God is my STRENGTH !

2 Corinthians 6:11-13 The Message (MSG)

^11-13 Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!

God did not redeem us to tame us! Such a powerful statement as I was listening to Lisa Bevere's preaching on Lioness Arising. 

Many times, we restrict ourselves in a small box. And we stop growing. We are like a small plant being planted in a small pot that doesn't have much space to grow and expand. In the verses above, God is waiting eagerly for us to enter into His Kingdom, a wide-open and spacious Kingdom. There is no restriction in His Kingdom. There is so much freedom. But, often times we forget about His grace and we moved one step behind. Then, we hide ourselves in a shell. God says, come BOLDLY to the throne of GRACE that we may obtain MERCY and find GRACE in time of need. 

I know it's always easier to say than done. But that's how our Faith works. Meditate on the verse again and again (I can repeat the same message over and over again until my heart is pumped up) and I assure you that you will find the strength to just stand up, get out from the small box and stand boldly at the throne of Grace. 

I've read of many miracles took place during the last Easter. Don't wait for the next Easter for your miracle to take place, but know that Jesus has already died on the cross, our redeemer lives and miracles can take place now, anytime.. when you believe! 

I'm reminding myself now and then to always cast my fear and cares unto the Lord. Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders - He’ll carry your load, He’ll help you out. Such a great assurance. 

Ever since I'm promoted as a Mother, I have a lot of fear. I fear I might wake up to my child not breathing. I'm afraid that my child will choke. If I bring them for a swim, I'm afraid of secondary drowning. You see, so much fear in me that sometimes I think I'm crazy. I have so much fear that I forgot about God. I seemed to see the fear as a giant and I failed to look at my Big God. 

Today, I'm learning to rest. Let it go and let it go.... and LET GOD to work in me!
I pray the same for you too, that God is always the giant in your heart and mind.

Thankful and Blessed!

Sometimes I can just pause for a moment and enjoy watching both kids playing together. How the big sister instructing the little brother to do things. Daniel, you do this and that. Don't do like that. Listen to me, do this. Lots of fun moments together, even though sometimes they might end up with a little dissatisfaction among each other.

As I gazed at their beauty, looking steadily how they walk, run and jump.. all the excitement they have as a child, they play all out, shout, scream, laugh, giggle ... how they think out of the box, being so creative and having an engineer-brain, build things based on their imaginations ... all I can say is Thank You Jesus! Thank you for blessing us with active, lively, healthy, perfect little children. We couldn't have asked for more, we are so thankful and blessed. At the same time, I asked the Lord to forgive me if sometimes I ever take them for granted. Today, as I seek for forgiveness, I pray for more strength and wisdom to be a better mom. I pray for more grace, blessings and mercy.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

 The two little gems that bring so much joy to a home, making a four-angled brick house feels so warm and cozy. Their laughter and giggles lift up the atmosphere and spread love all around!

Restoran Kali Little Restaurant @ Klang

Kali Little Restaurant is located in Klang, directly next to a Chinese temple. It's pretty easy to find the way there by using the waze app. This restaurant is just next to restaurant four star. We reached there about 8pm and it was packed! Full house! We waited for about 10-15mins for a table. So, if you plan to dine here, be early. 6pm is good. Not only that, the bad news was that they ran out of stock for crabs! How can a seafood dinner be complete without crabs? =(

 Address: 89, Jalan 2, Pandamaran Jaya, 42000 Port Klang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 5.30pm to 11.30pm (Close on Monday).

Tel (Kali): 012-2714444/019-9441111

 The little kitchen behind.

Stir-fried pea sprout (dou miao) with garlic

 The ran out of lala as well, so no lala bee hoon for the day. They changed to small prawns instead. 

 Salted egg sotong. This was so good!

 We saw many tables ordered this claypot fish and decided to give it a try. But I don't think we will want to order the second time. Nothing special about this dish (different people might have different taste buds tho)

 Salt-baked prawns. The prawns were so fresh that a simple salt-baked can be so delicious.

 

 Again, we read in blogs that this is a must order. Almost every blogs that blog about this restaurant promote this dish. But I still think it's a little too dry, we prefer something like char siew that has some gravy coated around the meat.

The bill of the day for 4 adults.

We will definitely go back again for the big fatty crabs that we have missed, and at least we know what we should order the next round. 

Homemade Pandan Kaya

I enjoy baking bread, and we all love to toast the bread and spread a thick layer of kaya on top. It's so delicious. My mom in law harvested a big stalk of pandan leaves and I'm just so excited to blend and try to cook my first homemade kaya. 

 Look at the long long green green pandan leaves. Blend the coconut milk with pandan leaves and extract out the juice.

 Cook the mixture over the double boiler. It's so much easier this way, you do not have to stir all the time.

 The color is getting darker and darker after 30-45 mins.

