for her. According to her teacher, she seems completely unperturbed that her friends are eating and she's not. She plays with blocks and puzzles while waiting for them to finish eating. I'm super proud of that because it shows that she can resist temptations in school.
However, as I want to make fasting enjoyable for her and not something that she die-die must do, if she can't wake up in the morning for her pre-dawn meal (which was what happened yesterday), I'll tweak her fasting schedule. She'll eat her breakfast and lunch. Then, she'll start fasting from around noon to the time we break our fast. It seems like today, Sunday, will be the same. She slept really late today (past midnight) because we (irresponsible) parents that we are, brought the kids to Geylang Serai at 9pm. :p I doubt that she'll be able to wake up at 5am to eat. So, modified fasting schedule it'll be.
8. This year's Hari Raya will not see me rushing all over Geylang in search of a baju kurung. Whew! Unfortunately, I'll have to pay another visit to Geylang because the seamstress to whom I sent my baju kurung closes shop at 5pm daily. I didn't manage to collect my baju kurung from her just now. Grrrr. I really do not enjoy having to make another trip there.
9. More on Geylang - I am so impressed by how clean the Geylang Serai hawker centre is!
10. Is anyone watching BBC Life (on Okto, Wednesdays, 10pm)? It's an amazing documentary! And I absolutely adore David Attenborough's narration. I am in awe of nature and the creatures that live in it. I learnt about the capuchin monkeys and how they use tools (!!!!!) to help them crack a nut. And the grebes - something like a duck but a very very distant relative, if they are even related at all - are such amazing birds. Their courting ritual (and they mate for life, mind you) will make you weep with joy. Then there's the six-plumed bird of paradise - where do I even begin talking about the wonder that it is.
Octopus - we've come to know Paul the psychic one. But do you know that a mother octopus makes the biggest sacrifice of all mothers? Once the mother octopus lays her eggs, she hides under some rocks and she takes care of the eggs, never leaving her den, not even for food. She caresses her eggs from time to time and when the eggs start to hatch (is that what you call it 'cos it seems like eggs hatching is such a bird-like description?), she'll blow the little octopus out of the den and then she dies. So sad, right?
So if you've missed BBC Life all this while, now is a good time to start watching. I think there are only 2 episodes left. Episode 9 next week is about plants. I'm not sure how exciting an episode about plants can be. I hope it won't disappoint anyone who's watching it for the first time.
So there. Another snapshot of our lives. :D
2. Farah is now one feisty little girl. If Huda disturbs her or takes something that she was holding on to or refuses to give her something that she wants, she will fight back. She bites, pinches and scratches. Poor Huda has some battle scars to show for it. When Farah is scolded, she'll look at me with big round eyes and then start rolling all over the floor crying. (And I'll just leave her there)
3. Farah is always horsing around. When I read the papers in the morning, I will sit on the floor and spread the papers on it. I'll sit cross-legged on the floor, bend forward a little bit and start reading. Up to about 2 weeks ago, whenever I lay the papers on the floor, Farah will lie down on top of the papers. What I did to counter this problem was to lay out two sections at the same time so when she lay down on one section, I'd just turn around and read the other section. Now, she has found something more enjoyable to do. When I'm seated in my newspaper-reading position, she'll climb up my back as high as possible, then slide down. Then climb up again, and slide down. And up again and down again. Sometimes, she even has the audacity to ask me to stand up and walk all over the house with her on my back.
4. Farah has suddenly started talking a bit more. Pretty basic stuff (but not limited to):
"Nak zuzu" (Want milk, but instead of susu, she says zuzu) when she wants milk.
"Biyak!" she'll shout out when she passes motion and at the same time, she'll clutch her diapers.
"Nak loll ler" when she wants the stroller.
And, strangely too, she has a special name for my youngest brother. He is otherwise known as Pak Usu to all his nieces and nephews. Huda used to call him Tutu which later evolved into Tutumat. Farah calls him Bubu. I don't know what is it with these girls that they can't just be like all their cousins and call him what everyone else calls him.
