Imperfect Pumpkin Kuey

Saw the savoury pumpkin kuey recipe in Pamy's blog, it is really mouthwatering, so I decided to make one myself (it has been years I have not tried making kuey). I bought all the ingredients on last Friday & prepared to make the kueh on Saturday. It is a peaceful Saturday morning, after cooking noodle for the kids as their breakfast cum lunch. I started to make my very own pumpkin kueh.

Everything was ready...fried/cooked & I steamed it for about an hour. But it didn't turned out well, it is like glue than kueh (so disappointing/sad). I tried some, not bad leh, taste like savoury pudding/jelly...lol. I scooped some for my kids & surprisingly they loved it & Randson even asked for a second serving. The rest were too busy playing Little Fighters on the computer.

Then I sit at my dining table, staring at my "imperfect" kueh & thinking what I can do to get it "perfect". I tried to fry it with oil...it didn't work, I tried to wrap it with my leftover popiah skin (we had popiah last Saturday but forgot to take photos) but thinking it wouldn't taste good as it will be weird to have gluey stuff inside a fried popiah. End up my dustbin get to taste my hardwork, I didn't keep it till my hubby came back from work, cos didn't want him to know I'm such a letdown. No worries, I'll try harder next time, I knew what went wrong cos I didn't put in enough flour (only 1/2 pkt of the rice flour) thinking that 2 round tray of pumpkin kueh will be too much (based on Pamy's recipe).

Aiyah...didn't want to talk about it anymore. :(

Hugging & toenail gone

Johnson started to give me a hug before leaving home for school last week & Nickson will follow but only when he is in good mood (forgot which day, he didn't hug me cos he is unhappy - heehee also forgotten why).

This morning, we were abt to give each other a big hug then "OOOOUUUUUCCCCCCCCHHHHH" (I must have frightened Johnson with my loud scream, he is stunned), he kicked my toenail & it nearly dropped out (this is worst!!!). So I have to bear with the pain (luckily my tolerance level quite high, esp in front of my kids) & gave him a big hug. After he & Nickson left for school, I started to treat my "injury". Managed to cut half of the broken nail & plastered my toe with Hansaplast (thought of leaving the balance job to a doctor).

If I knew what was going to happen at the clinic, I shall treat the wound myself (serious). I was told there are 2 ways to treat the wound : first is to leave it & let the new nail grow & the old one will drop off itself. Second is to jab & remove the nail & it will take 6 months to grow (what's the problem?). My choice : second way, however my choice was being ignored. Another Hansaplast was given to my toe & a small tube of ointment was prescribed!!! - So easy to be a doctor, waste my time & money.

P.S. Johnson called me in the afternoon to say "sorry" (in a very soft voice). No worries, this is just a small injury, compared to a warm hug every morning!!! Heeheehee...

My warrior is at level 19 now!!!

Finally my character in Maple story has levelled up to 19!!! Hurray!!!!

Kong Kong Online

Other than Maple Story, I have fallen in love/addicted with Kong Kong Online too. It is a game of "jumping" over obstacles & reaching the Goal. There are several maps in the game & you can play as an individual or as a team & our character in the game is at level 9.

Maple Story fan

My kids have been playing Maple Story over the web for quite some times, they are really addicted to it & I do wonder why. So I decided to setup a character in the game (when you can't change them, you join them) & started playing with them (there are 4 of us so we have to take turn to play & each entitled to 40 mins only).


The game can be quite boring sometimes, especially when you don't have a quest to complete or it is too difficult to complete (lol, that's me, how to collect 99 green mushroom caps & 99 bubblings' bubbles). You have to go around Maple island/Victoria island to kill monsters (eg red or blue snails, orange/green/blue cap mushrooms, ribbon pig, slime, etc) to gain experience & after you have attained 100%, your character will be levelled up. You will start as a beginner & you can choose to become a warrior, magician, bowman or thief, once you are trained in certain "profession" you cannot change "job", unlike real life, you can be a warrior today & be a magician the next day. I have trained my character to be a warrior (now level 18, going to level up very soon). It can be quite exciting especially you knew that you are going to level up soon & you can change your weapons to something else (different level can hold different weapons) & as you levelled up you are getting stronger & stronger & you will be able to kill stronger monsters/creatures.

