All I Want For Birthday..

All I want for Birthday is my two front teeth, my two front teeth, see my two front teeth!

No, I don't really want two front teeth for my birthday... :)

ALL I want is my boy comes home with all homework DONE tonight!  We have basically sealed the deal just before I dropped him off at school this afternoon.  He was so persistent in getting me a birthday present that when we drove past a bike shop on the way to his school just now, he made his final attempt trying to convince me into getting a bike for me with his own money.

Prior to that, he had been asking his dad to drive him to the florist so that he could get me a bunch of flowers ever since he came back from a working trip on Valentine's Day.  That didn't materialize as his dad has been home late ever since. 

The moment the boy got up from his bed this morning, he begged me to drive him to the nearest florist.. He said he wanted to get me those flowers and asked what type of flowers I fancied.  He then 'threatened' to get to the florist himself on his bicycle when his request was not met!  Hahaha.. As much as I love the thoughts of my boy presenting me with flowers on my big day but in reality, I will never allow him to do that.. for practicality reasons.. I have always been a practical person if you don't know me already and for the fact that we are a single income family.

As we have plans to go out for dinner tonight, I told the boy the only present that I long for is a stress- free night on a school day!  He gets more and more homework as the exam day approaches and this dilly-dally boy of mine never fails to drive me up the wall these days!  So, my boy....

All I want for Birthday Is A Stress-Free Night, A Stress-Free Night, See A Stress-Free Night! (Sing to the tune of "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth")

On another note, I thought hubby would have arrived home very late on Valentine's Day.  It was a pleasant surprise when he turned up earlier than expected with this....

A cute heart-shaped cheese cake!

Kung Hei Fatt Choy!! Fatt Ah!!!

We were at a shop selling Chinese New Year decorative items when these Chinese gold ingots caught the boy's eyes and he brought three home at RM2 per piece. He didn't want the plastic made ones and insisted on the real gold (made of metal and painted gold la).  LOL...

Little facts about Chinese Gold Ingots

Chinese Gold Ingots are regarded as a very auspicious symbols of wealth and fortune, and as a feng shui wealth cure are placed in the wealth area of your home They were originally used in ancient China as a currency, and we can say that in their roots they were somehow analogous to our nowadays gold bars.

In less than 4 hours, we will bid farewell to the Year of Rabbit and usher in the Year of Dragon. 

Here wishing everyone who comes by my blog:

KUNG

HEI

FATT

CHOY!!!

FATT.. FATT... FATT AH!!!

Happy 8th Birthday To Our Boy!

We didn't dine out to celebrate the boy's birthday this year due to Yeh Yeh's condition.  He suffered from a mild stroke few days before school holidays started.  He can walk with supervision without a walking stick but needs to work on balancing as his left limbs are still weak. 

Suk Suk (hubby's younger brother) bought five pcs of cheesecakes of different flavours from Secret Recipe.  Last Sunday, a day before his actual birthday, we had a simple candle blowing session for the boy after dinner.

The boy's "girlfriend" from school bought him his favourite book, Wimpy Kid as birthday gift and hand delivered  it to our condo on his actual birthday with her mommy.  My boy once casually asked the girl if she had Wimpy Kid - The Ugly Truth, she didn't have but she remembered and got him one instead.  How sweet! :) Thanks so much, LM.  Suk Suk gave Ang pau, yeh yeh mah mah bought Wimpy Kid (in a box set of 4) via mommy (The whole class is into Wimpy Kid lately so I suggested buying these for the birthday boy), daddy and mommy got him toys, a remote control car and boat. (no photos)

A card and book from his "girlfriend" 

From Yeh Yeh Mah Mah

His First Aikido Test

The boy is having his first 8th kyu Aikido Test end of this month.   He is quite excited about it and even drew out the steps on his own initiative, without being told.  I first signed him up for the unlimited classes package but we barely made it there twice a week due to time constraint so now he goes there once a week instead.

