Blog with Yan

Cupcakes for Teacher's Day

2013-05-16T12:30:00.000+08:00

I have been practising making these two types of butter cakes months ago.

1. Zebra butter cake.
Ingredients :
( A )125g butter
100g castor sugar
100g eggs (about 2)
125g self raising flour
5g salt
60ml milk
(B)
3g cocoa powder

Method :
1. Beat butter and sugar till white and fluffy.
2. Add in egg one at a time and beat till well combined after each addition.
3. Fold in sifted flour, milk and salt, alternately until well mixed.
4. Separate batter into two portions. In one portion of the batter, add in the cocoa powder and mix well.
5. Put 1 tbsp of plain batter into the center of the pan and let it spread slightly on its own. Put 1 tbsp of chocolate batter in the center of the plain. It will push out the other batter and, as it sits for a moment, will also spread itself. Alternating spoonfuls of the two batters, repeat the technique until all the batter has been used up.
6. Bake at pre-heated oven at 160 degree for 25 mins or until skewer comes out clean.

I used a 9 inches pan.

In fact this was my second attempt in baking Zebra butter cake.

3rd attempt I baked Zebra butter in cups.

Though it was looked good, but it tasted yummy.

Yesterday, I baked again and this time I baked for my girls' teachers. I baked 9 Zebra cupcakes.

2. Orange butter cake.
125g butter
100g sugar
2 eggs (whole)
50ml orange juice
2 tsps grated orange rind
1/2 tbsp "sunquick" orange nectar
125g self raising flour

Method:
~ Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
~ Add in eggs one at a time, then add in orange juice, rind and nectar.
~ Fold in flour, pour into prepared liner and bake at 155'C for 25 minutes.

My first attempt in baking orange butter cakes.

My second attempt one day before Mother's Day.

I personally love the orange aroma from the cake. I really like this recipe.

Yesterday, I baked Orange butter cupcakes again. I sprinkled a bit of toasted almond nuts, Chia seeds and cherry on top.

I packed two cupcakes into a gift pack, decorated with a red ribbon and stick the girls' handwritten greeting note on it. Tadaa..... the Teacher's Day gifts.

During Monday assembly, the girls were told that the Teacher's Day celebration is on this Friday, because they have exam until Thursday. Yesterday, the students were informed again that they will celebrate Teacher's Day on Thursday (which is today) after their last paper at break time. Thank Goodness that I had got all ingredients and things ready. I cancelled my night swim and baked two trays of cupcakes last night. Later at noon, I have to deliver 9 gift packs to their school. April wants to give to 8 teachers, including the headmaster and the assistant headmasters. May only wants to give to her form teacher.

Here, I wish all teachers "Happy Teacher's Day."

513

2013-05-13T16:09:00.002+08:00

Today is 13 May. This is the first post in May.
The first week of May, I was too excited to blog.
The second week of May, I was too disappointed to blog.

5th May, waking up happily and going to cast our votes together at the walking distance polling station.

6th May, snapping this black colour picture by focusing the camera at the window curtain in my total darkness bedroom.

10th May, April and May brought these two oranges back home from school. Telling me that these were the Mother's Day gifts that prepared by the school.

11th May, having orange butter cup cakes as my breakfast. Oranges were the one given to me by April and May.

12th May, April and May spent RM4 to buy me this leopard printed purse for my phone as my Mother's Day gift.

Till then, I hope I can come out with a longer post next time.

Sawadeeka

2013-04-30T15:14:00.002+08:00

I always hesitate to blog about food, and I find it tough to do so. However, I find these pictures below are nicely taken by Hayley. I decide to share it here with my readers. These are food from one of our local Thai restaurant. There are 2 outlets in the town. One was shifted from old restaurant (Jalan Boo Bee), one was just newly opened.

Pandan Chicken

Otak Otak

Kai Lan

Omelet

Rice vermicelli

Tom Yam See Food

Green Curry

Japanese Tofu with mix veggie

The name of the restaurant

Look who's playing games. They Taiping Flower Boy Little Chi, Taiping Princess Avery and Taiping Prince Calvin.

Adult from left, Yvonne, Celine, yours truly, Lorita, Lorita's daughters, Angeline and Hayley.

