Miscellaneous

Looking at the date of my last post, it was in February. It has been a long blog break for me. No reason, not too busy but just .....lazy. I didn't have the "ummph" in blogging as I had previously.

But when come to think that it is such a waste to neglect the blog (which I shouldn't), I should be writing and uploading more of the kids' pictures and progress. At least they can read them in future.

Back to Norm

well, this weekend is the most relaxing weekend for me ever since cny. I had visitors, my aunt and family came over from Sabah , my mom and dad , my brother & niece were here for cny celebration with us. I have been busy in and busy out since Christmas and had delay quite a few things which I dragged to do it for quite some time, (i) weekly menu planner (ii) my own time table (iii) the maid's schedule (she is coming in every Monday and Friday, so, I have to make sure everything is done where she is here) .
Hope the first 2 items able help to make my life more organized and easier!  Hehehehe

Hello! Happy Chinese New Year

Hi there, what a long- time- no- see greetings! Chap Goh Mei is not over yet and it is still CNY for everyone.

My first post in 2011 and will continue my long overdue Cambodia trip post, Part III in my coming up post.

CNY resolution: will need to be more "hardworking" in writing some posts on the kids.

Hi there......

I have been neglecting this blog for quite some time. I am still cooking here....trying out quite a few dishes but just lazy to snapshot the photos to upload to the blog.

Talk about nasi lalapan. This is our latest craze. Hubby and I have been searching around the best nasi lalapan in town and almost we had at least once eating out a week.

Finally, we found out the best sambak cobek served is from Muara Restaurant and it serves the best lalapan in town.


I will prepare nasi lalapan next week for dinner and definitely share with you the ingredient and recipe in preparing sambal cobek. Stay tune!

Floor Detergent

For those who are clean freak like me, I strongly introduce you to use Licin-Licin floor detergent. I got to know about this product from my mom during my previous trip back to Kuantan. You will definitely like it after you mop your floor with this liquid.

Lack of Updates

Yup. I was on holiday for the past 1.5 weeks. Our holiday here (inclusive of Gawai Festival) started from last Thursday. Hubby was actually on leave since Friday, 28th May. So, everyday is sleep, eat, shopping, eat, sleep.....I myself also become so lazyyyy..........lack of "ummph" to work on everything!

We've been traveling to Brunei once during the holiday to help up my brother with his house and do some grocery shopping at Brunei Supa Save.

Visit

My brother visited me 3 weeks ago with his biker friends from Brunei. They rode all the way down for a bikers' roadshow held in Miri.











They're ready to go

What's This

Locals said this is fresh "black olives". I am not sure but it tastes like olives. I used this to boil soup for Jia Jia last week and it did relieved her cough. Locals have a different way to eat this type of olives and I haven't tried yet.

Wanna know about the home remedy, do hop over http://mommy-chef.blogspot.com/2010/01/home-remedy.html

Lacking Behind

I have been super duper busy last week (loads of house chore) and I am really slow in my work as I planned to clear up my kids' old toys and clothing to be sent to the orphanage via Red Crescent Miri. I planned to get all done before Saturday next week. Hopefully, I manage to clear up their wardrobe soonest possible.

Besides, bento-ing was put on hold too. So, I just pack those simple cheese and bread or cakes and pastries bought from the bakery for her to bring to school.

Hubby has been quite busy with his work too and I was told not to prepare dinner for him. So, I brought the kids to eat out quite often last week. For lunch, I would just prepare simple meal for them.

Jia Jia was down with cough and flu last week too and I've tried some home remedy and chinese herbs to cure her sickness without taking the singulair prescribed by the doctor.

Clean Up ..Clean Up

......just like one of the songs in Barney. The part time maid has been "disappeared" again. Do not know what happened to the agency. The lady boss just disappear like that. No one pick up calls even her personal mobile phone. I'd called the maid directly but was told that no one pick them up from the quarters and they don't hear anything from the boss as well. Hopefully, the lady boss is not "run away" like those people who owes a big sum to "Ah Lung".

So, for the past week, I've been doing laundry, cleaning toilets, washing the car poach, ironing clothes etc. A good way to burn off the excess fats.But bad thing is I have only little time for the kids and most of the time, I'll let the TV keep them occupied.

I hope the cleaning service resumes next week as I need to spend time to keep our luggage. We'll be leaving next Sunday for a 2-months long holiday in Cambodia, West Malaysia and Taiwan.

Rain, Rain Go Away..........

It has been raining cats and dogs for the past two days. My clothes are still lining out there and there are more loads to come. I brought the 2 kids out today to drop off my laundry at the self service "kedai dobi" but was told by the owner that there is no machine available. I have to go back tomorrow at 8am if I want to use the clothes dryer. Hahaha.....what to do, gotto load back the 2 big laundry baskets to my car!

I don't feel like cooking too...Maybe because of the weather...(another lazy excuses). Just don't feel like doing anything today.

Since no dinner at home, three of us went to the Hong Kong Restaurant and enjoy our meal. Hubby didn't join us as he was still in his office working OT .

Well, just try to finish another 2 loads and send all together to kedai dobi tomorrow on my way to send my lil Missy for her ballet lesson.

Ai...rain , rain, go away....come again another day.............

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!

Our Plan for This Weekend

This Friday will be the public holiday here and we plan to drive down to visit my brother in Brunei. Off course we would like to bring the kids to Jerudong Park for a fun night. But heard that they are now collecting fare for entrance to the park whereas it was free entrance 13 years ago. Wow, it means it has been 13 years since I last visited the place.

