One Rare Occasion

I got a very nice dinner treat last night, by Pat, at home...It was one of those very rare occasions and I was definitely very happy about it :)

Pat loves steaks but we could barely find good steaks in Penang. It usually not cooked to our liking, or I should say it's the cut of the meat that is not to our liking. Most of the restaurant serve steaks that were cut to too thin and it came out not as juicy and tender as we expected it to be. We learn that it is important to keep the cut to a certain thickness to conserve the juicy part of it while it is under the cooking fire. But most of the meat here are cut to too thin in order to look bigger in size and when it is cooked it usually taste harder and drier. Also, Pat likes it medium-rare while most of the restaurants locally couldn't keep up to this exactly. So, the best way to satisfy him is to cook it our own.

We found out that at Giant hypermarket at Penang Plaza was able to customize the cut to their customers and we've been going there for our special cut every time we wanted to have our steaks cooked at home and because of the cut and thickness we were able to keep the tenderness and the juiciness of the meat. We went to Cold Storage once but they were not very open for "customize" cut and never went back since then. We did it many times before and Pat loved absolutely loved it! That's why we kept going back to Giant, only the one at Penang Plaza. Pat also invited friends to our house, but many times I was too busy cooking than enjoying.

Back to the point...he asked "how about we have steaks tonight?" yesterday and I was like "does that means I have to cook again?". Now that I am a SAHM I cook almost everyday and hoping to have day off at least for Saturday and Sunday. I guess he got the point and said he's gonna do it this time. I was delighted and agreed to it, of course! This is the only meal that he knows how to cook, and did it well. (He doesn't even cook maggie mee or fried an egg for me, ok?) The first time he did it was when Brenda still around. I didn't have to worry about dirty kitchen and dishes to clean up back then. Although I agreed to the idea but at the back of my head I was worried about the "etc" that I have to deal with after the cooking episode.

Since Charlotte doesn't take steak my role that evening was to only take care of Charlotte's meal. I prepared a spaghetti bolognese with Parmesan cheese aside (Charlotte loves Parmesan cheese) and I feed her while Pat was in action :) I was glad that Charlotte enjoyed the spaghetti very much and it was just a perfect timing that my meal was ready when Charlotte was done.

Tada!!! A nicely grilled Rib Eye with Shiitake mushrooms...

Pat knows I always wanted it medium and he did a great job in keeping it. See how pink and juicy it looked...

Pat usually will have a bottle of red wine but we can never finish a bottle ourselves. I can only take half a glass each time and we usually have another half bottle left and eventually ended up in the dustbin. So, this time he got us an imported, naturally brewed drinks -Bundaberg Ginger Beer

We first had this drink at the Marché Restaurant at The Curve and I didn't know that we have stores selling them. Actually, I like the root beer better than ginger beer but it was great for our meal last night.

Dinner was great and what comes after dinner ---washing!!! I hate this part most and I was hoping to get a dishwasher when Brenda went home. How to escape this part of the game? I assumed it was part of a deal tonight and hinted Pat to get to the washing part while crossing my fingers and expecting to hear "I cooked already, you wash la" kinda thing but I guess lucky stars were really at my side last night, he agreed and proceeded to the kitchen :D

It was really a rare occasion, or I got really lucky :)

Anyway, thank you honey!

Another Bit More

Yeah, I posted the last post a little too soon. When I went to pick up Charlotte from school last Friday, I saw every kid was holding on a white color box in their hand. Charlotte had one too and it was a coin box given by the fire department!

Charlotte's teacher ran out to me and said she went to the fire department and presented the scrapbook pictures to them and in return they gave a coin box to every students in that school. She also said that they got several big size posters as well as other souvenirs like apron and stuff :)

A Little Bit More About The Fire Drill...

Remember the fire drill post? I am very glad that I had a chance to keep the memory more real rather than just post about it without having to show any pictures.

The school took some pictures on that event (it was blogged here) and the pictures were posted on the notice board at the school. Early this week, I was asked to do a simple paper scrap as they would like to give it to the fire department as a token of appreciation. (Actually, I have been doing paper scrap for the school for quite some time already. I volunteered myself to the teachers that I can help out in this area (not that I am especially good at doing it) as I do keep quite a lot of scrapbooking tools and accessories).

