tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163908252024-03-08T08:28:27.248+08:00BabySmoochesBabysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.comBlogger345125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-36475686273617508732014-02-22T14:47:00.000+08:002015-10-13T11:48:36.124+08:00Money lessons - teaching my kids about money<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVPd8dFRogIehNAJpUNuVso3cZrUn8ACMaO0Zyt9hv4KlHQygAUHXv4rUgHmeAH5gxCTmndib5Chqd-I-PdJdTHZiLE24Ydnng-2YddLuNp9ZT2HszaW0Ldz1WTyCiUaPD29q0/s1600/brendan+saving+money+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVPd8dFRogIehNAJpUNuVso3cZrUn8ACMaO0Zyt9hv4KlHQygAUHXv4rUgHmeAH5gxCTmndib5Chqd-I-PdJdTHZiLE24Ydnng-2YddLuNp9ZT2HszaW0Ldz1WTyCiUaPD29q0/s1600/brendan+saving+money+blog.jpg" width="239" /></a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the first time, I took Brendan to the ATM. That was sometime last month, to deposit his money, of which, half of it was collected from his school under the govt incentive for school children. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do not give my kids pocket money to school most of the time as they prefer to bring food from home. They are times when I'd give them some money to buy things from school so they can have the feel of having money in their hands and be in control of the things that they buy.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brendan is a very cost-saving boy. He is careful in spending unnecessarily. He used to pester me to bring him to the bank to bank in his money, even if it's just a few ringgit. I've since set a rule that if he needs to bank in money into his savings account, he will have to wait til he has at least a RM100 to make our trip to the nearest ATM machine more worthwhile.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I instill the importance of savings in my children when they were very young. It works most of the time. But Eryn doesn't seem to follow it consistently yet.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are my money tips which I found useful. It may not go well with some but it worked for me. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">1.</span><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span></b><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><b>No pampering</b>
even if they whine and cry and kick a big fuss out of it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Eryn was in preschool, she would kick a fuss about not having that
pretty doll that she wanted when we were in the supermarket, or in shopping
malls. When she started school, she would sometimes use her pocket money (if
she was given) and buy junk food. Brendan, being the rather reasonable one will
tell her that we have some snacks at home and that it is always more expensive
and unhealthy to buy these stuffs in school. I’m glad they have now grow up to
be wise and reasonable when it comes to spending. We do pamper them
occasionally in our own ways like getting them what they’ve wanted – that pretty
hairband, the storybook they’ve been
eyeing for, that nice pencil box, etc. At times, they may not get what they
want, but a clear explanation and an alternative to what they want sets the
message clear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">2.</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span>Learning from example.</b> My kids have observed from us parents that we do
not necessary have to have something just because someone is having it. They
used to want everything their friends have – playstation, x-box, branded toys,
tons of Barbie dolls or toy cars, Ipads and many more. Eryn still loves Barbie
dolls and she treasure her 3 dolls very much which is not sitting in the dark.
Brendan has stopped demanding for whatever IT gadgets and is so contented with
just having the computer at home to play his online games. Once in a blue moon,
we do surprise them with things which their friends get so easily. To them,
they know that to have these things require certain hard work from the parents.
After all, we are just average income-earners, and now that both of us are in
our own business, things do get a little tough at times, and we have learn to
live and be content with what we have.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">3.</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span></b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><b>Opening
a kids savings account and setting goals.</b>This is a must have for my children. I
have three forms of savings account. One, which is the bank junior savings
account which is for their long term savings plan. Two, is their piggy bank
which they can take up to buy anything they might like with our approval (so
far they have not used it except for losing a book in school). The last one is
a wallet for each of them to keep their money for school pocket money. You may
not believe this, but my kids only ask for RM1 for pocket money, that is if they need
it. And in a month, I have never ever given them more than RM5, all because
they never need it. I do set aside a certain amount which I’ll bank into their
savings account for being so prudent, and without their knowledge. They each
have a goal in wanting to buy something within a certain time frame. So
far, they have not decided to use it yet.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">4.</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span></b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><b>Reward
and wages</b>. “<i>You need to work for It</i>”. Occasionally,my </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">kids do get rewarded in things that they do. And
these rewards may or may not come in monetary form. It can be a simple holiday
trip which most people take for granted. My kids know that a trip is an
extremely rewarding thing they would ever have. An outing to my kids favourite
steamboat barbeque buffet is much appreciated. As we do not eat out in
expensive places most of the time, things like this tend to make them more
appreciative and not take things for granted. Think about it. Look at some
children around you when you go to a restaurant.. It may be a normal outing for
some, it may be a privilege for some.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><b>5.</b></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><b>The
power of compounding.</b> MY kids know that there is such a thing as inflation and
the power of compounding. Well, not so much on Eryn but Brendan understands the
power of compounding. The earlier you save, the more you earn. The more you
save, the higher your savings would get in later years. They don’t know how
exactly it works but let’s just say that it is through our live experiences and
observations that my kids learn from.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">I encourage my children to save. I help them to set goals and do up a
simple dreamboard. I bring them outside and enjoy nature – hiking, cycling,
evening walk. And in the midst of these activities, there are things I can
observe from their characters. It also get them thinking on issues on life.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-60158150281418673952014-02-22T12:50:00.000+08:002014-02-22T13:14:55.559+08:00There are beauty in imperfections.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally! Finished
watching The Heirs. All the casts are so good-looking. And I wonder how many of
them undergone plastic surgery? Love the pairing of Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye, two of my favourite Korean casts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My girl
watched a few episodes with me and asked why are all these people so handsome
and beautiful? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I remember
she once came home from school and told me that she didn’t like her big nose.
Obviously someone must have pointed it out at her. One of her friends, told Eryn
that Eryn’s good in everything and she’s lousy. Another friend told her that Eryn
is a nice, cheerful girl, while she is quiet and unknown.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My little
girl has this special gift in telling people to accept their imperfections and
to improve themselves where they can – in their studies, in their sports, in
their writing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq1Y_nZJ1mC9kf3UhiLOKWfVcsXX83hcvU_g7IgWE1zn6MXlf8OHPtJZMxJ9LQYTZDqgRXdF23ssJJynSm_C3NXosqlmJeyqv4W-6dq3K4AyJ98DZvfizdw1mzuuWQtQc4BJc5/s1600/20140213_191553-blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq1Y_nZJ1mC9kf3UhiLOKWfVcsXX83hcvU_g7IgWE1zn6MXlf8OHPtJZMxJ9LQYTZDqgRXdF23ssJJynSm_C3NXosqlmJeyqv4W-6dq3K4AyJ98DZvfizdw1mzuuWQtQc4BJc5/s1600/20140213_191553-blog.jpg" height="400" width="256" /></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My little
girl has grown. Like most little girls, she loves all things pink and pretty.
She knows that imperfection causes insecurity. I hope she continues to be an
inspiration to others just like how she is now. </span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She knows that some issues like being obese, not by birth, but by diet and lifestyle, is a flaw. Or that, having an ugly heart, is a flaw. Or being a bully, is a flaw. And it is because issues like this are based on the progress on one's lifestyle, upbringing, attitude, and character of that person. And that, is what real imperfections is all about.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was born
average-looking. And have been called by people that I have panda eyes, stick-out
ears, serious-looking, bittergourd face, ugly eyebrows and I don’t even know
what else. I never felt that I was imperfect until these were all pointed out
to me. But I’ve come to terms with my
imperfections, acne scars, wrinkles and all, I think.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In one
particular part-time job I took up, my superior at that time loved to pick on
the way I dress. <i>“You’re too old-fashioned”</i>, “<i>You should put on more make-up to
meet clients</i>”, “<i>You need to be a little bit more dressy and wear some
jeweleries</i>”. I tried all that. But now, I wear what I want, without my accessories
most of the time, unless I have important meetings or special functions. The only thing I still carry on
is having my make-up on in meeting clients. </span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, I do
feel imperfect still. And thus, a little make-up that brings colour to my face
and certain clothes help ‘enhance’ my appearance when I meet bosses. Despite my
imperfections, my friends are still my friends. My clients are much
appreciative of what is in my brains than what is physical. I don’t think
anyone has run away from me because of the way I look.</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000;">Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be your own kind of beautiful. Afterall, we're all beautiful.</span></span><br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-62496869252611779112014-02-22T12:39:00.000+08:002014-02-22T13:06:33.546+08:00Memories to remember, treasure and to last a life time.<span style="color: #660000;">I kind of gave up pursuing in penning things down in this blog and sort of migrated to facebook instead.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000;">As I looked back at all the posts in this blog and the photos (I'm a 'visual-person') I uploaded on facebook, I realised so many things have happened. Some do come back as flashbacks and some were forgotten.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000;">I shall continue to pen adhoc messages here. And my main audience would be my children. Afterall, I don't think anyone would really pop by in here anymore. My children will grow up some day, with children of their own. And when the time comes, we parents will kick the bucket. And it is my wish and hope that this blog serves in bringing them comfort, smiles, love and memories to remember, treasure and to last a life time.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-38767743212866145572013-03-01T16:57:00.001+08:002017-06-28T18:05:12.195+08:00High fever that wouldn't go away<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Approximately one and a half months ago, Brendan had to missed school for 3 days as he had extremely high fever at 39.9 degrees. We took him to see the dr who said that he didn't require any antibiotics and the fever should subside after a few days. We were given paracetamol which unfortunately didn't help very much.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The fever did go down for just a little while but would go up quickly again especially at night. Brendan was extremely weak and his body was extremely hot. He didn't have an appetite for days. He couldn't even finish a cup of water. I had to keep reminding him to drink sips and sips of water every now and then.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I wanted to try the egg white and flour rub down but decided to send him to see a lady who specialised in <span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">猪毛</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">丹</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> (“zhu
