Random Shots

Here are some random shots over the past few days.Please note that I'm not a "photography" enthusiast. I don't own any super high tech DSLRs, just a digital camera that fits perfectly in my handbag. (But I do love admiring beautiful photographs.)

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WANG WANG Rice Crackers
I had a sudden crave for junk, I bought these!
My mum just shook her head when she saw me carrying them home.


Fruits to start the day!
I've gained weight and I could hear my gynae nagging at me.
I shall stick to this fruits for breakfast diet.


Fitnesse Cereals with Chocolate Milk
I tend to get hungry faster now that I'm in my 3rd trimester.
I "stop" the hunger by having a bowl of these! Well, it's nutritious and not so fattening.


"Raining" face!
Hubby & I went for Chappati at a shop near my office over the weekend.
This is how he looks like whenever he eats spicy food.
Sweat will start "flooding" his forehead and face.


Do you LURVE these chips?
A girlfriend came over for dinner last Friday and we went for drinks after.
She was eyeing on this packet of LURVE ever since we bought our drinks.
When the Baristas went around giving each table one packet, she was very excited!
So we made her pose with it! haha..

Egg Mayo Sandwich & Salmon Salad

After my sudden urge to cook over the Raya weekend, I decided to cook the next weekend too! There are a few reasons. One of them is so that my hubby can get some home cooked food since he is always eating out when he's at Port Dickson (PD) and the other reason is that we both try to abstain from meat on Fridays.

Since I get back from work early on Fridays, I decided to make a simple meal. Here's what I made:

Egg Mayo Sandwich
Not very tough. Just hard boiled eggs and mayo with a pinch of pepper.


Salmon Salad
We bought a fillet of salmon the weekend before.
All I had to do was splash some lemon, white wine, dill and olive oil then bake it in the oven for 20-30minutes.
Remove the Salmon meat from the skin and toss them into a big bowl of salad.
I used French Oil as the salad dressing.
Also added some Cherry Tomatoes and Black Olives to make the Salad more "colourful".

Fresh Mango Jelly
While waiting for the eggs & Salmon to cook, I made these!
Jellies are currently my favourite because it helps cool my body down. :)

Perhaps I should make it a habit to cook/bake every weekend. (Well, I'm also more motivated to cook after reading many food blogs. They are inspiring! But of course, most of these food bloggers are SAHM. [Stay At Home Mothers])

Have you played your part?

Do you remember the last time you played your part for charity?

I was brought up to be charitable since young. My parents encouraged me.

I joined the Leo Club (yes yes, i was one of them.) in secondary school and AIESEC (yes yes, i was one of them too) in University. I have to say, joining these two societies opened up my eyes.

Even after I graduated from university, I still continue playing my part in helping the needy.We would usually donate money/anything in kind to charity homes. (My mum would always ask whether we have done any charity for the year.)

If you have not played your part for charity this year, here's one that you may be interested in.

Royal Selangor Jelly Good Time
In aid of Breast Cancer Awareness.

For more information, please click on the image.

I wish that I could join this event. However, I had to attend Antenatal classes every Saturday in October. Despite having a busy schedule, I would still love to play my part and it lead me to the idea of blogging about it.

What are you waiting for?!

Play your part for charity, you will find a new form of self satisfaction. :)

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri!

Last weekend was another one of those "nice long weekends". 4 days without work meant that the next week is only a 3 work day week!

My Raya weekend was eventful. On Friday night, I decided to head down to Port Dickson. After work, I took the KTM Komuter to Seremban and hubby picked me up from there. We then headed to Klana Resort Seremban for dinner. (My husband told me that he would bring me to the Japanese restaurant at Klana after the first time he had dinner there.)

Baked scallops with cheese.
It's a little too cheesy and milky for us.


Fried mixed vegetables.
We try to ensure that we have a portion of vegetables in our meals.


Teriyaki Oysters.
This is the highlight of the dinner. It's succulent! Best eaten hot! YUMMY!

h
Shisaomo.


