A long holiday....

It is going to be a long holiday, starting tomorrow.

Gawai celebration is on 1 and 2 June, so it is a whole stretch of Public Holidays till next Tuesday.

We are living in a country of multi-racial community; rich in cultures, languages and heritages.  So it is no wonder to have a blend of ethnic handicrafts and arts hanging around one's house. 

For instance, I have 2 small ajat at home.  A traditional woven ajat basket from rattan and a miniature bead ajat; both are souvenirs made by my MIL's ex-colleague to my girl when she was holidaying in Kapit few years ago.

Now both are been kept as decoration in my book shelves.  Good to preserve the cultures of other races as well.

I am going to visit my ex-staff tomorrow for a Gawai Feast in her house.  No tuak or alcoholic drinks for me this year.  But cannot wait to dig myself into her fragrant rice dish and other local delicacies. 

Wishing all my blogger friends and readers,

Selamat Hari Gawai!!!

& 

Hari Keamatan!!!

Week 24 bump

I am in my Week 24 now.  I am doing fine.  My appetite is good and I still have much energy moving around and doing house chores.  Baby is moving very frequent now and I can feel its rolling and kicking. Most of the times, he is practising his karate in my tummy.  Very naughty baby. 

I had experienced some abdominal cramps on 3 occasions.  Cramped till I could not move and have to breathe pretty slow to ease the pain.  Fortunately the cramps only last less than a minute.  It makes me wonder is that how contraction really feel at low pain meter??  I don't know because I never experienced contraction pain before.  I had Caesarean in the past. 

Comfy is important at this stage.  I am sleeping on my left side since 1st trimester.  I feel more comfortable sleeping at my side.  Everything I wear is  bigger size now.  The blouses, pants, dresses, bras and panties. 

My bra size has grown bigger by one cup.  From 36C to 36D.  After giving birth to my 2nd child in 2009, I has been on diet and managed to slim down.  Weight went down to 50kg. And my breasts also reduced in cup size too.  *wink*  Used to wear around 38C or 38D bras (depends on the brand) after my first child.  Now that I am a preggie for the 3rd time, I wonder my breasts will grow bigger too??  Not that I am complaining but I would prefer to maintain the current size.  And you know what I would prefer to be bigger and fuller?  My bum.  But after 2 children, it does not grow bigger much.  Lol!
 

The kids are excited to feel the baby movements as I let them touch my tummy.  And I let them talk to the baby as like the baby is present.  It is a way of bonding with the baby and they would not feel left out when the baby is actually born. 

And what is tonight food menu??  Our main dish is this nourishing chicken soup.  I bought a kampong chicken for RM19.70 from the wet market this morning and decided to cook chicken with red dates and mushroom soup.  Long time did not cook chicken soup. 

 



The kids can drink the soup, since they would not take the kampong chicken meat.  And I love red dates.  Good to take for my current condition.  *wink*

My Miscellaneous Picture #1 : Small things

Supposed to go to Thailand during the school holiday but because of my unplanned pregnanacy we shall postponed our holiday to next year.  This school holiday we are not going anyway and the kids are not going back to the hometown. Nothing much is happening around the house, so I thought of sharing with you on some pictures that I took in the house.  

 

A little glass stopper to let us know when the sliding glass door to the kitchen is closed.  My kids used to play with it, but now they are bored and do not bother about its existence on the glass.

A set of calligraphy brushes owned by hubby.  However I only saw him did his calligraphy once at home.  Not so good, so he needs to practise more before teaching the kids. 

 

But he has a good hand on sketching and drawing.  Just like our girl who inherit his artistic skill.

A peek in my cutlery drawer, with the silverware, plastic spoons and forks and other smaller kitchen tool.  They may be kept in the drawer but once a while I still need to take them out and wipe each of them because of dust. 

 

Okana season may be over, but we still keep some of the seeds.  Hubby washed and dried the seeds and kept in a small container.  And they have been there and become a part of my decoration on the shoe rack!  Lol!  Got to boil and eat them some day.

 

 

Hygiene at young

My kids love hand sanitizer.  When ever they see one, they will use it and lazy to go to the washroom to wash their hands. 

This habit started on our first car trip to Sibu more than a year ago.  It is convenient to get an instant hand sanitizer in the car and with kids eating and playing in the car, their hands tend to get dirty.  And hubby has at least one sanitizer in his car because sometimes he is on the road and easy to reach for one sanitizer than finding one wet tissue.  And before I forget, my kids also love to play with wet tissue, so after much calculation, we decided that hand sanitizer is more economical than having wet tissue in the car.  Without supervision, the kids will finish up one wet tissue pack at the back of car.  Lol!

