Shu-Yin's Sanctuary

Separation Anxiety

2012-02-10T16:02:00.004+08:00

Usually Shern doesn't have any problems being separated with me. He was ok whenever I leave him at mum's place while I go to work/out. And he was even ok flying to South Africa with my parents and spent 2 weeks there before me.

After the initial happiness of him being a big and brave boy going to playschool without crying, things started become a crying nightmare thereafter. Or maybe I should blame it on the long weekend holidays.

The first 3 days at playschool started off great. Then came the long weekend with 4 days off school. Then when we brought him to playschool on Wednesday, he decided to become a koala and cling-ed on my neck for dear life. And was crying bucketful of tears when I decided to just tear away from him and left him there in the arms of the teacher. When I went to fetch him, teacher commented that he cried on and off. I knew he did participated a little because he went home and sang a new song for me.

Today is Friday and it was the same. He was still a koala and he refused to let me go. Teacher said he cried every time he thinks of me. He didn't want any toys. Nothing could distract him. So I guess I need to stop him for a month or so. I don't want him to have a phobia. Will stop for awhile and then start again. I also noticed that he was more clingy to me at home.

So is this like a new phase of Separation Anxiety?

Reaching The Big Three Zero

2012-02-03T14:06:00.000+08:00

The time has come. I'm officially 30 years old about a week ago.
To tell the truth, I don't feel 30, although I know I am 30.

Hubby gave me a boombastic birthday pressie though.

It came in a little blue box. :)

It is Elsa Peretti's Open Heart 18k Gold Pendant.

Thanks hubby!

We had a simple cake-cutting celebration at home. We must have cake-cutting because of Shern.
He is the happiest when it is someone'e birthday.

He's always the one who sings the birthday song, blows the candles and cuts the cake. Haha.

And this time, it was the same. Shern is the happiest.

And I'm happy when Shern tells me 'Happy Birthday Mummy!'

Shern's First Two Days at Playschool

2012-02-02T13:21:00.001+08:00

We decided to send Shern to playschool a few months ago. This is so that he could have other kids to play with and to learn to share and to be more independent.

Was doing research and then finally decided on a playschool that is near to our place. It will be more convenient since he will only be there for a few hours every morning.

Decided to enrol him only in February, so that there will be less new kids and thus, the teachers can pay more attention to him on his first day there.

I was more nervous than him. The night before, I packed his school bag and in it I popped in a water bottle, a snack box and a change of clothes and some diapers. I also cut down his afternoon nap time and tried to make him sleep earlier so that he could wake up early the next morning. He ended up sleeping at around 10.40pm.

I woke him up at 8.15am on school day. Coaxed him to have his milk and changed his clothes. Then off went. He was pretty happy when we told him he is going to school. The many weeks of brainwashing works. Haha.

1 February 2012

Reached there at 8.40am and his face lit up when he saw the slides and the playground toys at the school grounds. He immediately went to play. Look at these. No wonder he was so happy!

And it was then that I told him 'mummy is leaving now, mummy is going to work'. And guess what he said? He said 'Okay'.

Wah...I was more reluctant to leave him than him missing us! Haha.

But I knew I need to go. So we just took a last peek of him from the gates/wall. Then we were off.

The teacher told us to 'standby' in case there is a crying meltdown. But we didn't receive any phone calls and it was all good until we went to fetch him at 11.30am.

Upon reaching there, I saw his eyes a little red. The teacher told us, a parent went in to fetch another kid and when Shern saw the grownup, he said 'I want mummy'. Luckily, I reached a few minutes later.

But all was well on Shern's first day in school. He told us he played with slides and he kicked a ball and he played with cars and trains. Not sure how true though. And he told us there is an aunty wearing specs, which I think should be one of the teachers or helpers. He doesn't really understand what is a teacher yet! ;)

Second day started off with a little problem - Shern refused to wake up!

He did not even budge when I changed his clothes while he was asleep. Oh no.

2 February 2012

But after awhile, he finally did open his eyes and I told him he is going to school which has slides and bikes for him to ride.

He then insisted on carrying his school bag and he was all hyped up in going to school!

Just like the first day, he was all happy when he saw the slides and bikes. We said bye to him then and he gave me and hubby a kiss each.

We then peeked at him through the gate and saw him kicking a ball with 2 other kids. He seems happy.

Oh, my baby is growing up. I can't believe he is going to playschool now!

The Most Expensive Meal In My Life

2012-01-30T14:02:00.002+08:00

Hubby & I went down to KL for a few days a few weeks ago, and we dined in Shook! in Starhill Gallery, Bukit Bintang. It was then that we were billed RM830.55 for a dinner meal for two! Shocking, huh?

Well, let me tell you what we ate.

We were served bread with some spices and olive oil upon seated. I took a bite and that was all.

9 January 2012

For Appetizers,

Hubby ordered Snow White Dancing Prawns, which are stir-fried prawns with hot mayonnaise sprinkled with honey-glazed walnuts. RM59.

It turned out ok as the big 5 prawns were really fresh and succulent, but nothing fancy. I mean, I've ate this kinda dish in Chinese restaurants everywhere. Not worth the RM59 to me.

As for me, I ordered Foie Gras. It was my first time tasted this exotic food of fatty goose liver. RM98.

It was pan fried and served with cheesy risotto and the sauce was really good. And as I have always loved liver, i liked the taste of the fatty liver which was cooked to perfection. Hubby didn't like it though as he don't fancy livers that much.

But as I went home and read that this exotic food comes about with animal cruelty (where geese and ducks are forced-fed to create an engorged liver), I don't think I can ever eat it again!

For Mains,

Hubby ordered the Thermidor Boston Lobster.
It was cooked in a creamy white cheese sauce, then baked to perfection and glazed with parmesan cheese. RM39 per 100g.

It was good. Both of us liked it.

As for me, I ordered another dish which I haven't eaten before in my whole life.
Master Grade Australian Wagyu.

Scoring AA8-9 Unique and a class of its own - indulgingly tender, juicy and well-marbled beef. It was served with Hoshimeiji and Enoki mushrooms, and complimented with sweet madeira glaze. Tenderloin - RM296 per 200g.

Well, someone told me before that wagyu beef was supposed to melt-in-your mouth and you wouldn't even know you are eating beef. Maybe that was the expectation I had before I ordered it. When it came and it wasn't like that, I was disappointed.

I mean, I still knew I was eating beef. And not all parts were melt-in-my-mouth. It was really tender but not melt-in-my-mouth type. So this super expensive main was a disappointment for me.

We were both so full after the appetizers and mains that we needed to have a rest before dessert. Lighting was a bit out because we were dining in a dimly lit restaurant. My dress was actually Christmassy green, but it turned out to be blueish-green here.

As for Dessert,

we decided to just share one order. And it was nice.

So this is the bill. Shockingly crazy, huh?

Well, if you know us well enough, you would definitely know that we would never fork out this money to eat like this. I find it very sinful.

Yes, this meal was FREE!

It's a free meal by YTL because during our Pangkor Laut Resort stay, some of our expectations were not me, so we were being offered a complimentary meal in Shook!

So Thank You YTL for being so generous and let me experience my first ever taste of Foie Gras and Wagyu Beef! ;)

;)

2012-01-16T16:30:00.004+08:00

I know I've been missing from the blogging world. Life has been pretty hectic and thus the blogging pause.

Just finished unpacking the big luggage that we lugged back for our South Africa trip.
Took a 4 days trip down to KL for training. And just finished unpacking for that too.
Was down with diarrhoea and vomiting and is on the bout of recovery. I am still too scared to fart because I may end up shitting in my pants.
Doing spring cleaning for CNY. I can't believe CNY is next Monday!
And I'm still yet to get my angpows ready. Still counting my money. :)

Sigh. But I think it's exciting. Shern's cousins will be back during CNY and he is finally big enough to actually play with them I hope!

Signal Hill, Cape Town - 28 November 2011

2012-01-03T00:01:00.002+08:00

After Rhodes Memorial, we drove up to Signal Hill.

Signal Hill aka Lion's Rump, is a landmark flat-topped hill located in Cape Town, next to Lion's Head and Table Mountain.

Photo source: Wikipedia

It was about noon when we reached there. We quickly found a shady spot underneath a tree and decided to just picnic there.
We brought our lunch and just sat there chilling out.

The view from where we sat was beautiful. In front of us is the blue sea, and behind us was the view of the Table Mountain and Lion's Head.

This is the view of the blue, blue sea.

And behind us, the Table Mountain and the Lion's Head.

Shern had fallen asleep in the car on the way here. So he continued to sleep in his stroller when we reached there. Peace and quiet. :)

Meanwhile, we took some photos of ourselves amidst the beautiful backdrop.

After an hour or so, Shern woke up.
He asked for food when he saw our picnic basket.
So after bread and some yogurt, he was all energized.

Look at his happy and contented face after a good nap and food.

He then walked and ran about and was doing his funny antics.

He saw the bricks on the floor and as usual imagined that he was walking on 'railway tracks'.

My fatty baby was munching on biscuits. Look at his big stomach.

Better view of his stomach here :P

It was also here in Signal Hill that I captured Shern's cute expressions that I blogged about a week ago!

Pho-pho, Kong-kong & Yee-pho was chilling under the shade all the time.
If you noticed, they were wearing light sweaters. Even though the sun was harsh, but when the wind blew, it was cold.

Then we all had ice-creams. The rum & raisin flavour was good.

Shern was of course very happy. He never said no to ice-cream.

After that, it was bubble time. I took out a bottle of the soapy bubble mixture and he had some fun blowing and catching bubbles. Actually, it was me doing the blowing, and him doing the catching.

Yes, we had fun.
That's what I like our trip. Taking our own sweet time, just chilling out in a beautiful place.

On our way down in the car, we saw this beautiful scenery. Cape Town is lovely, huh?

Goodbye 2011.

2012-01-01T22:16:00.007+08:00

(photo source: http://www.health-local.com)

It was a year of travel, with me going all the way to USA and South Africa, and also not forgetting Hong Kong, Singapore, Phuket, Lumut, Pangkor, KL, etc. I found that I super love travelling!
I wore a bikini for the first time in Phuket.
Baking took a plunge this year, with only about 20 bakes or so.
And I guess baking took a plunge because I found a new hobby - Scrapbooking and I've been an addict ever since!
I made a few new friends this year, something not easy for SAHM.
I rekindled with old friend.
Shern started talking (at 20 mths), and I was ecstatic. Now a little less so because he just wouldn't stop!
Hubby won us a new flat-screened TV and thus we are no longer the only ones using boxed TV!
Took Shern to many places in Penang that we dedicated a new category in my blog called Cuti-cuti Penang.
Addicted to Edo Ichi's Soft Shell Crab and Salmon Skin Salad, and am now salivating as I type.
Loved 2011 because I saw Wen twice this year. Made me realized how much I missed her.
Attended the most beautiful wedding ever. My sis's wedding in Cape Town.
Celebrated our 10th Year Dating Anniversary.
This year is mostly about Yiu-Shern. I had 67 posts written about him.

Somehow 2011 just flew by for me. It was a year I treasure.
2011 gave me hope, love and discoveries.
Goodbye 2011. Thank you for everything.

Ushering 2012 with Bangs @ Straits Quay!

2012-01-01T01:34:00.003+08:00

We joined the crowd this year for the new year countdown. We chose Straits Quay again because of the spectacular firework display we experienced last year.

This year was no difference. It was great.
We reached there at about 10.30pm and it was already choked full of new year revellers. We had to park at Tesco Tanjung Pinang.
The view from where we were standing was not the best, but it was not too bad. First row view.

Shern was more aware this time, and he was shouting 'red', 'blue', 'purple' and 'so high!' at the fireworks!

To brave through the crowds was worth it. The long walk to the car park was worth it.
Shern is happy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!

Candy Floss For The First Time

2011-12-28T20:22:00.000+08:00

We were at Gurney Plaza 2 months ago when I saw a booth giving out free candy floss. I was given a tiny blue candy floss. Even though I knew it is all sugar and is actually bad for kids, I couldn't help but to save it for Shern. I just knew he would love it.

I went to find Shern & hubby who were in Toys 'R' Us.
Gave him the stick and he looked at it curiously. I told Shern 'try it, it's sweet'. The moment he heard the word 'sweet', he opened his mouth big. Haha.

And of course he loved it. Well, which kid don't like candy floss? I loved it when I was a kid myself!

2 October 2011

Look at how big he opened his mouth.
I told him to be careful of the sharp stick.

Shern smiling so widely here.

Not sure if you can see it clearly in this blurry photo below, but after eating the candy floss, his teeth were stained blue due to the blue colouring of the Candy Floss. Haha.

I see not much harm done here. A small Candy Floss once in a while is OK. I believe kids must enjoy while they are kids.
And I know he would not have another Candy Floss for awhile, as you don't often come across shops selling them in Penang, and I'm certainly not going to buy it for him anytime soon.

