This year we celebrated TWO fathers (Darling and my Dad) on Fathers’ Day over at Estadia by Hatten. This place is still brand new having launched just a month ago. I arranged for my parents to stay the night with us too and told them to meet us there. We made our way from KL and met up with my parents at Hatten Hotel car park Level 5. There is a special car park area for […]

I love baking cakes using my rice cooker. I find that the cakes retain their moisture better compared to oven-baked ones.  After all the successful cakes I baked using my rice cooker, I thought it will be a breeze baking a moist banana cake but I was wrong. It took me 4 attempts before I can finally publish this post as I don’t want to be one of those who published false recipes and ending […]

Persimmons are an excellent source of fiber. They are very high in fructose though so have to keep reminding myself to eat them in moderation.  The persimmon season is short so whenever they are in season, I’ll make sure to buy them in boxes as I super love them.  But do you know persimmons make excellent soup as well? It pairs well with almost any bone broth. All you need is some persimmons and your […]

Since young I always enjoyed pranking my eldest sister. She is 5 years older than me but is often a victim of my mischief. I remember fooling her on many April Fool’s Day and even when I was away in college I called her up with some stupid story that I can’t recall now. I also made her jump into dried mud only to get her stuck inside! I proved to her that the mud […]

Today while big brother Ethan is at school, Ayden decided to help me make fruit salad. Actually I have no problem feeding Ayden fruits. It is the big brother I am having difficulty with. He refused to eat fruits no matter what so these days, I make fruit salad for him. With fruit salads, he’ll at least eat maybe 2 to 3 spoon fulls, better than nothing right?  So let’s make this easy peasy fruit […]

With a blink of an eye, the school holiday is over! Where did the two weeks disappeared to? With us busy running around having a wonderful time, Ayden finally succumbed to fatigue and was down with fever, cough and flu. Brought him to the paed when he was not getting any better. Paed said small matter only lah. Lungs is clear with a little phlegm up his throat. Nothing a little medicine can’t fix. But […]

The fasting season is near and that means having buah kurma (dates) in abundance everywhere. I love eating kurma. The moment I see shops starting to sell kurma, I’ll go grab several boxes home but Ethan doesn’t fancy kurma. In fact, he won’t even touch it. Well, that boy doesn’t even eat bananas but loves eating my banana cake so that got me wondered if he’ll eat kurma cake. Again, it took two bakings to […]

During our holiday in Genting earlier last week, the marketing team was very kind to treat us to a scrumptious dinner at Resort Seafood on our final night there. Resort Seafood Level 1, Resort Hotel Operating Hours Lunch (Daily) 12.00 noon – 2.30pm Dinner (Daily) 6.00pm – 9.30pm I tell you one thing. If you’ve been following my blog or FB you’ll know that I frequent Genting like nobody’s business as it is only an […]

My readers have been asking me how come I don’t write much about Ethan anymore. The truth is he is always at school while I am always at home with Ayden so obviously I have more to write about Ayden than Ethan right? Anyway, it is the school holidays now and we gave Ethan all the love and attention possible. So this post is all about him today :P Ethan actually has a hectic school […]

With a blink of an eye we are already half way through the two weeks of the school holidays. Our holidays started great with the 4D/3N trip up to Genting but immediately after we got home it was busy, busy and busy for Ethan as he has his Grade 2 Trinity Piano exam on the 4th and Grade 4 Trinity Drum exam on the 10th June! So while other children are playing and enjoying their […]

Remember my post on Angcle Peoh’s best Char Koey Teow that blew me away? It got me craving for more day after day after day so I decided to go there again not too long ago.  Ayden checking out the menu :P Once we are there, I decided to try something different. I wanted to know if the rest of the items on the menu is as good as the glorious CKT.  I ordered the […]

I started a new hobby closer to the third trimester of my pregnancy with Ayden – growing my own vegetables. As we had tiled up the entire car porch before moving into this house, I no longer have land to plant anything and had to resort to planting in pots. When I first got started with my potted vegetable garden, I grew spinach, tomatoes, lime and okras and they strive very well especially the limes. I […]

