Mom is back!

Oh..how glad i am that my mom is back. Did the 'handover' of the kitchen to her last Friday!!! But my new position now in the house is 'kakak' becos *sob* *sob*, the helper didn't come back after her two weeks' vacation. So gone are the days where i can relax and sip coffee after dinner (i know you must be laughing joyce!!). Anyway, we will wait for another week or so.. in case she decides to come back...else i will now have 3 jobs in a day, as how Zach puts it.

My new schedule remains but now with additional tasks... sweeping and mopping the floor, watering the plants, cleaning the toilets... wah.. i am glad i work 8 hours in the office!

Thus to release tension, i indulged myself into baking. More bread this time round... you name it, you get it ... mom wanted high fibre bread...zach, the usual sausage, hubby, doesn't matter. So i put all the ingredients for the bread into the bread machine and select the dough mode. Spent the whole hour to come up with the HFiber bread, cheese sticks, sausage and buttermilk buns! The whole house smells amazing during the baking!!! hahaha... And me, dead tired... after all the cleanup!

I want peanut butter!

Didn't know what should i give them for breakfast the next day...so i told myself...let them have bread!!! I was too lazy to bake anything so i just grabbed a loaf of bread from the supermarket counter.... and while in the car, i told Zach, we will have bread tomorrow...and he commented "with peanut butter?" Argh..forgot about that. The last time we had bread, he was already asking for it, but i told him strawberry jam is equally as nice as peanut butter!!!

So we went to the nearby bakery shop...but it was already closed, tried the petrol kiosk mart, "no peanut butter". Went round a bit...OMG, all the sundry shops are closed and it is only 9:15pm!!! Told him, don't worry, i will make sure there is peanut butter for your bread tomorrow! And his reply was "I will never give up"!!!

Hm...suddenly remembered that i have this peanut butter recipe somewhere. It was a recipe that came together with the Mistral Processor i bought a while back because i was impressed on how they demo on making "ice blended mango", "ice blended coffee", "hot barley", "ice cream", "soya bean milk"...and of course "peanut butter". Digged out the recipe book, and was happy that i have all the ingredients.

Toasted the peanut, mix all the ingredients together, chopped them...and YES...I do have peanut butter for his bread tomorrow .... :)

Got time for a hike?

Another week has passed since i took over the kitchen.....and i am still surviving! hahaha...with a little help from here and there (God sent angels!!). Zach gets to stay for a few hours each afternoon somewhere while i am off to my "2nd job". This is how Zach puts it, always telling me only to "work 1 job, not 2 jobs".

Working in Miri, i have the luxury to come back for lunch almost everyday (yes, my house is only 10 minutes away from the office and there is NO traffic jam here!) but to this lil' boy, he thinks i have 2 jobs - one in the morning and another different one in the afternoon!! how innocent! How i wish i get double pay too!

Anyway, for the past weeks, he was sent to
1) an auntie's place (1st week),
2) few days at home (becos another auntie came over the house) and
3) this week, at another friend's place...
4) next week, i don't know!

Despite the busy schedule, we decided to show him a bit of the other side of the world last weekend. Back to the nature.....was the theme for the weekend. Packed some picnic stuff and we headed off to Lambir Hills National Park which is about 30km south of Miri town. Entrance fee is RM10 each. It's been a while since i went jungle trekking. Zach was excited and after 10 minutes walk we reached the waterfall. The water was cold and nice. Saw some fresh-water prawns and huge ants!!!

Zach had a great time with his bucket and spade....and even forgot that he was hungry until when we were on the way back to the house...only then, he asked for food!


We all had a good night sleep after that!

Working Mum..

Now i realise it is not easy being a working mum when you have to juggle between work, cook and taking care of the household!. I have been the lucky gal to have my mom helping me to take care of Zach for the past years, until a week back where she had to go for the eye surgery in KK and will not be back for the next couple of weeks, wah..... my daily schedule suddenly went havoc especially during the first couple of days.

