What we did in Bentong last holiday

Last school holiday, we went back to my parent's house and stayed there until school reopen. I forgot to let the teachers know that Caleb won't be going for daycare because apparently they still have daycare during the whole stretch of school holiday. Received an SMS from the school principal saying all of them missed Caleb so much. Haha...of cox, the 'haywire guy' aka 'holland guy' wasn't there creating a mess!

Anyway.........

This is what we did.

My cousin's family came and stayed for a few days.  Brought my cousin sister around for Bentong food and she likes it very much and every year like a routine, these are on her to-eat-list.

Bentong Wan Tan Meen. This wan tan meen should bring shame to all wan tan meen in Klang Valley. The noodles are springy with no alkaline whatsoever. Dark soya sauce is super fragrant and super nice and the char siew.....mmm....I love the char siew nonetheless. But for some people who like caramelize char siew would find this like a tree bark but still, I like it. Hee hee....talking about weirdo. And oh ya, if you want to find the best wan tan meen in Bentong, forget about Hoi Kee. They are over-rated, crowded to the max and be prepared to wait for 30 minutes before you could got on hold of a table and seats and another 1h for a bowl/plate of wan tan meen. Spare me, pluhlizzzz.... 

Wan tan meen @ RM3.80

Another must have. Pan meen or 'mein fun cha kuo' as what the local called it. The anchovies soup was delicious with firm texture noodles. Definitely is a must-have....oh, did I just repeat that? Heh heh....

I tried to order this every time I came back to hometown and I always too full to eat it. This is roti bakar but the local called it 'siew suet yau'. Siew of course means 'bakar' or toasted and suet yau means butter. So, it's basically is kaya and butter toasted bread.

What's so special about it anyway? Mmmm.......nothing special. But I like it very much :) The kaya is fragrant and the butter is melting on the way to your mouth. Blocks and blocks of butter melting simultaneously.

In the afternoon, we went to OldTown White Coffee. Nothing particular. Just chit-chatting with my cousin sister while Caleb was on the Iphone and Caven 'koala bear'-ing on me in baby carrier. Oh, I super love my Boba 3G carrier now. I don't think I can live without it. My life saver..... Works very well if you have a leechy baby like me.

Every trip to Bentong will only be completed when my cousin sister get to taste the old favourite nasi lemak and spicy chicken chop. One thing about the nasi lemak is it comes with a very very spicy sambal and alot of onions. I always love onions in my sambal. Soft, tender and fragrant chicken curry and sambal sotong. Topped up with a nice hat, in this case is half cooked egg. Believe me if I said I can't find something like this in Klang Valley nor in Penang. SJ, agree? >.<

Somehow, I need my nasi lemak fix....NOW!

Next up, my childhood favourite. A very simple, nothing fancy, old school chicken chop with french fries, fried egg with chilli sauce. I'd trade this for myBurgerlab anytime. I love this for as long as I can remember, over 20 years ago, perhaps? My cousin sister love it too, being hooked on it ever since I introduced to her.

If you happen to visit Bentong and wonder what in this small town could offer? Drop me a mail and I try to 'korek-korek' the address or maybe direct you to there, ok?

After my aunt and family went back, I got another 1 week to stay at my parent's house. Reason being: still holiday ma..... So, I brought Caleb for his hair cut. Oh yes, no more messy fringe and curly maggi mee. So leng chai.

On one of the day, I just left the little leech at home, asked my mom to look after him and I took Caleb for some cakes at Secret Recipe. We get to talk a little, eat cakes and of course play games together with my phone. Just a simple activities makes him a very happy man.

Since we got a lot of free time at home and gadzillion darn flying mozzie around in the living room, most of the time we spend a lot of playing, jumping, shrieking, hugging and making funny faces in room. Aaaahhh.....a bliss.

And that what we did last holiday in Bentong. The next school holiday should be in December, I pressume? :)

Caleb's 4th Birthday Celebration

Arggghh.....this is soooooo backdated. I'm suppose to post this up on 24th July, a day after Caleb's birthday and now I'm still stuck at this post. Most of the time, I don't even have time to touch my lappie, what's more to blog. Anyway.....

It was Caleb's birthday yesterday last week two weeks ago (blehhh) and as usual I made him a birthday cake as I always did every year. This time a red velvet birthday cake. How nice is that? But juggling between a crying-whining-leechy-baby-who-just-want-to-stick-with-his-mommy and baking was indeed a challenging task.

