Yvonne: I expect to see some pictures on CNY photoshoot this year, KNS, post kueh kapit pictures pulak.

*hahaha*

Ok, there you go, my good buddy. I dressed kids up and took some pictures of them at home. One of the thing that we always do without failed before Chinese New Year.

The scroll was a gift from Eldest BIL. Not hand written but some commercial type.

Kids with my Nephew, Jonathan.

Sorry Sis. It’s all my fault. I was lazy to fix on the external flash and was shooting at ISO1600 F3.2. Your son moved too much that is why the pix is blur. We retake again, ok?

I kinda like this but still not the best shot from me.

As usual, the little Princess love to make goofy faces. LOL

Trying my best to get a picture of the three of them. I am really trying my best, ok! The little glitch here is…. THE GOOFY FACE AGAIN!!! But I love the way Carlgene hold on that little hand drum (whatever you called them?)

p/s: You know my banana Boss spelt them as Kong Si Fah Chye. I have to tease him that he is such a typical angmoh. hehe.

While gathering some old photographs for the new next Photobook that is expiring very very soon, I found this two CNY theme photo a bit nostalgia and that shows how my kids has now outgrown their cuteness.

Feb, 2005 – I was around 32nd week pregger with no. 3.

Yea, I know. I don’t look pregnant at all cos I hardly put on any weight during my 3rd pregnancy. Blame it on stress. I can’t help but to notice my little Prince. Cute-nye!

Some where around 2005 too

This is not CNY. The kid’s kindergarten was having a ‘traditional costume’ day. Eldest Princess is in cheongsam and Prince dress up as Sinbad! And the cutey one here is Little Princess who was then about 6 months old? Not very sure of that.

And today, they look something like this: *to be continue tomorrow as I have not download the latest pics from my camera* ngek, ngek, ngek

Was driving one day and out of the blue Dotter pop up this question:

Dotter: Mummy, you got RM300 or not?
Mummy: *shock* What is the money for!
Dotter: Di-Di (Brother) didn’t put on seat belt.
Mummy: *wakakakaka*

I was thinking the other day. Usually on our long rides back to kampung, the 9y/o will be sprawling (not strap up) at the rear seat sleeping, and the 7y/o will be sleeping in his car seat. That left with no more space for the 4y/o and she will usually strap up with Mummy in the front seat, sleeping. Yes, must travel during their nap time so that they won’t turn the car upside down. With the new enforcement to buckle up rear seat passenger, I make a little adjustment here. And of course spent a little $$$ so that everyone will travel in comfort.

Since the 3 kids need to be strapped up at the rear seat and I have to think of a way so that they can sleep more comfortably, I get a new booster seat for the 7 y/o and now his 4y/o Sister can have her car seat back. Bought the booster seat at S$26 only and if according to my conversion rate optimization they are only RM62.40. Cheap eh? How about the Big Sista? Initially I planned to get everyone a neck support pillow but too bad, they left only one pillow on the shelf. And my initial, initial plan was to get a inflatable pillow for easy storage. This is the result from last minute shopping so I just grab whatever that is on the shelf and they cost so much for a foam pillow! If the Big Sista is using them, this left the 7 y/o without any neck support. Let’s see which Sista is generous enough to lend their shoulder to lean on. You know how some siblings never allow their sibling to touch them further more, have to endure those saliva dripping. *yikes!*

Left to right: Hershey’s Orange Marshmallow, mini mandarin oranges and mini pear. Bread with cream cheese spread and lots and lots of Mama Carries!

Another 5 more sleep to CNY (Chinese New Year). Can you feel it? Can you! Can you?

Surprisingly I haven’t eat any mandarin orange at all this year. For a little CNY theme, I simply bought a packet of mini mandarin oranges from the night market and sometimes I wonder why all fruits from China decided to shrunk. If you do not know what I meant, look at that green pear. Weird isn’t it? For someone who can/know/good in baking cookies, the only cookie I bought for CNY from a church friend of ours called Mama Carrie. They are very delicious and is a hit among the little one at home.

