Gung Hei, Gung Hei!

We bumped into a lion dance troupe at Carrefour Puchong Utama this morning.

And since Chinese New Year is only three days away, hope it's not too early for my boy to wish everyone here, in his own way....

Gung Hei Fatt Choy (Greeting of prosperity)

"Hok Yip Jun Bou" (Progress in studies)

Sam Seung Sih Sing (May all your heart's desire come true)

Ok, I lied.. I failed to get him into the mood to smile properly for my camera. Dang..

Anyway,  wishing all my blogger friends and silent readers....

Gong Xi Fa Cai

&

May Blessings Be Upon You

In The Year Of The Rabbit

2011!

Awww... Sweet...

My boy brought back a box of homemade corn flake cookies from school today.  It's a gift from his classmate, JC, the girl who clicks so well with him in school. You'll know what I mean if you've read my previous post entry, The Hercules.

Ian: Mommy, JC gave me a box of homemade cookies.  Her mommy made the cookies herself.

Mommy: Wow! So sweet of her and her mom. Hmm... I think we should give her something in return.  What should we give her?

Ian: Don't worry, mom.  I have already thought of that.  I will make her a "double leaver".

Mommy: Huh? What is a "double leaver"? *scratch head*

Ian: It's two leaves stapled together with an opening on top.

Mommy: What is that for???

Ian: To keep rubber (eraser) dust lo..

Mommy: Who taught you to make it?

Ian: I just thought of it today.

Looking back, why didn't I receive any cookies or handmade stuff from the boys when I was their age???  Awwww.... They are just so sweet.. 

You Are Getting There, Boy

The above are his writing exercise for Science subject and he gets "ting xie" test once a week.  What do you think of the given words? Hard, moderate, easy? 

There's one thing I would like to put in record here and as my boy reads my blog too, some words of encouragement to him and a reminder to myself:

Boy, mommy is so happy to see that you have progressed so well on your handwriting.  When I tell you I am happy, I really am.  From a boy with extremely messy handwriting and with teachers endlessly complained about your horrible handwriting since you started school at the age of 3, you have been getting a lot more stars than I would have expected since the start of this school year.  Since birth, you have never failed to give us surprises when you are ready, Oh ya.. I remember writing a post entry titled When He Is Ready before.  Keep up the good work, boy.. 

His Class Teachers - Std 1 & Std 2

His Standard 1 Class Teacher

• She would not let them do most of the work themselves and insists that they copy word to word from the blackboard, including making sentences in Chinese.  My boy and some of his classmates get ear squats for doing the assigned work on their own.  His BM teacher does the same too, let them copy their work but will not reprimand them.
• She is very strict and reprimands her pupils for every single minor mistakes but she hardly raises her voice.
• She is approachable and always wears a friendly smile and she still says Hi to me everytime she sees me, probably because I am one of those mommies who would ask the most questions and that's why her deep impressions on me. Hahaha..
• The amount of homework given is reasonable, probably because they usually come home with copied answers and thus not so much homework that needed the mommy's full attention.
• She can't accept being told of her own mistake.  At one time when I asked my boy to point out to her that she mistakenly gave a mark lesser to his Maths exam paper, my boy gets 20 times ear squats.  Reason? For not telling her earlier despite the fact that the paper was only returned the day before.

His Standard 2 Class Teacher

• She is not as strict and hardly reprimands her pupils, only on occasions when the pupils did not pass up homework repeatedly.
• She always looks stressed up, hardly see her wearing a smile, probably overworked as she is also involved in the school's administrative work.
• She likes telling moral and motivational stories to her class.
• She likes her pupils to be independent, (I love the word independent and would like to think so anyway though my patience is wearing thin, ultra thin), giving out pages and pages of homework that requires a fully committed home tutor (i.e. yours truly) to coach, guide and see him through the mountain pile of homework.  On any day, it can be 2 pages of writing, 2 pages of building sentences, 3 pages of activity book and another 2 pages from the monthly assessment workbook and all these are for only one Chinese subject.  To make things worse, his BM teacher is exactly the same same as the class teacher when it comes to giving out homework.
• I hardly talk to her as being my boy's 2nd year in the school, I am fairly familiar with the school operations and  find no questions to approach her, not yet. 

