School Holidays and Olympics fever

Finally, the school holidays are here and this is what my kids have been looking forward to. Woohoo! They are enthusiastic and the grins and cheers are fun to hear. I thought of planning some activities to keep them preoccupied instead of going stir crazy at home. However times have changed these days, with the modern, fast paced world, many kids are more eager to hang out at home and play indoors with their computer games or watch TV.

That said, I already have plans for the entire weekend laid out for me. It involves sitting in front of the TV and embracing the Olympics, watching my favourite events! LOL! Having to work on week days, I hardly have the chance to catch a glimpse on the live events, so I only get to watch the highlights at night. Sorry kids, the TV's all ours this whole weekend, you can watch your favourite TV channels after the Olympics end.. hehehe.

I recalled growing up as a kid and counting down the last days of school like crazy until school holidays started! It was totally unplanned, unscheduled and plenty of fun. I honestly can’t remember doing one planned activity in my school holidays, apart from when we went on family trips.

Meanwhile, my eldest daughter, Eunice will be preparing for her UPSR exams. The extra tuition classes will be conducted during school holidays. There’s a flip chart at school reminding the kids the countdown to the exams are drawing near. But the kids these days aren’t nervous and feel intense like us. They hardly worry about their exams.

In fact, she can’t wait for the exams to start so she can get it over soon. Yeah, me too, so I can stop worrying.

Camera Upgrade

My hubby bought a new digital camera (Panasonic DMC-FZ18) last weekend after hunting over various models for weeks now. This new camera will be his second purchase.

We currently have a Sony DSC-H1 digital camera with 5 Mega Pixels, and a 12x optical zoom. It has served us well over the years. Four years ago when my hubby bought it, it had the highest mega pixels and zoom available. However, he wants to upgrade to more MP and zoom. It will also be fabulous to have an extra camera as a back up or for the personal photography I do, such as on vacation and of family and friends.

This new camera is not too large and bulky to carry around like a Digital single-lens Reflex (DSLR) camera with lenses, and still covers quite a range (28 -504mm). I was especially fond of the 28mm. Normally the zoom tends to make the picture look blurry but not with the Lumix.

The feel is pretty good, cool grip and it feels really comfortable in your hands. The thing has too many features to even talk about. I have not read the manual but was able to figure out to use some of its features pretty quickly. It's not the perfect camera, but no camera is.

Overall I’d say picture quality with this camera is good, though not outstanding in comparison to other cameras. I personally think that the best pictures still come with experience. Despite all the technology with better techniques, most picture quality has to do with the photographer and not just the camera.

I love weekends!!

How I love weekends! And Fridays. It's always been great to unwind after a long and tiring week.. Why can’t the whole life be like a long weekend.? A great weekend is a simple as doing nothing, or a great weekend is complicated as a couple days packed full of activities.

The weekends that I love most are those which are normally spontaneous, easy, and not heavy on planning. These are happy weekends. Hanging out with friends during Saturdays probably belongs to the past now that I've experienced the thrills of parenting. Thus, even if I decide to do nothing out of the ordinary and just hang out in my pajamas with the kids on a weekend morning can be a valuable relaxation and bonding time. Unplug the TV, have a nutritional breakfast, teach my kids to read the news and laugh can be just an enjoyable thing to do. Everyone needs quality time with loved ones, especially children. They need to know how important they are and how much they are loved.

Other than that, weekends are the time when we can go visiting, normally to my parent’s house and do our biweekly groceries shopping or just go to the market. All in all it was a pretty low key weekend but I had a wonderful time with the kids.

I hope everyone had a good week!

Capturing the Precious moments

It’s not easy being a working mother. Some women are good at it, some don’t have an option, some choose a middle path and some don’t even try it. There is the pressure to be competent and efficient on the job as well as at home as a mother and a wife.

My husband often says, I always spoiled my kids. Perhaps, I often succumb to my kids' demands very easily because I feel bad for not having enough time to spend with my children due to my hectic schedule.

I really would like to budget my time and if possible be able to balance everything. I hope to get the best of both worlds, and have more money to play with (or maybe just pay bills LOL), which is one thing that would come in handy for me, I like to shop. I’m not a workaholic but I love having my own income and not having to depend on my husband’s money. Not only that, the cost of living is mounting high nowadays, and even though my husband has a great job, it doesn’t pay enough to cover all the bills and mortgage. Working, having kids, all of it.. keeps me preoccupied!! Still manageable though! Despite having to juggle my busy lifestyle as a wife and mother, I'm still having a great time.

Thank goodness! I don't work on weekends because that's the only period I get to spend time playing with my kids. Infact, it is easy to get infected with their happy smiles. While there are moments that kids get upset, you find that you can learn a thing or two from them about forgetting their anger just as quickly.

My Spaghetti Bolognese

If you’re like me, it's either you don’t have the time to cook daily or you don’t want to take the time to cook at all. I've to confess that I prefer to eat rather than cook but cooking is one thing and cleaning up is another! :-) However you’ll have to take the time to do your cooking at some point, so when is the best time to do it?

Normally I do my cooking for the week on Saturday and Sunday. Since I learned how to cook 13 years ago, I’ve also learned how to polish my cooking techniques.

My kids simply love spaghetti. It also happens to be the most favorite pasta dish in my household. My hubby will eat whatever I cook though and it is such a great sense of accomplishment whenever my hubby compliments my cooking.