Hope you get a better picture of how was the fire drill event from these pictures too...

My little shorty gets to enjoy a real close view...

My First Attempt Of Making Swiss Roll

Now that I have becoming more and more skillful in baking spongecake I planned to try making Swiss Roll as my next challenge. I have been gathering ingredients, tools and methods for the past week for my first experiment today.

I woke up this morning having all the morning plans in my mind (in fact was already thinking about it the night before, heehee!) and one by one I quietly and quickly got the tasks done before I set my hands on the baking tools. I gotten Charlotte ready and sent her off for school, swiped and mopped the floor after returning home, put the laundry in the washing machine and get the eggs and butter out from the fridge to cool in room temperature (trust me, this mommy is very good at multi tasking).

By the time I am ready, the eggs and butter were ready too. I put the butter over a boiling water while started to get busy with the mixing in another bowl. When I was done with the cake batter and ready put it into the oven the washing machine had just finished its washing cycle too. So I get to hang all the washed clothes while monitoring the baking as it was advised to keep a close monitoring in order not to over bake the cake.

Everything went on very well. The cake came out well and I managed to spread Charlotte's favorite mixed fruits jam on it and it was ready to roll. I was so excited!

And....tada!!!

You must be thinking and envying how good I was, right? Look further...

Half way through the rolling I found the skin side got stuck on the parchment paper! Arghhhh!!! See the peeled off skin near the middle part of the Swiss Roll? When I was reading and preparing, I was worried about the cracking during rolling as it is the most common failure in making Swiss Roll. I never expect to have to deal with the skin-stuck-on-the-parchment-paper failure :( I suspected that I could have turned the skin side down a bit too soon and caused the failure like this. Also, the skin looks a little too damp than it should be. Nevertheless, it tasted great!!

I am going to try it again, hopefully will be able to share a nice piece of Swiss Roll with you soon :) As for now, anybody don't mind a piece of ugly but guaranteed good taste Swiss Roll? :D

You'll Be Amused

Chloe, Charlotte's classmate, our neighbour, Ann's daughter. Don't know since when, Chloe has gotten very comfortable with me (which I am very glad) and decided to have me walk her home sometimes. We live just diagonally opposite each other, about 4 units away. Charlotte and Chloe have become good friends, they walk home together everyday, they go to ballet class together every Saturday, they visited each other's house once in awhile and they went for movie too!

One very interesting thing that they do every evening walking home is the way they say goodbye to each other. We will arrive at Chloe house first when we walk from school. Chloe and Charlotte always say goodbye to each as we hand over Chloe to her grandma and Charlotte and I will walk home. Chloe and Charlotte will then "shout" goodbye REPEATEDLY as we walk towards our house :) Sometimes Chloe's grandma walks her home and if she reaches home first she will then stands at the front porch, waiting for Charlotte. They will then say the goodbye in a proper manner before the game starts :)

It has been going on like this for quite some time now and I didn't think much of that. Sometime last week, daddy was home early and he heard the shouting goodbye way before Charlotte reaches home. He was very amused and asked me why they did that. I thought it was fun and I thought it was nothing harmful as the 2 of them found a fun game for themselves, which is also unique for their friendship.

Now that daddy brought it up, me too find it amusing as I listen to them, watching them play this game almost everyday. You'll be amused too if you hear them :)

It's good to have friends around, isn't it?

Fun, Fun, Fun

Charlotte said "I never go to beach before" with a sad face a few times last week and we tried hard to tell her she did but it didn't work out. Sometimes when she says "never" she meant "it has been a long time". So we promised her that we will bring her to beach again during weekend.

The beach that we used to go is only nice if we go in the morning as it faces the West and hence the evening sun can be very unpleasant. We couldn't go there on Saturday morning anymore since Charlotte started ballet lesson and we always sleep in on Sunday morning. So we decided to bring her to the north side of the island instead.

Surprisingly, the beach is still very clean and well maintained. Charlotte was excited and keep saying "this is a new beach hor mommy!". She started to enjoy the sand with her same old set of shovels and spades almost immediately...