Rhodes Memorial, Cape Town - 28 November 2011

2011-12-27T09:21:00.000+08:00

I know I still have not finished all my previous travel posts. But please excuse me because I am so hyped up by my recent trip to Cape Town that I just want to post some of them here. So here goes...

Rhodes Memorial on Devil's Peak in Cape Town, South Africa is a memorial to English-born South African politician Cecil John Rhodes(1853-1902).
The memorial is situated at Rhodes's favourite spot on the lower slopes of Devil's Peak.

Rhodes Memorial
Photo source: http://www.wedlock.co.za/

The view from Rhodes Memorial is beautiful.

Shern was in a whiny mood that day. Look at his whiny face when I scooped him up for a photo.

After giving him some Skittles, he was in a better mood.

He then agreed to take a photo with me besides the huge pillars.

Look how small we look standing next to the huge structure.

I really love the trees there. Its very much different from the trees in Malaysia. That's hubby posing with the trees and blue skies in the background. And the next photo is hubby with Shern.

I like this photo of Shern standing so gaya with one leg against the pillar.

And while Min was applying lip balm, Shern wanted some too. And that's him smiling, satisfied with the lip balm on his lips.

Look at the vivid blue skies. No photoshop ok. I just can't get over it. Why is the skies in other countries so much bluer than in Malaysia?
We seldom have cloudless days in Malaysia. But I guess that is why I got all sunburnt in South Africa!

Although windy, the sun was harsh that day. All of us were hiding in the shade behind the bronze statue 'Energy' by Frederic Watts.

A photo of Shern with the memorial behind him.

A shot of 3 of us walking down the steps of the memorial.

Walking down, we could see the view of the town so much clearly.
Beautiful flat trees. Reminded me of trees I see in Disney's 'The Lion King'.

Shern's mood was so much better that he even had a photo with Pho-pho and Kong-kong.

That's hubby.

That's me.

And that's hubby AND me. :)

A photo of all of us...minus Min, the photographer. =)

The view where we parked our car was great too. Beautiful trees.

See, I told you the trees were beautiful against the blue skies.

Info Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes_Memorial

Yiu-Shern - 28 Months

2011-12-26T01:03:00.001+08:00

1 October 2011

Car Seat and Stroller
Shern has been an absolute angel in these until now. He sits in his toddler car seat with his seat belt on every time in his daddy's car. And he would asks for his stroller every time we go out. Isn't that amazing? I could hardly believe it myself too.

Potty Training
We have started potty training Shern again, slowly. Now whenever he is doing his poo (I will know when he is doing his big business), I will bring the potty to him. Then I will also bring him his toy cars, telling him he can sit in the potty to poo while playing with his cars. He seems ok with it.
Well, this is the first step. Will think of the next time soon. ;P

Speech
Shern's speech is growing really, really well. He can now voice out different emotions, telling me that 'car-car is sad' whenever he sees a droopy mouth in the cartoon or books.
He also name me many types of animals, which he learns from books, such as 'meerkat' and '

Food
His love towards sushi is still ongoing. He would gobble down 4-5 sushi rice, no problem at all. And he particularly likes Sakae Sushi because of the kiddy meals which are served on very interesting plates such as car, plane, etc.
The photo above was taken at Edo Ichi, one of our favourite Japanese restaurant.

And he is still avoiding fruits. Don't ask me why. One look at any fruits and he runs away.
And he being the MPPP of the house, weird I think. I mean, fruits are sweet and kids are supposed to like them right?

Toys
I now declare my son being a wheels freak. He just loves anything with wheels. Cars, trains, trucks, tractor, he knows them all.
I am convinced he is going to be a wheel expert in the future, maybe owning a Michelin Tyre shop or something.

Shern can tell me most of the cars on the road, be it a Dump Truck, Cement truck, Jeep, Van, Bus, Tractor. He amazes even his own mum, me!

Recent Things
Nothing much happen besides the ordinary happened this month.
Only having tried Candy Floss for his first time and wearing those spectacles that makes him looked so geeky!

Love, Love These Photos of Shern!

2011-12-25T10:00:00.002+08:00

That's pho-pho's straw hat he was wearing, on top of Kong-kong's red cap. And also the heart-shaped sunglasses, I got it for him from Hong Kong's Ladies Market.

Wearing them, he looks so cute.
And with his expressions, he looks doubly cute.

28 November 2011 - Signal Hill

We were at Signal Hill and he just woke up from a nap in the stroller. He was in a good mood. We were having a picnic there. I will talk more about Signal Hill in another post.
For now, let's see Yiu-Shern's expressions, captured so vividly using my trusty point-and-shoot.

Here's wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Home Sweet Home

2011-12-23T23:25:00.007+08:00

We are back from Cape Town. It has been an exhilarating month, for me at least. It was no easy feat traveling with a 2 1/2yo. There were whines and crying, but there were also smiles and laughter.

Cape Town is a beautiful place, in fact the most beautiful place I've ever visited, topping on my list , and putting San Francisco to second position. It is full of nature, with breathtaking scenery. I couldn't pinpoint the place I love most in Cape Town, it is beautiful everywhere.

And my sister's wedding has been pretty amazing. It was beautiful. I cried 'til I had panda eyes with my mascara smearing down my face. Wait 'til I get hold of the wedding photos and I will post some here.

I'm not sure it would take me how long to blog about Cape Town, seeing that I am still not done with my USA and Pangkor Laut Resort posts. But let me end with some panaromic photos of beautiful Cape Town, taken using my mum's point-and-shoot Sony Digicam.

View from Rhodes Memorial

View from Table Mountain

View of a river in Berg River Camp

View of Boulder's Beach

View of False Bay

3 of Us in Cape Town, South Africa!

2011-12-02T21:21:00.004+08:00

We're finally reunited with our baby! Yay!
We've been here for almost a week now and it has been great.

Great weather with very beautiful scenery.

Ok, will update more when there's time. As of now, I've got my hands full on sightseeing and babysitting.
Let me end this post with a photo of the 3 of us! :)

3 of us @ Signal Hill, Cape Town

Pangkor Laut Resort - Day 1

2011-11-19T09:59:00.001+08:00

I googled and it says it takes about 3 hours from Penang to Lumut Jetty. Our Ferry transfer was at 11am. Since we stayed a far distance from Penang Bridge, I gave 1 hour extra so that we could make sure we reach in time.

It took 1 1/2 hour ride on the highway. At Changkat Jering, we exited the highway to follow the signs to Lumut, and also with the help of Miss Garmin. It took us another 1 1/2 hour before we reached Lumut Jetty.

We parked at the multi-storey car park which is only 30sen per hour for weekdays. I think is safer to park there than on the side roads. (This car park is only behind the Pangkor Laut Resort Office)

This is the Pangkor Laut Resort Office, or whatever you call it.
Lugggage was taken care of and will be sent to the boat and checked into our room. Neat.

The moment we stepped in, we could smell the nice incense smell. There is a small lounge area with free wifi and 2 computers.

We were being served a weird iced cordial drink, which tasted like cough medicine. Took a sip and that was about it.

At 10.45am, we walked across the street to the Lumut Jetty and this small speedboat was our transport. I was surprised because I thought we would be taking a small ferry or something. Did not expect to be on a speedboat. This speedboat is kinda small and could only accommodate 20 people max.

Glad they have life jackets for all the passengers.
Ok, so here we were on the speedboat on our way to Pangkor Laut Resort.

Journey took 1/2 hour. Boat ride was smooth for the first 15 minutes and then it got a little bumpy after that. Nothing serious, just not as smooth as the first 15 minutes.

This is hubby after we stepped out of the speedboat on firm ground.

This is the Pangkor Laut Resort Jetty.

Once we reached the reception lobby, we were ushered into the library lounge just behind the lobby. She already knew our names and she briefed us and checked us in.

She then told us the good news. Our room was being upgraded from Hill Villa to Sea Villa. Whoahhh!!!!

So from this Hill Villa (upper floor)

(image source: www.kuoni.co.uk)

to this expensive Sea Villa.....

(image source: www.oasistravel.com.au)

My heart danced for joy. Haha. Super happy at that time. She said our room is not ready (Official check-in time is 3pm) and she asked us to have lunch and then our room should be ready by then.

So we had lunch at the nearby Royal Bay Beach Club which overlooks the infinity pool. And I just love the view. The view is overlooking at the Sea Villas with coconut trees lining the beach. Such holiday mood.

While waiting for our food, I took some photos.

This is where we sat at the Royal Bay Beach Club.

And this is what we ordered for our lunch. 3 course meal each. All our meals were free-of-charge because we took an all-inclusive package.
First were the appetiser and soup.

The Caesar Salad I ordered was super delicious. In fact, until the day I left PLR, it remained one of my favourite food I had there. This salad has romaine lettuce tossed with smoked salmon, crispy beef bacon, shaved parmesan, garlic chips and herbed croutons. RM45.

Hubby ordered Tom Kha Gai Soup as he wanted something hot to start off the meal. It was an aromatic spicy chicken soup with some rice noodles, flavoured with chili, galangal, lemongrass and coconut milk. I didnt't quite like it though. RM35.

My main was the Margherita Pizza with fresh basil, rich tomato sauce and buffalo mozzarella. I ordered the mini version and it came out quite big. I couldn't even finished it. (The normal portion was RM45, not sure how much is the mini portion)

Hubby ordered the Murgh Makhani. Yes, he ordered all those with weird names. It was a bowl of boneless chicken chunks in yogurt-spiced marinade, cooked in a rich butter spiced sauce, served with briyani rich and tender green peas. RM50.
This one tasted quite fragrant.

My desert was just double scoops of ice-cream. Learnt that they were Baskin Robbin's Strawberry and Vanilla flavour. RM25.

The Sago Gula Melaka was terrible. The sago pearls were hard and rubbery, although the palm sygar and coconut milk mixture was ok. I surely wouldn't pay RM35 for it.

We were very full after that.
All the time we were there, they lighted this mini incense cone on our table which smelled wonderful and I guess it also worked as a mosquito repellent.

Next, they showed us the way to the Sea Villa. I was getting excited. :)

This is how the individual Sea Villa looks like. Hubby said they are expensive 'kampung houses'. Haha.

We have to walk through wooden pathways to get to our Sea Villa.

Loved the emerald green clean waters.

This is hubby standing in front of our Sea Villa #117.
I will blog about our Sea Villa in a separate post. For now, let's get back to PLR. ;)

For now, let me show you in glimpses some of PLR.
We walked around the resort having a feel of the resort.
From blue waters to...

...lush greens...beautiful.

Saw 4 peacocks roaming about freely in The Library.

And I love the design of the place. Many things looks so symmetrical, and somehow it gives me a feeling of wide space and calmness.

l: the Reception
r: the hallway to the Reception

Spa Village Reception

Foot Pounding Area in Spa Village

Infinity Pool in Spa Village

l: one of the hallways inside the Spa Village
r: overlooking the Infinity Pool at Spa Village

l: The Koi Pond in the Spa Village Reception
r: on Spa Village grounds

l: Garden scaping of Spa Village

Hubby & I were relaxing on one of the many chairs/beds in the resort.

This one's nice with a nice view overlooking the beach. I could hear the sound of the waves from where I sat.

This little hut was just behind. There were 4 of these huts there. In it were pillows and a bed for you to lie down. You could just sleep there. We didn't because I find it a little too dark and for that I couldn't read my book.

Then we took a shuttle to Emerald Bay. There are Shuttle Stops and shuttles come every 15 minutes or so to take you to designated places such as 'Reception', 'Spa Village', 'Sea Villa' 'Hill Villa' 'Emerald Bay'e etc. There were 5 Shuttle Stops in the resort, making it easily accessible to everywhere.

We took a shuttle to Emerald Bay. A jeep went round a hill and brought us here.
Gleaming sands and sparkling emerald bay in the sun.

It was a beautiful place. Quiet and lovely. The sea water was clean but somehow you could only see it if you go near. From afar the sea water has a deep emerald green, I guess from reflections to the greens surrounding the sea.
The sands are those silky soft ones and it felt nice to just take off my slippers and walk.

Someone took towels and arranged them on the beach deck chairs for us. I lied down and happily read my book.

Then someone brought a bucket of ice with cold mineral water for us. Lovely.

And then to my surprise, a lady came and asked us if we wanted complimentary head massage.
Ooohhh...i lurve head massages. So I said yes. It was a 5-10 minutes massage but it felt lovely.
Hubby declined it...blueks.

Then someone took a photo for us. We look like two giggling students dating here. haha.

Look how unexplored the place is. Just beside the beach are all these greens. There is a badminton court or is it a tennis court, whatever there.

And a little pathway away is the clean and nice washrooms.

After that, we went back to our villa to take a bath and to freshen up for our dinner reservation at Uncle Lim's Kitchen at 7.45pm. The sun was setting as we walked to Uncle Lim's.

Uncle Lim's Kitchen offers traditional Hock Chew (and I'm a Hock Chew!) and Nyonya dishes.