mao tan” or also known as Chinese typhoid fever or demam kepialu in malay) in Seri Kembangan on the 4th day, upon recommendation by a friend.</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;">She did a quick check on Brendan and asked him to lie down while she rub a watery mixture in red on his chest. Within seconds, there were tiny little hair on his chest. She proceeded to pass us a few packets of some powdery medicine to be taken every 4 hours for the next 2 days plus a packet of clear water. It was all done in a jiffy. There were no description of the herbs or the water which I later found out to be some sort of cooling water. She didn't even confirmed it to be </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 17px;">猪毛</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 17px;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 17px;">丹. So, to this date, I'm still not sure whether it was </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 17px;">猪毛</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 17px;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 17px;">丹 or "<i>atapchee</i>" fever.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 17px;">This traditional chinese remedy believes that the appearance of the harsh looking hair on the body is the relieving of body heat. If not treated, it can lead to death.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVKzKPqo_XMiHcqor3uK1A-5OPEjdk2q8US7chprzWksy0aT2aeOGHA1shQhkby4uyV9zbfVb3Iq4pm3VFOMB3Ybi2yGNROLmQNpzF1WedCI7MHodN1kSuHvJq7rq1MImfOkj8/s1600/zhu+mao+tan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVKzKPqo_XMiHcqor3uK1A-5OPEjdk2q8US7chprzWksy0aT2aeOGHA1shQhkby4uyV9zbfVb3Iq4pm3VFOMB3Ybi2yGNROLmQNpzF1WedCI7MHodN1kSuHvJq7rq1MImfOkj8/s400/zhu+mao+tan.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;">She passed us a small piece of paper which states <b><i>"Diet: rice, egg, apple, sweet potato, pork, chicken, fish. No Bath for 2 days. Diet for 4 days".</i></b> I thought that was the diet Brendan was supposed to be taking until my friend who recommended me this lady said that those are the food to avoid.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;">His fever did subsided 2 days after that lady's treatment. It was a big scare for us as his fever was so high and he couldn't even walk.</span></span><br />
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</span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over the CNY holidays, I had the privilege to consult a very experienced sifu in treatin</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">g </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">猪毛</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">丹, shingles, snakebites and centipede bites. He taught us how to identify whether it is </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">猪毛</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">丹and how to treat it.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">Here's the video taken. Hopefully this helps anyone who is looking for any sort of info on this. Kindly excuse our bad Chinese in the video.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2bbgITHfZYs" style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;" width="420"></iframe></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Contact of Sifu Tan :</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Tan Eng Huat</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><strike>013-7046165</strike> </span>(updated : 011-1077 6165)</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>21, Jalan Muhibbah, </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Taman Kerjasama, </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>86000 Kluang, Johor.</b></span><br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-55093004998682148352013-02-20T18:23:00.000+08:002013-02-20T18:28:27.037+08:00Disappearing act. Peeling garlic act.<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yeap, I've disappeared for a while. I've kind of migrated to FB for most of my updates where I can limit my posts to selected group of friends. Over the Chinese New Year break, I met a friend who asked why I stopped "writing".</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To begin with, I don't write. The few "writing" episodes in the newspaper many years ago was by chance. It was just articles I submitted just for the fun of it. I don't have the intention to keep on blogging. It started basically as my personal mission to keep memories in writing where I can reflect back on the things that have happened, to give memories to my children on a (not-so-private) journal in my journey on motherhood and my personal rants in life. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxzJyx_JdWc90AlqgQhs-Iff_XCo6hFuNWMRmIw8NIMpc19RK96qUvE8HWRoQBAeehyrouHioTUEAnKoCeb2cymqaynYCmZLl5o9R7L985LxRmLWQRCjdgXdJKDjvWtpVdH-zq/s1600/BBS+onions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxzJyx_JdWc90AlqgQhs-Iff_XCo6hFuNWMRmIw8NIMpc19RK96qUvE8HWRoQBAeehyrouHioTUEAnKoCeb2cymqaynYCmZLl5o9R7L985LxRmLWQRCjdgXdJKDjvWtpVdH-zq/s400/BBS+onions.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Concentrating hard to peel garlic</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I showed my children, who can now read, this blog, and they kind of enjoyed reading some of the 'stories'. This has also prompted them to write their own diary everyday. As Brendan says,<i> "I also want to keep track of the things I do so that when I am big one day, I can look back at what I did as a child".</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok, children, you will know some personal stories which I keep in a private journal. You can also continue coming back in here anytime to read my journey, and your baby/childhood stories which will be kept in limited updates. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My lovely children, found it entertaining to read interesting stories of themselves as babies. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, Brendan caught me by surprised when he suddenly sat down at the kitchen table last week to help me peel garlics. Lots and lots of it. Motherhood does springs its surprises at times. After half an hour, he decided to call it quits, finding it too tiring to continue any further. He says,<i> "This is hard work."</i></span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-34524159094052505572012-09-24T22:00:00.000+08:002012-09-24T22:17:18.959+08:00Silhouette in the middle of the night<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At around 2:00am this morning, I awoke to the sound of thunder. It was raining heavily and the wind was howling outside the room window. I got up to close the windows in all the rooms and went back to bed. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I drifted back to sleep, a bright strike of lighting flashed in the sky followed by a deafening sound of thunder and car alarms ringing through the air. The power tripped.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then, I saw a silhouette. I wasn't wearing my spectacles and was wondering if my eyes were playing tricks on me. I glared hard. I notice it's a human-like shadow on the wall, swaying very gently. My heart was beating faster. I couldn't tell if there was someone standing outside the window or if something is in the room.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I lay still for a while, observing the shadow and was wondering whether I should jump out of bed or stay still or start screaming. I tried to remember whether my golf stick was beside my bed.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hubby was snoring beside me and I didn't dare to turn. I quickly calm myself down and said a quick prayer. I decided to just sit up straight in bed and to confront my fears.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was Eryn, standing by the foot of my bed, staring at me. She gave me a fright. She said in a hushed tone that her back ached. I knew it was just an excuse and could have been frightened by the sound of thunder. I gave her a back rub and then she went back to bed.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hubby got up and went downstairs to check on the circuit box. I went back to bed and closed my eyes. Once again, I had a big fright when there was this face right in front of me, with eyes wide open and whispering in a slow voice in Mandarin saying that the power has tripped. That was Brendan, speaking slowly and whispering so as not to fighten me. <i>Sigh!</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This kind of experience is definitely not for the faint-hearted. I remember the older folks used to have a chinese saying :<i> "frightened by a human being can cause a fright to death where else frightened by a ghost can still be overcomed"</i>.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not the first time that Eryn has given me such fright. She has always stood there quietly and very straight and looked at me, always careful not to disturb me - while I'm cooking, while I'm in the toilet or while I'm watching TV or working on my pc at night. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She's not always like that though. She likes to come up to me and snuggle and hug me but cooking time and toilet time are a big no-no. When it's bed time, she's not to come downstairs too. So, she'll just stand still and look. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During such times, when I noticed a silhouette, I would normally turned very quickly, and there stood Eryn, looking at me and then breaking out in a wide grin. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What would you do if you encounter a silhouette in your room?</span><br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-86657176736550301522012-09-18T21:33:00.001+08:002012-09-18T22:22:50.591+08:00Sperms and Eggs (part II)<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">Here's the 'sequel' to my earlier post titled </span><a href="http://babysmooches.blogspot.com/2012/01/of-sperms-eggs-and-balls.html" target="_blank"><i><b style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">"Of sperms, eggs and balls"</span></b></i></a><span style="color: #660000;">, the kids know how fertilisation occurs but has never gotten down to the details of where sperms actually come from.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My little 7 y.o. Eryn came up to me after dinner and said she's got a very interesting story to tell me. So, I sat with her and she took out her kids' magazine, <a href="http://mag.sinchew-i.com/bintang/" target="_blank">小星星</a><span style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: nowrap;">or </span><i style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: nowrap;">Bintang SinChew</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: nowrap;">, and showed me this page below.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBIUTru7eiPuPtgS_J4nM_CkZegc7mEkp7trRZCnxxPeF8h4HJjyzrXY3CH_Fqj-RLaSYmSXws4ucnttIlCgnp_30eJYNroownAUe69wxvmmUGOpF3O2GuO1k6EnNvqiqzE5E7/s1600/DSCN2126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBIUTru7eiPuPtgS_J4nM_CkZegc7mEkp7trRZCnxxPeF8h4HJjyzrXY3CH_Fqj-RLaSYmSXws4ucnttIlCgnp_30eJYNroownAUe69wxvmmUGOpF3O2GuO1k6EnNvqiqzE5E7/s640/DSCN2126.JPG" width="488" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;">She then went on to tell her story which goes like this :</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #660000; white-space: nowrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000; white-space: nowrap;"><i style="background-color: white;">"These are all the sperms and the fastest and strongest sperm will go to the egg in your body </i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: nowrap;"><i style="background-color: white;">and make a baby. Just like how the sperm, which was daddy, and the egg, which is inside your body, </i></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: nowrap;"><i style="background-color: white;">meet and made me. </i></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: nowrap;"><i style="background-color: white;"><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: nowrap;"><i style="background-color: white;">"The little egg baby will go inside your womb and slowly grow into a real baby and when the baby is ready</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: nowrap;"><i style="background-color: white;">to come out, it will come out from this part (pointing to the vagina in the picture)".</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: nowrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: nowrap;"><span style="color: #660000;">I then proceeded to ask her, </span><i><span style="color: #990000;">"Where did the sperm come from?"</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: nowrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: nowrap;"><span style="color: #660000;">She answered like a girl full of wisdom, </span><span style="color: #990000;"><i>"The sperm is quite invisible. It is very tiny, and you can't see it. </i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: nowrap;"><i>It's like the size of </i>kutu<i> (lice). Wait, it's more like the size of germs because you can still see </i>kutu<i>. This</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: nowrap;"><i>sperm will go down your mouth and inside your tummy to find the egg."</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: nowrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: nowrap;">I almost chocked on my guava hearing that! <i>Gosh! </i>Trying to be smart indeed. <i>he he he....