The thing that I never expected was she was getting her hands dirty this time too! She dropped her shovels and spades after awhile and started to explore with her hands. She was really comfortable in doing that! That's the true fun being at the beach isn't it (well, daddy was very keen to get her swim too)!

She was exploring the sand, sea shells, dancing, racing with daddy...

and see who/what we met? Dogs, or rather puppies! First we met one, this one seemed to like Charlotte a lot...she kept coming back and wondering what Charlotte was doing...

Then, we met a few more...these 2 seemed to be very interested in me :) See the one finding himself so comfortably sleeping under my legs?

Charlotte had been asking for a puppy a few weeks now but we told her we can't keep another dog as nobody is there to care of them. Her initial reply was "when I go to school, mommy and daddy can take care!". Of course, she doesn't know that my status now is a SAHM but we told her we both have to go to work. She finally agreed to keep that idea for now. But look at these puppies, aren't they adorable? Charlotte was very comfortable having them around too! I think she is ready for a puppy, maybe we will get her one soon in the future.

When we were done, Charlotte said she wanted to have KFC nuggets. So we went to a nearby KFC outlet and let her enjoyed her meal. Pat then thought since we were still quite full from lunch we might just want to get something light. So we went to have our long time favorite, "Lok Lok"! I didn't have to worry about Charlotte because she already had her share.

The Lok Lok store is always packed and crowded. We got ourselves table and I couldn't believe my eyes, look at the variety!

Even Charlotte had quite a bit of this and that too :) Well, I didn't really encourage her to eat more because it wasn't very hygienic, but it was a good experience for her. She even asked to stand up on the stool because she wanted to look at the pot of boiling water in the middle of the table (Oops, sounds like a katak di bawah tempurung)

Oh btw, we went for Japanese buffet on Friday night at Waka (previously from Rasa Sayang) and Charlotte enjoyed the Ika Ebiko (raw squid that was cut into thin strips and top with prawn's roe). Sorry, no picture to show as Pat and I were too hungry by then. Charlotte loves the ebiko sushi usually when we have Japanese food but I didn't think that she is adventures enough to try raw stuff like Ika. We all had a lot to eat, including super duper beef teppanyaki, fresh oysters, sashimi, green tea ice cream...

What I can say is, we did a lot last weekend and I was thrilled to see Charlotte has graduated from super-picky-eater to sot-so-picky-eater :)

Fire Drill

Back dated post...

As usual. we get updates and news on coming activity notice every Friday. A few weeks back, I read that they will be conducting a fire drill exercise for the kids, mainly to share with them what to expect, what needs to be done, who to call and etc. I didn't think much of this activity so I signed the notice and totally forgot about it.

One morning, I came back from morning market and saw a fire engine parked right out side of the school. My heart sunk for a moment and very fast all the bad thoughts flashed in my mind. Then I remembered they mentioned about fire drill training! That was it! They actually called the fire department! I slowed down a little as I passing by the school and I saw there was at least 6 pairs of firefighter boots at the front porch. I couldn't wait to listen to the story when Charlotte came home that day.

The school did a very good introduction and fire drill training for the kids that day. There was a real action where a firefighter showing the children how they put off the fire at the back of the school, how the firefighter rescuing the children (I saw pictures where a firefighter was carrying a student down from the room upstairs), the introduction of the fire engine and etc.

As I was talking to Charlotte about that fire drill, I referred to the fire engine as "救火车" but Charlotte corrected me and said "it's not 救火车 la mommy, it's 消防车!". I knew she did pay attention then :)

For The Better

1st July marked a whole new chapter of life for me and my family. I am now officially a stay-at-home-mom.

My company is actively restructuring and down sizing its organizations due to the slow down in global economy situation. After much discussions with Pat, I volunteered myself when the company announced the option, hoping for more quality time to spend with my family members but I was told that it was not a voluntary program for our department. The idea was put aside since then.