Love this picture with my third princess, Baby Hebe.

April and May weren't free to join the dinner, as they had gone for their piano lesson. Never mind I was busy entertaining Angeline's kids.

My daughters amaze me every day!

2013-04-27T10:04:00.001+08:00

Last weeks, the weather was terribly hot and humid. I sweat so much. I changed my clothes and bathed so frequently when I was home.

I cursed the sun and blamed myself for living at Equator. I told my husband that I wanted to migrate to Toronto and stay near my friend, Lee.

Adoi! Before I can materialize my dream of migrating to colder country, I told him, we needed an air conditioner badly in my living room. Otherwise, we would hibernate in the room all day long.

Yesterday, I fetched my two daughters back home from school, we saw him cleaning up the mess after having someone to fix the new air conditioner. The girls overjoyed, especially April, she thanked her papa profusely for listening to us.

Before taking off her shoes and putting down her school bags, she asked her Papa that how much is the cost of the new air conditioner. Her dad answered, "RM1400". She quickly ran into the room and got her purse that she keeps all her saving from the daily pocket money. I saw her counting the money.

I said, "Don't be silly, you won't have that much of money."
April said, "I know, I don't have RM1400, I have a few hundreds, I can give RM 100 to papa. "

May too, running in, taking out RM 100, giving to her papa. How sweet of both of them.

April said, " We want to share the fund of buying the new air conditioner. You and papa just need to pay RM1200 now. "

I was amazed by their gesture.

At the end, her papa took their money. Not that he needs their share of fund, we want the children to share the family responsibility, that includes the chores in the house and also the finance responsibility in the family.

I believe in nothing starts too young.

Graduation performance in Music for Little Mozarts

2013-04-22T17:01:00.004+08:00

Last Friday, May attended Music for Little Mozarts (MFLM) graduation performance. This is a milestone that May achieved before turning 7 years old next month. I am proud of her because she had completed I-Maths all 6 levels (for 3 to 5 years old) when she was only 5 years old, and now she also completed all 4 levels of Music for Little Mozarts (MFLM). Bravo to May for her persistence in pursuing skills and knowledge in music and maths.

April was also taking part in one of the solo piano performance too.

After the performance, they both told me that they had fun, they couldn't get enough of it and they wanted more performance like this. I am glad that they enjoyed their piano performance.
Here are some of the pictures that I captured in the event.

Before the concert started, I took the opportunity to snap a picture of them together on the stage.

If you are interested in Music for Little Mozarts, I talked about this music course (for 4 to 6 years old) at the following links.
Music for Little Mozarts Level 1 | Blog with Yan
First piano mini concert | Blog with Yan
Second piano mini concert | Blog with Yan
She is called Mui Mui | Blog with Yan

Colouring homework

2013-04-22T15:26:00.001+08:00

My 7 years old, May brings back at least 2 homework everyday. One of her homework, especially English will be colouring. She will spend quite a long time in her colouring homework which my husband and me are not really pleased, as we want her to spend more of her time in revising her ting xie, ejaan, spelling, mathematics and all other more value added work.

Every time we will hurry her to finish her colouring homework up. When we ran out of time, I would also utter words like, " No need to colour so nice one, it isn't the Art homework, it is the English homework, just fill in some colour is good enough la!" I would also ask April to help May with her colouring homework. We just want her to faster finish her colouring homework, and she can move on to do other things.

Yesterday, May brought back a piece of drawing. It was again assigned by her English teacher to fill the drawing and alphabets with colours. To be very frank here, this type of colouring homework would only get her a "tick" with may be a "star".

We had a very hectic day. After taking dinner, both April and May were needed to go for their piano lesson. After the piano lesson, they had to practise their piano for this Friday music concert at Tesco. They had to do other homework, they had to do some mathematics work books, they had to practise their ting xie, ejaan and spelling, they had to do short revision for their coming exam, and they had to sleep early, because tomorrow they had table tennis training in the morning.

So May should have no time to do her English colouring homework.

When they came back home, May saw her colouring homework was completed and placed on her study table.

No, I wasn't the one who colouring for her. Guess who? Only one person left in the house.