Hubby's portion of "fish".
Since I can't have raw food, he had to finish all of this by himself.
He didn't know that the portion is that huge.


I CAN FINISH THIS! :P


Chawanmushi
I was "craving" for some. So I ordered it towards the end of our dinner. Greedy much?


Beef.
We didn't know that the portion would be this big.


Unagi Maki.
Hubby is not a big fan of eel. So I ate 3/4 of this!


Macha Ice Cream!
Every dinner have to end with something sweet. *HHhhAAAAAA*

We ordered 9 dishes & 1 dessert in total! (the Tempura Moriawase was not featured because we forgot to take a picture.) The waitress were surprised to know that we manage to finish all of them! :) Greedy people, WE ARE! (I guess having a pregnant lady at the dining table helps! :P)

The bill came up to RM260. :)

When we went back to the apartment at Port Dickson (PD), we were welcomed by a pool of water. The apartment was FLOODED!! It was already 11pm when we arrived home. We found out that the water came in from the balcony door. We took nearly 2hours to clear up the living room and the master bedroom. It was a good thing that the water did not flood the whole house, if not we would probably have to sleep in the living room.

(No pictures to show as we were busy cleaning up.)

At 5am, it started to rain again. We were afraid that the water may come in again. So we sat down on the bed (pushed out from the bedroom) and watched the rain. We only got back to sleep an hour later.

It was tiring for us but we woke up about 9am to start our day. We had a simple breakfast (toast bread) and then head to the nearest supermarket to buy towels and floor mats.

After cleaning up the floor one last time, pushing all the furnitures back to its original place, stuffing the balcony door with towels & floor mats, we decided to go back to KL.

On our way back, we decided to stop by at Seremban to have beef noodles at the Seremban wet market. :)

(Sorry, no photos as I was drop dead tired to remember to snap photos.)

On Sunday, it was more relaxing. I went for my usual walk in the morning at the lake with my sister. I had lunch with my hubby then tea with a girlfriend then went for Mass at St. Ignatius Church in the evening. After church, hubby and I headed to One Utama for dinner.

We went to Pasta Zanmai (the second time for me, the first for hubby).

Iced Fruit Tea.
I like the fact that they used fresh fruits and not just canned fruits.


Ice Blended Green Tea.
It's nice!


I ordered the Ebi Tempura Pasta set.
(All sets come with a bowl of salad & miso soup)


Hubby ordered the Half-broiled Salmon Pasta set.

On Monday, I brought my hubby for his first (and last) manicure & pedicure session. He has been wondering why I (and most girls) like it so much. After the session, he couldn't understand why but he liked his shiny nails. (I like them too.) Anyhow, it would be his first & last time as he thinks it's a waste of money. [Luckily, he doesn't disapprove me of going for manicure & pedicure in future.]

Shiny fingers!
My hubby has slim fingers. :)


My chubby feet.
(My legs tend to swell at night.)

We went for a walk at Desa Parkcity in the evening then headed to my in-law's for dinner.

On Tuesday, it was a "housewife" day for me. I decided to cook lunch & dinner. After breakfast, hubby & I went to the wet market to get some groceries and after that we just stayed home.

Hubby was working and I was doing housework and cooking.

A simple pasta meal for lunch.
I made Beef Bolognese.
I didn't follow any recipe. Just did everything by "instinct".
Hubby said that it's nice as it's not too "tomato-ish". He said the capsicums made the difference.

After doing the laundry, I decided to make some jelly. I tend to "crave" for cooling and cold things, I blame it on the hormones for feeling very hot. So I figured that jellies are the best way to "cool" it down.

Lychee Jelly!
It's not my first time making jellies. I use to make them before I was married. My dad was my #1 fan. (Come to think of it, he's my #1 fan of everything that I make, bake or cook.)
This time I only used 5 tablespoons of sugar. Was suppose to use 250grams of sugar but I didn't have a weighing scale. I figured that the canned lychee would make the jelly sweet so I just added 5 tablespoon of sugar. The jelly turned out good but no taste of sweetness at all. It suits my family's taste buds as we are not a big fan of sweet stuff.