We are finally back from our 4 days 3 nights getaway to Genting. There are so many things to do and see that even FOUR whole days seemed like not enough. Let me list down a quick recap of the things we did here for the past few days: 1) Genting Skyway Bring the kids for a leisurely ride up to Resorts World Genting on the Skyway Cable Cars. Look and listen to the sound of […]

Hello! We are still away on a lovely getaway at Resorts World Genting. There are so many things to see and do that I don’t have the time to update my blog at all. But if you’ve been following my Insta and FB (both Page and Personal) you’ll know that I’ve shared many pictures as well as videos just to show you what we are up too. Last night our dinner was one of a […]

At 21 months old, Ayden is finally bored of porridge and mushy food. He likes to eat rice with soup these days. I’m busy looking for new soup recipes to add more varieties in his diet. I was first introduced to guava soup when I was invited to a friend’s house for dinner over CNY. It was my first time drinking guava soup and I must say that it is intriguingly delicious. It is unique, refreshing […]

Last weekend was Ayden’s first time riding on those plush animal kiddie ride. At first we let him ride together with Ethan… But he doesn’t enjoy it.  He doesn’t even like it and requested to be taken away from there. He wanted his own ride so we got him the smaller animal ride. And he loves it! Totally enjoying the experience.  And started going around chasing big bro Ethan.  I foresee us burning RM8 every […]

Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar will once again set themselves as the ultimate dining destination on this holy month of Ramadhan for a spread of mouth-watering sumptuous selections of dishes from 21st June to 16th July 2015. Themed Starry Arabian Nights, we can expect an extensive spread of traditional Arabian and Malay cuisine. The entire place is also decorated to incorporate Arabian styles such as starry lights to create a great starry ambiance.  Last year, Darling treated […]

A friend said I am baking with a vengeance. Heh. It’s just that I am so excited to experiment with so many recipes out there to see which works and which doesn’t. This is my second attempt baking Moist Chocolate Cake. My first attempt failed miserably so I did not blog about it. It came out looking like a piece of belacan. It was so dense there wasn’t any space to breath in there. I […]

One of the biggest sacrifice a stay at home mom does is giving up her social life. When I first gave up my job to be a stay at home mother many years ago, the thing that hit me the hardest was the lack of adult human communication and interaction. The loneliness within can really drive me up the wall. I went through a dark period where I kind of hated everything around me as […]

We are getting very comfortable baking using our rice cooker these days with the many successful cakes that we’ve baked. Today, I’m going to let my little helper do most of the work because it is that easy :) If little Ayden can do it, so can YOU! Watch this video: We’ll be baking this beautiful and equally delicious Marble Butter Cake. It is actually similar to the butter cake we baked previously but nicer looking […]

The holy month of Ramadan is commonly perceived to be a time of giving and blessing. It is also said to be the time for reflection and contemplation, for charity and compassion, and for friends and families to turn their thoughts to those less fortunate. For Darling who is in the marketing line, it is time to scout for the best Ramadan dinner spread to reward his business partners. We’ll start with Eastin Hotel’s buka […]

One thing about Ethan is it’s very easy to feed him. Just get him chicken rice or noodles and he’s good. He loves spaghetti bolognese and will order that most of the time when we dined out. It’s either that or noodle soup lah. It’s easy to feed him BUT he only eats the same old thing every time. My spaghetti boy.. And now there are TWO! Ayden is following his big bro’s footsteps by […]

I baked butter cake using my rice cooker last week. This is by far the most successful cake baked using my rice cooker. The texture of the cake is exactly like those oven baked cakes except the top layer is pale and not brown. The amount of ingredients used makes it just perfect when it comes to the thickness of the cake. This is also the first cake (baked using my rice cooker) that requires […]

Last week Ethan came home with a simple instruction – to select a fruit to bring to school for a project in Pendidikan Moral this week. We told him to bring apples as we always have apples at home. I’m referring to the edible ones this time :P He informed his teacher he will be bringing apples and the teacher gave him another set of instructions – to peel and cut it into cubes and […]

I attended a Poolside BBQ party today. Quite an interesting one because there are so much to do to keep ourselves occupied. The first thing that caught Ethan’s eyes is the Kids’ Jewelry Making Station by Kelvin Gems. He quickly ran to me saying he wanted to make me something. This boy, just earlier we had a heated argument and now he is dying to make me a jewelry. *Heart melt* He told me to […]

