A bit ranting first, ok?

My baby, Canon 400D was hospitalized for the whole week because of virus Error99. My only backup now is using my old PNS Sony-T10 which I have given them to my Eldest Princess. One thing I have to lecture her so early in the morning. The moment I switch on the camera, the ‘low battery’ signer was flashing and I know this is spelled as T.R.O.U.B.L.E. Sure enough, after three flashes, the battery went totally flat. “Flat battery” has never in my vocabulary. As a photographer, always, ALWAYS make sure you have sufficient battery power at all times. Battery power is like your life! They are like your oxygen tank! They are like your fire extinguisher! They need to be on standby 24/7! And what makes a photographer angry is when she can’t take a picture. Even though it is just some stupig food that nobody even cares! Understand???!!!

Ok, done ranting now.

Sorry for the grainy picture. Took them using my iPhone. I tried to have a all Malaysian theme food for the Merdeka Bento. Other than the Pulut Inti and mango, the other two (Yakult and peanut butter M&Ms. Hey at least I take the effort to have the 3 colour there – red, blue and yellow) is so not Malaysian -.-‘ What to do, I was super stress for the whole week while the Hubby is away and he doesn’t do justice when he is back. Might as well don’t come back right!!!!!

Have a Brilliant Merdeka Day, ya’all!

p/s: Going for a picnic in Morib this weekend. Yay, yay! Plan was canceled :(  Everyone suddenly got busy on a holiday.

On April 29, I wrote a post on growing bulbs in Malaysia. Sad to say the Daffodils did not sprout at all. The bulbs just kept on shrinking and finally rot. It makes me lost confidence on the tulips bulbs which is still hibernating in the crisper compartment in my fridge. I was supposed to left them there for 30 days but decided to just leave them longer or maybe FOREVER!

The tulips bulbs was left almost 3 months in the fridge and finally one day, I thought maybe I should just go ahead and kill the rest of the bulbs rather than have them rot in the fridge. They will never make it to this world in either way. And guess what!

The bulbs started to sprout after 2 days!

You can wipe away that evil smile on your face from my previous post. The kiasuism me make sure the tulips has 24 hours of sunlight and I really lug them in and out from my air-conditioning room. When I am at work, I would place ice-cubes on the soil.

One fine day on the fifth day, I saw two packs of dry ice in my freezer. Those are the dry ice pack previously used for storing my EBM (Expressed Breast Milk) in the office. From day fifth onward, every morning before I left for work, I had the dry ice chilled the flower pot.

It has kinda became a daily routine for me.

1. Morning before going to work, put ice-cubes and dry ice pack.
2. Came home from work, return ice-pack to the freezer. Put ice-cubes again on the soil.
3. At night, carry the flower pot to daughter’s bedroom. You may ask why daughter’s room. Cos her room is smaller and colder compare to the master bedroom. Hehe, smart eh?
4. In the morning, carry the flower pot to the kitchen again.

So the routine repeated again every morning from step 1 to 4 without failed. Sometimes, the kids took turn to look after their Mummy’s new baby by placing ice-cubes on the soil. They would go all excited when they spotted new sprout (watch above pic on day 5). The sprout grew very fast during their first week of life. We could tell the difference by looking at it. From one inch to two inches the next day. That is pretty quick.

We are watching them grew everyday. The 2nd leaves is making it’s way to this world.

One more leaves and we should be able to expect some blooming. Till then, keeping our finger cross all the time.

This is really a miracle. Through Facebook, I met a very very old schoolmate and we used to attend Sunday School together back then. The funny thing is when we was younger, we hardly even talk to each other or none at all. He is from the ‘genius’ group and I am from the ‘not-so-genius’ group. Meaning, these ‘genius’ people always came out top 10 in position but the ‘not-so-genius’ people like me is considered lucky to came out top 200 in school. In another word, this ‘genius’ group of people hardly cross the border to take the initiative to make friends with us or even strike a conversation. To make thing worst, they might not even notice you in school. So we syok sendiri aje la. LOL!

His family migrated from Sitiawan to Perth when he was 15y/o and I never heard a thing about him after that. Surprisingly after 18 years, we met each other through Facebook again. So, who is the ice breaker this time? Of course the one syok sendiri wan la. Obviously he can’t remember me or even have any impression at all. We chatted quite a bit on and off catching up with each other, updating him on things and people (ex-school mates) that I know and guess what? Let’s put it this way, we have became best chat buddy *cough* after that. This is to prove one thing. To excel in school or not, one day when we grew up, that is not important and should put behind us. There shouldn’t be any barrier in friendship. Enough of grandma stories.

Want to meet today’s guest of honour?

Everyone say hi to Ian.

Ian, say hi to everyone.

Few weeks ago Ian came back to Malaysia to renew his passport and we met up for the first time after 18 years. 18 years man! That is quite a big number there but it seems like it was just yesterday that I’ve last saw him in blue shorts and white shirt. Amazing!

Another ex-schoolmate decided to join us too. Same case, she left the little town of Sitiawan at the age of 15. Wanna meet the alibi for that day?