5. Farah's also beginning to develop an obsession with cats. She will pull out all the books from the bookshelf and flip through them in search of pictures of cats. She managed to find quite a few cat pictures this way and I am always stuffing books back into the bookshelf.
6. Farah is now on partial formula. She drinks milk from a bottle once or twice at night. It's really ridiculous how she's still waking up at night. Now I know she's not waking up because of hunger. Before she sleeps, I give her about 5-6 ounces of formula milk. Then I nurse her to sleep. You would think that that should be enough to last her through the night. But noooooo. She''ll wake up around 11pm/12midnight. If I refuse to wake up, TheHusband will wake up and feed her another 4-5 ounces of formula milk. Around 3-4am, she'll wake up another time. And I'll nurse her because it's just madness to feed her another round of formula milk. Around 7-8am, she'll wake up, all bright and cheerful because she has a very full tummy and her diaper, if it hasn't already leaked (which is almost always the case), will be at the point of bursting.
7. A bit more about Huda's fasting attempt - It's not quite justifiable anymore to use the word 'attempt' because she has shown that she can fast for a full day for many days in a row. Generally, she has no problems fasting when she goes to school.
At her school, before food is served, all the children who are fasting are brought to another room. However, she doesn't like that because she ends up with the bigger boys and girls from K1 and K2. Most of her classmates are not fasting and even if they do, they break their fast by lunchtime. So, I asked the teacher if it was possible for her to stay with her class while her friends were eating and that's been the arrangement for her. According to her teacher, she seems completely unperturbed that her friends are eating and she's not. She plays with blocks and puzzles while waiting for them to finish eating. I'm super proud of that because it shows that she can resist temptations in school.
However, as I want to make fasting enjoyable for her and not something that she die-die must do, if she can't wake up in the morning for her pre-dawn meal (which was what happened yesterday), I'll tweak her fasting schedule. She'll eat her breakfast and lunch. Then, she'll start fasting from around noon to the time we break our fast. It seems like today, Sunday, will be the same. She slept really late today (past midnight) because we (irresponsible) parents that we are, brought the kids to Geylang Serai at 9pm. :p I doubt that she'll be able to wake up at 5am to eat. So, modified fasting schedule it'll be.
8. This year's Hari Raya will not see me rushing all over Geylang in search of a baju kurung. Whew! Unfortunately, I'll have to pay another visit to Geylang because the seamstress to whom I sent my baju kurung closes shop at 5pm daily. I didn't manage to collect my baju kurung from her just now. Grrrr. I really do not enjoy having to make another trip there.
9. More on Geylang - I am so impressed by how clean the Geylang Serai hawker centre is!
10. Is anyone watching BBC Life (on Okto, Wednesdays, 10pm)? It's an amazing documentary! And I absolutely adore David Attenborough's narration. I am in awe of nature and the creatures that live in it. I learnt about the capuchin monkeys and how they use tools (!!!!!) to help them crack a nut. And the grebes - something like a duck but a very very distant relative, if they are even related at all - are such amazing birds. Their courting ritual (and they mate for life, mind you) will make you weep with joy. Then there's the six-plumed bird of paradise - where do I even begin talking about the wonder that it is.
Octopus - we've come to know Paul the psychic one. But do you know that a mother octopus makes the biggest sacrifice of all mothers? Once the mother octopus lays her eggs, she hides under some rocks and she takes care of the eggs, never leaving her den, not even for food. She caresses her eggs from time to time and when the eggs start to hatch (is that what you call it 'cos it seems like eggs hatching is such a bird-like description?), she'll blow the little octopus out of the den and then she dies. So sad, right?
So if you've missed BBC Life all this while, now is a good time to start watching. I think there are only 2 episodes left. Episode 9 next week is about plants. I'm not sure how exciting an episode about plants can be. I hope it won't disappoint anyone who's watching it for the first time.
So there. Another snapshot of our lives. :D
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Description:
This is another easy recipe. If you believe in making your own chicken stock (and I do because I don't like not knowing what really goes into those little cubes of stock), then that will be the most laborious of all tasks in this recipe.
