Ah, the White House...

Yesterday, I wrote that Michelle wore a "mustard/yellow" outfit for the inauguration. I was wrong. Apparently, the Cuban designer of the dress has cleared the confusion among all of us as to the actual colour of the attire and called the colour "lemon grass". What an inspiration. I bet 99% of Americans have never heard of, lest, seen lemon grass.

And dear George Bush Jr tells us how he is going to spend his post-presidential days. He's going to be reading newspapers and books. A bit too late, don't ya think?

But y'know, poor Bush Jr. All he got was a 3 second thanks from Obama for "his service to the nation" and then a 20-minute thinly-veiled chastisement from Obama on how America has been mishandled - from the economy to the wars, from education and healthcare to the environment and the sciences. Obama never gave face-la.

Wonder why there wasn't a Farewell Concert for Bush Jr amidst all the merry-making? Tut,tut... somebody should have thought of organizing such a concert for the outgoing president. I would have invited the following pop stars to perform:

1 Lead Me On: Maxine Nightingale
2 Toxic: Britney Spears
3 Clumsy: Fergie
4 Take A Bow: Rihanna
5 Rehab: Amy Winehouse (Standby: Rihanna)
6 Desperado: The Eagles
7 The Hungry Years: Neil Sedaka
8 If I Never See Your Face Again: Maroon 5

As an interlude, I'd have Julian Lennon perform his father's song, "...War Is Over" on the cello. Julian is an accomplished cellist, though he is no Yo-Yo Ma. But then, Bush Jr is no Oba-Ma.

Bush Jr is also going to tell his side of the story by writing a memoir. This is after all the natural career path for US Presidents. Then the lecture circuit will begin.... followed by the setting up of a foundation or two. He should seek advice from the Clintons who have been there, done that.

I would suggest to the Clintons to try something new. What about selling the film rights of their life story to Hollywood? The female lead should be given to Emma Thompson - I always thought she and Hillary bear an uncanny resemblance.
And who but Hugh Grant should play Bill Clinton, someone who is handsome with a goofy appeal. Guaranteed to draw the crowds.

It would be great if the show is a musical. There is one scene that they must have in this movie - Hillary singing "Womaniser" to Bill, while prancing around the bedroom, like what Meryl Streep did in Mamma Mia.

Hmm... I can already form the mental images from the show. Taking the New York senatorship, she sings "I Am Woman". And towards the end, in the Presidential Inauguration, not hers, she moves around Capitol Hill, with the wind blowing against her face, singing "The Winner Takes It All".

US Presidential Inauguration

Well, I might as well add my 2 cents worth...
The newspapers, as some of us would have noticed, have gone into overdrive talking about the 44th US President Inaugural Ceremony. Ya, as an active citizen of the global community (ahem), I stayed up til 1 am and watched the inauguration speech live.

The whole thing was pretty interesting, not much different from watching the Academy Awards. They would announce the former US presidents who are still around and they would troop out with their wives, smiling and waving to the gallery... 4 pairs of them - Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter (they're still around - peanuts must be good for the health), Bush Sr and wife, Bill and Hillary Clinton and finally, Bush Jr and wife.

I must say, Hillary looked gorgeous - for a woman hitting 62 this year. But I wondered, as millions must have wondered too, what was she thinking behind that megawatt smile?

I have forgiven Barack Hussein Obama for winning the Democratic nomination since 1) he has given the Secretary Of State post to Hillary Clinton and 2) he is an intellectual - I always have a weakness for this rare male species. I realised how much this species is to be treasured since George Walker Bush mumbled, fumbled and bumbled his way over this past 8 years.

And then, they announced the Winner of Elections 2008. BO swaggered to the podium and I just couldn't take my eyes off ... his ears ... sorry.

Now, I don't follow the news of the latest pop stars as much as I follow the tabloid news surrounding the First Family. Mark my words, mustard/yellow will be the fashion colour of 2009 since Michelle wore it for the inauguration. And for guys, single button jackets with single-pleat pants, as worn by the President.