I ordered the signature Duck Spring Rolls. Tender roast duck slices, crunchy cucumber, sticky-sweet plum sauce and scallions in a soft flour wrap. RM60.
Reminded me of Peking Duck wraps. It was tasty and we finished them in a few minutes.

Hubby ordered the recommended Fish Maw Soup. Hot and sour, this soup captures the essence of the ocean with crunchy fish maw and succulent seafood pieces - a hock chew specialty. RM40 It tasted delicious and I liked that they served it real hot. I hate lukewarm soup.

As for mains, I ordered the Beef Rendang, which was morsels of beef slow cooked until fragrant and tender in creamy, spiced coconut gravy - a nyonya classic. RM85
The beef was really tender and the gravy was special, unlike the normal malay beef rendang I've tasted.

Hubby ordered Uncle Lim's Fantasy Prawns, which was freshwater prawns stir-fried with a delectable black bean sauce - an Uncle Lim's specialty RM85.
I didn't quite enjoy this one. Taste wise was ok but the prawns were rubbery, kinda old prawns I guess.

We ate these with a bowl of rice each.

For desert, hubby ordered the Avocado Cream with Citrus Pearls. It was really refreshing with chilled cream of fresh avocado topped with orange flavoured tapioca pearls. Very refreshing indeed. RM25.

I had the normal Mango Pudding. It tasted normal as well. Haha. RM25.

After dinner, we went back to our villa and lazed the night away. I was tired and had a little headache, so I slept early at 10pm.

10 Years. 3650 days. 87600 hours. 5256000 minutes.

2011-11-17T14:14:00.006+08:00

Today is our 10th Year Dating Anniversary. It signifies 10 years of us being together.

10 years. 3650 days. 87600 hours. 5256000 minutes. No easy feat.

So we took this opportunity to celebrate at Pangkor Laut Resort.

Pangkor Laut Resort

We just got back yesterday. This holiday was also supposed to be our belated 4th Year Wedding Anniversary celebration. Yes, 2 in 1 holiday getaway.

For now, let me wish hubby...

Happy 10th Year Dating Anniversary!
Thank you for 10 wonderful years together.
I love you.
A lot. A lot and a lot. ;)

USA: Bay Bridge - San Francisco, California - 8 May 2011

2011-11-15T14:22:00.001+08:00

The San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge (known locally as the Bay Bridge) is a pair of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay of California. Forming part of Interstate 80 and of the direct road route between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries approximately 270,000 vehicles per day on its two decks. It has one of the longest spans in the world. (source: wikipedia)

Our coach did drove through the bridge, erm...forgotten if it was on the upper or the lower deck.
But the time we stopped and took this photo of the Bay Bridge, it was almost dark, almost sunset. So you could imagine how cold and windy it was.
Look at my hair!

Ok. this should be the last blog post about San Francisco worth mentioning. We went to Chinatown as well, but it was nothing much there except that we ate a very deliciously big bowl of Vietnamese Beef Pho.

Ok, so bye-bye San Francisco!

p/s - Click here for more of my USA trip.

The Day Shern Flew to South Africa!

2011-11-13T00:06:00.001+08:00

Their flight was in the evening, so I was supposed to bring him out of mum's house the whole day so that they can do last-minute packing in peace.

In the morning, we brought Shern to one of his favourite place - McDonald's!
Besides playing the slides....

12 November 2011

he got to eat his favourite 'fren fry' :P....

while overlooking the window into the main road, spotting 'big lorries' and 'big cars'.

And daddy & son had fun feeding each other french fries.

Shern got a Hamblurglar toy from his kiddy meal set, which he wasn't very fond of.

I think he likes his Iced Milo more ;)

After that, we brought him home for a nap so that he won't be cranky at the airport and in the plane later.
We got into the room slightly before 1pm, and it was 3pm before he fell asleep. Yes, he was tossing and turning for 2 hours in the room.
I almost gave up pacifying him and threatening him! haha

When he woke up, he was in a good mood because he got the sweet i promised him when he woke up!

He even posed for pictures with us. How about that?
A photo with mummy.

And a photo with daddy.

A self-taken photo just the 3 of us!

After feeding and bathing him, I changed Shern into long-sleeved shirt and pants because it would be cold at the airport and in the plane.
Shern then knew he was going to the airport and to be in an aeroplane.
He said things like "must faster if not the plane fly away!". He said that but still could not be hurried, for his doesn't really understand the real meaning of 'faster'!

Shern said goodbyes to us well.
"Mummy & daddy not going. Mummy & daddy going to work. Only going with kong-kong, pho-pho and yee-pho"
Months of brainwashing helps! ;)

Lastly a big, tight-tight hug for both of us.

And guess what? I cried after he went off.
Just 5 minutes and I miss him already.

That was the first time I am not with him and I am still in Penang. Usually, I am the one who goes outstation.
Dearie, see you in South Africa in 2 weeks' time!

Miss you and love you lots!

4 Years Down The Road

2011-11-10T23:35:00.002+08:00

A backdated post.
Another anniversary. This time was our 4th Wedding Anniversary.

3 years ago, in 2007, we had our customary Wedding Reception in front of 400 relatives and friends.
In 2008, it was kinda a babymoon holiday in Tanjung Rhu Resort.
In 2009, it was just a lunch at Sakae Sushi with the 3 of us.

This year, 27 October 2010, it was nothing special, just an ordinary day.
3 of us stayed at home. I was busy handling Shern the whole day. And when I finally had some quiet time at night, I held hubby's hands, while both of us watched our baby sleeping peacefully.

These are the things you appreciate 4 years down the road. :)

Happy 4th Wedding Anniversary Hubby!

USA: Painted Ladies aka Postcard Row - San Francisco, California - 8 May 2011

2011-11-10T21:38:00.002+08:00

These are called Painted Ladies, which is a term used for Victorian and Edwardian houses and buildings painted in three or more colors that embellish or enhance their architectural details.

But this row of Victorian houses at 710–720 Steiner Street, across from Alamo Square park, are better known as 'Postcard Row' in San Francisco. This is because of the stunning city skyline at the background of these houses.

I myself found them to be very photogenic. Love the colourful houses against the city skyline and blue sky. All I hope was that we went there early in the morning where there were nobody for me to take a beautiful photo without all the strangers. Haha.

Sigh. Now I have to settle with the photo below, or the cropped photo above. ;P

The park itself was also nice. There were quite a number of people having picnic on the park. Some were just lying down with a book. Marvelous. I could really picture myself doing that if I live there.

A photo of the 2 of us.

And this last photo is the silhouette of the 2 of us! ;)

p/s - Click here for more of my USA trip.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_ladies

Shern's Having a Haircut

2011-11-09T20:34:00.000+08:00

8 November 2011

So this is my son, sitting quietly having a haircut yesterday morning.
It has been quite awhile since his last haircut. Was trying to delay it because we wanted to do it just before we whiz him off to South Africa, so that he will have nicely, neat hair on Wen's wedding day.

Actually, my son was sitting so quietly because if you noticed, he had chocolate smudge on his mouth. Yes, I bribed him with M&Ms!
And on his right hand is a sweet given to him by the lady who is cutting his hair.
So with a sweet and many M&Ms, he was busy chewing to give a howl! :)

This time around, we didn't have his hair shaved crew cut as always.
The hairdresser suggested that she would shave off the sides and trim the top and leave it to grow. She mentioned that the top hairs are still a little short, and once they are longer, it would be more tamed and droop down more, and not standing up like now. Yes, my son has spiky, hard hairs just like his dad!

In about 5 minutes, she was done. And Shern was happy to remove the white cloth, which was wrapping him. He started grinning.

And when I asked him to smile for the camera, this was what he gave me!
It made the people in the salon smile! ;)

He left the salon waving and saying "bye-bye. See you again!"

Ok, so I guess this is also a happy haircut like the previous one. Hopefully, all are happy haircut!

D Salon
Prima Tanjung, Jalan Fettes,
Tanjong Tokong, Penang
04-8995903

USA: Twin Peaks - San Francisco, California - 8 May 2011

2011-11-09T00:02:00.003+08:00

The Twin Peaks are two hills with an elevation of about 922 feet (281 m)near the geographic center of San Francisco, California. They are one of the highest points in the city.

It was about 4pm when we reached the peak of one of the two hills. There was still ample daylight left and thus it was a beautiful afternoon to soak up the city view.
And I was in love with the blue, blue sky of SFO. I'm adamant that the sky in Penang is never as blue.

Let me show you the view of the city from where we stood.

Ok I know. Almost same view, because it was difficult to find a nice spot where other tourists did not hog the perfect camera spots. Haha.

As usual, wind was strong in SFO area. And that is why most of the photos with me inside are with messy hair!

A photo each of hubby & I.

And the usual couple shots.

Love these two photos because it was taken from a higher level and thus could see the city view more clearly. I instructed the camera person to snap it this way! :)

p/s - Click here for more of my USA trip.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Peaks_%28San_Francisco,_California%29

Ok, I was wrong. I changed my mind.

2011-11-07T22:48:00.010+08:00

Edo Ichi Japanese Cuisine @ Island Plaza

My previous visit to Edo Ichi Japanese Cuision @ Island Plaza was such a disaster that I wrote a post on how bad Edo Ichi was. And I never went back there, until about 2 months ago when I dined with a group of my friends. And from that day onwards, I fell in love with Edo Ichi.

Actually, I fell in love with their salad - Soft Shell Crab and Salmon Skin Salad. It's simply delish that I went back again and again, just for it.

So I think I owe Edo Ichi Japanese Cuisine a blog post. A more recent blog post on how I am addicted to the salad. So here it is, my most recent view on Edo Ichi.

Since September 2011, I've been back to Edo Ichi numerous times, sometimes even twice a week. And every time I dined there, the salad is always on my order list.

So, how does this irresistible, mouth watering salad looks like?

Soft Shell Crab and Salmon Skin Salad @ RM18

Actually, it is the salad dressing that makes this salad an awesome salad. The menu says that it is a sesame dressing. But when I taste it, I could feel a taste of thousand island and peanut butter in it. Haha. Ok, I am no cook but that was what my taste buds told me!
And this salad portion is quite huge.

And usually I have this kickass salad with a Children's Box Set.
I order this not because I want to be a kid, but because I like the smaller portion. This Okosama Bento A comes with sushi rolls, egg omelette, fried chicken and a small bowl of noodles soup.
That is quite enough for me especially when I have it with the salad.

Okosama Bento A @ RM15

I've tried other food there as well, such as this Chicken Katsu Curry, which is a chicken cutlet with curry rice. Hubby loved the generous curry portion.

Chicken Katsu Curry @ RM20

And I've ordered more than once their Kimuchi Ramen, which is noodles with chicken roll in kimuchi soup, priced at RM18.
Also tried their bento set which is more on a high side of RM35-45+.
And oh, they charge RM1 for their ocha, if you all would like to know.

Everything I tasted there so far is good. And service there is excellent, so different from what I experienced almost 2 years ago.
And even though Island Plaza is like kinda empty now, don't be surprise to find Edo Ichi always having a full house. So make your reservation to avoid disappointment!

And slurp...just blogging about the salad makes me want to go back there! :D

Logos Hope

2011-11-07T09:23:00.000+08:00

22 September 2011 @ Logos Hope

We took Shern to see Logos Hope end of September, and it was his first time being inside a real ship.
It was a weekday and we parked further away at the huge carpark and then took a short walk to the pier.

On the way, took a photo with this Clock Tower, which also happens to be one of Penang's iconic landmark.

This is the entrance of the pier.

Walk further down and we could see the Logos Hope docking nearby.

Shern stood there watching the ship in awe and telling me "mummy, ship soooo big!"

The place was not as crowded as the initial days when Logos Hope landed into Penang Pier. And maybe also due to it being a weekday.
So we walked leisurely towards the ship.

Hubby was walking ahead with Shern.

Shern saw the yellow and black line on the floor and walked along it, telling me it is a railway track. Haha. Everything looks like a railway track to him.

Shern also took a moment to gazed onto the big ship he was about to enter. It must look like a giant ship to him!

Shern then started running and skipping in glee!

He had fun walking up the passageway..

and jumping down while holding dadd's hand. Little things like that makes him happy.

After paying RM1/adult, we reached the bottom of the ship. We then needed to climbed up the 'aluminium staircase' to reach up. It was real slippery to me.
So hubby carried Shern up.

Too bad this photo turned out blur. But Shern was happily sitting on the 'lifeboat' while listening to the short introduction of Logos Hope.

After a while, Shern got up and started exploring the stuff nearby. Shern was trying to steer the ship. ;)

Shern posing in front of a mini gallery of Logos Hope.

Then we walked into the books section. I quickly took him to the other end, where all the children's books are. And Shern was happy seeing all the books there.

He promptly sat down and look at books.

He was happy to have found some books of Thomas & Friends, and Cars.

Then he started saying "mummy, please read book".
So I also sat down with him and was browsing and reading books to him.

But then thing is, Shern couldn't help expressing himself too. He was talking loudly to me, saying,
"mummy, this is a train, with windows. Big train has got wheels"
"mummy, buy train long-long"
And he was loud! Haha.

