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Showing posts from January, 2018

2 years old - In search of a kindy/nursery

Wow....my girl has just turned 2 years old.  And you know what, I started looking for places for her to learn to read and write and all that.  Call me kiasu if you wish, but certain kindergarten are already on waiting list for the 2019 intake. My criteria is such that if it is near my house, then her grandparents can pick her up from school.  If it is near my work place, then she has to be there the whole day and I will pick her up from school after work.  Also, I am planning to send her to Chinese primary school.  And now she is speaking mainly English and little bit of Cantonese.  So Mandarin class is a must.  Also, the location must be quite near to either the house or my office.  Don't want to get into a jam while trying to send her to school. A few phone calls here and there and here's what I found. Peter & Jane Pros 1. Nearest to our house.  Grandparents can pick her up from school. 2. Learning is made fun, Montessori style. 3. Accept 2.5-3 years

My obsession with K-dramas and K-variety shows

Motherhood aside.  I have been busy preparing for my girl's 2nd birthday.  No party this year.  Just having simple lunch with some of my closed friends and gift packs for my girl's friends.  Will talk about this later. Lately, I have been hooked on K-dramas and K-variety shows.  These are the shows I have been watching lately: Monday night: - Hwayugi - R.u.n.n.i.n.g Man - Knowing Brothers - All The Buttlers Tuesday night - Just Between Lovers Wednesday night - Just Between Lovers Thursday night - Black Knight Friday night - Black Knight Saturday night - Youn's Kitchen, Season 2 Sunday night - Hwayugi Let's talk about variety shows.  Of all the variety shows, I really love the ones produced and directed by PD Na Young Suk.  He is a genius.  All his productions are very successful and I think among all the other PDs, he is one of the best and well-known among fans. I started with 1N2D and I like the concept very

Tried and tested cooking keto : Simple pizza crust with cheddar cheese

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This, I must brag.  Because it was so good and delicious that I didn't believe it wasn't really a bread pizza crust.  The crust is so easy to make and the end result is so yummy!  If you are doing a keto and missing on pizza, please try this out.   Ingredients: Shredded cheddar cheese - I just roughly estimated the amount and put into a big round flat mount.  So, can't really say how much exactly. Method: 1. Pre-heat oven to 200C. 2. Spread a baking paper onto the oven pan and arrange the cheddar cheese as to how you like it.  Since I am making a pizza crust, I arrange it in a round circle, slightly flat mount, but make sure all the cheese are on each other and no holes. 3. Put into the oven for 5 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and melted.   4. Remove from oven and let it cool down.  Once it is cool, it will form this hard crust, but not that crunchy.   To make into pizza Ingredients: 2-3 big tomatoes or 15 baby tomatoes - If you

Turning to spirituality - Sahaja Yoga Meditation

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I have never spoke about spirituality in this blog.  I have another blog which is totally about spirituality but it has gone dormant these days.  I am focusing more on this blog.   I do Sahaja Yoga meditation for about 17 years now.  Ever since my cousin passed away, which I wrote earlier, I turned to spirituality for comfort.  It has helped me tremendously. Shri Mataji was the founder of Sahaja Yoga and if you like to know more about Sahaja Yoga, you can check it out at this website .  The best part of Sahaja Yoga is that you don't have to pay a single cent to participate.  Everything is free of charge as Shri Mataji had said, " This is God’s work and God gives you everyt hing  free , doesn’t He? You breathe  free ly, you see  free ly; all these capacities are given to you by God, absolutely  free . The sun is  free  to you; the Mother Earth is  free  to you. How can you pay for it?" Sahaja Yoga is a type of meditation which starts from the awakening of

Good news!!!

I am so happy today that I feel the need to share this good news.  No, I am not pregnant again and not sure if I am planning to have a second one soon. Let me share a bit of history first.  Back when I was 18 years old, I had my first surgery to remove a benign breast lump.  It was a huge one measuring 3cm x 5cm.  Since then, I have to follow-up with the GPs and insurance companies gave me a hard time on my premium because of this.   One fine day in 2007, I went back to the GP that my parents used to bring me when I was a child and the first GP who confirmed the breast lump when I was 18.  She decided to do a random check on my breasts again and found more lumps.  Immediately referred me to see a radiologist to get it properly scanned and checked.  Found that there are new lumps and although they are all benign, it seems more lumps will grow. What I was told is, I have lumpy breasts, meaning they are prone to breast lumps or fibroadenoma, which are caused by combination of

Tried and tested cooking keto : Zucchini with eggs

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I am not a fan of zucchini.  Tried it when I was making puree for my girl.  I find the taste a bit bland.  Probably because my mom and I are not familiar of how to cook it since as Malaysians, we don't really use this vegetable that much.   Since starting keto, I have to find variety of vegetables so that I won't get bored with the diet.  And I found that cooking zucchini with eggs is such a wonderful combination. Ingredients: 1 zucchini, cut into thin slices - The thicker the slice, the egg doesn't absorb so well and not so soft. 2 eggs beaten and seasoned with salt 1/2 tsp butter for cooking Method: 1. In a bowl, beat the eggs ad then soak the zucchini slices in the eggs. 2. Put butter into the frying pan and then pour the egg and zucchini mixture into the pan.  Make sure the zucchini are not stack up in order to cook thoroughly. 3. Then flip it over and cook the other side.  You can break the eggs according to the zucchini slices. I