Putting yourself in my shoes, if you had to choose, which teaching style would you go for? Std 1 class teacher's or Std 2's?

I am relieved that my boy is slowly adapting into his fairly tight schedule.  His one hour daily exercise in the morning has to be cancelled so that he can catch up on his sleep lost the night before.  He has to stay up till 11.30pm to finish his pile of homework on most evenings.  On evenings when he finishes his homework early and can call it a day by 10.30pm, I wake him up the next morning at 8am so that he can get some form of exercise.  It's a never ending amazing race as they have four exams in a year.  When you think you can breathe a sigh of relief after this exam, there's another one due to come in a blink of an eye. 

On a positive note, despite having to endure the homework part,  up to this point of time, I still think we have made a wise choice for sending our boy to a Chinese school.   Hard work and Perseverance Can Lead To Success, so I was told.  I am keeping my fingers crossed.  I hope you guys would not have to endure my multiple ranting post entries here about how regretful I was sending my boy to a Chinese school few months down the road. LOL...

Buffet Dinner @Latest Recipe

*This is a backdated post.

We went for buffet dinner at the Latest Recipe @ Le Meridien Hotel, Sentral KL on Boxing Day, 26 December 2010.  We had always enjoyed the buffet there but it was a let down this time.  There wasn't any raw salmon slices, oysters and scallops available that night.  Hubby said scallops were only available on Fridays and Saturdays and we went on a Sunday, fine for me but raw oysters.. hey, it's a must!  The explanation we got from the staff on duty was simple.. the supplier did not send any.  Bleh..

I simply love my plate of teppanyaki beef, chicken and fish.

And the carrot walnut cake and of course not forgetting my cup of Illy's lukewarm cafe latte.. not completely satisfying though as I love to have my cup of coffee steaming hot!

We ended our meal with what would have been freshly brewed Illy's cafe latte but they arrived on our table lukewarmed.   Apparently, they were shorthanded on that day and we had to give them few reminders before the two cups of coffee were finally despatched to us from the coffee bar.  Illy's coffee is a premium coffee brand from Italy and I remember having had the same at Delicious Cafe in Mid Valley too.

My Hercules..

;

The boy mingles quite a bit with the girls in school this year.   He's tall  and his class teacher assigned him the back row of seat with two girls sitting beside him, one on his left and another, on his right.  He was first seated with his good friend, a girl  from the same class last year but the class teacher swapped the girl's seat after two weeks as they talked too much. *slap forehead*  He was then left with two girls who wouldn't talk to him.  Good!  But.. but..then.. after a week.. one girl finally warmed up to his "friendliness" and they became friends.. another partner in crime.. *roll eyeballs*

Coming back to the girl from the same class last year, Though seated separately now, they are still as close as ever.  They eat their lunch box together during break time with few others from the same class last year and coincidently the parents enrolled both of them to the same Saturday classes too.  They phone each other when they are unsure of what homework to do and one day my boy tells me this:

Ian: JC (the girl) calls me Hercules..

Mommy: Huh?

Ian: We have to put our chairs on the desk before going home.  JC wasn't strong enough to lift up the chair so she asked for my help. Now I put her chair on the table for her everyday and she calls me her Hercules.

Mommy: ^ ^

Seong Kee Yong Tau Foo @ PJ Old Town

After dropping off the boy at his Aikido dujo last Sunday, we headed to PJ Old Town for brunch.  I used to work in PJ Old Town for 3 years and loved having lunch at Taman Selera, an old open-air food court in the heart of the area when we wanted to do some quick marketing at the wet market located just next to it after lunch.  Those were the days..

Hubby has always loved eating yong tau foo and I remember having had it at this popular stall when I worked around the area and with my ex-colleagues a couple of years ago. I suggested this stall and of course he said yes.