Early May, my maid mentioned to me that she did not want to continue for another year (we had a verbal agreement on that) when her contract ends this year. It was over a very small conflict that we had. She was supposed to finish her contract until Sept this year but I sent her off immediately when she mentioned that. The thing was, she made me lost the trust that I had for her over this incident and I couldn't bear thinking and worrying for what potential risks that we are going to run into by keeping her even for just another day. So we decided that it was the best option to send her off immediately and I told Pat that I do not want a replacement, for now.

After I lost my maid, I approached my manager again for the option. Again, I did not get a very positive response. For the whole month of May I practically running like chicken without heads, multi-tasking almost everything, everyday. I was thankful that I was allowed to work from home quite a bit in my job as it was a global role. But yet, 24hours a day seemed too short to have.

By end May, I managed to get my routine and tasks including work, house chores, child care, meals pretty much under control but yet it was not perfect. It was a very effective slimming program too that I shed 2kg just that. The weight lost was not due to conscious dieting but it was because of exhaustion that put off my appetite most of the time. I approached my manager again by end May and let her know that if they need to work out a "list" or to meet the "quota", I would be happy to name myself. She acknowledged that and I was asked to be patient.

First week of June, I got a meeting invite by my manager and a HR manager was also invited to join the meeting. I thought "this is it!" but...yes, my position was affected but I was not automatically put into the Work Force Managed pool but rather into the redeployment pool. If no job offer by end of June, I will leave under the WFM program but if I reject an offer I walk out the company without anything. You know what I mean? I was like "what???"!!! Does that mean I had to pretend dumb in each interview so that I don't get an offer? I don't want to do that ok? It's a value issue! Anyway, just to cut the story short, please know that it was not easy for me for the last 3 weeks in the company ;)

Looking back, I was worried of all sorts of "what if" when I lost my maid. I was frustrated when over whelmed by work and chores. But now I know that everything happens for a reason. More so, I know God has everything planned for us and we just need to look upon Him. Everything happens for a reason. For this, it is for the better :)

So, who is the happiest person in the whole world right now? Charlotte la, of course! She has my undivided attention all the time :) I am happy that I can run the house, do the chores, prepare the meals and taking care of my family knowing that everything is safe, clean, healthy, and with LOVE!

Cheers to all stay-at-home-mom!!!

How Would You Like Your Cookies To Look Like?

Enough of cakes, it's time for cookies. I am never good with cookies. The dough I make is always wet and soft, the cookies cutouts always stuck on the working surface. But it never stop me from trying :)

First I tried the doggie cookies again as Charlotte took an "order" from her friend in school. I made it with Horlicks this time and I love this version better than the Milo version. It looked better with the color contrast, it also tasted better.

The little bottles were for Charlotte's friends in school :)

Then I tried a new butter cookies recipe and when I was just preparing the dough I found it was a little dry than usual. So I thought this should be it as I always got it too wet and too soft. As I was rolling out the dough, it started to crack here and there :( I had to make the cutouts really carefully and transferring it from the working surface to the baking tray. I was harder than I thought but it worked!

It looked nice, tasted great but still need a little bit of practise on working with the dough :)

It's Just A Matter of Time

Pat and I love durian. In our younger days, it was never too much for us. I would be very surprise to know if Charlotte doesn't carry this taste bud with her.

I tried giving it to Charlotte last year but she didn't quite like it. A couple of taste of it later she called it off. I remembered some of my friend's child (same age as Charlotte) was already enjoying it. I was really wondering how could her taste buds be so different.

It's durian season now and especially in Penang we get to enjoy a wide variety of grades of durian and good quality too. I bought my first batch 2 weeks back and I asked if Charlotte would like to try it. I was mentally prepared that she might not take a lot of it since her taste of food is rather conservative. To my surprise, she LOVED it! I had to control her not to take too many this time as the weather is not good. The next day, she even had it with rice as her lunch!

I bought it again this week and managed to snap a few precious moment of her enjoying the king of fruits...

She was not worried of getting her hands dirty too (Normally she gave up the food if it makes her hands or mouth dirty)! She does inherited our love for durian too :)

Unforgetable Father's Day

Last Friday Charlotte came home with 2 little tokens for daddy. Her school had helped the children to prepare something for all the fathers. In the lunch box (on daddy's hand) it was a sushi made by Charlotte (with teacher's assistance) and a fancy handmade ornament.

