Dad's 77th birthday

Got some ideas of what to cook for dad's birthday from the many cook books as references, my potluck dish is 3 colours capsicum, straw mushrooms with chicken slices, stir fried in Chinese cooking as dad prefers Chinese food over others.

I bought an all time favourite black forest fresh cream cake, the cake is moist and well received by all of us.  

the younger grand children

What to cook for dad's birthday

We are celebrating my dad's birthday tomorrow.  It's a pot luck dinner, means each of us have to bring along one or more dishes depending on individual capacity.  I will buy him a birthday cake of my choice because too many opinions will only make things difficult.   But I still need to bring a dish or two for dinner!  What to cook?  It's time to check on some of my cook books for some ideas..

Interest in Reading

I read quite a bit during my first pregnancy, I have lesser time to do any reading during my 2nd pregnancy because during that time I have to take care of my 1st baby and also housework at the same time.  Probably because of the time that I spent reading during my 1st pregnancy, my eldest turns out to be more a book worm than her younger sister.

Bookstore is the most frequent place that we go to whenever we go to shopping mall.  Last weekend, we ended up a Times book store after our dinner.  I usually spend my time glancing through at the cookery section...my girls would sure pick one or two of the books that they like..my eyes turned big and round when I saw the books that my eldest chose to buy..I asked her whether she is sure that she wants to read these books..She said Yes, saying that she has been reading this collection of books and this is the last one to complete her collection.  I did not know because sometimes the daddy is the one who brings them to the book store while I am at work.

 cook books section

 I bought these 2 cook books hoping that I will have the time to cook or bake

 Just look at the thickness of the books that my eldest bought.  I couldn't even finish reading an English literature book during my secondary school time.

 this is the cover of the thick book

 this is another one..just by looking at the cover will scare me of.  I just could not understand which side of the reading habit that my girl inherit from..could be from me...

my younger daughter chose this comic book with pretty cartoon characters, I used to read cartoon books like this but in Chinese during school days.

I kept hide their new books for 4 days until the exam is over.  They can only get to read their books yesterday. But I am still not happy that they did not choose any Chinese books despite being reminded times and times again.

Bye bye to the hen and chicks

If you have read my last post on My Hen Laid Eggs, here is the follow up story.  After a few day of hatching, 9 eggs turned into 7 chicks, the other 2 eggs were not successfully hatched.  

We can not keep the hen and the chicks as Clet has arranged for the construction workers to come in to do some renovation on our backyard.  Our backyard is all mess up with holes for laying the ground beam foundations.  No place for the chicken anymore.

We are very happy that Clet's brother is willing to adopt our hen and chicks.  They live in the outskirt with his own land, it is more appropriate to rear chicken there.

Fashion Bazaar at Suria Sabah

I spent the whole of my last weekend at a fashion bazaar at Suria Sabah.  I booked a slot 3 weeks ago when the organizer came to promote at my shop.  It was the  venue of the bazaar that caught my attention. I thought by having a stall at a more crowded shopping mall would allow me to fetch more sales. Much to my disappointment that the sales was not encouraging, most of the stall owners were unable to even cover the 2 days rental that we had paid.

The set back is the bazaar was located at the very end of the mall on the 6th floor where usually it is empty with no activities. Promotions from the organiser is also lacking.   Friends that I know of having fashion shops around major shopping centres in the city are experiencing bad sales after the Chinese New Year season.  BR1M has no impact to boost the sales up.

Sunset beach party at Tg.Aru

Though my office is nearby Tanjung Aru Beach, it never comes to my mind to go to the beach to view the sunset.  

My sister in laws initiated a school holiday beach picnic supposedly during the weekend but to coincide with our nephew back for a visit from Singapore, the party is held at 3pm.  Most of my SIL are home makers, they made an afford to bring in cooking stove, gas cylinder, BBQ stove to cook kuih iudang, satays, fried ikan basung and chicken drumsticks by the beach besides bringing many of the ready homemade food.  I was on my 2nd day of detoxification,  so only grabbed few bananas as my meal.

The sunset is beautiful

Sister on law cooking their favourite kuih udang

One of the set back is there is no lamp poles at the beach. Hence we have to take our meal with only candles which was later bought from the nearby town.  Basically dinner in the dark.

Kids playing with the sand just before sunset

我家母鸡生蛋了。 My hen laid eggs.

Clet told us that seems like our hen laid egg yesterday.  But he was unsure how many.  To allow the hen having more comfortable nest to hetch the eggs, Clet brought some dried grass home just now.  Upon checking on the nest there are a total of 9 eggs.  Our hen is very protective of her eggs just like a mother protecting her children.  She is very furious when our dog, Lucky,  barking at her when Clet put the dried grass into its nest.  We have to put Lucky to the front porch to calm her down.

Anyone knows how long does it take for a hen to hetch the eggs in order for the chicks to come out?