</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: nowrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: nowrap;"><span style="color: #660000;">She continued, </span><span style="color: #990000;"><i>"</i></span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><i><span style="white-space: nowrap;">And only married people can </span><span style="white-space: nowrap;">have babies."</span></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: nowrap;">Earlier this year, Brendan's version of where sperms come from is from <i>kukubird</i> and two balls.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: nowrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: nowrap;">I wonder what new versions I'm going to hear.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-46600663539047256732012-09-06T16:20:00.001+08:002016-05-10T18:16:37.109+08:00"Kari Ikan Tongkol" to go with Nasi Dagang<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em>Yummy Yummy!</em></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From my earlier post on how to cook </span><a href="http://babysmooches.blogspot.com/2012/09/nasi-dagang-recipe.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em>nasi dagang</em></span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, here is the recipe for <em>'kari ikan tongkol'</em> (Kelantanese style fish curry). I'm not sure what <em>'ikan tongkol'</em> is called in English. I think it's some kind of a Malaysian tuna?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="color: #660000;"></span></span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, we eat rather heathily on weekdays as I cook almost everyday, and we definitely do not consume much salt, sugar, <em>santan</em>, oil and stuffs that contribute to the high level of diabesity and overweight problems that is increasing in our country. So, do take it easy with the curry since it's generously laden with <em>santan</em> (coconut milk). I think you may opt to use evaporated milk or use less <em>santan</em>, but the taste be slightly less fragrant. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="color: #660000;"></span></span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is an occasional treat where we usually invite some friends over to indulge in this yummilicious meal.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial";">Here's sharing with you our recipe. We prefer ours with more gravy. Do note that we do use any specific measurements as every ingredients are based on estimation according to our preference.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZiBkAeOTHjzIoa-2pmFTn_O0Mb675EyiK7zMOMSR3etk-NQfcxyLsiyPo3TIvTX3GaT1_mU3SNOBxtCUpg9oO4OVQSphswOGJy4mB4JeuXvnKEqXsVC3G2PHa0xElNfUR8I0_/s1600/ingredients+2a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="539" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZiBkAeOTHjzIoa-2pmFTn_O0Mb675EyiK7zMOMSR3etk-NQfcxyLsiyPo3TIvTX3GaT1_mU3SNOBxtCUpg9oO4OVQSphswOGJy4mB4JeuXvnKEqXsVC3G2PHa0xElNfUR8I0_/s640/ingredients+2a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<strong><u><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our </span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">'</span><em>Kari Ikan Tongkol' </em>recipe for approximately 10-12 pax :</span></u></strong><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong><em>Ingredients A :</em></strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ one big bowl of shallots (approximately 4-5 handful)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ a quarter big bowl of garlic (approximately 1-2 handful)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ 4-5 stalks of <em>serai </em>(lemongrass) - <i>more if you like the fragrance</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em><strong>Ingredients B :</strong></em></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ 5 to 6 medium sized <em>'ikan tongkol'</em> or <em>'tenggiri'</em> (Malaysian tuna?)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ <em>santan</em> (coconut milk) from one coconut</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ one/two cucumber (cut in big pieces)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ long beans (cut in thumbsized length)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ 5-6 fresh red chillies or green chillies (the light green type) - <i>we like to have more of it</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ a few cili padi (bird's eye chillies) - if desired</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ <em>cili giling</em> (chilli paste, comes in a container and is easily available in the market)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ a few pieces of <em>asam keping </em>or <em>asam gelugor</em> (dried tamarind skin), </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ fish curry powder (we prefer Baba's brand)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ <em>lengkuas</em>, thumbsize (1 to 2) (galangal)</span></span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ 2 to 3 big bowls of water</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ salt and sugar to taste</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong><em>Method :</em></strong></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u><strong>( Pre-cooking steps ) :</strong></u></span></span></em></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u><strong><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></strong></u></span></span></em></span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1) Boiled a big bowl of water in a pot with 2-3 pieces of <em>asam keping</em> (dried tamarind skin) for approximately 20 minutes. Turn on low fire and add in the fish. Turn off fire when fish is halfway cooked. Leave the fish in the water and let it cool totally. </span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cover pot and let the fish 'soaked' in the asam water overnight in the fridge. This is to ensure that the fish would have a slight sourish tangy taste. Alternatively, you may soak it for a few hours prior to cooking.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2) A few hours before cooking, do the same for the cucumber and long beans. Boil half a big bowl of water with 1-2 pieces of asam keping. Turn off the fire and add in the vegetables. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Leave the vegetables in the water for approximately one hour. You may pour away the water afrer it's cooled down.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyYbxgxfBxtjgiR9dja2AMA-LS-ns0LRQ8uJNuxhhgSncH50q0pqQkKd2aT204sIWiuSF4rGEmySCES3KqtDdJ9loUrZQ1Z6ATA_3c68Hyr5jWv7GWSv889YR16Aq19mpWuzlN/s1600/ingredients+1a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyYbxgxfBxtjgiR9dja2AMA-LS-ns0LRQ8uJNuxhhgSncH50q0pqQkKd2aT204sIWiuSF4rGEmySCES3KqtDdJ9loUrZQ1Z6ATA_3c68Hyr5jWv7GWSv889YR16Aq19mpWuzlN/s640/ingredients+1a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em><u><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">( Cooking steps ) :</span></strong></u></em></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1) Heat up oil. Lightly fry two tbsp-ful of the chilli paste. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2) Add in ingredients (A), stire and fry over medium heat till fragrant.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">3) Add in 2-3 tbsp of fish curry powder and continue frying over medium-low heat. Be careful not to burn.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">4) Add in the bowls of water and let it boil.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5) Add in the fresh chillies and one or two more <em>asam keping</em> (to your preference)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">6) Add in all the fish and let it simmer on medium heat and then to low heat.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">7) Add in the <em>asam fish water</em> (tamarind water) from the pot that was used to 'soak' in the fish. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Simmer on low fire for around 20 minutes or so for the flavour to come out.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">8) Add in approximately 2 tsp of salt and 1 tbsp of sugar, to your preference.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">9) Gradually pour in the coconut milk and simmer on low heat for around 5 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">10) Turn off fire. Add vegetables from the pre-cooking steps above into the curry before serving. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #990000;">(I prefer to keep my vegetables separated so that it's easier to scoop out). </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As mentioned in my earlier post, <em>'kari ikan tongkol'</em> goes well with <em><a href="http://babysmooches.blogspot.com/2012/09/nasi-dagang-recipe.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">nasi dagang</span></a></em> which is a well known dish in the states of Kelantan and Terengganu and southern Thai, accompanied by <em>'acar'</em> (pickled vegetables), hard boiled eggs, salted fish, <em>'sambal belacan'</em> (a type of chilli shrimp paste) and <em>keropok</em>.</span></span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></em></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've made a video here for your perusal. <strong><em>Happy Cooking!</em></strong></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/06ykUdrDkHk?rel=0" width="480"></iframe></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-61514887835407228482012-09-04T22:37:00.002+08:002012-09-06T23:56:48.746+08:00Nasi Dagang recipe <span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Mmmmm........ </em></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our kitchen is our mini bonding time for DH and I on some weekends when we undertake the task of cooking together. I cook for the family on weekdays and on weekends, DH would be the one who normally does the cooking. Occasionally, when the mood sets in, he'll go on a huge marketing spree and we'll then decide at the very last minute to call a few friends over.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since we do not have a maid, our day starts right from the early morning till the evening, starting with the marketing, cleaning, chopping, slicing, cooking and washing the dishes. The rice will be soaked the night before. The kids love these cooking extravaganza weekends cos it means that they can watch unlimited cartoons or play games online while we toiled in the kitchen :-)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial;">DH is a kelantanese and learnt this dish with recipe taken from the web, and improvised according to what we want. It's actually easy to cook, minus the time consuming processes in the preparation. With such a famous dish in the east coast, it would be a shame for those from the area who cooks but do not know how to cook this dish. Really! It's that easy!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A quick introduction on <em>nasi dagang</em>. It is a well known east coast of Malaysia and southern Thai dish, commonly eaten with<span style="color: #cc0000;"> <em><a href="http://babysmooches.blogspot.com/2012/09/kari-ikan-tongkol-to-go-with-nasi-dagang.html" target="_blank">'kari ikan tongkol'</a></em></span> (a type of Kelantanese style fish curry), accompanied by <em>'acar'</em> (pickled vegetables), hard boiled eggs, salted fish, <em>keropok</em> and <em>'sambal belacan'</em> (a type of chilli shrimp paste).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can find the <em><a href="http://babysmooches.blogspot.com/2012/09/kari-ikan-tongkol-to-go-with-nasi-dagang.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">'kari ikan tongkol'</span></a></em> recipe in the next post.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXm2pNldrBZ9QS3_Iy4DQIoFWxmVYKnxrJyBHzbOphsNCUQI5O2GJqaFsI4hzgtuGlqxNfXEzhSr1l34e1PIO6ZoBHMvFgdUqnLaW9Xr-IiK31QnV1r9EF6K41zIob3Y8sGWtT/s1600/DSCN2103+(bbs).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXm2pNldrBZ9QS3_Iy4DQIoFWxmVYKnxrJyBHzbOphsNCUQI5O2GJqaFsI4hzgtuGlqxNfXEzhSr1l34e1PIO6ZoBHMvFgdUqnLaW9Xr-IiK31QnV1r9EF6K41zIob3Y8sGWtT/s400/DSCN2103+(bbs).JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'nasi dagang' and 'kari ikan tongkol'</span></em></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rice itself is rather reddish brown in colour and is like glutinuous rice. You may opt to use <em>'beras merah'</em> (red rice) mixed with <em>'beras pulut'</em> (glutinuous rice) as it can be quite hard to obtain it in KL area.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below here is our version. Most of the ingredients here are just <em>'agak-agak'</em> (based on estimation) on the ingredients used. You may improvise it according to your taste buds.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg17IVEuMbmf-d3A_w7beApxzX5q_3r4DzRCDSt1lxHy-gxF5WhhIpSZp7wlrTzyYxfYJ2SD55oWv7BflLw3479NDtDgNK8PtTWIbkORfE29MBaqgln2YVplOu1cx42wJap01e/s1600/DSCN2065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg17IVEuMbmf-d3A_w7beApxzX5q_3r4DzRCDSt1lxHy-gxF5WhhIpSZp7wlrTzyYxfYJ2SD55oWv7BflLw3479NDtDgNK8PtTWIbkORfE29MBaqgln2YVplOu1cx42wJap01e/s400/DSCN2065.