I was back in Melaka again yesterday. When I am in town (especially on Sundays), I’ll try to drop by Resthouse Café at Hotel Equatorial as I super love their relaxing Jazzy Sunday Brunch. Stress is the root of countless health problems. The relaxing effect of jazz music has been proven to have amazing healing influence to our health. Jazz music calms our mind and immediately improves our mood. With relaxed and positively boosted mood, food […]

My parents are Malaccan. I am born in Melaka but not raised here hence I am as foreign to this place as most tourist out there. Last weekend we played tourist in this historical city and for the very first time, we brought the boys to explore the many places of attractions here.  We stayed in a hotel nearby but to drive out to the heart of Malacca city, the UNESCO World Heritage Site is […]

With a blink of an eye, we are approaching the final quarter of 2017. To me, that means work is 3/4 done and it is time to plan for a holiday to reward ourselves after a year of hard work. I rarely travel far since having children. We Cuti-Cuti Malaysia a lot to give us short little breaks to keep us refreshed and relax. We recently took a weekend staycation with a couple of friends […]

The Mid-Autumn festival is fast approaching. Being in the Klang Valley, I see mooncakes everywhere. Walk into any shopping malls and you’ll see mooncakes being on sale in full force. Drop by the lobby of any hotels and you’ll get to purchase your favourite mooncakes too but the scenario is totally different out of the Klang Valley. I was in Melaka recently and went to check out several hotels to buy mooncakes as we needed […]

The boys were a little under the weather with flu and cough recently, so I bought them lots of tissues for their runny noses. Anyway, Ayden and Ethan are better now but since we have so much tissue paper at home, I thought of making a tissue craft with them. We made a candle transfer craft art. Materials needed are: 1) Tissue papers (We used Vinda Deluxe 3-ply Facial Tissues in soft packs) 2) Candles […]

If you have been following my blog and FB, you’ll know that big brother Ethan is a drummer as well as a pianist. He started learning piano when he was 5 and half a year later he took up drums.  For piano, the piano teacher comes over to our house therefore Ayden sees her teaching the kor-kor all the time.  It also intrigued him into playing the piano. The piano teacher did introduce Ayden to […]

Mid-Autumn Festival is the festive season where families, friends and loved ones gather to celebrate the moments of unity and happiness. The Westin Kuala Lumpur presents a range of whimsical mooncakes under the theme of YUÈ this celebrative season, transporting individuals back to the old world charm of lunar worship and the end of summer harvesting celebration. We were privileged to be invited to sample the Westin mooncakes recently. Five Sen5es (Level 1) THE WESTIN […]

Mid-Autumn festival is a popular festival among the Chinese with mooncakes being the traditional delicacy and a must-eat during the festivities. Dynasty Restaurant (pork-free) at Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel is offering a selection of 12 types of baked and snowskin mooncakes this year. The use of only pure and natural ingredients is the highlight of their handcrafted mooncakes and we were privileged to be invited to sample their collection recently. Be it the baked classics […]

So the school holidays and long weekend has finally come to an end… not. Haha. What supposed to be a long weekend became a longer one with the additional Monday OFF!  What have we been doing? We did not travel anywhere this time but stayed home and rot thanks to the constant rain in the evening  The Daddy dropped Ethan off at one of his classmate’s house one day for a play date. Ayden and […]

We celebrated Merdeka Day at a restaurant lounge and wine bar nearby our place. Located at Menara Lien Hoe along Persiaran Tropicana, this resto-lounge is generously spacious with an extensive wine cellar and a delectable fusion menu. Lavo Menara Lien Hoe, Persiaran Tropicana, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Daily. 12pm-1am. Tel: 010-311-1888 Lavo’s impressive range of bottles includes vintages not commonly found in the Klang Valley. Lavo may be a haven for wine hunters but it is also home for families […]

Ayden is FOUR today and oh boy, he got so many cakes this year. 1st Cake: We bought him a cake to celebrate with my parents when we were in Malacca. 2nd Cake: I baked this moist chocolate cake and decorated it with chocolate ganache and M&Ms for him to cut at home. 3rd Cake: We made party bags and bought Black Forest cake for Ayden to celebrate with his friends in class. 4th Cake: […]

It’s the school holidays so the boys have plenty of time to experiment on new dishes.  The dish they cooked today is a popular malay dish especially during kenduri and bulan puasa. We never know it is this easy to dish this out. Now that we know, we will definitely be cooking this frequently.  Ayam Kurma Ingredients: 24gm Chicken Kurma Paste (add water and mix into a paste) 8 Chicken drumsticks 90ml Coconut milk 2 […]