He especially loved this book which was all about the different kinds of trains!

We ended up buying nothing. Shern didn't mind. He is used to just seeing and saying byebye to books and toys.

As you exit the book section, we saw this captain cardboard and Shern poked his head out to become Captain Lim! ;)

Near the cafeteria, there is this small section for kids. And we saw some toys there. So we let Shern played there for awhile.

He got to draw...

Then played with this small wooden loopy toy which he loves.

Then he saw this huge wooden loopy toy and his eyes lighted up!!!
So he played with that one for quite some time.

Then he saw this and did some counting...

Then he sorted out shapes into this toy house.

Shern was enjoying himself there!

Hubby bought an orange juice but it turned out to be some yucky orange cordial, which tasted like medicine.
Shern seems to love it though.

After awhile, we left the place.

Walked down the slippery aluminum stairs again.

That was our whole troop - ;)

Ok, bye bye Logos Hope. 'Til next time!

Yiu-Shern - 27 Months

2011-11-05T13:50:00.001+08:00

25 September 2011

This is also another backdated post. My son is actually almost 29 months now but I am still updating his 27 months post. Oh well, better late than never!

Pacifier
Good news. He is no longer so attached to his pacifier. He still takes it but only when he naps or sleeps in the room. He no longer asks or whines for it when he is in the living room playing his toy cars or watching the telly.

Once a while he does, he will say "Shern-Shern ai teat teat".
And then he will answer himself "Teat-teat only in the room".
Sometimes he would run to the room and suck the pacifier for 5 seconds and then take it out again and then run out of the room. Talk about addiction!
But most of the time, he would just ignored it and continue with his play.

Looks like another battle won - I finally won The Battle of the Pacifier! :)

Drawing
He received a pre-loved Fisher Price Doodle Pro from his cousins and he has been loving it. He then learns how to draw, but usually ended up us drawing him what he requests:
"mummy, draw car"
"mummy, draw big train"
"mummy, draw Yiu-Shern"
"mummy, draw Thomas"

But what I like is that he learns shapes using the shape stamps. He now knows what is a 'circle', 'square' and a 'triangle', thanks to Min-yee.
He uses the circle stamp to "chop" as the wheels of the cars and trains drawn. And uses the square stamp to "chop" as the windows.

Speech
Broadens his vocabulary and he could say words such as 'remote control car', 'automatic door', 'slippery' and many other words with long syllable.
And the thing is, he not only says it but he can really understands what each words mean.
I'm really amazed!

Food
He has taken a liking to eating sushi. When I said sushi, it means Shern likes the block of rice without the topping. Haha. He could eat up to 4-5 pieces of sushi rice at one sitting. Just the sushi rice with a plate of sweet sauce for him to dip and he is happy to let mummy eat in peace! So we have been visiting Sushi King, Sakae Sushi and Edo Ichi quite often when we do dine out. :)

At home, he still eats the same thing. Breakfast usually varies. Sometimes noodles from the market, or bread with half-boiled egg, etc. Rice for lunch and dinner and a lot of snacks in between. Snacks such as milo with biscuit, cereals, Yakult, etc.

Milk
Sure to have a bottle of 6-7oz of milk whenever he wakes up in the morning and before he goes to bed at night. Then sometimes another bottle of milk before or after he naps in the afternoon. That is about all. So his milk intake is about 14-20 oz per day.

Sleep
Sleeps about 10-12 hours though the night, usually about 10pm-8am. Naps about 2-3 hours from 1-4pm.

Stroller
Shern is now ok to sit in his stroller. Actually, he loves sitting in his stroller nowadays. Usually I will ask him, "Shern wants to sit in the stroller or want to walk?". Stroller is always his choice. Either he likes it or he is too lazy to walk.
So nowadays we seldom carry him. He is getting too heavy to be carried.

Recent Things
It was a good month for Shern, with a visit to the Logos Hope, having fun in the garden on a rainy afternoon, going to the Youth Park playground quite often, went up to Penang Hill, and many others.

David Brown's Restaurant and Tea Terraces @ Strawberry Hill, Penang Hill

2011-11-04T00:10:00.001+08:00

We brought Shern up Penang Hill again end of September. The last time we went up, Shern did not enjoy the playground because it was all wet due to the rain earlier.

So we were hoping it won't rain this time. The morning it did not rain, we brought Shern up. Shern as usual was very happy because he got to see his favourite railway tracks and trains.

That's him posing with the railway tracks far behind him ;)

30 September 2011

And he was equally happy he got to sit in a train.

And him smiling with the funicular train behind him.

Up there, we saw a row of newly installed brightly coloured telescopes. (Andrew, these are the ones you told me!)

Daddy was the one carried Shern up that flight of stairs, while mummy was panting behind! Haha.

Shern happily posing with daddy with the cannon.

As usual, Shern smiled until we couldn't see his eyes.
Sometimes I will just tell Shern 'Shern, look at mummy, but don't smile!' haha

Shern's eyes lighted up the moment he saw the playground. It was so much nicer to play there because the air is cooler in Penang Hill and you don't tend to sweat that much.

Shern saw this row of brick tiles on the ground and told me they were railway tracks. Well, they certainly looked like it!

Enjoying himself going through the tunnels.

And then.....it started drizzling. Oh no, we left our umbrellas in our car.
We quickly scooped up Shern from the playground and ran. Put a hanky on Shern's head to shield him from the rain.

We had nowhere to go as there were not many places with shade up Penang Hill.
We then decided to go to David Brown Restaurant.

He was happy with the hanky on top of his head and insisted we leave it there, even after we reached shelter.

So we walked up the stairs that led us up to Strawberry Hill.

Shern overlooking the pond amidst the pouring rain.

Gave Shern a box of chocolate milk while we were being seated.

We chose a seat near the pond and it was so nice, sitting there under the shade with the rain pouring away. Reminds me of the rainy afternoon in our apartment garden.

We knew prices there would be more expensive. I mean, it is after all tucked away on top of Penang Hill, a posh British colonial restaurant, surely nothing comes cheap.

But we were rather shocked at the prices. They were steep!
We ordered mushroom soup for RM18++ if I'm not mistaken. Although very tasty, the portion was very small. Just a little cup of soup.
And we were being served buns, not sure if they come together with our soup.

And that tall, thin glass of chocolate shake costs RM16++.
Taste wise was so-so but Shern was delighted with it as you can see.

We ordered one of the cheapest main meal there, which was Fish & Chips at RM38++. (the rest was like Rm40, 50and 60++)
We were not too hungry and thus we only ordered that. It was a dish 3 of us like. Shern loves fries and fish too.
But the portion was big. Enough for the 3 of us who were not too hungry.

Shern then walked in the restaurant and I was keeping an eye on him, afraid that he would knock over a glass vase or something and would end up paying a few thousand ringgit for it! haha

And then, Shern started shooing me away.
"mummy, go away".
Oh my, i knew what it meant. It meant Shern was about to do his big business.
And he was hiding behind the side wall playing with his toy car while shooing everybody away.

After about 2 minutes or so, he popped his head out to door and said 'mummy, fish'.
My son wants to be fed fish & chips while doing his business. How about that? haha.
So every few minutes, I spoon fed him a bite of the fish and then I went back to my table.

Some of the waiter and waitress went up to him to talk to him. I wonder if they could smell poo. :P

I was then eating slowly because I wanted to let him finish pooing and then bring him for a wash in their restroom. I figured that should be the cleanest restroom in the whole of Penang Hill!

After washing him up, it was still drizzling. We then ran to the Upper Station which was not far away and took the funicular train down.
Shern was all knocked out in the car!

David Brown’s Restaurant and Tea Terraces
Strawberry Hill, Penang Hill
Penang, Malaysia

Tel: 04-828 8337
Fax: 04-826 6337
Email: info@penanghillco.com.my

Opens: 9am to 9pm daily

My Top 5 Essential Baby Items

2011-11-03T10:51:00.010+08:00

I've read in other mummy blogs in which they rave their top 5 essential baby items, be it their stroller or wet wipes. So I decided that I want to list down my top 5 essential baby items as well.

These are the top 5 things I cannot do without. They really make my life as a first-time-mum way easier with them.
So here goes:

1. The First Years Sure Comfort Newborn-to-Toddler Tub

I got this bath tub from Toys 'R' Us when it was in discount. I think they costs me RM79.90 after discount. A bit pricier than the normal baby bath tub but they have this back rest which I love. I did just blogged bout it a few days ago and it has many other functions which I like.

2. Bepanthen^® Nappy Care Ointment

This ointment serves dual purpose - treats baby's nappy rash & mummy's sore/cracked nipples. Needless to say, I used it more to treat my sore and cracked nipples. Imagine me pumping away 7 times a day for about 30-45mins each time. I really couldn't do without it during my first few months of breastfeeding. My nipples needed them! :P

But I also used to apply a thin layer on Shern's clean, dry bottom after every nappy change if I notice he had developed some rash. The rash usually goes away after awhile. I'm using it until now.

3. Lindam Food and Bottle Warmer

This little thing was such a godsend to me when Shern was on EBM during the day.
Half an hour before my Shern's next feed, I popped a bottle of EBM into my Lindam Food & Bottle Warmer. It took about 5 mins to warm 4 oz if it's from the fridge.

I used to just used hot water to warm my bottles, but it was such a pain. It took way longer to warm a bottle and if baby decided not to drink yet, I need to change the hot water all the time because it turned cold very fast.

So this Lindam Bottle Warmer gave me less headache. Just popped a bottle into it and switch it on to your desires heat level. Easy peasy. And I like that the warmer has a big opening which can fit any bottle sizes.

4. Philips Avent ISIS Manual On The Go Breastpump (BPA Free)

This manual pump was invaluable during trips because of the ease of use and the quietness during use. I was pumping away in the car on the highway (with car shades) and in stores' changing rooms.

Loved the insulated bag which is compact and everything could be fitted in. The manual pump itself, 2 bottles, and a Blu Ice all fitted snugly into the bag. Just grabbed the bag and go.

The results was amazing. It proved to be as effective as my previous Medela Mini E (which I'd returned to the owner) giving me 4-5 oz every 3-4 hourly. And I love that it is so much quieter than the electronic pump. And washing it and assembling it is a breeze as there are not many parts.

Definitely my choice of pump on the go!

5. Pigeon's Rapid Steam Sterilizer

Another thing I loved was this sterilizer. I really did not regret buying it. It saved me the hassle of boiling water every few hours to sterilize all the bottles and parts.

I used it so many times a day, after every breast pumping session that the price I paid for it became so worth it.
Love the fact that it takes on a rapid six-minute steam sterilization which is so quick. And I like it that it sterilizes without the use of chemicals.

And the large accessory tray holds all bottle sized and many accessories which is a big bonus for me. I sterilized many bottles and breast pump parts. Though some people may not like that it is so big because it takes up precious counter space.

I paid RM220 for it as i bought it from Singapore. Penang supermarket was selling it for RM433 at that time.

So these are My Top 5 Essential Baby Items. Feel free to add in into this list as I would love to hear yours. :)

Shern's Bath Tub

2011-11-02T00:36:00.008+08:00

The First Years Sure Comfort Newborn-to-Toddler Tub

Shern has been using this tub since he was a newborn.
I like that the The First Years Sure Comfort Newborn-to-Toddler Tub offers all the security and comfort for the baby and also convenience for the parents.

Its deep, ergonomic design holds baby securely for easier bathing, and I love that the tub is lined with mildew-resistant pads for sanitary bathing and easy cleaning. These pads are also non-slip pads which is incredibly useful so that babies and toddlers can't slip in it.

There is a special drain plug signals to parents when the water is too hot for baby. If the plug changes color, parents will immediately know to wait before adding the baby.

There is also a small compartment at the foot of the tub which I find it useful when Shern was a baby for I used it as my top to tail cleaning tub.
And when Shern becomes a toddler, it let's Shern keep his toys there, and another play compartment for Shern to pour water into.

This tub is designed to be used from newborn to toddlerhood and I find it to be true.

I started bathing Shern in it even when he was a newborn.

27 June 2009 - Newborn

This is Shern when he was 5 months old. He could rest on the headrest comfortably and the non-slip pads were holding him, making sure he couldn't slip down.

1 November 2009 - 5 months

These photos are Shern when he was 6 months old. This is him sitting up on the other side of the tub.

And him lying down on the head rest.

Ain't his smile cheeky?

29 October 2009 - 6 months

Shern at 9 months sitting up without much assistance in the tub and playing with the ducky wash cloth.

4 February 2010 - 9 months

And at 2 years plus, Shern is still using the tub. Although his legs are much longer now, he is still sitting in the tub comfortably.

22 August 2011 - 2 years 2 months

Sometimes I just shower Shern, as it is easier and faster. But Shern likes to sit in the tub, always saying 'ai big pom-pom'. So I still use this tub whenever he requests for it.