It was a tough day for daddy and I was glad that Charlotte's gesture put a little smile on daddy's face.

We will never forget this day. When the time is right I will post about what had happened.

Happy Father's Day, Pat!

Yummy Chocolate Swirl Frozen Cheesecake

I have been baking almost every week lately, mostly improving my skills on some of the old recipes that I (and my family members) really love. Occasionally, I also try new recipes but only on those that really interest me, just like the cheddar cheese cake (I can't mention enough of this).

This week, I made my husband's favorite frozen cheesecake again with chocolate swirl. I did this a couple of weeks back for a family gathering but I forgot to take a picture. So I made it again just for the picture library and shared it with friends.

I tried to swirl with Ribena before, it tasted great but the color contrast wasn't very good because I didn't put enough amount of Ribena to make the purple color stands out. The last chocolate swirl that I made was not quite successful either as I had the chocolate portion to much and instead of making a swirl the whole cake almost looked like a chocolate cheesecake.

I think I did it alright this time although the patterns are still not to my satisfactory.

Before Holiday Ended

After Seremban, it was KL but nothing much to blog about as it was mostly a shop and eat trip and I don't have many pictures to share but one that I cannot miss out.

Charlotte's KorKor (Pat's sister) promised her this dress (Bell's dress from Beauty & The Beast) on our last trip to KL and since then Charlotte had been asking for it. Every time Pat went and came back KL she will ask why daddy didn't bring it home. She asked when we left home for this trip, it took her 2 days waiting and looking forward to it. This was when her patience paid off...!

We stopped in KL for a couple of days and next stop, Cameron Highlands! Unfortunately, the day before we depart for Cameron the hotel called to inform us that they were having water disruption and there was no promise if it would be back to normal by the time we check-in. We gave it a thought and only after a fair consideration of convenience and hygiene, we called off the Cameron trip.

We were back home 2 days earlier than schedule. It was a good thing because I had to help Charlotte finish up her homework before school starts again I myself get a couple assignment from her form teacher too. Will talk about that in separate post.

This was a very good holiday trip, Charlotte was behaving very well, ate well, slept well, played well, and even pooped well :) What more can I ask ;)

Holidays Mean "Out Of Town"!

Right after the Penang Hill trip, we had 2 consecutive nights of dinner gathering with family and friends. Which also means, I didn't have to cook dinner for 2 nights *big grin* but I made a chocolate swirl frozen cheesecake and another cheddar cheese cake for each of the occasion and the guests loved it!

We headed for Seremban on Saturday morning, the car boot was already 95% full when we leave the house, can you imagine how overloaded was it when we came home? Anyway, we met up with family members, had a nice hotel stay, good food, great catch up, everybody just had a lot of fun.

We brought along Charlotte's scooter and she had a big show-off at the park on the first evening there at Seremban.

Then we saw there was a big field where a lot of people were flying kites there. Charlotte had been asking for kite flying for the longest time but because we couldn't really find the right moment to make it happen for her it was still on the to-do list. So we thought that was just the great timing to make it happen and we went ahead to get her another kite (we didn't bring along one) and one for her cousin Christopher. It was daddy's job to make it "fly" but it wasn't that easy, some more Charlotte chose a big kite! Daddy was sweating just trying to get it up in the sky...

We had to catch the wind and only after several attempts and finally her kite flew up in the sky! But the wind only lasted for a short while and soon the sky turned dark. We had to call it off and head out for dinner. Lucky thing was Charlotte had her kite flew high but not Christopher. She was quite contented and willing to leave the park but poor Christopher was crying and throwing quite a big tantrum at that (the boy in this picture is Christopher).

Charlotte actually did a great job in keeping her kite flying up high...

I don't know what happened on the way to the restaurant as we went in different cars, Christopher was back to his normal self again when we met again at the restaurant, phew! We called it a night after a that big great dinner, it was almost 11pm when we returned to the hotel rooms.