One thing struck me - all the recent US presidents have daughters only, no sons.
- Malia and Sasha Obama
- Barbara and Jenna Bush
- Chelsea Clinton

I tend to notice these things :)

What did I like most about the ceremony? Yo-yo Ma playing in a classical quartet with some of world's most gifted musicians. I thought that was a really nice touch.

Count My Blessings

... that hair can grow - so we know the effect of a bad haircut is ONLY temporary. (Thank the Creator for that.)

... that I STILL have hair. (Although ALL the Nintendo Wii characters seem to have better hairdos.)

... that I managed to buy new shoes for everyone for CNY. As some of us may know, it is notoriously difficult to get Son No 1 to buy shoes. And I also found a pair of shoes for myself before CNY Eve. Amazing. (If only I'd had better luck with my hair...)

... that good customer service, that rare commodity, can still be found here - go look for the tudung girl at Focus Point Optical at Ikano Power Center. She speaks proper English too. (Maybe I should wear the tudung too.)

... that there are motorists in KL who are still civilised. Would ya believe it - 3, yes, that's spelt THREE, motorists actually waved their thanks at me when I gave way to them yesterday. It's unbelievable - it made me wanna cry. (No, I promise I am NOT emo because of my hair.)

Second Piano Lesson

I don't mean to blog about every piano lesson that Son No 3 attends BUT what a discovery - Son No 3 loves playing the piano!

It's like a dream coming true - for me!

You see the picture above - that's Son No 3 coming home from school and heading straight for the piano. Nope, it's not staged, lol, though subsequently, I did ask him to smile for the camera. And guess what, he has not even taken his lunch at that time!

Son No 3 has been practising on the piano at his own initiation everyday and he does not need me to sit next to him. He is eager and flips to the more advance pages to learn more. He asks me questions on notations that look strange to him and promptly tries all the pieces in the book, sight-reading as he goes along.

In fact, his progress has been remarkable. He can play practically the whole elementary book after his second lesson. His favourite tune of all is Beethoven's "Ode To Joy" (or some call it "Song Of Joy") which, I might add, is one of the pieces that he learnt on his own.

Before his second piano lesson, Son No 3 asked me if he would miss any piano lesson over the Chinese New Year break. When he learnt that there will be a 2-week break from piano lessons, he groaned. How unexpected! Usually I would be greeted by cheers if this announcement was made to his brothers.

This is a novel experience for me - a son who gives me hope that he will master the piano for the sheer joy of music. I know it's only the second lesson and I am not holding my breath. Don't mind the gushing mum, but as I have been saying, it is a promising beginning :)

Right Or Wrong? Part 3

Most teachers need to teach Moral Education in school besides their regular specialty subjects. There is a pitiful lack of guidance as to how to teach this subject. It is not easy. Son No 1 just confessed to me that they are normally given a free period.

When I was assigned to teach Moral Ed to a Sec 4 (Normal) class not too long ago, I decided that my students should be challenged to do some thinking. I gave them some scenarios and asked them what they would do and why. It is easy to answer I don't know, but that's not an option - and don't let that be an option for you! Think about it. Here are some examples:

1 The Value of a Friend You recently got to know that one of your best friends is taking drugs/getting involved in gangs. Nobody else knows about it. What would you do?

2 The Value of a Promise A close friend confides in you that he has stolen some money from a classmate and he made you promise not to tell. When the teacher accuses another student (who is not a friend) of stealing the money, do you keep your promise? This innocent student will be severely punished. If the person who is being unfairly accused is also a good friend, would it make any difference to your decision?

3 The Value of Trust You have a close relationship with your parents and they trust you that you will not lie to them. One of your friends is planning a party when her parents are out of town and you dearly want to go to the party because you want to be in the "in" crowd. But you know your parents will not let you go to a party without adult supervision. All your other friends are not telling their parents the truth and they urge you to do the same. What would you do?

The above are typical moral dilemmas faced by teenage students, in various guises. Moral dilemmas usually arise when there is a conflict between doing what is RIGHT (our duty) versus what is GOOD (as in morally acceptable) and when the RIGHT action may lead to BAD (undesirable) consequences.