And this is my new schedule:
5:30am - Wake up...or laze in bed for another 5 minutes to think what to cook for lunch
5:45am - In the kitchen, digging stuff out from the fridge..what should i cook?
6:00am - Defrost meat/prawn/fish cake if lunch menu is noodle.
6:20am - The aroma of fried noodles now fills the kitchen...
6:40am - All done. Check what is there to pack for Zach to school...
6:50am - Wake up that lil' gremlin and get him his juice/milk
7:30am - Send my lil' gremlin off to school and make sure i reach office by 8!
11:45pm - Pick Zach from school, bath him, get him his lunch. Hm...wat is for dinner?
12:45pm - Transport him off to my auntie's place...and I go back to office
5:30pm - Pick him up from auntie's place.
5:45pm - Start preparing dinner
6:45pm - Voila..Dinner is ready

By 9:30pm Zach is off to bed...and i finally find time to update my blog....

Well, with the helper at home, things are not that bad as i do not have to worry about cleaning the house, putting the clothes to wash, etc.. but now that she is be going back to her hometown for 2 weeks...wah...maybe i will need a new schedule!!!

Not sure if i would have time to bake after this........*sob*

What happened to all the bananas?

This is what happened when my auntie Elisa made me bring back all the bananas from KK.. Had to dig out and surf for recipes that say "BANANA" as part of the ingredients... So, here's what we had for the whole week after the trip!!! Banana and Oat Muffin, Banana Crumble Muffin, Banana and Sunflower Seed Cake, Chocolate Banana Cake, Banana ShortBread until we all went bananas!

No more bananas for at least a month!!!

Where should i start?

Wah...ages since my last post. Wanted to update something several times ..but ..buts.... Anyway,
the Gawai holidays is over. We had a one week off at my workplace ...yes..one whole week....best time to go somewhere usually.. and this time, my dear hubby and my SIL made plans for the trip. We had a few destination to choose from initially...but finally we (they) decided to go to Kota Kinabalu, afterall this is their first time planning for a family trip ...so give them simple assignment lah...bagi chance..hahaha.

On and off i will check on them..whether the accomodation has been booked etc... actually also making sure that the holiday is still on!! hahaha.. well...they did well..with a little help from my auntie/uncle and cousin in KK. We took the early flight there and arrived at terminal 2 airport. Wah..very impressed leh with the airport...big, clean...thumbs up for Air Asia!!!

Arrived just in time for a good breakfast at the famous fish shop, Wan Wan Cafe. When it comes to food...wah..KK is a food paradize...Anyway, we had this fish kon lo mee (dried noodles). The noodle came with a big bowl of soup - fish slices, fish noodle etc - nothing but fish!

Then we checked into the Marina Court Apartment. We had the 3-bedroom apartment with a nice swimming pool view just outside the window ..that is what i thought at first until the next morning...when people start coming to the pool by 6:00am in their long pants, sari and baju kurung!

Visited the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park during noon!!! Wah...we were all very tanned after that...all because of Lil' Zach! He enjoyed himself a lot..especially having a close view of the Borneo Pygmy elephants, Orang Utan, monkey, Malayan tiger but somehow i wonder how we missed out the snakes.



Only realise that when Zach asked us how about the snakes? We sort of answer him ' no snake' but he pointed out to us the picture of snakes on the leaflet. Left all of us dumbfounded.. poor Zach.

Got the chance to sneak out in the afternoon, leaving the rest at the apartment, my SIL and myself volunteered to go and get some snacks. And guess what, we ended up shopping...and tricking each other to spend more $$$. Well, bought a few stuff..and by the time we are done with shopping, my cousin called up and told us that he is at the apartment gate waiting to bring us out for dinner...and i was there queueing at Burger King, supposing to buy the others their afternoon snack!! Well..i did buy them food...from Dotts Egg Tart - pretty expensive small-size tart but the crust is soft and crispy... and also lotsa burger from Burger King!