I have a Snickers bar sitting in my fridge for months. I did not allow the kids to eat it actually coz it’s too sweet. We had two. We got it during our stay in Aloft KL back in March. It came complimentary with the room. The kids ate one yet they can’t finish it so I did not let them eat this one. I was wondering what to do with it when I suddenly […]

Ethan will be celebrating Teacher’s Day in school today. He had no time to get gifts for his teachers so I helped him buy but I forgotten to get wrapping papers. I only realized we are out of wrapping paper after dinner and it is already too late to go out already. How? We made our own wrapping paper. First, I cut a heart shape from a piece of paper.  Then I placed another piece […]

It’s not easy being a stay at home mother. You’ll need strong mental health to survive. Staring at the 4 walls with never ending chores everyday can drive anyone crazy. I had it tough when I first gave up my job to be a SAHM but I am all good now. I know what to expect and my mind is ready for it. BUT I still have my down and crazy days especially on those […]

Weeks before Mother’s Day, Darling looked high and low for restaurants or hotels that offer unique Mother’s Day promotions. Most of the eateries offer the usual Mothers Eat For Free kind of promo but we came across Eastin Hotel’s Young Chef Competition in conjunction with Mother’s Day. Now knowing me, you’ll know that I always prioritize the kids before me so Darling knew this will be the PERFECT way to celebrate Mother’s Day and went […]

I was spending time drawing and colouring with Ayden. As usual, I’ll help him trace his hands and feet and draw faces out of them. We have been doing this since he was a baby and he loves it. Today, I am going to be very generous and share with you how to draw a human face out of your foot print. It is such an intricate art so you should pay close attention to […]

Happy Mother’s Day to all my lovely mommy readers. I hope your day has been great. Mine started sadly with not a single wish from my boys that prompted me to post this on my Facebook: They don’t wish me so I wish myself lor. See, so nice my friend sent me a virtual cake somemore :P But it did get better lah after that. We went to Eastin Hotel for a Mother’s Day buffet […]

My first rice cooker cake is steamed banana chocolate cake. Then I experimented with a different recipe making moist chocolate cake that turned out to be a total flop as it was too dense. Today, using the steamed banana chocolate cake recipe, I tried making sweet corn cake. Was super nervous to open the rice cooker when it was done as I was afraid it will be another failure but surprise, surprise, this is highly successful! […]

I wanted to blog about other stuffs tonight but I just came home from a fabulous durian buffet at Pullman Bangsar and my body’s really hot right now from all the sugar rush.  We were actually here for a Ramadhan dinner preview and durians is one of the main attraction. Last year I was here too and we got to eat Durian Kampung but this year we were extremely lucky to get Musang King! Va […]

Over the long weekend we spent most of our time eating. I don’t know. I think it’s a Malaysian thing. We happy, we eat. We bored, we eat. We stress, we eat. We angry, we eat :P As for us, we were not angry nor stressed out but purely wanted to kill time. Since we had so much time in our hands, we drove all the way to Bangsar for some Japanese cuisine.  We went […]

With a blink of an eye, the long weekend is over. Can’t believe how tiring it is to spend time with two active boys these days. It is either age is catching up with me or the boys are getting tougher. Out of the four off days, we get to spend one day at home peacefully with no agenda planned as the daddy needed to attend to some matters with our new tenant. As I […]

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Even the longest and most difficult ventures have a starting point. I home-schooled Ethan when he was younger. I don’t believe in sending him to preschool but as he grows up, I know I will have to eventually expose him to the real world to learn not only on academics but survival skills as well. We decided to enrol him into a public school. […]

Since I am so crazy on baking using my rice cooker, I think I better list down all my rice cooker cakes posts in ONE post for easier reference. I’ll update this post as and when I have a new successful bake to share :) Moist Chocolate Cake *Tutorial Video* Click for full recipe: http://www.submerryn.com/2015/05/rice-cooker-cakes-moist-chocolate-cake.html Cheesecake *Tutorial Video* Click for full recipe: http://www.submerryn.com/2017/04/baking-with-ayden-rice-cooker-cheesecake.html Marble Butter Cake *Tutorial Video* Click for full recipe: http://www.submerryn.com/2015/05/rice-cooker-cakes-marble-butter-cake.html Moist Orange Cake *Tutorial Video* […]