This is the birthday cake for the birthday boy. It look so 'homemade', right? There were  a lot of flaws on the cake if you look closely but I guessed the most important is the face on my birthday boy. His eyes lighten up when he saw this and that was priceless!

A few accompaniment of red velvet cupcakes with flags made from washi tape. I really fell in love with washi tape already! However, if you noticed, the papercups detached itself from the cake and honestly it looked hideous. I did around 20 cupcakes but only 9 of them looked presentable. Why ar? Anybody know why? (*scratching head*)

This time, for the first time he has the whole crowd to celebrate with him because he was celebrating it in school. Oh boy! He was soooo happy and for the first time he woke up before 7am. That was a record because normally we need to drag his fat bum out from the bed, spend 5 minutes just telling him to brush teeth and another 10 minutes asking him to finish up his milk.

The happy birthday boy!

I know he has been dreaming of sitting there for the longest time, in fact maybe every kid. It does feel special when you're sitting on special chair where you got a birthday cake with your name on and everybody singing birthday song to you.

I asked him if he wants to take some pictures with his friends and he said yes. How could he resists?

Everybody is sitting on chair singing birthday song. Cute little people...

This become his signature post. Must have to 'V' sign. Mmmm...where did he learn this from? I don't know.

Cutting the cake and grins on his face.

We picked him up after his daycare and went to Sakae Sushi for dinner. His favourite 'frog sushi'. He love it so much. Probably because of the kid's set bowl that there are providing have frog face on it. I don't know, just guessing..... :)

After dinner, the father brought him to games arcade for some fun. You know, doing guy's thing. Like basketball.... mmm.... I guess if I have a girl, I would definitely bring her for pedicure and manicure on her birthday. Hah!

We had another birthday song singing and candle blowing moment back at home. I have a few more cupcakes and decorated it. Bahhh...I need more improvement on my decorating skill.

Caleb was so happy. He even asked my if he could have another birthday tomorrow. Hahaha.....

It's school holiday time

Yupe, 2 weeks school holiday and 3 of us are having party time at my parent's house. Caleb can watch tv and snack as much as he want because my dad spoilt him like mad. Everything also okla okla. So for me I just have to close one eye lor. What to do...... grandparent need to spoilt and parent need to displine them back. That's the universal law :)

Anyway, since Caven is such a professional at tossing and turning, we re-arrange the beds in my room. Previously queen bed was separated in the middle with single one. Caven sleep alone in the single bed while me and Caleb sleep on the double bed.

Now, we have to put both bed together and got plentiful of pillows and bolsters to barricade the end of the beds. Sigh......I cannot imagine when he started to crawl.  Probably I need a metal cage by then....

Caleb is watching Mickey mouse Clubhouse and didi just hovering around.

An evening with the kids

Just the other day I asked jk if he's free. It's been a while since he used his 'freaking expensive' EOS camera to take pictures of the children. So, off we went down to our apartment with Caleb, Caven and MIL. Sama sama pegi tangkap gambar.

Caven was shrieking happily when he saw some other kids running around. Such a happy baby but not when he's hungry or sleepy. Well, who does right? Silly.....haha

See all those kids in the playground? What are they waiting for? :)

For me to blow bubbles la.

Kids.....they go crazy all over the bubbles. It is so simply to make a bunch of kids happy.

All these while Caven watching those kids and laughed.

Now pictures with mami. Seldom took picture together with them. It was either Caven or Caleb pictures but not including me in it.

3 of us

Mother's Day card from Caleb

Caleb came back from school yesterday and gave me this.

A flower which he made in school.

He came to me running and was so excited shouting "Mami mami, I got something for you. A flower. Happy Mother's Day Mami. I love you." and a kiss (muaks)

Hahaha.....heart melted.

Finally, I got my mother's day gift this year. The last time we enrolled him in school was after mother's day and just before father's day. So the father got a crap card instead.

Happy Mother's Day to all....

Bake with Caleb

Recently, I'm back to the kitchen and starting baking cakes again. I miss baking so much and now that Caleb has grown up, I have a little helper myself :)

Ever since didi Caven was born, I noticed that I spent so little time with Caleb. Most of my time was feeding, burping, nursing, carrying, bouncing and playing Candy Crush Caven. So, this little activity is just nice between us. And he loves baking so much!