I had to do more housework after making the jellies. After doing the housework, I had about an hour to rest before cooking dinner.

Beef Bolognese and Salmon Salad.
I heated up the left over Beef Bolognese from lunch and made Salmon Salad.
It has been a while since I cooked. Hubby enjoyed it and encouraged me to cook more often!

At the end of the day, my back and feet were in pain. (My belly is getting heavier. More on that in my future post.) I had to call it a day after freshening up. Hubby rewarded me with a good feet & back rub.

It was indeed a tiring but great weekend for me! Hope yours went well too!

To all my Muslim friends & followers,

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI!

May you and your family have a blessed celebration!

Hari Merdeka!

Can you recall what you did over the Merdeka weekend?

I had an interesting one. One which ended with me being hospitalized!

Yes, my record was broken. After proclaiming not visiting the hospital for more than 2 years. I had to be rushed into the hospital on the 31st of August 2009.

Why was I hospitalized? FOOD POISONING! (what's new?)

I was enjoying the long weekend just like everybody else and on Monday evening, my tummy just had to react to whatever food that I ate.

We were a little more afraid this time because I'm pregnant. My mum especially kept persuading me to see the Dr once I started feeling uncomfortable. So I succumb to her persuasion and decided to go to the hospital. (My gyane's clinic is closed on Public Holidays.)

The Dr in the Emergency Room was calm and called my gynae to inform him of my situation. Since I didn't come in with fever, diarrhea, or vomiting, I was told that I should just take some medicine and rest at home.

I was happy that I didn't have to check into the hospital or take any injection. (oh wait, I'm pregnant, so no injection allowed!)

Went home and I still felt horrible. Just less than 5 minutes at home, I threw up and purged! I'm cursed! After 2 rounds of the same thing, everyone begin to worry and we decided to go to the hospital once again.

The same Dr was still there and I just gave him a weak smile and say "I'm back! Looks like I have to check myself in!"
He said.. "Aaahhh.. vomited & diarrhea?" I just nodded and added.. three times!

He just replied.. "We will have to keep you here then." I just sighed.

At that time I just wish there was an injection that I could take. So I asked the Dr & nurses if there's any pain killer for pregnant woman.. the answer was "Yes! Panadol!"
I went.. "YAY? Panadol? That's it? sigh."

I also went in with a fever and that got the Dr worried. I was admitted into the Labour ward and assigned to be taken care by a Gastroentologist instead of my gynae cause my pregnancy was doing good.

The Dr assigned was very hardworking. He came in to check on me at almost midnight! I was very surprised because usually Drs will only come and see me the next morning. (Yes, this is how often I've been to the hospital that I know when the Drs will come and see me for the first time since admission.)

Even after purging for 10times throughout the wee hours & the next morning, the Dr was reluctant to put me on drugs especially antibiotic. He only gave me the necessary and on the 2nd day he had to succumb to giving me antibiotic because I had high fever for a few hours and I felt very cold & weak.

Once I was on antibiotic, I felt much better. No longer weak, could even tell the Dr that I don't want anymore drips and any medication that I don't feel like taking.

After spending nights in the hospital, the Dr finally gave me the green light to be discharged even though I was still purging. He told me to just monitor myself and be sure that I don't have fever.

The next day, purging finally stopped. We also went to see my gynae to ensure that my pregnancy was doing well.

My pregnancy was not affected at all. Thank God for that! Our baby was behaving very well. (At the hospital, the nurses do come in to monitor the babys' heartbeat every day.)

I was also told that all the medication given to me was safe to be taken during pregnancy. :)

That's how my Merdeka weekend ended! I hope yours was sweeter than mine!


P/S: I have to mention that my husband have been the best when I went through this. He stayed over with me for a few nights, keeping me company throughout the day, even though it's not the most comfortable since he only gets a lazy chair to sleep on instead of an extra bed. He felt guilty that he had to go back to work before I was discharged but I understood his situation. Thanks darling! *hugs*

2 months has passed

When will I stop counting my dad's journey in heaven? I can't tell and I can't promise when. Perhaps it's a good thing I'm actually voicing out how I feel.

