Calm after the storm...

A breathe of fresh air ....

Last Monday, we drove up to Puncak with the whole family. Nope, not to buy plants (I wish :D) but to see Taman Safari. Loaded with kids, gadgets and food, we explored the wilderness to see animals in their wild habitat.

Upon entering the place, I asked everyone (who's sitting beside the window) to roll down their window and smell the fresh air. It's not just the air that surprised us, it's also the sound of the wild echoing. It makes you feel like you're in the jungle.

Here are some sightings :

Forgetful Jenn ....

My usual routine... up at 4:45 a.m. preparing breakfast for hubby, then his lunch box. At 5:30 it's Justin's turn to hit the shower et moi prepares his breakfast. Then at 5:45 it's Pixel's turn to be shaken up and be served her breakfast . Although with her, it's quite easy because most of the time she eats cereals.
But this morning I forgot to prepare her lunchbox.
After setting up her table, I glanced at the tube and there it is a feature about Uma Thurman on E!. I was hesitating but I said to myself it will just be a few minutes break then I'll get on with what I'm supposed to do.
She came out of the room and ate her food while my eyes are  still in the tube. This time it 's the story of her life with Ethan Hawke. Earlier it was her marriage with Gary Oldman, quite interesting I should say.

She finished up and I went back to the sofa still glued at the tube until ....Pixel's eyes widen when she asked ..."where's my lunch???"  Oohhhh deaarrr!!!
Next thing I heard is the school bus slowly  pulling over at the front door ....I immediately rushed in to the kitchen ...open the fridge ..grab a cheese slice ... slice of ham...2 pieces of bread...plugged in the sandwich maker....stack them all inside and grab it tightly  with my fist because I broke the lock in a hurry. Pixel is fretting with her things being dragged, wearing a long face and heading to the maindoor. Me on the other hand hurried to place the sandwich in a ziploc bag, grab a box of cookies and an apple juice. I run to the door and saw the bus door about to close but then I managed to catch up with it and hand Pixel her food. At that time she was explaining to her bus friends this - "My Mommy was watching TV and she forgot to prepare my lunch!"  A bunch of rascals (kids) throw me a look and all I can manage is a   halfway smile and couldn't say a single word. Ah!! don't you just love my daughter !!!

Feels like Hong Kong

As a couple, we make sure that we take time out for ourselves at least once a week. Sometimes we go to a dinner, a movie or a nice breakfast over the weekends.

Last Sunday, Sacha took me to the Ritz Carlton for a heavy breakfast buffet. Afterwards we went to check the new Pacific Place Mall.

Much to our surprise this is what we found :
Located on the 4th floor, where the food section is. The whole floor is built to look like a Marina. Complete with lighthouse, sailboats, man made ponds, fountains and a ceiling painted as a blue sky.

There's VIP seating on top of the lighthouse where they serve steaks. Ice cream shops  occupies seating on the sailboats. All restaurants have a view of the Marina and the fountains. We sample the view from the sailboat with Cream N Fudge.

At the 6th floor you will find the best cinema house in the city. It is similar to Hong Kong's Palace IFC the where you have library cafes exclusive for cinema goers, VIP toilets and membership priviledges.

You will also find Kidzania, where kids can spend as long as 7 hours in this little town set up filled with activities suited for children. In here, they can pretend to be doctors, fireman, lawyers et al. Small divas can go on a shopping and spa service. The entrance is like a check-in counter at the airport that continues to the immigration office before you can enter the town proper. Adults are not allowed in the vicinity but they can watch thru the waiting area.

The mall set up is similar to Times Square in Causeway Bay (Hong Kong) which has an atrium in the middle.

Pacific Place is my place .....

Pixel's hairy experience...

During regular schooldays, she wake up at 5:45 am just in time when Justin comes out of the shower. She washes herself for 10 mins (including her hair), then tip toes to her room leaving droplets of water from her hair. After getting dressed, she comes out to eat her breakfast while I work on her hair (part of my morning chores is to blowdry and set her hair).

Today, she go back to school after her spring break (of 10 days). Throughout the holiday, my salon was close, meaning she will have to deal with her hair on her own. I never fail to  remind her to brush her hair(couple of times that I caught her after taking a shower). Of course, the words enter her left ear and afterwards get snorted out of her nose. It never  came out of her right ear because if it did, that means it would've traveled in her brain and she would have done it.

This morning when she came out of the shower, her hair was so messed up as if there were cats with rolls of woolen threads fighting on head.
I tried to be optimistic, thinking it couldn't be that bad if she put conditioner. But I was wrong, every attempt to brush her hair it gets more tangled. So badly tangled, she resembles Bozo the clown hahaha!

Try to imagine the scene this morning ... Me -smoke coming out of my ears and nostrils- tagging her -distraught teary face- to my toilet. There in my toilet I rummage through my collection of hair treatments and found an ultra conditioner/detangler from UK. I made her kneel down and ask her to bend down her head to the bath tub so we can untangled her hair, at the same time save her clothes from getting wet. After 10 minutes and a handful of hair in ball shape, it's ready for a blow dry.

The result, her hair looks like the ones you see in a shampoo commercial. Long, black, soft, tangle free, flowing like silk threads (that was actually her observation), She was so happy that the teary eyes all of a sudden turned into  twinkling eyes. She hugged me tightly and said "Thank you Mommy for making my hair so beautiful".
Hhhmmmm, I wanted to say "Next time this happens, we'll go straight to the salon and have your hair shaved!". But I did not, I kept it to myself and just gave her a grin :D 

And then there is peace..