I remembered that when I was in college years, during semester break, I will go and get myself a ticket and hop on the plane the next day when the semester break starts and fly to Brunei to visit my father and my brother. It was like a normal thing I do during the year end semester break.

Well, I am sure the kids will be very happy playing at the park. Let's hope we could make it there this coming Saturday night.

Besides, we'll be celebrating hubby's birthday in Brunei and we'll indulge ourselves at Escapade. I must bring the camera this time and take a few snapshots of the dishes that we ordered.

This Week Challenge

Well, I should better off starting an exercise regimen now as my bicycle tyre at my belly has slowly convert into a lorry tyre. I will kick start my regimen this week by doing brisk walking at least 3 times a week for 30-45 minutes at the Bulatan Park. I was being told that some people go there as early as 4am+. Anyway, as Miri is just like Sabah, 6am here is like 8am+ in West Malaysia!

It is either I get up early to drive there for a good 30 minutes walking and then heading home to get my girl ready for school or being there in the evening after hubby comes home from work to take over the kids. See which way works better for me. I am doubt I could get up as early as 5am+ !

Anyway, bought a pair of nice Adidas running shoes last weekend and hope this pair of RM199 shoes will be fully "utilized" by me. Hahaha.........

Old Folks’ Street, 美 里 的 老 人 街

Most Mirian called this street as the "old folk street". 98% of the people “nyam char” here are the elderly.

All this while, hubby and I have been calling this place as Chinatown but only recently we’re being told that it is named as老 人 街.

My daughter attends her ballet class every Saturday and her ballet studio is just located nearby. Besides, there are a few shops which I find quite interesting as these are the old type of kedai runcit and it is interesting to see the stuffs there.

I’ll take the one hour time to explore the place while waiting for my little one finishes her lesson.

I think there are still a lot more places and things to explore in Miri. Off course I haven't been to the Mulu Cave yet! I will definitely go there once both kids are older.

Random Pictures

This is a back dated post. These pictures were taken during our trip to Sungai Lembing, Kuantan. We had a good time there besides having a very nice breakfast. It takes about 45-minutes to drive there.



Basically, the town is small and has only 2 main streets.



Hubby, my uncle and aunt were busy buying the "Lembing Biscuits" (林明饼), lime juice etc etc...




bring the kids to see ostrich at the mini zoo



kids are worn out as they have been running around

ready to go home ....

We had also visited the Crystal House. It was a pleasant trip. I shall upload the pictures that were taken during our breakfast at 阿凤 麺档 in my next post.

Strawberries Oh Strawberries

I think I won't be buying strawberry anymore, I mean not from here in Miri. I didn't notice the strawberries here were selling at a very expensive price until I went to Carefour and Jusco during my recent trip back to KL.

Can you guess how much is a punnet of strawberries here? RM22 at departmental store and RM28 at the wet market. It is darn expensive! No wonder there were once a blogger mommy commented that it is expensive.

Do you know how much it was selling in West Malaysia? It is only RM8.99 for a small punnet and RM16.99 for a big one. It has the same label and packing and come from the same country!

So, will you buy a punnet of it when you know you are being charged that high?

Tell you, I ate lots of them while I was in Kuantan and KL because I know I will not buy any strawberries while I was here. At least not at the moment.

Quick Updates

It has been a while since I last updated my blog. Most probably it was because I am still in my holiday mood a.k.a. laziness since coming back from Kuantan and KL. The other thing is the school holiday is over and I am tied up with the kids and housework.

Our landlord wanted to sell his two units of double storey semi detached house. So, it means we might be moving anytime. If we are looking for a house, most probably I would like to rent a single storey semi detached house as it is easier to manage when come to house chores. One of my hubby’s colleagues suggested us to buy a house instead of renting one. But we do not plan to settle down in Miri, hence, we do not have any plan to do so.

I am “maidless’ now (it has been 5 months since our maid left) and am hiring part timer 3-4 times a week. We are paying RM500- RM600 monthly for the part time maid. So, my relatives ask us why not take a full time live-in maid which may cost the same but will be able to help me all day round instead of just few hours a day. Yes, when sometimes I am tired and hence frustrated in getting the laundry done etc etc ( which mean I spend less time with the kids as most of my time was busy busy doing house chores), I might think that getting an extra help is wonder! But when think of the possibility of getting a not-so-good one, I might just pull my “hand break”!

Tell you this, one of my hubby’s colleagues has an Indonesian maid who never washed the cars, owning a hand phone, have boyfriend and get a day off a week. I am really amazed how he manages the maid this way and yet does not get any troubles.

Another one was that the maid complaint that she has stomach ache when the whole family come back from KL (the maid stayed back in Miri). So, his wife took her to seek consultation with doctor and only found out that she has UTI. They questioned her and she admitted that she had sex with the garbage collector (MPK man) …and not only once! He and his wife didn’t know when did the maid brought the man come in to their house to have the “quickie”! Well, it is not easy to get a good helper nowadays.

Pom Pom Time

The thing they like most when they are at wai-poh (grandma) house was bath time. Since grandma house had a spacious laundry area, they like to take their bath there instead of in the bathroom.

i just put whatever i can find in my mom's kitchen as their "ka chang" .......

Kids' Toothpaste

This is a backdated post.

I bought this from Q-Organic shop last Saturday while doing my shopping there to buy some biscuits and vinegar. I like this toothpaste because it causes no harm when swallowing it as my son has the tendency to swallow the toothpaste whenever I brush his teeth.