Concentrating... :)

I bought a packet of orange poppyseed muffin premix from a nearby baker shop. It got everything inside that little packet and when you have a sugar craving, you just need to add in water, oil and egg. Easy peasy.... Even a 4 year old can do.

Smile Caleb smile!

I let him scoop the batter into baking cups. As usual it is a little messy. I'm ok with it. Afterall baking with kid is suppose to be messy, dirty and fun right? Ya, if I'm not the one who do the washing and cleaning up. :)

Ok ok....just a little messy is ok la.

After 25 minutes in the oven, it turned out beautifully.

Soft, fluffy, so orangey. Love the poppyseeds inside. Give you a little crunch in every bite.

Gonna go and grab a few packets of these premix again. Caleb said we should do this more often. Ok, son. Whatever you say....

Conversation with Caleb @ 3 years & 9 months old

Conversation with Caleb now a day.....

Scene 1:

Yesterday after came back from school, the father would normal bathed him. After bath, he walked over to the dining table, see what's for lunch. I served him a bowl of vegetable porridge. 2 of the things he hated the most, vege and porridge. Hahaha....

Caleb: What's that?

Me: Chuk-chuk (porridge)

Caleb: No, I don't want chuk-chuk.

Me: Yes, you need to eat chuk-chuk. Finish it. (Am I sound like Hitler here?)

Caleb: But I don't know how to finish chuk-chuk.....

Me: I think you don't know how to watch tv too, (Normally I'd let him watch his favourite Artzooka on Astro 612 before his afternoon nap) so, don't watch, ok?

Caleb: Noooo.......I want to watch. I know......

Me: So, finish your chuk-chuk and then you can watch.

Caleb: Sigh....oooookkkkk.

Yeah! Mami 1 - Baby 0

Scene 2:

Me: Caleb, this Jake and the pirate is the last one, ok? (while he watch Disney Junior on tv) After this we go afternoon nap.

Caleb: Ok.

After the programme is finished, I heard some yelling between him and my mil.

Mil: Ok, finish already. Now is Ma Ma's turn.

Caleb: Nooo, I want to watch the next one.

Mil: Mami said finish, last one already. Now is afternoon nap time.

Caleb: Noooo....

I quickly come out from the room and took him in.

Me: Caleb, what happen? What did mami said just now? Did mami said Jake and the Pirate is the last one?

Caleb: Yes....but I forgot.

Me: (Speechless. Dunno what to say...)

Mami -1, Baby -1

JK was there in the room, he took blanket and cover his face - laughing hysterically inside. I have to put on a serious face trying very hard not to laugh.....My goodness, I can't imagine when he get older. The head is full of reasons and excuses. Now I need something to boost up my brain also.....

Lunch with my date

My mom-in-law didn't cook today so Caleb and I go jalan jalan cari makan :)

As usual, if I need to feed Caleb with outside food, I'll try to find those foods that less salty, less oily and less ajinomoto. Basically food as plain as possible and tasteless.

So, we went to Be Lohas Healthy Cuisine Cafe in Setiawalk. Healthy, organic, green and saving the planet, need I say more. And for the one in Setiawalk, you can choose to adopt a tree.

For a start, they served 2 tablet of Spirulina and a cup of ginger tea for FREE. Caleb popped in one in his mouth thinking it was M&M or something. The last time he ate this and his whole mouth turned green and he was desperately asking for water. Hahaha..... this time, after he popped one in his mouth I asked him to eat one spoonful of fried rice. In the end, he didn't complain.

I ordered one kiddy set for him. Pumpkin fried rice with a few pieces of seaweed and sweet corn. Tried a few spoonfuls, no taste. Good...my objective was fulfilled.

Ahhhh......

Ommmm......

So nice....

Yupe, he finished up the whole plate of fried rice. Good boy.

Don't leave didi behind...

We went back to our hometown last weekend and it was just a very quick 2D/1N stay, just to let my mom and dadto  have a look at 3 months old Caven. Yes, they grow up really fast. Every time I went back home, my mom said Caven looks different.

That night while I was tucking Caleb to sleep, we had a little conversation:

Me: Caleb, didi stay at ah ma's (my mom) house, ok? We go back home in kl. You, mami and dadi only.

Caleb: Noooo.....I want didi. Mami have to bring didi go back home, ok?

Me: But didi always wake up cry cry cry, then how?