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">shallots, ginger and 'halba' (fenugreek seeds)</span></em></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><u><em>Nasi Dagang</em> recipe for 8-10 pax :</u></strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Ingredients :</em></strong></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~ 1 kg beras <em>nasi dagang</em> (nasi dagang rice, or you may substitute it </span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with a mixture of red rice and glutinuous rice)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~ <em>Santan</em> (coconut milk) from two coconut (you may opt to use lesser santan</span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> if you find it too 'lemak', or too rich)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~ one rice bowl full of peeled and chopped shallots</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~ one knob of ginger, sliced and shredded (approximately palm size in length)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~ 1.5-2 tbsp biji <em>halba</em> (fenugreek seeds)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial;">~ sugar to taste</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Method :</em></strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Soak the <em>nasi dagang</em> rice overnight in water to soften it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) Discard water the next day and rinse rice. Heat up steamer. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Place netting in the steamer and place the rice on top of the netting. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (You may get this netting in sundry shops. We got our cotton netting from a fabric shop)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) Steam rice for 20 minutes in steamer.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4a) Remove rice and scoop them out into a huge clean pot. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Add in some <em>santan </em>(approximately half). </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Stir well to mix the rice evenly with the <em>santan</em>.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4b) Scoop rice back into the steamer and steam rice for another 20 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5) Remove rice once again and scoop them out into the earlier pot. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Add in more <em>santan</em> (approximately one, depending on absorption) </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to stir and blend in together with the rice. This will ensure that the rice absorb the <em>santan</em>)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5b) Once again, scoop rice back into the steamer and steam rice for another 5-10 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6) Remove rice for the third and final time and scoop them out into the other pot. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Pour in remaining santan. Add in shallots, ginger, <em>halba</em> and a little sugar. Stir evenly.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7) Scoop rice back into the steamer and steam rice for approximately 5 minutes. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Turn off fire after that and serve rice warm with the curry.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Appended below is a video for your reference on the steaming method of <em>nasi dagang</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do try it. You'll love it! <span style="color: #cc0000;"><strong>:-)</strong></span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5EApgb7Icjs?rel=0" width="480"></iframe></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-57204657358837048882012-09-04T00:10:00.001+08:002012-09-04T23:24:48.063+08:00Kids outing to KLCC Park and Istana Negara<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was <em>Merdeka</em> Day (Independence Day) last Friday. Since it was a public holiday and the kids' little cousin, Jas, came visiting, we decided to take them out for a short outing to the KLCC Park just before Jas leaves KL in that same afternoon.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We would have expected to see lots of foreign workers hanging out there but were surprised to see that the park was rather empty at 10:30am. It started getting rather crowded about half an hour later. So, we had to drag the kids out from the pool in less than an hour.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT_R1unbx_2Y2tQ8odUL3sklX-CXvEbZsRU5bxyTdYlO2NFgKOBehAyVaBkHA25USl8g88pNhoGhd3ComfCrliLDrg30_XVehFf-LRZF8vMGA2Su6h0fxddEa3vyfHgZDr92qB/s1600/DSCN1999+(bbs).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT_R1unbx_2Y2tQ8odUL3sklX-CXvEbZsRU5bxyTdYlO2NFgKOBehAyVaBkHA25USl8g88pNhoGhd3ComfCrliLDrg30_XVehFf-LRZF8vMGA2Su6h0fxddEa3vyfHgZDr92qB/s400/DSCN1999+(bbs).JPG" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #990000;">Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!</span></em></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Kids lying down by the pool</em></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While driving towards Federal Highway, we decided to just make a quick stop to Istana Negara as the kids have not been there. I have to admit that I've never been to the guard post nor the main gate outside Istana Negara before. So, was rather surprise to see that the place were opened to the public. We didn't know this prior to this visit.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a lovely place surrounded with lots of greeneries and a nice garden with a pond. Unfortunately, what was once a beautiful garden and nursery, was a big let down with unkept surroundings. The field was pretty well kept though, and the grass were green and trimmed.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, it was a good experience for us all as it was our first time visiting Istana Negara.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Inside the Istana Negara grounds near the entrance</span></em></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Tiled road leading up to the main halls</em></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaOUH_oE9yARJy9hDveScAPWY1W_wByOLngW_0AxgOcMwDo5CIANVsYaum6F0xhU9a-wHYwUMO6P9bvvo8KssMWwDWHi_Jfp3nWBRhLElz9BURYKh2QorWh91hrpWqRphUB0qE/s1600/DSCN2037+(bbs).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaOUH_oE9yARJy9hDveScAPWY1W_wByOLngW_0AxgOcMwDo5CIANVsYaum6F0xhU9a-wHYwUMO6P9bvvo8KssMWwDWHi_Jfp3nWBRhLElz9BURYKh2QorWh91hrpWqRphUB0qE/s400/DSCN2037+(bbs).JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Beautiful landscaping garden with a water fountain feature in the middle of the pond</em></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixw_FMqWVIRIKPfDR1fiI63gtD_qT4aTv5z5zyP5oGdwbX5xBYQ5zoA3r7ha6lLoxWyvcoZAxoU-pZYdQchiqzAMj6P2utAMeJ3uptbZhfvl1zMv5q4RMBA6zEhS0fGOBpDp1b/s1600/DSCN2038+(bbs).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixw_FMqWVIRIKPfDR1fiI63gtD_qT4aTv5z5zyP5oGdwbX5xBYQ5zoA3r7ha6lLoxWyvcoZAxoU-pZYdQchiqzAMj6P2utAMeJ3uptbZhfvl1zMv5q4RMBA6zEhS0fGOBpDp1b/s400/DSCN2038+(bbs).JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not a pretty sight : stagnant water in a boat by the pond</span></em></td></tr>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-91954290260093130782012-08-28T15:19:00.001+08:002012-08-28T15:19:41.003+08:00Cherating Turtle Sanctuary and Information Centre<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last Friday, we went to Kuantan for our group agency’s family camp for a three days and two nights stay.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part of our itinerary was a visit to the Cherating Turtle Sanctuary and Information Centre on that Friday afternoon.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNGs3TmSZoHVSfZ49ZafqtX0jdlIfZPwIKS3JgI_XcSF7odcaTCJFIngrLCsouUesInp4nfoI24REJWwRJ1pbZlE4XL90ZQzcHscwOU8lzFmQ3Ra8sOA-_djkw_UEQqXV9m3k/s1600/DSCN1773.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #660000;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNGs3TmSZoHVSfZ49ZafqtX0jdlIfZPwIKS3JgI_XcSF7odcaTCJFIngrLCsouUesInp4nfoI24REJWwRJ1pbZlE4XL90ZQzcHscwOU8lzFmQ3Ra8sOA-_djkw_UEQqXV9m3k/s640/DSCN1773.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Kids at the entrance to the Cherating Turtle Sanctuary and Information Centre.</span></em></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Cherating Turtle Sanctuary is managed by the Department of Fisheries Malaysia alongside the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY;">State Government of Pahang. Apparently, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it was opened to the public sometime in mid 1998.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY;"><o:p><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we enter the centre, we went straight to the three ponds at the centre where there are turtles and terrapins swimming in the pond. From here, we moved on to a room with a video playback on the efforts in the turtles conservation programme in protecting the turtles from getting extinct.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were earlier been told that there were baby turtles ready to be released into the sea. We had to prebook the number of turtles we required a few days earlier as release of the baby turtles are limited. A payment of RM5 per turtle hatchling is to be paid which is also treated as part of a donation towards the conservation programme.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The kids were extremely excited to know that there are baby green turtles ready to be released to sea. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the video presentation, we headed outside to get ready for the turtles release. Just beside the centre, there is a turtle hatchery area where turtle rangers transfer turtle eggs laid by the turtle from the beach to the hatchery to protect from any harm. </span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This would ensure that the turtle hatchlings will hatch safely, after which, it will need to be released to the huge ocean out there.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVzqQ5AUhoclCB6SHKnhtmpkMFNNufmJ-IUWfBdKr8lemUDgN69IsrEFbVKYA5V2gMHQOqJ7x-hYjFmH9f2ZntJihHK3iu5yURxcppT3Q9QowuUET2bDygutoVqgiata38vDec/s1600/zen-derhu-angel+2b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVzqQ5AUhoclCB6SHKnhtmpkMFNNufmJ-IUWfBdKr8lemUDgN69IsrEFbVKYA5V2gMHQOqJ7x-hYjFmH9f2ZntJihHK3iu5yURxcppT3Q9QowuUET2bDygutoVqgiata38vDec/s640/zen-derhu-angel+2b.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>Turtle Hatchery</em></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were told by the guide that the baby turtles from this beach will normally come back to lay their eggs when their time is due.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Admission is free and the visiting hours are from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm with an hour lunch break from 1:00pm to 2:00pm/ On Fridays, there is a 3 hours break for lunch and prayers from 12 noon to 3:00pm. The Sanctuary is closed on Mondays. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You may need to call and verify if you want to participate in the release for the baby turtles or watching turtles laying eggs at night.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY;">Cherating Turtle Sanctuary Address:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY;">Turtle Sanctuary & Information Center<br />26050 Balok, Cherating, Kuantan, Pahang.<br />Contact No. : </span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"><span style="color: #660000;">(6) 09-581 9087</span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>baby green turtles in a box, ready for release</em></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>kids taking great care and being gentle with their hatchlings</em></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Brendan's extremely careful with his baby green turtle</em></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLGGCWBmJ-k5dtsLJ-f2UBo9LjU6CS4caLpYVC9lr7kSP9SXmY1g40ZYEX_2Xr7RX1GYssJCDyyY0E22q0tAhjhjQMO_JTc3SJXTup6ODwh0zGfVYWJv5TFdq6Ia-b2ZKdJKfi/s1600/DSCN1778.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLGGCWBmJ-k5dtsLJ-f2UBo9LjU6CS4caLpYVC9lr7kSP9SXmY1g40ZYEX_2Xr7RX1GYssJCDyyY0E22q0tAhjhjQMO_JTc3SJXTup6ODwh0zGfVYWJv5TFdq6Ia-b2ZKdJKfi/s640/DSCN1778.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Up close with a baby green turtle</em></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVmXN_U3S4_QEA9stakkdVd5SjxqbbAatxLVtMvKbuIHrx1a2AnO3neSQJyqPoCqzrEm4TOf7pOmiInPjM_ttEcnYzwSlZ6lvm8kx0b-JVHX98HoSAM47ifOIQqgMVT57bLA_E/s1600/DSCN1800.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVmXN_U3S4_QEA9stakkdVd5SjxqbbAatxLVtMvKbuIHrx1a2AnO3neSQJyqPoCqzrEm4TOf7pOmiInPjM_ttEcnYzwSlZ6lvm8kx0b-JVHX98HoSAM47ifOIQqgMVT57bLA_E/s640/DSCN1800.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eryn gently releasing her baby green turtle on the sand</span></em></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOnEY73G-9xhlAlNb0V5MwA3HH1ty1Nx9wNHd68rjjuL3y7V-NP4MuC95TXoUwu3ooHMXpYfj9Jfc6vUOzFKAhfgT5jz5c-VK70iAODOVuEqUnnF-yg6WhF-yZdtG-FuXX_zQz/s1600/DSCN1798.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOnEY73G-9xhlAlNb0V5MwA3HH1ty1Nx9wNHd68rjjuL3y7V-NP4MuC95TXoUwu3ooHMXpYfj9Jfc6vUOzFKAhfgT5jz5c-VK70iAODOVuEqUnnF-yg6WhF-yZdtG-FuXX_zQz/s640/DSCN1798.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A baby turtle making its way to the sea</span></em></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB88AVC0jDduKEWnsQhjqBmBpZV2dHMq6aQhgINTr2Y655LsWdW59u4F1Yoitv2ijOvCwtO-t38ki7Z5Blx8XEmQ06VPJLSTHFq5i9z3Xx2Y5u8vpCAUkGUU5nb5raB_5m3EIK/s1600/DSCN1793.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB88AVC0jDduKEWnsQhjqBmBpZV2dHMq6aQhgINTr2Y655LsWdW59u4F1Yoitv2ijOvCwtO-t38ki7Z5Blx8XEmQ06VPJLSTHFq5i9z3Xx2Y5u8vpCAUkGUU5nb5raB_5m3EIK/s640/DSCN1793.JPG" width="595" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>wriggling their way through the rough surface on the sand</em></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMn70N3icekdfDtoBRZ3nWyIL9DvsaSbwzgp5RxwqQ6Bgi8NAcYC80HrXMX-s8zSSgcrFzjSuOvqL4y9xjuAroUPRpQ9TM32AgZre2zyX0FFMpg4ZBVApdJnqk98g0n-UQvbG7/s1600/DSCN1794.