‘Merdeka’ means ‘independent’ and we Malaysians will be celebrating Malaysia’s Independence Day on the 31st August 2017. The whole build up towards Merdeka Day is celebrated with pride and joy and a reflection on what makes us proud to be Malaysian. There is another word in Bahasa Malaysia that you will hear frequently and that is ‘Makan’. ‘Makan’ means ‘eat’ and boy, we Malaysians just LOVE to eat. We live by the motto, “Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan” or in another word, we are willing to […]

Ayden is turning 4 end of this month. We plan to celebrate his birthday at the Chinese Enrichment class he is currently attending. I only found out that they will be close for a week for the school holidays end of the month so I had to bring forward Ayden’s birthday celebration to this Friday. We are going to have a simple and budget celebration so the first thing to do is to make our […]

Mid-Autumn festival is fast approaching. We were extremely privilege to be invited yet again to preview Eastin Hotel Kuala Lumpur’s exquisite and delectable spread of baked and snow skin mooncakes. Ee Chinese Cuisine Eastin Hotel Kuala Lumpur Tel: 03-7628 7338 Taking centre stage this year are these rich in taste, yet light and fragrant tea infused mooncakes. Putting drinks into food, Chef Alex incorporates beverage into mooncakes. These tea infused flavours include Osmanthus Flower Infused […]

If you noticed, Ayden usually cooks chicken dishes because that is the easiest meat I can buy. I don’t go to morning market hence I do all my grocery shopping in shopping malls. Only recently I introduced prawns to Ayden and he happily cooked Nyonya Assam Prawn with it which we all love very much. Now that Ayden is getting more and more familiar in the kitchen, I start to introduce more varieties of meat […]

It was 5.30am on a Saturday morning. My phone alarm rang. It felt like I have just gone to sleep the minute before. I have not had a good night’s sleep for a while as Ayden had been under the weather; having had to skip class the past couple of days. A friend told me there is this place in the city that boast of lush, green forest.  He said the morning sunshine and crisp, […]

Did you manage to catch the much hyped meteor shower last weekend? I did not but I was at Dorsett Grand Subang and we caught the blue moon glowing brightly, smiling down at us. Master Chef Alex Chan of The Emperor Chinese Restaurant handcrafts the popular Halal classic mooncakes with a twist and his creations is already available from 13 August until 4 October 2017. The hotel’s signature mooncake for this year is the Blue Crystal Skin […]

We celebrated Mother’s Day for the third consecutive year at Eastin Hotel Kuala Lumpur recently. During that Mother’s Day High Tea, I won a stay voucher in a Deluxe Room at Eastin Hotel Kuala Lumpur. Eastin Hotel is located in between Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya and is just 5-minute walking distance to Phileo Damansara MRT Station that was just recently launched. I took that opportunity to celebrate Ethan’s birthday with a weekend staycation here two […]

Little Chef Ayden is back in action and this time he will be cooking prawns instead of his usual expertise, the chicken. Assam Prawn is one of the easiest prawn dish around so it is no surprise that I chose this dish to start Ayden on prawns ‘coz it is also the first prawn dish my mom taught me long time ago.  Nyonya Assam Prawn The ingredients needed for this dish is also very minimal; […]

We visited the fire station at Sri Hartamas on Sunday. The excursion was arranged by Ayden’s Mandarin enrichment school. He had been looking forward to this for weeks since he first found out about it. It’s so cute to see they actually have uniforms for the little ones. This is even more awesome than Kidzania because everything here is REAL! Ayden brought his fire truck toy along to this excursion. He wanted his little fire […]

True to staying relevant in the market place, Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel has not only recently unveiled its first batch of completely restyled West Wing guest rooms, it has also revamped its All Day Dining menu at TEMPTationS. Located at East Wing Lobby Level, TEMPTationS is now offering more exciting dining approach with delicious new dishes and plenty of choices to choose from. We were privileged to be invited to try out some of the […]

As I’ve mentioned time and time again, playground time is very important for us. We look forward to going to the playground every evening for some sun and fresh air. We plan our daily routine to accommodate 2 hours of playground time every day. It’s all about priority actually. Just like how gym enthusiast prioritize gym session over anything else, it is the same for us with playground hours.  We set a target of walking 10,000 […]

Scenario A You wanna be a super mom and insists to bake a cake for your kid’s birthday party. You also want to cook up a few signature dishes for your guests. In the midst of a hectic kitchen, the cake turned out a flop. It is too late to try baking again because there is chicken roasting in the oven now. What do you do? Don’t cry. You will get to eat cake today. […]

