端午节

Happy Dragon Boat Festival! Or is it Dumpling Festival?

Favourite part of the festival, eating my favourite bak zhang 😋. We gifted our kind neighbour some bak zhangs and they gave us even more bak zhangs in return 😅. They keep giving my parents fruits and vegetables from their garden, so we try to return the favour with baked goods but we can’t keep up!

This time my sister and I went over with some chocolate cake that I baked as well as the bak zhangs. Ah pa gave us strict instructions to quickly gift and dash before they could give us anything in return, but we failed miserably. The uncle confiscated our umbrellas (it was drizzling) and wouldn’t let us leave empty handed. Such nice neighbours.

The whole family came over for dinner, ah ma was busy in the kitchen the entire day cooking two whole ducks, one nyonya asam duck (itik tim) and the other lor duck. Ah ma’s signature dishes 👌were yummy as usual. She has so many signature dishes haha, and I just realised lots of them are duck dishes! My brother loves her kiam chye ark a lot, I wish he was here so we could cook him more home cooked meals.

Must enjoy my cooking and baking days before I return to work 😭.

This cheeky girl loves singing nowadays. Lucky for her I am a captive audience and love her singing, so cute. I also love her dancing 💃🏻, sometimes she can be such a joy to be around. This monkey is going for her new daycare orientation tomorrow, I hope she likesit.

Pig stomach soup and World Cup 2018

Ah ma’s signature pepper pig stomach soup for dinner. So good, conforming and delicious during cold winter nights.

How come I don’t get yummy soups mah mah? Why avocado everyday ??

Nvm, I’m sure gung gung will let me eat yummy food soon.

My happy bubba 💕💕. She slept so well last night, I’m hoping she will continue this pattern tonight.

Is anyone going to watch the World Cup games? It used to be such an exciting time in Malaysia with all my high school mates in a gambling fever. R and I are actually staying up to watch the opening game! I think ah pa is too, he actually placed bets with his friend back in Kuching ha ha. I’ve also betted with him and will buy ah pa lunch if I lose 😀. I actually hope I lose since ah pa never lets me buy him meals and is always beating me to the counter.

City city

We headed into the city today with all the kids. I always feel a bit stressed at the thought of bringing both kids out, but I have lots of support so it always turns out much better than I imagined it to be. I guess I’m just a born worrywart.

My brother said local food that he misses the most is Kolo mee. Chicken rice is no.2 on his list so we headed to Tak Chee for a yummy chicken rice lunch. I used to go to Tak Chee a lot years ago, but then the service became snooty and I hated their cash only requirement so I stopped going. I’m pleased that their service was much better today but sadly it’s still cash only. R is going to cook chicken rice for the folks on Friday, I hope they will like our homemade version.

Saitaoha likes chicken rice too, all kids seem to love chicken rice, I guess because it’s so flavourful.

Another homecooked dinner, ah Ma made kiam chye duck soup for us, it’s my brother’s favourite soup, he likes it so much it even made it onto his wedding speech 😂. I helped with the veggies and a stir fry beef dish which they seemed to like. My sister bought Corica apple strudel for dessert, custard, cream, apples and puff pastry, what’s not to like? Ah Ma is not a sweet tooth (unlike the rest of us 😅) but she likes this strudel a lot!

Tomorrow ah Ma and I are going to cook bak kut teh, hopefully I’ll remember to take a picture this time. If I have time I would love to bake a pandan chiffon cake for my brother. Except I think he’s suffering from holiday overeating.

Aldi closes at 8pm so we had a mad dash to the supermarket at 7.45pm. Luckily we made it phew. R bought more tools (don’t know what he’s doing with a mitre saw ), I stocked up on milk, yoghurt, and my brother bought mineral water (seriously he’s so healthy I’m not sure we’re from the same family). It feels silly saying this but I felt so happy that I could go for a grocery run with my brother. I wish he lived in Perth. Sigh.

4 mth old checkup

Hi mummy, mah mah dressed me in the theme of shapes.

I love her solemn looking face. This is her favourite seat in the house, the beanbag!

Today ah pa and I brought her for her 4 months child health nurse checkup. She did really well and is tracking well in her growth and development. We’ve been suspecting that she’s put on weight and we were right, she’s now 6.4 kgs 😃. Her sister was 6.1 kg and one cm longer at 4 months, her father commented, ‘so Saitaomei is shorter and fatter lah?’ So bad this papa.

There was a bit of drama on our way to the check up, because it’s a new location we ended up going to the wrong place and couldn’t find the right venue. I was all for giving up and rescheduling a new appointment but ah pa refused to give up. ‘Let’s circle around and try again!’ he said. In the end the lovely nurse called me and gave us directions. When we left she said to ah pa ‘thanks Daitaoha’s dad for your persistence!’ Haha thanks indeed to my father, he is one in a million, I don’t know what I would do without my parents here.

Another chiffon cake, in fact I baked two today, one for Tristan’s class and the other for my uncle.

Roasted a chicken today but it wasn’t well cooked because I took it out too early. I should have put it in the oven earlier but it was occupied by the cakes 😓.

Ah Ma cooked this yummy bak cho mee for lunch, but I was too busy and only had it for dinner.

Saitaomei in her favourite beanbag watching tv.

Meanwhile jeje is hard at work cleaning the house.

‘You missed a spot jeje!’ says Saitaomei.

Hahaha, I would love it if both kids help me with housework in the future. I look forward to cooking and baking with them, just like how I cook and discuss recipes with ah Ma. It’s lots of fun.