"cream on chocolate cake"

At times, the kids love to play rough with their papa.

One day, while they were climbing and rolling and tumbling all over him, HQ and QQ ended up in this position. This, according to HQ, is "cream on chocolate cake".

He said he is the chocolate cake, and QQ is the cream.
And this, according to HQ again, is a sandwich.

As they are not as close like the previous picture, HQ said they are two slices of bread “kiaped” together.

What a way to describe! :-D

© Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without express written permission.

our vegetarian lunch

We went jalan-jalan at Midvalley on the 1st day of CNY, and because we were vegetarian on that day, we had to narrow down a lot of places for lunch. Worse come to worse, we will just have fries and apple pies at Mc D, hahaha.

After looking at a few menus, we decided on Paddington House of Pancakes.

While waiting for our food to arrive, naturally, we snap some photos. QQ's balloon was from Tony Roma's. As we were scouring their menu for some vegetarian dishes, the waitresses gave the kids balloons. No vegetarian dishes, so we didn't dine there.

This is how QQ manjas her papa *shake head*

I can't believe my first-born is going to be 5 soon. (Although many of my friends commented he looks like 6 or 7!) Food finally arrived... mine - the original English pancake served with butter, raspberry sauce and maple syrup. I have a tendency to try the original dishes of a particular place first, before I will try their varieties... be it pan mee, nasi lemak, wanton mee, etc.

HQ ordered Treasure Box for himself and QQ. It was yummy with dollar pancakes topped with a mixture of fresh and canned fruits, almond flakes, a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream and ribbons of raspberry sauce.

The kids also shared a tall glass of dollar pancakes layered with vanilla ice-cream and bananas. I was feeling not good about the amount of ice-cream they ate that day, as they were coughing. But as their cough is the dry and heaty type, so I let them. Hubby's savoury vegetarian pancake actually tasted more like a pizza. Thin crust smeared with herbed tomato sauce, and topped with slices of brinjals and sun-dried tomatoes before it was baked. Totally delish. Hubby was not full after this, and since we didn't want to wait for another round of food just for hubby, he later got some fries from McD.

That's our kind-of vegetarian lunch on the 1st day of CNY :-).

© Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without express written permission.

imaginary friend

QQ has a perculiar pastime. Whenever she's not doing anything in particular (like when she's waiting for papa in the car/ waiting for dinner to be served), she'll start talking to her imaginary friend. On her imaginary phone (in this case, her hand). I find it really funny watching her... she'll talk in her high-pitched voice which she usually save for when she's talking to her dolls. She'll be nodding her head, laughing at some jokes, looking serious at times, and sometimes covering her mouth with her other hand in a guffaw :-D.

The other day, I overheard part of her conversation. In between all her gibberish that I could not hear, I heard her saying to her imaginary friend that "I'm so tired" (yes, it's around her naptime), inviting her friend to come over to our "Sxxx Mxxxx house", and she mentioned "Sure, I will show you". Showing what, I don't know :-D.

HQ always say she talks rubbish :-D.

© Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without express written permission.

currently...

... addicted to this simple but really yummy dessert
... touched and inspired by this very brave and amazing woman

... loving this blue-white porcelain pot which had followed me from office to office (money plant replaced once)... loving my ^.^ and *o*, as always
... getting blue, down, and bruised all over by something which is probably not there (merely my wild imagination, hopefully)

... hoping that i may live here one day, doing what i always wanted to do... ... missing my old me...

... tomorrow will come, bright and sunny, chripy and whole again... ( i hope)

© Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without express written permission.

refashion: denim pants

From HQ’s formerly loved denim pants that he wore on his 2nd birthday at Genting (May 2007) To a slightly enhanced (look wise) pair of comfortable jeans. The crochetted flower and leaves made the pants a little more girlish. Details of the sewed on crochetted flower and leaves. This pair of jeans is loved again by QQ, especially now that she has a cute little crochetted hairclip to match :-). See my other handmade projects.

© Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without express written permission.

an update of all sorts - QQ

After posting HQ's outdated updated, here's QQ's:

Physical
As of 9 January 2010 (2y 5m old at that time):
QQ – weight : 15.3 kg
Height: 95 cm

QQ can cycle now! (I mean since more than 2 months ago)
This video was taken on 11 December 2009, when QQ was just learning to cycle. Now, she cycles much faster, although still not very good in swerving.

Guess who is her coach? Yes, HQ :-). It was so cute watching HQ coaching QQ, and QQ doing her best to please her koko. When she does well, koko is so proud and rewards her with pieces of apple from his share. I think that’s very sweet of HQ :-D.

QQ is winking since about a month ago. She just suddenly started winking and called popo to look at her. Since then, we have been coaxing her to wink for us, cause we find her so cute doing it! :-)

© Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without express written permission.

an update of all sorts - HQ

I wanted to jot this down long time ago, but was just too lazy to edit the videos. I'll start with HQ, then QQ in another post.

Physical
As of 9 January 2010 (4y 7m old at that time):
HQ – weight: 19.1 kg (which got me suspecting his last weight was recorded wrongly)
Height – 113 cm

HQ is unlocking and locking locks since many months ago, but I did not get to video him. This video was taken on 31 December 2009. So now, he opens the lock for everyone in popo’s house :-D

One night, HQ asked me to teach him draw a star. After showing him only 2 times, he quickly grasped the flow and is now drawing stars like a pro. This video was taken on 30 December 2009, the night he learnt to draw stars. And of course, he equips his stars with eyes, nose, mouth and a crown :-).