Now I know why they are hooked to it, especially when most of their school mates are also playing this game & it is kind of challenging to see who are of higher level & what kind of weapons you have. You can also "trade" (buy or sell) items that you have collected to others, eg my character is a warrior, I can sell those arrows which I've collected on my way to bowman. So I feel this game is ok for kids to play however I'm surprised Nickson has ever requested to get a Maple cashcard to buy engagement ring so that he (his character in the game) can get married with a girl character in the game. Headache!!!

Violet continue to bloom

My African Violet had 4 small flowers this morning. These are the other 3 pots of them on my office desk. They are still very small, just wondering when will they bloom? One or 2 years from now???


Last Friday, I went to Elizabeth's desk to take a pic of my previous pot (the one with white flowers). Surprisingly after 3 years, it is still blooming. She was curious to know why am I taking a photo of the plant after so many years, didn't tell her about my blog yet (heehee).

Cynthia asked me to take a pic of her African violet when it blooms (very soon) & posts it to my blog. I have agreed to it and very soon we will see another blooming African violet. Isn't it great to see flowers blooming, especially after you have taken so much care of the plant? It is kind of returns you get, they will smile widely to you whenever you see them.


P.S. Before I forgot, Lena, here is how I grow African Violet fm a leaf. My colleagues used to put the leaf in a cup filled with water for it to grow roots, however I am too lazy to do that, I'll just plant the leaf at the corner of the pot & let the seedlings/leaves to grow. When it is slightly bigger I'll repot them to the middle of the pot.

Allyson and her bear bear

This is Allyson's bear, I bought it during the Year 2003 Charity Bazaar (organised by my employer to raise fund for the President's Challenge). At that time she was still in my womb & the lady whom sold it to me told me that this will be a great gift for her (pointing at my tummy).



True enough, she loves the bear most (among her other plushtoys). She cannot sleep without it & once in a while she will bring him along during our family outings.



I was told by my mum that she forced her to wash the bear as she felt that he is too smelly (can you imagine!!!).

I am sitting beside a Scientist

I am thinking what to write today as there's nothing special going on (still as busy at work & home). Then I found these pictures in my folder taken on 11 July 2006.

Let me introduce this colleague of mine (located beside me), he is a happy father (his girl, Denise going 1 soon) & he likes bread for breakfast & lunch, apple for teabreak & loved to play Sudoko during lunchtime.

This container (see 1st pic) belonged to him, it has been there for months already. Linda has helped him to put the apples (2 of them - 1 big, 1 small) into the container months ago due to fumigation. When he is away for reservist in July, I was curious about the container & wondered what has happened to the apples??? "They must be rotten!!!" (thinking aloud).

When I turned the container upside down & found that the expiry date - no lah, MOULD was found there!!! OMG, what do you think when I opened it up??? No-one (Marilyn or Linda) dare to see, except me (holding my breathe), the big apple was gone, left only the spoon (orange coloured), a plastic cup & the small apple were there. The small apple really sinked into the cup (this is his WISH - he ever asked me, do you think the apple will sink into the cup?) & this really happened!!!

We took these photos & sent via urgent email to him (reminder : he is away for reservist & has his laptop with him) but he only read it on his return (so sad). He wasn't surprised at all instead he asked, "why didn't you threw it away???" Aiyoh, I'm keeping this for him to see with his own eyes, lol. He wanted to throw it into his dustbin which I do not allowed him to do so & make him walk all the way to the pantry dustbin.

See, aren't I sitting beside a Scientist??? He reminded me of James Tan (UIC), another scientist ex-colleague whom keep water bottle of fungus in the training room.