Now you tell me, will you help your kids to do the colouring homework or other home work?

Keeping fit while away from home

2013-04-18T02:08:00.000+08:00

Maintain Your Fitness Routine While Away from Home

While it can be challenging to keep up with your workouts on a routine day, it can be even more difficult when you are traveling away from home. However, slacking off on your workout during your vacation can have some seriously negative consequences on your health such as increased stress and fatigue. Alternatively, maintaining your fitness will help you to stave off the negative effects of traveling while helping you to get back into your routine once you arrive home. Here, are three ways that you can maintain your fitness no matter how long you are away from home.

Research Hotels and Locations

When planning your travel itinerary, you will undoubtedly be researching the local hotels and other amenities that are necessary for your stay. During this time, be sure to do some due diligence by also looking for which hotels offer travel incentives such as a complimentary gym or yoga studio. On a recent trip to Las Vegas I scoured the Internet for reviews sites on the top hotels in Las Vegas in order to find the right hotel for my personality that is still in my price range. Many hotels now place just as much importance on fitness as they do comfort. For this reason, they may offer swimming pools, open gyms and even personal training sessions to help their guests stay in shape. By searching for this as an option, you will be setting yourself up for successful workouts anywhere you stay.

Plan for Healthy Eating

Traveling can’t only interfere with a person’s workout routine, but it is also more likely for a person to stray from their diet when they are out on the road. Business dinners, roadside dinners and convenience meals can all add up to extra pounds and an unhealthy physique. According to CNN Travel, one way to combat this problem is to eat small, healthy meals throughout the day. This strategy will not only help to keep your energy up, but it will also help to keep you from overeating at luncheons and buffets. If possible, try to select restaurants that offer healthy menu options for company meetings and business lunches. It is also important to make good selections at complimentary breakfasts. Fruit or yogurt can help fuel your body better than a calorie-laden breakfast of waffles and syrup.

Visit Nearby Trails and Gyms

One advantage that travel can have for your fitness is a new and exciting location to workout. Try scouting out some scenic hiking trails before you head out of town so that you will know where to go upon your arrival. Local nature trails, parks and other community amenities can offer a low-cost way to see the sights while still maintaining your fitness. If you prefer working out with others, then explore the local gyms and classes that offer one-time options for those who are traveling.

By making fitness a priority during your travels, you will be able to stay on top of your goals while also easing the stress that accompanies being on the road. To do so, be sure to research hotels and select one that offers gym services as well as local hiking trails and amenities. Then, pack a few healthy snacks and enjoy relieving your stress through natural and enjoyable activities.

3 dishes, 1 soup and 1 dessert

2013-04-15T16:01:00.001+08:00

I seldom cook. I only cook on weekend when my husband isn't around. I know, this sounds so weird.

This Sunday, my husband was around, and I insisted to cook. As I told him, I had several simple recipes in my mind. He allowed me to take over the kitchen, and he helped me to prepare the ingredient that I bought in the wet market a day earlier.

Let see what I cooked from the pictures below.

Self recipe. Stir-fried French beans with prawns and Japanese tofu.

Recipe from Merryn. Stewed chicken with soy sauce and Coca Cola.

Recipe from Facebook. Pan-fried eggs with cheddar cheese and Japanese Tofu.

Soup of the day. Lotus roots with red dates soup. This soup was boiled by my husband when I went swimming with the girls early in the morning.

Dessert of the day. I boiled White fungus with sweet potatoes in slow cooker the night before.

My girls said the best dish of the day is their papa home-cooked soup. Boo hoo, mummy!

It is ok, I will keep up cooking until they say that my home-cooked is better than their papa's one.

We celebrated at Nagaria Steak House

2013-04-12T15:16:00.000+08:00

continue from the previous post.... some of you want to know what May has given to her big sister as present, and what have papa and mummy given to April as present. You can find all the answer in this post.

Though this is the third post on April's birthday, I actually want to tell you more on the place we celebrated her birthday.

Unlike previous practices, May didn't make a card for her big sister, instead she got me to bring her to buy a present. She finally wished her big sister "Happy Birthday" that her big sister was longing to hear. Cheeky May.

