Playing Catch

Because our house is located in somewhat a valley, we get to enjoy soft breezes blowing during the day. The nursery window's lace usually flies over the bed. It is during times like this that Mia loves to play catch.

Here she is enjoying her "catch of the day" while waiting for her bath to be ready.She'll let go of the lace and wait for it to "fly" over her and tries to catch it again. She's very good at this!

Whoopsie: Another food entry

We went out with Teresa and her mum today. First it was to JPJ to renew our road taxes (mine and Teresa's). Then it was suppose to be to BP Pathlab in Damai. Unfortunately, there was no parking and we spotted a couple of DBKK officers writing summons/tickets for illegally parked cars.

So, that trip to the Pathlab is canceled for now. We then drove to have lunch. This is where we ended up at:

Tasty Wok @ The Venetian in Lido, NOT Vegas or Macau ;)

It's new, the ambiance is nice, modern, classy quite "Orang putih punya style". Wish we could say the same about the staff though. I didn't get the Oriental feel of the place though.

We each ordered set lunch which came with Coffee or Tea. For me it had to be black coffee.

Set lunch is served with white rice and a bit of mixed vegetables.

Here are the actual dish for the set lunch:

My choice: Garoupa in black bean sauce

Teresa's mum's (Lola Dora) choice: chicken curry which came out served in claypot

Teresa's choice: Seafood with mixed vegetables

Overall, the food was so so only. Really nothing to shout about. Mia was shouting in the restaurant though on various occasions:

1. Wet diaper
2. Want water NOT milk
3. Want to have a "tour" of the restaurant
   
4. Sleepy

Not wanting to be further embarrassed than I already was, I went to their washroom to wash her bottle before we left for Citymall. Their washroom was clean and nice looking. Something which is as rare as experiencing hailstorms in Sabah! But then again, this is a Club and its new. See for yourself:

Mia's New Game

Since her mummy would not allow her to suck on her thumbs, Mia has resorted to this:

Bananas to go around

Last night I had a dream that I was eating a banana split with Mia. I reasoned that it must be because I fed Mia with banana puree yesterday. It was also at that moment I realised its been a while since I had a banana split.

And what a coincidence that this morning I stumbled upon a banana bread recipe by our kitchen whiz friend - Cinda in her blog. I SO WANTED to give the recipe a try but not for now because I don't have a bread tin!

Nonetheless, I was still inspired by Cinda's recipe and decided to make some Fabulous Banana Muffins to be shared with our special friends at the pool later in the evening.

Here's what I used to make about 12 mini muffins plus 7 out of shape muffins:

• Forgot to count pisang emas (errrr "golden bananas"?!), mashed (the more bananas the moister). You can use other types of bananas.
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/3 cup melted margarine or butter
• chocolate chips (I didn't have any, so I grated some cooking chocolate)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour
  

Mix the mashed banana, sugar, egg and margarine together. In a separate bowl, mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour.

Mix wet and dry ingredients all together.

Pour into greased muffin tray. Look, I magically found a muffin baking tray in our kitchen cabinet! LOL!!! It's meant for little muffins so that's why I had extra batter to put into these sad looking muffin paper stuff.

Then bake in oven for approximately 25 minutes at 180 degrees C . To make sure the muffins are cooked, you can poke a toothpick in the middle of the muffins. If the toothpick comes out clean, then the muffins are cooked.

There you have it, Fabulous Banana Mini Muffins - all 12 of them

plus 7 (6 now, I ate 1 before taking the picture) odd looking muffins! I must say... delicious! These are darker because I had them baked longer.

And finally, 2 happy friends!

Focus on New Food Moment

It's that time of the week again: New food cooking in the kitchen.

This time, it's:

Tadaaaa: Yam

After much thought during the weekend, I finally decided to cook Yam Chicken. Yes Rosie, chicken again!

First, I sliced the yam into smaller pieces.

Then I fried the yam pieces until they're golden brown.

Meanwhile, the chicken pieces are marinated in oyster sauce, grated ginger, grated garlic, and a bit of pepper.

Stir fry the marinated chicken, adding a bit of water from time to time.

After the chicken is cooked, toss in the fried yam slices. If you want to make the sauce thicker, you can always add a bit of corn flour mixed in plain water.

When you're ready to serve, throw in some garnishings on top and there you go. Yam Chicken - simple yet yummy. Best eaten with steaming hot rice.

You'll notice that I never put in measurements on the ingredients. That's because my kitchen does not have measuring equipments except for tablespoon, teaspoon and cup.

But I did buy an apron yesterday from Kaison. A bargain at only RM8.90! I'll get a kitchen scale and measuring cup next time.

Ooops. She Did It Again

Mia kicks, and she kicks so @#$!@ hard! Whether she's "swimming" or just standing on my lap, she loves to kick and jump about.

At night, she'll kick her blanket away. Which is why we bought a "sleeping bag" for her so she won't get cold because we have our air-con on all night.

The sleeping bag worked well for a while. The other morning however, I woke up to see this:

Yes, she did it again. Evidently, she can kick so strong even while she sleeps.

On another note, she did not poopy at all yesterday. Not even in her diapers. But she did "deposit" her pee pee in her potty, during the two times I sat her on her potty.

This morning I sat her on her potty and yes! She poopied in her potty today. 3 poopies in a row. MUAH!!!

Palm Sunday

It's Palm Sunday today.

Wiki & about.com explains simply that on Palm Sunday Christians celebrate the Triumphal Entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, the week before his death and resurrection. For many Christian churches, Palm Sunday, often referred to as "Passion Sunday," marks the beginning of Holy Week, which concludes on Easter Sunday.

