We went up to Cameron Highlands over the weekend.  As usual, most car will stop at the waterfall to take a break from motion sickness.  While taking pictures of these wild mushrooms, a local man came over and told me they actually consume them.  Errr… no thanks!

Before we continue our journey up the winding road, Daddy can’t resist buying some golden yellow looking bananas.

My suaku kids is so used to seeing barcode scanner in Hypermarkets.  They was pretending weighing banana on the weighing machine used in pasar malam.

More post on Cameron Highlands after this 😉

We had a small party at home on Easter Day to celebrate my eldest Princess 9th Birthday.  Initially we was supposed to have an Easter egg hunt too but too bad, the rain just wouldn’t stop.  There goes my Kinder Joy (Bye-bye $$$).

When I say a small party, I was trying to limit her friends to at least 6 person but later, the crowd just grew bigger and bigger and she even invited her Sunday School friends :S .  And I ended inviting my Sisters.  If you must know I have a lot of Sisters.  If invitation was extended to Sis 5, then Sis 1 and Sis 3 will be included too.(If not, later they don’t want to flend me then how?)    Then Hubby ask if he should invite his Siblings.  Aiyoh, make me feel bad only but how to fit all of them in our house?  SIL, if you read this, forgive me.  Next time round, ok?

It is very easy to think of a theme. Any teenager her age is crazy over High School Musical.  Sis 5 help me with the banner while I was busy whipping up food in the kitchen.

There are other food like the bolognese sauce, yam samosa, california roll, unagi kabayaki, tamago (egg sashimi), foochow red wine mee suah (for the adult).  Each time I pick up my camera, there are always someone calling me or something to be done and I kept on forgetting about the food pics.  What do you expect la.  ‘M’ is for mother and ‘M’ is for maid.  Organizing a party is not easy, ok.

No pix on the whole lots of Kinder Joy too as I kept on forgetting or was too busy.  Muahahaha!  What an excuse.  The kids was so disappointed as they was looking forward to the egg hunt.  To keep noise at minimal, after the kids ate, they was in our room playing PS2 (HSM game too).  It was so peaceful as now the adult can sit down and yak while digging in the fondue pot!  Thanks Selena for the fondue pot!  I know that was like one year ago since I received them. LOL.  I just melt the dark chocolate with cream and had marshmallow, ice-cream balls and strawberries digging into it.  No pix again.  I was darn busy serving guest.  Refilled the drinks.  Wipe the spills.  Clear the rubbish.  Serving ang chiew mee suah *wink*  Good thing my Sister’s maid help me with the dirty dishes or else my back will break man!  And the poor me gotta finish up all the left over.  The best diet pills also can’t help me this time.

The weird part  is where after the song was sung, the birthday girl was supposed to cut the cake.  I almost ask, “where is the knife?” but realised it was a cupcake.   So weird to cut them and so weird not to cut them.  So I go, “Ok, everybody just take one and eat”. LOL

Happy 9th Birthday Sweetie!

Early of the year when the kids goes back to school after their final term holidays, I set out some rules for them. I know it required lots of discipline and has to be very stern to make sure it work:

1. Back from school, no TV
2. Take a shower before dinner
3. No eating dinner in front of the TV
4. Homework by 8pm
5. light bulbs off at 10pm
6. Wash your own school shoes on Saturday

And how do I fair?  Bear in mind that I have a very obedient 9 years old girl and a mischievous 7 years old boy.

Rules no. 1 – The first thing when they (usually no.1) stepped in to the house, I gotta put on my loud speaker, “NO TV!” – Yay, it works!

Rules no. 2 – Failed. Cos the kids took such a long time (usually no.2) in the shower. Too much time was wasted.

Rules no. 3 – Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I’m too soft hearted 🙁

Rules no. 4 – Successful!

Rules no. 5 – Unfinished (usually no. 2) homework to be continue the next day at the daycare.

Rules no. 6. Up till today, they only wash twice. The rest of the time was Mummy, Mummy, Mummy!!!! That too, I am soft hearted. Double whammer! Not that Mummy hand wash their school shoes. The washing machine takes care of the job. But one thing I make them do is to apply the shoe white before putting them under the sun. Kids just simply love that chore very much.

Since some of the rules did not work out for me, I tried the other way i.e.

7pm – Reached home. Had dinner. Sometimes at the dining table, sometimes on the couch. I gave up on that, really. Watched a little cartoon on TV.

8pm – No. 1 will shower first while no. 2 still hook on TV. Then no. 2 turn to shower while no.1 continue TV.

