Bento

I was informed by Jia Jia's School Principal that they do not provide snacks/food starting from this year as there are many guidelines to comply with inclusive of hiring a cook specifically cook for the children.

I used to give simple snacks, i.e, bread, cookies etc for her last year as she would take porridge or fried noodle prepared by her preschool.

So, got hubby to drive us to Parkson last night after dinner to get some "gadgets". I am into the journey of "bento-ing"! At least make the whole lunch box more appealing! I got a few simple tools (moulds, container etc) as I planned to buy the real bento kits when I return to West Malaysia end of this month.

This also mean that I need to get up slightly early to prepare the bento. I've planned to make the Octodog tomorrow and see how's her reaction when she sees that.

Last Day of 2009

* back dated post*

Just to note what we did on the last day of year 2009.

Hubby took a long lunch break that day and we went to have dim sum at Han Restaurant, Grand Palace Hotel. We seldom have dim sum during weekdays as it is always lack of time to do so, especially we need to "tahn sar" when having dim sum. After dropped hubby at his office, kids and me went to Bintang Mall to shop as Parkson having Members' Day Sale that day. We reached home at almost 5pm and we all went to take a nap.







forget to snap pictures before putting our chopstick on the dim sum. too hungry




lil missy patiently waits for her chicken porridge





Hubby asked not to cook that night and we had steamboat dinner at Shobu Shobu. Then again after dinner, we went to Parkson again! See, there is not many places you can go in Miri!

Her First Day At "Big School"

Big School. Yes, her preschool teacher named it ! Her teacher "brain washed" them that they are big kids now and should go to Big School in year 2010. I brought her to see her big school few times during the school holiday, just to make sure she is prepared.

Yesterday marked the "kelam-kabut" day for most parents. First day of school, be it a preschool , primary or secondary school.

My girl entered her first year at kindergarten, Level One.


She is so eager to try on her "uniform" this morning

When I shopped for her white blouse , I was thinking like since when my girl has grown up so fast that she is going to be 4 years old this year.

Time flies. She was just a 3 months old baby when we brought her to Miri. Slept in the bassinet and a very easy traveler during the whole journey from Kuantan to Miri. But she was very cranky on her first night until mummy and papa has to take turn to "goyang sarong" to put her to sleep the whole night.

I was actually afraid that she will grow up real fast and then one day she will tell me , mummy I want to sleep on my own because I am a big girl already!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!

The year has gone but made us strong. The path was long but we walked with a song. There were fears and tears but we also had reasons for cheers......

WISHING YOU ALL A GREAT BEGINNING FOR THE YEAR 2010!

My Aunt Celebrated Her Birthday Here

This is a backdated post.


My aunt and her family from Sandakan was here for a week holiday during the week of Christmas. Her birthday was on the 21st December and we celebrated her b-day here. On the same week, we had 2 birthday celebrations.

Last Day of Her Pre-School

This is a backdated post.

My lil' Missy will be enrolling for the kindergarten Level one next year. The preschool held a mini party for the kids on the last day of their school.

lil Missy with her bf Isabelle.

guess she is bored with the games

Just a small group on last day because most of the kids were not joining the party.

I was told that her teacher asked her to dance on that day and she did . Hahaha....

Random Pictures Taken on How How's Birthday

We celebrated di-di's birthday earlier December. Here are the pictures that were taken on his B-day.



papa boiled two red eggs for him in the morning

we had dinner at the restaurant. He opened up his pressie from mummy.

his all time favourite Elmo

mummy and cheh-cheh sing the b-day song

enjoy eating his Elmo cake

Our Winter Solstice Dinner

I cooked up quite a few dishes for winter solstice dinner. This is the first time I cooked such a great dinner (from preparing, washing, cooking and cleaning aftermath) all by myself.

braised fish maw with sea cucumber, chicken, mushroom, scallop and clams

assam fish

stir fried mixed vegetable with Japanese tofu

braised pork with yam (a Hakka dish). My aunt bought it and deep freeze it to bring over to us all the way from Sandakan.

tong yuen in red bean soup

I also boiled a big pot of black chicken herbs soup that day but forgot to snap the photo. Anyway, everyone was so hungry that everything was finished that night and no leftover.

Back to Usual

I have been "busy in, busy out" for the past whole week. Cooking, christmas shopping, eating, chatting etc etc. That's the reasons I have been neglecting my blog.

It was a wonderful holiday/week though. Relatives were here and kids are happy because have the "yee gong" and "yee poh" sayang. Have the aunty and jie jie to play with , have pressies and go kai kai almost everyday.

Everything is back to usual now. They go back to their normal routine at home. Getting to eat their full meal (they tend to eat less when dining out). Back to their sleep routine, didn't skip their afternoon nap.

I am now preparing lil' Missy for her "big school" next year, especially she needs to get up early as the school starts at 8 o'clock.

Veggie and Fruits Juice

I made this the other day for hubby and I. To my surprise, both the kids like it too.

I have been juicing this since then and they had at least 3 to 4 times of the mixed veggie and fruit juice every week. It is another way to boost up their veggie and fruit intake. Yummy!