I find this tub most useful when he was a newborn and just a few months old. The headrest really helped and it was really easier for me as a first time parent.
It is just that I find the tub a little small. Would be lovely if it is a little bigger. But I read that one of the good points of this tub is that it fits single sinks of the people in US. So if it is a little bigger, it might not fit then.
Anyhow, it does not fit the sink in my house. haha.

This tub is meant from newborn to 24 months, and Shern has surpassed it. I know it won't be too long 'til he really outgrow it. This tub has served us well and I definitely recommend it.

Rating: 8/10

Source: http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-Comfort-Newborn-Toddler/dp/B000GBGO26

Hong Kong: 21-26 October 2011

2011-10-28T01:05:00.013+08:00

So I am back from Hong Kong.

Phew. It wasn't easy being a tour guide for a group of 9 people, including myself. This Hong Kong trip came along when my generous mum decided to bring all her nieces and nephew to Hong Kong and since she's not into the planning type, she kinda hired me as their tour guide.
I was gamed to it because it means free trip.

So I became the tour guide for 4 adults and 4 kids. Hectic stuff. Totally not easy at all. Guiding 8 people who didn't bother looking at maps and just followed me in crowded Hong Kong was no east feat.

21 Oct 2011 - At Penang International Airport awaiting boarding CX692 to Hong Kong

But I had fun. Fun being around 4 silly teenagers. They made me laugh so much. Those 6 days 5 nights were really cousin bonding time for us.

22 Oct 2011 - Cousins and I at The Peak

I took them to most of the places I'd covered during my Hong Kong trip last year. But we went to some new eatery places and dai pai dong-s (will blog about them later).

This time we flew via Cathay Pacific, onlybecause it came out to be cheaper than Air Asia. So we got to watch movies and were served breakfast during our 3 1/2 flight there. Not that awesome for me because as usual I just popped an airsick pill and got dazed during the whole journey. I hate flying.

A few highlights of the trip.

a) The Peak - enjoyed the cooling weather and had a mini picnic up there with gorgeous views.

22 Oct 2011 - Having mini picnic

22 Oct 2011 - Awesome view of Hong Kong

b) Was so happy to see both the young and old enjoyed Hong Kong Disneyland, almost as much as me!

23 Oct 2011 - At Disneyland Hong Kong

c) Happy to watch the Disneyland's Flights of Fantasy Parade because there wasn't any during my last trip.
Min, this video is for you ;D

There was also the Halloween's Glow in the Dark Parade but I didn't like it much.

d) Happy to revisit Macau to take photos because the last time I was there, it was raining. I think Macau's buildings are really beautiful.
And I love love love St. Paul's Ruins.

24 Oct 2011 - At St Paul's Ruins

e) Celebrated Ah-Yee's birthday in Hong Kong with a delicious mango cake.

22 Oct 2011 - Birthday Girl with her cake

But most of all, I realized I miss my 2 babies - the small one and also the big one.
Miss them a lot.

Anyway, managed to do more shopping this time compared to my previous trip. Bought a pair of boots, an Esprit jeans jacket, 2 belts, iPhone cover, Clinique products and some other brands products. Came back Penang a happy girl. :)

Geeky Shern to Gangster Shern

2011-10-27T22:55:00.006+08:00

I brought out this pair of specs cum sunglasses for Shern which I got from the Ladies Market in Hong Kong last year. I just digged it out because he is big enough not to yank it off every time I put them on him.

And once he had them on, omg...I'd just turned my son into a geek!
But, geeks are all in the rage now right? So it's all right. His parents are after all geeks themselves too. ;)

19 October 2011 - Geeky Shern

And when I flipped the sunglasses on, my son just turned from a geek to a full-blown gangster, complete with the look as well!

19 October 2011 - Gangster Shern

So what do you all say about that? :D

Passionfruit Yogurt Cheesecake...Again!

2011-10-22T17:55:00.000+08:00

Passionfruit Yogurt Cheesecake - 27 September 2011

My 3 kaufu bought many passion fruits to mum's place. We ate them but there were too many so I decided to bake a cake using the fruit. Since I was craving for cheesecake, I've decided to baked Passionfruit Yogurt Cheesecake. I have baked this before but it was almost a year back.

This time around, I was more hardworking and I strained the juice.
Heck, it was really difficult to strain as much juice as possible from 4 medium-sized passionfruits. In the end, I liked what I did. I has just enough juice and my passionfruit jelly layer was more clear and pretty.

After a night of refrigerating, I took the cake out.

Unmoulded it and this is what I've got - 3 layers of contrast colours; brown, white and bright yellow. Lovely.

I love biscuit layers in cheesecake. Wouldn't trade the base for something else. Not until I find something I love more than biscuit base.

The cheesecake layer was sweet and a 'lil to soft. But I guess I was too impatient to cut into the cake. The remaining cake left in the fridge was given more time to toughen up and it was harder when I cut into it many hours later.

The tangy thin layer of passionfruit jelly top layer complements superbly well with the sweet cheesecake layer and salty biscuit base. Awesome.

I love my serving plate as well. Slightly scalloped edges. Pretty and feminine enough for a beautiful cheesecake.

A nice clean cut into the cake.

My slice. A generous slice. All mine. :D

Recipe: Passionfruit yogurt cheesecake (copied from Bread Et Butter)
Makes one 8 inch cake/10-12 cheesecake pots

For the biscuit base:

15 digestive biscuits, crumbed
120g unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger (I omitted this)
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the yogurt cheesecake:

400g greek yogurt (I used normal Anlene Natural Flavour yogurt)
450g cream cheese, at room temperature (I used Philadelphia cream cheese)
3 tablespoons passionfruit juice.
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped (I used 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract)
1/2 cup heavy cream (I used whipping cream)
2 1/2 teaspoons powdered gelatine
3/4 cup sugar

For the passionfruit jelly:

4 ripe passion fruits, juiced – reserve the seeds
1/2 teaspoon powdered gelatine

For the biscuit base:

1. Preheat the oven to 180’C. Butter an 8 inch cake tin/ramekins/tart tins. If using a ring line the bottom with aluminum foil and place on a baking tray. (I used a 8 inch round spring form pan)

2. Put the digestive crumbs in a bowl, and add the sugar, ground ginger and salt to it. Mix well.

3. Add the melted butter to the crumb mixture, and mix until combined. Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin/ramekin and press it down in an even layer. Bake until golden (takes approx 10 minutes – this may differ according to the size of your tin) and let it cool completely.

For the yogurt cheesecake:

4. Put the yogurt and the passion fruit juice in a food processor and mix until smooth. (I used a blender)

5. Put the heavy cream in a small saucepan and heat until warm to the touch. Add the powdered gelatine to the warmed cream, and stir until dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside.

6. Put the softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer, and beat until fluffy.

7. Fold cream, followed by passionfruit yogurt mixture into the cream cheese mixture until incorporated.

8. Pour the cheesecake mixture into the crust, and refrigerate until set. This will take at least 6 hours.

For the passionfruit jelly layer:

9. Strain the passionfruit juice and place in a small saucepan over low heat.

10. Add the powdered gelatin and stir until dissolved. Remove from the heat and let it cool.

11. Meanwhile rinse some of the passion-fruit seeds and place on top of the set cheesecake.

12. Pour the passionfruit mixture on top, and refrigerate for at least one hour/until set.

13. Serve!

USA: Cathedral of the Saint Mary of the Assumption - San Francisco, California - 8 May 2011

2011-10-21T14:17:00.003+08:00

We visited one of the churches in San Francisco - Cathedral of the Saint Mary of the Assumption. It is the principal church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, and is one of San Francisco's Top 25 Buildings.

This church was very different from the other churches -

Firstly, the church was considered controversial not only because of its adherence to the changes in worship from the Vatican Council, but also because of the grandiose scale of the structure. Its supporters argued that it is a magnificent homage to God, but dissenters argued that the funds should have instead been usedto help needy parishioners and instead of erecting this extravagant edifice.

Secondly, the task of building the new cathedral was daunting; San Francisco is earthquake-prone, requiring seismically engineered buildings. The structure is an engineering tour de force. Standing prominently on its hillside site, the hyperbolic paraboloid form is visible from all over the city of San Francisco and truly manifests the modern version of the Gothic cathedrals in Medieval Europe.

The emphatic ascension consists of a square base topped by four hyperbolic paraboloids, thin concrete shells that slope inward and support each other while, from above, forming a giant cross. The structure meets in a cruciform-shaped void overhead. So when you actually look up the ceiling, you will see a giant cross.

This is the entrance leading up to the main door. Such intricate carvings.
And look at the strong wind, making my hair covering my face. Yes, this is normal in the SFO area.

Love the door so much couldn't help but took another picture with it.

Once inside the main hall, this is what you see. There was actually a service going on. So we were not allowed to go to the front of the hall until the service is over. But other than that, we were free to walk about, quietly of course.

When I looked up the ceiling looking for that giant cross, I was in awe. It was so beautiful. I could see the light from the colourful stained glasses which formed the giant cross rom the lofty ceiling. And the place was so quiet and tranquil, it made me feeling calm.

This faceted glass was designed by Professor Gregory Kepes of MIT. The blue glass in the north represents water; the gold and yellow of the south represents the sun and light; the red of the west window represents fire and the green of the east – the Earth.

On the sides of the halls were intricate carvings of Jesus Christ, Mother Mary and other angels I suppose. They were all very delicate and beautiful.

The giant chandelier than hung down in the middle of the hall was beautiful too.

There were also stained glass on the side doors and windows deco. Beautiful. I love stained glass.

At one side of the hall, there is this big pipe organ, which is the first one I've ever seen. I've never seen a pipe organ before, have you? Heard that this pipe organ here was built in 1971 by Fratelli Ruffatti, a famous organ bulder in Padua, Italy. It has 4842 pipes on 89 ranks and 69 stops.

After awhile, we walked out quietly. And we took some photos outside the cathedral. Love the blue skies in SFO.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Saint_Mary_of_the_Assumption
http://www.stmarycathedralsf.org/organ.html
http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/art/sfo_cityguide.pdf

p/s - Click here for more of my USA trip.

One Rainy Afternoon...

2011-10-20T00:21:00.005+08:00

we took a big, blue umbrella and went down to our apartment garden.

29 August 2011

We went to our garden's little pavilion and sat there, shaded from the rain and watched the rain.
My little boy was happy munching the box of raisins and cereals I brought down for him.

Together, we watched the pelting rain and watched the koi fish swimming in the pond.
Sitting there, I could smell the rain. The rain was noisy and yet calming. I haven't felt this way before. To be so close to the rain 'til I could smell it.
Normally, I would just run helter skelter away from the rain and indoor. That day was different.

I took the umbrella and camera in my hand, I walked opposite the pond and took a photo of father and son.

I caught Shern feeding daddy some snacks.

It was a nice rainy day to get some family bond so near home. All we need was just a big umbrella and some rain. :)

Yiu-Shern - 26 Months

2011-10-18T23:52:00.001+08:00

This post is way outdated, hidden in my draft for almost 3 months.

22 August 2011

Cuti-Cuti Penang
August was the month where Popo, Kong-kong & Yee-Pho went to Singapore for a week. And since Min was still working at that time, left the 3 of us at home whenever Peter gets off work.
I decided to take a break ourselves and break off from our normal routine, so that was the beginning of our daily dose of Cuti-cuti Penang.

We went to many places in Penang, such as CTY Aquarium, Teluk-Bahang Fisherman Jetty, Adventure Zone, Mega Kiddies World, Ferry Ride, Penang Bird Park, Penang Hill, Youth Park, Teluk Bahang Dam, etc.

I then realized Penang has so many places to visit even with a toddler in tow. And many of these places are free. It makes me more happy because Shern was so happy. I'm sure Shern thought he was on holidays too when Popo, Kong-kong & Yee-pho were not around.

Shern in Car Seat
It was also the starting of me re-introducing the car seat to Shern. I wrote all about the Battle of the Car Seat about a few weeks ago.

Reciting from 1 to 10
Shern learnt how to recite from 1 to 10, thanks to the ad '10 Reasons You Should Choose Thai Airways' on Astro. Well, at least there are some benefits in letting your kids watch ads on tv. :)

Speech
His speech development continues to astonish even me. He learns new words so fast that we could not even afford to mumble any bad words like 'shit'. The other day he started to say 'oh my god' in exactly the same tone I said it. He imitated it so damn well he started to scare me.

He can now recites Nursery Rhymes, in sentences now and not just the last words.
Current favourite is Jack & Jill, Humpty Dumpty, Pussy Cat Pussy Cat, Little Jack Horner and Wee Willy Winkie.

Books
His current favourites are 'The Little Engine That Could' and 'Nursery Rhymes'.
He even adores a Cars themed Lego brochure we got from Toys 'R' Us, asking me to "read" the brochure to him again and again and pointing to Lightning McQueen, Mater and Finn McMissile. Toys R Us would be very happy to know that their brochures has very long lifespan in my house!