Everyone say hi to Azura.

Azura, say hi to everyone!

Azura belongs to the ‘genius group’ too but she is not the arrogant type. We talked a lot in school and we still go crazy over NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK. Not! She is one modern Malay girl and obviously my type. We had a great day eating, bitching and catching up.

Itu je. It is quite amazing to meet long lost friends after 18 years.

On an unrelated topic but to me still related la. While I was playing ‘tourist guide’ to Ian, we stumbled upon a very interesting foot reflexology in Midvalley. The Garra Rufa fish foot spa has been an ‘in’ thing nowadays. Since we have nothing much to do, we decided to gave it a try.

Fyi, that is not my foot!!!!! I don’t have such a long hair growing on my leg!!!!

Ok, I am much better now. Back to the foot spa thingy. If you happen to be in MidValley, why not have a try at Kenko Reflexology & Fish Spa. We just did it for fun and out of curiosity. Not a bad thing after all having your foot nibbled by fishies. For a moment, we felt like out foot has turned into some sort of pet supplies. The fishes attacked you in school.  It was quite discomfort at first but we soon started to get the hang of these nibbling.  It is quite therapeutic I would think. Those tiny fishes you see in the above pic is nothing. You should try the big ones. And I mean really big! Bigger than Ian’s toe!

I know you just scrolled up to see how big his toe is. Too bad, his toe was cropped. Muahahahaha!

For a 30minutes session, RM38 is not cheap but it is definitely worth the experience.  The whole 30minutes fish spa included a routine of occasionally leg lifting (hey, this is part of Yogaing), lots of squealing and controlled giggles. The end result – the skin is smoother and cleaner especially on the back of the heels.  I would advise you to apply some moisturizer after the session.  Not sure about you but I do felt my skin is a bit dry from all the nibbling. I would return for another experience, simply because it is such a bizarre and amusing way to have my legs exfoliated.

Last whole week except Monday, I get a week off from Bento making as kids is having their school term break and I was recuperating from a injured finger and at the same time my dSLR was hospitalised. I took this opportunity to check out some recipe online.  Something that I wanted to do for a long time.

This is some back dated bento I have prepared.

Daddy’s Bento:

Clockwise from left to right: Fish balls, steam rice with a little furikaki as garnishing, fresh veges consist of butterhead, tomatoes, carrot and an egg.

The Prince bento same ingredients as Daddy’s:

I was out of idea as to how I should arrange the food. So I just simply grab a normal sandwich box from Tupperware. And hey, not a bad presentation! If you want to prevent your food from running around in the container, this is how you should do it. Make sure you filled up all the space in the box.

The Princess bento:

That morning, my 8y/o doesn’t want rice. I have them replaced with cereal instead and a pack of raisins to nibble.

I lost quarter of my nail 🙁

It all happened on that Sunday Lee Chong Wei was playing against Lin Dan from China during the Olympic badminton final. I was too kan cheong (excited, nervous) that day. My mind was wandering far…. wondering what combination should I put for Monday bento… wondering if LCW will win the gold… wondering if we will get a holiday if he wins… wondering if I am able to finish my housework by 8.30pm…. wondering if the cabbages I am cutting is enough for today’s dinner and tomorrow’s bento…. wondering if I cut a bit faster, should I be able to finish cooking earlier… wondering… OUCH!

… and all I see is blood oozing out from my finger!

At first, I thought that I have just cut the tip of the nail. But when I saw the blood oozing out, I know I am in deep shit. The blood was covering my index finger and I can’t see how deep is the cut. I even have to rummaged thru the pile of cabbage to look for my nail. Super gross right? How to be a good cook like this? How to secure a San Francisco jobs when the chef position is still open for me to fill up? How!  Pardon my imagination again. LOL.

Back to my nail.  Yup, I found them finally.

Finger still swollen even thought it’s been five days now. I just can’t wait for a new nail to grow. I get irritated when I can’t type on the keyboard and there are many things that I can’t do with a single hand like tying my hair or even washing my the other armpit! I know that is super gross. -.-

So, what is the lesson for today?

~COOKING IS HAZARDOUS! WE SHOULD EAT OUT MORE OFTEN! ~

Over and out…

The Princess and Prince (8 y/o and 6 y/o) has a recital few days ago. This is counted as the third recital for Princess and first time for the Prince. All I can said is, the Prince played very well despite taking up violin lesson sometime in April. We are very proud of him indeed.

Just before the recital started, as usual the mischievous boy can’t sit still. He was seen here turning his violin into a Cello!

And he have to irritate everyone in the room with that streaky sound from the string instrument. The Mummy will have to go sheesh… sheesh…. or gave him the deadly stare.

The Jie-Jie is nothing but a Princess. Other than her chatty mouth (which girls wouldn’t) I do not have to nag her to sit still. But this girl wouldn’t want to take any pictures. Duhh!

As usual, 7.30pm is too early for Daddy to leave the office. He is giving this a miss. Again! The show was delayed for 30 minutes as many musicians turned up late. Prince got impatient and wanted to call his Daddy.