I was surprised that everybody came to this trip very well prepared. I secretly prepared Charlotte’s swim suits thought just in case there will be a swimming session at the hotel but to my surprise others also brought along tennis rackets and stuffs. The next morning, before checking out the hotel younger children (mainly Charlotte and Christopher la) were going to swim at the hotel pool, Charlotte’s other cousins and uncles were playing a tennis game while the rest of the adults continued to chit chat at their convenience.

Charlotte shows her improvement in swimming, she was able to move or "swim" quite quickly across the pool when we put her on the float! Once again, Christopher was throwing tantrum at the pool side, he wanted to get into the water and swim like Charlotte but he was afraid of water! We tried to hoax him, gave him the float but still he was afraid and yet frustrated because he couldn't play in the pool like Charlotte. We had to leave him sitting by the poolside with his mommy. We checked out the hotel after a good shower.

Next stop, KL!!!

When Holiday Started...

Movie was just a warming up, we had a lot of planned agenda ahead. First, it was a visit to Penang Hill with Ching Ern and Yan. Charlotte's first trip to Penang Hill was in Aug 2007 (how time flies), I didn't think she would forget about it until I asked her when we were at the foot hill. I should have shown her the pictures before we left for the trip but because I was worried about what if the plan didn't turn out (raining or some other reasons) I didn't tell her about it until we were about to leave the house that morning.

I am always amazed how kids get connected almost instantly and they are so sincere to their friends. Ern and Charlotte hit it off almost instantly, it took a little time for Yan to warm up but very soon they are like good friends for ages! They played together, sang together, ran about together, making funny pose together...

We had light lunch at the David Brown's Restaurant and Tea Terrace, by the time we left it was almost 2.30pm! It was way past Charlotte's nap time and she just snoozed off while we were still taking the cable car down. She slept all the way home, I purposely took a longer route and drove at slower speed so that she could catch up with her nap before reaching home.

It was a fun adventure, thanks to Auntie Wooi Sin and Auntie Cheah Wei for making it happened! Check out what Ching Ern says about this trip here...

Movie Time!

I received a surprise call from Ann (Chloe's mother) last Friday that they are inviting us for a movie on Friday night! Of course it's GO and I was hoping that Pat would join us too (he usually has business dinner on Friday nights). Then Pat said OK! Yippee!!!

We took Charlotte for her first movie at the cinema back in Nov last year. Last Friday, we watched...

photo credit

She absolutely loved it! She loved the movie, loved the company, and guess what? We met a lot more friends there at the cinema! I think kids movie makes good money, 1 person wants to watch but have to buy at least 2 or 3 tickets... :D

Anyway, thanks Chloe for a nice movie treat! Next round will be our treat :)

New Experience With Cheese Cake!

What is your experience with cheesecake? What come to your mind when someone mentioned about cheesecake? It is cheesy, rich, heavy, and you cannot eat much as the guilt builds up as you bite? Well, at least I feel that way every time I have cheese cake...but not any more!!

It is a whole new experience with the cheddar cheese cake! The ingredients are very light, the texture is soft and spongy, the cake melts in your mouth almost instantly! It does not taste as cheesy (surprisingly) and heavy as the ordinarty cheese cake. It is so soft and fine that you will want to eat another piece!

A friend of mine gave 4 pieces to me last week and I told her that I am not much a cake person. I like to bake but I don't like to eat. But I thank her anyway and put the 4 pieces untouched. Until that late evening, I was so hungry and I thought let's just settle the hunger with those cakes instead of have to run out and get something to eat or to cook. I took one, and another one, and another one, without knowing it I finished them all! I sms my friend and asked what that was and she said that's the cheddar cheese cake that she mentioned to me earlier.

I baked it myself and share it with with my in laws and friends, they all loved it!

Thanks Ann!

Thanks For Sharing

I started blogging in year 2006 when I met a group of dedicated mothers at work and we decided to start a play group for our little ones as they are all about the same age. Most of them have started blog for their child and I learnt from them how to start one, and here I am! I am thankful to the people I met as I learn directly or indirectly from all of you and I am even more thankful to the blogging world that the sharing of experiences, knowledge and encounters seem never end. Of course, one will have to be able to differentiate and choose what is right from wrong as there are also many junks out in the worldwide web (www).