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMn70N3icekdfDtoBRZ3nWyIL9DvsaSbwzgp5RxwqQ6Bgi8NAcYC80HrXMX-s8zSSgcrFzjSuOvqL4y9xjuAroUPRpQ9TM32AgZre2zyX0FFMpg4ZBVApdJnqk98g0n-UQvbG7/s640/DSCN1794.JPG" width="640" /></span></em></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love our turtles. </span></em></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4RT0ZqnJkObUJadEkNSG6BfoxREOPAt32Zk9ZqJ8wE1OUnH0k95rk8SKZnvqf_Wh8O161bowe-51po7dgCPTuWloLkciXawRagYf4KxoExnjGA_S5fZBaG8h0TPzRiaHhkP7c/s1600/DSCN1808.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><img border="0" fea="true" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4RT0ZqnJkObUJadEkNSG6BfoxREOPAt32Zk9ZqJ8wE1OUnH0k95rk8SKZnvqf_Wh8O161bowe-51po7dgCPTuWloLkciXawRagYf4KxoExnjGA_S5fZBaG8h0TPzRiaHhkP7c/s640/DSCN1808.JPG" width="640" /></em></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Brendan at the beach</em></span></td></tr>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com3Cherating Turtle Sanctuary, Bukit Cherating, 26080 Balok, Pahang, Malaysia4.143961 103.4086224.128124 103.388881 4.159798 103.42836299999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-15220495169218532942012-08-10T10:08:00.001+08:002012-08-10T11:13:07.774+08:00Cup Bangle?<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On school days, my mornings are the routine of waking the kids up, showering them, preparing breakfast for kids, wash their water tumbler, ensuring their bags are properly packed, washing the dishes and then sending them to school. In-between, there's the constant nagging to get them to hurry up cos they like to take their own sweet time, dilly-dallying here and there.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, this morning. I did the usual routine, and then this happened!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While I was washing this particular glass, the bottom just broke and in a split second just before I realised the bottom was broken, I pulled my hand back in and had various cuts all over my right hand, plus one on my left hand too. The one on the second finger on my right hand is really deep. I put on soap and tried to pull my hand out gently. There were blood all over the sink.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial;">The kids started screaming!<span style="color: #990000;"> "<em>No! Mummy! No! Don't do that</em>!" </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial;"><em>Sigh! </em>Had to get Brendan to bring the hammer out. Wrapped my hand in towel and smashed the cup away.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I can feel my whole hand throbbing with pain right now.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Damn!! A domestic goddess I'm not! Not domesticated, and definitely not a goddess. So, you see, my days are NOT filled with pleasant mornings all the time.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know what is more comforting. Brendan taking this photo for remembrance, or Eryn saying <span style="color: #990000;">"<em>Mummy, don't die! Who is going to take care of us</em>?!"</span> or the kids suddenly became so grown up and concern and started taking their bags and stood at the door without me having to open my mouth.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh well, just another day in paradise........<em>not</em>!</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-20161764009788524652012-08-02T15:19:00.001+08:002012-08-02T15:38:23.735+08:00Tesco, Oh Tesco!! How disgusting can you be?<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><strong>Aaarrrrggghh!!</strong></em> This is totally disgusting! <em>Damn!!</em> I just can't believe that I did not learn my lesson, and I'll tell you why.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I shop in Tesco a lot mostly for the dry goods and household items. I don’t normally buy meat products or fish from any hypermarkets or supermarkets as they just don't look as fresh as the ones in the morning market. People tell me that NHK (I first heard of it last week), Cold Storage and Jaya are the better supermarkets. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Occasionally, the meat section in these "super hyper markets" tend to emit some sort of nauseating smell. I do get the chilled Australian sliced beef to make pizza once in a blue moon, provided I "think" they look fresh and does not smell. We take more fish and vegetables most of the time and the morning market supply really fresh ones though they may be a little pricey as compared to the supermarkets.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, this morning, I was in Tesco Puchong doing some grocery shopping. As I passed the fresh meat section, I <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>thought I could make do with the packed <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>chicken fillet in Tesco after noticing that it was packed today (based on the label). Since it's a weekday and it's a rush for me, I didn't want to make a detour to the <em>pasar</em> and besides, it's too late to go to the morning market.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Upon reaching home, I proceeded to remove the fillet from the pack to rinse and was extremely shock to see a slightly harden piece of fillet<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with greenish parts on it. <em>Eeeww!!</em></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I immediately drove back to Tesco Puchong to return it and filed a complaint to the customer service girl at the front counter. Apparently, one lady whom I spoke to, said that this is rather normal. Yet, the photo that I showed her made her gasped in disbelief.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another lady staff of Tesco (in apron) said that this could be packed by a newcomer. While a third lady staff (in office clothings) mentioned that the meat was from a supplier and not packed by them. The fourth person that came by was a guy by the name of Din, who was apparently in charge of the “fresh food” area for day, indicated they will give me a refund.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gosh! I’m not concern about the refund!! I drove all the way back to Tesco Puchong, just to show this and file my complaint. It took off some of my time and petrol, so that little refund is not my concern. Don’t they have any assurance or QC check on your supply? This is a shame. Are the fresh food even fit for human consumption?!!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't care if this meat was packed in Tesco, or from a supplier. They seriously need to look into this.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the rising rate of health problems due to food and environment, this kind of greenish meat will definitely make your life shorten. <em>Eewww!!!!!</em> Horrible!! Disgusting!! I'm feel sick just talking about this... </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjglsiY-3cWpeIRISdVJ20BWpHYuMGim1mj1GQ2Gf2RwnJueIA692Qrk4jTJQp8qOn5MwINa8lJ6YURYAZJvOMebGfbrR9rwhRzgpt5cOyry3yJ6PexWr1crWCeDybqJqG_fBxu/s1600/chicken+in+tesco+020812+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjglsiY-3cWpeIRISdVJ20BWpHYuMGim1mj1GQ2Gf2RwnJueIA692Qrk4jTJQp8qOn5MwINa8lJ6YURYAZJvOMebGfbrR9rwhRzgpt5cOyry3yJ6PexWr1crWCeDybqJqG_fBxu/s400/chicken+in+tesco+020812+(2).JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I feel like puking...</span></em></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnfeZa9D8RmRTjSXeT4pIJ1PYDfw3SzHj1TeSC38ZV9DBMQVW8mnTwc6YCjtVUtVYHc52u8vTyKS16dIEKQaKOC6SoQOWjOMuwPveIhzvsxpjv1Somp7uTOxfNLp3hNfonIzWK/s1600/chicken+in+tesco+020812+(4).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #660000;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnfeZa9D8RmRTjSXeT4pIJ1PYDfw3SzHj1TeSC38ZV9DBMQVW8mnTwc6YCjtVUtVYHc52u8vTyKS16dIEKQaKOC6SoQOWjOMuwPveIhzvsxpjv1Somp7uTOxfNLp3hNfonIzWK/s400/chicken+in+tesco+020812+(4).JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Look at the date! It's supposed to be freshly packed this morning!!</span></em></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you read my first sentence above, I mentioned "I did not learn my lesson". Why? Well, this is because I just can't trust these hyper or super thingy. Below here is a pack of Tesco brand honey breakfast cereal which I bought in December last year. My first and my last time buying that stupid "<em>cicak cereal</em>". NEVER EVER buy Tesco brand food products. Just stick to Nestle or Kellogg's and you'll not get it bad.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I only realised that dried and shrivelled lizard after the kids ate a portion of it. Again, I called to file a personal complaint. I <em>cannot tahan</em>. This time must make it public. I even drove all the way to return it back, not even bothered to get back my refund. To date, I don't even get any assurance from them. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcAE7zDAz5x0mUL2Q5Q-Ogo4Z4h6kT_qUYwxyUK7b5FNd5QXg3znos9o7OwxHYz4XOOZiGmeoaQEyjkdjOzBVV2WVB42bI0Yi2CEbAuHZ9uYTIUPVerCX96tNzajit-PBCHSLn/s1600/lizard+in+cereal+Dec+2011+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcAE7zDAz5x0mUL2Q5Q-Ogo4Z4h6kT_qUYwxyUK7b5FNd5QXg3znos9o7OwxHYz4XOOZiGmeoaQEyjkdjOzBVV2WVB42bI0Yi2CEbAuHZ9uYTIUPVerCX96tNzajit-PBCHSLn/s400/lizard+in+cereal+Dec+2011+(2).JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><em>Spot the lizard!! No price for getting it correct.</em></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihAJdifsm-KstB22dZh7XBa-xGA4cB-pJn1AX6RP0cjLYWCkL_9rIG3Pb6BWvSitZTTRgn4Wp2-FVywFZ4NRNb2xbLhGtjNDjvHmu4R5v7zMJTFS1b0pAjLg-mpf-y1gt3jDME/s1600/lizard+in+cereal+Dec+2011+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihAJdifsm-KstB22dZh7XBa-xGA4cB-pJn1AX6RP0cjLYWCkL_9rIG3Pb6BWvSitZTTRgn4Wp2-FVywFZ4NRNb2xbLhGtjNDjvHmu4R5v7zMJTFS1b0pAjLg-mpf-y1gt3jDME/s400/lizard+in+cereal+Dec+2011+(1).JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><em>This fella is not enjoying his cereal bath. It's dead. Period. And it's found in my cereal!!</em></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Note to self : Stick to my standard household goods, biscuits and vege and only when it's fresh. No meat! No cicak cereal or in-house brand food products.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-4666243235600042592012-05-30T10:56:00.001+08:002012-05-30T11:05:44.434+08:00All she wants for her birthday is.....<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eryn has always been a happy-go-lucky girl. And she definitely has lots of things to talk about. She can yak and yak from morning till night. It drives me crazy sometimes, but that brings out the good vibes in our house unless she goes around throwing little tantrums and makes me go even crazier.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the past two weeks, she has been talking about her birthday. She didn't ask for any present but was extremely pleased to get a glittering star watch souvenior we got from Tokyo.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAOt34RCx0AB7yR7kjKIS5vBT0RJsWceiSNV5NxwW6WawIHAbODXRhAjOJTOng2DW0yvd6HXcQwZCykh-v4Arxo1J-wknyJWmdfNYN_a2b-xf9dSIOgoGJzZGcYZXs9JUF3qOc/s1600/SBpic+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAOt34RCx0AB7yR7kjKIS5vBT0RJsWceiSNV5NxwW6WawIHAbODXRhAjOJTOng2DW0yvd6HXcQwZCykh-v4Arxo1J-wknyJWmdfNYN_a2b-xf9dSIOgoGJzZGcYZXs9JUF3qOc/s400/SBpic+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In two days' time, she'll be turning 7. Just like most girls her age, she likes cute little girlish stuffs. She loves drawing (just like mummy!). And she's got a mind of her own. DH was telling me about this little conversation they had reccently :</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Daddy : Eryn, you must always eat at the kitchen table. Please do not eat and walk everywhere.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eryn : Daddy, when I have children next time, I will allow my children to eat on the bed.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Daddy : *stunned*</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Daddy : Then your bed will be dirty and ants will come! Don't be so dirty.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eryn : Well, I just want to be good to my children. <em>*laughed happily and went to sit by </em></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> the kitchen table*</em></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's just so Eryn. She has so many things to say and can be very impromptu. She can <em>manja-manja</em> at one time, and throw her tantrums at another time. At most times, she'll be happily singing and yakking and drawing away.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last night, during dinner, she asked me, <em>"Mummy, my birthday is coming. Do you know what I want for my birthday?"</em> I told her firmly, <em>"Mummy is financially tight. We'll see what we can do together".</em> Eryn said,<em> "Mummy, I'm not asking for present. I don't want any presents. I have not eat the green black rice</em> (referring to </span><a href="http://babysmooches.blogspot.com/2011/08/khao-jam-nasi-kerabu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>khao jam</strong></span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> aka Kelantanese nasi kerabu)<em> for a long time. Can you cook that for my birthday, pleaseeeeeee?"