It’s the 5th day of Chinese New Year and we are back at home but are still very much into the Chinese New Year mood. Today, our Little Chefs tried roasting for the very first time. Since we are still in CNY atmosphere, the ingredients used for our roast are also very much CNY influenced.  The Little Chefs roasted delicious chicken drumsticks with plum sauce. Plum sauce is one of the most important ingredients […]

Alright, where do I start? I was invited by Bernama to be one of their esteemed panelists for their LIVE, English language talk show, ‘The Nation’ on Monday, 12th February 2018, speaking about CHILDHOOD OBESITY IN MALAYSIA.  As I’ve mentioned in my previous blog posts, I wasn’t feeling well the past weeks with me and the boys down with some kind of bug going around but this is a topic I feel strongly about. I advocate outdoor playtime […]

Chinese New Year is just around the corner. How many of you practice going vegetarian on the first day of Chinese New Year? It is believed, abstaining from eating meat on the first day will enhance longevity. Additionally a vegetarian dish helps to purify and cleanse out the body as well.  There is this one vegetarian dish that is extremely popular on the first day of Chinese New Year – Loh Hon Chai. My mother […]

There was a burst pipe in front of our house. The contractor who was working on it brought an excavator and a huge dump truck to our place.  Both my boys watched them in awe. They kept talking about the excavator; pointing to each part of it. The contractor heard them and asked if they would like to go on a ride on that excavator. Imagine the boys’ surprise and delight! They said YES immediately.  […]

Ethan is currently without a teacher for piano. His previous teacher has her own studio now but it is far away from us. She is also teaching in a music school not very far away from us yet not very near either but we are unable to commit due to time and distance factor.  To pass his time, Ethan uses YouTube as his guide. He learned this song, “How Far I’ll Go” from Disney’s Moana […]

I guess I better update a little over here otherwise you may think I’ve disappeared. The truth is I am very much around but have been busy lately. We are busy creating YouTube tutorials for the upcoming Chinese New Year hence the little disruption on the blog. Here’s my YouTube channel in case you are interested -> https://www.youtube.com/submerryn1 Anyway, I still actively update my Facebook so if we are connected on FB you will know that […]

It’s the beginning of the new year and that means time to get busy again with DIY Chinese New Year Angpow decorations.  We’ve been receiving requests on doing tutorial videos for the many DIY Chinese New Year Angpow decoration written tutorials I’ve shared in the past years.  I was not into video making then hence there were no video tutorials for them but we are now so I’ll be sharing all our Chinese New Year […]

Is the Baby Shark craze still on? Ayden listened to this song when he was very little but recently it became a hit all over again.  Since the boys has nothing much to do during the school holidays, we recorded this Baby Shark Dance and Drum Cover by Little Ayden and big brother Drummer Ethan.  Hope you enjoy the video:   Check-out the compilation of their music videos here.

We went back to both Darling and my hometowns last weekend. The journey back to my hometown in Melaka was extremely tiring due to the most horrible jam we had ever encountered. We started our journey at 11.30am only to arrive at my mom’s place at 5.30pm with one quick stop at KFC along the way to fill our empty tummy  If not for my cousin’s wedding, we would have made a detour back to KL […]

Hello! How is the long school holidays treating you guys?  We are busy as ever… busy doing nothing  Today we found time to bake something for the coming festive weekend. Our little chefs baked Darling’s favourite cookie – Almond Cookies. It is super simple yet the Daddy and the boys love it so much hence we bake this often. Almond Cookies Ingredients for Almond Cookies: 115g salted butter (1/2 cup) 90g fine sugar (1/2 cup) […]

Ethan plays the drum and piano a lot during the school holidays. It keeps him occupied. Ed Sheeran’s PERFECT is trending again since the release of Perfect Symphony with Andrea Bocelli and it prompted Ethan to play this song.  This is also the first song he learns to play by himself. Take a listen to his drum cover to Perfect: Check-out the rest of their music videos here.

There is this restaurant lounge and wine bar nearby our place that we hang out frequently as their food is quite reasonably priced. Located at Menara Lien Hoe along Persiaran Tropicana, this resto-lounge is generously spacious with an extensive wine cellar and a delectable fusion menu. Moreover they have this promo of KIDS EAT FOR FREE on weekends with purchase of adult main meals. Last Sunday, Lavo held a Christmas Colouring Contest for children. We love their festive coloring […]

Christmas is in the air. It is my favourite season of the year. Our house is filled with one Christmas medley after another. These days we spend our evenings in the music room with Ethan playing on the piano while the rest of us singing to the tune. Ayden is slowly learning the lyrics to all these songs. Here is Ethan playing When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter on the piano:

During our recent trip down South to Johor, we stayed at KSL Hotel & Resort.  KSL Hotel & Resort Johor Bahru is the largest integrated resort in Johor. The hotel contains 868 rooms, suites and 20 function rooms. Besides located in the city center and near to Singapore-Johor Bahru causeway (5minutes), the hotel is also connected to a shopping mall. The fact that it has an astonishing 868 rooms, the 4 elevators can be pretty crowded during peak season. We […]

It’s December. Are you feeling festive yet?  We definitely are. Look at the cheeky little Ayden  The house is filled with Christmas medleys played by Ethan on the piano.  Here is one of the boys’ favourite – Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. By the way, since we are talking about Reindeers, the Christmas decor at The Curve is beautiful this year complete with flying reindeers and Santa on his sleigh. I did not spot Rudolph though […]

Happy Nut.. that’s what my boys call Pistachio nuts.  We super love this nut and today, we are going to try baking cookies with it. Today’s cookies is super simple to bake. No mixer is required as we are using the knead method.  It is our first try yet I am happy to report that it is a success!  Ingredients: 350g self-raising flour 100g pistachio nuts (coarsely chopped) 75g chocolate chips 100g fine sugar 175g […]

It’s the school holidays. Guess who needs a break more than the boys? Yes, ME (not forgetting the Daddy too). Having two active boys at home 24/7 is no joke. I need my ME time before I go crazy but being a stay-at-home-mom with no baby sitter, it is almost impossible to get any pampering done as there won’t be anyone to care for the boys. But all hope is not lost as I found […]

Ayden has been requesting to bake cupcakes ever since he saw Peppa Pig eating one. Now that we have an oven, he is allowed to bake almost anything he wishes. We start with his longtime request for cupcakes.  I asked him what cupcake he wants and he answered, “Cheese!”  Since we still have cream cheese in our fridge, I decided to let them bake Chocolate Cheese Cupcake today. Chocolate Cheese Cupcake Look at how excited […]

We were up in Resorts World Genting again last weekend. I know it’s insane but there are so many new stuffs to explore here that we just can’t resist especially since it is the school holidays and takes only an hour drive from our place.  We stayed at Awana Genting Resort this time around so we took the opportunity to ride the new Awana SkyWay up to SkyAvenue. For a more spectacular experience, we decided […]

My house smells like a bakery these days with the amount of baking we did. Chinese New Year is just two months away so I am busy perfecting our festive cookies recipes. I wanted to work on Christmas cookies but I’m really no good at it. Maybe next year, let me take lessons first *sweat* Today’s recipe sharing is one of the most popular Chinese New Year cookie – Cranberry Cornflakes Cookies. I’ve always love […]

Our main purpose going up to Resorts World Genting over the weekend was to catch The Adventures of Monkey King – The Golden Hooped Rod at Genting International Showroom. Every year during the school holidays, Resorts World Genting will bring something new and different and this year it is the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe with their magical 3D theatre performance. An exhilarating combination of heart-stopping live acrobatic and 3D visual effects, The Golden Hooped Rod is […]

We drove up to Resorts World Genting yesterday for some fresh air. It is just an hour drive from home anyway hence we used to be a regular here until they started the renovation works that we stopped going up. I heard the place is nice and buzzing with activities again now with shopping malls such as Genting Highlands Premium Outlet and Sky Avenue enticing visitors to go up.  We decided to check it out […]

Bzz bzz bzz… we are busy as a bee. Just the other day I shared Ethan’s drum performance at First City University College. Now I have two more videos to share as he performed with his band members for his school’s Talent Night last Saturday. Because this is a live band performance and includes many of his schoolmates (other than himself), I decided to blur out the name of the school for privacy purposes. They […]

It is the end of the academic year for 2017. Ethan is no longer occupied with studies and homework but is now busy with many drum performances ahead. Last week, he received an invitation to perform at First City UC Idol Semi-Final that was held today. He did not have much time to prepare so we just decided for him to play any song that he is most comfortable with.  He is not a participant […]

During our recent week-long holiday in Singapore, we had the pleasure to stay in the world’s very first Shangri-La (opened in 1971); the very first hotel of the luxury Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts Group. Shangri-La Hotel Singapore had recently unveiled their newly refurbished Tower Wing with a luxurious new look. It features a refreshed lobby, brand new rooms and suites, three novel restaurant concepts and a revitalised club lounge. The hotel that started it all. […]

I am a cookie monster. It’s my weakness. I think everybody knows that. The main reason I bought the oven is to bake cookies especially festive cookies. But before we go on baking festive cookies, let’s start off with my all-time favourite – Chocolate Chips Cookies ala Subway’s giant cookie; crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Chocolate Chips Walnut Cookies Ingredients: 227g butter 180g white sugar 190g brown sugar 375g all-purpose flour […]