In the first scenario, The Value of a Friend, we recognise that the dilemma arises because teens hold this strong value of peer loyalty - which ordinarily is something GOOD because we don't want friends who snitch or tell on us. But in such a situation, they may want to think about what is the meaning of true friendship. They know that taking drugs or joining gangs will eventually lead their friend to doom, thus they know that the RIGHT thing to do is to tell - to save the friend. But it takes an awful lot of courage to tell - they will almost certainly lose the friendship, a BAD consequence, from their point of view.

This is what is called the courage of conviction - when one knows what is the RIGHT thing to do and will do it, however tough the action is, or undesirable the consequence may be. This theme was expounded in the book, "To Kill A Mockingbird" when Atticus Finch took on the case to defend a black man in a conservative town despite knowing the undesirable consequences that he and his children would inevitably encounter.

The second scenario, The Value of a Promise, explores again the conflict between what is GOOD - to keep your promise - and what is RIGHT - to save the innocent. Many students will make the distinction between saving the accused - if the accused is a friend - and not doing anything - if the accused is not a friend. This again illustrates to me the strong bonds of friendship that exist among teens. This dilemma of "saving the innocent" versus "personal detriment" reminds me of the lead character, Jean Valjean, in "Les Miserables". Jean was an escaped convict - and when another person, a vagabond, was mistakenly arrested and identified as him, he was in a dilemma whether to confess of not.

The third scenario, The Value of Trust, requires the students to weigh the consequence of lying to their parents which, if discovered, will lead to the loss of trust between the parents and the child. The students need to ask themselves, "Is it worth it?" This is a dilemma created when a GOOD action - telling the truth - will lead to a BAD (undesirable) outcome, as far as the student is concerned, because he risks not going to the party, unless he manages to persuade his parents otherwise.

I normally tell my students to trust their parents to do the right thing. Parents do not make rules to make their children miserable. They make rules to make their children safe. And parents want their children to be happy - in fact, they want them to have a lifetime of happiness, not a moment of temporary happiness which may lead to a lifetime of misery. A recent Liam Neeson show, "Taken", actually dramatised this learning point to make an interesting movie.

Now that we all have got the hang of moral reasoning, lol, we can try out this more complex but interesting case. This is a true story, so the internet tells me, and happened in 1842.

The Overcrowded Lifeboat A ship struck an iceberg and more than 30 survivors were crowded into a lifeboat intended to hold 7. The lifeboat was giving way. It soon became obvious that the lifeboat would have to be lightened if anybody were to survive. You are the captain. What would you do?

I will reveal what actually happened in due course :) See Comments

Right Or Wrong? Part 2

Moral reasoning develops through different stages, so say the experts. I tend to forget this and make the mistake of applying more advanced reasoning to a young child which of course leaves little impact on the child. Luckily, Son No 3's school teacher knows better.

One day, Son No 3 came home and told me this: "You know, the teacher told us we cannot fight in school. If somebody punch you, we still cannot punch back. You know why?"

I asked obligingly, "Why?" And waited for some good moral reasoning, like an eye for an eye, makes the whole world blind, or something in that vein.

He answered, "Because the teacher will scold and punish both of us."

Kudos to the teacher - simple, effective and logical reasoning to a young child. And she has reached her objective of keeping an orderly classroom.

Son No 2 is at a more advanced stage of reasoning and it is to his school teacher's credit that he has begun to explore moral issues in society. Recently he asked me whether I have seen any beggars in the pasar malam.

"These beggars have their legs and arms broken by the bad people. They are always hungry because the bad people take away all their money. So we should not give them any money. My teacher says we should give them food."

The next time I visited the pasar malam, he remembered to ask me whether I gave the beggars any food. I told him, honestly, that I did not see any beggar. Lol, my son has become the keeper of my conscience! But it is good to see my son developing compassion for the less-fortunate.

But as we all know, the world is not black and white. As the children grow, they will need to learn to distinguish and think for themselves the various shades of grey.