Every 8th would keep me reminded that it has been (number of) months.

I think of him every single day. Every time I cross the bridge from my office to Bank Negara KTM station. Every time I go out for lunch. Every time someone mentions something that reminds me of him.

I felt the burden on me since my dads' passing as I had to deal with things at home, handling most of the things. I'm better at spreading the burden now.

It came to me that one of my dads' final advise to me..
"Yi Lei, you don't have to do everything. I know you have the ability and capability to do everything but you have to learn to ask for help. If not you'll be drowned by responsibilities just like me."

I'm not sad when I think of my dad. I only miss him. Thinking of him puts a smile on my face.

Perhaps that's how angels leave their footprints on earth.:)

Our First- Week 25

A moving belly!

I could finally feel the baby's movement from the outside! My husband manage to catch the baby move too! :) Of course, it's his first time and we were both smiling from ear to ear.

Most people are still surprised that I'm already 6 months pregnant. Perhaps cause I have a big body frame so my belly don't show that much.

This was also the week we started buying stuff for the baby. I was advised by a colleague to start shopping now because I won't be able to shop around that much when I'm in my 3rd trimester.

My mum initially told me that according to "superstition", you are not suppose to buy anything for the baby until you reach your 7th month.

But she decided to buy a few pairs of clothes for her first grandson anyway cause she's afraid that he may be a pre-mature. She also told me to get cloth napkins and a few pairs of mittens.(My mum can be very confusing.)

We started planning what to get and OH MY, just planning made me feel "poorer". I had to keep telling myself that my next few children would be able to utilize this initial "investment" too.

Since the Malaysia Mega Sale is coming to an end, we figured that we should get "big" stuff first so that we can save some cash.

The first "big" thing that we got was a Cot Bed. A good friend told us about it and we went researching around. We manage to find the best deal at Twins Baby. (Also introduced by the same friend.)

One off the list, what's next?

What helps you de-stress?

I find myself feeling a "tensed" once in a while. Luckily for me, I find going to church relaxing and it helps me. I feel a little "lighter" after attending Mass and sometimes I can get emotional at church. (Perhaps it's a way that my body is releasing all the "tension".)

The other thing that I do to help me de-stress is baking!

I remember when I was preparing for my STPM, I decided to bake in the middle of the night. I was preparing to take an examination the next day and I made it a point to DO MY VERY BEST for that particular subject cause the teacher did not think I would do well in Form Six. (Yes, I was once childish!)

The preparation got to me and I just decided to bake! I baked a chocolate cake for my parents as it was their wedding anniversary the next day! :) My parents were so surprised!

Of course, I felt so much "lighter" after seeing the end result and I felt even more "lighter" going to the examination hall. (I scored a B for that particular subject. I just smiled when I got the results.)

Since last weekend was a long weekend, my mood for baking came back! I had to buy all the ingredients cause I haven't baked since I moved into our new house.

I would always go with a simple recipe especially now that I can't be on my feet too long. I found a Peanut Butter Cookie recipe online. :)

It was VERY SIMPLE indeed. I made the dough in 20minutes. Kept it in the refrigerator because I wanted soft & chewy cookies. Baked them in the afternoon and VOILA! I'm a happy pregnant woman!

My mum & hubby could see me "glowing" after baking. My hubby for one is very amazed by how baking can make me so happy. :)

You'll need these stuff to begin with.


The dough! Double wrapped ready to be kept in the refrigerator.


Ready to be baked!


My small oven.

I just found out that the heating system is no longer working. I have to look for donation to get a big one so that I can bake MORE cookies at one time. Now, I can only bake 9-12cookies at once. Sad huh?

TAAADAAA!

Because of my oven's half-functioning heating system, the first batch was a little burnt & some unburnt. I had to reduce to 9 cookies at a time to get it all baking just right.. which means a longer time to bake!

Nevertheless, it helped me de-stress. *hhhhaaaaaaa*

Peanut butter cookies anyone?