The Long Weekend

Don't we all just wish the long weekend wouldn't end? It was a refreshing long weekend especially for those who also took Monday off(just like me!). Now it's back to work and a few people cursed(like my hubby :P) at the thought of going back to work. Last weekend, I went back to Malacca again. It was a more relaxing one this time because we stayed home most of the time as I want to spend as much time as I can with my Dad. However, we did go out to get food and this week I'm sharing about the famous ACS Mee as how my family like to call it. I'm not sure whether other Malaccans also do the same.

If you are very familiar with Malacca you might know where this makan place is. It's along Jalan Tengkera, right opposite Wesley Methodist Church. We gave the name ACS Mee because ACS stands for Anglo-Chinese School. This school is behind Wesley Methodist Church and is also my dad's old school. He used to frequent this place back during his schooling days back when it was just 5 cents a bowl! So hence the name and if I got it right, the GPS coordinates are 2.202399,102.236487.

The famous ACS mee that I tapau-ed  home. We ordered kuay teow and mee. Can you see the yummy crispy prawn fritters, fish ball and there's also fish cake slices if you can spot. Lucky day because we can still get a lot of prawn fritters otherwise sometimes we will get only a few pieces. 

This is the ACS mee with the soup here. The picture above was without the soup for photo taking purposes only. Hehe. The soup is really tasty and part of the reason why this mee is our favourite. My mom's favourite! Eat it fast before the prawn fritters get all soggy!

From Malacca to KL. We went back to KL on Sunday evening although we took leave on Monday. Why? That's because we already had plans for a kiddy's day out! We made a promise to bring Elizabeth for her very first cinema experience. It's a day planned for her only because her little brother isn't quite ready for his first cinema experience.

We had breakfast first before going to KLCC at Shange Dim Sum in Sri Petaling. The dim sum was not bad. Worth a try. We watched the movie at TGV KLCC because that is the only place that still shows Rio (not in 3D). It's the only movie for kids showing at the moment. Did Elizabeth enjoy it? Well, she doesn't mind going for movies again but she didn't enjoy the movie! Can you believe that? She was afraid and asked to go to wee wee many times! I don't know what she's afraid about. In the end, after the movie, she said, "Didi at auntie's place so long." She missed her little brother after all.

 Kiddy's day out.

 Breakfast at Shange Dim Sum. Press me for service button. Cool isn't it? Maybe I'm jakun.

 Chicken in glutinous rice(loh mai kai), barbecued pork buns(char siew pau) and bakuteh shanghai dumplings. The bakuteh shanghai dumplings are good. I like it!

 My favourite siew mai

 My daughter's and hubby's favourite, fish balls.

 Hong Kong chee cheong fun

Elizabeth enjoying her fish balls.

 

 My little princess

 This kind of things always catches her eye.

She must have a ride on it at least once.

If I ever have an Ipad, this is how Elizabeth will look like. Glued to it!

Yeay! We got the tickets.

No, this is not Rio. Unfortunately Rio doesn't have a poster there already since it's considered an old movie.

That's how she looked at the first sight of the big screen.

After the movie and lunch, we quickly returned home to this sexy boy!



This Mother's Day

I know Mother's Day is over already but I only have the chance to blog about it today. I felt a slight guilt for not going back to celebrate Mother's Day with my mum. But we're all just too tired to be travelling back and forth nearly every weekend because of family matters. We thought we'd just stay back in KL last weekend. Anyway, my mum wouldn't have the heart to celebrate anyway.

This year is quite an eventful one not in a good way. We had bad news after bad news. These had affected all of us and the one that got hit the hardest was my mum. I know this because she is not herself lately. Depressed and lost.

We didn't even celebrate her birthday this year. Her birthday came a few days after an untimely event that made us all no mood and even forgotten to celebrate. So I really feel for my mum and it made me appreciate her even more.

This post is dedicated to my mum. I'm sorry you have to suffer and sacrifice so much for the family especially dad. I hope you won't be disappointed that we didn't celebrate your birthday and Mother's Day for you. At least you got your present already. Please hang in there and be strong. Dad needs you the most at this time as his pillar of strength. In this difficult times, please also don't forget to neglect your health. If you have anything you wish to share with me, I am ever willing to listen if it makes you feel better. Sorry also for the countless times I was mad at you. Sometimes I'm just pressured and sometimes we have certain things we don't agree with each other.

