Farm in the City 2015

I woke up in our nice cozy bed at about eight in the morning with a tingly feeling of excitement passing through my veins. It was school holidays!! I got up and looked outside my window, astounded at the color of the sunrise. Indeed, it was a perfect weather to visit a farm in the city! I woke the hubby up and said, Let's Go!

We paid about RM90+ including of pony ride for little A. D was not allowed on pony ride as his height was less than 90cm which does not meet the safety requirement. Even though the sun is  scorching hot, you won't feel the intense heat because this little petting zoo is well covered up with lots of trees. But, make sure you wear good quality shoes because the ground can be a little slippery due to the growing algae.

There are few sections in the farm, people-friendly animals are freely roaming around without cage and you can really interact with the animals. Veges are provided free of charge in the farm and the kids truly enjoyed feeding the animals. While harmful reptiles like snakes are housed in a tank.

There's even a section of rabbits and guinea pigs that the kids can go inside and play with. The section is well maintained and they did disinfection from time to time to ensure that the environment is safe before they allow the kids to go in and play. 

They even provide hand washing stations after the end of every sections. Hand washing soap is also provided. It's that clean and convenient.

This place definitely provides a wonderful unforgettable experience for your kids. In fact, petting zoo is more fun to go compare to zoo. The kids truly enjoyed themselves and till today, they keep telling us that they want to feed the tortoise.

Enjoy the pictures!

 

 

 The bird show hosted by staffs in the farm.

 

 

 Kids busy fishing in the small drain. But those fishes are fast and furious. We didn't manage to catch even one. Haha.

 Washing hands station at the end of every sections. Wash your hands thoroughly after petting the animals. =)

 The house of rabbits and guinea pigs!

 

 

  Can you see all the birds pecking on daddy's hand?

 

Farm in the City

Address: Lot 40187~40188, Jalan Prima Tropika Barat, Bandar Putra Permai, Seri Kembangan, 43300 Selangor

Tel: +603 8941 2099

Making Garbage Enzyme from Citrus Skin

We make fruit and vege juice every day, without fail.. thus, we have lots of pulps and fruit skins. It's such a waste to throw them just like that. The pulp you can use to make a good compose, but we didn't. If I have a big backyard, I would buried those pulps and let it become a natural fertilizer. For the citrus skin like grapefruit / orange / lemon / lime, I decided to make garbage enzyme which is as easy as ABC. Only three ingredients needed to make the below enzyme : brown sugar, citrus skin and water. That's all. Easy, isn't it ?

Follow the steps from this website for step by steps instructions on the amount of brown sugar, water or citrus skin that you should use.

If everything goes well with the enzyme, after 3 months I can stop buying floor detergent. I can use this enzyme to mop the floor, to wash the toilet etc. And guess my whole house will smell so rich in orange flavor. So, keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well, no yucky worms coming out. Hehe.

Making this enzyme is like brewing wine, the longer the better. =D

Sewing Baby Short

I have few old shirts and jeans that are still in pretty good condition that I felt a bit wasted to just dump them away. So, I decided to get hold of my scissors and cut ! I planned to sew all things baby : shorts, skirts, dress (so ambitious huh) .

  

Here's my first attempt of sewing short for the little boy using my old jeans. It was exciting to cut and measure and visualize how the baby short gonna looks like. But, I made a mistake! I shouldn't have cut the waist curve.. I should make it straight instead.

 

The hubby said it looks good for beginner...but the waistline is too small that my boy couldn't fit! So sad... otherwise this piece will make a good home-wear shorts. =D

The blog construction is completed!

This blog was started when I was in college and after closing chapter after chapters of life, today, I'm a wife and a mommy to my two kids. I decided to give the blog a new name, to reflect my every day life. Since I'm going to talk a lot about my two squishy mushy bubs, hence, the blog has a new name, The Squishy Cheeks ! Initially I named my blog That Captivating Smile, it sounds elegant and good to me because the smiles from the little ones really captivate my heart. They smile, I smile. But after thinking over again, I think I prefer a blog name that is a little babyish and cute. Everyone loves baby cheeks! Especially those squishy mushy chubby cheeks! I can literally kiss non stop on their baby cheeks. So, here comes The Squishy Cheeks blog!

Cheers!

PATIENCE . JOY . LOVE . WISDOM

For the JOY of the Lord is my STRENGTH ....
If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you are happy and joyful... you surely have the strength to go on. To carry on. To move on. To strive on.

It's never never an easy task bringing up children. It takes a whole lot of patience and courage and wisdom and joy! Honestly, one day itself, I have few times of boiling points. I'm this Mama Tiger. I roared. Sigh. Then, I felt so miserable. My brain would then think how nice if I'm working. I quickly shut it off. It's such a privilege that I can stay at home looking after them, isn't it? Shouldn't I be thankful that my kids are healthy, active and lively? That was what I prayed when they were still in the womb. Oh God, forgive me.