 

Since then, the kids love to use hand sanitizer.  Every time they go into hubby's car, the younger one will automatically reach for the hand sanitizer.  Even his hands are not dirty, he will want to pump one and rub his hands.  Baby Jay is more clean-freak compared to his sister.  After each meals or after touching something oily or greasy, he will go to wash his hands with water and soaps.  And since coffee shops or most shops do not provide soaps, I will usually stand by wet tissue and sanitizer in my bag for him. Sometimes I wonder whether he is too hygienic or not!

 

 

This bottle was bought last weekend and if you could see its content, it is almost 1/4 been used up by the kids in just 4 days.  Sometimes I think the kids just like the feeling of the liquid on their hands and rub them away.  *wink*

Reading Monday with a recipe sharing

Hi!  Happy Monday!  I guess everyone must be lazy today after a long weekend.  It was tiring but wonderful weekend for me.  Never bored with the kids around.  Plus I were having good time in my kitchen testing on new recipes *wink*

 

And in reply to the comments by blogger friends in my previous post, I am sharing my ngoh hiang recipe today.  It is very simple.  Everyone can make a yummy ngoh hiang.  You can basically add anything in ngoh hiang (such as carrot, water chestnut, fresh prawns, garlic etc) but the main ingredient is the minced pork.  I do not have the exact measurement so I "agak-agak" my ingredients. I learnt from my mum who never follow a step-by-step recipe.  *wink* 

 

Usually I will make few rolls and keep some in air tight container in the freezer.  When I feel like eating them, I will take the container out and thaw in room temperature before deep frying.  I usually shallow fry my ngoh hiang, because lazy to use so much cooking oil in deep frying.  Just in shallow frying, you will need to monitor the ngoh hiang to make sure no burn, and keep on turning them around for even browning!

 

Ngoh Hiang is great to eat by wrapping in lettuces or dipping in chilli sauce.  Can be an appetizer, snack and even part of the main dish at home!

 

 

Rose's Ngoh Hiang (Meat rolls)

 

Make 3 rolls

Ingredients:

Beancurd sheet

About 200g Minced pork (can substitute with chicken meat, but I still prefer minced pork)

6 Chinese dried mushroom, soaked and cut into slices

4 tbsp Dried prawns, washed, soaked, rinsed and drained

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp Light soy sauce (optional)

1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (optional)

Cooking oil for frying

 

Methods:

 

1.  Ready all the ingredients.  Mix the minced pork, dried mushroom and dried prawns on a cutting board.  With chopping knife, mince and mix the 3 ingredients till all are well minced and mixed.

2. Add salt and pepper to the mixture and continue to mince and mix.  You can also add some light soy sauce and Chinese wine but this is optional. Put the mixture in a bowl.

3. Cut the beancurd sheet into the desired rectangle size.  Trim away the hard edges. It is up to you on how big (or small) you want your ngoh hiang to be, but I usually make a big ngoh hiang, about 15cm long.

4. Spread the beancurd sheet on the chopping board.  Spread about 3 spoonful of meat mixture onto the top part of the sheet leaving about 2 - 3cm space on top of the sheet.  Roll the sheet over the meat mixture.  Make sure you roll it tightly and cover all the meat mixture. Fold the 2 sides of the sheet over the rolled sheet.  Continue to roll the sheet till the end of sheet.

5. Place onto a place or if you are keeping in the freezer, keep in an air-tight container.

6. Finish up all the meat mixture with the beancurd sheet.

7. Heat up the oil for shallow or deep frying in a pan on medium heat.  Once the oil is heated up, slowly place the meat rolls (about 2 - 3 pieces) into the pan.  Fry for about 1 minute on one side before turning around and fry for another 1 minute till the other side is browned.  Turn the meat rolls around to even the browning.

8.  Dish out and drain on a kitchen towel.  Let the meat rolls cool down before cut diagonally with meat knife and serve on a serving plate.

 

p/s: For the uneaten ngoh hiang, you can shallow fry them again the next day, and they tasted even better! 

 

 

I am on my reading cap today.  This morning I was clearing and sorting out some book shelves because looking for suitable books for my kids to read during the school holiday.  Jay is going to nanny's house as usual, so I brought along few children books, papers and crayons for him to be handful over there.  The sister is reluctant to go today, so she is staying at home with me. 