</em></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She then went on to talk about how she loves the green black rice and how her friends in school was starring at her greenish black coloured rice and asking her what it was. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess that's just not too much to ask for right? It will be done. And it will be made with lots of love (and the amount of effort put into it).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5fNQeEM93KD_x73XlLwofP9fhS7p-ajFrM97GHHiB9klkYYGa97X0DL7HQ2OsoHASLp23S9xuTKq7iXfB4EfjcZbIgldPC_00JIHInmVwyfs3olhB-Js3FJOcuYhNzm8g2bNm/s1600/SBpic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="294" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5fNQeEM93KD_x73XlLwofP9fhS7p-ajFrM97GHHiB9klkYYGa97X0DL7HQ2OsoHASLp23S9xuTKq7iXfB4EfjcZbIgldPC_00JIHInmVwyfs3olhB-Js3FJOcuYhNzm8g2bNm/s640/SBpic.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Eryn eating</em></span><a href="http://babysmooches.blogspot.com/2011/08/khao-jam-nasi-kerabu.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> <span style="color: #cc0000;">"<strong>khao jam</strong>"</span></em></span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> with her hands in this file photo taken quite a while back.</em></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-83534065457575662432012-04-26T12:22:00.003+08:002012-07-25T11:20:45.848+08:00Thinking like a child<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Children always see things differently, and as they grow, their beliefs and values are being tuned through the influences of family, friends, social medias, books, schools and the environment - the things they see and learn, the things they experience, the life they try to adapt and get accustomed to.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes, as adults, we think too hard and at times, we are required to think out of the box. However, just going back to basics seem quite logical in some areas of our lives too, don't you think so?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below here is an illustration of what I mean.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apparently, the "maths" problem below is easily solved by pre-school children within 10 minutes, by programmers in an hour and needless to say, those in higher education??</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I got my answer in pathetically, 45 minutes last night after thinking too hard and then tried to get back to basic and cleared my mind with complicated stuffs and started thinking like my kids. What say you? What's 2581?</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikdRm3kfZ_S5yn1xDZTeerKkChjiHpwyj45MLp6QsYzrBPEcEiJ8ZUtdFQYtcoeo9bCLsRls4J03ub8gjeMNDoVJrb1rFoR6piAICt69HTlzyitHPdOsIuC2Pkj5vKGRCXsg15/s1600/preschooler+maths+(b).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" oda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikdRm3kfZ_S5yn1xDZTeerKkChjiHpwyj45MLp6QsYzrBPEcEiJ8ZUtdFQYtcoeo9bCLsRls4J03ub8gjeMNDoVJrb1rFoR6piAICt69HTlzyitHPdOsIuC2Pkj5vKGRCXsg15/s400/preschooler+maths+(b).jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-290926321493462822012-04-15T19:10:00.001+08:002012-04-15T20:33:38.562+08:00Pizza making attempt<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The once-in-a-blue-moon urge to 'cook' something new came last few days for DH. And when his inspiration comes, it will be done.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, this afternoon, DH spread his love (and flour) in the kitchen and he made pizza dough using our faithful breadmaker machine. I was a little doubtful as to whether his dough base will turn out well. So, I sat there quietly, observing the chef' at work while I was snickering away.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We didn't have much ingredients and decided to make do with what we have.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It turned out pretty well! I'm impressed! Thank you DH! <em>*yummy*</em></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhibODHJMFXSo0U1VkOzcCOh0L5LgXarCxAZqeCVNJSChzFaY4ctOU7kCeGTwLNcIDwxmCpYHBhwDBWoQ_ycTjfLSP83mtjbOL1kroaHqshymrBOzcC-gosD_11XWGLWTJOg3j2/s1600/pizza+1c.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhibODHJMFXSo0U1VkOzcCOh0L5LgXarCxAZqeCVNJSChzFaY4ctOU7kCeGTwLNcIDwxmCpYHBhwDBWoQ_ycTjfLSP83mtjbOL1kroaHqshymrBOzcC-gosD_11XWGLWTJOg3j2/s400/pizza+1c.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's DH's dough recipe for 2 large pizza (12" pizzas each), taken from a recipe book :</span><br />
<ul><li><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">280ml water</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">30ml extra virgin olive oil</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">450gm unbleached white bread flour</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 1/2 tsp salt</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/2 tsp granulated sugar</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 tsp easy back dried yeast.</span></li>
</ul><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The flour mixing method is pretty much the same as the way we make flour. Here's what DH did :-</span><br />
<ol><li><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pour water and olive oil into our breadmaker machine, followed by flour on top the water and olive oil.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Add salt and sugar in 2 different corners, yeast in a dent in the middle.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mix using pizza dough setting.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DH divided the dough into two and 'whacked' each dough on the table like there's no tomorrow.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DH spread the dough onto the pan and spread it with tomato paste and sprinkle it with ingredients* of your choice. For cheese, we use mozarella cheese. We sprinkle mixed pizza herbs on top.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bake in preheat 220 degrees C oven for approximately 20 minutes.</span></li>
</ol><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* Suggestion of ingredients : fresh tomatoes, button mushrooms, onions, green pepper, canned pineapple, tuna/minced meat, etc.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lT0WCLDiqYjwo3hx5futv-es4mvVilqoc4TYcRVfm1KXiVLd8IkvNZnpB91JHmQ_-RnOnkn4KcCFNPETlWufvFiYwhGwOqvLTeeXP78Jh1xRpxuynxUBeauAg12YQyEEAVX6/s1600/pizza+1a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lT0WCLDiqYjwo3hx5futv-es4mvVilqoc4TYcRVfm1KXiVLd8IkvNZnpB91JHmQ_-RnOnkn4KcCFNPETlWufvFiYwhGwOqvLTeeXP78Jh1xRpxuynxUBeauAg12YQyEEAVX6/s400/pizza+1a.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><em>Chef at work</em></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQY331CTyx2s05o2lbBK5cm2kYizJN3R-gimIHos0ypeH_wfE51A4qQxJAVYgG05jdbwygb9xC1uYs92_ON4qmeL1m2RjI36dPPuxICEZI3LWdbXUqP7APpL6k-Cl8w7zi2J-/s1600/pizza+1b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQY331CTyx2s05o2lbBK5cm2kYizJN3R-gimIHos0ypeH_wfE51A4qQxJAVYgG05jdbwygb9xC1uYs92_ON4qmeL1m2RjI36dPPuxICEZI3LWdbXUqP7APpL6k-Cl8w7zi2J-/s400/pizza+1b.JPG" width="345" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><em>Mini-chef assisting in the sprinkling of mozarella cheese</em></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg6eUIXuAbIsBvtYoE-FOQUXq6iSqsLmMBK4t-Cbq-pI1PsCxmZw9FxxChy4Zfbe9pW3kzxPWPMp2JJs__PUWIsdPU_VZgguk3SY7RV-jXEThw81VdwOk7ANi5vI4xJRFW7u69/s1600/pizza+1d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><em><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="400" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg6eUIXuAbIsBvtYoE-FOQUXq6iSqsLmMBK4t-Cbq-pI1PsCxmZw9FxxChy4Zfbe9pW3kzxPWPMp2JJs__PUWIsdPU_VZgguk3SY7RV-jXEThw81VdwOk7ANi5vI4xJRFW7u69/s400/pizza+1d.jpg" width="298" /></span></em></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Leggo's tomato paste and Tesco mixed herbs DH used for our pizza</span></em></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-16489637683667327742012-03-27T18:34:00.001+08:002012-03-27T18:36:42.419+08:00"My Generasi" : Generation X<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For a while, I felt like a school girl again while looking at this lovely video which brings me warm memories. Produced by <em>JinnyboyTV</em>, the video titled "<em>My Generasi</em>" (My Generation) truly highlights some of the basic stuffs we used to do many, many years back. It brings out mixed emotions, it made me smile and laugh at all the fun and things we used to do.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We didn't need handphones, computers, facebook or any of the current technology to keep us entertained. I remember running and sweating it out under the hot sun before our afternoon school session starts. I remember the five stones and cepers which used to entertain us during breaks. I remember just simply staying back in school to train for my sports training or just hanging out with friends in school.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We played "belon-acar" (galah panjang), police and thief, hide-and-seek and the traditional games back then. There were no computer games for us, at least not for me. Calls were made from house phone or public pay phones. There was very less TV too. Video tapes rentals were a luxury.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are just some of the nostalgic moments. What were yours back then?</span><br />
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<div align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CzkAPMWNSGc" width="560"></iframe></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-23482498580996534732012-03-09T10:49:00.003+08:002012-03-10T12:06:48.310+08:00Banjir, oh Banjir<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the latest flash flood in KL (again!), I seriously feel that there’s too much of a kampong mentality in some people. You practically see rubbish everywhere you go in Malaysia.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Imagine that DBKL claims that they collect approximately 20 tonnes of garbage every single day from the KL rivers. <em>Eeww</em>.... and you still see people fishing in these rivers. Cleanliness seems to be the least of the concern for these people.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The not so SMART tunnel had to be closed because of the flood effect. I kind of wonder what would happen when the new <em>“River of Life”</em> project is implemented. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You go to the <em>makan</em> stall, you see hawkers throwing food waste inside the longkang beside their stalls. I happened to wait inside a car for hubby who went to buy something, just right behind one very famous dim sum shop in Puchong one fine afternoon. I saw their foreign workers piling up all the unwashed dishes into a huge basin and proceed to pour dish washing liquid into it and give a quick wash to the dishes before rinsing it into another huge tub of supposedly clean water which has been used repeatedly. After the whole washing, the first tub of water was poured into the drain, just like the colour of the local dark kopi in our local coffee shops. You see pieces of food, bones, plastics and don’t-know-what on the floor. The works were barefooted too. I had wanted to take out my phone to videotape the whole thing, but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the workers knew that I was observing them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing I hate most is when people start clearing their throat out loud and start spitting around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ones chewing on the betel nut leaves are the worst. Already we have people burping and farting like it’s their right to do so in public, especially those who get great pleasure in burping right after meals, the louder the better. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then, you see those garbage truck with those leachate leaking out from their trucks everywhere they go. Have you ever seen those huge garbage containers filled up with garbage inside out? Gosh, I don’t ever remember seeing any on these containers without garbage surrounding it, not to mention the smell.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When it comes to public toilets, especially the ladies toilets (not sure about the men’s toilet), the floors are always wet, including the ones in some office buildings. One office cleaner complaint that each time she mopped the floor dry (and she reuse the same water from the same pail to mop and re-mop), some women just like to splash water everywhere inside the toilet. I can’t agree with her more. I don’t know what these people do inside when they go to the toilet. It’s like as though they’ve just bathed in there. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So you see, it’s the MENTALity on some people who do not see the wrong in doing these kind of things and wouldn’t give a damn what others think but make helluva noise when they get affected in some way or another.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial;">My symphaties to friends and those who got stuck in those horrendous jam the other day, and those whose cars were stuck in the flood. This "<em>River of Life</em>" project better be good. I hope it's not one of those not-so-smart projects with billions spent on it.