Recently I picked up baking again, and it seems therapeutic although I am already multi-tasking to a great extend! Thanks to Angie sharing this very interesting cookies recipe and lead me to another new site that I will never missed it again!

This was my 2nd time baking it. I did the first time a week before and both Charlotte and I were all excited. She helped me making the doggie dough and surprisingly she helped through the entire portion! She even sat in front of the oven waiting for it to be ready! Got too excited and I forgot to snap a picture. Last week, we did it again. Charlotte’s 姐姐 gave her a card last Friday and she held it so dearly to her. I asked her what did she wants to give to her 姐姐 and she said the “doggie cookies”! So here we did it again!

I put them in 2 small airtight containers, one for her 姐姐 and another for her 哥哥. I put a princess sticker on her 姐姐’s container and Charlotte chose a tigger sticker for her哥哥. Off she went to school with one container on each hand. I can see and even feel her excitement that day!

Charlotte dear, you are such a darling! Thanks for sharing!

Priceless!

If you have a picky eater at home like me you will know how I feel and what I'm going to say is true. It is priceless to hear the picky eater ask for food, or seeing he/she eats! Eating, may seem like a normal and natural way of life but it is not the case for the picky eater of mine.

Having said that, Charlotte has been showing good eating habit lately. In fact, her eating habit improves significantly when she started school this year. She asked for cake as desert for 4 consecutive nights last week. If you must know, she had never eat any cake for more than 2 bites, even her very beautiful and yummy birthday cake that she requested last year. I was very skeptical when she asked for cake. Then again, I never reject her food demand since she is such a picky eater and whenever she asks for it I will be more than happy to give.

I drove her to a nearby bakery and she picked a Germany Chocolate cake. I kept telling her that she must not waste the food, and the money of course as that piece cost me RM5.50! She said "yes" without any hesitation. That night, she finished almost 3 quarter of the cake! I was really really happy to see that of course. She asked for it again the next day, the day after next and another day. She did not finish the entire cake for all the 4 nights, but it was all with about 1/4 left and that was way exceeded my expectation.

It is priceless (to me) to see her enjoy her food...

She Cares

I am very pleased to see my little girl is growing up as a kind and generous person. Although she has her temper tantrum once in awhile but overall she is behaving rather well. She is willing to share her toys and belongings with others, she thinks of others and she is showing her sensitivity toward other's feeling lately. Like when I told her that Simba (our golden retriever) was sad because he is always staying home while she gets to play outside, she "talked" to Simba a lot lately. She told Simba to be good and she will bring him out to the beach again, she greets him everyday after school and etc. I'm glad to see that she takes our pet so dearly.

Last week, she told me her good friend Chloe had a cut on her finger at school. She told me that she wants to give her the "princess plaster". I said ok and told her to remember to bring along to school tomorrow. That evening, Chloe came knocking at my door. She returned the stamp that Charlotte lend her earlier and then she said "Auntie, Charlotte said want to give me princess plaster!". Oh, I didn't know that Charlotte made a promise to Chloe! Charlotte then looked at me and said "Yes, mommy I told you! Come let's go get the princess plaster" and we rushed to our room and she picked a "Sleeping Beauty" plaster for Chloe! She was very happy and kept on shouting out to Chloe "Chloe, wait ah!", "Chloe, I'm coming!". They both very happy, with one giving out "love" and another receiving what was promised :)

A few days ago I had a small cut on my thumb and when she noticed it she kept asking "Mommy, pain or not?", "Mommy, I sayang you ya, don't cry". She held my hand all day long, making sure that that cut will not get any more hurt.

Every time we have the opportunity to bake or cook something special she would think of sharing it with her friends in school, grandparents or her cousins...

I am pleased to see that Charlotte has developed her sense of empathy and caring for others as I think it is important to live "humanly". Another lesson that she learns indirectly is to keep her promise! Actually, both Charlotte and I made a lot of promises to each other everyday. Small deal like do her homework before TV time, eat her fruits/meal before she gets to play, clean-up after play and etc. She always keep her promise when she made one and I am so proud of her!