He is asking why his Daddy is not here yet and asked his Daddy why he doesn’t want to come see him play. Scout swear – I did not ask my Boy to called the Daddy. The whole night I was busy with my camera and I thought he just wanted a chat with his Daddy to kill time. The kids does that all the time at home when the Daddy comes home late. And the last picture here you can see my Boy almost in tears.

My Boy is very very close the the Daddy. He still cling on to his Daddy like a Koala bear. I almost forgot the phone was on speaker mode! Now the whole audience knows that the child’s father is not supportive 🙁 . I heard Daddy said something like… “pass the phone to Mummy” and I quickly took over the phone. And guess what? Daddy is almost reaching home and I asked him to detoured to join us since the show hasn’t started yet.  Of course my Boy was so thrilled to see his Daddy walk in and deserved a big bear hug!

I love this picture of the girls and their violin.

This was shot using a 50mm lens. This is what we called synchronized!

Princess is always duetting with this girl (sorry don’t know her name) as they are of same level.

And the Prince…

I was so proud of him, the moment we reached home I marched to my Sis’s house and show the video to Uncle Kimmy, “Uncle Kimmy, come! Nah, show you something. The child that never practise at home can played so well.”

Really! My kids hardly practise their violin at home. Haha! You may ask why. To me, I never like to forced my kids into anything and if I were to give myself a new chore like nagging the kids to practise this and that, you think it is worth it? I was fortunate as my kids was showing interest and naturally accepted it. Even without the daily practising, they still did well. I am not a perfectionist and I don’t expect to have one. They are what they are, the God’s given child.

Every year during this time, Babe In The City – KL will organized a virtual open house makan-makan and every year, we was given a theme as what to cook. My first participation was in 2006, subsequently 2007 and how can I miss this year Merdeka virtual open house. The theme for this year is Mee and My Malaysia. “Participants need to cook up a noodle dish of any Malaysian ethnic, of course the rare and unique ones from your family, hometown, kampung or some ulu place are most welcomed. Your noodle dish has to be something original and not fusionised or tweaked to fit the modern age – Babe_KL”

The first thing that came across my mind is the fermented red wine mee suah. How can the Foochow part with their ever famous dish.

You may get the recipe from my previous post. However, if you would like to participate, please do so as the deadline to submit your entry is on 29th August, 2008. We are all for the muhibbah fun. No one wins a prize unless I claimed that I am an amateur cook. Teeheehee…

Post Updated 31 August 2008 – Round up dishes of all sort of Mee (Noodles) from different culture and race.  Check out Merdeka Open House 2008: Mee and My Malaysia Round-up

One of the weekend ago, I stormed up a big pot of bolognese gravy. I have half of the gravy frozen and the other half we had for lunch. The next day I just need to heat up the frozen gravy for the bento.

Top 2 bento is for Prince and Princess. They had organic alphabet macaroni, skewed edamame and sausages and champagne grapes. Bottom left is my bento (Daddy’s bento not in picture) I do feel a bit uneasy in case I was caught eating kids food aka the alphabet macaroni.

Close-up on the organic alphabet macaroni. Notice the colours tend to fade after cooking cos they are made from food colourings like spinach (green), carrot (orange) and red (beetroot).

I had spaghetti instead and lots of basil since the kids doesn’t like vege. That is a bonus! I hearts basil and have a big plant in my garden. Daddy had the same thing as mine but in a different container. Bottom right is Baby Princess’s bento. She doesn’t like adult food so I replace them with biscuits.

This is my first time photographing a Caucasian baby. Little Xavier is Daddy Boss’s youngest son. It was a breeze as the child is very photogenic. Little Xavier is learning how to walk and was seen busy cruising from one furniture to another. That is double bonus as I am able to catch up with his pace as he is not moving or running to fast unlike some 2 or 3 years old child. Totally love the bright orange wall colour too as they make a perfect backdrop.

Xavier’s Mummy commented that I am good (photographer). However, I replied her that she has a beautiful baby. That really makes a lot of difference to a photograph.

Anyhow, I find my photographs is getting more boring. I see the same stuff every time. Portrait, portraits and more portraits. Urgh! I need to learn something new. Or maybe get a new lens. Woot!

Little Xavier just turn one few days ago. Happy Burfday, Xavier! Lots of hugz and kisses from Aunty.

p/s:  Daddy think I am bias.  Really?

Last Saturday is the final week of replacement class for most school. I wished she will have more replacement classes on a Saturday as I find preparing a bento on a non working day (for me) is so much fun as I do not have to rush or constantly checking on the time. For example last Saturday, I manged to went to the morning wet market to buy fresh ingredients unlike normal days where I just cook whatever is left in the fridge.

Fresh corn for buttered corn:

Shitakie mushroom to be added into Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup:

Clockwise from bottom: Tube macaroni, buttered corn with edamame to go with Shitakie mushroom soup. What we did at home is to mix everything in the soup including the buttered corn. Oh la la!