Food
Shern is really the MPPP of the house. He eats everything, including char koay teow and hokkien mee. Even this means one mouthful of char koay teow and one sip of water. He is not afraid of spicy.

But luckily, he eats rice quite readily too. But he is not too fond of porridge nowadays. Just like me I guess. And of course his favourites are Yakult and Vitagen.

But when it comes to fruits, he stays far far away. It is really weird you know. Once he sees it, he automatically knows they are fruits and he won't even go near them. Be it apples, oranges, watermelons, kiwis, bananas, etc. Sometimes he tries them when we tried to make them sound so delicious, but usually he spits them out. Fruits are sweet, why doesn't he like them?

Sleep
He now sleeps from around 10pm to 8.30am every night. No waking up for feeds as usual. Still pees in his diapers. There are the occasional dreams where he laughs while sleeping or even talks when he sleeps. All I need it to just pat him and he continues his sleep.

Gone are the days where we need to carry him to sleep (phew!). Really so glad because he weighs a ton now. Ok, not a ton but feels like a ton. All he needs is someone to accompany him to sleep. Drinks 6-7oz of milk. And then he will tosses and turns in bed, and also puts his head on my stomach and all over me, until he falls asleep, which is usually in 15 minutes.

Potty Training
This one fails big time. Screams his head off when he sees the potty. Starts fighting with me about me taking off his diapers and asking me to wear back for him. Cries and wails until his poop disappeared. Sigh.

Now his usual is he hides when he does his big business. When you suddenly hear silence in the house, you will find Shern hiding in a corner doing his big business. And if we go near him, he will asks us to go away. Big business done when he finally comes out from his corner. Sigh.

The Lion King Musical in Marina Bay Sands

2011-10-13T15:42:00.000+08:00

I have not blogged about my recent Singapore Trip this time. I'm not sure if I'm ever going to blog about my experience in Universal Studio Singapore or upload photos of me doing the touristy stuff. First of all, I am too lazy. Secondly, I have too many backlog posts.

But one thing I think I need to blog about is The Lion King Musical I attended in Marina Bay Sands. I tell you, that musical took my breath away!

It was my 2nd Broadway Musical I attended. My first being The Beauty & The Beast in 2008 in KL, which was actually nothing compared to this.

I think I watched the movie version 1000 times on tv. I loved it. Always has been a big fan of The Lion King.

Booked for the Sunday Matinee 2pm show.
Ticket prices are from S$65-240. Singapore dollars. Freaking crazy.
We booked the 2nd cheapest seats which is the $85, but we got it at a 20% discount, but which I still find it expensive when convert back into Ringgit.
That's when I really know how bad our Ringgit fares when compared to Singapore Dollars. Shrug.

Took the stall seats after being prepped by my sis-in-law. Turned out great because The Sands Theatre was not that big, kinda small actually and we could see everything not too far away.

In fact, I did not expect a Theatre to be this small. This was taken from my seat. It was about the size of a large cinema theatre in GSC.

Ok, I am not complaining since this allowed me to have a better view. Anyway, I liked the cozy setting.
I'm not sure if you could see it but on the right and left side of the stage hanging midway are 2 platforms where each platform has a cast each playing with the instruments. You could really see the whole stage and everything in front of you. This is only possible when the Theatre is small enough.

Below photo shows u the seats upstairs. We did not go up but I think stall seats were better since twice during the show, the casts came out from the back door below and also some scene, some of the casts were standing on the alleys of the stall seats.
So I was glad we chose the stall seats.

The moment the musical started, I knew the money spent was well worth it.
I was gobsmacked. It was visually spectacular right from the start.
I was amazed by how much the animals really look like animals. Although the animals are actually human, but they really blend into their roles. The way they moved and the way they tilted their heads. Awesomeness!

photo source: http://www.motherinc.org/review/lion-king-marina-bay-sands-singapore/

Actually we were not allowed to take photos. Which I think is fine since I could then concentrate 100% on watching the musical. Knowing me, if photo-taking was allowed, I would be busy snapping photos although I know 99% they would turn out all blur. So these photos of the show were taken from the net.

During halftime, after toilet break, we took a walk around in front and saw the orchestra pit. Managed to snap a photo before the authorities shooed me away. :)

The casts were really great. Props used was fantastic. Everything was really good. If I didn't know I was attending a broadway musical, I would think that everything was pre-recorded because everything was so smooth, so fluent - their singing, acting and etc.

photo source: http://www.motherinc.org/review/lion-king-marina-bay-sands-singapore/

Below shows Scar and Simba - having a heaty head-on argument. I am still amazed at their brilliant masks. When they tilted their head down, their masks would bend forward in front of their face like below. But when they looked straight, their masks would spring up on top of their head, so I could see their facial expression. Isn't that brilliant or what?

photo source: http://www.motherinc.org/review/lion-king-marina-bay-sands-singapore/

On this musical, I liked the young Simba, which was played by Warren Saga. He was spirited and energetic and really sounded like the Simba in the movie. I was rather sad he grew up and the adult Simba was played by Jonathan Andrew Hume. Except for his well-toned and muscled body, I did not find myself being his #1 fan, which was rather bad since he was supposed to be the hero. But nevertheless, he was still ok. It was just that I liked little Simba more. Haha.

The other casts such as Nala, Timon and Pumba were great. And even the hyenas were terrific. And oohh, I loved Rafiki the wise baboon. She had a powerful voice and really sounded like the Rafiki in the cartoon. Zazu was good too acting his part as the prim and proper hornbill.

photo source: http://superadrianme.com/2011/03/10/the-lion-king-singapore-review/

Overall, I had a wonderful time. Definitely the highlight of my recent Singapore trip.
So if you guys have a chance to go to Singapore, don't miss out this one. ;)

Fake Chocolate Cake

2011-10-05T23:29:00.002+08:00

Pillsbury's Moist Supreme Chocolate Cake - 16 August 2011

My friend passed me a box of cake premix that was going to expire in 5 days. She asked me to bake it and not waste it, so I said OK because I couldn't bear to see it gone to waste.

Photo source: http://anne-tan.blogspot.com/2010/06/baking.html

The box says "Pillsbury Moist Supreme Chocolate Cake". Sounds good.
I have not baked any cake using premix before so I was reading intently behind the box for instructions.

They only called for 3 ingredients to be added into the mix: Eggs, Water and Oil.
I was a bit dubious because I have never baked a cake which calls for water. Most calls for milk, buttermilk or yogurt for the liquid content.
And also this calls for oil instead of butter. Hmmm...

After an hour or so, the cake was out from the oven.
So how was it?

It was a midnight bake and you know chocolate cakes do not photograph well, so please bear with me the ugly photos with low lighting and my bad photography skills.

This is what it looked like fresh from the oven after removing it from my bundt pan.

It was my first time using my cheapo bundt pan, and I was disappointed with the 'curves'. The curves were not so significant and thus the cake was not so beautiful. And the colour of the cake was not impressive - too light for my liking because to me, light colour means less chocolate-y taste.

But when I cut into it, I was a little happy because it shows a darker brown in colour, a hope of a more chocolate-y taste.
You could also see that the texture was good. Looks good anyway.

But when I finally took my first bite of that cake, everything went down the drain.
There was no chocolate taste in it at all. It was just a bland cake which was chocolate in colour. No oomph heavenly butter cake taste as well. Nothing.
Bland and dead and fake!

Yes, it tasted so fake because it looks like chocolate cake but tasted nothing like all the other chocolate cakes I've ever baked.
It was not that it was inedible. It was just that it was so..erm...so....fake. Period.

It was such a turn-off after my first bite. I was struggling to finish my slice.
In the end, I opened my bottle of Nutella Spread and slabbed some on my slice so that it finally has some real chocolate-y taste in it!

The only good thing about this cake is the texture. The texture of this cake turned out ok. Rather moist and fine crumbed.

The next morning, I took the cake the cake over to mum's place for everyone to try it out. Everyone ended up eating their slices with Nutella as well.

And needless to say, we did not finish the cake. After everyone had their first slice, nobody went for a second slice. Sigh. So a small part of the cake ended up in the rubbish bin a few days later.
As much as I hate wasting food, I really couldn't finish up the remaining cake.

Then, I told my family this "Now only you all know how nice are my cakes. You wouldn't appreciate my cakes so much if you have not tasted this" =)

After this, I told myself never, ever bake using a premix ever again. Not even a branded one like Pillsbury. Lesson learned.

Maria's Cherry Cake

2011-10-01T21:11:00.002+08:00

12 August 2011 - Maria's Cherry Cake

I baked this cake beginning of August and nearly forgotten all about it. The reason is because it is one of those bakes that does not taste as good as it looks.

First of all, maybe because I used only 1 punnet of cherries and it is not enough. Secondly, it may be because I used this tart pan and thus results in the sides being too crisp for my liking. Or it can be due to my oven which gets too hot although it has not browned yet, or simply because it was due to my own noob-ness in baking.

All in all, I find the texture of this cake a little too dry and also lack of the juiciness of the cherries (because I was too cheapo and used only 1 punnet). When I tasted the cake a day later, the texture was even more dry. Sigh. When compared to the Cherry Cake I made more than a year ago, this one is a far cry from it.

I was looking forward to a fluffy kinda texture with juicy cherries in my every bite. :P

But all in all, it is still edible of course, if you don't mind the lack of cherries, and rather dry texture. So let me tell you this, if you want to try out this recipe, please remember to at least double the amount of cherries used, with half of the cherries folded into the batter! :)

This is my batter topped with cherries cut into halves with seed removed, before it went into the oven.

I felt my cherries were kinda wasted because my fresh cherries were still juicy and firm. I should have eaten them fresh. =)

See, the cake was not even that browned yet, and yet the sides were already a 'lil too crisp for my liking. Or are all cakes using tart pan end up like this?

After baking, the cherries were all wrinkly but still juicy.

I sprinkled some icing sugar on top.

See...only the top part had cherries. If there were cherries in the middle part, it would taste so much better!

Recipe: Maria's Cherry Cake (copied from Table for 2)

250gm cherries, cut into half, seeds removed (1 punnet, the recipe called for 1L of cherries, and used whole. That's too expensive and I don't fancy the taste of the baked seed).
100gm butter
125gm icing sugar (reduced from 200gm)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest
2 medium eggs (grade c)
150gm all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
icing sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 150(fan)/170C. Prepare a 9 inch pan. Line the base and grease the sides.
2. Cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs gradually.
4. Add in vanilla and lemon zest.
5. Sift flour with baking powder and fold into the beaten butter.
6. Spread out the mixture onto prepared pan and arrange halved cherries. No need to press in.
7. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden. When cake has cooled, dust with icing sugar before serving.

Mr. Clean Freak

2011-09-30T23:30:00.000+08:00

Shern is a clean freak. Don't be mistaken, he is only a clean freak when it comes to himself. When it comes to tidying his play area or ask him to keep his toys, 9 out of 10 times he pretended not to hear me.

Ok, back to his clean freak nature. Shern started off not liking sand. He was actually feeling very eekie that the sand was stuck to his feet and they wouldn't come off. But of course after a while and with us bringing him to the beach more often, he got used to it and is no longer afraid of the sand.

Shern usually wears sandals everywhere. You know the kind where you can see the toes and other parts of the feet. Which means that sands and other stuff can get into his sandals. So sometimes when we walk halfway, he would tell us his feet is 'ekk ekk' (slang for dirty) and need us to wipe his feet.

Like yesterday when we brought him to the Youth Park again, we stopped like 3-4 times just to wipe the 'ekk ekk' off his feet.

29 September 2011

And it happens again today when we brought him up Penang Hill. It's OK if there is, but sometimes we just couldn't find the small pebble or even a grain of sand on his feet.

30 September 2011

But I can't blame him. If sand or a small pebble ever gets inside my shoe, I would also want to remove it immediately.

It's just that it happens every time we go to the playground. And each visit, we encountered this several times. Haha.

The Battle of the Infant Carrier & Toddler Car Seat

2011-09-29T23:41:00.004+08:00

photo sourse: http://maxi-cosi.com

We bought this Maxi-Cosi Priory XP Car Seat in KL when Shern was only a few months old back in 2009. This car seat is for child age 1. At that time, we were still using the Anakku Infant Carrier Car Seat.

The reason we bought it because I was so adamant that car seats are of topmost important in safety-wise in a car. And we that KL has more choices than Penang, so we bought it when given quite a good discount. I think we still paid about RM900 for this which made this the most expensive seat/chair I've ever bought!

Shern was sitting diligently in his Anakku Carrier when he was a few months old. So I thought it would not be an issue when he turns 1 and change to this car seat. After all, I practiced all the right steps in 'starting 'em young'. Shern was placed in his carrier all the time during car rides when he was just a few days old.