 

And I myself managed to find myself a book to read this afternoon.  Yeap.  I bought a lot of books last year and there are few books that I have not yet read through.  You read the title right.  The ultimate nap book.  "Change your life without getting out of bed" by SARK.  Enjoy books by SARK because they are light and entertaining to read. After reading few pages of this book, I do not feel guilty of taking my afternoon naps anymore.  Lol!

 





Okay, time to log off from here, guys.  Time for my afternoon nap.  *wish* I wish I could do this the whole day, but I am not this type of person........

Weekend Menu #50: Home-cooked is the best!

I know everyone would agree with me on this statement "Home-cooked is the best!" 

 

And few favourite home-cooked I love to made at home is ngoh hiang, fried fish and Lo Ack (Hakka Braised Duck).  Enjoy the pictures, guys!!  *wink*



 

 

 

P/s: Pardon for the distorted picture of the Lo Ack.  I don't know what went wrong with the picture when download over here.

 

 

 

They asked for it!

Asked the kids what for lunch today and both replied that they do not want to eat rice.  We have a hearty breakfast in the morning together with my mum and sis so we were not so hungry when it is lunch time.  So for lunch I made something special for them.  Since there were some bread slices, I made bread pizza.

 

The kids did not eat much of the toppings but I am happy that they finished up the bread slices.  *wink*  I made 6 slices; hubby had 3 while me and the kids had 1 each.  And by 3 something both kids requested for Maggi instant noodle.  I cooked one packet for each one and they finished up their respective bowls.  Lol!

 

Ingredients:

6 slices of white bread (or any type of breads of your liking)
Pizza sauces (or pasta sauces)
Grated mozzarella
1 big onion, sliced
1 red capsicum, sliced
4 button mushrooms, sliced
Pinch of salt and sugar
1 tbsp butter

Methods:

1. Heat up butter in a pan.  Once melt, add in onion, capsicum and mushrooms slices.  Cook till soften.
2. Add in pinch of salt and sugar to vegetable.
3. On bread slices, spread 1.5 tbsp of pizza sauces.  Add the fried vegetables on top of the sauce. 
4. Sprinkle some grated mozzarella cheese on the vegetable.
5. Grill the bread slices in oven for 4 minutes or till the bread is crispy and cheese has melted.

New stem

 

 

 

A new stem is growing from this nice plant. A "fatt chai" plant my mum told me.

 

Discover the new stem last week.  It was lighter in colour compared to the old darker green leaves.  And actually I also need to dust the older leaves, because they are dusty!  *wink*

 

 

 

And I also noticed this new stem that coming out from the other end of the pot few days ago.  Cannot wait for it to grow taller and the leaves growing out.

 

Milk : like & dislike

Drinking my mug of fresh milk while listening to easy music playing at my back is my morning's highlight.  No hurry as no one at home and I have finished the necessary morning chores.  Now some "me" time for myself.

 

I usually enjoy my hot Milo every morning but now I substitute with milk and protein.  Can you guess from the picture above, which one is milk and protein??  *wink*  No consolation prize for the correct guess, but the black cup is my protein while the clear glass contains milk.  I take those 2 almost every morning. 

I still take my Milo but lesser now.  Milk and protein are good especially for pregnant ladies like myself.  I need the Calcium and Protein for my body and the growing baby in my womb.  And my bleeding gum also getting lesser since I started drink milk last month.  But I only take milk and protein with breakfast in the morning, not any other times of the day.

 

I dislike milk because I have milk intolerance problem in the past.  So I don't drink with empty stomach and my limit is just a cup.  And like my past pregnancies, I only take milk when I was pregnant.  So nothing unusual that my shelves and fridge are packed more with milk now!

Dates with my girlfriends

I have some dating time with hubby last Sunday and we went to a friend's home in Siburan for dinner.  Although I only met this couple once, I instantly like them very much and we warmed up to each other very well.  I enjoyed their Christmas gathering. 

The kids were spending the day with their maternal grandparents, so the two of us took off to Siburan around 4.30pm.  Reached the house in less than an hour.  The cook was busy in the kitchen, bbq-ing and preparing food for the guests.  By 6.00pm, the dinner was ready!

The meats with their respective sauces

I like their 3 types of salads but I prefer the potato & onion salad the most!

The desserts, cheesecakes with 2 different toppings.  I being the only pregnant lady in the house, has the honour to dig into the cakes first.  So that is why the "holes" on the cake trays!  Lol!

This week will be a great week because I am having 2 appointments with different sets of girl friends.  Yes.  Both lunch dates.  I did not able to make it last week because I were sick when I received calls from my 2 girl friends.  So coincident when both asked on same day! 