 Done! The home made kaya is ready to be spread on the toasted bread!

 My first try : The texture is pretty smooth. Except I don't really like the santan smell, perhaps I should try again using freshly squeezed santan and not on-the-shelves santan.

Here's where I adopted the recipe:

Nasi Lemak Lover

Ingredients

3 large eggs (lightly beaten)
250g caster sugar
350ml coconut milk
8pcs pandan leaves

Steps
1. Blend pandan leaves and coconut milk in a blender. Strain .

2. Add sugar into beaten eggs, use a hand whisk to stir mixture until sugar dissolves - lightly stir
3. Mix the pandan coconut milk with the mixture of sugar and eggs.
4. Sift the kaya mixture into another mixing bowl.

5. Place mixing bowl over another pot of boiled water on low heat, stir kaya mixture occasionally. I placed it on top of a kuali instead since I do not have bigger pot. Stir every 1-2 mins.
4. It took at least 1hour to cook till desired thickness. Cool completely before store in a clear jar and keep in the fridge.

Mommy Mommy, I love you !

The clock ticked 8pm. It was towards the end of a hectic day. I just couldn't wait to hide under the cozy comforter, in a full blast 16degrees air-conditioning room with the mode Powerful. I was about to raise my voice "Clean up and keep all the toys!" and suddenly, I heard a soft voice singing "Mommy, Mommy I love you.. Mommy, Mommy I love youuuuu... " It was the little boy. He composed his own tune and he sang Mommy Mommy I love you while he was sitting and playing on the couch. I paused for a moment and savour in what he was singing, my heart smiled! A huge grin was printed on my face, beaming with joy. After a full hectic day {washing, cooking, picking up the same toys over and over again, wiping, etc}, a simple song like this meant so much to me. At that time, I just felt like my heart was going to explode with joy. I kept smiling and smiling throughout that whole night. I felt so good and happy!

I'm still in the process of weaning him from breastfeeding and it seems so hard. You know, how can you resist when that sweet soft voice calling out to you, "Mommy, I want mommy's milk milk. Please." "Mommy's milk milk please". The word please itself is already heartbreaking. He needs the natural pacifier before he sleeps, and when he gets impatient {why still no mommy's milk milk} he would scream and kick the roof down. I heard of many tips like applying some bitter gourd / lemon / cili, some even apply minyak cap kapak {gosh, this is not edible, how can you do that?}, but I feel that those methods are like torturing him. I just couldn't make myself to do that. Imagine you like to drink orange juice and someone says you should stop drinking and when you are so addictive to it, they secretly add in cili into your orange juice so that the bad experience will make you stop drinking orange juice. How do you feel?

I hope as we gradually decrease the sessions, very soon he will wean himself. I just don't want to play any tricks to make him stop drinking. All I want is he weans himself and I will feel much better that way. Wish us luck =)

How can you resist this charming smile that sings the song Mommy Mommy I love you out from the bottom of his heart, and that captivating smile that says I want mommy's milk milk, please. You know, those words are explosive! Explosions of love!

Sewing a toddler skirt

I have some extra cloth after sewing pillow case for the kids. The leftover cloth was just nice to sew a toddler skirt for Little A, without any wastage. This is a nice Japanese cotton cloth which I bought from Nagoya. They do not have much choices compare to Spotlight, but definitely, the price is cheaper. Spotlight has too many choices with wallet-bleeding price. A meter of Frozen cloth cost RM60!

Anyway, this is a very very simple skirt. According to the tutorial, this project takes only 10mins! Wow! But I didn't manage to complete everything in 10 mins, but I took 30mins. 

The greatest challenge of sewing is to learn how to sew straight. I just have to master this first before I can sew more challenging piece, like a dress.

Children and Gadgets

When I was younger, before I was married, before I had my own kids ...

I used to look at kids with Ipad or Iphone in the shopping malls. My heart quickly pinpoint at the parents... 

Why leave the child alone with the Ipad? 

Why bring the child out if you intend to leave your child with the gadgets? Better stay at home?

Why no communications between you and your child?

There were endless whys in those days... at that time, I told myself and even Justin that I will never let our child hold any gadgets in future when we have kids. When we bring them out, it means we want to have a good quality family time. So, no gadgets time.

Today, I took back my words.

These days, gadgets seem to save our life from restless, screaming little kids. Gadgets save our life especially during wedding dinner (Malaysian time wedding dinner starts as late as 9pm!) You cannot be bringing playdoh or duplo or lego to wedding dinner right? Gadgets do let us EAT in peace. Gadgets save restaurants from falling rooftops due to screaming impatient kids (especially when the restaurant is full house and we waited 1 hour for our food) Gadgets keep us sane during long-haul flight! 