Today, I pray for more and more JOY of the Lord while raising my children.They are so so precious to me and I pray that I can raise them well, they are the gems that God has entrusted us to take good care of. They are God's little children too.

Thank you God for entrusting us these two priceless and precious gems.

I pray that I will be the most joyful, patience, loving, faithful mom that I can ever be. Lead me and guide me. That at the end of every day, my children will look at me and say "I love you Mommy".

Easy and Fast Chicken Rice

My grandma taught me this recipe when she stayed over my place few years ago. It was nice learning lots of cooking ropes from her. How nice if this grandma of mine lives next door.. 

Yesterday, we collected our pressure cooker from the shop after pre-order for 1 week. I was so excited to see this, and the other part of me still nervous to handle this little appliance. I'm so scared of the pressure. I scared that it will explode. And then my house got burnt. Blah.

The hubby asked what special dish I gonna cook for dinner and feeling nervous handling a PRESSURE cooker for the first time, I said I'm gonna cook you a simple meal. Soup? Initially, I planned to try soup, and I thought it was the easiest. But, in the end I changed my mind and cooked my grandma's chicken rice. After finished cooking and the mode automatically changed to "warm", I thought it was already safe that I can turn the valve to "vent" to release the pressure. I literally jumped when the pressure was released cause the sound was so loud and the pressure shot up to my kitchen's ceiling. Thank God I wasn't cooking soup that time. The hot soup might shoot up to my ceiling like a volcano and burn my hand. So thankful.

After reading experiences from the pressure cooker gurus in the forum, now I know that I do not have to turn the valve to "vent" immediately after it's finished cooking. Instead the pressure will release on its own. Just wait for 20-30 mins and when the floater is down, then only turn the valve to "vent". In this case, I won't get a pressure shooting up like volcano. I couldn't wait to try again. Hopefully this time it works as it should.

Anyway, here's the easy and fast chicken rice recipe:

Ingredients:

Half chicken chopped into pieces (marinade with dash of peppers, soya sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil)

Salt to taste

Garlic

Ginger

1 spoon of butter

Pandan Leaves

Methods:

Melt the butter in the pan and add in garlic and ginger. Stir fry until fragrant, then add in the marinated chicken. Fry for a little while and then add in rice. Stir fry again. Add some salt to taste, water and pandan leaves. That's all! Reduce the amount of water because the chicken will release some water while cooking. I used 1:1 ratio of rice:water and yet it's still a little damp. So, reduce the amount of water depends on your rice types.

 

 I used the mode Chicken and Keep pressure time 15 mins. So total cooking time is 30 mins. 

This appliance makes my life as a stay at home mom so easy. I don't have to stand in front of the stove and keep stirring. I don't have to afraid of burnt food while attending to the kids. You can even use this pressure cooker to stir fry the ingredients. Thus, a less messy kitchen to clean after cooking. Cooking is so easy now. I think this is a cheaper version of Thermomix. =D

A short getaway to Malacca

A short getaway is much needed for me, ever since I stopped work. To keep myself sane. You know, I love talking, joking, laughing with my friends. Stopping work is like totally shut down a part of my personality. Sometimes I feel lonely at home. Now, I have a clearer picture why my SAHM Aunty can talk nonstop whenever we pay them a visit. She can literally talk for few hours, non-stop! All because she's always alone with the kids. Her hubby is working overseas. Now, I feel her. I understand her. Talking with kids and talking with adults are two different things. Of course, I love talking with my children. But, these two things are totally different. 

So. A short trip for the family is something I have been longing for. I just want to get out from the house and see the world! It's not easy though, especially when I'm not working and we have to come out with a big sum of money. Even though it's just local, but hotels aren't cheap. It's not like we can go for holidays anywhere, anytime we like. Budgeting is very important. And if we get to go one, we make sure every seconds are worth it. Quality family time!

Malacca is the best place to go, good food, we can drive and don't have to fly, therefore, we only need to pay for hotel and food. I miss chicken rice ball! *No picture taken because we takeaway instead of dine in due to the huge crowd*

This is a must to visit when you're in Malacca.

 Trishaw ride is so tempting especially when you have to carry your 2yo and a baby bag. But, it's expensive. We decided to walk back in the end.

Dinner, we queued up for 1 hour 30 minutes for Makko Restaurant. It's true that don't ever visit Malacca during school holidays. But that's our only free time since Jie Jie starts her school. We wasted so much time just to queue up for this food. And we will never do this again. At least, the food is good!

Makko Nyonya Restaurant

Portuguese Settlement

We went to the first stall No.1. A nice environment to dine in, romantic? A little. Nice sunset view, if you're lucky to catch one.

 

Nadeje Mille Crepe

We all had so much fun. Especially the kids. They get to swim, eat and play! We're definitely looking for more family holidays!

Thank you Hubby for organizing this trip.
Thank you little children for being such a champ during the car ride, during the entire trip!

I love Holidays!!!