Dedicated To : Those Without Kids (Yet)

During a lunch in a restaurant recently, while 2 mummies yak on, Isabelle and my friend's son communicated to each other across the table, by not talking, or babbling, but screaming. And they were having a blast doing that. I know their screams may not be music to all ears, not even to me but kids will be kids. And with that, they attracted some unwanted attention from the next table of a group of young office workers. I can accept the stares as I have been there, done that. But I heard one of them made a Malaysian remark 'Aiyoooo....' and with a face expression saying 'Why can't these 2 mummies and 2 kiddos do their lunch and shut up their kids?'. I tried to keep my cool while I tried to quiet down Isabelle by distracting her with some food. It worked on Isabelle but not my friend's son who was still on high screaming. But we managed to keep their mouths full with food so that they can't scream any further.

*Picture sourced from google search

Our young audience from next table continued to watch and (I believe) was still talking about us. I can't help but to look at them and then turn to my friend telling her (hoping these youngsters would hear me as they sitting near enough to hear even a whisper), "These young people had been a baby and toddler themselves before and they have most probably did the same thing our kids did earlier. Scream. They should learn to be more understanding towards parents but can't blame them because they are just so young and have a long way to go. Wait till they become parents one day with screaming kids like ours." Then I just turn to them again and gave them a big smile. It ended the staring game.

Call me sarcastic. But my tolerance level towards such audience, is very low.

Have you encountered such situation and what would you do? Would you have go for the sarcastic resort like I did?

I Did It !!!

I was always skeptical about bringing Isabelle out alone, alone as in, me on the wheels and she in the baby car seat unaccompanied by any other adults. There is always someone, usually me, on the seat next to her at the back seat of the car. But I did it today! I finally overcome my own doubts!

Went to a new mall about 5 minutes drive from home for lunch with a friend and her son. And I was worried that Isabelle would want me to carry her or get out of the car seat. But thank God she sat in her seat whole journey (to and from the mall) and did not disturb me at all, totally!

I am one happy Mommy who accomplished something I thought I never will. A prosperous way to usher in a new rabbit year? Yes, I think so. :)

Jude & Belle & Mummies' Date

I love play dates and I love mummies' date even more ! :)

Isabelle looking relaxed and Jude looking cheerfully handsome!

It was lovely to have Lyn and Jude coming over for lunch. As usual, the 2 kids played to their content.

I made nasi lemak and Lyn brought RT's delicious cheescake for dessert. Yummy!

My Nasi Lemak (served with cucumber today)

The glorious cheesecake. Thanks Lyn!

Mummy Jenny, we missed you this lunch date and hopefully you will be able to join us for the next one :)

Gong Xi Gong Xi...

Have you done your CNY shopping? Filled up your pantry with all the goodies? Changed some new notes for the red packets? Most importantly, renew your wardrobe?

We are doing something 'green' this year. No new crispy notes. After all, what is more important is the content in the packet, the sincerity of giving it away and the joy of those who receive it. We will use the cleaner and newer notes we have and will only resort to using new notes only if we run out of cleaner ones.

*Picture sourced from google search

As for clothes, I only have 2 new blouses this year compared to having more pieces previous years. But I have a new bag (my dream bag actually!) that DH bought for me for my New Year gift. Will reveal it soon. Isabelle has 2 new dresses being one from my good friend and one from my Mom. DH is going to buy some more for her. I can't wait to see her parade in them. DH is going to get his within these few days time.

Last CNY, Isabelle only know how to make the Gong Xi Gong Xi gesture. But this year, we have taught her to greet too.

And now what is left is.. count down to the year of Rabbit and celebrate the new year with my beloved family! :)

*Picture sourced from google search

Our Potty Story

We clapped and cheered while our little angel looked at us, stunned and then looked back at the potty. She must be wondering why are we making a fuss over her filled up potty. :) Yes, she finally peed in her potty! :)

Another milestone for all of us.

Wishing all of you a lovely week ahead!

*picture sourced from google

Have You Ever Encounter A Lousy & Un-Understanding Neighbour?

I have had housemate from hell. I never thought I would have a neighbour coming not too far from the same place too. Sigh.

There is this family of 3 living a floor below our condominium unit. The only 2 things we have in common is, both our families has a young child in our homes and our tolerance level towards midnight-unreasonable-made-on-purpose-noises from other condo units are extremely low.

But, we do not go knocking on their doors at 1.15am to ask if we know where the irritating sound was coming from. And it is hard to understand why our dear neighbour would actually do that. And yes, they did that last night. I heard the same noise of furniture dragging on the floor on top of our home but it didn't bother us to the extent that we need to get out of our home in pyjamas and rush to the unit above us and give them a piece of our mind, at 1.15am!