During the school assembly this week, the Chairperson of Son No 1's school told them that the maxim "do not judge a book by its cover" is not true. She gave the example of a violinist busker who played beautiful music in a subway and earned maybe $32 a day. If the same violinist were to hold a performance in a concert hall, smartly dressed in a tuxedo, the same violinist can probably charge $100 per head per concert. In other words, the violinist is judged by all the trappings.

I am not sure whether I agree with what the Chairperson was saying or the message that she was delivering to her students. I can turn it around and say that if another violinist has no substance - that is, not talented - then nobody will pay to see him despite all the concert hall ra-ra. Substance always comes first. People will judge the violinist on how well he plays, not by his appearance. People may be taken in by appearance the first time round, but they will soon feel cheated and grow wiser. So it is good advice to us not to be taken in by appearance.

The story was told to me by Son No 1 who seemed impressed by the Chairperson's piece of logic. I was worried that my son may have got the one-sided message - maybe unintended - that appearance is all-important, which is something I cannot agree on. But to be fair, I asked my son in what context was the violinist story told. Son No 1 did not understand my question and I re-phrased it, how come the Chairperson suddenly brought up the story? What was she trying to say?

Apparently, her message was to remind the students to take care of their image through good grooming and not dress scruffily in school. Why? Visitors to the school might be impressed by the school building and physical environment, but when they see the scruffy students, they will leave with a less favourable impression. And to her, a good impression is important because a book is judged by its cover. It is interesting to me that her main concern was how visitors viewed the school, and not how her charges developed under her care - but I know that's besides the point here.

Now I have no argument against the importance of good grooming, but I hope she also emphasised to the students that whatever good grooming that they cultivated would be useless if in the end, the students did not become well-educated, useful members of the society. It is so important that the right message gets filtered to young adolescent minds.

Right Or Wrong? Part 1

My children have been trained - intentionally or otherwise - to ask "Why?". It's not a bad thing, but sometimes it does get you scratching your head for answers. This arises particularly when questions on morality arise. How do we know what is right and what is wrong? As all-knowing Adults, we are guided by our internal compass which we have developed over time and we claim that by instinct, we know what is right or wrong - or so we think. But to a child, this demarkation between right and wrong can be very confusing.

A simple illustration goes like this: Son No 3, playing in the living room, calls loudly for Siti, our maid, who is in the kitchen. Siti comes running hurriedly, wondering what's the emergency - and Son No 3 asks her to scratch his leg. The mosquito bite is really, very itchy.

Our instinctive reaction is to scold him - this reeks the bringing up of a spoilt child. But then, when Son No 3 asks, "Why (is this not right)?", it throws us off-balance because to us, it is just so obvious that calling the maid to scratch the itch is ... well, decadent. But it is not obvious to the child at all why this behaviour is "not good". At 5 years old, he does not comprehend why Siti can help him clean his backside but Siti cannot help him scratch his leg - he is not being deliberately spoilt - he just doesn't know better. So it's good that he asks, "Why?" so that we at least know what is confusing to him and not take things for granted. In this case, the answer is simple - if he can do the things himself, he should not call Siti to help him, he should do it himself.

There are some other "truisms" that are more difficult to explain but nevertheless, it's always worth a try. Son No 3 sometimes goes round asking people to give him things. This may happen in Pet Society, a make-believe world, or it may also happen in the real world. Believe me, what he does in the make-believe world is exactly the same as what he would do in the real world. He sees his friend in school possessing a Ben 10 pencil that he likes very much. He already knows that he cannot take it without permission (it's called stealing and the police will catch him). But what if he asks his friend to give it to him? AND the friend willingly agrees? Nothing wrong in asking, right? Willing asker, willing giver.

"You cannot ask other people to give you or buy you things. Only mummy and daddy can buy things for you".

"Why?"

(Not directly answering the question) "Others like popo (grandma) can buy things for you but you cannot ask them to buy things for you".

"Why cannot-uh?"

Err... "We don't want them to spend their money..." (Not the best answer but still....)

"OK, what if the friend WANTS to give me things?"

"No, even if the friend wants to give you things, you cannot take them".