I am happy to see that he is slowly showing interest in the martial art after 5 months.  At some time during the earlier stage, he found having to practise the same steps repetitively dull and boring but this is what Aikido is about, its technique is very subtle and usually requires long time of practice until you get it right.  Unlike Taekwando that practises on strikes and kicks, Aikido practises more on twirling and twisting and as it progresses, the use of weapons like sword and staff.

Other than his Aikido lessons, he has his Robotics and Hanyu Pinyin classes at his school every Saturday and Sundays are his only rest day but not for long as I intend to send him back to Sunday school in the neighbourhood but the mommy has to complete the induction and buddishm course (4 sessions of 3 hours each) before he will be accepted.

On another note, I got this from my boy few days before Mother's Day, a tad backdated but I want this recorded in the blog.

Awww..  Sweet..

Dim Sum @Jin Xuan, Damansara Utama, PJ

It's 13th day of CNY and the CNY decor is still up..

This is a backdated post.

It was a public holiday and hubby suggested we went for dim sum in the morning.  I suggested Restaurant Jin Xuan as I visited this place before with friends and  I remember they offer a wide range of dim sum varieties to the extent that you'll be spoilt for choice and at affordable price too.  They have other outlets in Damansara Jaya, Puchong and few other places that I can't recall where now.

We reached there around 11am and saw a big crowd at the entrance of the restaurant. We quickly took a number and sat on the chairs provided outside the restaurant while waiting for our number to be called. They enjoyed good business but the wait was short, only 10 minutes.  One thing worth mentioning, their service was fantastically good, just before we could warm our chairs, the assistants came lining up to serve us with trays and trays  filled up with different varieties of dim sum.  And boy, our table was filled to the brim with baskets and trays of dim sum in less than 5 minutes!

Brisk business

The boy enjoying his brunch

century egg congee

Can't recall the name but it's a frying dish stuffed with scallops, salted egg and prawn

The taste was ok though nothing to shout about.

Only let down: The meat filling of this dumpling was cold and unappetising

An egg tart turned into a birthday cake by our boy..

Happy Birthday, Mom! :)

Overall, the dim sum there was good considering the affordable price and the posher and air-conditioning dining environment.  Will I come back again for more dim sum?  Absolutely Yes!

Thanks hubby and our boy for the yummy dim sum treat.  Oh, yes..must have this jotted down..  Our boy had a share of the bill too.  The father teased him by saying he should share the cost of the bill as it's a birthday treat for his beloved mommy and he said sure..  On that night before he went to bed, he came to me and asked for permission to take RM30 (The total bill around RM60) out from his piggy bank a.k.a pouch.  Not having a clue what he wanted the money for, I queried him.  He said, "I have got to pay back daddy for the dim sum this morning, daddy pays half and I pay half".  :)  At least I know he is not stingy la.. just that he spends his money "wisely". Hahaha...

9th Day Of Chinese New Year

My boy gets a day off today as his school declared The 9th Day of Chinese New Year as a holiday.  It's not a public holiday though as the holiday does not apply to all schools as I heard some of them are classes as usual.  Each school is granted few days of "internal" holidays (not sure how many days though) declared at the discretion of the school management, so I was told. 

The ninth day of the New Year is a day for Chinese to offer prayers to the Jade Emperor of Heaven (天宮) in the Taoist Pantheon. The ninth day is traditionally the birthday of the Jade Emperor. This day is especially important to Hokkiens. Come midnight of the eighth day of the new year, Hokkiens will offer thanks giving prayers to the Emperor of Heaven. Offerings will include sugarcane as it was the sugarcane that had protected the Hokkiens from certain extermination generations ago. Incense, tea, fruit, vegetarian food or roast pig, and paper gold is served as a customary protocol for paying respect to an honored person.