Yes, our dear neighbour came ringing our door bell at 1.15am and asked us if we know where the sound was coming from! I seriously, cannot comprehend her action. She sent me a sms earlier and even gave me a call which I see no reason in replying because it was way past midnight. And I thought with no response from me, she would get it that I am already fast asleep. But surprise!! DING DONG... at 1.15am! I wish I could just tell her off but I chose not to because we are neighbours and I didn't want to make things look ugly.

And this isn't the first time they bother us just because of some tiny noises and during such odd hours. In the past when their child was younger, we had trouble going to sleep because of her long hours of wailing. Yes we can hear her wailing all the way from our place. Noises do travel fast and we are just separated by a floor of tiles and cement. Yet, we didn't make a big hoo hah about this because we can understand as we are parents with a young child too.

My principal about living in a condominium, there are things that we just have to tolerate and be tactful about. And it is certainly not a pleasant, right and tactful thing to do, waking up your neighbours just to get the frustration out of your system, no matter how pleasant you tried to sound. I hope they will come to their senses, soon. The next time they do that again, I WILL really give them a piece of my mind.

Okay... that is all for my ranting today and I am going to enjoy my weekend and hope you do too! :)

Nasi Lemak & Sambal Ikan Bilis (Coconut Rice & Chili Anchovies)

This is my first nasi lemak attempt at home and I am excited to see my 'home critics' aka guinea pigs' reaction.

Nasi Lemak (Coconut Rice)

Ingredients:

1. 2.5 cups rice (I used fragrant rice instead of basmati rice usually recommended)

2. 2 cups water (follow measurement of the rice cooker)

3. 1 box of coconut milk (Total of water & coconut milk should measure up to 2.5 cups)

4. pinch of salt

5. A slice of ginger (smashed)

6. Shallots (sliced)

7. Pandan leaves tie into a knot (screwpine leaves)

Method:

1. Wash rice till water runs clear

2. Cook rice in the rice cooker with water and coconut milk

3. Add in a pinch of salt

4. Add in ginger and shallots

5. Let rice cook for about 5 mins and add in the pandan leaves.

6. Let the rice cooker do its job.

Sambal Ikan Bilis (Chili Anchovies)

Ingredients:

To blend or ground:

1. 5 cloves of garlic

2. 5 shallots

3. 1 inch of belacan (shrimp paste)

4. 5 red chili

5. 5 dried red chili

1. About one bowl of anchovies (rinsed with water before frying)

2. Sliced red onions

3. Salt and sugar to taste (For this recipe, I used fish sauce and grated palm sugar)

4. Tamarind (Soak about 2 spoonfuls of tamarind in 1 bowl of hot water for 15 mins and squeeze out the juice)

Method:

1. Heat oil and fry the anchovies. Once it is fragrant and turn golden, remove from pan and leave aside.

2. Heat oil and saute the blended ingredients till fragrant.

3. Add in sliced onions and anchovies.

4. Add in tamarind juice. Let it simmer for few seconds.

5. Add in salt and sugar to taste.

6. Let the sambal simmer for about 2 mins and do adjust the consistency of the sambal according to your preference.

To serve & garnish:

Hard boiled eggs (sliced) or fried egg, roasted peanuts and sliced cucumber. For this recipe today, I omitted cucumber as I didn't have any in the fridge. Cheated with some greens DH bought from a nearby mamak shop.

Results

DH requested me to cook this again, tomorrow. Yippee! But no, I won’t cook this again, at least not so soon. It is thrilling to see him longing for it.

Pandan leaves (screw pine) *picture sourced from google

Coconut Milk Reduced Fat *picture sourced from google

Belacan (Shrimp paste) *picture sourced from google

This is how the ikan bilis (anchovies) looked like before cooked

*picture sourced from google

Progress of Our 20 month old Isabelle

Our little baby turned 20 months old last 2 days. 24 months aka 2 years old is like knocking on the door already while it still feels like yesterday that she was an infant, just born, fragile and tiny. Now, I can really relate to how parents feel when they say their children (no matter how grown up) will always be their little babies in their hearts.

It is the 2^nd week of the new year and it's time for me to update Isabelle’s progress since my last post. She has grown so much, so fast, maybe too fast. She is learning very fast too and has even mastered a few songs.