This year I am so smart to indulge CNY goodies two week before CNY. That way, I do not have to stuff myself silly on CNY. I am all soaked in CNY mood now. Have you! Have you?

Yes, you hear me right. From 1st January 2009 till 31st December 2010, PLUS Highway is giving 10% on normal days and 20% discount during festive season for vehicles that cross the ‘finishing line’ between 12am till 7am. The PLUS initiative is in line with the Government’s call to give added value to highway users especially during this current economic situation.

This incentive package does benefit us since we are planning to start our journey back to Daddy’s hometown on Friday night. Let’s see, it takes us 3 hours to get to the toll which means we can dilly dally our time packing, dinner, pangsai, pangjioh and estimated time to leave home is about 9pm. Not bad yea. From our entry point to exit point usually it cost us RM36.80. With the discount, it save us… let’s see… RM36.80 x 20% = RM7.36. Did I see that right? RM7.36!!! Wtf, not enough to buy myself a McDonald Prosperity Burger leh!!! zzzzzzzzzzzz

If you intend to take a late night drive, make sure your eyes is as bright as the owl.  For back seat passenger, how’s life being strap up in seat belt? kekekeke…

So many things to do, so little time I had. Last weekend we have so many events lining up to be done like 1) a CNY photoshoot with my kids, 2) Daddy is planning to send his car to the workshop for tire balancing and alignment, 3) sending kids to Arithmetic tuition for CNY replacement class and if I choose plan 4, all plans have to be scrap cos plan 4 is going to take the whole day to finished that is a kueh kapit (love letter) baking session in my Sister house.

That morning the moment I walked in to my kitchen, I can smell kueh kapit lingering in the air. So aromatic! Must be someone in my neighbourhood making kueh kapit too. I pick up my phone to called my Sis if they really confirmed making kueh kapit. Sis said they already finished mixing the ingredients and now getting ready to bake. Wah, I syok already cos finally the CNY mood is here. So I told Daddy to drop us (me + 3 kids) at the KTM station but Daddy was super nice that morning. He said, “Family come first. Tire can wait.” awwww…. But then, safety come first also hor. *tsk*

Reached my Sis house at 10.30am and did not managed to snap the earlier session when they prepare the ingredients.

By the time I reached, Mom has already down to business. This is always the norm. First few pieces (or maybe 10 pcs) of love letters is ‘coffee flavour’ = burnt. As and when we goes, the colour gets better and better.

Every item we used here is as old as me. But Mom reckon old mould is not a good mould cos they tend to stick and the engraving is not that obvious anymore. Mom is planning to invest in few new mould next year.

Few years back, Eldest Sis learn to master this skill from my Mom. As for me, I’ll always be the assistant. The fear is “HOT”! But you know what? I’ve discovered something. Will let you know at the end of this post 😉

When we was young, my Mom eldest Sis will help with the making too. She will tell us stories and they always start with… “Long time ago….” you know stuff like World War II, all the running and hiding and how when they was younger, the whole village have marathon love letter’s making session for 24 hours! So now was Mom’s turn. This is how she goes.

“Last time when we was young, we have to wake up at 3am. Not like you people so fortunate. Wake up at 9am only. We have to grate the coconut using the traditional grater, squeeze the coconut milk. Now ah, just go market and you can get fresh squeeze coconut milk and even mix the ingredient using electronic gadget.. Oh ya, the rice flour leh. We have to grind the rice using the stone mortar. Last time no electric city somemore. We have to use kerosene lamp, etc…” the rest not so interesting liao. hahaha.

I asked Daddy to take this shot of us, working. Mom teased me, “Aiyah, you should switch place with me. If want to show off must be the chief only is the real thing.” Char tou! Notice my 3rd Sis in the background? She is coating ‘nien kau’ with grated coconut for consumption. Syok nye! This is what I called CNY mood la. Mom occasionally switching place with my Eldest Sis so that she can rest a while. It is very tiring you know. Especially our back and our leg. You all only know how to eat *sticking out tongue*.