My friends know that we would be leaving for Sibu soon so they requested for a get-together.  I am touched that I still have few good friends who think of me.  Am looking forward to the lunches and gossips, girls!  First lunch date is today!!  :)

A rough week

It is a scorching hot week in Kuching.  I guess the temperature has soared up to 38degree or more, with me sweating and fanning most of the times. In the evening, we have to switch on the air con in the living room because the kids cannot stand the heat especially the boy.  And they complained why still hot even when the air con is on???  Lol!  I have to shower 4 times a day now.  Simply cannot stand the heat.  *panting*  But on the good side, what ever thing you put under the sun, will dry out fast!!  But don't you wish you are someplace cooler than here now???

 

Everyone has recovered (if not 100%, but in good progress) from respective sicknesses.  Nothing serious, just cough and flu viruses spreading in the house but after few days of medication and rest, everyone is back to good health.

 

Little girl finished her exam and now she can relax and I can stop screaming and nagging her to do revision every single day. Although sick, I still need to do the housechore. Everything keeps piling especially the laundry, and I managed to sort out some baby clothing from the storage boxes. Glad that I did not give them all away.  Have washed and kept them properly in the drawers now.  I also need to cook every day. But very lazy to think of what to cook, so I just whipped up something simple for dinner. I also did not have appetite to eat, because of my flu.

 

I were more suffering compared to my kids because I could not take antibiotic and it takes longer for me to recover.  And I only take the cough and flu medication in the afternoon and night because both make me sleepy.  I was knocked out cold most in the afternoon, up to 3 hours after taking both!  Lol!  But I need the rest. 

 

Not much cooking done because the kitchen sink leaking problem still not fixed.  If just a quick wash, it would be fine.  But when you need to wash all those utensil, the leaking will appear and make the floor wet and slippery because of the dirty and soapy water.  Called plumber but they did not turned up.  Sh*t!  And I have to do my washing in the bathroom which is not so convenient for me to squat when washing.  Hope to get the leaking problem fixed soon.

 

But on a happy note, we got new flowers for the house too.  Just to cheer up the kids when they were sick.  We went to the MJC market on Thursday evening and hubby bought this mini jasmine plant from an aunt.  RM5.00 per pot and he got 2 pots.  One for each kid.  He said it is time to teach the kids some responsibility and a good way to start off is by taking care of their own plant.  So after hubby helped transferring to bigger pots, he lectured both kids on how to take care of plant.  Everyday, the kids will asked me whether have water their plants or not.  Well, I thought they are supposed to do that, not me!?  Lol!  But both kids are very interested in the flowers as everyday after school, they will go over to the plants, have a look and talk to the plant.  Lol!

 

There is still some frozen fish slices from Kapit in the fridge, so yesterday I cooked one of the biggest slice.  It is a Tapah fish.  Not that expensive compared to Empurau, but I like Tapah fishes better.  Its flesh tastes sweet and soft.  Tried to deep fry them before for the the kids, but it does not taste that nice.  I still prefer to steam them. 

I just rub some sea salt onto the flesh first then add Shao Xing sauce, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, ginger slices and minced garlic before steam for 15 minutes. 

A nice dish to take when you are sick, don't you agree?? 

Claypot chicken rice

Another successful experiment with Chefel pan!  Yay!  Having claypot chicken rice but no claypot is used.  Recipe is adapted from Little Bakes and I really like it!  Will definitely cook again.  My rice is ready in just less than 20 minutes!!  :)

My claypot chicken rice is done!!!

Drooling over the salted fish and tender chicken meat!!

 

Hubby and I fight over the rice crust!!!

To keep it warm, I keep the rice in my Saver Cooker!

A crave for lemon-y chicken

Yeay!  Can you hear me screaming over here??  Scream of excitement because Friday is almost end and weekend is here!!  I am back to my cooking cap today as I have not done much in my kitchen lately except light cooking, washing and boiling hot water.  *wink*

 

Hubby bought a lots of fresh lemons from the market over the weekend.  He is on lemon juice diet; once a week boiled fresh lemon using the claypot and drink it warm.  I am not so into warm lemon juice but hubby told me that it is good to fight flu so I obliged to take few sips when he made the juice on Monday morning. 

 

I have always wanted to cook this dish for a long time.  But since I were sick early this week, I am only up to the task to cook this dish today.  Turned out great and it tasted exactly what I want after few days of eating rather dull food.  Lol!