General Words/People/Animals/Objects etc

Bis-ka ~Biscuit

Okay

Hello

Hi

Star

Moon

Lights

Tee ~ Tree

Ay-Men ~ Amen

Sing

Ji Lai ~ Stand Up (in Mandarin)

Let’s Go

Zou la ~ Let’s Go (in Mandarin)

Chou Chou ~ Smelly/Stinky (in Mandarin)

Fan

Stop

Come (with hand gesture)

Birdie Birdie Birdie ~ As in when she request for the song ‘Nobody’ by Wondergirls

Birdie ~ Bird

Pi po ~ Hippo

Peepers ~ Pampers / Diapers

Baby Baby ~ Justin Bieber

Sit Sit ~ Sit

Music/Songs (Able to sing the last few words of every line & hum the whole song)

ABC Song ~ A, B, C, D, G, P, V, Y, Z

Twinkle Twinkle ~ Star, Up, Sky

London Bridge ~ Down, Lady

Ke Ren Lai (Mandarin song) ~ Bu Zai Jia, Xia, Cha

* My pinyin would most probably be wrong due to my poor Mandarin *

Physical Activities

Walking up the stairs (without assistance but with close monitoring)

Walking down the stairs (without assistance but with close monitoring)

How much Are You (SAHM) Worth?

I have always wonder how much would I worth if I were to get paid for my long working hours.

I got the answer here (link below).

I AM WORTH $117,856.00 a year!

http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2010/05/07/stay-at-home-moms-worth-118000/

Thanks Mummy Jenny for sharing with me an article which lead me to this u$eful link :)

Pineapple Fried Rice & Pancake for Sweet Lisa

My very dear friend Lisa came over for a visit yesterday. We had a good time catching up and also it was just lovely to have someone special to share lunch with :)

Here's the recipe for pineapple fried rice & pancake.

Pineapple Fried Rice

Ingredients:

1. Cooked rice (3 bowls)

2. 2 eggs

3. Chopped garlic

4. Diced shelled prawns

5. Shredded crabmeat *optional

6. Green peas

7. Diced fresh pineapples (if this is not available, canned pineapples would do the trick too)

8. Raisins

9. Cashew nuts

For seasonings:

1. 1/4 tsp salt

2. Pepper

3. 1/2 tsp oyster sauce

Method:

1. Pre-fried 1 egg and put aside.

2. Saute garlic in oil till soft.

3. Add in prawns and crabmeat and saute till they are half way cooked (prawns will turn light pink and less translucent).

4. Add in seasonings and quickly add in rice. Combine well.

5. Make a well in the middle and add in the egg. Let it set a little and mix well with the rice to make sure they are coated with the egg.

6. Add in the pre-fried egg, peas, pineapple and cashew nut. Combine well. Done.

Result

As I am always stingy with using cooking oil, this fried rice is not as oily as it should be. But according to Lisa & Isabelle, it is YUMMY!

Pancake

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups plain flour (I used wheat flour from my Dad's company)

2. 2 cups water

3. 1/4 cup milk

4. 1 egg

5. Pinch of salt

6. 1/2 cup brown sugar

7. Few drops of vanilla essence

8. Bananas *optional (skipped bananas for this recipe because I ran out of bananas!)

Method:

1. Mix well the dry ingredients (flour, salt and brown sugar)

2. Add in water. Mix well.

3. Add in milk.

4. Add in vanilla.

5. Pan fry them till they turn golden brown in a non-stick pan with butter or oil.

Result

Not overly sweet and perfect to go with a cuppa tea.

Long Tunnel

Yes, I am blank and uninspired. Maybe it is the new year syndrome. It feels like a long way to go and almost as if I can't see any light at the end of the tunnel although I know, it is going to be another busy year. Lots of agenda going on. Yet, still, I am... blank.

*picture sourced from google search*

But... wait... it is FRIDAY!!! Friday is a sign of hope and I am looking forward to some rejuvenating activities.

Wishing you and loved ones a wonderful & blessed weekend!

Spring Cleaning & Sales!

Isabelle is growing up fast and her things is piling up. Living in a condominium does not give us a lot of storage space. Yet I am not willing to let go of the things she used before or when she was a tiny little baby because I am a sentimental small-scale-hoarder. So I spring cleaned our home and decided I could do away with my rarely used stuffs. Some of them are gifts, hardly used or I will not need anymore in the future. Few items are Isabelle's but not something we will use for her again or it was a gift but she don't need it. These items ready to go are in good condition and not 'unwanted' or 'rejected' items.

Here are some of the items I am ready to say goodbye to and hopefully a new owner will find their way to them soon.

Avent Neoprene Therma Bag RM45.00

MommyLoveU One size cloth diaper (apple green & sky blue) RM20.00 per piece

Baby Floats (RM5.00)

Black Suede Bag with silver side buckles (RM40.00)

Dark Chocolate Bag (RM30.00)

Olive Green Bag with brown straps (RM40.00)

Black Tote Bag (RM30.00)

2 toned sunglasses (RM40.00) SOLD

Littlepods baby carrier (RM140.00)

Mini Table Lamp (RM5.00)

Mini Vanity Bag (RM15.00)