Ingredients:
500g fresh button mushrooms, sliced (I also remove the stalk/stem of the mushrooms)
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp butter
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup chicken stock (that's 250ml)
4 stalks fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup water
Directions:
1. Marinate mushrooms with olive oil for about 10 minutes.
2. Melt butter and saute garlic.
3. Add mushrooms and saute for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Combine mushrooms above and chicken stock and puree for about 5 minutes.
(This calls for a blender. What I do is, I just leave the mushrooms in the pot, add the chicken stock to it, then use a hand blender to puree everything. It's much neater that way and less messy. And, whatever blender you use, make sure it's not one that you use for chillies and other hot stuff. I have 2 blenders - one traditional blender for chillies/onions etc and one hand blender for making kids' food and ang-moh recipes like this.)
5. Pour everything back into the pot (if you were using a traditional blender. Otherwise just turn the heat on again.)
6. Add water and cream. Bring mixture to a boil for about 10 minutes. You migh need to add some salt if you were using
This is another easy recipe. If you believe in making your own chicken stock (and I do because I don't like not knowing what really goes into those little cubes of stock), then that will be the most laborious of all tasks in this recipe.
Ingredients:
500g fresh button mushrooms, sliced (I also remove the stalk/stem of the mushrooms)
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp butter
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup chicken stock (that's 250ml)
4 stalks fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup water
Directions:
1. Marinate mushrooms with olive oil for about 10 minutes.
2. Melt butter and saute garlic.
3. Add mushrooms and saute for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Combine mushrooms above and chicken stock and puree for about 5 minutes.
(This calls for a blender. What I do is, I just leave the mushrooms in the pot, add the chicken stock to it, then use a hand blender to puree everything. It's much neater that way and less messy. And, whatever blender you use, make sure it's not one that you use for chillies and other hot stuff. I have 2 blenders - one traditional blender for chillies/onions etc and one hand blender for making kids' food and ang-moh recipes like this.)
5. Pour everything back into the pot (if you were using a traditional blender. Otherwise just turn the heat on again.)
6. Add water and cream. Bring mixture to a boil for about 10 minutes. You migh need to add some salt if you were using
Szechuan Black Pepper Prawns
Description:
Hahaa! I managed to start a recipe tab. I didn't realise it's so simple!
Now, it may seem inconceivable that I, the soooo-not-a-cook-SAHM, am starting a recipe section. But, well, SAHMs, even temporary ones, must justify their staying at home with occasional visits to the kitchen. And while I am nowhere near moderately-good, I can (with the help of good cookbooks and my mother and the grace of God) come up with something edible for the family. When I'm successful in the kitchen, I'd like to share the recipes with whoever who's interested. Beginning cooks might find this useful because I only share recipes that work here.
If you are a beginner, you might want to take note that in cookbook (and in here), when they say 1 tablespoon, they mean 15ml. Definitely not the spoon you use to eat your rice. And a cup is 250ml. So, if I say a cup of oil is needed to prepare that sambal tumis, I'm not kidding. You need an outrageous amount of oil to make your sambal tumis palatable.
This is one heck of a simple recipe. The most difficult part of this recipe is preparing the prawns. Sheng Siong is now my favourite place to get prawns. They have prawns which are very much alive moving merrily in tanks. And when I bring them home, they are still wriggling in the plastic bag. :p
(If you have little kids at home who don't eat spicy food, you might want to marinate a few of the prawns with salt and black pepper, poke a satay stick through each prawn so that it remains straight, then pop them in the toaster oven for a couple of minutes til they are cooked.)
Ingredients:
500g prawns
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp butter
A:
1 large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced finely
10g dried chillies, soaked in warm water until they are ready to be used
B:
1 red capsicum, cubed
1 green capsicum, cubed
C:
1 tbsp black pepper sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp marmalade jam*
(I don't have marmalade jam and I don't fancy buying a bottle of it just for this purpose. So I use the only jam I have - strawberry jam. It still works. But if I had wanted the tanginess of the marmalade jam, I suppose I could have squeezed some lime juice into the sauce.)