Gerai Seong Kee is located in the food court in Taman Selera.  It is well known for its Hakka and various specialties such as curry fish head, assam fish, fried chicken wings, Hakka stew fried pork, abacus beads and black vinegar trotter.

Roasted pork rice - RM4. meagre quantity of siew yuk

Hubby ordred his plate of roasted pork rice from the neighbouring stall.  It tasted okay just that the portion of siew yuk looked so pathetically small.

Yong Tau Foo at RM1.20 each!

The yong tau foo tasted good and you could taste the springy fish paste but my fussy eater aka hubby commented that it would have tasted even better if more fish paste instead of veges were added.  The paper thin foo chuk (bean curd skin) was so delish that it stayed crisp until the last bite.   Seong Kee was featured by Axian two years ago and that probably explained why they charge roughly 20% higher than others. :(   I was there two years ago and the yong tau foo was at RM1 per piece and it was already considered not cheap at that time. 

My bowl of black vinegar trotter - RM12

I ordered a plate of rice and had the whole bowl of black vinegar trotter to myself.   The gravy was very strong in taste and coupled with a bowl of rice, it was perfect!

Hubby's Iced Cofee - RM1.60.  He says enough gao (thickness) and nice wo..

Overall, the food at Seong Kee was authentically decent though I personally think that the price was just too expensive for hawker food standard.



Happy Full Moon, Baby Wing..

The full moon gift box

The content

And a big slab of "siu yuk" (roasted pork)

Happy Full Moon to Sei Suk's (hubby's paternal fourth uncle) first grandchild, a baby boy.  Baby Wing is the second addition to the Leong's family after our boy. 

So Much More Than Hot

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TABASCO® Original Red. All opinions are 100% mine.

TABASCO® Original Red was the first sauce introduced by the Mcllhenny family back in 1868 and continues to be their most popular sauce of 6 total sauces. 

TABASCO®  Original Red is not about heat for heat's sake.  It's about what heat does to the flavor of food.  The simple combination of salt, red pepper and vinegar are perfected in a 3-year aging process that produces a hot sauce with the uncanny ability to bring the most out of your food.  Other hot sauces add their own specific flavor to food.  TABASCO®  Or  Original Red simply enhances the flavor of food.

TABASCO® Original Red  is good is goot to is so much more than hot.  It unlocks and enhances the flavour of food so that you can get the best of every bite.  It is good to be eaten with pizza, eggs, Macs & Cheese and the options are endless!  I love to eat my fresh oysters and marinate my homemade hot buffalo wings with TABASCO Original Red. 

Since it's football season and the Super Bowl is just around the corner,  do check out the Game-Day Party Menu and Pizza Perfected for simple ideas and recipes for food everyone loves!  That makes pizza and Tabasco Original Red a game day tradition for sure. 

The Joys of Spring @The Curve

 I hardly set foot at shopping malls after school reopen as my CNY shopping is considered all done during the last Christmas sales over the long school holidays.  That explains why you can hardly see any post entries here on CNY decors and thus far this is the first one.  Hubby dropped me off at the roadside heading to The Street @The Curve while the boy and the old man went to Ikea and had their own feast there. While walking to meet up my bunch of girl friends for brunch, I snapped these photos along The Street @The Curve and at the centre court.

Themed The Joys of Spring, this year’s Chinese New Year campaign celebrates the popular symbols of spring.  Chinese paper-cuttings are hung throughout the mall incorporating the various Chinese zodiac signs as well as delicate oriental lanterns. The main highlight of these paper-cuttings is the zodiac sign of the Rabbit, which is known in Chinese culture as the wise and affectionate animal. Well-lit cherry blossom trees and oriental lanterns also add a delightful display of colours to enhance the celebrative ambience.



Marche Movenpick @The Curve

The entrance and our table

It was Thaipusam, a public holiday yesterday.  I had a brunch date with my bunch of girl friends from my working days.. We met about 10 years ago and they were my loyal Starbuck gang those days where we literally killed our two hours' lunch time there almost everyday after lunch.  Most of them has since moved on and left the company except one.  