Spaghetti Bolognese

I didn't follow any book recipes for this spaghetti. I've been experimenting a couple of times cooking my own style of spaghetti with various sauces and so far my favourite is Bolognese sauce, my family's all time favorite. You know, sometimes, when you come across so many recipes that you don't even know which is which anymore. Anyway, I would not recommend it when preparing for a crowd, but for a small lunch for three or four, it seems no big deal.

This is my version of spaghetti bolognese (serves 3-5)

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• About 200g of mince meat/chicken/beef
• 1 small onion (diced)
• 2 small cloves of garlic
• Spaghetti- 3/4 portions, cooked according to instructions on the packet. Coat with a little bit of olive oil.
• handful of herbs- basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, whatever goes
  chicken stock or water
• Parmesan cheese- to sprinkle on top
• 3 tablespoons of black pepper sauce
• 5 tablespoons of Pasta sauce (Prego brand)
  1 capsicum (diced)(optional)
• salt and sugar to taste

Methods (cooking the sauce):

heat the olive oil in a pan, saute garlic and onions until light brown.
add in the mince meat- cook for 5 minutes
add the mushrooms - cook for 1-2 minutes
mix in the pasta and black pepper sauce
add a little bit of chicken soup or water
add in the capcicums
let cook for another 5 minutes, medium heat fire
salt and sugar to taste

cooking the pasta:

boil water
add 2 tbs of salt and 2 tbs of oil
put in the pasta
cook for 5 minutes in medium heat fire
drain the pasta under the cool water
mix olive oil to avoid sticking up

serving suggestion: sprinkle with loads of parmesan cheese. garnish with handful of herbs.

Enjoy!

Beating Traffic Lights

With many years on the road of Malaysia, the worse ever are motorcycle riders. I hate inconsiderate motorcyclists. I’ve met such reckless bikers on the road , so I try my best to be careful and stay away from them…Yesterday on the way home from office, I stumbled upon this idiotic motorcyclist who beat the red lights. I know such news are neither new nor uncommon. Infact, I've seen this happened countless times.

At times, it's pretty frustrating to watch them squeeze through you at traffic lights, sometimes scraping your car, hitting your side mirrors without even bothering to stop. Those bunch of idiotic bikers beat those red lights as if they own the roads. I just couldn't care less if they kill themselves but they endanger the other innocents around them too, that's what I despise the most.

I thought to myself perhaps many of these frequent traffic offenders do not even have valid road taxes and number plates on their vehicles. For all you know, they could even be criminals. Having said that, they really have no regards for law and order and not to mention, without mercy.

I always require seatbelts for my passengers. And even if you are the most careful driver on the planet, there are really some idiot drivers who couldn't care less otherwise. They will ride their bikes at full speed and zig zagging in and out of traffic!

So is this a new trend or just the attitude of Malaysian bikers? Oh well, we shall see in a couple of years time. I believe everyone has their own encounter. A word of caution: Beware of those lunatics who do not give a damn about other people lives.

Red dragon fruit

The fruit is call red dragon fruit or red pitaya because the skin looks like the scales of a dragon.

Dragon fruit has distinctive red orange leaves that look like flames. It is a great healthy fruit to eat, not to mention its nutritional benefits are numerous. Dragon fruits are rich in fiber and minerals, notably phosphorus and calcium.

The dragon fruit, also known as a strawberry pear is actually the fruit of a cactus. It originated in South America, but is now cultivated widely across both Americas, Australia and is Vietnam's biggest export. Its presence in Malaysia is a rather recent event. However now this unique fruit is popularly grown throughout the country.

I was actually frightened to eat the maroon type when I first saw it. But I love it now. Really sweet and juicy. I remembered vividly the first time I saw this a couple years back, I was utterly confused at how I was supposed to attack this odd animal of a fruit. I have never tasted one before so didn't have a clue what to expect. Peeling it was impossible, as the skin was spongy and extremely thick. Biting straight into it definitely wasn't an option.

Ultimately, I took a knife and cut the fruit into half. The skin just peeled easily from the side.
You can scoop it with a spoon or cut the fruit into small bite pieces. The numerous small, black seeds are edible and crunchy, so don't bother spitting it out. It’s a lot sweeter than a kiwi though.

this is what it looks like when you cut it in half

It's a great way to combat constipation too. I eat dragon fruits very often here. They are quite costly though.

It is delicious, you should try one, its full of natural-goodness. I like the crunchiness when I bit on the sesame-like black coloured seeds.

the juicy pulp is maroon with countless small edible seeds

Spectacular Scandinavia

The above photographs were taken by my father who travelled to Scandinavia countries recently. I 've no idea how I'd feel about traveling around all those magnificent places by myself. It's rather difficult to find places as pristine as this. I felt so sorry for what we are doing to our Earth.

My Timeless Gift- Another Blissfully Day

My hubby came home from a business trip to U.S a few days ago. When he comes home, he usually shower me with gifts. My dear hubby bought me a Fossil watch from New York and I'm totally in cloud 9. You will probably agree that a watch is a very important thing in defining anyone's style. Have to handle this ornament with good care coz I tend to be so clumsy at times and damage my watches hehe..

Polished, silver bracelet watch with fancyful case

Perfect for everyday wear

I am not a big "fussy" person, so I don't like a lot of frilly things, but this is nice and simple, and this timepiece speaks about my style and taste.

Hoohoohoo! Looks pretty cool on my wrist

How To Kiss???

Gone are the days of waiting to kiss a boy until you are married. Have you ever had a hot passionate, burning kiss??

Give me a kiss

Baby smooch

This is what I called baby love!!!