Directions:
1. Prepare prawns by removing the shells and deveining them but leave the heads and tails intact.
2. Heat olive oil. Add butter.
3. Add Group A for 2 minutes.
4. Add Group B for 3 minutes on high heat.
5. Add C and prawns for about 10 minutes or until prawns are cooked, taking care not to overcook the prawns because overcooked prawns are sooooo not nice.
Ta-dah! Ready to eat!
Hahaa! I managed to start a recipe tab. I didn't realise it's so simple!
Now, it may seem inconceivable that I, the soooo-not-a-cook-SAHM, am starting a recipe section. But, well, SAHMs, even temporary ones, must justify their staying at home with occasional visits to the kitchen. And while I am nowhere near moderately-good, I can (with the help of good cookbooks and my mother and the grace of God) come up with something edible for the family. When I'm successful in the kitchen, I'd like to share the recipes with whoever who's interested. Beginning cooks might find this useful because I only share recipes that work here.
If you are a beginner, you might want to take note that in cookbook (and in here), when they say 1 tablespoon, they mean 15ml. Definitely not the spoon you use to eat your rice. And a cup is 250ml. So, if I say a cup of oil is needed to prepare that sambal tumis, I'm not kidding. You need an outrageous amount of oil to make your sambal tumis palatable.
This is one heck of a simple recipe. The most difficult part of this recipe is preparing the prawns. Sheng Siong is now my favourite place to get prawns. They have prawns which are very much alive moving merrily in tanks. And when I bring them home, they are still wriggling in the plastic bag. :p
(If you have little kids at home who don't eat spicy food, you might want to marinate a few of the prawns with salt and black pepper, poke a satay stick through each prawn so that it remains straight, then pop them in the toaster oven for a couple of minutes til they are cooked.)
Ingredients:
500g prawns
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp butter
A:
1 large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced finely
10g dried chillies, soaked in warm water until they are ready to be used
B:
1 red capsicum, cubed
1 green capsicum, cubed
C:
1 tbsp black pepper sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp marmalade jam*
(I don't have marmalade jam and I don't fancy buying a bottle of it just for this purpose. So I use the only jam I have - strawberry jam. It still works. But if I had wanted the tanginess of the marmalade jam, I suppose I could have squeezed some lime juice into the sauce.)
Directions:
1. Prepare prawns by removing the shells and deveining them but leave the heads and tails intact.
2. Heat olive oil. Add butter.
3. Add Group A for 2 minutes.
4. Add Group B for 3 minutes on high heat.
5. Add C and prawns for about 10 minutes or until prawns are cooked, taking care not to overcook the prawns because overcooked prawns are sooooo not nice.
Ta-dah! Ready to eat!
Ramadan
1. This is Huda's first real attempt at fasting.
On Days 1, 2 and 3, she went to school. Day 1 saw her refraining from food the entire day. But she took one sip of water from her water bottle in school. Still we were extremely proud of her. 6pm, she saw Farah eating and asked for some rice. So, I distracted her with some TV. Ah, yes. It's somewhat justifiable to break the no-TV-rule at 6pm in the month of Ramadan.
She broke her fast the moment I put her rice in front of her, about 30 seconds before Maghrib. :p
On Day 2, I sent her to school without her water bottle. When I picked her up, she was so thirsty. So I gave her a glass of water when we reached home of which she only took a sip.
She was about to throw a tantrum over something but I told her that people who are fasting must refrain from getting angry. She smiled and behaved again.
She ate at Maghrib. This time, I only put her plate of rice in front of her at exactly Maghrib so Day 1's incident won't be repeated.
Day 3, she woke up for sahur as always. It's not so difficut to rouse her at 5am in the morning. The trick is to gently wake her up and promise her her favourite food for now - eggs. :D But at school, she had some porridge for lunch and Milo and biscuits during her teabreak. It's okay, I suppose. She needs an occasional break from fasting. After all, for now, we are just training her. It's not compulsory for her to fast at all.