The Bible reveals that when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowds greeted him with waving palm branches, and by covering his path with palm branches. Immediately following this great time of celebration in the ministry of Jesus, he begins his journey to the cross.

In many Christian churches today, Palm Sunday is marked by the distribution of palm leaves (often tied into crosses) to the assembled worshipers.

The biblical account of Palm Sunday can be found in Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-44; and John 12:12-19

Janet and I attended our church's Ladies meeting yesterday. The topic was learning how to do our e-filing (income tax returns) and making palm crosses for our Palm Sunday service.

There we are busy making palm crosses guided by sister Lily (behind me in blue). Look at how W I D E I've become. I really have to do something about this :(

The basket of crosses we've made for Palm Sunday service to distribute to our congregation.

I love our meetings... whether its home meetings or ladies meeting, there's always yummy food after that. It's not doing any good to the W I D E me issue though.

Here's my little palm cross to bring to church today. Yes, I went ahead and chose my very own cutest cross!

Reunited!

Well, Teddy Eddy is all dried now.

I gave him back to Mia and just look at this:

She gave me one big smile as I was passing the teddy to her then she just held him tight to her cheek!

There she is again holding her Teddy Eddy tight when I put her down for her nap (after pooping and milk). She's so afraid that I'll take him away!

Oh yes. On her potty training. Yes, she did it again. Poopy in the potty - a success - two days in a row. MUAH!!

Goodbye pesky insects

I was cooking dinner just now and the smell of raw meat attracted a big fly into the kitchen. Not only that mosquitoes seem to have multiplied and have decided to pay our home a visit.

My husband bought the "21st Century Herbal Insect Repellent Candle" from Doses Pharmacy a while back. It costs RM9.95 and has a 48 hours burning time.

The candle has a lovely (yet safe) herbal scent which I like. I lit it, and presto - no more insects!

And by the way, our Mia's doing fine without her Teddy Eddy. She was happy to bug Bibi Bee for company today.

Once again, she pulled her toy to her face and fell asleep.

Toys R Us

Woke up this morning and saw this:

Somehow she managed to pull Eyore to her face and fell asleep.

Mia doesn't have that many toys I think (though my husband would beg to differ!).

She likes to play and "chat" with Bibi Bee, Ellie Elephant and Teddy Eddy.

There she is with Ellie Elephant again.

But her all time favourite has to be Teddy Eddy. I've to take him everywhere with her so that she'll keep quiet and entertained in the car, in her crib, at church even.

My husband and friends have warned me that she'll get attached to the smell because Mia loves to lick and leave her saliva on it.

So, today seeing that it'll be another steaming hot day, I decided to give her Teddy Eddy a good wash.

Let's hope Mia can get through 1 day without her Teddy Eddy!

Potty Training

Mia loves to sit on her chair and watch TV. Problem is, when she sits there she has a tendency to poop and leave a big mess in her diapers for me to clean.

She used to be able to poop when I prompt her, while still lying down. Ever since she got the chair, she refuses to poop the old way and instead wait for me to put her in her chair and then do her big business.
Because of this, we decided to get a potty for her to do her poopy. The potty is too big for her to sit on her own, and I have to hold her. But guess what?! Success! I sat her down there this morning after giving her her milk and prompted her to poop. Less than a minute later: hello poopy! She pooped in her potty!!!

We love you Mia & are so proud of you. MUAH!

Focus on New Food Moment

Sick of cooking the same old stuff using the same old ingredient, I decided to commit to learning to cook with a new ingredient each week.

This week's New Food Focus is:

Pumpkin

I've never cooked with pumpkin in all my life. Heck, I don't even know how to choose a ripe pumpkin. So I got a piece of pumpkin from Giant, all nicely cut for the amateur cook in me.

I couldn't decide what to do with the pumpkin so I googled for ideas. In the end, I decided to make Bubur Ah Cha Cha Cha! It's actually plain old bubur cha cha but I tweaked the recipe a bit.

Here are the basic ingredients: 1 bowl of yam, 2 bowls of pumpkins, 3 bowls of sweet potatoes, screw pine leaves (pandan leaves), coconut milk, 1 bowl of sago pearls. For taste, I put in some gula melaka and a bit of salt.

Throw in some slices of bananas and top it up with vanilla ice-cream. There you go, Bubur Ah Cha Cha Cha!

I still had a bit of pumpkin left. I simply stir fried it with garlic and chicken. That's dinner for us tonight: Garlic pumpkin chicken.

Mission accomplished!

4 months old today

Mia now weighs 7kg at 4 months. Her weight gain has been very consistent - a kilo a month.

She began to roll all by herself at 3 months 2 days. She can last longer while lying on her tummy now and would take every opportunity to flip. She can lift her bum up a bit and she's starting to learn to "drag" her body on the floor. But I'm guessing it'll be a while before she could crawl.

She loves to put her hand in her mouth and knows very well when she can get away with it. Like when I'm driving and need to concentrate on the road.

There she goes.

I scold her every time I catch her doing so. Sometimes she obeys and stop it. Most times however, she doesn't care and instead give me a cheeky smile as she licks and sucks her fist.

And again!

Another development is that she likes to touch her left foot with her right hand when she's sitting in her chair. Once she "catches" her foot, she'll just play with it as she watches her cartoon shows.

Mia's Baptism

Date: Sunday 21st March 2010
Time: 4.00pm
Venue: BCCM Kolombong, Kota Kinabalu
Conducted by: Reverend Chong Fui Yung

Just like during most of the important events in her life so far, she sleeps.

Haruka Chong was also baptised together with Mia

Then came the ugly cry as very cold holy water was sprinkled on her forehead

Mia likes to grab my finger these days

One for the album - group photo with her Poh Poh & Cousin George