But you are still the mother that I will always think who are very efficient and capable. A perfectionist, caring and a mother who always wants to give the best to her children. A person whom I can count on to give advice, opinion, help and to solve my problems. You just pamper me too much, Mummy that sometimes I take you for granted. I hope life treats you kinder and just know that I will always love you very much. For me, you are the best mom in the world and I will always be the apple of your eye.:*

Colour Of My Life

Children are so adorable. I'm not trying to sound bias but I'm sure you feel the same when you think that your own children are the most adorable in the world. My daughter has stopped daycare and so far it has all been manageable. So far so good. Crossing my fingers. So on the first day when I arrived at my babysitter's house to pick the children up, I asked her this..

Me: You got do your homework or not?
Elizabeth: Got! Auntie can speak english lar. Why you say cannot?
Me: Okok. (in an embarrass tone)

Actually I told her to do her homework by herself and then I will check it once we get home. And since I want her to practise her Chinese, I told her to speak to the babysitter in Chinese. She must've misunderstood me and thought that the babysitter can't speak a word of English. She must be so surprised when the babysitter could guide her in her English homework. LOL.

Joseph on the other hand, has started to learn the art of complaining by pointing finger at his sister! He is a good child actor I must say. He will shout, "Mummy!" followed with the furrowed brows, accusing tone and pointing his finger at his sister. LOL.

Yesterday while I was putting the boy to sleep, I overheard Elizabeth arguing with her papa over the TV. She wanted to watch TV while drinking her milk as usual but her papa was already watching a programme halfway. So I heard this..

Elizabeth: Papa, I want to watch my Little Einstein.
Papa: Wait a while. Let me watch this first.
Elizabeth: Long time I never watch Little Einstein, wait Little Einstein don't know me already!

I couldn't help but to snigger at that statement.

Then while everyone was sleeping yesterday, I swept and mop the floor. It must be the noise of the chair when I dragged it across the floor that woke Joseph up. I heard the pitter patter of tiny feet approaching nearer while I was sweeping the floor. He was rubbing his eyes, looking so groggy and walking wobbly. I had to stop what I was doing and bring him back to bed. He went off to sleep almost immediately the moment his head touches the pillow. I guessed he was searching for me when he saw I was not by his side.

And as if they were taking turns, his sister woke up when I was folding the laundry while watching TV. She was sobbing and demanded me to sleep with her. So I had to cease whatever I was doing and went to bed with her.

Ah children. They can get you on your nerves sometimes but they can also colour up your life for sure. :)

Smooch smooch!

Oh Malacca!

Last weekend was spent in my hometown again. I've been up and down Malacca nearly every weekend because of family matters. When you're down in Malacca maybe most people will think about the food. We do that too if my parents decided not to cook. Moreover we have to feed ourselves right? So let me show you what I had.

ABC. Look at that gula melaka larva. It looks so enticing and tastes as nice as it looks too! 

This is the famous Duck Mee. Sorry I should've took the photo before I mix the dish up.

One of the side dishes, hard boiled eggs in dark sauce. Yummy! Sorry about the messy dish, it was attacked by hungry piranhas.

Another side dish, yong tau foo.

The restaurant is very close by to the Malacca River Cruise. The cruise is really popular.

The restaurant is also close to Hang Jebat Monorail Station.

This is the restaurant.

So if you are familiar with Malacca, you can make a trip to this restaurant. It's off Jalan Tun Sri Lanang and if you are coming from St. Peter's Church, just go ahead and you will see Ping Ming Chinese School on your right and Restoran Lim Tian Puan on your left. Turn in there and it's along that row of shops. It's quite worth the try. We managed to avoid the crowd. Do come early at about 7pm then there will be plenty of seats.

This is Yong Peng Fish Ball Mee. Those are pork meat on the mee and it comes with a bowl of soup with fish balls.

I'm not trying to take photo of that man. LOL. Just want to show the name of the place. Look above the photo.

This is also a popular restaurant but I don't know whether it's just me or what but the taste wasn't that good as I remembered that day. Still the place is always crowded whenever I drop by. You can also order side dishes of yong tau foo to accompany your noodles. If you still want to give this place a shot, you can go to Melaka Raya (near Dataran Pahlawan and Mahkota Parade) where most of the Bridal shops are situated. It's at Jalan Merdeka and it's a corner shop lot.