Told you it wasn't a typical update :-).

© Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without express written permission.

i always look forward to

CNY meal at my mum’s house. *slurp* yummy!

We always go back to my mum’s house for a heavy brunch on the second day of Chinese New Year. My sis and her little family would normally have arrived from Singapore already, and we’ll have a good meal together :-)

My mum is a great cook. The dishes below are all prepared by her, sometimes a few days before the actual day of feasting. The abalone above was later sliced and placed into fish maw and fishball soup (soup not in picture). Also missing from the picture above is sea cucumber braised with flower mushroom, my dad's favourite.
A basket of fresh lettuce leaves from mum's garden, for wrapping braised nga ku and pork slices, with a dallop of sweet sauce.
This dish is my siblings' absolute favourite - stuffed dried oyster with fish and pork meat. Mum made 52 pieces of these!

With every celebration there is sure an abundance of good food. To me, food prepared by mum beats any sharksfin or abalone in any top-class restaurant... it is the homecooked flavor, childhood memories and the feeling of togetherness that these food brings, that I really care about :-).

© Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without express written permission.

refashion: pants surgery

My solution to my fussy boy’s request for no zipper pants… Velcro!

Easy to flick open and close. Mighty fun too!

No zipper to catch his underwear when he makes quick dashes to the loo.

And the stitches are quite subtle from the front; not noticable :-). I thank the genius who invented velcro :-)

PS: HQ has been showing off his velcro pants to others and I must say, the viewers were very impressed (come on... velcro pants?). Adults too... hahaha. Admidst their excitement, Mama had to gently remind them to tune down a bit, especially when we're in public. During CNY. *sheepish smile*

See my other handmade projects.

© Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without express written permission.

cny vegetarian dishes

Both hubby and my side of families practice being vegetarian on the first day of Chinese New Year. And so, we decided to practice the same tradition in our family.

I have always loved the vegetarian "zap chai" that my mum cooks every year, consisting of dried mushrooms, lily bulbs, glass noodles, Chinese cabbage, carrot, red dates, soy bean sheets and wood ear fungus cooked in “lam yue” (red fermented beancurd). But since hubby and HQ are not big fans, I decided not to cook this dish for our little family.

These are the vegetarian dishes that I cooked: Braised mushroom and dried oyster, lined with steamed broccoli - hubby’s favourite. Deepfried vegetarian soy bean slices. Braised tau fu pok and oyster. Sweet & sour vegetarian dough – cooked with pineapple cubes and this sauce.And a vegetarian soup – soy beans, lotus root, groundnuts, carrot, dried oyster, dried mushroom, dried longan, red dates, and a bay leaf. QQ and I love this soup. Surprisingly, HQ ate everything with gusto. The vegetarian dishes were received well by all, except QQ. She spat everything out. In the end, she ate only rice and soup *pening*.

Both families of hubby and mine take dried oyster as a vegetarian ingredient on the first day of Chinese New Year. There’s a fable about a monk, having eaten nothing for days, asked the God of Mercy for advice. The God of Mercy told him to stick his walking stick into the ocean and whatever sticks to it can be eaten. When he brought up the walking stick, several oysters were stuck on it. And thus, the fable was told from generation to generation that oyster is considered vegetarian and can be eaten on the first day of Chinese New Year. We really do not know how true this story is but we’re sticking with the tradition :-).

Do you have vegetarian dishes on your first day of Chinese New Year too?

© Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without express written permission.

the proper dong dong chiang greeting

Everybody is in the CNY mood oredi, so better wish you guys properly first...

Hi everyone!

We would like to wish you and your family a very Happy Chinese New Year. May the year of Tiger brings you and your family health, happiness, wealth, youthfulness and all things prosperous!

Speaking of Tiger, I think my kiddos' pose in the picture there looks more like they are welcoming the year of MONKEY. OK, now this looks more appropriate. Like little happy tigers growling. No? (Say yes la... layan a bit la...) :-D

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! Let's welcome the year of Golden TIGER!

For those of you who are travelling, do have a safe trip and enjoy your holidays :-)

© Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without express written permission.

little miss mischievous

We were at a book fair recently.

HQ, as usual, began hunting all dinosaur books available, stacking them up together before pulling me to read wih him. We found a nice spot to sit and read; some cool tiled seats with a little shallow fountain pool.

QQ had her own stack of books too, mostly on animals.

While I was reading with HQ, QQ was initially sitting next to me on my left (HQ was on my right).

After a very short while, she climbed on the shallow pool ledge. Assuming that she will flip her books there, I let her. Without even leafing a page, she had to test the water.

First tentatively with her foot. And then, she ventured to use her hand. Just look at her expression, the anticipation and the glee... Had a look at her hand to see what's collected... She's doing it again... Now, she's wondering why is she holding this book (the cover had a big frog face) when she can splish and splash the cold water with her hands. And so, she jilted her book and she began to submerge her whole palm into the water. And scooping it up...Letting it run through her fingers... When I asked her to come sit with us to read instead of playing with water, she gave me this face... In the end, she comply, but she had to read it her way... terbalik (upside-down) one...
© Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without express written permission.