</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-79141611321711726472012-03-08T12:06:00.001+08:002012-03-08T12:07:35.686+08:00You are not safe online<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is scary, looking at the potential treats going on with the increasing growth in the use of internet and social networks, through the pc or your mobile.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's playground for data miners, hackers, phishing mails, spams, etc.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial;">It feels like we're all being watched closely.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.onlinemarketingdegree.net/not-safe-online/"><img alt="You Are Not Safe Online" border="0" src="http://images.onlinemarketingdegree.net.s3.amazonaws.com/you_are_not_safe_online.png" width="500" /></a><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Created by: </span><a href="http://www.onlinemarketingdegree.net/"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OnlineMarketingDegree.com</span></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-26412556599155670872012-03-05T18:02:00.004+08:002012-03-05T18:06:00.671+08:00Pulpotomy again..<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More than 3 years back, Eryn went through a pulpotomy procedure on her broken front tooth.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wrote about it here : </span><a href="http://babysmooches.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-on-eryns-tooth.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eryn's abcessed gum and pulpotomy</span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and here : </span><a href="http://babysmooches.blogspot.com/2008/11/eryns-tooth-problem-resolved.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eryn's first pulpotomy</span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometime in November last year, I sent Eryn for her dental check-up and a filling was required on one of her baby molar. I remember sending Eryn for a filling on that baby molar one day before we flew to </span><a href="http://babysmooches.blogspot.com/2011/12/hong-kong-family-vacation.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hong Kong</span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. It turned out to be a rather bad move as she developed high fever the following day when we reached the Hong Kong International Airport. The fever quickly subsided and she had diarrhea during our Hong Kong trip. Don't know what happened, but it kind of reminded me of stories of some babies who have diarrhea when they started teething.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 weeks back, I noticed a tiny bump on her gum, just right above that same baby molar tooth. The first thing that came to mind was that an infection has set in. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This time, I decided to try out </span><a href="http://prestige-dental-care.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prestige Dental</span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. I have to say I am very impressed with the professionalism of the doctors there. The visit last November was attended by the female Dr Ng while this round, it's done by the male Dr Ng. Their follow-up treatment and calls show that they really care for their patients. In fact, for both follow-up treatment last November, they didn't charge us a single sen. This round, when I took Eryn back there to check on the bump, they did the pulpotomy without charging us a single sen as well as this was considered a follow-up case. They even provided medicine without a cost. I'm totally impressed with the many other range of dental services that they provide.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love their waiting area. It kinds of remove your fears the moment you step in. There's a very small play area for children and magazines to read. A little aquarium gives you the calmness you need while waiting for your name to be called.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pulpotomy is something like root canaling, but not deep down to the root. In Eryn's case, it was the removal of the dead pulp and then cleaning it with some solution before pasting it up temporary with some kind of medicated filling. She would then be required to go back again for another visit to remove this temporary filling and fill it with a permanent one.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKxCXgdFNkRh0V8W7CYh7wcig2znB1ycazTUXm8LxI0OeD0wIWtQGljNcMEq6p3fuK6vR6jGDrmGVxcShGyBP7-VWaxXjXidbAyNV1-UULlPnAjfoOVvBPaF-LJ_2iMz1AnNU/s1600/pulpotomy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKxCXgdFNkRh0V8W7CYh7wcig2znB1ycazTUXm8LxI0OeD0wIWtQGljNcMEq6p3fuK6vR6jGDrmGVxcShGyBP7-VWaxXjXidbAyNV1-UULlPnAjfoOVvBPaF-LJ_2iMz1AnNU/s400/pulpotomy.jpg" uda="true" width="400" /></span></a></div><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why I choose pulpotomy? For me, I do not want her teeth (the first pulpotomy and this one) to be removed to avoid the closing of the teeth gap. Besides, she need the treatment as her gum has a small bump, which means that pus are already accumulating inside the pulp, thus causing it to be infected. Eryn doesn't feel much pain unless a lot of pressure is on that little bump.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's a basic explanation on pulpotomy : </span><a href="http://www.children-dentistry.com/treatment.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">General information on Pulpotomy</span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, just that in Eryn's case, it didn't require a crown in both of her pulpotomy treatment.</span> <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGtnGhgQTo-iHh3Lqxvj1XsE7y_2MhHkkzSMhO7VDQZrTXbbggn0hyzma3wZs-DV3BmFe8DqavaQYjYh6MQrUwOLdFhkeoJlQn4TA_93mWOjar5z3UF_ppQB4FikN-5ytR9NS2/s1600/dentist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGtnGhgQTo-iHh3Lqxvj1XsE7y_2MhHkkzSMhO7VDQZrTXbbggn0hyzma3wZs-DV3BmFe8DqavaQYjYh6MQrUwOLdFhkeoJlQn4TA_93mWOjar5z3UF_ppQB4FikN-5ytR9NS2/s640/dentist.jpg" uda="true" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>The female Dr Ng and the male Dr Ng working on Eryn's baby molar.</em></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bump has gone down now and she's due for the revisit this weekend. I hope everything is fine so that we can go through the follow-up procedure.</span> <br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Appended below are the contact details for </span><a href="http://prestige-dental-care.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prestige Dental Care</span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> :</span> <br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span> <br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prestige Dental Care</span> <br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">22A-1 (First Floor), Jalan Puteri 1/4,</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dataran Puteri, Bandar Puteri,</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">47100 Puchong, Selangor</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">T: +6(03) 8060 3389</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SMS: +6(013) 394 3389</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">W: </span><a href="http://www.prestige-dental-care.com.my/"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.prestige-dental-care.com.my</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">E: enquiry@prestige-dental-care.com.my</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-32702206664757014032012-02-08T13:31:00.003+08:002012-03-05T18:10:59.256+08:00A small Ponggal celebration<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a delayed post. Better post this before I forget. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Three weeks back, we received an invitation from a friend to join him and his residential association community for breakfast. We didn't know what the event was about but we were glad to be part of the celebration. This is the first time, DH, kids, my mother-in-law and me experienced a <em>Ponggal</em> celebration up close. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This close-knitted community has initiated a first-time gathering to celebrate <em>Ponggal </em>at their nearby garden. We see preparation of claypots placed on stacks of bricks. There were also some coloured rice decorations on the ground and residents carefully placing wood underneath the pot which were laterlighted to "cook" the rice.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were briefed by one of the R.A. committee that the <em>Ponggal</em> festival is a harvest festival celebrated by the Tamils. We were told that it is sometimes mistaken as a religious event but it is actually a thanksgiving day and a tradition that has been followed for thousand of years.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rice were added to the claypots and cooked with milk until it overflows, symbolising bountiful harvest and wealth. We noticed some other stuffs being added into the pot and was told that they were some spices, raisins, cashew nuts, brown sugar and ghee.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsPQUjJsnu73OAIrueGqoVzXMIQPkFN-i3SMFRIR0KUTqJi1kml0wTS1DqqNRsPkDLI53aLk8tcPTvaVj_fwTafvgeKVlzevoFqkISn6KtlSmBfuZG72wNT3Sx9TBhBUjkCIXo/s1600/pong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsPQUjJsnu73OAIrueGqoVzXMIQPkFN-i3SMFRIR0KUTqJi1kml0wTS1DqqNRsPkDLI53aLk8tcPTvaVj_fwTafvgeKVlzevoFqkISn6KtlSmBfuZG72wNT3Sx9TBhBUjkCIXo/s400/pong.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-39341211886352295562012-01-16T12:58:00.002+08:002012-01-16T13:11:55.179+08:00CNY carousel lantern<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been on an ang pow craft making spree lately since I'm gathering some help on decorations for a Chinese New Year (CNY) party that we'll be having in approximately 2 weeks time. Due to time constraint and everybody's busy schedule, we're focussing mostly on the simple ang pow lanterns such as ang cranes, ang pow fish, ang pow fan and mini ang pow lanterns.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I decided to take a little effort last Saturday and be a little more adventurous and made something new this year since I can use it for my house first. My schedule is topsy turvy and thus, finding time to make this over the weekend was like havoc in my house with the ang pow papers all over the table and floor and getting my fingers numb from all the stapling. It's a blessing that t</span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">here are so many instructions and guidelines on the web and youtube. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the weekend, I've made three CNY carousel lanterns. Each carousel lantern require 32 pieces of red ang pows.Thanks to </span><a href="http://www.submerryn.com/2012/01/diy-chinese-new-year-decor-ang-pow-carousel-lantern.html#comment-22792" target="_blank"><em><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Submerryn</span></em></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> for the instructions.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's the results of my progress :</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZWM2jn9v95QSTO4SqBU9nuLO0ZwBSRYqZ7Ofsb5ndgEKFwvJmF-t3O_5VGJLs4qK237-pq5-318G6-waEgDx4RqXY7kJmjyCqBwr_XuJ1AvMYMZ2IlaIySCtFyiGugt3klAiG/s1600/lantern+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZWM2jn9v95QSTO4SqBU9nuLO0ZwBSRYqZ7Ofsb5ndgEKFwvJmF-t3O_5VGJLs4qK237-pq5-318G6-waEgDx4RqXY7kJmjyCqBwr_XuJ1AvMYMZ2IlaIySCtFyiGugt3klAiG/s640/lantern+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="left"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Folding 48 pieces of a triangle shaped design (16 pieces required per lantern, 8 for the top and 8 for the bottom). Fold until hands are tired.</span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmigTPTH4Eqr8Tg26Rj4EIdSYYqXzuk8oIh7VumsWfY5TX_FvCWXPQkbLVTVJ2soMPSZd3SjFITK9dV_S4OBm9oZ0_5cMStaeM5VfAoOfti-Fjnu6uut9NR3uD0-bS7tWR963F/s1600/lantern+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmigTPTH4Eqr8Tg26Rj4EIdSYYqXzuk8oIh7VumsWfY5TX_FvCWXPQkbLVTVJ2soMPSZd3SjFITK9dV_S4OBm9oZ0_5cMStaeM5VfAoOfti-Fjnu6uut9NR3uD0-bS7tWR963F/s640/lantern+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="left"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Stapling 8 pieces of the ang pow together to form a "hat". Be sure to insert a gold or red string to one of the hat before closing them up together. Insert a tassel or a hanging decoration tassel on the other hat before closing that up together as well. The 2 cone-shaped hats then need to be stapled together by stapling on the folded edges.</span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ3wqTInmffscVarRhEJAX-RrbZJp52_xEGRzyzxs_2uvPDLxAz798-hF24rYwOpVer-pRm-3hbmKDUU6_ZwcU9dqo8r_UtkMmMgHkU0k_quyPSvNzFN_IqDfDVVE20vwtRB4S/s1600/lantern+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ3wqTInmffscVarRhEJAX-RrbZJp52_xEGRzyzxs_2uvPDLxAz798-hF24rYwOpVer-pRm-3hbmKDUU6_ZwcU9dqo8r_UtkMmMgHkU0k_quyPSvNzFN_IqDfDVVE20vwtRB4S/s640/lantern+3.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="left"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Made another 48 pieces of this design (16 pieces required per lantern). First, folding them into half, then pinching them at the side to staple the middle part of both sides together to look like a little butterfly bow. That's when my 2nd finger on my right started getting a little numb and swollen.