More food for dinner. Went to this seafood place called 'Welcome' at Penampang. Couldn't resist not trying all the shell fish, so ended up ordering at least 10 dishes!!! (I think). We had some sea snails, baby geoduck clams, crabs, prawns, fish, soup, veg... hehehe dunno how much the bill was.. my boss paid! and he only commented "CHEAP"

2nd day. Plan was to go island-hopping but were a bit lazy after the previous day long walk at the wildlife park and half of the "participants" were afraid of getting seasick!! So ended up walking to the nearby shopping mall, Centrepoint and Warisan Square. We had some breakfast at Olde Station kopitiam - nasi lemak, beef rendang, roti kahwin with egg.. (introduced my style of eating this to Zach...dip the roti into the egg...yummy).

Waited for the Big Apple Donuts to be ready. We grabbed 12 pieces at one go as soon as they are out of the oven and finished 10 within 15 minutes! (and that was after breakfast!!!) Though a bit sweet, but it is soft and nice...especially the mango and durian ones..oh..and the pink one, for Zach. He adores pink, don't ask me why.. Anyway, he took finished one whole donut by himself even after the roti kahwin + egg! We must be all on food spree!!!

And cousin called right after we finished the donuts - time for lunch... hahaha... Char Siew Rice and beef soup (ngau chap) from a famous shop...aiya. ..cannot remember what was the name (will update once i have it)

After lunch was shopping spree for me. Auntie took me to a number of shops selling baking things ...and wah...shop till drop. Bought this donut tray, hahaha, you are right...will try to make donuts as nice as Big Apple!!!!

Had the best lamb chop that night at Archie De Corner@ Taman Cantek - cheap and huge portion Lamb chops (RM14) and chicken chops (RM12) are the must tries. No other western food shop can beat this shop...no kidding. After dinner, went to the City Mall. Actually my intention to go there is to get some recipe book at Popular. Ended up buying 3 recipe books by Alex Goh!!!

3rd day. While having dim sum at Foo Phing , auntie Elisa quickly ran to get some nice buns (the ones with luncheon meat was yummy) from some nearby shop to 'tapau' up to the mountain. On the way, we stopped at the roadside stalls that mainly sell handicrafts... i remembered the last time i went, i "sapu" a lot of the necklaces and bracelets... but this time, i only bought myself a bag!!! Even uncle James was surprised.. haha

By the time we reached Kinabalu Park and checked into Peak Lodge, we were all famished, despite having heavy breakfast. Had some of the buns and head off to Poring Hot Spring. The place was crowded and by the time we managed to fill up the water in one of the lil' personal square toilet-cubicle looking tub and soaked ourselves in, it was late evening. Suddenly sms came in - "pump petrol. Price will go up the next day". Tried to pump at the station at Kundasang..but reached there 10 minutes after it has closed. Darn!

Anyway, went back to the park and it started to rain. Packed some dinner (fried noodles, rice) from Liwagu Restaurant and watched the news. Wah, petrol price, go up by 78cents/litre. How leh? Aiyo, one car got no 'minyak' some more...

The guys tried to start up the fire at the fireplace but after several attempts, they gave up. (haha, if only Juha was around, we never had any problem starting the fire during our NZ trip!!!) Called for help instead and within minutes, we had a nice fire burning at the fireplace.

Woke up to the superb view of the peaks. Wah, amazing sight. Packed up and went over to the Visitor Centre Building's Exhibit Hall to let Zach peep at the display of the huge snake. Actually all of us felt guilty about missing out the reptiles area at the wildlife park. Breakfast was at the Balsam Cafeteria. Not much variety of food but enough to make us happy :)

Drove to Kundasang to get petrol for the car but was redirected to Ranau instead. A few of us got down to stroll around the market place. Took lotsa photos with hubby's new camera until the local folks thought that i am a reporter!

It seemed a while before they came back with a full tank car, face very "masam" due to the price hike in the petrol. Anyway, thought we will pop by Nexus Karambunai on the way down to have a look at what a lot of people consider a "heavenly" resort to stay. Walk around a bit and after a few "WAHs", the two travel planner went to check out the price. Came back confirming that we are staying there...haha.. What happened to the booking for Sutera Harbour in KK city? Dah..who cares... Anyway, while we waited for the Deluxe Ocean View rooms to be ready, we "lepak" around the hotel lobby, and to keep Zach occupied.. i took him up and down the lift, and each time the lift door close he will sing "nga inseng mata kaji, nga insung..." depicted from P.Ramlee Ali Baba Bujang Lapuk song and was so amazed when the door actually opens!!! After a few rounds, wew...i was glad the room is ready. And guess what, since we asked for adjacent rooms, they only had one..right at the end of the building, the last two rooms!! Wah..so far to walk..was about to complain and called the front desk..but when i stepped into the room, i told hubby, "nevermind". why? becos the room was big and nice and Zach had a good time soaking himself in the bubble bath that afternoon.