 

 

 

Chinese Lemon Chicken

Ingredients:

20 stripes of boneless chicken breast (about 0.5")

Marinade:
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp salt

Batter:
1 big sized egg
1/4 cup cornflour
1 tsp white pepper

Sauce:
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup chicken stock (1/2 cube mixed with warm water)
1/2 lemon (squeeze out the juice)
1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp cooking oil


Methods:

1. Marinate the chicken breasts with marinade for 30 minutes.  Keep aside in the fridge.

2. For batter, crack 1 egg into a bowl and mix with cornflour and white pepper.  If you prefer a crispier chicken pieces, then you can first dig the chicken into the mixture of egg and white pepper, then dig into the mixture of cornflour before deep frying.

3. Deep fry the chicken breast till golden brown.  Drain and set aside.

4. For sauce, mix everything into a bowl.

5. Heat up a 2 tbsp cooking oil in a wok.  Once heated up, add in the sauce.  Keep stirring and when the sauce change colour, toss in the chicken breast into wok.  Stir for a while and then dish out and serve.

Remark:  If you prefer more lemony taste, you can used up 1 lemon but since my kids do not enjoy too sour-ish dish I half the portion of lemon.  What I do with the other half lemon??  I have a choice of either a cup of iced lemonade juice or keep in the fridge as a natural deodorizer.  In the end I decided to use it as fridge deodorizer since there are some lemons in the fridge waiting to be used!!

Relocation plan postponed

Guys, as I mentioned in end of April that we would be moving to Sibu for a year or so as hubby is offered a new post there.  However due to some delay with his transfer letter and some internal problem, his relocation may postponed to July.  So we would not be moving over in June as planned early.

 

I have not yet asked for transfer letter from my girl's primary school since no confirmed date was given by hubby's office.  So once everything confirmed from hubby side, then I can do the necessary.  If it is delayed, the kids and I may be going by early August during the school holiday but hubby requested us to go by end of June.  I don't know, I have not yet decide when to move with the kids because I don't think it is logical to move in midst of school term so I guess we have to go later while hubby settles down first if he is to start in July.  But hubby is concerned that if we are to fly by August, I would be over 30 weeks pregnant. I wonder I could be able to get a doctor's letter of consent to allow me to fly or not??  I guess should not be a problem since it is just 35 minutes flight.  Sigh!

We see how thing goes.  Hopefully everything will be smooth from here....

Load of washing



I am still recovering from my cough and flu but much better now after a good rest on Monday.  If I were not bored at home, I knew my girl was bored!  Until I caught her looking through my recipe book yesterday afternoon.

 

 

This was actually my first recipe book!  Bought it when I dated my hubby back in 2002.  You know, want to win the heart of a man is through the stomach so been a "kiasu", I learnt some recipes from this book because my hubby is a great egg lover! 

 

It is kind of funny looking at my girl glancing through the book.  She was supposed to study for her exams but instead she was so relaxed and just taking her time doing revision.  Sigh!  Probably I worry too much.  

 

We have been blessed with hot sun since Monday and I could not stop myself from taking out baby clothing for washing.  Better get them done now than later.  Never knew I still keep so many baby clothing till I dig them out from the boxes yesterday.  I did give away some to few people but still, I have a lot.  Maybe I just could not part with some of them.  *wink*  Already cleaned some of the clothes and today will be some more baby clothings.

 



Those are the cleaned one. 

 I also dig out a set of baby bedding, i.e. pillow, bolster and blanket.  Just nice for a baby boy!  *wink*  But need to clean them up first. 

And dig out many other stuff like this piece.  I used it for my girl but did not used it on Baby Jay.  It is like those older time when the women wear them on their body. These pieces are tailored by hubby's aunty for our first born.  Wrap around the body to protect baby from cold and wind.  Do you have these pieces for your babies??



Weekend Menu #49: My baked cheesy potato & onion dish

Long time I did not bake (but it is not like I do bake a lot.  *wink*).  However once a while I will used my oven to bake meat and potatoes.  One of my signature dishes (ahem!) is this cheesy potato & onion dish.  Actually the first time I baked it was back in December last year when my friends from Australia came back for Christmas.  I was thinking of what to cook then and suddenly this baked potatoes dish came into my mind.  So then I try used the cheese sauce to go with my potatoes.  Glad that my friends enjoyed the dish and it inspired me to improve the recipe.  I baked thrice since then when we had guests to the house and on all occasions, my guests commented that it was nice and filling!  *Happy*
 

Hubby commented how come the top part looks burnt, but it tasted just nice.  No burn taste at all!  Because of the cheese.  If you do not want to have those black-ish look on top, you can spread the cheese on top during middle of the baking, i.e. after 20 minutes into baking.  But I am lazy so "hentam" everything one shot and throw into the oven. 