They are all career women in their thirties, some married while some still enjoying their single lifestyle.  One of them had just been promoted as General Manager of a public listed company.  Congrats, LL and I am so happy for her.  She's a capable and strong willed woman and I am not surprised at all for what she has achieved today despite only in her mid thirties..

So, in celebration to her promotion, we were treated to a brunch at Marche and we had LL's generosity to thank for as the bill came up to more than RM300 for 6 of us..  The food there was good though a bit pricey.  I was so busy eating that I didn't take the photos of food that came later.  Each of them had fruit juice except me who ordered bottomless soft drinks where I enjoyed unlimited free refill.  No photos for the portobello or was that mushroom dish and fruit crepe with ice cream and latte that came later.  I so loved the mushroom dishes there and would sure order this dish again on my next visit.

The market place and grill station

Marché (pronounced Mar-shay), means “market” in French, is a restaurant concept developed by the Swiss-based Mövenpick Group. Customers are given a “passport” upon entry, and each and every food item ordered will be stamped on the passport and the bill will be settled based on the stamps before you leave the restaurant. Loss of passport will cost RM200.00 so be careful!

The market concept with their collections of market tables and stations offer extensive food that includes meat and seafood grills, salads and delicacies, pizza, rosti, pasta, roast, sausages, vegetables, sushi, bread and pastries, desserts, coffee, freshed pressed juice, wines and beers and others.

The market passport

Calamari rings

Pasta

Swiss Potato dish - Rosti

Mushroom salad

Sirloin steak - though we requested medium cooked but it came well done.  The chicken sausage is charged separately

Mushroom soup and baked potato with sour cream topping

Chicken chop

Swiss Alp Mocha

Sorry, LF, I didn't get your "wrinkled thumb", in your own words, photoshopped as my photoshop skill sucks. ;)



My Day

Knowing that he has to attend school this coming Saturday, a class in replacement for early CNY holidays, my boy has started negotiating with me.

Ian: So, MY DAY is gone.. (His day = every Saturday where he gets to do anything he wants, be it computer games, PSP, reading books, watching TV, his science robotic class and lately, his Aikido class)

Mommy: It's still your day after school provided you finish your homework. *evil grins*

Ian: No.. the whole day will be gone then.. Can I have Sunday to replace Saturday?

Mommy: Hmm.. It depends on whether you behave yourself these few days..

Ian: Ok, ok.. I will try my best.

Mommy: LOL...


******************


The next morning, the first thing after brushing his teeth......

Ian: Mommy, Can I have Sunday to replace Saturday?

Mommy: I told you it depends whether you "gwai" (behave)  or not.

Ian: Ok, ok.. I will try my best. Hehehe..


He just wants double assurance and it also proves that HIS DAY is really a BIG DAY and it does means a lot to him. :)

Supper, Anyone?

The boy's supper - roti telur and dhal

It rained heavily one evening when I went to fetch Ian from school and we got ourselves drenched.  I didn't cook so we quickly rushed home for a hot shower before going out for dinner at the nearby  mamak restaurant.  We ordered for ourselves fried noodles Malay style, the boy's favourite and my boy requested roti telur and dhal for his supper. 

 I normally cook on weekdays but once a while we dine out when I feel lazy to cook. We don't usually eat supper before bedtime but I am fine with it when he has this request occasionally.

Do you / your kids have a habit to eat supper?  If yes, daily or occasionally?

1st Yoshinkan Aikido Class

The higher grade Aikidokas in training

Ian went for his Aikido trial class last Saturday afternoon.  I signed him up for the starter programme soon after the class ended.  The starter programme allows him to have unlimited lessons for 3 months.  He was so eager and excited that he couldn't wait to wear his new dogi set (uniform) and wanted us to take him there the next day.  After going through  the timetable, there's a total of 8 classes in a week that he can attend but too bad we just don't have this much of time to spare.   I think the best I can do is to let him have a back to back of two sessions (1 hr each) on Saturday and another one on Sunday but then again it depends solely on whether he has exams approaching or not. :(

I fell in love with the ambience of the dojo (training centre) the moment I stepped in, very airy and filled ith natural sunlight.  It's converted from a spacious old bungalow.  The flooring of the dojo is covered with tatami mats.  My boy loves the mats so much that he can't resist rolling on them as soon as the class ended. LOL....