Day 4, Saturday. It's the weekend. She doesn't go to school on Saturdays and we're afraid that not being meaningfully occupied will make her think of food. But we were in for a big surprise. She was such a trooper! She spent the morning playing with Farah and by 3pm, she took an afternoon nap all the way til 5.30pm. Then, it was time to go to her paternal grandma's house. And by the time we made our way there, it was time to break our fast. That was such an amazing day. She didn't whine one bit!
Day 5. Today. Sunday. We're going to her maternal grandparents' home where she'll meet all her cousins. We'll be there by early afternoon and knowing how they play, I fear that she will over-exert herself and will start asking for water especially when she sees the younger cousins taking huge gulps of water from their bottles. Well, we'll see. I hope she'll be as strong today as she was yesterday. And even if she can't make it, we'll still be proud of her accomplishments so far. :D
2. Well, this next it has nothing to do with the fasting month. But since I'm spending some time writing here, I might as well include a little tidbit about Farah. Farah pronounces the words 'dog' and 'horse' in the funniest way! Both words are said with a very pronounced 'ou' sound ('ou' as in bow and arrow) and her lips would be in a full pout as she says it. Priceless!
Gotta go now. My computer time is up. :p
Monday, August 09, 2010
Bountiless
I recently renewed my acquaintance with S and Z, a married couple.
They have been trying for a kid for some seven years without success.
Through the wife, I learnt that they have tried all sorts of procedures but the result is always negative. The most recent negative result they got was just two weeks ago.
I cannot even begin to imagine the pain they go through.
When I bumped into them a few days ago, the kids were with me. Although we were all jokey and smiley, I knew that there's suffering under those smiles. The pain and longing in the eyes of the wife were just too clear when she looked at Huda and Farah.
I can't do anything about their situation. I can't help them. All I can do is pray that their wish will be granted. But if it's not meant to be, then I pray that they'll both be happy together and that they'll be granted the wisdom to accept that it will just be the both of them forever. Amin.
They have been trying for a kid for some seven years without success.
Through the wife, I learnt that they have tried all sorts of procedures but the result is always negative. The most recent negative result they got was just two weeks ago.
I cannot even begin to imagine the pain they go through.
When I bumped into them a few days ago, the kids were with me. Although we were all jokey and smiley, I knew that there's suffering under those smiles. The pain and longing in the eyes of the wife were just too clear when she looked at Huda and Farah.
I can't do anything about their situation. I can't help them. All I can do is pray that their wish will be granted. But if it's not meant to be, then I pray that they'll both be happy together and that they'll be granted the wisdom to accept that it will just be the both of them forever. Amin.
Woody
1. Starhub is showing all channels for free during this long weekend and while channel surfing, I found myself stuck on the Woody Woodpecker show on Cartoon Network. It is so very very different from the Woody Woodpecker I used to catch when I was younger. I don't like the new one. I'm just leaving the cartoon on now so that I can catch the woodpecker pecking at a tree at the end of the show. I hope they still have that at least.
(Eventually I couldn't bear watching this show and changed the channel. How can there be aliens in Woody Woodpecker?!)
2. Two years ago or so, we decided to start hunting for a place much much nearer my mother's. We told ourselves that it is to make it convenient for us when we have to drop the kids off at my mom's when I go back to work. But, honestly, we are just itching for a bigger space and this time, with better ideas on how to do up the flat. A 5-room flat will do just fine. As very ngeow people, we want only specific units in specific blocks. We want an excellent view from all windows and we want it to be on a high floor. And of course, being so particular about everything, we have yet to find our unit.
When we started our search, my sister was not at all interested in moving out of her seaview home. But now, renovations in her new flat is almost complete and she's moving in by next week.
A few weeks after she made an offer for the flat, the 5-room flat next to hers was up for sale. The block is near my mother's house but it wasn't one of our shortlisted blocks. The view from the back is that of other people's kitchens. The view from the front is not that bad. But the owners were asking for an unreasonable amount for the cash-over-valuation component. I refused to budge from the amount which we have agreed upon from the very beginning. And so the flat slipped from our fingers.