 

So last Saturday, I baked this dish again and this round, I added big onion into the recipe.  The result?  You try it out and be the judge!!!  *wink*

 

I prefer to used shredded Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese as they go well with this dish but since I could not find Parmesan, I used shredded Cheddar cheese instead for this round.  And you could used full cream milk if you like, but I prefer skim milk.

 

Baked Cheesy Potato and Onion

Ingredients:

6 medium sized potatoes, peeled, sliced, washed, boiled and drained
1 big onion, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups skim milk
2 tbsp flour
4 tbsp butter
3 tbsp Mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp Cheddar cheese (if used Parmesan, then 3 tbsp Parmesan cheese)
Salt and pepper to taste (I add 1 tsp of each)

The 2 cheese that I have in store!

Method:

1. Prepare the potatoes first and set it aside. 

2. Heat up a pan with olive oil.  Then add in the big onion.  Lightly stir fry for 1 minute and dish it up.  Set aside.

3. To prepare cheese sauce, heat up a sauce pot in medium flame.  Add butter into the pot.  Once butter has melted, add in the flour.  Continue stirring to mix and then off the flame.  Slowly add in the skim milk. 

4. Return to low heat and continue to stir the milk.  Once the milk has boiled, add in Mozzarella cheese, Cheddar cheese (or Parmesan), salt and pepper.  Continue to stir till the cheese has melt and the mixture has reduced and become more sticky.

5.  Off the flame.
6. Grease a baking tray with butter.  Arrange the sliced potatoes as first base. Scatter some fried onion on top of the potatoes.  Then pour some cheese sauce on top of the potatoes and onion.

 

7.  Continue the process till you finish up the potatoes, onion and sauce.  I make 3 levels of sliced potatoes.

8. Scatter some Mozzarella or Parmesan cheese on top before you bake.  Bake the potato in a preheat oven for 30 to 40 minutes or till the dish is firmer.  Test by pricking with fork.

How it looks like after 20 minutes into baking!!  Another 20 minutes it is done!!

Beautiful Mama Blog Award

 

Happy Mom's Day! 

Happy Mom's Day to all the mothers and mothers-to-be out there!  Time for celebration, appreciation and family togetherness.  And a day of relaxation and not doing anything but let the hubby and children do all the housework and pamper you on this day (which is pretty hard I know).  Anyway, hope you guys have a great day today.

 

And what a great way to start off this beautiful day with a special blog award from me???  This Beautiful Mama Blog Award is created and started by Valerie of AtlantaMomOfThree which I happened to come across early this week.  What a great blog she has and I have been following her blog since then. 

 

 

Valerie has requested to list down 3 things that we love about motherhood, so here is my list:

 

1. My children -   The joy and fruit of pregnancy and motherhood. They are simply the best.  Children make you cry, laugh, angry and worry but such emotions are worth fighting for.  The best part?  When they suddenly hug, kiss and say "I love you, mommy".  Melt my heart away. 

 

2. Bring out the best in me - From a working mom to a stay-at-home mom for 5 months now, I have been through nothing short of crazy stuff everyday. I feel like I am a supermom; juggling among many jobs from maid, cook, teacher, loud hailer to note keeper.  Nevertheless being a mother has opened my eyes to a wonderful journey of bringing up my children.  A trying journey indeed.

 

3. Meeting some wonderful mamas from different places around the world - Motherhood is one of the reasons I started this blog back in 2007.  A place where I can meet more people, share my experience and journey as a mom and learn more from other mama bloggers. 

 

 

It is hard for me to choose who mama bloggers to receive this award as there are many wonderful and awesome mama bloggers out there.  But in the end I am choosing 5 of my favourite mama blogs to receive and pass on this award to other deserving mamas:

 

Mama Kucing

Yan

Cynthia

Hayley

Yvonne



To accept this award, you just need to:

• Click the above award image, save it and use it in your acceptance post
• List 3 things you love about motherhood
• Nominate other deserving mamas; you may choose as many as you like (And let them know of the nomination!)

Feel loved!

This is how I feel right now.......I am blessed.  And thankful that weekend is finally here!  :)

 

 

Happy Weekend!!!

Chat with another preggie

I have a chat with a friend who is also pregnant and has the same EDD with me.  Both her girls were natural birth while I opted for C-Section for my 2 kids.  Both of her kids were born earlier than the EDD and the 2nd one was premature by a month.  It was a tough delivery for the 2nd one but now the little girl is 2 years old. 