This starter group was led by a handsome young guy with black belt

Ian trying to copy his peer's movement

All set to go for his 11am session in his new dogi set(uniform) yesterday

Why hubby and myself choose Aikido......

1.  Aikido is a non-aggressive martial art.  Basically, that you can't really start a fight with Aikido - you can only finish one. Aikido doesn't encourage kids to have Power Rangers Syndrome, in which they go around punching and kicking their friends, siblings, dogs, and cats. Aikido technique starts when someone else "breaks the rules", i.e. attacks.

2.  It teaches him to be calm and alert.

3.  It teaches him self defense

4.  It teaches him to work in harmony with the environment

5.  It makes him tired!!!  LOL....

Smooth Butts and Rashes No More

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Boudreaux's Butt Paste. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I was in the pharmaceutical industry, I came across a pediatrician who prescribed this diaper rash cream called Boudreaux's Butt Paste to his patients which he got from USA through a friend.    He strongly recommends this brand to me.   According to him, unlike other brands which appears sticky and uncomfortable when applied on, it goes on and cleans off easily, has pleasant scent and available in convenient and handy travel sizes of 1oz, 2oz, 3oz and 4oz flip flop caps for tubes and also in jar form of 16oz.  I was given a tube size of 1oz which I gave to a friend for his new born's diaper rash and she loved it!

Boudreaux's Butt Paste^®  was specifically formulated by a pharmacist with direction from a respected pediatrician to provide effective diaper rash care.

It also acts as a skin protectant that contains 16% Zinc Oxide and Peruvian Balsam which helps in treating diaper rash and soothing irritated skin.  It was featured on Oprah Show, Tonight Show, Today Show, People Magazine, ESPN and While You Were Out TLC.

You may also visit their website to find out more and to receive your own free sample of Boudreaux's Butt Paste.

 

 

 

 

Two Weeks After School Started

While doing his homework last night, my CNN satelite news reporter a.k.a. my boy suddenly paused and said he had some bad news to tell me.

Ian: Mommy, I have a bad news. (pause while waiting for me to respond)
Mommy: What's that?
Ian: XX, YY, ZZ and some others got rotan strokes on their palms today.
Mommy: Huh? Were you one of them?
Ian: No, I got my Ejaan all correct but those who get one wrong will get one stroke, two wrong two strokes.....Teacher says it will be like that from now on.. must get all correct..
Mommy: mumbling.. my dreamy boy.. soon your turn will come..
Mommy: Was it painful and did anyone of cry?
Ian: I don't think so.. XX says not painful at all and YY says a little bit of pain..
Mommy: Anyone cried?
Ian: We are in std 2 already and we don't cry.
Mommy: ......

This year, his class gets a very strict and efficient BM teacher, unlike last year's one who hardly marked their work and only rushed to cover the topics when exam was near.  This one teaches at lightning speed.

Being in the smart class, the teachers expect a lot from the 8 year olds.  I was told that only good teachers or must I say strict and fierce ones, were assigned to these 2 classes.  My boy's science teacher is the assistant headmistress.  Since the first day school started, he has been bringing home 3-6 homeworks everyday with at least 2 pages each.  The first week of school he brought back homework to build sentences in both BM and Chinese not to mention "Ting Xie" in Chinese, Moral and Science and "Ejaan" in BM every other day.

One thing about my boy that drives me up the wall is that he likes dilly dallying while doing his homework.  One night on the first week of school, as usual, in between doing his homework, he would make room for "many short breaks" doing unnecessary things like making an aeroplane out of his ruler and rubber, bla bla bla...  When I went to check his homework, I realised he had copied them all wrong and that's the time he threw his monsterly temper tantrum as it was way past 10.30pm and he was getting exhausted from the long day. 

