I have never been one good with traditions, frankly I suck at them. Since young I never saw the significance of Chinese New Year. To me it was (and is still is) merely another flipping of the calendar day. I only enjoyed the extended days of holidays that came with it. Before marriage it would mean holidays overseas with friends, but after marriage everything changed. I needed to be a responsible daughter-in-law and mother ....... certain chinese new year must-dos needed to be done even though I do not believe in them. During Chinese New Year it is customary to prepare "goodie bags" for family and friends. I enjoy putting together personalised gifts each year. I...

I used to have a love-hate relationship with January 1st. I love that it signifies a new beginning, new dreams, new hopes but at the same I hate it due to all my un-met resolutions! Two years ago, I finally grew-up (i.e. matured) and stopped making a big deal out of the New Year, and stopped making a long list of not likely to meet resolutions. January 1st became another flipping of the calendar day. I reasoned that I can do up a to-do-list aka resolutions anytime of the year. The biggest challenge is to stay focused and get it done. So how was past two years since I stopped making resolutions? Were they more fruitful than the ones with resolutions? Not sure but I...

Hubby and I made a painful decision last November. We cancelled our planned 6 months in advance, eagerly awaited year-end holidays abroad. It was painful, difficult, awful but we did it. At times I wish that we are less responsible, I wish that we love our daughters a little less, I wish that we are more selfish , I wish, I wish, I wish ..... My elder girl's teachers felt that she has the ability to secure a government scholarship to study abroad. As the exams are going to take place in September next year, we were advised to prepare early (huh?) and send her for extra coaching during the year-end break. Being the non-typical Asian parents (Asian parents tend to...

Both my girls started to like eating mooncakes after our experience with Fook Pan last year. So I thought that it would be a good idea to try making them myself so that I could adjust the taste according to our liking. I was all prepared to give mooncake-making a go but hubs thought otherwise. He felt that I am being overly ambitious and is grossly under-estimating the complexity of mooncake-making. Anyway I went ahead and bought the required ingredients. I started by making a couple of small baked moonies and surprisingly they were almost perfect (in my opinion) - nice imprint, evenly browned in the tone that I like and no cracks. I was giggling, jumping up and do...

Whenever we holiday overseas my husband would always take over the planning of all our meals. He would do some homework before the trip and speak to the locals when we get there, just to ensure that we do not miss out any of the must-eat places. He would also find out the opening hours of the local markets (for fresh meat, seafood and vegetables). Yeah, he loves to cook and does a much better job than me. Whenever he cooks fresh ingredients is a must and a never to be compromised quality. He makes an effort to get all ingredients from the fresh market unlike me where convenience is always my priority. I like my vegetables and fruits thoroughly washed and nicely pac...

Since young both my girls love animals very much. They would get very excited whenever the opportunity arises for them to visit the zoo. As both my husband and I are not animal fans, they rely on school trips, and visits from family and friends. As they grow older, they started to negotiate visits to wildlife parks and/or farmstays when we travel overseas, as their reward for doing well in their school exams or in exchange for a month of washing toilets at home. I still have not figured out where their love for animals came from, as I am someone who would scream my head off whenever I see a cat, dog, et cetera. Before we got into Perth, my younger girl (the mo...

Hubs and I were totally burnt-out from our daily routine, him from “his grind” and me a little bored with everything from the domestic front. We decided to take a short break with the girls. We got into Perth early this morning and will be here for the next ten days. Normally we would prefer to either go to Sydney or Melbourne whenever we visit Australia. We consider Perth a little “slow” (no offense meant) for us. Probably it is a sign of old age, spending 10 days in a slow and laid-back place with moderate winter conditions sounded rather appealing to me. Actually it has been ages since we last visited Perth. If my memory does not fail me, Erica was...

The Malacca River fronting the hotel We took a short drive out of Kuala Lumpur, and spent the weekend in Malacca Town, one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. It is considered one of Malaysia's most interesting city as its buildings and streets have strong influence of its founder Parameswara (a Javanese prince), the early Chinese migrants, and the three European colonial periods of Portugese, Dutch and British. All four of us were looking forward to the trip for our own reasons, the girls imagining their history books coming to life, for me its the hotel, a refurbished 80 year-old used to be mansion belonging to a rich tycoon, and for my other half, an escape ...

I know that Mid-Autumn festival is well over and done with, I have not gone bonkers with the recent roller coaster events in my life. I just need to do a write up on my totally unexpected but extremely pleasant encounter with Rebecca, for my own records, just in case I forget all about it next year. I can't take any chances with my diminishing by the day, memory power. It has failed me too many times in the past. Before Rebecca, my hubby and I do not like mooncakes, and do not understand the yearly Mid-Autumn festival fuss. Somehow, we simply could not acquire its taste and found it to be sickly sweet, despite claims of it being "reduced sugar". Even my two girls, ...

We wanted to do a 3-hours massage at JivaRhu Spa, thus were thinking of ways to occupy the girls while we were gone. I was thankful, and impressed with level of customer service, when the reception made special arrangements for the girls to participate in the mangrove tour without us. While they were given a two hours private guided tour of the botanical and zoological wonders of the mangrove ecology, bat caves, eagle feeding, macaw monkeys and fish feeding stations, we spent our time at JivaRhu Spa, for a 3-hours couples massage. After lunch the girls were busy at the beach collecting sea shells and participating in the activities planned for the day; henna paint...