Caleb: Didi cry, Caleb shake shake the chicken like this (it's a chicken rattle which shut Caven up every time he cry), then MaMa (my mil) carry didi ngoi ngoi ngoi (what he mean is carry in the arms), then didi no more cry cry already.

Me: Errr.....ok.

Caleb: *not convinced with the reply* Mami remember to bring didi, ok? Didi cannot stay with Ah Ma........

Me: Okla okla......let's sleep.

5 minutes of silent trying to sleep...... and out of sudden...

Caleb: *still not convinced* Mami remember to bring didi, ok? remember ok?

Me: Aiyo....okok. Now sleep :)

Caleb is soooo worried that we will leave behind his little brother. Hahaha.......and I begin to feel that he can be really long-winded (cheung hei).

Caleb and his swollen eyes

I have a history of allergy, well I think I do but because I didn't go to see a doctor to confirm it, so I'm not too sure. Whenever I did spring-cleaning or went into someplace full of dust, I'll sneeze my lungs, kidney, liver and whatever out. I have a high record of sneezing over 20 times in one go. It's true! No kidding ler.

After marathon sneezing, my nose started to get stuffy and runny with whitish mucus.One moment, I got a runny nose the next moment I got stuffy nose and sometimes I just couldn't breath. I have to breath with my mouth open.

There was one time I got bitten by a bug. I'm not sure what kind of bug was it but it was quite a big one. My eyes got swollen so bad and I had to get a jab. Saw a doctor and yes, she said this is one of the allergy reaction from the sting.

I didn't know this kinda allergy is under genetics and hurray! hallelujah!!, I passed on this 'great' gift to Caleb. Yesterday his eye got a bit swollen after he woke up in the morning. I thought that was just a mosquito bite and didn't really pay attention to it. It got subside after he came back from school but got worse in the evening.

He scared the shit of out me and brought him to see a paed immediately.

The paed started to go through things he ate with me or any changes we did to out home or around us. But it's really hard to exactly pinpoint it. Foods wise there's nothing new being introduced. No new home fragrance, no new detergents....the only thing that happened was we got our air-conditionals clean up the day before. I remember they were using some sort of liquid chemical and it smell really bad until I have to bring Caven out from the house.

So, in the end, the doctor didn't prescribe any medicine for him and just said that whatever it is that caused this allergy, we just have to wait until it cleared off.

Today is the 3rd day and yupe, he's getting better and his eyes didn't swollen anymore.

Padi House @ Setia Walk

Let me do a quick review on this place, Padi House @ Setia Walk Puchong. Good foods, nice ambiance, friendly staffs....(We did tried this place before at Sri Petaling and I blogged about it here.)

Now that we have another additional small baby in the family, going out for a meal has become a rare commodity. You know, how bringing out tonnes of bag, baby carrier, a crying baby and one super-duper active toddler can really worn you off before you could start your meal.

But well, we do need to go out and get some fresh air once in a while, right?

So, last Sunday we went to this newly opened Padi House at Setia Walk for brunch.

A very cosy place for lazy Sunday brunch.

A wide selection of cakes and pastries.

Love how they partition the dining part and equipped with ceiling fans and air-cons. It makes the environment more cooling and airy. White and Bronze color metal chairs with wooden table is a real nice combination. Very cosy indeed.

Just a comparison on how Caleb has grown. The picture on the right is taken when we ate at Padi House in Sri Petaling 1.5 years ago :)

Caven on baby car seat and watched us for ummm.....10 minutes?

Then he crying for attention already.

So my mil carried him and walked around. He fall asleep shortly after been carried.

We passed him around so that everybody could eat. You carry, I eat, I finish eating then I carry and you eat. That how's it goes around when eating with a small baby, we won't be eating at the same time.

We ordered this for Caleb, Spaghetti Aglio Olio with Grilled Herbs Chicken. Taste very good. Caleb whacked up most of this. The grilled chicken was really tender and full of flavour. Nice, very nice. Should order this again.

I ordered this. My all time favourite, Padi House Chicken Shop Rice. There's rice, egg, chicken chop in brown sauce (I think) topped with a dollop of cream cheese ( I think la :D) Habis la like that, how to do food review? Haha....

Jk's Tom yum fried rice. I think it should be nice because I didn't hear any complaint from him.

Mil's Cantonese noodles in egg gravy. No comment. Didn't get the chance to taste it because my mil eat like a speed of lightning. Now you see, now you don't.

Overall the food is good and I don't mind going back again, probably this weekend?