"Why? Not even a sweet?"

"OK, maybe a sweet is okay. But not if it's from a stranger."

"If popo gives me a sweet, I can eat?"

"Yes."

"What if Faidu wants to give me a pineapple?"

"You mean, like in Pet Society? Then it's okay."

"What if Faidu wants to give me ALL the things in his house? Hahaha!" (For some reason, he is tickled by the thought:))

There is no end to the queries... the rules that we set up that day will not cover every eventuality. Can he take a sticker that his friend gives him? Is Ping Yee acceptable as a giver? Can he give other people things?

So, in the end, as in all good advice, the rule became... "When in doubt, ask...."

"Ask who?"

There we go again...

Rubik's Cube

Son No 1 managed to complete the Rubik's Cube yesterday. To me, the proud mom, it is a significant achievement *beaming*. It certainly deserved a Walk Of Fame posting on the blog :)

Son No 1 has been toying with the Cube since he was 8 years old. He could complete one side but when no further breakthrough was achieved, he tossed it aside, only to tinker with it on and off over the years. Once, I got him some literature on how to solve the puzzle, but it failed to get him interested.

Then, on his own, he got some tutelage from the internet and surprised all of us last night - brouhaha, there it is!

Well done, Son!

2:56am

The Mother was deep in slumber, happily ensconced in a sweet dream when she heard a familiar voice from afar whispering, "Mummy..."

Oh no, the pattern was familiar, she knew how the script would continue. But still, she tried to avoid the inevitable. Dragging herself back from faraway dreamland, the Mother murmured to the little boy at her bedside, "Yes, son, what is it?"

"My shirt is wet," came the rejoinder. It was a euphemism. The Son had been trying to tackle bedwetting for some time but still - accidents happened. He was 5 years old and was not proud about it and would rather acknowledge his shirt getting wet, rather than his pants.

The Mother opened her bleary eyes and peered at the digital clock at the bedside table. 2:56am. Oh, man...

"Did you wet-wet in bed? OK, just give me a minute, ya?" The Mother moved languidly, needing the time to gather her strength and coordinate her body parts which still seemed to be floating in space. She was not angry but obviously not very pleased. Nobody liked to be disturbed in their sleep. Not at 2:56am. But she accepted that it went with the territory of being a Mother.

Guided by the nightlight, she led the little boy to the toilet and stripped him out of his diaper and wet clothes. "You know, you are so big now that even the diaper could not hold your urine," she scolded, not unkindly but matter-of-factly. The boy said nothing. He must have sensed her annoyance.

But that's not all. Changing out of the wet clothes was the easy part. Next in the script was the changing of the wet bedsheet. This was made a bit more challenging when one had to grope in the dim bedroom that was illuminated only by a small night light. The Mother did not want to switch on the main light as the other son who was sharing the bedroom was a light sleeper and the last thing she wanted was to have a grumpy child in the middle of the night.

The Mother used her fingers to gingerly explore the surface of the mattress in order to ascertain the extent of the dampness. If the mattress was just a little damp, then just a towel over it might do the trick. But no, the wet patch was unmistakable. The Son's bladder must have been really full before he went to bed. There was no way that he could sleep over it. Luckily, the mattress could be turned over so that the wet patch faced the floor. This had been done many times before. Then, rummaging through the closet, the Mother managed to find a clean bedsheet and haphazardly laid it on the bed. This was no time to be fussy about housekeeping.

Throwing the pillow back onto the bed, the Mother urged the boy to go back to sleep. She couldn't wait to go back to sleep herself.

"I want my bolster," the boy whined softly.

Ah, the Mother had forgotten about that. She reached for the bolster on the floor and then realised regretfully that the boy's bolster was also wet. She told the boy in a let-me-get-back-to-sleep voice, "You can't have your bolster, it's wet."

"But I want... I can't sleep without my bolster..."

Now what? A flash of brainwave. The Mother got the Son a spare bolster and shoved it to him. Although the spare adult-sized bolster was larger than his own, the Son hugged it gratefully. The Mother pulled the blanket over the Son and tucked him to bed. "Good night," she said as she walked towards the bedroom door.