April chose a classic coffee house/steak house, Nagaria which has experience more than 20 years in business. It is located on Jalan Pasar, a place does not exactly stand out amongst the many row of old, albeit well-preserved shop houses . By the way, ‘Naga’ means Dragon in Malay, and ‘Ria’ means Happy.

My husband loves this restaurant because of the attentive service, good old school menu selection, consistent taste of steak, and no service charge.

I love this restaurant because of the exact ambience one can expect from a timeless coffee house with a soft lighting, slow music at the background, and now free WIFI .

Chicken mushroom soup and garlic breads.

Fish and chips

Oriental chicken chop

Fried noodles

Chicken in the basket

Mixed vanilla and chocolate flavour of ice-cream cake

April's classmate gave her the purple colour pencil case. May gave her the Paul Frank photo frame. Mummy transferred Uncle SK's gift ( toy and key chain) that she won from spamming SK's blog to her. Mummy also bought the birthday cake. Papa paid the food bill of RM49.20.

Okay, Nagaria is a must visit local cafe for those on a trip to Taiping. Some might raise the issue of why not hawker food in Taiping instead of going Western? Well! Once in a while, dining in the comfort of a cosy and air-con coffee house/steak house sounds so much more inviting than sweating it by the roadside.

Apparently, she has also blogged about it here.

NAGARIA STEAK HOUSE
No 61, Jalan Pasar,
34000 Taiping, Perak, Malaysia.Telephone : 605-806 9032, 6019-541 7948
Business hours : 12pm – 12am

She still hasn't wished me yet!

2013-04-10T17:19:00.000+08:00

On the phone.

April: Mummy, May hasn't wished me "Happy Birthday" yet. You and papa have also wished me already.
Mum: Ask May to listen, I talk to her.

Mum: May, you still haven't wished Jie Jie "Happy Birthday". Go and wish her now.
May: Hehehehe! This evening I will wish her la, when I present her the present. Kekekekekeke! Hehehehehehe!"

April: What she says?
Mum: She said she will wish you this evening.
April: Then, why she laughed so evilly?
Mum:...............

April was holding the Princesses cupcakes from Auntie Angeline.

I am not only proud

2013-04-09T14:13:00.002+08:00

Our bedtime ritual.
Before I off the light, I hug and kiss my daughters on their lips. The moment I open the door and step out of their room, April, lying on her bed, the first one to say, "Mummy, sweet dream, good night, I love you, see you tomorrow, I love you, Good Night, See you.......Mummy, ask papa to come in, I want to say good night to him....." Awww.....sweet..... and I melt. Their papa who is watching news on TV will later come in for another round of ritual.

There was one time, when her papa was out for dinner with friends. As usual at their bedtime, we kissed and hugged, before I left her room,
April said, "Good night mummy, I love you most, see you tomorrow, sweet dream"
I said, "I love you most too, see you tomorrow, good night, sweet dream."

April said, "Mummy, will you wait for Papa to come back?"
I said, "No, he will come back quite late tonight. I work tomorrow, so I need to sleep early. "

April Said, "If you happen to wake up when papa is back, please covey my message to him, please remember to tell him that I want to say Good Night to him." Awwww......so sweet......and I melt. I waited till their papa was back, and I said to him, "April said Good Night to you."

Last week, I have a chat with their home tutor in the gym. She told me this,
" I told my husband about your elder every time after returning from your house. She is the best student that I ever had...............Her work is tidy and her handwriting is neat. She could complete the whole exercise book and the exercise book could still look like brand new. My other students and her kid sister, May doesn't have 50% of her good quality....."

I have also heard this type of compliment to April from people like her babysitter's family, her school teachers, and her art teachers.

I am not only proud of her. I am blessed to have her as our first precious daughter. April, mummy loves you most.

p/s: 10 April is April's 9 years old Birthday. Happy Birthday to my Princess April.
pp/s: Thanks Angeline for the beautiful cupcakes. April will be delighted to see the cupcakes tonight.