But when Shern turned 6 mths or so, he became the shrieking cow and cried and shouted like he was bring tortured when I put him into his carrier. And it didn't help that the Anakku Carrier has no base, which means that I need to install the carrier everytime I chuck Shern in. So with a screaming Shern and me fidgeting to install the carrier everytime, of course his screaming wins. (blame it all on the Anakku Carrier, and not me being a lousy mum! Haha)

And so we started not being consistent on him sitting in his lousy carrier. And when he turned 1yo, he was still shrieking when we tried to put him into this Maxi-Cosi toddler car seat. And also maybe because we had too many cars in our house. One day he is sitting on the Kenari. Next day in the Wira and the next in Unser. So since the car seat is only installed in the Wira, we were not being consistent. (yes, lousy parents we are, I know)

And at the back of my mind, I was also screaming because we spent nearly a thousand bucks on this seat, man! And also I still believe in the safety of car seat during car ride. So I still did not want to give up so easily.

And then just a month or so ago, I started to let Shern seat in this Maxi-Cosi Car Seat, because I believe now that he is bigger, he could understand our explanation. I praised him and told him that he is a big boy now. He was ok sitting in it but initially did not want to buckle up. I started telling him stories and reasoning that buckling up is for his safety. Of course I explained it in a way he would understand.

Now Shern says "Jack & Jill and Humpty Dumpty fell down because they did not wear seat belt. Fall down pain-pain". ;)
And with that he buckles up now. Whoosh...I thank my lucky stars I taught him Nursery Rhymes!

And for awhile now, Shern seats in the car seat and buckles up without making a fuss, and even fell asleep on it quite often. Hope this will last. *pray hard*

29 September 2011

I'm just glad the freaking expensive car seat has not gone to waste!
And I really hope The Battle of the Car Seat is over!

p/s- And oh ya, I super recommend this Maxi-Cosi Priory XP Car Seat if you have the extra cash. It's like way, way better than the Anakku Infant Carrier. (duh!)

Love-Hate Relationship

2011-09-27T23:42:00.006+08:00

I have this love-hate relationship with Shern.

You see, when I'm not with Shern, I miss him like crazy. I miss his smells. I miss the way he talks. And I miss him hugging me.

But when I'm with him, he can drive me crazy. He sticks to me like a leech. He even shouted "mummy, mummy" when I just take a 20 seconds break to pee. Then you can hear him murmur "mummy shh shh cannot arr".
When I'm with him, all I want is to pee in peace.

And not to say those times when he plays with so much energy that I am all bashed up 15 minutes later. I cannot believe 2-year olds can be that energetic. I simply cannot catch up with him. But yet I'm forced to play with him because he will shout "want again, want again". He drains all my energy just after 15 minutes.

Or the times when he throws a tantrum refusing to bathe, or change clothes, or simply refused to wash his poo after he poops. How disgusting is that right?
That is when I go all crazy-monster-mummy and starts pulling my hair, simply because I can't pull his.

But a second later, my heart melts when he just blurts out "I love mummy" without any warning.

25 September 2011

I tell you, if this is not love-hate relationship, I don't know what is.

Scrapbooking: 29 Layouts So Far

2011-09-26T20:16:00.001+08:00

I started doing layout scrapbooking since early June and now I'm addicted.
Almost 4 months later, I've completed 29 layouts.

I'm pretty pleased with myself. I'm still a newbie and still experimenting layout styles and such, therefore u will see different kinds of styles in my layouts.

However, I feel that I more favour cluster design layouts and also vintage-y stuff.
The problem with scrapbooking is this. I buy those beautiful papers and embellishments, and then I can't bear to use them. They are so pretty I wanted to keep them. Lol.

In my recent Singapore trip, I went to a scrapbooking store there and saw that all items in store (except some stuff such as adhesives, etc) were on 40% sale.
Yeah, you heard me right, 40% sale!!!!
The stuff there were already way cheaper than Smidapaper. And with 40% sale, I nearly went crazy. I ended up spending S$150 but I got a lot of stuff and I am so happy! ;)

I love doing layouts more than cards because with photos in them, I find them more personal, and they make beautiful memories.

Some people ask me what do I do with them? Well, I have a 12x12 album where I keep them, just like my precious photos. These albums don't come cheap and I am running out of pages now. I need to buy another album soon.

Anyway, below are my 8th to 29th layouts. Have a look ;)
(photos were taken using on the spot using iPhone so some are a but blur-ish)

8th layout - Graduation - 19 June 2011

9th layout - Five Incredible Dating Years - 20 June 2011

10th layout - Circles of Fun - 27 June 2011
11th layout - Swim & Laugh in the Pool - 30 June 2011

12th layout - Like Dad, like Son - 2 July 2011

13th layout - My Beloved Popo & Kong - 3 July 2011
14th layout - Love Always and 4Eva - 11 July 2011

15th layout - Happy Laughter - 17 July 2011
16th layout - 3 of us Hand-in-Hand - 21 July 2011

17th layout - Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice - 21 July 2011
18th layout - Bow & Beautiful - 22 July 2011

19th layout - The Guys - 28 July 2011
20th layout - In Love - 29 July 2011

21st layout - Anything For You Mum - 2 August 2011
22nd layout - Heart u 2 - 11 August 2011

23rd layout - Macau - 12 August 2012

24th layout - Happy 65th Birthday Mama - 20 August 2011

25th layout - Cousins - 20 August 2011
26th layout - 2+1 - 24 August 2011

27th layout - This Is What Love Looks Like - 29 August 2011

28th layout - You Are My Sunshine - 15 September 2011

29th layout - 4th ROM Anniversary - 19 September 2011

All of us at home are Bananas, I hope Shern won't be

2011-09-24T23:22:00.000+08:00

All the people in our house are "bananas". When I said bananas, it means that we are Chinese but we can't really speak Mandarin. We are all english educated.

Me. Hubby. Sisters. Parents. Parents-in-laws. Sister-in-law. Everyone.

But hubby & I have decided to send Shern to a Chinese primary school. But we speak English to Shern at home. So how is he going to adapt?

This is our plan: Speak English to Shern at home. Send him to a Chinese-speaking nursery and kindy, and hope that he can pick up Mandarin there. Then send him to a Chinese primary school. And maybe send him for Chinese tuition.

My worry now is whether will this work? Will he be able to cope?
Will he be able to blend in with the other fluent-chinese-speaking friends?
Will he be able to do understand enough to complete his homework?

Our rational for sending him to a Chinese school is this - no matter how bad his English language may be, it will still be better than our Chinese language.
And furthermore China is really big now. I don't want Shern to lag behind just because he can't speak Mandarin like his parents.

Being a mum has so much worries. This is just 1/1000 worries I have for Shern.

Teluk Bahang Dam - Wow...So Big!

2011-09-24T00:09:00.011+08:00

That was what Shern exclaimed when he saw the Teluk Bahang Dam..."Wow...so big"!

It is indeed a big and wide space, as where most dams are located. It is nice to be able to feast your eyes on empty wide space in Penang Island, which is rare as most green places are full of tall trees.

20 August 2011

The Teluk Bahang Dam is surrounded by small little hills of greens and rocks. I've watched the Dragon Boat Race being held here a few years back.

Shern was happy walking along the tar road, holding one of his toy cars (as usual!).

This is what he showed me when I said "Shern, look at mummy and smile!"

That's him turning back and grinning for the camera.

Shern was looking at the water intently looking for fish. We couldn't spot any, guess we were too far from the water!

Then, Shern tried to peel of the plastic of the cheese. He always gets to snack during our outings.

Yee-Pho came with us as well.

That's hubby leaning against the railings.

And that's me with the postcard scenery.

Shern posting with Yee-pho.

Shern smiling away because he persuaded daddy to carry him.

Look at his cheerful face.

There are chairs along the path and Shern was sitting on one of them.

Shern standing on the chair and posing.

Shern and daddy again, coz mummy is the camerawoman. :)

Alas, a photo of the 3 of us!

When we were about to leave, it started drizzling. We ran to our car.
5 minutes later, it was raining very heavily. Just in the nick of time! :)

Shern to Penang Youth Park

2011-09-22T22:20:00.012+08:00

It was on a Monday morning in early August. Shern woke up rather early so we decided to bring him to Youth Park for a good workout. 'Til then we have not brought him there yet. I purposely choose a weekday morning so that it will not be so packed. Weekend evenings at Youth Park is usually very packed as it is a very nice place for families and kids and adults-like to hang out.

So after his usual morning 6oz milk and bath, we changed him into something cooling to wear as I was afraid that it will be quite warm when the sun is out. We are after all in a warm and humid country.

By the time we reached Youth Park and parked our car, it was almost 1oam. The sun was out but we were very glad that Youth Park is full of trees, which provide us the much needed shade. It was not hot at all, but in fact rather cooling with the occasional breeze.

Youth Park has many 'mini playgrounds', and below was the first one we went to.
Shern's eyes immediately sparkled when he saw the place.

8 August 2011

Look at his happy smiling face even when climbing up the steps.

And below was his cheesy-show-all-teeth smile while sliding on the slides!

Shern peeking out from the 'window' smiling at the camera, and showing us a cheeky face.

Shern climbing up a step higher to reach a higher slide.

Shern preparing to slide down the higher slide.

After that, off he went to take daddy's hands to the next 'mini playground' not far away.

We saw this huge ball and Shern was trying to lift it up the ground. He failed of course. Haha.

Shern spotted a tunnel and was so happy to go through it. He went through it again and again and again. He is very into tunnel since Kong-kong drove through the North-South Highway Ipoh tunnel during his trip to KL in July.

Then off we walked further again. Shern holding daddy's hands and went exploring!

Then we spotted another 'mini playground' and off he went again.
Shern grinning while climbing up the steps.

And this time, it was a twirly slide.

Ready, get set, go.....Round and round he went!

Then there was the twin slides.

And the see-through bubble.

Shern even spotted Dinasour Eggs. Haha. That was what I told him they were...dinasour eggs. He was intrigued! :P

After that we walked down a wooden bridge...

...which led us to a very nice pool with mini fountains.
I think it is a public swimming pool. We didn't swim in it but Shern had fun touching those mini fountains.

It was near there we spotted a big star on the floor.
And it was also near there we sat down a bench and had our breakfast.
Made sandwiches for all 3 of us, and Shern had his usual dose of yogurt and cheese, and a little bread, all drowned with a bottle of Yakult. Yes, he loves this kind of outing because he always gets to eat his favourite snacks.

Shern was running about while we had our breakfast.

And then we went to a few more 'mini playgrounds'. This time it had a tunnel slide, which Shern was so happy to sit through it. (I told you Youth Park has many mini playgrounds!)

Then we reached this big play area which has swings (and more slides) and other play equipment.

Shern sat on a rabbit and 'shake-shake-shake'!

And he absolutely loved riding on this purple dinasour! (His favourite colour is yellow and purple, btw!)

Then there was this big semi-circle climb which Shern was attracted to.

But he was still too young to climb on it. He just ran through the holes and he was just as happy.

After 1 1/2 hours, we went home. All 3 of us were tired. Tired but happy.
We love Youth Park because it is free and it is full of greens and fresh air.

A very good morning exercise for Shern as well! It won't be too long 'til we go again on another weekday morning! ;)

Shern On A Funicular Train Up To Penang Hill

2011-09-20T21:13:00.009+08:00

We took Shern up Penang Hill more than 2 months ago and now only I am blogging about it.

I am so behind all my blog posts. There are still a few places of Cuti-cuti Penang posts I haven't blogged, and not to mention my baking posts (yes, I am still baking but no time to post recipes up) and my never-ending USA posts. And if you are waiting for me to blog about my recent Singapore Trip, better don't. I don't even know if I am going to blog about it. ;)

Anyway, back to the topic. We brought Shern up to Penang Hill mainly for him to sit the funicular train. It was his first time on a train, and up to the Penang Hill.

7 August 2011

Shern was very, very into trains. He loves trains, which explains why I chose Train to be his 2nd Birthday Party Theme.
He was looking in awe of all the trains exhibited there in the mini museum at the Penang Hill Lower Station.

It was also hubby and my first time taking this new funicular train. The new rates were RM8 for adults with MyKad and free for Shern.

While queuing up for the train to arrive, Shern was excited when he saw the train pulling into the station. It was quite difficult to get him to turn the other way to snap a photo of him looking at the camera and not the train.

Shern was sitting on my lap.

These 2 photos were taken before more people crowded the whole floor space of the train. We waited quite long for the train to depart, although the train was full. Actually, too long, almost 20 minutes. Shern was getting impatient and it was getting stuffy too with so many people.

If you wonder why there are so many photos of the 3 of us, it was because Shu-Min was the photographer. Yes, she followed us up Penang Hill. :)

At last when it departed, we could see a beautiful view of Penang Island. This new train was fast. Took only 10 minutes to reach the Upper Station.

This was taken at the Upper Station when we got off the train, and before the driver shouted "no photos here". Oopss.

I always love this view of the railway tracks out from the tunnel.

Below is a must-take photo standing in front of the words Bukit Bendera (Penang Hill).

Standing in front of the antique funicular train. Surprisingly, Shern did not want to go up this train. I wonder if it doesn't look like a train to Shern.

Caught a lady holding a colourful umbrella.