Last Day

Today will be Elizabeth's last day of daycare in her kindy. She will usually be there for a full day and I will pick her up after work. So starting from the month of May, she will be getting a transport from her teacher who would be sending her home after classes. My babysitter who is taking care of Joseph, will also be taking care of her. How did I come up with this decision? Since Joseph is bigger now, I think the babysitter can handle two. Moreover, it's not difficult to take care of Elizabeth. She's already turning 5 this year. She seems to be liking the idea too(I interrogated her many times already). She chose to be with the babysitter even though I tempted her with the phrase, "you won't get to play with your friends anymore".

Since it has been decided, we'll just have to make the best out of it. Hopefully the babysitter can cope and hopefully Elizabeth will be happy. And of course hopefully Joseph will be happy too. The only thing worrying me a bit is whether I can cope with coaching her in her homework. Yes, you heard it right, preschoolers also have homework now. It's a competitive world. All this while I've been enjoying the benefit of not having to coach her in her homework because the teachers would help her with it. I mean I do coach only when she can't finish all her homework in school. But that is not everyday. Come next week and I have to start coaching her with her homework already in addition to all the other chores I have to do once I get home from work. It already sounds overwhelming. Hopefully I won't be giving up.

Can you believe one of the teacher said, "Oh so we won't be seeing you so often already". Are they starting to miss me? LOL. Elizabeth also asked me, " Mommy, so you won't fetch me in school but fetch me together with didi at didi's auntie's house, right?" She sounded so excited. Haha.

Elizabeth is a well-known crybaby in school. The teachers even joked about it. There was once the principal received her at the school gate when I dropped her off and Elizabeth was already on the verge of tears. The principal said, "It's ok. Monday blues lar." >.<
On another occasion, she cried in school after my husband left. One teacher asked her, "Elizabeth, today is what pau? Char siew pau, tau sar pau or ku pau? I don't want ku pau you know?"

Do you get the joke? Hehe. Have a nice weekend!

We don't even have to do homework when we were in kindy. Now preschoolers also have to do homework.

Latest obsession?

My little girl's latest obsession is..(drumroll) Madagascar. Yes, Madagascar the computer-animated movie. She has recently taken a liking to the movie and has been watching it so often that she is able to anticipate the next scene and I already can anticipate which funny scene will send her in a fit of laughter. Does this mean she will forget her other obsession with Little Einstein? Apparently no, because she still requested to watch it yesterday and I thought I would have to say goodbye to Little Einstein forever. ;)

By the way, in another unrelated incident, my daughter has her own room already and started sleeping in it a few months before my son was born. She has to give up her cot and make way for her brother. However, it wasn't a peaceful sleep for me because I have to endure her nightly visits and accompany her back to sleep. Some nights I just let her co-sleep with us because I'm too tired to argue with her or entertain her nightly visits. It can get a little crampy with our queen-sized bed, you know? Then recently for a few nights she has been sleeping through the night! Undisturbed sleep! I was so happy and excited at the same time that I didn't want to comment about it to my husband or even praise her for it. I was afraid to jinx it. Then yesterday I couldn't contain it anymore and told about it to my colleague. Thinking it should be safe since my daughter is not within earshot. Then just like magic she paid me a nightly visit at 4 AM this morning. Mumble..mumble..I shouldn't have told ANYONE at all. How ironic isn't it?

The look of concentration!

Meet Marty and Alex, Elizabeth's new best friends..hehe.

 A video to showcase her obsession..enjoy!

Guilty?

I have a few questions to ask. Have you ever fed your child..

ice-cream...

cup cake...

sweet biscuits...

or any other junk food? I mean I know it's quite normal to give it to a child but Joseph haven't even turn 2. So I would like to know are any of you guilty like I am? What do you think?

Adventurous Sunday

I was inspired by a fellow blogger, Alice that all of a sudden I suggested we travel by train to our destination last Sunday. It was no surprise that my husband wasn't too keen on the idea but I think he has learnt not to argue with a persistent wife. :P He wanted to go to Mid Valley but I wanted to go to KLCC. We went to KLCC in the end. Wanna know why? It's not because I was persistent..hehe. Read on.