My blankie

2013-04-04T13:43:00.000+08:00

This is my favourite blanket. It was given to me by my childhood friend, BL's mother. Let just call her as Auntie in this post. Auntie sympathized me for losing a mother at the age of 17. They stayed at the housing estate opposite my housing estate. I can vividly remember that she rode on her motorbike to drop by my house a few times. She came talking to me.. She also shared with me how to do some house chores. Especially my big sister had also married and left the house that time.

2 years after my mom had passed away, Auntie came to my house on her motorbike again. I was at the porch hanging clothes, she helped me to hang the rest of my clothes. Then she passed me this piece of her handmade blanket.

Since then, I used it every night, except on days that I washed it. When I finished my Form Six, I went to a local university in KL, I carried this blanket with me to the campus. When I finished my degree, I went to work in a company in Penang, I also carried the blanket with me to the place I rented. When I married and relocated back to my hometown, I still used the blanket. When I had become a mother of two, and we had a privilege to travel, we bought two blankets, both made with 100% silk in Hong Kong, I still like this blanket the most.

I am not trying to over exaggerate here. It is a very comfortable blanket, it is not too thick on warm day, it is also not too thin on cold day. The length of the blanket suits my height well. After wearing for more than 20 years, it is torn at a few places, this never causes me to love it less. I told BL about how much I like her mother's blanket. She was surprised to know that I still treasure the blanket, although it is torn after many rounds of washing and drying.

BL and her family came back for Cheng Beng last weekend. She asked me out and handed another 3 pieces of Auntie's blankets.

I was so happy and I lost the words to express how thankful I am to Auntie and BL. These are the best gifts I ever had, they are priceless, they are made with love.

BL, please tell Auntie, I will treasure these blankets till I die.

Our April Fool day

2013-04-02T16:57:00.000+08:00

April Fool day, every time I went into the car, I would immediately on the radio and listen to My Melody FM, as I knew that there was Leslie Cheung special program all day long. No, this isn't about how much I miss him. No, this also isn't to tell how much I honestly love him.

Evening, I off from office and driving to my daughters' school to pick them up, I was in time to catch a few of my favourites Leslie's songs. When my two girls got into my car, the radio was still on loud and clear. I would have turned off the radio on normal day, as my daughters would have a lot of things to share with me.

As expected, April told me about April Fool pranks that her classmates had on her, and also she created a few pranks to trick her classmates. She saw me not responsive enough, and only listening to Leslie's song engrossingly. She was puzzled.

Mom: Just listen to this song. Today is April Fool day. It was also a day to remember this singer. He called Leslie Cheung Kok Wing. He was famous when mummy was young like you. He was great. He could dance, act and sing. He was very good looking. He died 10 years ago on April Fool day. All his fans thought it was a prank, but it was real that he committed suicide.

April: Why? Why he committed suicide?

Mom: He was depressed.

April: Why he so depressed?

Mom: I don't know.

After dinner, when the girls were doing their homework in the study room, I was at the living room folding clothes. I on the TV, just hoping that I could catch some Leslie Cheung's special on Astro. Luck was on me.

I yelled to my girls, "There, he is Leslie. Come and have a look." They ran out from room.

April: I already know it, you are talking about this kind of yellowish old TV shows.

Mom was dumbfounded. Since when what I love has become yellowish old TV shows.

We spent 2 continous evenings on cards

2013-03-29T18:30:00.000+08:00

My girls' school have handmade card competition in conjunction of Mother's Day, Teacher's Day and Father's Day every year. We always make use of this first semester school break to create those cards. This started since my elder was in Primary 1.

We need to do 6 cards, 2 cards for each day, as May is in Primary 1 this year. We spent some time browsing at the website to collect some craft ideas before we started to work on the card. We usually looked up for quick and easy handmade cards idea online. I didn't help them in the card creation, but I helped in giving lots of brilliant ideas. lol!

These are the Mother's Day cards, pink card is created by May and the yellow card is created by April.

Teacher's Day card by May. It is a document bag card.

Teacher's Day card by April. She was using finger prints on those flowers.

Father's Day card by April. "A bear hug to Dad" and DAD was written in dollar sign $. It means her dad worth every penny.

Father's Day card by May. This card is cute, and it can put a smile on every person who looks at it.