Pixel is about to shoot the ball inside the blue basket. Behind the basket is Justin standing on a low plastic chair pretending to be the post for the basket.

I'm telling you this kind of moment is rare!

Usually the setting is like this ....
The one on the right is the underdog.

But this time they're taking turns and we're very civil to each other.
You see miracles do happen :)

Effects of Ginger ....

I was talking to a friend earlier on the phone. She told me about her kid who's fever went up to 40 degrees and almost having convulsion. I remember those days when I was on the same position as her. My daughter have inherited convulsion attacks from his Dad. Not until she was 3 years old that it finally died down. I used to stay up all night to anticipate  and attend to it soon as possible. The convulsion attack is a bit  unpredictable. First the temperature goes up to almost 40 degrees and in a matter of minutes it will die down. If you look at her like she's back to normal, all smiling and playing. But if you touch her she's a bit cold and that's when the convulsion attacks. Usually, it lasts for a few minutes and then she will calm down and will be fine for a couple of hours until the next attack. The fever is sometimes triggered by infection on the throat, which is very common in toddlers who eats everything that they touches.
When I narrated the story to my mother, she scolded me for being too dependent on doctors and medicine. She said that I can prevent the illness by giving them ginger juice extracts. And also by making this a regular juice intake. At first I was appalled by the idea of it. Imagining how spicy and how can they manage to swallow it. Then I first tried it to myself, damn! it almost killed me! (just my thought), But eventually, it gives my throat comfort after it runs through it. A bit warm in my tummy though' but that also helped in my digestion. And then I gave it to them :)

Can you imagine the amount of tears in my daughters face? And my son just keeps on screaming afterwards. It was the same expression over and over again with the first few times they took it during times when they are to develop colds/flu and sore throat. That was almost 5 years ago. None of them suffered from high fever nor bad flu since. Now they take it like a regular medicine. During cold season and rainy season they take shots and ginger tea is always available in the fridge.

Few weeks ago I was a victim of fresh meat bacteria and so is my husband. We went to have dinner in an Italian restaurant in one of the 5 star hotel in the city. Judging from the price in the menu, we thought it is safe there. I saw beef carpaccio and I began to drool thinking I haven't have that for a long time. It was delicious as usual and I shared it with my husband. The next day I woke up with a heavy throat and it became worst at night. It felt so dry and swollen but I don't feel any chills,no fever, not even sneezing which is a sign of a cold. The next morning I started with the ginger juice and drank it the whole day. That afternoon my husband was complaining about feeling bloated and discomfort in his stomach. He went to the doctor the next day and got 3 kinds of pill. Everytime he take the pills he felt weak, sluggish and it gives him headache in the morning. Then I asked him to drink ginger tea, before and after his meal  continouely for the next few days. After 3 days, we are both well.
I don't know if it is scientifically proven, but it seem to work for us. Even my toddlers get a sip of ginger tea once in a while. It works well and I intend to keep it in their diet :)

The Transition

Potato Fritata

Teenagers,

It’s  hard to please them these days. Stuffs that used to be cool are now boring to them. Mood swing attacks so often, even if I try to ignore it, I still get affected. I feel like the target all the time – “he cannot find his shirt” (blames it on me), “she cannot go to poetry night” ( I lied about the schedule of the car)…etc… It’s like they we’re set in this world to annoy mommy. Most of the time I’m the smart, tough – you cannot stressed me out today- mommy. But then, I also have my share of vulnerable/sensitive/short tempered/impatient moments. And when I do it makes them wish they shouldn't have pushed it.

Four weeks ago, I set up new rules about food. I declare one day over the weekend that I will not cook. Both of them will cook a meal for the whole family. They can choose between lunch or dinner and should take turn every other weekend. Of course they complained about the task. I just said “ it’s not a request, it’s an order”, meaning there’s no way out.

Three weeks ago Justin started his cooking turn. He prepared Pad Thai and the recipe was found in the internet. He made few trips to and from the computer room while preparing and cooking it. The end result was a bit salty and overcooked. But since there’s nothing else prepared we have to bear with it. Even if Sacha doesn’t like fish sauce and Pixel is not very fond of spicy food. That was a lesson learned, I have to polish the rules a bit. Addendum “ before cooking, gather comments/suggestions from family members to make sure that everybody will benefit from the cooking”. The revised rules was then accepted.

The following weekend was Pixels turn. Few days before that, she gave me the list of ingredients so that I can include it in my shopping list. Hhhmmm, this one is easy...” spaghetti bolognese”. Two members requested for additional garlic bread. She said okay. Then Saturday came. Pixel started cooking the sauce at 2:00 pm. Same routine as Justin, she visits the computer room frequently and then back to the kitchen for a few minutes of stirring. When she asked “how long should I cook the sauce?” I said “about half a day traditionally, but since you are using tomato sauce in cans and not the fresh tomatoes, you can simmer and stir it for four to six hours”. Her eyes grew big and rolled up “what??”. I was laughing inside because I knew and kind of expecting it ... she's learning the hard way. It’s easy to complain about the food that is being serve to you when you are not the one behind the preparation. The result was okay, actually it was excellent. She have captured the taste that is supposed to be traditional bolognese. And for hours the aroma of the sauce inside the house is heavenly. It’s a two thumbs up. But of course Justin didn’t agree, rather doesn’t accept that Pixel did better than him.

Today it is Justins turn again. He cooked 3 types of food. Mie goreng, well that was almost instant, Potato Fritata and a Chicken Soup. The Potato Fritata was great. Loads of egg though, but how can I complain, I have now the pleasure of being served, a worry free Saturday and to get to taste food that I don't usually prepare :)