"Good night," the Son replied.

Then, with his eyes half-closed, the Son continued softly, "I love you, mummy."

The Mother's heart melted. She was suddenly wide awake. She walked back to the Son's bedside and planted a kiss on his forehead. Her love tank was overflowing. She replied, "I love you too, Son."

Weekend Tennis

On Sunday, we launched our new activity for 2009 - TENNIS! I think it's called a resolution or something :)

There is this luxurious condominium near KLCC where hubby's company owns a unit and it is a fabulous place for weekend recreation. We will probably come here more often to enjoy the club-like facilities.

We were all working up a good sweat, including Son No 3 who was very helpful in picking up our balls. Whatever, on the very next day, I re-discovered muscles that I have long forgotten ever existed!

First Piano Lesson

Things went pretty well this afternoon. Son No 3 is taking his piano lessons under the same teacher as Son No 2. At the end of the half-hour session, he asked me when was his next lesson and expressed dismay that he had to wait another 7 days. "Why so long?" he asked. I take this as a good sign.

Son No 3 is a fast and eager learner. He has learnt to play Mary Had A Little Lamb, his first song.

The Golden Maid Awards

Can't live with them, can't live without them.... maids.

Maids have been part of our family since my firstborn was on the way back in 1996. I am, what you could call, an experienced employer but no way can I claim that I know how to select or manage them. What I have developed over the years is a certain philosophy about maids that keep me (and them, hopefully) happy in a workable relationship.

Going down memory lane, I shall now remember my past maids as follows:

Lifetime Achievement Award: Sutinah (1998-2006)

Tinah served us with a heart of gold. All our close family and friends remember her as an integral part of our household. Although she had her faults (who didn't?), we knew she always looked out for us and had our best interests at heart. We knew that she wouldn't do things to spite us or to deliberately make trouble for us. Son No 2 was especially close to her. I remember one occasion when Son No 2 was hospitalised and it seemed so natural that she would be the one to stay and look after him in the hospital at night. She was the best cook that we had, probably because she learnt her skills directly from my mom. We still miss her fried crabs and double-boiled chicken soup. I gave her a sterling recommendation when she left us.

The Best Performer Award: Henny (2006-2007)

Henny was a quiet, efficient and self-motivated worker. Unlike many maids, she knew what she was required to do and carried out her duties the best she could, without supervision or external motivation. This pride in her work is something that made me appreciate her a great deal. One day, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that she had classified and arranged the children's toys neatly on the shelves, with used plastic ice-cream containers. I was impressed. She was the only maid I had that had an educational qualification equivalent to pre-university. I often wonder if there is a correlation between performance/attitude with educational qualification.

The Worst Performer Award: Purwati (2007-2008)

There was a dearth of maids coming to Malaysia at that time due to the low wages here and choices of maids were limited. Wati was a nightmare. She had worked in Saudi Arabia before (or so she claimed) and she liked to do things her own way. She was calculative and loved to talk back to her employers. Boy, how she talked back - especially after she was reprimanded. I have counselled her on numerous occasions but what's the point? In the end, I was glad to send her home, even though I did not have a replacement maid for another 6 weeks.

The Great Escape Artist: Haryati (1996)

She was my first maid whom we have employed to take care of Son No 1. She arrived when I was heavily pregnant with Son No 1. The idea was to train her to take care of the infant before the infant was born. Who knows, within one week of her arrival, she had disappeared. Luckily, with help from friends, we managed to locate her many days later at a food court in Geylang. She was with an unknown man. We quickly sent her home on the next available flight. She was our baptism of fire as an employer of maids.

The Drama Queen: Yanti (1997)

Yanti was homesick after being with us for about 6 months and wanted to go home. We agreed but tried to persuade her to stay on until the next maid arrived. I was working full-time at that time and it would be a burden to my mom to look after Son No 1 without a maid. But Yanti would have none of it. She wanted to go home immediately and held us ransom by hiding in her room and going on a hunger strike. She won and got her way. We sent her off immediately.