It rained the past couple of days so I had to find something interesting for the boys to do as they can’t go to the playground. Both Ethan and Ayden love colouring and painting. Usually I’ll print something out for them to colour or paint but today I tried something different with them.  Today, I introduced the boys to augmented reality colouring app for smartphones or tablets. It is not something entirely new as it […]

This year we celebrated Ethan’s 10th birthday with a Japanese buffet dinner at Eyuzu Japanese Cuisine, Eastin Hotel Kuala Lumpur. It is our first time dining here. We were seated in one of the private rooms in Eyuzu for better privacy since we are celebrating Ethan’s birthday. Our favourite appetiser, Crispy Salmon Skin. Delicious and crispy salmon skin crackling that got the boys wanting more. Some of the main items are not featured in the […]

Chicken Curry I’ve always thought chicken curry is difficult to cook. I love my mom’s chicken curry. I think it is the best in the world  I never bothered to learn how to cook it until recently as the boys can now tolerate spicy food. Today, my mom taught me how to cook her delicious chicken curry through Whatsapp and Little Chef Ayden is going to show us how it is done. Ingredients: 4 chicken […]

When we were in Bangkok earlier this month, we relied mostly on their BTS Skytrain to go around the city.  The boys loved riding on that very much that once we are back home in Malaysia, they requested to go for a ride on our very own MRT. Little Ayden find it odd that we don’t take the train here at home but do so when we are abroad. I had to explain to him […]

My first born child is TEN today We went back to the in-law’s last Sunday for a simple cake cutting ceremony.  If there were only Ethan and Ayden the previous years, they now have a cousin brother to celebrate together. My sister-in-law and husband welcomed their first baby boy in May. My parents-in-law now have 3 grandchildren – all boys! I know right, I got a headache just looking at them all. LoL!  Happy Birthday […]

Do your children eat vegetables? Mine do not eat leafy types but are okay with okra, broccoli, corn, carrot and those sort. One sure way to cook these vegetables so they’ll polish them clean is to stir-fry with oyster sauce with lots of mushroom and occasionally adding ‘baby eggs’ as the boys simply love those. Stir-Fried Mixed Vegetables with Oyster Sauce Ingredients: Baby Corn Broccoli Cauliflower Shimeiji Mushroom Quail Eggs Prawn Carrot Capsicum Garlic Shallot […]

DYNASTY RESTAURANT at Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel has earlier this year been converted into a Pork-Free restaurant. It is now serving delectable pork-free and Muslim friendly Chinese dishes with emphasis on Cantonese cuisine creatively put together by award-winning Executive Sous Chef Kok Chee Kin. They are having this fantastic 50% OFF all DIM SUM promotion from now until 29 August 2017, Mondays to Fridays. Ayden with one of his favourite basket of dim sum, Emerald dumpling topped with […]

During our recent week-long trip to Bangkok, we spent the second half of our holiday staying at Novotel Bangkok Sukhumvit 20; one of the top family hotel in Bangkok. I love new hotels and Novotel Soi 20 (as they are fondly referred to by the cab drivers) is just celebrating their 1st year anniversary this year. NOVOTEL Bangkok Sukhumvit 20 19/9 Soi Sukhumvit 20, Kwang Klongtoey, Khet Klongtoey, 10110 Bangkok Thailand Tel: +66 (0)2 009 4999 […]

It is the Daddy’s birthday today. Every year since the arrival of the elder brother Ethan, the Daddy refused to let us buy him a cake as his birthday is just a week away from Ethan’s hence he will always insist for us to buy a cake for Ethan instead and not waste on him. This year since the boys can already bake, we decided to surprise him with the boys’ own bake. It was amazing how […]

If you are an avid reader of my blog you’ll know that I love gardening. I grow only edible plants. I used to love growing flowers to beautify the house but these days, practicality is my priority. It is better to grow my own vegetables so I can get organic produce at home.  Chilies grow well at my place. I have two pots of them. The other day before we went for our holidays, I […]

We went to Bangkok during the recent festive holidays. It was our first trip to Bangkok hence we decided to focus on only exploring places within the city that are easily accessible by their BTS skytrain or cab. We sourced for hotels nearby BTS skytrain stations and decided on Novotel Bangkok Ploenchit Sukhumvit as it is situated right across the station. *VIDEO* NOVOTEL Bangkok Ploenchit Sukhumvit ADDRESS: 566 Ploenchit Road, Lumpini, Patumwan, Bangkok 10330 Bangkok, Thailand […]