 

The other day we were discussing about maternity and confinement issue.  I were asking her whether she would be doing her confinement in Sibu like the previous two but she is planning to stay in Kuching this time and get someone to do for her instead of getting her mum to help.  When asking her why staying back in Kuching this round, she said she would not like to trouble her mum with the confinement period.  She will get someone to do the cooking, while she can take care of the kids herself.  So not a strict confinement for her.  And she can have more freedom when no elderly around.  She can do whatever she wants to. I was shocked when she said that she can bathe and wash her hair whenever she likes without her mum around.  Oh dear!

 

I advised my friend to follow some of those confinement "pantang" as they are for her own good, but sound like she has already decided not to follow.  Well, guess I could not do anything but tell her not to.  I don't think confinement period is such a dreaded period.  It may be suffering especially the no-washing hair part.  I also don't like the idea of sleeping with my oily hair every night for 30 nights, but I survived both confinement without much damages to my hair.  And I only got to take bath once a day after the first week.  At least get to clean ourselves although the black herb water is hot.  Come to think of it, it is pretty relaxing without much worrying on food and kids as they are been taken care of. 

 

Wonder whether my in-laws have managed to find confinement lady for me or not??  It is not easy to find a good one.  I enjoyed my 1st confinement lady although she was strict, but she does cooked great confinement food and I always look forward to her cooking.  My MIL called her up few weeks ago but apparently she has retired.  Over 60 plus now, so it is time for her to retire.  Just hope that I am able to get a good one in Sibu.  Heard that the fee is now reaching around RM3000 for full shift (stay-in)!  Expensive!  But it is not an easy job taking care of small baby at night and during the day, still need to take care of the new mother and do other houseworks.

Hey babe! It is a BOY!

Went for my monthly pre-natal check up and anatomy scanning this morning.  As usual a long wait and I got my turn after waiting for more than an hour.  

 

My growing tummy

It took a while to find the gender news because doctor was checking on other stuff, i.e. urine test, heartbeat, glucose test and weight.  Even while I were lying on the bed, the doctor took some time to confirm the gender.  The baby cannot keep still in my womb.  But when the doctor pointed out that "thinggy" to me, I knew the answer right away.

 

Yes!  Undeniably it is a boy!  Even before the ultrasound I knew it is a boy.  Because I feel like it a boy, and some sign tell that I am carried a boy.  Called it a mother's intuition.  Even a friend of mine was guessing it is a boy.   

 

I would be back to clinic in 4 weeks time, but no more ultrasound since I have been scanned for the past 3 months. But I would have to undergo Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) due to my age.  Well, I am turning 36 this year and I feel healthy but doctor just need to confirm my blood glucose level is normal.

 

Broke the big gender news to hubby during breakfast in the nearby coffee shop after my check up.  He was happy. Why not?  He always want a 好 子 (a girl, a boy and a boy in that order and short for a good child "一个好孩子") and now he is getting it!  *wink*  But we are most happy that the baby is growing healthy in my womb and I am doing fine at the current stage. 

 

I am in my Week 20 Day 3 as of today, and I have gained 2 kgs from the previous check up.  Glad that I am gaining some weight because my weight is sure increasing slowly in this pregnancy compared to my previous 2.  Current weight is 53.3kg.  And doctor pricked and took out a pinch of my blood for sugar test and the reading is 5.5, so it is normal. 

 

Am I happy to be a new mummy again??  You bet I am!!!

 



Weekend Menu #48: 505 Roasted chicken

It was an exciting and long Sunday, with our Malaysia's 13th General Election held and seeing about 80% voters turnout disregard of the raining weather in the afternoon.  I as a dedicated Malaysian, casted my vote in the afternoon after the Sunday Mass.  Not many church-goers yesterday at the 10.30am; I guess they were still in the queues or have gone to the early mass and voted after the mass.  I myself always gone in the afternoon, because dislike the long queue and wait.  *wink*  As expected when I reached my polling centre, very few voters there and I were done with my vote in less than a minute!

 



Dislike the blue ink they used and I still have some mark this morning because I did not really bother washing it off, but should be gone completely by end of today

 

 

We stayed at home last night, awaiting for the result to be out.  This round, the results were really slow.  Cannot finished waiting for most of the result.  But we managed to catch all the results of the seats in Sarawak with most urban seats taken up by Opposition Parties.  As expected, BN retained the Sarawak states with more than 2/3 win. 

 

By 11.30pm, me and hubby hardly can open our eyes and we have to call it a day.  Life goes on today!  So whatever the result, we still live today.  And thank god that our rubbish was collected this morning as my rubbish has been pilling up in the bin since last Monday!  I started to wonder whether the Trienekens was busy with the GE13 campaign that they did not come to collect the rubbish for a week!!!

