Destress: Popia Goreng

One activity that always calm me. Cooking.

I guess once in awhile I will share my recipe. #kononmine 

Was grocery shopping kat Tesco Ampang, and my itchy hand grab one pack of popiah skins. Lol. Always like that. And only a week after I managed to make it. A typical me nowadays. No time leh! 

I'm a simple cook. I love easy to make food and the kind yang campak2 je. So I think popiah is one of them.

I used:

• Carrots
• White radish
• Mushroom
• Onions
• Garlic
• Oyster sauce
• Sugar
• Popiah skin 😒

When the pan is hot enough I threw  in all the chopped onions and let them caramelised after adding a small teaspoon of sugar. Then I chucked in the garlic together with mushrooms. Add the oyster sauce in and stir everything until it's is all cooked.  Easy. Then wrapped two teaspoon of fillings in the popiah skin. I used just water on the end of popiah skin so that it won't be a deconstructed popiah 😂. I fried until golden brown. Done. First try. Nailed it 😛😜

I didn't get to take any pictures. Boo! Too busy cooking, making sure malaika is not crying and also entertaining the in laws. #konon

I also made spaghetti bolognese. But it's a no brainer. Bikin malu je to share the recipe. 😜

Makan lah popia Puteri, auntie letak beef dalam dia. Sedap! - said my Hubster 😂😂😂

Hahaha. Mana lah datang daging sayang oi!

Tata.

Our New Temporary Crib Part I

On the 42nd day of my confinement, we moved in to a new place. An apartment unit provided by my department. I was thinking why spend our money on rents if we could save them. At first, I was excited. You know women, can't wait to decorate your house kind of feeling.

As I set my foot into the house on that Sunday. I start to sense some disappointments.

NO ELEVATOR 
I had to walk up the stairs to the 4th floor (yesterday my dad told me it's 90 steps to my unit 😥) while carrying Malaika (she was only 3.8kg that time, now she's almost 5.5kg 😂). But I guess we gain our strength already. Tak pancit dah!

DUSTY

My husband had to clean the place by himself with the help of some friends and my sister on few occasions. But the place is still dusty. Being very near to MRT constructions and the main road contributes a lot to the dust situation. Grr. With those 2 naughty cats running around the house at night (our version of guard dogs) I certainly need to sweep the floor every day twice!

One of the guard cat (konon)

VERY WARM
Another thing is being on top floor makes the unit very warm. Ok. Hot. I pitied Malaika. But recently it started to rain every other day, so it's slightly better now. But really..Panas woi. My dad gave us a portable aircond. Last month bill was 300++ and we used the aircond for 10 days only. Mati. So we bought ourselves a stand fan. Boleh lah. Portable aircond is only for Malaika and when we have visitors only.

#akuyangposingkauyangpanas

TOO SPACIOUS 
We thought a big place is a good thing. Everybody thought so. But nope. When you have a baby, it's not something to be glad with. Kitchen is at the back, you can't watch TV when you're eating (I get bored easily), can't leave your baby in the living room and work at the kitchen (next thing you know, the cat is in the cot.😡) and the list goes on. On top of that I don't lose any weight by walking around pun!
From a studio to a 5 bedrooms and 3 toilets unit. I think 3 bedrooms and 2 toilets unit is good enough with a small kitchen. Ni kitchen pun sama besar master bedroom. Or slightly bigger. We don't have much furniture leh and not planning to have more unless we are moving to our own house.

MANY WINDOWS. NO CURTAIN RAILS
How frustrating is that. Previous family had removed the rails. I think the unit of course came without it and they removed it when they move out which make a lot of sense. But I'm frustrated because I will need to move to other unit due to some management inefficiency. The thing is they have not inform me officially so we do not know when.  Thus if we drilled the rails for all 7 set of windows then few months later we need to move out then what. Remove it? Buy new ones? Ergh. Sis in law and a friend help me resolve the curtain matter. 👇

Notice how we hang the curtains? No railings required just the right kind of curtains. #naksedapkanhati

But I chose a see through one and just realised it's too bright during the day. And we bought this DIY window stickers from DIY shop! So cheap! For that whole windows only cost us 20 bucks. I never thought of it until a friend told me to. I love cheap stuff #kedekut

MURAL ON THE WALLS
I'm sure previous family has kids! Most of the walls are filled with doodles and scribbles. 😢 And I can see an attempt by the parents to paint the wall.  But. It was halfway and messy. So we are left with it and the management told us to not paint the walls cause they are painting the walls this year. When lah bro. It's May already.  I'm gonna definitely have visitors during raya. You expect me to let them see the house like that. I feel like squatters not that I have anything against them. Sigh

Some disappointments still lingers but I guess we are going to put up with it for some and resolve some too. Things always get better. Just a matter of time. Sabar!

Part II soon!

Tata. Mwah

3 on a Trip

We. I mean 3 of us now. Teehee.

We. Had our first getaway, very short one, last few weekends. Nowhere bombastic. Just Taiping. At the same time Malaika can meet her aunties, uncles and Atok especially. I considered it as a getaway because first, we are staying at a hotel and second I need out from the scorching heat of KL. 

First time travelling with Malaika for a ride of more than 2 hours. A lot of things went through my head. 

She will be crying once I put her into the car seat. And for 4 hours. How?

Will she be okay at the hotel? 

It's 4 hours on the road.  Is it safe?

And it went well. I wasted my time worrying. But I cheated. After we placed her in the car seat. She cried. And when the car stop moving at traffic lights. She cried. So I showed her videos of herself smiling and testing out her voice.. and she stopped crying..after awhile she dozed off. Hurrah!