I am truly in a slum

In this life, I have always slower than my peers.  Graduated later, married later, had a kid later.  And I am always in some sucky job where bonus and salary is lower than my peers.  And now age is catching up, I wondered what will happen next? As mentioned in my previous post, I want a change in career.  At the same time, I feel the need to have a second child.  I think I am ready but financially is not.   I am going to 40s soon.  Not sure if having another child is wise.  I have been weighing the pros and cons of having a 2nd child.  By the time I retire at 60, if I have a kid now, he/she will be in his 20s only and probably just started college.  Can I afford to pay the college fees for both of them?  As it is, I can't even afford the kindergarten now. By having 1 child, I might be spending all my time, attention and money on her.  But she might be lonely.  But another child might have sibling problems like I have seen in so many incidences.  And adding more financi

Come what may

Yesterday, my boss said some stuff to me about my job scope.  Few years back, she asked about my career progression and I chose to follow her as she will be doing something different from what I have been doing all this while.  She moved to a new portfolio instead of the monthly reporting, which I was a little fed up of.   But yesterday, she said she has nothing to give me to do and told me off for just sitting and waiting for her to give me something to do.  Weird as I thought work have to come from the top, but here she wants me to do something on my own, which she may or may not like.  After 8 years of working here, this is how it is.  Reality sucks.  Corporate world sucks. So it comes to a point, that I have to think of my options to change and if I am too comfortable and unwilling to accept any changes.   Since I was too free as she puts it, I decided to abandon all work and surf the net.  I started reading all the blogs that I used to read before, before I stopped as

Just Between Lovers

Ever since Goblin ended, I have yet to find a Korean drama that sticks and memorable.  Was on a slum for a few months, watching bits of past dramas recommended by netizens.  I kinda like Because This Is My First Life, but it's not as good as Goblin.   So, while waiting for Black Knight's episodes to come, I was reading recaps and review of netizens to see what other K-drama I should be watching or K-drama that I have been missing. Just Between Lovers was a clear favourite.  So, I decided to jump in and watch.  Unfortunately, I can't find myself liking this or loving it.  Sure, it is a melodrama, not a comedy like Goblin and not a rom-com like BTIMFL.  But there is something about it that makes me reluctant to continue but at the same time, trying to appreciate it like the other netizens. The more I watched it, the more hurtful I felt, the past, the pain, the regret came up.  I felt as if I was one of the characters and I could feel the way they felt.  And I can

The Accidental Cake

I don't have photo for this one because I have completely forgotten to take a photo.  And the end product was a mess, so no photos at all.  But the taste was oh-so-yummy.  I took a small bite as I am still on my ketogenic diet and this cake is sweet because of honey. What happened was I was trying to make cloud bread as sandwich for my lunch.  Unfortunately, when I tried to break the last egg, Egg No.4/4, I accidentally broke the yolk and it fell into my egg whites.  Although I managed to scoop out the yolk, some residue was in it.  I tried to beat the egg whites to stiff peak but it just won't do.  I wanted to fry them but it already has cream of tartar and I am not sure if the taste will be ok.  So, in order not to waste it, I manage to find a recipe that has all the ingredients at home.  I did modified it a bit. I got the recipe from this Savory Lotus blog .  I am not going to post the ingredients and the method as I followed exactly from the blog, except I changed

What would I say if I receive an award?

I have been binge watching the end-of-the-year Korean awards show lately.  MBC, SBS, KBS have their own individual awards show for both Entertainment and Drama respectively, though this year because of the strikes, KBS didn't have an award show for Entertainment. Though some of these awards are quite predictable and probably given out because of popularity rather than skill and performance, it is still quite fun to watch my favourite actors and actress outside a drama or a variety show.   Some of them expected the awards and prepared a speech.  Some of them didn't and were caught by surprise and some cried and some make their speech really short because they didn't prepare.  I like listening to what they have got to say and their reaction is priceless.  Their life story sometimes come out that way out of excitement. While watching these show, I asked myself this question, what if I was one of the recipient of the award?  What will I say? So I thought of wha

Review : Sky Mirror at Sasaran Beach, Kuala Selangor

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The above photo doesn't really reflect what Sky Mirror is all about because the weather was not that good when we were there.  Basically, Sky Mirror as it is named is the mirror like reflection between the sky and earth.  By right, the reflection should be really nice on a sunny day. To know more about the Sky Mirror tour, please go to this Facebook page .   So, on 1/1/18, since it was a public holiday for all of us, we decided to go as a family to this place.  We were informed to be by the Kuala Selangor jetty at 7am in the morning.  I have been asking the person-in-charge what time to meet but he has been slow in responding and I didn't know why.  Now I know.  It's because only a certain time on a certain day, you can see the reflection properly.  Provided it doesn't rain, that is. When we left on the speed boat, it started to drizzle.  We were hoping the rain will clear up, but God has decided. From PJ to Kuala Selangor, the journey is about 1 ho

Tried and tested cooking keto : Grilled salmon fish

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I was reading about grilling salmon fish and actually thought it is a lot of work to get that perfect flaky meat.  Without further ado, I just tried it once and boy, it was very easy.  But the timing have to be right, which is tricky.   First time I did, the fish was thinner in slice and cooked perfectly.  Second time, same result as first.  Third time, the fish was thicker in piece and turns out raw after plating.  So, no choice but put into the microwave to cook it and it made the skin soft and no longer crunchy and the meat overcooked. So, I do agree that cooking salmon is a big task.  Professional chefs uses cooking thermometer just to ensure the meat is cook at the perfect time. Ingredients: Salmon fish - I used the part without the bones as you can see in the picture above.  But because the size is thick in the middle and thin at the sides, it makes this part a little tricky to cook to perfection. Salt to taste Black pepper to taste 1/2 tsp of unsalted butt