Too bad we went up there just after a bout of rain, which means the playground was wet, so Shern couldn't play the slides.

Took a photo in front of the Indian Temple.

And also on top of a stage in front of this big banner.

Nothing much to do up there, so we ordered the ice-kacang. Must have ordered from the wrong stall because it tasted yucky. Haha.

While we were having ice-kacang, Shern was enjoying his favourite Yakult. :)

After that, we got down. It was a short trip up Penang Hill.
We would go again and hope it doesn't rain so that Shern could run about the playground there.

Rest

2011-09-15T00:59:00.005+08:00

We've been back from Singapore last Tuesday but 'til now I still have not felt normal yet. The post-fever symptom is still dragging on and the cough germ has caught up with me. Thus, the silence on my blog.

I just felt like sleeping every day. And the weird thing is, although I've taken a 3-4 hours of afternoon nap, I still sleep like a dead log at night. I know this is not normal. (Who takes 3-4 hours of nap, anyway?)

I guess my body needs it. It is tired. It wants rest. More rest.
I'm just glad Shern lets me rest and even slept with me during my afternoon naps.

So when my body is back to normal, I will resume blogging. 'Til then.

USA: Lombard Street - San Francisco, California - 8 May 2011

2011-09-11T14:09:00.002+08:00

You know that San Francisco streets are really steep right? Because Lombard Street is well, just a street (and yet so many people wants to see it) and difficult to get parking space, we park further and then walked to there.

So we walked these steep streets. It was quite tiring actually.

Ok, so this is Lombard Street.
Lombard Street is an east-west street in San Francisco. It is famous for having a steep, one-block section that consists of eight tight hairpin turns.
Some says it is the crookedest street in the world.

Quite interesting right? And being such a crooked and steep street, they actually still allows vehicles to drive through. It must be a real challenge to drive there.

Actually, that was the reason why the road became so crooked. Initially they built a road but it was so steep straight down that they were afraid people would get killed driving a steep straight down road. So they put grooves and them make the road so crooked so that the drivers would step on a break while driving. Something like that. ;)

And guess what? There are still people living on that street. How's the feeling I wonder to live in such a place where once you open your front there, a crowd of tourists are bound to be there snapping away?

I'm loving the lush greens on the road. Makes the place so beautiful.

Postcard photos? ;)

Mandatory couple shots.

And then I turned around, and saw the road behind me so steep that I could see the whole neighbourhood. Loved it and couldn't help but to snap, snap and snap.

So while other people were busy photographing Lombard Street, I was snapping away at the opposite directions. Snap. Snap. Snap.

This really shows how steep San Francisco roads are. You could practically see the whole neighbourhood from where we were standing.

So Ok, I finished another post about beautiful San Francisco. 100 more posts to go! ;P

p/s - Click here for more of my USA trip.

USA: Fisherman's Wharf - San Francisco, California - 8 May 2011

2011-09-10T13:49:00.002+08:00

After Golden Gate Bridge, we went to Fisherman's Wharf. Fisherman's Wharf is a popular tourist area in San Francisco. Although I think the place is a little too commercialised, I still love going there nonetheless.

I love that although the day was bright and sunny, it was still so windy and cold being near the bay area and that I have to wear an extra thick jacket to shield me from the cold wind.

There are many stalls and shops to dine in and to do some shopping.

But firstly, we stopped for a bowl of hot Clam Chowder. Went to this stall called Fisherman's Grotto and ordered the Bread Bowl. It was really delicious. The sour dough was not that good though, but the clam chowder was really delicious.

Then we went to buy another bowl of Clam Chowder at another different stall, a bigger bowl this time. And oh my, it was a mistake. Not nice compared to the first one. And we were trying hard to finish the big bowl, as not to waste food.

Then we bought some cold crab cocktail to try at Guardino's. It was so-so.

And another box of fried calamaries and crab meat. Well, this was good.

Saw this famous Boudin Bakery Shop which churns out like millions of sourdough every year. (maybe not millions but a lot). Look at the photo on the right, the big crocodile is actually bread. Blueks.

Some of our friends went to take the boat ride for a cruise around the bay. Not us, coz I was afraid I would be seasick. So I didn't want to pay money and risk getting seasick. So we would rather just take our own sweet time and walk around.

We then walked towards Pier 39, which is one of the more popular pier.

It was so windy all the flags were waving frantically, inviting us to Pier 39. :)

There are many shops in Pier 39, many of them are cafes or restaurants. You are really spoilt for choice there. Many shops are selling seafood.

But there are also many souvenirs shops and some specialty shops selling quirky stuff, such as a shop selling all kinds of 'left-handed stuff' for lefties, etc.

Love this shop selling chocolates. San Francisco is famous for its Ghirardelli brand chocolates and I bought a few.

Most of the prices here are inflated though, because this is after all a tourist spot.
But I could not help buying some fresh cherries and some melted chocolate to munch on while walking around. :)

More shops.

This is a shop selling all kinds of candy imaginable. All kinds of colour and shapes.

And there was also a street show where someone was performing some funny acts. Couldn't really see 'coz we were too short. ;P

Behind hubby is Alcatraz.

And here are some boats docking at the pier. Nice.

Below are the scenery photos.

That's about all for Fisherman's Wharf. 'Til next USA post. :)

p/s - Click here for more of my USA trip.

Childhood Memories

2011-09-07T01:12:00.000+08:00

(Photo source: http://korpinkynsi.deviantart.com/art/Childhood-memories-138637789)

I was lying awake in bed one afternoon trying to put Shern to sleep, when suddenly flashes of my childhood memory came to my mind. Some of the stuff I really could not remember, until my parents told me. But I remember many others and it makes me realized that some things cannot be forgotten:

I just want to jot them down, so that when I grow senile years from now, I can still reread my childhood memories that I can still remember now:-

Playing teacher-student with my sis Wen. I was the teacher of course. And I hae this hardcover bluebook which I wrote down names and ticked attendance. Wen was of course my favourite student. ;)
I remember crying every time I need to get back to Emah's house. I was so used to stay in Oopo's house that I did not want to leave. And dad caned me for the first and only time in my life, when I refused to leave.
Singing and performing outside the front door of Popo's house, not being shy when watched by neighbours. It was full accessorize performance, wearing chiffon scarf secured using headbands, etc.
Ran up to my Pak-Kong's place upstairs and accidentally locked my uncle in the toilet. I wonder if he knew it was me?
Was so sad and angry that Popo scolded me (I forgot the reason) that I ran into the room and wrote about it. That was the earliest memory I've got for jotting down my thoughts.
I was in Primary 5 when I found out my cousin read my diary. I was so angry at her for knowing my secret crush that I did not talk to her for weeks. Her mum came to my to apologize. I forgave her after quite some time. Forgive but don't forget. Hehe.
Stole some money from my Emah during Primary 1 and she found out of course! Was scolded by parents.
Scored all As in my Report Book in Primary 1 and my Ah-Kong was so proud of me he photocopy the page and pinned it up for everybody to see (he was still a shoemaker then).
Played 5 stones/7 stones with my cousin every morning before I went to kindy. Later on during my primary years, I became one of the best player for 5 stones/7 stones.
Missed my school bus and walked all the way home from CPT to my emah's house in Mount Erskine, accompanied by Banuga, because I did not know which public bus to take.
Watching The Sound of Music over and over again 1000 times, until my Ah-Kong said he knew how to act the whole show for me.
Remembered I told Popo that I would buy her a big car and big house to stay when I grow up. Still sad that she passed on and did not see me getting married.
Tickled my sis, Wen and told her to 'tahan' and not to laugh, for I was training her to get tough. She got conned by me! ;P
Played 'one leg' and 'catch' at Emah's house with my many cousins in Emah's house every evening.
One of my first few words I learnt was 'Komtar' as Popo's house was near there and my parents took me to Komtar every weekend.

So do I have a happy childhood? Well, as happy and as normal as can get I guess.

(I have many more....would be adding to this list)

Terrible Two Has Begun - 26 Months

2011-09-04T23:57:00.004+08:00

Yes, even though it is 3 months late, I am quite sure Shern is going through the Terrible Two stage. At 26 months++, he is right into it.

Wikipedia defines Terrible Two as a child development stage which normally occurs around the age of two and consists of toddlers often saying no and throwing temper tantrums.
I've heard of it,sure, but never really put this thing in front of my mind, until it really happens before my eyes.

Shern was behaving terribly for the past four day until now. He is saying NO to everything. He refuses to bathe, refuses to change his clothes, refuses to go to Popo's house, refuses to come home, refuses to sit in the car, refuses even to get out of the car!

And no amount of coaxing or explaining works. Even tantalizing him with his favourite things doesn't work. Either Shern just loves to say NO or is one stubborn bull!

Eh, don't think it is just him saying no. It is him saying no and throwing tantrums, and crying and wailing after that.
Before this, Shern seldom cries. He whines yes, but usually quite manageable. But now, he is unmanageable!
He would not budge even when he got slapped on his thighs 'til red. And he even got locked outside the house door. And still he would not say sorry.

I tell you, I'm going crazy soon.
Can someone please tell me how long does this Terrible Two stage last?

Cheesy Shern

2011-09-03T11:54:00.005+08:00

3 September 2011

Shern loves to eat cheese. Those cheddar cheeses. Kraft or Chesdale, whichever is on sale.
He eats them by itself, not sandwiched between bread. Just take off the plastic cover and munch on the cheese.

So my house always has cheese in the fridge, especially since we have Tesco near our place now.

Now you see, now you don't!

And Shern loves yogurt too. He is still loving it since I introduced it to him when he was about 1 1/2 years old.

These are simple to eat and yet nutritious snacks. I would rather he eats cheese and yogurt than chocs or ice-cream.

His and Hers

2011-09-02T01:12:00.008+08:00

As I was dressing up to meet up with some friends just now, I could not find my wedding ring. I searched frantically for awhile but could not find it. I was then late for my appointment.

When I reached home, I searched for it again. My other ring with a bigger diamond was here, so I didn't think the part-time maid stole it. If she did, she would have ran off with the bigger diamond, right?
At last I found it, dropped down the drawer below. And I was so glad I found it. *phew*

My wedding ring is a simple band of white and yellow gold, with a teeny weeny 0.1 carat diamond. It is delicate and fine, and yet simple enough for every day wear.
And matching mine is hubby's simple band with a slight dent in the middle. Hubby always tell me if he loses his, he would just replaced it with a key chain.

His and Hers

Both our rings have our wedding date inscribed in it. And I just realized it has been almost 5 years)
Myy initials are also inscribed in his ring, and his initials in mine, which makes it very meaningful for us.

I'm so glad I didn't lose it. Even if I get to buy the same ring, it isn't really the same anymore. ;)
This is the one ring I treasure above any other jeweleries I have.

Reciting from 1 to 10

2011-08-29T22:29:00.000+08:00

A few months ago, we started teaching Shern to count. He started off knowing just 1, 2, 3 and gradually up to 5. Then slowly, he knows more but more than often he skipped some numbers in between.

Then he watched the advertisement on TV on '10 Reasons you should choose Thai Airways'. In the ad, the narrator counted the reasons from one to ten. Shern always imitates the narrator whenever he sees the ad on TV. So watching ads has its own benefits, huh?

Recently, Shern could recite one to ten correctly. Quite fast without much pausing and no more skipping certain numbers.
But then, he could only recite them, and not really counting.

If I place a few cars in front of him and asks him 'tell mummy how many cars are there'. Shern would just recite...
"one, two, tree, pour, fai, sik, seven, eight, nai, ten"
...without actually counting how many cars are there.

I captured below video to look back in the future how my baby recites the numbers in his funny pronunciation. ;)

So I hereby announce Shern at 26 months can now recite from 1 to 10, but not actually counting them YET!
Soon...soon!

Shern Knows His Nursery Rhymes

2011-08-28T22:47:00.002+08:00

Recently, Shern has taken quite a liking to Nursery Rhymes.

You know, those famous rhymes like "Little Jack Horner, Jack and Jill, Little Bo Beep, etc". Well, he kind of knows them all."

It started out when I dug out some books which has those rhymes and read it to him. He seems very tickled by some of it, of course with some exaggerated actions and sounds that I make to make it more interesting.

The book on the left belongs to one of us sisters, which is like more than 15 years at least. The book on the right is a secondhand book bought from Leo Bookstore.
These are good, hardcover books with clear words and colourful illustration. They are good enough for me and Shern. ;)

I also bought this piece of Nursery Rhymes Sheet from Jusco quite awhile ago and recently only stuck this at the wall of our bedroom, beneath my huge wedding photo frame. Look how dwarf it is compared to my wedding photo frame. :P

Well, if possible, use Blu-Tack to stick this to your wall, so that it will not stain your wall.

Sticking the Nursery Rhymes there prove to be a hit with Shern. He loves it. He now asks us to read/sing these rhymes to him, and he knows many of them too. Sometimes he can read to you a word or two, or even a sentence of it.

Below video shows how Shern completes the last word of each sentence of the Nursery Rhymes.