We were quite clueless when we reached the train station at Bukit Jalil. It is the nearest station to my house although there is another station in Sri Petaling too. Oh and before that, we still had to drive ourselves to the train station and find a parking to park our car. The drama started when we realised that from the car park to the train station, it was not disabled-friendly at all. I mean we are not disabled but my child was strapped in his stroller for heaven's sake. There were so many steps leading to the train station. Haven't they thought about the disabled or children in strollers? How is it that the government wants to promote taking public transport when everything is not built completely for everyone's convenience? So imagine how many steps we have to go through just to reach the station plus the stroller is not that light you know? My husband had to carry the stroller and I had to carry my son. 

Checking out the route map before embarking on our journey.

The ticket counter.

Not congested at this Bukit Jalil station. I nearly fainted when I saw the flight of stairs ahead.

Phew! Luckily got escalator here.

Eager kids waiting for the train.

Crowd is manageable here. Spacious waiting area.

And here comes the RapidKL LRT.

Don't be deceived by Joseph's look. He was actually excited. It's something new to him.

We boarded the train, RapidKL LRT to be exact, to Bandar Tasik Selatan for the interchange to KTM Komuter. This is when we met the next hurdle of our little adventure. We were in for a big surprise for little did we know that there were many people who have the same destination(Mid Valley). Not only that, this KTM Komuter came from Seremban. So you can imagine the amount of people who were already in the train plus the amount of people waiting for the train. We couldn't even get ourselves in because we had the stroller. We were waited for the next train to come but it was still jam packed like sardines. And we thought that there will be less people travelling during the weekend.

The KTM Komuter ticket counter.

Fortunately there is a lift at this station.

There's definitely more people at this station.

Joseph is starting to get fussy already. I had to keep him occupied with biscuits which he gobbled up to 9 pieces.

The KTM Komuter leaving us behind to try our luck with the next train. Everyone's gone except for us.

My lil' dahling is still not tired yet.

At the Bandar Tasik Puteri station, there is also the interchange to KLIA Transit which will lead us to KL Sentral station. Feeling so desperate, we did that exactly. When my hubby told the ticket seller our destination to KL Sentral, she gave us a surprise look and had to ask us the second time for confirmation. I guess nobody would be silly enough like us to hop on this train just to go KL Sentral not only because the fare was expensive but also most people are going to LCCT instead of KL Sentral! RM 8.40 for 2 adults. Now that's more expensive than a normal train ride. Of course with that amount we paid, there will some difference like speed because it is an express train, comfortable cushion seats and not crowded with people.

That leg space is for people to put their luggage but instead we put a boy in a stroller. Hehe.

Comfy cushion seats in KLIA Transit.

I told my hubby that he should've listen to me and go to KLCC instead. Somehow, I think that there will be less people going to KLCC compared to Mid Valley. Although we could've boarded the train to Mid Valley at KL Sentral, my hubby got phobia and changed his mind to KLCC instead. So that's how we ended up going to KLCC in the end. See, it's not because I was persistent..:P

At long last, we finally arrived at KLCC. All that walking got us feeling hungry and we searched for a place to have our lunch. I was too hungry that I didn't even snap any pictures. Joseph was also tired that he fell asleep even before we had our lunch. Alas, my hubby didn't have the mood to shop after lunch and we ended up only getting cupcakes from Bisou Bake Shop as a treat for the kids.

Just to show how crowded the train to KLCC but it was still a wee bit better than the crowd going to Mid Valley.

Bisou Bake Shop in KLCC where I got the cupcakes. Sinful but lovely indulgence.

Presenting the cupcakes anti-clockwise from the top, Red Velvet, Nutella and Dark Secret. I personally feel that the Nutella tasted the best.

I gave Joseph a few bites of my Red Velvet cupcake.

Elizabeth chose the Dark Secret because she said it looked like ice-cream. Now she still looks normal. 

Then she behaved a bit crazy.

Finally a bit scary? That's what sugar do to kids?

You know, Elizabeth finished up all the chocolate frosting and then decided she had enough. So Joseph grabbed the cupcake from me and ate it all up.

Chomp, chomp, chomp.

Chocolate cupcake monster!

All of Bisou's cupcakes. Make you salivate?

I think after this little adventure, my hubby will stay far away from trains until his phobia subsides. LOL. Or should I say until Joseph turns 3 or 4 perhaps? But even though he wasn't exactly happy with the ride, he still went on for the sake of the children. I overheard him asking Elizabeth a few times whether she is happy to ride a train and you can bet that hearing her answer is all that matters to him. Unquestionably, her answer was YES!