Stir Fried Fish Fillet with Ginger

I like to cook this because it is so easy to prepare and most important, the kids like it.

Please check out at my other blog for the recipe!

Finally................

Yeah! I finally got my kitchen cabinet. I have been shopping around the town's best furniture shop and finally decided to get this cabinet which is "peng, liang, cheng" (nice and cheap!)

There are fixed in kitchen cabinet in this house but I need extra storage for my "sa po ang chang" (pots and pans). Because it is not our own house and it is not worthwhile to invest in the fixed-in cabinets as it will be very difficult to move them if we are relocating back to West Malaysia.

So, today will be "keeping and de-cluttering" day for me. With the two "great helpers" around, I guess it will take longer than usual to clear up the stuffs.

I'm So Proud of You

I am so proud of my little di-di. He is fully diaper free now. He surprised me when he went to pee in the potty by himself last night while I was folding the shirts in the playroom.

He told me he wants to pee and I asked him to go look for his papa. He didn't but he took off his pant and go sit on the potty. He even manage to put the pant on all by himself after that. I was soooo...happy. He is just barely 2 years old and he managed to do it. Well done, boy!

I miss his chubby look . Can cubit cubit his leg. This photo was taken when he was 7 months old at grandma house.

Blame It on Laziness

I have been neglecting my other blog lately. No updates at all. I have lots of pictures to be uploaded in the other blog and it is still in my flash drive. Will try to get it done tonight after the kids go into slumber land.

I am sure I will upload more recipes and photos once I got my oven next week! I am searching for the recipes of scones as hubby likes it when we had our coffee at Starbucks yesterday.

Our Saturday

Lil' Missy does not have ballet lesson today and hence we booked an appointment for dental check up. We got up quite late and just in time for brunch when we went out. We had a good and filling lunch before heading to the dentist clinic.

Hubby has a RM1,000 subsidy for dental and optical every year. We had a balance of RM700+ unused portion and hence we better used it before end of the year. So, after our dental check up and cleaning, off we go to Bintang Mall to get another pair of glasses for hubby. Sometimes, it is real good to work for a big company which the benefits given to employees are darn good.

After shopping around at Parkson , we had a coffee break at Starbucks "tanh char" before heading home.

That's our Saturday!

Happy Birthday To You

We celebrated di-di 2nd birthday today. We went out for dinner just now. As he's fan of Elmo, we bought him an Elmo birthday cake!

Things To Accomplish This School Holiday

Tomorrow will be the last day of my girl's pre-school and she will be going to "BIG SCHOOL" next year, Level 1 in the kindergarten. Times flies and I still remembered the first day she attended pre-school 1.5 years ago. Di-di will follow suit as he'll be going to the same pre-school as her cheh cheh next year.

Talk about school break, I have so many things which I planned to do it this coming school holiday such as:-

1) Potty trained di-di at night. See how far he can do it. He has been almost diaper free during day time, except he wears disposable at nap time. We tried not to wear him diaper during "kai-kai" time and no accident occurs. Means he is ready to go 100% diaper free.

2) Checked around whether there is any swimming lessons for lil' Missy. She likes water and I think it is another good exercise for her apart from ballet.

3) Do some minimal decor with the kids (they like Christmas, just like me) for this coming festive season.

4) Plan to buy an oven to do some baking and learn to do cupcakes.

5) Ready the list for packing as we'll be going to Cambodia in January next year. I will not be back to Miri so soon , only after my Taiwan trip in March 2010. Means kids and me will be away for almost 2 months + and I need to figure out what to bring home.

6)Re-arrange the house and do a "mini spring cleaning". I try to keep all household items to minimal as I know hubby will not have much time to clean the house during my absence.

7) Shop for Christmas presents.

List goes on.........and see how far I can accomplish on the above seven "agenda'!

Blame it On.........

..........Beyond the Realm of Conscience! The hottest Hong Kong TVB series. Hubby bought the series on Friday last week. I have been watching it since weekend until my lil' Missy complaint mommy have been watching TV too much worrr.........

So, this is ME now...with sleepy panda eyes..Even my part time helper asked me this morning what had happened to my eyes. I must have looked like a zombie??? She had just last seen me on Saturday last week. Only a few days lack of sleep ended up with such a " huge impact consequences"! See, age is catching up. I remembered I can just easily beats those days with lack of sleep during my younger days. Thanks god, my girl's school holiday will be starting from Friday this week and I can wake up slightly late every morning starting from next week to RECHARGE MY BATTERY!

Faces

I just love to see these faces everyday. I love them to bit but I do scold them and even whacked them at times when they really drive me up the wall with thier mischeif and naughtiness.

Fruit Juice

I made strawberries, apricot and grapes juice for them after lunch the other day. I prefer to use fresh apricot instead of apricot juice but it is difficult to get fresh one here and also I have run out of Del Monte Canned Apricot in my pantry.

Taste ok but a tad too sweet. I will try out a smoothies using same ingredient but add in a plain yogurt some day.