8.30pm – Homework.

10pm – Off to bed.

Not the way I’ve planned out initially but this way, everyone is happy and I don’t get too stress up yelling at kids to do this and do that.

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

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!

*Back dated and brief post*

My Dad celebrated his 70th Birthday last many many weekend ago.

All went as usual. We had 10 course dinner in Unique Fisherman, Cheras. Location: after Leisure Mall. Food was good. We came here specially for their penis Geoduck Clam (pronounce as gooeyduck) since my Eldest sister has been bitching about this penis elephant trunk Geoduck thingy we thought we must try at least once. And of course the way my Sister elaborate the penis Geoduck size really make us so curious.

Live penis Geoduck. hehe…

To savour this, I am not sure if they even remove the yellowish skin from the penis Geoduck. It was then sliced into thin pieces.

You can either eat them raw with wasabi or blanch them in hot water aka steamboat. I would preferred them raw. They tasted something like sea cucumber and is really good!

This is the look of the shell.

Dad have this habit to say out loud his Birthday wishes. He don’t make a simple wish. He always include all of us, his Wife, his daughters, his son-in-laws and grandchildrens.

But there is this one wish that make all of us rolling-on-the-floor-laughing-out-loud. What is Dad’s special wish this year? He hope that our little Sister will get hitch this year! All of us was woo-ing so loud.

On an unrelated topic:

Ahem! And I had something new to show you guys.

My.New.Curl.

Previously I had a very long waist length hair and now, the hair stylist had them trimmed 3 inches shorter and she layered them wayyyyyyyyyyyyy to much! I really hate it! Just because she like it, doesn’t mean I will like them. And she have the courage to say, “I thought I wanna change your hairstyle a bit.” You say fuming mad or not?

Without her Daddy around (1st time) during her birthday is emo enough for the Mummy and this teenage daughter of mine decided to add in more emoness early morning. *haiz

Daddy called home from States in the morning to wish her a “Happy Burfday” and of course she is more than happy but can’t control her EMOtion. Her voice started to choke and that sleepy eyes of hers slowly turned watery and red. Of course when Mummy see this, she can’t control her EMOtion too. I think my daughter has my gene. Both of us is quite EMOtional type.

Since Daddy is not around, my Sister was kind enough to bring us out for dinner in TGIFridays. Awww….. see, I have the greatest Sister in the whole wide world!

And yes, I heard you, “TGIF again ah?” lol. We really love their yummillicious food and all the crazy stuff they chanted for the Birthday Girl.

But you know what? (S)he is (s)o (s)hy, (s)tunt, (s)peechless and her eyes starting to (s)well again.

You can tell by looking at her in the picture. Watch that guy in red. He has got all sort of action. Now look at my daughter, she just stood there like a statue and that smile is just so fake. Luckly the bunch of crazy guys notice it and quickly ended the session. So emo can die! I gave her hug so that she would feel better and told her TGIF is not her type. She is just too shy! (I was supposed to say EMO but didn’t want her to rain again). So there you go, a emo birthday for her to remember.

Baby Princess started play school early of this year. At the same time, I’ve enrolled her in Sunday School too. I’m so glad she love both of it. Everyday, she will ask if tomorrow got school or not. And her tomorrow will never end with Sunday School. She has grown more talkative and her speech was excellent. Sometime Most of the time she will go babble, babble, babble and we have to ask her to stop.

She is getting mischievious by days. At times, I find her antic amusing but most of the time, she is really a trouble maker. She has this ability to charm people. Most of the time, I will fall into her traps. She conversed less in Mandarin ever since she stopped going to the babysitter. Which, is a bad thing la! She used to communicate in full Mandarin with Aunty, but now, Aunty is complaining that she don’t understand a word what Baby Princess is talking.

Coming to her speech, her once upon a time Ki Ki Kau is now clearly heard as Mickey Mouse. *rolling-on-floor-laughing* Lello is now Yellow. Winnie the Pooh is still Winnie Pooh Pooh which I think is cute 😀 . Sometimes, she calls herself Monster Truck and at times, she thinks she is Transformers. This is when she will fight with her brother cos both of them wanted to be Autobot. errr… that’s all the progress at 3 years old.

We almost celebrate her birthday in TGIF if not because of Cheng Beng. So this year, we have different picture compare to the previous year. You know, I am so glad I have wonderful Sister-In-Laws. They are just wonderful peoples (not because of the birthday cake they bought. They ARE really nice people.)