My African Violet

Most of my colleagues in the office have african violets on their desk, so I also follow "wind", start to have one 4 years ago. When theirs started to bloom, mine was always with green leaves. Until 3 years ago, I was away on maternity leave, Marilyn helped me to take care of the plant & it started to bloom (think she has green fingers). When I was back to office, I gave the pot away cos I don't like white flowers.

On 17 July 2005 (guess why I can remember this date), Cynthia gave me a pot of African Violet. It start to grow & grow & grow till I have to repot it to a bigger pot & it BLOOM (see the 1st pic)!!! Finally after 1 year, it bloomed in June 2006. There are new buds coming out now (second blooming) & the one I saw last Friday has bloomed into a small flower this morning.

Btw, now I have 4 pots on my desk. 1 pot of purple flower African violet, 1 pot of pink flower, another pot of purple flower (2nd generation of the 1st pot, it was grown fm its leaf) & a small pot which belongs to Linda (she say I am the Godmother of her plant).

Allyson paint again

Whenever Er-ge do his paintings, little sister will also join in the fun (if not, there will be no mess, lol).

These are her latest master pieces, can you see the colours she used are similar to Nickson's paintings??? Great minds think alike!!!

Nickson's paintings

Nickson loved to draw & paint. I discovered this only when he is in K2 & sent him for Children Arts class at the Community Club. However after 3 months, he decided to give up as the teacher has been asking him to use crayons instead of poster colour for his drawings.

At times, he will paint at home & make a big mess out of it with his little sister (I'm glad that he cleaned it up after his painting is completed). He gave me these paintings when I'm home fm work one day, I'm surprised to see these & wondered why? I thought kids are supposed to paint things like "children at play", "a celebration" or anything with people in the painting. However he has painted daytime, night-time and a sun with 2 grey clouds (not sure is it he run out of white paint) & green green grass.

Anyone has any idea what Nickson is thinking?

Terrapins

Linda seen my blog yesterday & asked where are the terrapins??? Aiyo, I told her after I posted the drawings I'll be working on this. This is the problem of having a new blog while working backwards.

I've given my 2nd son these terrapins as his birthday present in April cos his brother has hamsters (Cutie & Squeakie - name of the hamsters), hence he ask for terrapins (he named them Xiao Lu - supposed to mean green but I can't find the "u" with 2 dots on top on the keyboard & Xiao Ling - mean zero in chinese). I really dunno how he got these names cos he has hated his chinese subject in school so much.

Nowadays he enjoyed changing the terrapin tank together with his youngest brother & they will get wet while doing these (but they really enjoyed it, though sometimes the water can get too smelly).

Kids are kids, they really enjoyed anything to do with water (& that's how our SP services bill has increased).

Allyson's painting & drawings

My little girl likes to paint, she has the same hobby as my 2nd son. She has painted something for me which I do not know what was it but it is very colourful (the colour is abit faint cos not enough poster colour).

She showed me her drawing board one day & pointed at the pic & said "mummy", then she drew another cicle with a straight line & said "daddy, mummy", after that she drew another cicle with a straight line & said "this Ah Ma (Grandma)". I'm so happy when I see these as I'm so slim in the drawings (compared to my actual size), lol. But no worries, I'm going on a strict weekdays diet (got to hv a break during weekend) & I've lost 2 kg within 15 days. Wish me good luck ok!

Hamsters

My eldest son has wanted hamsters as his pet for a long long time. After much consideration, I've decided to give him 2 as his birthday present in January. With the help of my colleague/friend, Linda, she got me 2 hamsters fm her sister-in-law. The hamsters hv been with us for the past 7 mths & fighting with each other nearly everyday but patched up quite immediately (can see that they play & sleep with each other again). I believed this is what we should do in life, there is no forever enemies & it is good to put unhappiness aside.

1st step to blogging

I really envy my ex-colleagues whom are SAHM now & they really set up beautiful & wonderful blogs for their child. As I'm not well versed with "computers", I've decided to setup a blog for my family. As mentioned to Lena, I do not feel comfortable posting my kids photos over the web, I'll include their work/"art pieces" here. No worries to all my friends out there, I'll try my very best to keep this blog going!!!