On our second day in Bangkok, we planned to visit the Grand Palace. The hotel concierge helped us get a taxi and specifically informed the driver to send us to the Grand Palace but as soon as we started our journey, the taxi driver told us that we will need to walk a bit to the Grand Palace as vehicles are not allowed into the area due to the daily prayers (during the mourning period) after […]

The boys love eating burgers but I limit them as I’m not too sure what goes into the burgers that we purchase outside. The better way to feed their appetite is to make our own burger patty. We can make our own burger bun too but that will be too much of a hassle so for now, let’s just start with making our own burger patty. Making our own burger patty is actually very simple. […]

We just got back from a week-long holiday in Bangkok. This is one of the most ‘unprepared’ trip we have ever done. We had been pretty occupied and busy the weeks prior to our trip that we did not manage to plan a proper itinerary and decided to just go with the flow. Close to the end of our trip, the Daddy decided to splurge on a dinner cruise. We are entitled to free local […]

Understanding the need to stay relevant in the market place, Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel unveiled its first batch of completely restyled West Wing guest rooms. The new rooms showcase a fresh and contemporary design – sophisticated, tasteful and sleek, reflecting the key personalities of a Renaissance Discoverer who celebrates all things that contribute to living a life less ordinary. We were privileged to be invited to experience the new Deluxe Suite @ West Wing recently. […]

Several months ago, big bro Ethan shared with us how to cook this famous Peranakan dish – Ayam Pongteh. Big bro Ethan cooked it the conventional way – on the gas stove. Earlier this month we got ourselves a new toy, the new all-in-one cooker by Philips. It comes with sauté function as well as pressure cook (among many other functions) so we tried to cook Ayam Pongteh in it to see if it will […]

As you would have probably known (if you are connected with me via Facebook), my parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary last weekend. A Golden anniversary, it is a blessing to be able to celebrate with beloved family members and close friends. I’ve shared pictures and videos on my Facebook but I’ll share some again here in my blog for keepsake. THE ATTIRE The Golden Couple, Baba Robert and Nyonya Lilian 50 years of marriage […]

If you have had the opportunity to dine with me especially during hi-tea buffet, you’ll know that I always, ALWAYS, eat onde-onde first. I love the feeling of the melted palm sugar that floods my mouth when bitten into. But good onde-onde is rather a rare find these days. The ones I ate are mostly just flour with very little gula melaka filling inside. What do you do when you are craving for one of your […]

I stopped carrying handbags for over a decade now since I became a mother. What used to be a handbag has been replaced by a diaper/milk bag as there are just too many things to bring along when we go out with the boys. Recently, I received a couple of MIZZUE bags for Mother’s Day. It reminded me how much I missed having my own bag instead of lugging a diaper bag everywhere. This new ‘Sunshine Dooms’ […]

We were privileged to be invited to experience the newly unveiled completely restyled West Wings guest rooms at Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel last weekend. I’ll write more about those wonderful new rooms later as there are many pictures and videos I’d love to share with you but haven’t got the time composing them into a story yet. During our staycation here at Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel, I was also treated to a much needed relaxation at Mandara […]

Murtabak is popular especially during the fasting month. Whenever we visit bazaar Ramadan, the first thing we’ll do is hunt for our favourite Ayam Percik and Murtabak. These days the weather is scorching hot, we prefer to just stay home but we still crave for our favourite Murtabak. Thank goodness I know of a simple recipe to make murtabak the easy and hassle-free way. We call it Murtabak Popiah. Murtabak Popiah Ingredients: 100gm minced chicken […]

It is double-celebration for the months of May and June in pampering our parents with Mother’s Day and Father’s Day being just a month apart.  DYNASTY RESTAURANT RENAISSANCE KUALA LUMPUR HOTEL Corner of Jalan Sultan Ismail & Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur Tel: 603-21622233 Fax: 603-2163 1122 Dynasty Restaurant, Renaissance Kuala Lumpur is set to pamper parents to exquisite Set Lunches and Dinners as Executive Sous Chef Kok Chee Kin has put together 7 exclusive set […]

*VIDEO* During the recent school holidays, we took advantage to travel up to Sitiawan – the place I grew up after my father retired from the Navy. My parents have since moved to Melaka hence I’ve not been back here for almost 20 years. We also made the most out of this trip to spend some precious time being close to nature. We stayed at Swiss-Garden Beach Resort, Damai Laut. A hidden gem; secluded but […]

We were privileged to join our Muslim friends to break fast at Chatz Brasserie, PARKROYAL Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Chatz Brasserie features a variety of traditional Malaysian ‘kampung’ cuisine including popular Malay dishes and items daily with four Iftar menus on rotation.  Bubur Lambuk, a must-have at breaking of fast. Ketupat Palas Lemang Serunding Ayam and Daging At the Kerabu corner, appetise with Pasembor Berlauk with Peanut Gravy, Kerabu Pucuk Paku, Kerabu Ayam Daun Kesom and […]