</span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifpTpkW1_nHqZFxGi7457HUJYC94XqjABbXAZ64-V02Lj55pInkCBCmIF5t9mb9Q6qtNuuPLfBvdgoUWuEGGTkrmdpep15nEXDJPeoSjNcoJR0v98IVS4frF2vnUXUJJVDSfUZ/s1600/lantern+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifpTpkW1_nHqZFxGi7457HUJYC94XqjABbXAZ64-V02Lj55pInkCBCmIF5t9mb9Q6qtNuuPLfBvdgoUWuEGGTkrmdpep15nEXDJPeoSjNcoJR0v98IVS4frF2vnUXUJJVDSfUZ/s640/lantern+4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="left"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">After finishing the previous step, we have to staple all 16 pieces together like these. Looks cute huh? Like a milipede or something.</span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf1ZT5Zvqqe_EVBDiBFSL1BvkPVfyy8we5XyLrVKmLhiJUCOezrlGtmJCn7C2nU-EdRnziDAJl5dff-41dh89thUqAangz0g1N2M8Hxe8mF2z0NexJvXRqiT7wLNdo6YcTHBh8/s1600/lantern+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf1ZT5Zvqqe_EVBDiBFSL1BvkPVfyy8we5XyLrVKmLhiJUCOezrlGtmJCn7C2nU-EdRnziDAJl5dff-41dh89thUqAangz0g1N2M8Hxe8mF2z0NexJvXRqiT7wLNdo6YcTHBh8/s640/lantern+5.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="left"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Close up the 16 pieces of the ang pows in the previous steps to form a circle. We'll need to staple the circle to the edge of the 2 cone-shaped hats.</span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIUpBLDmk8SDah_cuvgLp1Qu08UuAogjxE3lpTtJr1GqrUPErWshNZWHAbv75Ssrci_H76f66xETpztJD3SisPWOpl7q7rSWgh2HNUA0_TDLPrkiSWRiFdTBMFZ-Tvvx0N9gnM/s1600/lantern+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="376" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIUpBLDmk8SDah_cuvgLp1Qu08UuAogjxE3lpTtJr1GqrUPErWshNZWHAbv75Ssrci_H76f66xETpztJD3SisPWOpl7q7rSWgh2HNUA0_TDLPrkiSWRiFdTBMFZ-Tvvx0N9gnM/s640/lantern+6.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="left"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Tah Dah! My 3 lanterns - 2 outside my house and one inside.</span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-43396208160481694842012-01-12T22:15:00.007+08:002012-01-12T23:10:37.089+08:00Of sperms, eggs and balls...<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was sitting on my notebook with Brendan (age 8+) beside me doing his homework<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>while Eryn (age 6 <span style="font-size: xx-small;">1/2</span>) was reading a book.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suddenly, this conversation came up :</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eryn <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>: mummy, my egg is here right? (pointing below her belly button)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mummy : Huh? </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eryn<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>: There, you see,<em> (pointing to a kids Biology book, as per picture below),</em> </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> this is an egg.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brendan : Oh, I know, it's where the sperm swims towards the egg.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mummy : *<em>eyes big big</em>* <em>(double)</em> HUH?!</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYjSY5z7z-CVJpbl2QVH01W2JSaqIFOJSh2hEzipm1CBPNGrmkDIrz9zhpd7QtsMEXJtgcu7mtthuReR_TQZ9NbpCGCFEh4PguHn_y5m9fyNt31z_ZPlVwwlhj9zEh_VgnZB89/s1600/bbs+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYjSY5z7z-CVJpbl2QVH01W2JSaqIFOJSh2hEzipm1CBPNGrmkDIrz9zhpd7QtsMEXJtgcu7mtthuReR_TQZ9NbpCGCFEh4PguHn_y5m9fyNt31z_ZPlVwwlhj9zEh_VgnZB89/s640/bbs+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh well,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and that’s how I realised I had to get started on my basic introduction about the birds and the bees. I asked if they really know what are the sperms and eggs for and this is how to conversation went on :</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eryn<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>: The sperm is in the boy’s kukubird</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brendan : Ya, and the egg is inside the girl’s body.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mummy : Yes, and when the sperm meets the egg, you can have a baby. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> And it is very important that you must understand.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0WSalFt5u4DvcXom41DNZ55Ele5xPtv9X_D9DgddsUJfHpSGePVpRHUUEu6kddDR7kTJd9xZVqCZQTwFuC-DZCMB6sfne3vYVcHPTuLsnBdrlzGBwwdw_I4jNE3-H-6lHgffR/s1600/bbs+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0WSalFt5u4DvcXom41DNZ55Ele5xPtv9X_D9DgddsUJfHpSGePVpRHUUEu6kddDR7kTJd9xZVqCZQTwFuC-DZCMB6sfne3vYVcHPTuLsnBdrlzGBwwdw_I4jNE3-H-6lHgffR/s640/bbs+3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then, the conversation got really funny :</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brendan : How can the sperm go to the egg? The sperm is in my '<em>kukubird'</em> lah.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eryn<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>: Hahahahaha......</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brendan : So, you better don’t touch my sperm. Actually, the sperm is my two balls.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Mummy : <em>*eyes rolling and controlling laughter*</em></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eryn<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>: You see this book (pointing to the picture below), sperm plus egg equals </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> baby in the womb.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brendan : Mummy, do you know that it is very dangerous if a boy only has one ball? </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> He can die one you know.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGUI4aqvWqM1fEao0nH4ERRJTkdKKCrpM8talcmEc6suevaEpUorkcMOyRapjsiMRINk-6hdSmbeEyZMgRP6ltQnp3EuMCUUY_rQ8j15LixCbUg2usYGj-VkN45oMMHkyK3IBa/s1600/bbs+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGUI4aqvWqM1fEao0nH4ERRJTkdKKCrpM8talcmEc6suevaEpUorkcMOyRapjsiMRINk-6hdSmbeEyZMgRP6ltQnp3EuMCUUY_rQ8j15LixCbUg2usYGj-VkN45oMMHkyK3IBa/s640/bbs+4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh well, that’s all on the so-called basic sex education. This was really getting nowhere. Besides, I was so tired to be able to do any proper explanation as it was nearing bed time for the kids.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial;">This is the cover of the book. A very, very good book which I bought in the last Big, Bad Wolf sale. It covers mostly on the human body and the kids learnt a lot from there.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgf59PWgbaW79dnS8YpO_mYe4Hr5rOKG3GXelEQ1ts3vYDdZQ1lTnksXjvJyyoyzwY-LG_Njoop8h4umbxKFiDpwQcolDLQyiiQHvizzKEm2Bz6xbG6rC6bo2dlaDVTkQxZHx6/s1600/bbs+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgf59PWgbaW79dnS8YpO_mYe4Hr5rOKG3GXelEQ1ts3vYDdZQ1lTnksXjvJyyoyzwY-LG_Njoop8h4umbxKFiDpwQcolDLQyiiQHvizzKEm2Bz6xbG6rC6bo2dlaDVTkQxZHx6/s400/bbs+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-34453523974237568092012-01-08T14:27:00.001+08:002012-01-08T14:28:33.600+08:00Aloe vera jelly drink<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I noticed that the big, fat, aloe vera plant in my backyard has tilted while I was pulling out the weeds in the other pots. When I tried to put it back up straight, the bottom stem broke. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And so, I had to think of what to do with it. I kept some in the fridge and used some to make an aloe vera dessert drink. I remember drinking it at an aunt's place but had no idea how to prepare it at all. </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I just make do with what I have in my fridge and boiled longan aloe vera jelly drink. Hubby says it taste good, except that it's not sweet enough for him.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My m.i.l. used it all the time to rub it on her face which she says contribute to her smooth skin. I have to admit that her skin looks good though. My mum says it's good for the hair and for burns and cuts on skin. So, I'll probably use those in my fridge for my sensitive skin. I use to hate aloe vera 'cos the sap cause itchiness to my skin. But the fat ones in the fridge should be good cos the flesh is thick and it's easy for me to cut the hard, green skin to avoid the remove the sap which is excreted just under the hard skin.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwy2aSbmsaXOvBIruvItxbd9oqaTLIIQeG-mNVTu8V6U_VotkMsSuJOjLkGxQMKEfZzkrYxhrzDb0_Pz6w3m6-7o2RulPFWG3Z9IVdiHeb9l2AZJgWdoO0aIIrionosY_a5Kvu/s1600/aloe+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwy2aSbmsaXOvBIruvItxbd9oqaTLIIQeG-mNVTu8V6U_VotkMsSuJOjLkGxQMKEfZzkrYxhrzDb0_Pz6w3m6-7o2RulPFWG3Z9IVdiHeb9l2AZJgWdoO0aIIrionosY_a5Kvu/s400/aloe+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's my simplified recipe for the aloe vera jelly drink :</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><u>Ingredients </u></em>: aloe vera (remove the hard skin and only take the gel-like texture), dried longans, red dates, pandan leaves and honey rock sugar. I added another a piece of one type of herb (kept a lot of it in my fridge) which I do not know the name. Amount to be used are in estimated amount.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><u>Method :</u></em> Boil the longans, dates and pandan leaves for about half an hour for the flavour to be out before adding in the aloe vera and continue simmer for another 10-15 minutes to remove the slimy texture from the aloe vera. Add rock sugar before turning off fire. I prefer to cool it down and drink it chilled.</span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgedca-QXvJC4bbSeTS9pB-cEVAOC7jdtQHhL_HR5VZBXE4ZPRTHf1rV8TxyUkDOLPkkzMcECtWcIwrNXvYUmfeuXHk4BK49ZMlePLRyoYvMzbY9vZz2k9crtmjYAZAWRu2Lh_k/s1600/aloe+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgedca-QXvJC4bbSeTS9pB-cEVAOC7jdtQHhL_HR5VZBXE4ZPRTHf1rV8TxyUkDOLPkkzMcECtWcIwrNXvYUmfeuXHk4BK49ZMlePLRyoYvMzbY9vZz2k9crtmjYAZAWRu2Lh_k/s400/aloe+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16390825.post-90461527024552368022012-01-05T10:48:00.002+08:002012-01-05T12:03:01.743+08:00Eryn enters primary one<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is now Eryn's turn to go to primary school. She seems pretty excited and knowing that she can cope well, I didn't feel so stressed up preparing her for her first day of school yesterday.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brendan used to be an extremely shy boy but he was ok when he was in </span><a href="http://babysmooches.blogspot.com/2010/01/primary-one.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">standard one</span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. So, Eryn will definitely be ok too.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went to school during Eryn's recess time yesterday, thinking that I was half hour early, but found that the standard one children were already queueing up, preparing to go back to their classrooms. I had bought chocolate milk for the kids and only managed to pass to Brendan. Luckily Eryn finished the bread I packed for her this morning.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During </span><a href="http://babysmooches.blogspot.com/2010/01/primary-one.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brendan's time</span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> in standard one, there were a total of 11 classes compared to Eryn's year at only 6 classes this year. It's still chaotic though cos all the kids looks alike from the side or from the back in the standard blue and white uniform. I could only locate Eryn when I located her class queue. Even that also I found that she looked different as I've just cut her hair two days before school starts.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With Eryn being in the second batch of the new KSSR syllabus, I hope she can cope well in school. She can't reach much of chinese yet, as compared to Brendan.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the part and parcel of many parents' life when their kids enter school. Always a new phase as we go along our journey in life.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXimLlLL4GDXiFF7v3uUL_XqnIG7aWXxiGDCbKSdjw7lytKP3_qcpC6q_MGwGOO5NzPlabLZQlWb90ZPiPzvzNWkl4U3q8GQBEvA-QSw2MbdUaYQEY1HsogOlLxbHtsAS9Z7x/s1600/schblog+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="255" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXimLlLL4GDXiFF7v3uUL_XqnIG7aWXxiGDCbKSdjw7lytKP3_qcpC6q_MGwGOO5NzPlabLZQlWb90ZPiPzvzNWkl4U3q8GQBEvA-QSw2MbdUaYQEY1HsogOlLxbHtsAS9Z7x/s400/schblog+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The standard one crowded during recess time.</span></em></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFsJi88RSTy5abtg_u8dXRmH05L8eQ-yEqnj94U9K6qIUokyn5tOnaalSYM7KevytPESKh184ODh2DJOQA1fEJZCNAv2Kz5DMcslyAcogBcbvfUYiEljiGCZZfNQmN4-jRwr1N/s1600/schblog+1b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFsJi88RSTy5abtg_u8dXRmH05L8eQ-yEqnj94U9K6qIUokyn5tOnaalSYM7KevytPESKh184ODh2DJOQA1fEJZCNAv2Kz5DMcslyAcogBcbvfUYiEljiGCZZfNQmN4-jRwr1N/s640/schblog+1b.jpg" width="488" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><em>Taken during school orientation day on 30th Dec 2011.</em></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="blogger-post-footer">all rights reserved</div>Babysmoocheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570290857343187175noreply@blogger.com4