Happy Halloween! We don’t celebrate Halloween but the boys always enjoy participating in public Halloween events.  This year, Ayden’s Mandarin enrichment class will be celebrating Halloween in class and the kids are encouraged to bring something related to Halloween.  I baked chocolate chip cookies for Ayden and got the boys to make Ghost Lollipops to share with Ayden’s friends.  Materials needed are: 1) Tissue Paper 2) Lollipops 3) Thread 4) Scissors 5) Black Marker Instructions: […]

The Daddy bought us an oven over the weekend. How excited we are as we can now bake IN AN OVEN! We have previously been baking using our rice cooker but no matter what, there is a limit to it. Now that we have a real oven, we are all set to explore the world of baking! We officiated our oven by baking a moist banana cake today. Simple yet delicious Moist Banana Cake. Ingredients: […]

We travel to Singapore at least once or twice annually. During our past visits to Singapore, we always stay in the city center but this time we decided to stay in Sentosa itself, The State of Fun; Asia’s leading leisure destination and Singapore’s premier island resort getaway. Nestled in the lush greenery of Sentosa Island and the only hotel located on Singapore’s beachfront… Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa Address 101 Siloso Road, Sentosa, 098970, Singapore Tel (65) 6275 0100 […]

The UNESCO World Heritage Site is the heart of Malacca city. You have not seen Malacca unless you’ve spend your time exploring the many places of interests here. It is a favourite amongst tourists and for that very same reason, this area is always packed and abuzz with activities. Driving here can be quite tricky as it is not easy to find an empty parking spot hence many opt to stay nearby so they can just […]

We were in Singapore recently for the holidays. We spent our first 3 days in Singapore staying in Sentosa before switching to another hotel in the city. We stayed in Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa. It is walking distance to our favourite spot – the Skyline Luge, situated on the Imbiah Lookout cluster. We first rode on the Luge and Skyride at Sentosa Singapore back in 2010 when Ethan was 3 years old. Back […]

We are currently in Melaka to celebrate my Dad’s birthday. His birthday was on the 11th but it falls on a weekday with the kids still in school so we had to celebrate a bit later. I choose to bring him to Hotel Equatorial Melaka for their Jazzy Sunday Brunch as I really loved it when we dined here last month. The price is pretty reasonable too especially since both my parents are senior citizens. […]

BASF Kids’ Lab, an award-winning global program is an interactive, fun and free chemistry education program which encourages children to discover the dynamic world of science and its wonders. It is held annually. The first time Ethan participated in such program was back in 2013 held at Empire Shopping Mall.  Throwback to 2013 of Ethan, the young scientist at 6 years of age attending his first BASF Kids’ Lab. I did not accompany him then […]

Ayden has been cycling Ethan’s hand-me-down bicycle with the aid of balancing wheels since October last year. I blogged about it here. He loves cycling very much and will cycle around the court while we play badminton or he’ll follow me on the cement path when I jog. He cycles up and down stones resulting in his balancing wheels getting out of shape and not able to support his bicycle properly.  Yesterday, I noticed him […]

We were at KLCC today and I took that opportunity to take some pictures of the boys with the mighty twin towers as backdrop. Our iconic skyscrapers. Beautiful isn’t it? I just can’t get enough of it no matter how many times I see it. As I was taking pictures of Ayden, I saw a group of tourists smiling and gesturing towards him. They were saying something while pointing to Ayden’s cute back pack. Ayden […]

I do grocery shopping daily. As I was thinking of what to cook today, I saw some nice long beans and bitter gourd. I love bitter gourd but the boys don’t so I ended up buying long beans. I plan to fry it with eggs. It did not cross my mind that Ayden can actually cook this too as it requires frying. When we were paying, Ayden asked me what was I planning to cook […]

During the full moon on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar, we will be celebrating the Mid-Autumn festival. This year, it falls on Wednesday, 4th October 2017. My family and I were very much privileged to be invited to have a Full Moon Feast with Saujana Hotel Kuala Lumpur’s new Executive Chinese Chef, Chef Lim Chee Woi. Priced at RM238 per person, we know we are in for a luxurious […]

The boys love the braised peanut served as appetisers at Chinese restaurants. They just can’t get enough of it as those peanuts are often served in small portions. Today, we are going to try cooking this dish ourselves so they can eat as much as they want and fart the whole night long. We never know it is extremely easy to cook this dish… until today  Ingredients: 300gm peanuts (soaked overnight) 350ml water 1/2 stick […]

I finally have time to blog about our Asiatique Sky Ferris Wheel ride in Bangkok. I was telling myself to better get it done before the next school holidays in two week’s time. Who knows maybe we’ll get to travel again? *wishful thinking*   During our recent week long holiday in Bangkok, we managed to visit quite a number of famous tourist attractions. I’ve blogged about our dinner river cruise and our visit to Wat Arun temple . […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]