Things that we used are card stocks, scissors, double sided tape, glue, colourful and pattern tapes, water colour, ribbons, buttons and magic pens.

That's the only activity I did with them in this school break.

If you want to have a look on our previous years handmade cards for these 3 special days, here are the links.

1. Teacher's Day card in year 2011
2. Mother's Day card in year 2011
3. Father's Day card in year 2011
4. Mother's Day, Teacher's Day and Father's Day card in year 2012

Pictures of sisters love

2013-03-26T17:16:00.002+08:00

I was checking at my picture folder and trying to find something to blog for this week, before I go MIA for a few days to concentrate on my overdue dateline project.

Thank Goodness I found a few pictures that I didn't publish before and I think it is worthwhile to share with my readers.

With Hayley, a young and pretty mummy that I believe no one would disagree with my statement.

With my two princesses, April and May whom always feel jealous at mummy, when mummy curled eye lashes and dusted blushes on face. Silly girls.

I hope when they grow up, they still want to take many pictures with their mummy

With Yvonne, everyone knows that she is my BFF aka my sista. This is the tenth years of our friendship. Our mutual understanding has grown from good to better.

She will definitely scream at me if she sees me posting this picture up. Nevermind la, ah hua.

I don't want to share this last picture earlier, because I worry that people will say "These two aunties are so vain, camwhoring in the bath room as if they are Sweet Young Things, beh paiseh!"
I know I am whoever I want to be and I just have to decide to do it. Who cares? But, Yvonne will "piak" me, because she still looked short after wearing the highest heels that she has. Muahahahah!

p/s: I know my joke is lame too.

Longan jelly apple dessert

2013-03-22T18:46:00.000+08:00

I received a few cans of longan in syrup as gifts in CNY. My husband also bought 2 big boxes of longan in syrup. We gave some to relatives and we kept some for ourselves. My two daughters love longan in syrup very much. Last weekend I used a can to mix with jelly powder to make Longan Agar Agar.

This was too good to snack on hot day. It was a very refreshing dessert for kids. My two daughters like it to bits.

On the next day, I cut those left over Longan Agar Agar into cubes, I also sliced apples into small pieces. I opened another can and I mixed everything together with some ice cubes.

Tadaa...Longan Jelly Apple dessert.

Again, my two daughters cherish this bowl of cold dessert.

So much love to her

2013-03-20T04:00:00.000+08:00

April was lucky enough to be grown up in a their family in her first 3 years after born, or I should say that I was lucky to have her taking care of my precious first born.

I had to admit that I worried, puzzled and concerned initially whether she could help me babysitting my new born when I was at work. Never did I expect the nanny and her family love my baby so much.

I will never forget her help in babysitting my elder daughter in her first 3 tender years. I was thankful as whenever I went picking up my baby, my baby was already slept, fed and dressed up well. She took very good care of April, and April was a happy and active baby. Needless to say, other than herself, her husband and her 4 grown up daughters love April dearly too.

When May was 1 year old, I decided to take April to May's nanny's house, due to the distance from her house to my office was nearer, and May was too young to switch nanny. I remember I felt terribly bad when seeing April's nanny shedding her tear upon hearing my decision.

Each time when I heard May's nanny complaining about April's tantrum and whines, I felt so doubtful on my decision for switching April to her house. She was loved by her own nanny and her family, but she was complained by her new nanny.

I still let April visit her nanny and put up a stay at her nanny's house during her school holiday.

April sure likes to visit her and stay with her, because she would bring April to the mall, watching movie and dining at April's favourite outlet, Sushi King.

She and her family treated my April like their youngest daughter, albeit she herself has four grown up and beautiful daughters

All pictures that I put here were all taken from April's Cassie Jie Jie (her 4th daughter) and 三姐 (her 3rd daughter) 's FB.

More pictures in the below slide show. If you view the pictures, you will believe that they really love my April so much. Pictures were all taken at 三姐 and Cassie's ROM. They made April their flower girl. They made April the centre of attraction in all their family functions. April is blessed to have her 奶妈 and her whole family.