His bad behaviour really pissed me off and I was blown up.  I threatened him and he was given two options. First: If he didn't redo it now, then there'll no TV tomorrow which was a Saturday.  Saturday is the only day where he gets to do whatever he wants to do.. PSP, TV, computer games, comics... In his own words, his day.. Second: He can do it tomorrow but his privilege will be scrapped and I marched back to my room after throwing him those words.  So bad huh.. this mommy when she turns into a monster.. but this boy of mine must really teach him a lesson..

He chose the first option which was to finish his work on the night itself.  An hour later, he came knocking on my door and politely told me homework was done.  This boy, really "gik sei ngor" sometimes.

Happy And Not So Happy

While in the car on the way to the boy's school this afternoon, we had this conversation:

Mommy:  Boy, you'll have science robotic class followed by Han Yu Pin Yin class tomorrow morning, ok.
Ian: Ok.. Oh, I will be happy first then not so happy..
Mommy: ^_^

He loves science and had been bugging me to enrol him to the science robotic classes organized by his school's PIBG.  He wanted to take up Taekwando too at his school but the timing clashed with his other activities. After some research and recommendations by a friend, I decided to enrol him for Aikido instead.  This boy is always filled to the brim with energy and loves all kinds of physical activities and both daddy and mommy think it's good to let him have some exercise to wear off the extra energy. 

Auntie Christina's Sarawak Laksa @Lucky Garden, Bangsar

My bowl of yummilicious sarawak laksa with three large prawns, taugeh, 

shredded eggs and chicken

RM5.50

Last Sunday, after our boy's swimming lesson, we went down to Sheraton Imperial KL for dim sum.  We didn't know it was closed for renovation till 17th until we were at the hotel lobby. Bummer..  All of us love the dim sum at Celestial Court, the hotel's chinese restaurant which I blogged about earlier.

As our boy was famished after his swimming lesson and daddy had run out of idea where to have breakfast, I suddenly remember Annie told me about this stall in Lucky Garden selling Sarawak laksa.  Off we went there and we had no regrets, really as good as what Annie had told me, even daddy the fussy eater gave his big thumbs up.  Daddy and myself ordered a bowl each while our boy had his char kuey teow.  When our food was served, the stall assistant or was he the owner thanked us and wished us Happy Chinese New Year..  such a polite chap..

The gravy was rich and thick and there're lots of coconut milk used, not for the health conscious though  I don't mind indulging myself once a while.. LOL..

This stall is nestled in Kedai Makanan Nam Chun, a corner shoplot in Lucky Garden, Bangsar.  There's one stall in the same coffeshop selling tasty fish head noodles too.  I used to patron this stall and MIL specifically wanted her takeaway from this particular stall whenever she craves for a bowl of fish head noodles.  Neither did I know there was a stall selling yummy Sarawak laksa until Annie told me.  *slap forehead* From what I saw from the newspaper cuttings pasted at the stall, they were featured in newspapers too.     

Gingery Confinement Food

Hehehe... I finished the above all by myself in 3 meals since none in the family ate them.   I just had the last portion of my chicken wine.  Yummy!!  Burpps...  Daddy's cousin had given birth to a baby boy and we were given two big bowls of zhu geok chou (pig's trotter with black vinegar) and gai zhou (chicken cooked in rice wine) on baby's 12th day celebration last Saturday.

I still remember during confinement, the only food that I looked forward to had always been these two dishes and my mom cooked yummilicious confinement dishes.. Oh, yes, mom was my confinement lady then.. I was and am still grateful for what she had done for us. We love you, mom!

Do you like confinement food too?

Krispy Kreme Donuts

This is a backdated post.

Yeh Yeh and Mah Mah came over on New Year's eve and brought with them two boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts.  I have no sweet tooth and don't fancy sweet stuff such as donuts but daddy loves anything sweet.  Our boy chomped down two but didn't want to touch them after that.  The other box was left in the fridge till two days later when  daddy had the time to sit down and finish it.

Do you and your kids like donuts too?