For all the yet-to-be-parents out there, judge not. Note that kids attention span on a certain thing is very short. By 5 mins, they get bored with the toy and you have to show them another toy. During the long haul flight to Europe with my 2.5yo daughter last year, I packed lots of different kind of toys to keep her entertained during the flight. From stickers to duplo to coloring books to snacks to chocolates to sweets to gadgets! There were few no-nos that we banned at home like chocolates and sweets, but during the flight, I gave in. Every few minutes, I had to keep changing toys after toys to keep her entertained and happy during the flight. It was so tough, but we made it! 

So, guess we just have to stop pointing fingers and look at those parents with one kind of face or stare at them and shake your head. Some actions/decisions from the parents might not be pleasing to our eyes, but hey, we are not their parents. Parents know their child best and what works for them.

Another example that many parents get a stare from strangers is when they use baby leash in malls or crowded places. Some moms might say why don't hold your child's hands tight? While another mom would say I really have no choice, my child is super super hyperactive. He doesn't want to hold hands or buckle up in stroller! I would rather those eyes to look at me than I lost my child. This is quite true. We don't know the real reason behind all these scenarios. So, stop looking, stop judging. Give those parents your best support. Again, if you have nothing to say, don't say. Sometimes, to be silence is wisdom. =)

Orange Muffins for tea time

I always love the smell of orange, especially orange cake or muffins. It was a lazy day and I decided to bake muffins instead of cake because baking muffins is as simple as ABC. All you need is to measure all the ingredients and use a spoon/whisk to lightly stir for a lumpy mixture. So easy and most importantly, so little things to wash.

 

I adopted the recipe from Nigella Lawson Orange Breakfast Muffins
I always like the recipe given by Nigella because they are all in grams which is easier for me to measure and ensure the accuracy.

Ingredients:
    75 g unsalted butter
    250 g self-raising flour
    25 g ground almonds
    1⁄2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
    1 teaspoon baking powder
    75 g caster sugar
    1 orange, zest of
    100 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
    100 ml full-fat milk
    1 egg

• Preheat the oven to 200C.
• Melt the butter and set aside.
• Combine the flour, ground almonds, bicarb, baking powder, sugar and orange zest in a large bowl.
• Measure the orange juice and milk into a jug and whisk in the egg and then the cooled, melted   butter.
• Now pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing with a fork as you go. The batter will be lumpy but that's as it should be: you want everything to be no more than barely combined. The whole point of muffin mixture is that it must never be overworked.
• Spoon out the mixture equally into the muffin cases and cook for 20 minutes.
• Remove, in their paper cases, to a wire rack and let cool slightly (but not completely) before devouring.

Happy Baking! These muffins were so delicious, soft and fluffy!

The best Assam Laksa at Sungai Ara Penang

Do you know that any food under the big tree is always authentic and delicious? We found a superbly delicious assam laksa at Sungai Ara, opposite a row of houses. It's along Jalan Dato Ismail Hashim, Sungai Ara, 11900, Bayan Lepas, Penang. A few meters away from Fisherman’s Grill and adjacent to Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sungai Ara.

 This stall is sometimes operated by two young men as well. And check out the way they pack your laksa soup. It seems like some sort of kungfu.So skillful!

 

 We went there during working days and we were their first customer. But soon after we left, the place was full house. 

Yumm!! Looking at this picture again made me salivate. The soup is thick and rich that I finished off everything. =D

Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul @ Queensbay Mall

With kids, it's pretty hard to go all the way to the street for the famous Penang cendol. Thinking of the trouble to find parking under the hot weather, we decided to just go to Queensbay Mall for the well-known Teochew Chendul. Though it was not as good as the street food, we did enjoy our dessert. The price was way cheaper compare to KL branch.

 

 

This is a good alternative if you're craving for a bowl of cendol and yet you do not want to trouble yourself finding parking and queuing up. But, I still prefer Sitiawan cendol. The best among all . =D

Ipoh Hor Fun at Kedai Makanan Loke Wooi Kee

It was school holidays and we were heading up to the north. We woke the kids up as early as 5am so that after drinking milk, they will continue to sleep in the car for another 2-3 hours, depends on how long they can sleep. The clock ticked 7am and we were reaching Ipoh tol soon. Our stomach was growling asking to be filled with glorious food. We decided to stop at Ipoh for breakfast, and what came through our mind was Ipoh Kai See Hor Fun! We searched through blogs after blogs for recommendations and we finally decided to stop at the one recommended by Vkeong.

 

 Kedai Makanan Loke Wooi Kee (opposite Kamdar)
No 28, Jalan Mustapha Al-Bakri,
30300 Ipoh 

 The stall that you should order from..

 

 Look at the generous shredded chicken and prawns. This place is definitely worth the trip! Heavenly delicious! My hubby gobbled down two bowls. It was that yummy. The Ipoh coffee was also authentic. Definitely must order when you're in Ipoh. We can't wait to go up North again for the next round of food hunting.