Do you know there is a wholesale florist in Petaling Street that sell lots of beautiful flowers? Don’t know about you, I just can’t part with flowers. I will go crazy when I see one. When my 5th Sis, Julie, told me that she is going to Petaling Street to buy flowers for Cheng Beng, I just jump at the opportunity.

You may think that Petaling Street is so far but if you intend to make bulk purchases, it is worth the money. This is only one of them. They have tons of colours and many other types of flowers you will be so spoilt of choices all you want to do is buy every each one of them.

Okok, to make the long story short, I only bought one bouquet for my late MIL. I think my Sister bought 6 or 7 bouquets.

Warning: If you have the ability to see ghost, please do not proceed. Or you can proceed at your own risk. Don’t tell me I never warn you.

Change image to black & white just incase some think it is eerie.

Saturday afternoon I beg hubby to fetch me to his late Mom’s cemetery. Ever since she pass away, I have not step foot on her cemetery before. Not only I have to beg, I have to scared him with this, “You not scare your Mom angry with me issit? Later at night she come and find me. How?” Haha.

I still like coloured photograhs.

Being a Christian, we just pray without joss stick and place flower. I hope MIL won’t mind. I know she won’t. She is the nicest MIL in the whole wide world (or at least better than some of your MIL *sticking out tongue*) It is very funny how I get this question, “You take photo at a cemetery. Not scare ghost ah?” Errr…. broad day light wor. I thought ghost come out only at night?

This little girl…

She has not seen her late Grandma before. She was only 26 days old when her Grandma passed away. And today, she told her Grandma, “Today is my birthday, Grandma”.

Sorry, tears just rolled down my eye. I need to stop here.

Well, everyday is an obstacle for me to perfect my shots with my Canon 400D. Previously, I’ve grasps enough of outdoor scene. This time, it is in a place that I hate most. I’ve never like taking pictures in a restaurant as they are using yellow lights which makes your picture yellowish and it seems like everyone is down with jaundice. So, lots of trial and error again this time.

Back to the event, my Nephew, Alex who is residing in Singapore was down in KL from KK with his Wife-To-Be, Lily, after a successful ‘negotiation’ with his future Parents-in-law. Eventually we met up with him for a dinner with Hubby’s other siblings. Well, this is my first time meeting her too.

While waiting for the rest to arrive, this is a shot of my eldest bil. I think he can’t make up his mind of what to order.

When I showed him this pic, he can’t remember himself engaging in that posture. lol.

The honorable guests arrived shortly. The moment they walk in, Lily had that glow in her eyes that catches my attention. From there, I whipped out my camera and started snapping secretly.

I have to say, she is really photogenic. Makes my life easier too. haha… She felt very awkward when I keep on aiming the camera at her. Ah well, I told myself to tone down as not make her feel uneasy.

As for food, since CNY is just around the corner, we had Low Yee Sang. Woohoo!

While I was thinking how much exposure/shutter speed to set my cam, suddenly all of them started digging in.

A little of havoc there but I still managed to cheat thru screen. haha…

The happy faces of toasting.

What did I mean by ‘cheat-thru-screen’. In low lights, I set the ISO to 1600 to get a brighter result without using the flash. But anything with high ISO, the picture will turn out grainy. Obviously if you resized them, you can’t see the noise at all. So, this type of picture is not suitable to be printed out. So sad isn’t it.

Well, another trial and error here.

Since I’m using 50mm F1.8 lens, I should have increase the aperture to F4.5 to avoid the blurring image on the left. Well, at least I learn a new thing today.

After all the makan-makan and some socialising with………. (what do you call my nephew’s wife ah?) ………… LILY, she got all excited with the pictures I shot. Ahem! Of course kembang la. This is her comment, “Wow! Never in my life someone captured my photographs this way.”

She then actually started posing for me.

I can’t help myself to scrapbooking again. What a lovely couple they are.

I get Alex to do monkey face at the background. See what he did?

Potong stim. That is not money face la. That is like Mr Bean!

We ended the dinner with CNY dessert. The ‘Nien Kau’ coated with grated coconut.

This is the way how I usually eat them! Now I can’t wait for Chinese New Year to come.

Some people called it ‘the chinese bubble gum’. lol

On the way out from the restaurant, I can’t help myself with one last shot of the ang-ang decoration.

Chinese New Year coming liao lor. Tong, tong, chiang…. tong, tong, chiang…..

p/s: My eye getting an eyesore from the jaundice. Ouch!