We do not celebrate it in a big way as the in-laws are Cantonese Chinese though today is a big day and considered even more important than the 1st day itself by the Hokkiens.  My mom in-law will cook some simple dishes for offering to the ancestors and a dinner together if it coincides with a non-working day.

CNY Spring Village 2011 @Mid Valley Mega Mall

On 2nd day of CNY, we sneaked out from the parents in-law's house and went paktoh-ing at the nearby Mid Valley Mega Mall, leaving my boy behind to entertain guests.  So bad hor.. It was hubby's idea as he said his boy was a good entertainer and the in-laws were expecting guests with kids at that time.

The roads were super duper jam-free and finding a parking at the mall was a breeze!  How I wish it would be like that every single day but then if it really did, we would have to start worrying about the country's economy. :)

The mall has transformed their ground floor into a Chinese Spring Village setting with replicas of traditional building. The whole setting is complimented with blooming cherry blossoms, red lanterns, craft galleries and rows of street vendors and carts offering Chinese New Year must-haves.

I shall let the pictures do the talking now.

 

Spotted a kid trying to play the drum with.. hmmm. chopsticks, I guess. :)

Of "Sui" Supressing Money (Ya Sui Qian) And Ang Pao

Left: From Isetan KL, Center: OCBC Bank, Right: Hong Leong Bank 

No, this is not the common Ang Pao (red packet containing money) given on the 1st day of Chinese New Year onwards. This “压岁钱” are given by parents to their young children during the Chinese New Year Eve night. The parents will put these “压岁钱” under the pillow of their children secretly after they fell asleep. There was once a monster called Sui, “祟”. This monster will come out during the Chinese New Year Eve and touch those sleeping children’s forehead. Those children whose forehead had been touched by the Sui, “祟” will become retarded or insane. So to prevent this from happening, parents will stay up late to watch out for the Sui.

My mom did that every year without fail when we were kids.  She would give us Ang Paos on the eve of CNY night and made sure we put them under our pillow.  Now that I have my own kid, I also do the same every year but.. but.. but I did not this year simply because I forgot but what the heck..  I only gave him his Ang Pau on the 1st day of CNY.

Hubby and myself still receive Ang Paos from my parents in-law and hubby's paternal aunty and this year we received a relatively fatter ones from the in-law.. Hmmm.. does anyone know how's the share market performing lately?

Spring Time @Tropicana City Mall, PJ

We were at Tropicana City Mall on the first evening of CNY to catch "The Green Hornet" movie at 9.40pm.  We started our new year by having early vegetarian lunch at the in-law's house, then went on to 4th uncle's and 9th aunty's for more feasting!

The mall is adorned with beautiful oriental motifs and peach blossoms around the mall.  The peach blossom theme is harmonized with the upcoming Valentine's day for a fresh and sweet touch.  A peach blossom arch greets shoppers at the entrance and cherry blossom lanterns are hung from the ceiling and along the walkway.

Snack time before the show started

My boy so adored Jay Chou's role as Reid's assistant Kato, a role played by the legendary Bruce Lee in the 1960's TV version that when we got home way past 12 midnight, he dug out his drawing book and started "designing" his own weapons..

Sketches of his own version of Green Hornet weapons and gadgets

 



CNY Reunion Dinner 2011

I made this "Spring" decoration myself, following the step by step instructions from childbook.com.  Nice or not?  Say nice, please.. LOL..  I even made some and hung at my parents in-law's house.

Brother in-law got "Salmon Yee Sang" takeaway from Sushi Tei at Tropicana City Mall.  As there were only 5 adults and a kid, he ordered half portion for RM23.80.  There were nine big chunk of salmon slices in total, not bad huh for the price paid.

Yay, Lou.. lou.. lou. Bou Bou Gou Sing!

The big chunk of salmon slice

We had steamboat for Reunion dinner..

There are few more hours before we usher into the year of Rabbit.  Here, wishing everyone again:

Happy Bunny Year 2011!