Mr MooCow together with lil Malaika

We didn't get to stay at a fancy hotel. Just Tune Hotel but it was very cheap at RM95 per night. It was small but comfortable enough to sleep in. They clean up the room daily. Taiping's Tune Hotel is slightly different cause it is all in not like other Tune Hotel where you have to pay for add-ons. And across the hotel is Tesco, where they also have Chatime, Sushi King, Starbucks and also Pelita Nasi Kandar. Domino's is just next door. So food is not a problem since they don't have their own restaurant/kitchen.

Woohoo!

As most of you already know Taiping has the most rainfall in a year. But it had not been raining for a bit.. Until we came back! Lil Malaika was so happy with the weather, that she slept on her own those 3 days we were there. Happy baby, happy parents.

Anyways. The real reason we were in Taiping is because Mr Hubster need  to fill in for a short gig in Ipoh for Ipoh Picnic Day. Ayah's lil girl didn't mind the loud noise at all. Slept through the whole time we were there.

My Part Time Rocker Hubster in red

The short trip to Taiping was great. We managed to spend time with our family, meet up with friends, hubster get to have fun with his bass and most importantly  we survived with our precious 2 months old  (at that time). 

For Raya Trip back to Taiping, I reckon we try and get on the ERL and repeat our stay at Tune Hotel. Teehee. FYI, the last train trip we were on, I was 5 months pregnant and I sprained my ATF ligament. Hope our next train trip will run smoothly.

Mwah.

Regrets

I'm officially a mum. For 2 months and 18 days. And it has been life changing, mind blowing, and I'll be lying if I say it is not stressful  but most importantly very happy to have Malaika.
Right now I'm lying on my bed trying to write while she lay next to me. Ayah went for a recording job so we are left with each other. Oh not forgetting my other kids Along and Gummy are also in the room with us right now. Very kaypohci one these 2..

So far.. I have regretted few things.. and of them is for not preparing enough for the life after Labour Room. No. More accurate. Life after that last push. I didn't get to read so much, I was too focus on work  that I didn't  read much on breastfeeding, infant care, and some other things. I'm not trying to give an excuse but. I can't not focus on work when I'm at work. With treatments, surgery and paperwork how can I ignore.. and by the time I'm home I'm tired..
I read. But not enough and my mind was narrowed down to Meekro (then was what we called Malaika) progress in my womb. The cord issue. I was just reading on baby's progress on babycentre.com and filling up my pink book.
And when the day comes, 7th February 2016, 9pm I pushed and pushed in pain and by 8th February 2016 at 12:15am, she came into our world. And our crazy, hectic and happy life began..

That night after they took Malaika to clean her up, my blood pressure went up to the roof as they stitch me up. It was damn painful. And they monitored me for almost 2 hours before they push us into our room. There is no First Class wards at Hospital Ampang so I settled for a second class. And after half an hour my husband stayed with me he left for home. And I'm left all alone. They don't allow anyone to wait for you. I was too tired and sleepy I didn't think much.
Until Malaika cried on top of her lungs. Lapar. Tried to breastfeed . But don't really know whether I'm doing the right thing. She kept crying. I remembered feeling useless . After a good 5 minutes only a nurse came and in the low light room she tried to teach me in about 1 minute. Malaika stopped crying but I really was not sure what am I doing. Big regret. Never crossed my mind during that 9 months to go for breastfeeding class.. I'm still regretting till now.
Hm too much sad feelings tonight.
I need to sleep.

Meekro

Meekro. Our mini.

The first thing that entered my mind when we got pregnant, ultrasonography!
As I remembered, when we were tested positive , immediately that weekend we searched for the nearest clinic for a scan. And Ding! Meekro is there! :*

For 27 weeks, Meekro was scanned multiple times and mostly not planned.  Let me list down for you guys..

1. Klinik Ampang Putra (Taman Dagang)
2. Klinik Medi-zen Ampang
3. KKIA Simee, Ipoh
4. KKIA Kg Pandan, KL
5. Sonoworld Centre, Ukay Bestari
6. KPJ Johor Bharu

But the most ultrasound that I enjoyed the most was at Sonoworld Centre followed by Medi-zen Ampang.
To do an ultrasound at Sonoworld Centre, you need to make an appointment first on their website mysonoworld.com . Their website , to me is very user friendly. So far I have been there twice and they know what are they doing. Seriously. I have been scanned many times and trust me you can't help to compare.
At Medi-zen Ampang, I was scanned by a Vietnamese Dr. Very soft spoken, explained in details, makes you feel comfortable and most importantly, she knows what she was doing. I'm not saying other Drs were not good. But, I have done ultrasound in my animal patients before and it really requires experience,
To me, the sonographer confidence, knowledge and PR skills are what makes me a happy customer.

And. after the recent sonography, we discovered that Meekro does not like to smile, very responsive and is always ready to kick ( been kicking since 2 weeks :))

I have been looking at Meekro ultrasound videos and pictures since then,,, always makes me smile looking at them. OH! Meekro kicked! I better put on some songs on for Meekro now.

Till then,

Ciao.

                                                                                    We love you, Meekro!

The New Chapter

Hi Everyone.

I guess this blog was not active for a very long time .. and I just decided to refresh this blog and remove all old posts.
Anyway, new workplace, a newborn on the way, my cats, oh and my husband ..we are all in the new phase and I'm trying my best to brace the moment..

I will try my best to write more.. maybe on cases at work (maybe i should not), my cats, my trips, and just basically about anything..

:)