Now, it seems like the person who made the offer is having some problems fulfilling his end of the bargain and the flat might be available again.
Well, I'm pretty fatalistic about things sometimes. I believe that if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. So if that flat is meant to be ours, it will be ours with us offering what I think is a reasonable amount of cov. We'll see.
3. I think Wuthering Heights is a terribly depressing story.
And now, on to the kids.
4. HELP! Farah is starting on her Terrible Twos six months too early! She's now very much into wailing and rolling all over the floor whenever something displeases Her Royal Highness. Sometimes I don't even know what Her Royal Highness wants. I'm beginning to think that Her Royal Highness is just doing this rolling-on-the-floor-wailing to expend her energy.
I'm sure someone must have snapped my picture and sent it to STOMP this morning. We were outside NTUC supermarket and my beloved Farah was wailing at the top of her lungs. Obviously I'm not entering the supermarket where her wailings will be amplified so I waited outside while TheHusband made a quick dash through the supermarket.
I can just imagine what the contributor will write on STOMP - Young* (possibly unwed) mother let her baby cry and cry and did absolutely nothing to stop the crying baby.
On a side note, I think I should send her to a gymnastics class where she can roll around as much as she wants. Or perhaps, a popiah-making class.
(*Clarification: I'm not trying to hao lian about my youthful looks. Up close, the fine lines under my eyes and my old aged wrinkly hands will reveal my true age. But from a distance, the sum total of my features make me look younger.)
(Eventually I couldn't bear watching this show and changed the channel. How can there be aliens in Woody Woodpecker?!)
2. Two years ago or so, we decided to start hunting for a place much much nearer my mother's. We told ourselves that it is to make it convenient for us when we have to drop the kids off at my mom's when I go back to work. But, honestly, we are just itching for a bigger space and this time, with better ideas on how to do up the flat. A 5-room flat will do just fine. As very ngeow people, we want only specific units in specific blocks. We want an excellent view from all windows and we want it to be on a high floor. And of course, being so particular about everything, we have yet to find our unit.
When we started our search, my sister was not at all interested in moving out of her seaview home. But now, renovations in her new flat is almost complete and she's moving in by next week.
A few weeks after she made an offer for the flat, the 5-room flat next to hers was up for sale. The block is near my mother's house but it wasn't one of our shortlisted blocks. The view from the back is that of other people's kitchens. The view from the front is not that bad. But the owners were asking for an unreasonable amount for the cash-over-valuation component. I refused to budge from the amount which we have agreed upon from the very beginning. And so the flat slipped from our fingers.
Now, it seems like the person who made the offer is having some problems fulfilling his end of the bargain and the flat might be available again.
Well, I'm pretty fatalistic about things sometimes. I believe that if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. So if that flat is meant to be ours, it will be ours with us offering what I think is a reasonable amount of cov. We'll see.
3. I think Wuthering Heights is a terribly depressing story.
And now, on to the kids.
4. HELP! Farah is starting on her Terrible Twos six months too early! She's now very much into wailing and rolling all over the floor whenever something displeases Her Royal Highness. Sometimes I don't even know what Her Royal Highness wants. I'm beginning to think that Her Royal Highness is just doing this rolling-on-the-floor-wailing to expend her energy.
I'm sure someone must have snapped my picture and sent it to STOMP this morning. We were outside NTUC supermarket and my beloved Farah was wailing at the top of her lungs. Obviously I'm not entering the supermarket where her wailings will be amplified so I waited outside while TheHusband made a quick dash through the supermarket.
I can just imagine what the contributor will write on STOMP - Young* (possibly unwed) mother let her baby cry and cry and did absolutely nothing to stop the crying baby.
On a side note, I think I should send her to a gymnastics class where she can roll around as much as she wants. Or perhaps, a popiah-making class.
(*Clarification: I'm not trying to hao lian about my youthful looks. Up close, the fine lines under my eyes and my old aged wrinkly hands will reveal my true age. But from a distance, the sum total of my features make me look younger.)
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