 

Not many coffee shops opened yesterday and mostly closed by noon. So after more than 30 minutes driving around Kuching for lunch after my voting (hubby did not vote as his vote is in Kapit and has not yet change to Kuching address), we decided to have pork leg rice for lunch.  However we waited more than 30 minutes for our food as it was packed yesterday afternoon. 

 

In the evening, since we are staying at home, I decided to cook roasted chicken for dinner.  We actually have no-rice dinner last night, as I made some lamb chop, hash brown and roasted chicken.  All high-protein food.  A change of menu once a while.  Sometimes I do not know what to cook especially with my 2 picky-eaters at home. 

 

And not only I am busy cooking in the kitchen, our kitchen tap was leaking pretty badly yesterday.  Now we cannot used the kitchen sink as worry that it will leak again.  Stain the cabinet underneath the sink.  Need to get plumber to fix the leaking problem and maybe get contractor to have a look at the cabinet.  Probably need to spend some money on repairing the cabinet.  I think we may need to take out and redo that affected part of the kitchen cabinet.  Sigh!!



 

Okay, and now back to my roasted chicken, I used the Chefel pan to avoid the oil and mess in my kitchen.  In 20 minutes this dish is ready!!

Roasted chicken with potatoes

Ingredient:

For the chicken:
Quarter chicken, cut into parts
2 tsp McCormick Mixed Herbs
1 tbsp fine salt
1 tbsp extra virgin Olive oil

For the potatoes:
3 medium sized potatoes, cut into 3 wedges
1 tbsp extra virgin Olive oil
1 tsp McCormick Mixed Herbs

Methods:
1. Rub the Mixed Herbs and fine salt all over the chicken, and mix well.  Leave in the fridge for 1 hour or more.

2. Put the potatoes in a mixing bowl.  Add the Mixed Herbs and Olive oil into the bowl and mix well with the potatoes.  Put aside till the chicken is ready to be cooked.

3. Heat up the Chefel pan on high flame.  Add 1 tbsp Olive oil to the pan and let it for a minute.  Arrange the chicken in the middle of the pan and potatoes surrounding the chicken at the side.  Turn the heat down to medium flame.  Close and lock the pan lid.

4.  Flip to other side after 5 minutes and this process take up 20 minutes.   Unlock the pan and arrange the chicken and potatoes on a serving plate.


I like the salty and aromatic taste of mixed herbs on the chicken meats.  Very juicy and appetizing. And the potatoes are very tender too!!!

Week 20 Bump

I am in my Week 20 now.  Halfway there.  Can't believe that time flies.

• I go to toilets more frequent now.  I need to urinate more and even after come out from the toilet, I have that urge again
• Feel tummy is heavier and baby is like pressing on the bladder.  So a slight uncomfortable on the lower part of the abdomen
• Squatting is getting harder now
• Walking up the staircase also required more energy (spell L-A-Z-Y)
• Sleeping at my sides more with pillow between two legs and one under my belly
• Can feel the baby flutters more frequent now, especially when I lie down on the bed. 
• My belly button is protruding as you can see in this photo

• No itch or dryness on my belly area and I used soothing lotion once a while over my belly.  Hopefully no ugly stretch marks appear
• No constipation problem (thank God)
• Did not put on much heap of weights unlike the first two. Did not eat much and have no particular craving for anything.  However I have higher sweet craving than normal days. Probably I developed a sweet tooth in my 3rd pregnancy. Maybe I am going to have a smaller baby this round. Previous two were weighing more than 3kgs.  First one is 3.58kg and 2nd one is 3.33kg.

I like it this way

Do you like eating lady fingers?  I do!!  And my family enjoy them too.  I either cooked with sambal belacan or with light soy sauce and anchovies but once a while I will just boil them and dip with belacan.

 

Last week while I was at my parents' house my mum is cooking lady fingers.  And her simple recipe tempted me to try it out.  So I copied her recipe and make a simple lady fingers with lot of garlic dish yesterday.

 

Just wash and rinse your lady fingers.  Choose the smaller lady fingers instead of those bigger and longer one.  Then throw the lady fingers into a pot of water and let it boil for few minutes before drain them out.  Cut off the top part of the lady fingers and put in a bowl of 2 tbsp oyster sauce.  Mix well.

Chop a lot of garlics.  Then fry them with oil in a pan. 

Just pour the garlic and oil onto the lady fingers and serve!  Enjoy!