Towards the ending, I took over the task from my Sister for the first time!!! And you know what I’ve found out? The person who handle the mould has an easier task compare to the person who fold the HOT love letter. Trust me!

Bento dated sometime end of 2008.

We was one of the few regulars to Dragon-I. Sometime end of last year, Dragon-I came out with new menus and additional over 30 new dishes. One of them is this Oink-oink pau.

They are quite pricey at about RM6.00 odd for a pair of Piggy pau. Baby Princess ate one piggy pau and I reserved the other one for next day bento. Note the missing ear? Baby Princess wants to eat both the piggy pau but I won’t let her. She decided to steal one side of the ear under my nose. I was so mad I kept on nagging at her. My 8y/o then suggested that I cut out a small piece of marshmallow to replace the ear. Very funny. Not!

Bento #67

At the same day, I copy another dish from Dragon-I’s menu for Daddy’s bento. But of course this is my version la.

Carrot sticks and yellow zucchini rolled up with Breakfast ham.

This time, the kiamsiapness (stinginess) in me decided not to upgrade anymore. Previously when I exceeded my 25GB monthly bandwidth, I did a temporary 3 months upgrade at US$11.85 instead of a full year of US$39.95. See, now you know I am so kiamsiap can die! I know, Photobucket is more expensive than Flickr that is why their CEO has plenty of property in Outer Banks rentals. My account will be reactivated on the 16th of the month when my bandwidth usage resets to zero. At the meantime, I am using my other backup account as I do not want to overload the server. Do check back again after the 16th of the month for images on my old posting. Adios!

Oooo…. I better write this down before I forgot about the incident.

Scenario 1

During our last trip to Singapore around Christmas, somewhere along some secluded and shady stretch after paying at Tuas toll, we was stopped by Police for speeding. All along, we don’t intend to bribe them. As expected la, the offer will come. Before I continue, for those who is not familiar with procedure when you are stopped for speeding, the Traffic Police will ask for your driver’s ID then proceed to write you the summon and NEXT, get your signature on the summon too. So this is what happen to us. Conversation has been translated for those who don’t understand Bahasa Malaysia:

Police: Sir, you have exceeded the speed limit. Show me your ID.

*Hubby hand over ID*

Police: So, you want to settle here or summon?

*wah, so direct tim*

Hubby: Summon

Police: Settle?

*I can heard so clearly my Hubby said SUMMON! wtf*

Hubby: Summon!

*Police is bit shock*

Police: Oh, orang Pontian ah? *pretending fiddling with Hubby’s ID* OK, nanti kami pos saman ke rumah di Pontian.

*Give back ID*

Then what, drive off la. Those are bogus police la. They want us to bribe them only! Luckly we never intend to bribe them.  Of course we had a good laugh at them.  They make themselves looks like a fool.

Scenario 2

Sometime after Christmas my Youngest Sister after hearing my story said she had the similar incident happened to her.

Her group of friends was out partying and some of them got drunk except her.  They was stopped by the Police and was asked to go to the Police station to get a breath test done.  They said ok.  But the Police let me off the hook.

WTF!

PLEASE DON’T BRIBE OUR POLICEMAN, OK? If you know you are wrong, act like a man.  Pay the fine.  If not, please drive at the speed limit of 110km/h.

This huge Winne-The-Pooh was left sitting on a bench in the playground on the first day I saw him her. On the 2nd day, he she was moved to the location above. That is when I found it cute and decided to take a snap shot of her. On the third day….. she was moved back to the playground but this time, not on the bench but on the floor. The sad thing is…. her brain + her intestine + her blood + dislocate neck was all over the floor. I mean the cotton stuffing la. Not sure if it is the work of human or pariah dog. Even if they are human, they better be a pariah dog. Brainless and heartless.