As you have viewed in many of our past videos, Lil’ Chef Ayden had been using our rice cooker to cook a lot. Though the rice cooker does wonders, it takes a longer time to heat up especially when Ayden needs to saute and stir fry stuffs. Hence we decided to get a multi-cooker for him.  We got the new PHILIPS All-in-One Pressure Cooker as we read rave reviews over it online. It functions as a […]

Ayden has been attending Mandarin enrichment class for over a month now. This has totally changed our routine and I am still trying to adjust having to go to bed earlier at night so that we can wake up early for his class. This also means I now have less time to work on my blog and it kind of driving me crazy a little but it’s okay. I’ll find my way to make this work […]

We brought the boys to Sunway Lagoon last Saturday. It was a super hot day so we decided to have some cold treats in Sunway Pyramid after that. We dropped by Sangkaya kiosk which is located opposite Nando’s and Guardian.  Sangkaya is nuts about coconut and is well-known for their ice-cream with coconut milk as the foundation. One of their new release is Gula Melaka ice-cream which I am madly in love with. It has that very […]

It is the school holidays so I got both the boys to cook together. Since our Muslim friends are observing the holy month of Ramadan, the dish we’ll be sharing today is one that is popular during the fasting month – Roti John Sardin. Roti John is an omelette sandwich. Meat is usually added but we prefer to use sardine since my mom has been making it this way for us since young. This hassle […]

I grew up in Sitiawan but left to KL since college. It has been 20 years since I last stepped foot here. We were finally back in Sitiawan last Sunday. Words can’t describe how delighted I was to finally walk on the ground that shaped me to be who I am today. These two are my former classmates. I surprised one of them at his coffee shop for lunch the moment we arrived Sitiawan. The other guy is […]

Last Saturday was the beginning of the school holidays. We brought the boys to Sunway Lagoon Wildlife Park to take a walk on the wild side. Ethan also took part in the Wildlife EduHunt challenge where he has to complete 10 challenges ranging from Peek-A-Print, Mix & Match, Mystery Box, animal appearance to feeding swans, macaws and squirrels. Wildlife Encounter Schedule As we go through the Wildlife Adventure, we get to learn about the many species […]

With the mid term exam done and over with and the school holidays is here, it only means it is time to have fun, FUN and MORE fun! We officiate the two-weeks school break with popping our own popcorn. I’ve blogged about making our own popcorn some time ago but now it is time to pass the skill to the boys or rather the big brother Ethan. Homemade Popcorn Ingredients: A bowl of corn kernels […]

Both my kids love eating mushrooms. Mushrooms is also said to be good for the brain so I try to include mushrooms in their diet regularly. Today’s recipe sharing is this super simple dish of Mushroom Chicken. This quick and easy yet delicious dish is a hit with the boys and I always add extra mushrooms as they always ask for more of it. Mushroom Chicken Ingredients: 7 chicken drumsticks 5 tbs oyster sauce 2 […]

I’ve mentioned this countless times – how playground time is important for us. It is especially important during exam weeks as Ethan goes there to release stress.  We went to the playground as usual today. I got my dose of exercise too from jogging and utilizing the playground equipment such as this monkey bar: Can you see my little supporter there?  So nice to have someone cheering me on when my arms are already feeling like […]

About 3 weeks ago, someone in our family gave birth ahead of time; catching us all of guard.  As she has no other family members here in PJ except us, I cooked some confinement food for her. It was my first time cooking confinement food and I somehow simply whacked as long as got ginger except the black bean soup lah. That one has no ginger in it. I also boiled red dates and longan […]

It was just another ordinary day for us today. We were strolling at a mall in town, admiring the many bonsai around as they were having a plant exhibition at the moment.  The above bonsai grabbed my attention. My mother has that plant at home but hers is planted on the ground and shaped to be a big cute ball. So I took a picture of that and sent to my Mom via Whatsapp.  I continued […]

Today Lil’ Chef Ayden cooked another Sichuan dish – Kung Pao Chicken. If you love Sichuan dishes, you may like Ayden’s previous video – Ma Po Tofu. We did not use Chinese Shaoxing rice wine in our Kung Pao Chicken though but I find it still as yummy. Ingredients: Cubed chicken fillet 3 tablespoons roasted peanuts 6 dried red chilies 3 tablespoons oil An inch fresh ginger, sliced 2 clove garlic, sliced 1 stalk scallion, cut into […]