Secret Recipe's Shepherd Pie

This Shepherd Pie may look different from the traditional one on its appearance.  We truly enjoyed it at Secret Recipe.  Will definitely come for more.  My girls love it at an instant when they tasted the mashed potatoes.

Local fruit basket 本地水果蓝

Went to a small tamu this morning. Did some local fruits and vegetable shopping spree. Usually I do my shopping at the supermarket for it is convenient after office hours.  I couldn't find some of the local fruits like the Tarap in the supermarket I often go.  Fruits are more expensive in the supermarket too.

I am happy to buy a bunch of bananas for only RM2.00 in the tamu, it usually costs me around RM4.00 for the same quantities elsewhere. The avocados are relatively cheaper in the tamu too, RM11.00 for 3.  While waiting for the fruits to ripe, I display them in a basket. 

Gong Xi Gong Xi 迎接马年

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!!

I have set my mind to relax on the 1st day of Chinese New Year.  There are every reasons to do so because traditionally we are not advised to work on this very day. Thus I woke up at 9.30am, no cleaning (in particularly no sweeping), I also give my staff 2 days off on the 1st and 2nd day so my kids fashion shop is closed for Chinese New Year, I guess most of the shopping complexes remain open for business though it is Chinese New Year.  We also have no invitations or visiting to relative and friend's home during the day, pretty relax that we went shopping after breakfast.   

I gave my girls Angpows before going out for breakfast

Our Chinese New Year decorations

Cookies on the dining table which Pearl is in charge to keep them tidy

We shopped at the nearby hypermarket.  Pearl has been asking for her new set of comforter, she got to choose the one she likes (purple princess print).  She is happy with it, entertaining herself with the Tab while waiting for the rest of us finish our shopping.

Not intend to cook at home, we are thinking of having nice dinner at night.  

Getting ready to give Angpows

It is the time of the year to give angpows to our loved ones, relatives and children of our colleagues and friends, and also the lion and unicorn troops that come visiting our homes.  It is a blessing and joy to be able to give angpows.

I encounter one problem when I am trying to prepare the angpows....I do not know which angpow packets to use because there are just too many choices that I have collected from the banks, and other organisations.  All of them are so nice and meaningful.  I am the kind of person who is selective of  the design and meaning of the angpows to whom I am giving to..that's make it tough right??  Shall get it sorted out because angpows giving time is just a few hours away..:D 

WISHING ALL MY DEAR BLOGGER FRIENDS 

A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS CHINESE LUNAR YEAR OF HORSE !!

Chinese Lunar Year 2014 Ang Pow packets

These are some of the Chinese Lunar Year angpow packets I have collected so far this year.  Most of them featuring the animal sign of Horse for it is the year of wooden horse in 2014.  My colleague is the one who help to go round various banks to ask for new angpow packets whenever he is out to do banking. 

Among all that I have collected, I particularly like this set of golden horses angpow packets from the local supermarket, CKS. 

I use angpow packets throughout the year...you might want to know why..???  I intentionally keep many packets in my office drawers, I stuff the salaries or wages in there for my fellow colleagues every month.

I used new angpow packets for salaries and wages this month 

Brand's InnerShine Berry Essence

Have anyone tried this Brand's InnerShine Berry Essence?

At first I thought it is for beauty, later then I found out it is good for the eyes, just what I needed.  

I have very bad eye sight since I was young, probably because I read too much under poor lighting condition when I was little, not that I managed to score good marks but bad enough to spoil my eye sight.  

My eye sight from bad to worst due to ageing.  The thickness of my spectacle tells it all.

Hopefully Brand's InnerShine can help to restore my eye sight a little, I can't expect miracle, as you know, I will need to consume a considerable amount of the berry essence to see the effect.

I tasted a bottle last night.  It is indeed a bottle packed of thick berries mixture, pretty sweet with slight sour taste. I like it and gave a spoonful each to my daughters to taste as well,  they showed me sour faces probably because they dislike the sour taste..:D

Shopping online for new clothes

Being tired on my siblings (my 3 brothers) commented on the way and style I dress, I decided to revamp my wardrobe for this coming new year.  I opted to shop online for my new year's clothes.  This is the first time in my life that I bought over 15 pieces of new clothes for myself for Chinese New Year.

Since I am shopping on line I am unable to do a physical fitting for these clothes.  Some came in a bit small due to small cutting.  My eldest, Crystal, she is tall at my ear level now,  is given the choice to pick the ones can fit her. We can basically share some of the clothes.    

These are some of my new clothes.  Lack of Red selection.  Ushering into the year of Wooden Horse 2014,  I prefer the colour of yellow, green or brown.I 

Chinese New Year cards

I haven't been sending any Chinese New Year cards for many years now.  With the advance technologies, we could send wishes through the internet and hand phone devises, fast and convenient.

But this year, I am trying to send Chinese New Year cards to friends.  The occasion is near, I will have to rush to send them out.