1 ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Photo album cover picture

If I have a day to myself

2013-03-18T17:28:00.002+08:00

If I have an entire day all to myself, I will use 3 hours to bake from a recipe that I have bookmarked long ago. These 3 hours will include the measuring of all ingredients, whipping, mixing, baking, washing all baking gadgets after used and also cleaning up the kitchen.

As I won't have the luxury for an entire free day to myself, I always bake when my girls are occupied with tuitions.

My first attempt of huat kuih that I planned to bake more when Cheng Beng. Recipe was taken from here.

Then, I will like to spend another 3 hours in the gym. These 3 hours include travelling to and from the gym, changing before working out, and bathing after working out. I will run at 7km/h for an hour on treadmill, I will ride 30 minutes on orbitrek , and i like to have another 30 minutes on weight machines and lifting weight.

I also don't have the luxury of 3 entire hours to spend in working out. The most I have now is only 1.5 to 2 hours. So I need to cut short the time by skipping one or two machines in my fitness routine.

Sweating out in the gym always make me feel happy and good. Exercise can also allow me to indulge in my own baking without feeling guilty of the calories.

If there is still time permitted, I will like to have an hour TV, an hour reading, an hour shopping and an hour beauty nap.

I usually can't do all these in a single day. If I go to gym, I must forego baking, and vice versa.
If I watch TV and go shopping, I have to postpone reading and napping to another day, and vice versa. So, that's my life.

Snow fungus (雪耳) sweet soup dessert

2013-03-13T13:00:00.001+08:00

I want to chase off most women's biggest enemies Wrinkles and Aging but I am not rich enough to take bird nest everyday. As an alternative, I opt for white fungus (雪耳), which is definitely cheaper than bird nest. To me after reading the benefits of it from various sources I found that it has more benefits than merely containing collagen that also can be found in bird nest.

Some researches have shown that Snow Fungus/White Fungus (雪耳) has qualities that increase body's immune system, fights tumor growth and prevent cancer, reduces harmful cholesterol, safeguards the liver, combats swellings and irritations and the most important one, retards the aging process. If someone consumes snow fungus, wrinkles, freckles and stress marks will vanish. Thus, snow fungus is traditionally popular as an anti-aging food of improving the skin tone.

To get the health benefits of snow fungus, there are many ways to cook it with. A popular dessert soup would involve boiling white fungus with rock sugar, ginkgo nuts, longan and red dates. I call this type of snow fungus sweet soup dessert as Leng Chee Kang.

Please click at the picture to see my bowl of collagen that hopefully can make me look more radiant after taking it.

Soak, wash and strain ingredients like red dates, white fungus, gingko bilobas, lotus seeds and dried longans.

Please click at the picture to view another picture. Special thanks to SK for this special effect .

Short hair for my princesses

2013-03-11T19:00:00.000+08:00

Both my girls had started to keep their hair long since they were only 2 years old. I never let them cut their hair shorter and above the shoulder level. Everyday, my husband and I would help to wash, brush, blow and tie their hair. It was actually lots of trouble to manage their long hair, especially they have so many activities everyday.

When their Papa was at work, I needed to drive to their school at my lunch break, just to tie their hair again, because I didn't trust their own and also their granny's work.

On weekends, I needed to wash and blow their hair twice, once in the morning after swimming lesson, once in the evening after table tennis training. Each time I would spend 30 minutes just to manage their hair.

Their Papa and me talked to them many times whether they should get their hair cut short. April and May would every time refuse with the excuse that they wanted to join the dance performance at the school year end concert. Long hair can be styled nicer and easier by the professional hair stylist, so to speak.

Last week, we had finally got them to agree and head to the hair saloon for a short haircut. I promise to let them keep their hair long again if they don't like their short hair. I wanted them to try short hair at least once.

April before the hair cut

April after the hair cut

I find her look as cute as she was 2 years old, but her kid sister, May said she looked like wearing a helmet :(

May before the hair cut

May after the hair cut

May also looks like when she was a baby too. She can accept and like her short hair better than her big sister.

After bath, they could do their workbook almost immediately without going through the trouble to blow, brush and tie their hair.

I feel pitiful for them to cut their long hair that they had kept for so many years, but it is also good to have a change in their hair style.

