Platinum!

When I got back home yesterday, I noticed a letter from RHB bank. Now we had never associated with RHB bank before, so it is quite weird to get this letter as it was address to my son as well.

When I opened up and read the contents, I just can't help but to laugh. It seems that my son (currently not even 3 yrs old yet) qualifies for platinum credit card as a principal holder, with credit limit of 500K. Even my husband and myself are not qualify after working hard and saving for so many years but my son was offered such privilege.

The letter comes with forms for us to fill in, and is requesting for a copy of my son's IC to proceed with the processing. Now it will be interesting to know what will happen if we do submit with our son's particulars. Will the Bank Negara accept it or did the banking institute change the minimum qualifications for platinum card?

I'll keep the letter for many years to come. Just priceless....

Finally a "mommy"!

After a long wait of many months, William finally called "mommy" when addressing me. It first started with just a "mi" few weeks back, then evolved to "mimi", and now finally "mommy". He still uses "mimi" most of the time though, and we need to correct him once in awhile.

William is able to call "daddy" perfectly though. Funny thing is when he tried to say dolphin, it sounded a bit like "daddy". Now his daddy has become "daddy dolphin"!

Nursery Schedule

Ever wonder what they teach in nursery? Well, here's the schedule of what they taught my little boy. But this makes me even more curious of what do they teach in each subject, especially moral.

Valentine Celebration 2011@The View

This Valentine we've decided to celebrate it as lunch since both of us were on leave on that day as well. Reasons so that we can spend time with William after nursery plus there's no need to deal with the crowds celebrating at night.

I've been wanting to try on The View restaurant at Equatorial Hotel, but most of the time ended up in Kampachi instead since we loves japanese food so much. This year being very persistent and "demanding" from my end, we finally step into The View.

The restaurant had already make preparations and decorations for Valentine celebration, with 2 cupids by the doorway and many lovely hearts hanging down from the ceiling inside the restaurant. They were serving semi-buffet lunch then, where the appetizers and desert are buffet style and we just need to select the main course from the menu provided. The prices varies from the main course selection.

Our waiter introduces to us the promotion of the month, which are dover sole at RM118 and duck trilogy at RM128. My hubby opted for dover sole, a type of freshwater fish reportedly imported from Australia, while I ordered the duck trilogy, which consists of duck confit, smoked duck breast and foie gras.

While waiting for the main course to arrive, we helped ourselves to the appetizer first. It has many choices of salads and cold cuts, plus fresh oyster as well. My hubby is not a fan for those but I enjoyed the fresh salad and oyster a lot. When we are done, the waiter brought us our minestrone soup. Again the soup is not to my hubby's liking as he's very much a meat-lover.

Next is the main course. With my duck trilogy, I first tasted the smoked breast, it was superbly juicy and tender. In fact it was the best duck breast I ever had in my record. The duck confit was well seasoned, crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. Nicely done as well. Foie gras was very soft and smooth, but I eat it heavy heartedly with the images of the fattened goose in my mind. As for the dover sole, it was so juicy and fresh. Each bite of the meat was a heaven. But since the whole fish itself was so big, plus there's 2 side of meat to be consumed, my hubby was having quite a hard time finishing it. In fact he do not have room for desert afterward. I was also quite full and only manage to eat some light desert.

Overall the food, environment and service was really worth the money. Will definately be persistent and demanding again in the future to try out other courses as well.

Onde-onde

I was talking to my mom the other day, when we chance upon an article in The Star newspaper about kuih making trades in Penang. There onward my mom was reminiscing the time when she was small and helping my grandma in making nyonya kuih. From there on only I knew that my mom knows a trick or two into making these wonderful treats.

I quickly make a date with my mom since I'm taking long leaves for CNY, asking her to teach me how to make onde-onde, one of my favorite kuih. She told me of the ingredients and off I went to Tesco to purchase the basic ingredients. I only manage to purchase brown sugar there. I was looking high and low for the glutinous rice flour but don't see any. My mom was a life saver when she said that she had plenty of those at home when I called her.

After I dropped William at the nursery, I went to meet my mom at the wet market to purchase coconut flakes. But the seller must still be in holiday mood since the stall did not open. We then had to improvise and make the flakes ourselves using electric blender with the matured coconut from my dad's coconut tree. With some screwpine leaves for its natural green coloring, and we are ready to go.

The method is exactly the same as making tang yuan ball, with addition of brown sugar as its fillings. In total we made 45 of them and I am quite happy with the results. Here's the photo that I've taken...

A True Legend

On the first day of CNY morning, as I was browsing thru the channels in Astro, I stumbled a documentary shown in History Channel about our legendary P. Ramlee. The show itself was already aired half-way but the title and the narration was really catching that I glued on to the tv.

It was a very heart-wrenching documentary, and it made me cry so badly. A legend known to all Malaysian, regardless of races, was rejected by the society and died in poverty. Regardless of so many amazing contributions he had given to the entertainment industry, nobody cared to support in his times of needs. In fact he was criticized and even booed at. He was very successful during his times in Singapore, winning numerous awards time over time. Returning to Malaysia to continue on his career was the beginning of his downfall due to lack of resources, technology and inexperienced people in Malaysia. Many can talk big but unable to act when need to. I guess some can relate to this even now.

Nowadays our government in trying to retain its talents within Malaysian shores, encouraging those overseas to come back. With P. Ramlee case as history to tell, it is hoped that it will not happen to those who came back in view of contributing back to the country.

P. Ramlee, you will always be remembered. A true legend to all Malaysians...

Hello 2011

This was supposed to be an early entry for this month, but with so many things going on here & there, it ended up being such a late entry :(

We did ended up 2010 with a new tradition introduced since 2009, a family karaoke gathering! Well, it was coincident with X'mas celebration as well. This round we went to Neway at QBM and booked a VIP room. The room itself can fit more than 20 people, and with attached toilet! A special thanks to my brother-in-law for organising and sponsoring this event.

William already started nursery school at since 3rd January this year. My mother-in-law was objecting this decision initially, saying that he's too young at only 26 months. But seeing how much improvement he had gained for the past weeks, she finally accepted it. However, William did cause a havoc on his first day. Running here & there, making things up-side-down. The first 3 days he was clingy but thereafter, he seems to be looking forward to go. The teacher there is doing very well compared to us in teaching him to speak new words. Even my hubby was tempted to sneak in the nursery to see how they do it.