Took him for a horse ride after that and surprisingly he was not even afraid. Usually he would want to take his smelly lil cloth with him but not this time.. but me, i was a bit worried after finding out that it was only the second day of work for the "horse trainer"!!! OMG! cold sweat all the way!

Later in the evening we tried driving down to my aunt's place on our own. Though we missed a few turnings here and there (actually we took a very long way, passed by the new hypermall, 1 Borneo , Tune Hotel and all the way down to the city before driving back to Luyang because that is the only way we know how to get to my auntie's place!! haha) She was surprised when we told her that we are about to reach her house!! So what is for dinner? Food again?

Well, at first we wanted to go to Supertanker but were told that they are closed, so how leh my uncle asked? Want to try the famous pork leg at Ang's Hotel? But have to drive down to the city.. and of course my answer was "GO". Fatt Kee Coffee Shop (Ang's Hotel Restaurant) is located opposite Wisma Merdeka. They serve good Chinese dishes especially the "not to be missed dish" pork leg, honey roasted chicken wings. Oh one thing, the menu on the wall board is all in Chinese... and people like me.."Banana Chinese" cannot understand a single word.

Lucky for me. My auntie frequents this place pretty often, and knows this lady that takes the order very well (btw, this lady talks very loud...and she can sing to you what is on the menu, yes.. "Sing". for she continues line after line and you are not suppose to stop her in between, else she will start from the beginning!!!) Being very greedy, i requested for two pork legs besides other things on the menu. Wah..pants felt so tight after all these food.

Stopped by at City Mall on the way back. SIL says must try the "Veda Blu" ice cream.. it is in her "Must try" food list. So another round of ice cream before we head back to the hotel. How is the ice cream? so so only lah...hehehe

Early next morning, took a stroll by the beach before heading for a quick swim. Breakfast was at the "The Penyu". More food... aiyo....stomache also want to burst liao!! After checking out, drove to my auntie's place (this time round, we got it right! no more detour to town), and head for the airport, on the way, stopped by my cousin's new house... and finally, at the terminal taking the next flight back to Miri...

I had a great time, thanks to both the holiday planner, my SIL and hubby.. you both have done well...... can i leave it to you guys for our next trip??? *grin*

When Mom is also into blogging!

Yes, mom is also into blogging....it was last week i think that she suddenly popped up the question "how come you only take pictures of your baking and not my cooking?"..hmm..i thot i heard wrongly...but i replied.."oh..you never say you want me to take the photos mah".
So now i have 3 blogs to maintain...zach, mom and myself. And mom is cooking faster than i am publishing..hahaha..and also that i have to pick up photography as well...cannot harap my hubby...have to get every angle right, light right etc before snapping one photo..aiyo..headache.

And talking bout that, i find it pretty interesting actually...i mean food photography..how you can actually bring out the 'taste' of the food in a photo. Amazing...well to do that, i actually have to snap almost 10-15 pictures all the time..and choose the best one to publish. Well, i find it easier that way than to spend 5 minutes just getting the right angle/light/etc before snapping!!!

And for that i remembered during my family trip to NZ, my brother, Darrell, Gladys and myself went out one early morning to catch the glimpse of sunrise on the beach... While Darrell find his spot to take the photo (see ..it is without a s), Gladys and I took a stroll on the beach where we were "chased" by dogs and sea gulls... but Darrell...he was the whole time at the same spot that we left him earlier on...only now the sun has already came up, tide had came in a bit and he was almost in the water!!...He said...waiting for the right time to take the photo!!! i really admire his patience! Care to see his work? Pop by his website.