Hot pot a.k.a steamboat

2013-03-08T17:27:00.005+08:00

I have mentioned before that CRC serves very nice steamboat, and my two girls love having hot pot. So, we had this steamboat for most of our family members' birthday celebration.

Prawns, mushroom, and squid.

Crabs

Green veggies

Fish balls and "Fucuk Goreng"

Cintan Mee and square fish balls

We had half tom yam and half clear soup.

Want to know who paid for these three yummy ladies. Please click at the picture.

Book addict

2013-03-07T13:20:00.000+08:00

Both of my girls indeed love reading, and I actually feel proud of it. However, when their reading habit has started to interfere with their revision, homework, meal and sleep routine, I would definitely make some noise.

This evening, they had just finished their homework/revision and snacks, Papa wanted to trim their finger nails. April said "Wait a minute, Papa.", then she quickly ran to grab an English story book that I borrowed from CRC library.

Trimming finger nails took less than 5 minutes only, but she would seize the opportunity to read a few lines.

May, on the other hand, enjoys reading while sitting on the throne. She always takes forever to finish her big business, she makes me or her sister yell at her when we want to use the bathroom.

When April realized I snapping pictures of her, she used the book to cover up her face. Muahahahaha!

Fattening supper but never fatten them

2013-03-05T19:00:00.000+08:00

My house still has a few tubs of CNY cookies. Since I put on weight in the festive, due to excessive cookies munching T____T, I swear that I can't touch those last few tubs of cookies anymore until I witness a drop at my weighing scale (not sure when this will happen). So, my husband takes over the mission to finish all of them. He has forbidden me to bake before he can finish the CNY goodies.

Mummy no baking, my girls were fed with Pasar Malam or Kopitiam food as their bedtime snacks after tuitions.

We bought them Roti Canai, Chee Cheong Fun, Char Koey Teow, Wan Tan Mee, Wat Tan Hor or Dim Sum.

Last night, the girls finished 1 loh mai kai and 3 fried fish balls. The balance again walloped by their papa.

I dare not took even a single bite of these fattening, oily and high calories food before my bedtime. However, my girls can afford to have it, only if they don't mind to take it every night. My girls go for table tennis training 3 times a week, each time 1.5 hours, and they go for swimming once a week. Needless to say they ride bicycles outside the house on weekends, run here and jump there at school field. I don't think they will easily put on weight with such a busy schedule of activities and sports. Many people told me that it is unhealthy to take supper. If I don't let them take supper, they will be even thinner then what they are now. By the way, they will whine if they don't see supper laying on the dining table before their bedtime.

Back in full swing

2013-03-04T01:00:00.000+08:00

Festive and celebration were over. Time flies, the first quarter of the year is almost completed. Everyone should back in full swing, be it at work or at school.

May is chosen by the form teacher to be assistant monitor in the class. I like May to be a monitor. Because she is a bit different from her big sister. She is a quiet and timid girl. I always worry that she may get bullied by her classmates. I hope she can be louder and more bold after being a monitor.

First week of ting xie and ejaan from school for my Standard 3 and Standard 1.

Second week of ting xie, spelling and ejaan from tuition and school. My evening time after work is spent training them writing all these words.

We bought all these new workbooks for my two girls. This stack of workbooks consist of all subjects for Standard 3 and Standard 1.I told them, being at the top 5, a trip to Kidzania or Sunway Lagoon in the coming June holiday, fail to do so, stay at home.

Mummy is loved

2013-03-01T18:48:00.000+08:00

Monday, my big milestone day. I waited till the girls had finished all their homework and done with their revision, then we went out to a nearby café for cakes and drinks. I chose 1a slice of Chocolate Cookies Cheese cake and a slice of Tiramisu as my birthday cake. I just took one bite of each slice of cakes. It was quite late in the evening and I have to back to my diet plan immediately after CNY. This was the reason that I didn't get myself a big whole cake that evening.

lina, these are the DIY cards from 2 princesses, They had written "Mummy, I love you" for more than 2 times in the card.

SK, you want me to show how my husband gave me birthday kiss.

Tomorrow is my Chinese Lunar Birthday. Since it is a weekend, we shall go for a special meal to celebrate again.

Till then, happy weekend, folks.