I’ve been seeing pictures of people eating this J-shaped ice cream for months and told myself to NEVER ever go near it as it looks horrendous. But true to the saying, “Never say NEVER” I finally succumbed to it when Ethan requested for it. My first reaction was an immediate ‘NO’ but Ethan kept begging us for it each time we walked passed this place. After about two months or so, we finally bought one […]

Can you believe that I am still cooking porridge for Ayden at home? He is 21 months old now and porridge is still his staple food. He eats whatever else that we eat but still the bulk of his meal is porridge. Today, I tried making something different for his tea break. I made Mee Hoon Kueh.  Mee Hoon Kueh aka Pan Mee with only flour and water without eggs. I made a hole in the […]

Since I got my new rice cooker, I’ve been abusing it with baking rather than cooking rice. LoL. This is to compensate my many years of being unable to bake due to a faulty oven wiring at home :( Today, I tried baking bananas in spring roll skin aka popiah pisang. Only two ingredients needed – spring roll skin and banana. I sliced the banana in half and wrapped it with the spring roll skin. […]

Several weeks ago, we visited the show units for Tropicana Cyperus Serviced Residences. If we thought the 9 Bukit Utama Condo is expensive, this Cyperus is even dearer with double the price per square feet. Priced around RM1.2K per square feet, I’ll pay through my nose and will need my kids to continue paying it till old age >_< Anyway, let’s take a look at the interior design ideas for their units. There are 3 […]

Darling bought me a new toy. The rice cooker that I have been using to cook porridge for Ethan and now Ayden has finally died so he bought me a new one. It comes with a CAKE function so today I excitedly tried to bake a cake using it as my oven at home is rendered unusable for ages. For a mother of two, you’d think that I would have everything in my kitchen but […]

This coming weekend is a looooong weekend right? But we won’t be going anywhere. Darling’s siblings have been taking care of their aging parents and they will be going for their own little holidays during that duration of time so Darling told me that we should go back to accompany his parents while his siblings are away as we rarely spent time there. OK.  Darling was very nice though. Eventhough he had to work on […]

It’s time to make popsicles again and this time, we are making red bean popsicle. Growing up, my favourite ais krim potong flavours are kacang merah, durian and jagung. I also like cendol and yam. I have tried making sweet corn popsicle and it turned out really well. You can refer to my popsicle posts here: http://www.submerryn.com/2015/06/easy-homemade-frozen-popsicles-recipe.html Let’s start with our red bean popsicle now. First, we need to make red bean paste.  But before […]

How many of you here are vegetarian? Raise your hands. Well, I am not a vegetarian but I do believe in organic food and eating healthy whenever possible. That is why I am now growing my own greens in whatever little space I have at home. Last Sunday, a vegetarian friend invited our family to dine at Be LOHAS Healthy Vegetarian Cuisine in Sunway Mentari. Be LOHAS healthy vegetarian cuisine, Mentari Plaza. Ayden and Ethan […]

If your kids are studying in government school, it is that time to log into http://sapsnkra.moe.gov.my/ibubapa2/index.php to check your kids’ exam result and even position in class.  You’ll be directed to this page: 1) Key in their IC Number 2) Tick the relevant school (Sekolah Rendah for Primary and Sekolah Menengah for Secondary) 3) Select Year at TAHUN 4) Click ‘Semak Laporan’ Once you are in there, click on the relevant exam term that you want to […]

Ayden woke up from his nap all itchy and restless. He kept scratching his legs and when I checked, there were 3 red dots from mosquito bites. Darn. Immediately I applied my saliva onto those dots to stop the itch.  Do you believe it? That applying saliva on mosquito bites will immediately stop the itch? I do as I have been doing that since I got Ethan almost 8 years ago.  When I was younger, […]

We were in Penang late last year. Wanted to try the asam laksa at Ayer Itam market but did not manage to do so due to the kids spending too much time at the beach. That is what happens when we travel with kids. They prefer to play eventhough I prefer to go out food hunting. Imagine my delight when I read in several blogs about the asam laksa in Ayer Itam being available not […]

It has been a very hectic weekend for us. Out in the morning and only coming home at night on both Saturday and Sunday. Not much time to go online but that’s okay coz that only means that I am enjoying my life offline. You know I am miserable if you see me online 24/7 :P Anyway before I snooze, I have a milestone to share. Ethan’s milestone. This boy of mine has finally mastered […]

It is no secret that there is a secret garden in 1 Utama. Located on their upper roof, it is only open to public on weekends and public holidays. I’ve blogged about this Secret Garden in 1 U back in 2010. It is actually my secret hiding place when I needed some peace and tranquility but I’ve not been back there since the arrival of Ayden.  Today, we brought Ayden to check out the Secret […]

Ethan doesn’t eat fruits. If I don’t make him eat enough fiber I’m afraid he’ll get constipated one fine day. What I can do however, is to boil papaya soup for him regularly. He doesn’t know it is papaya soup though because I boiled it with corn and the sweetness of the corn actually camouflage the papaya taste (if any). Papaya is one of the best fruit to eat if you suffer from digestive problems […]

I left him there barely a minute just to go into the kitchen to wash my hands. I came out to see this: Argh! He ‘conteng-ed’ the wall! Reprimanded him and asked him where else he conteng and he steady only show me ALL his ‘artwork’. There were some on the floor too! Why oh why? Big brother Ethan has NEVER, I repeat NEVER vandalized our walls but this little creature did today! Thank goodness […]

Ethan first started learning drum in October 2012. He was 5 years old then. And by October 2013, his drum teacher featured him on the cover of his first book ‘Play With Colours’ Volume 1. Through the music school, Ethan got the chance to perform in public. Fast forward to 2015, Ethan is now waiting to sit for his Grade 4 exam somewhere in May or June. And this is one of the exam piece […]

Darling has been regularly dropping Ayden and I off in shopping malls due to the rainy evenings. He pitied us being trapped at home unable to go to the playground so he tries his best to come home, picks us up and drops us off somewhere and picking us up again before fetching Ethan from school. One of Ayden’s favourite hang-out place is at Kids Zone, The Curve.  Kids Zone @ The Curve But today, […]

We were back in my hometown last weekend and it was indeed a fruitful one as we got to meet many of my relatives. My mom’s place is special as most of her siblings live nearby. By nearby I meant they live right behind or next to her. The entire neighbourhood is made up of her siblings except those that sold off their house.  The first relative we met was my mom’s brother’s daughter’s children. […]

Last weekend while doing our grocery shopping, we saw sampling of some Indonesian sweet potatoes. We tasted it and it was very nice. Sweet and fragrant but then again, don’t all sweet potatoes are sweet? Looking at the price, I just brushed it off and proceeded to get my usual Japanese potatoes that is much cheaper BUT this Darling is a sucker to all these promoters. I don’t understand why. They are not even sweet […]

My friend asked me why is Ayden always topless. Frankly, I don’t know. To some people, it is impolite to be topless. To me, it’s okay to be topless if you are a boy or man in the comfort of your own home. Heck, I used to be topless at home too before I got Ethan! It’s the weather we live in. Hot and humid. Which is better? To switch on the aircond 24/7 and […]

After my first attempt of making the highly successful and delicious banana chocolate ice popsicle that is a huge hit with the kids, I am more confident to try on other healthy treats. Since the kids love corn, I thought of making sweet corn ice popsicle as we always buy sweet corn ais krim potong.  Ingredients needed are just a cob of sweet corn, a glass of fresh milk, a teaspoon of sugar and a […]

I love spicy food. I always go maximum when it comes to eating spicy food. Maybe because I grew up eating delicious Nyonya cuisine but Darling is not so adventurous. He can’t tolerate too much spiciness. The only thing spicy in his life is ME :P While most kids his age can eat chili, Ethan doesn’t eat spicy food as he is as ‘lousy’ as his Dad. They get sore throat easily so Darling is […]

It was raining heavily this evening but Darling was out sending his car for service. We were hungry at home with nothing much to eat but a bunch of extremely ripe bananas. I needed to make something fast out of it for tea and the easiest is always the ever so simple Cekodok Pisang or Cucur Pisang. Petang tadi hujan punya lah lebat. Darling tak de kat rumah. Dia keluar hantar kereta pi servis. Kita yang […]