The Best Babysitter: Nyonim (2005-2006)

I will always remember Nyonim as the maid who really loved children. On the first day of work, she had already engaged Son No 3 with her ready smile and a willingness to play. She was not an exemplary maid - she was an incorrigible liar - but she was cheerful and was good with the children. For that, bless her.

These are not all the maids that I have employed - just some that stood out. All of us have heard plenty of maid stories, some good and some not so good. But I would say that on the whole, my draw has not been too bad.

10 Favourite Eating Places

This is not a food review, simply because we are not food connoiseurs and we are not qualified to be food critics. This is simply a list of our favourite eating places in KL/PJ. As I am not a good cook, eating out is sometimes a necessity. We have some eateries that we visit repeatedly. When we eat out, we look chiefly at a few criteria:

1. Convenience (a short drive, minimal traffic jam, lots of parking and fairly safe)
2. Tasty food
3. Good value for money
   

1 Kim San Kinchi Japanese Restaurant

There is no better place for fresh sashimi at reasonable prices. The best deal on the menu is the sashimi set which costs just RM22. If one only wants to eat fresh salmon sashimi, a plate of 10 succulent pieces costs RM35. Other favourites are the ebiko sushi and the beef sukiyaki. We bring friends and relatives from Singapore here and they invariably go home satisfied and happy. It is not surprising that the restaurant is a firm favourite of ours. We know of people who travel from afar to this eatery at Desa Sri Hartamas for its good value-for-money Japanese fare.

2 Wok Hei

The eatery at the Hartamas Shopping Centre serves local cooked-to-order dishes that are home-styled. We each have our own favourites but collectively our familiar favourites are the kum-heong la-la (legendary!), sambal belacan kangkung, deer meat with ginger and onion, teo-chew steamed fish and the salted vegetable soup. This is normally where we head for when we come back from a long journey, like driving back from Singapore - it's comfort food at affordable prices.

3 Hartamas Square

This is a food court that caters to the cosmopolitan crowd from the nearby Mont Kiara residential area. Many of the customers are expatriates or the young trendsetting in-crowd that have migrated over from Bangsar. There is free wi-fi access and large projection screens that show live EPL football matches. But we are here mainly for the food. The lamb chops are to-die-for. So are the wood-fire pizzas and creamy pastas. Other recommendations are the Thai food outlet and the char kuay teow.

4 Nam Heong Chicken Rice

To tell the truth, the chicken rice here is not as good as those that we get from Singapore. But it is good enough and the children love it all the same. This is the place that they think of for their chicken rice fix.

5 Modestos Pizza

For a quick meal in air-conditioned comfort, the boys would choose to come here where ready-made pizzas are sold by the slice. It is fast and delicious. Just right for these impatient youngsters.

6 Little Penang Cafe

This remains our favourite place for Penang food. When we are in Mid-Valley, this will be the top pick. Each of us has a firm favourite: Son No 1 - Char Kuay Teow, Son No 2 - Chicken Nasi Lemak, Son No 3 - Har Mee, Spouse - Assam Laksa. As for yours truly, I love them all.

7 Ho Weng Kee

This eatery in SS2 has received excellent reviews from food critics. The noodles are just the right consistency and springy-ness. We love the dry noodles with mushrooms, char siew or chicken.

8 Cheow Yang

The coffee shop has been re-named but we still call it fondly by its old name, Cheow Yang, which in its heyday was a famous landmark for SS2. Stalls come and go but there are a few stalls that have been around. When we come here for dinner, we go for the black-sauced Hokkien mee and loh mee, the belacan grilled fish, the deer meat rice and char kuay teow. Guarantees a satisfying meal.

9 Pantai Seafood Damansara

Our whole family loves crabs. But nowhere in KL serves the black pepper crab the way it's done in Singapore. We have yet to get used to the tastes that are considered the specialty here, such as crab with salted egg yolk or marmite crab. So, over here, we tend to go for the steamed crab with egg white. Other favourites are the poached prawns and the steamed fish. Downside to this place is the slow service and waiters who tend to forget your requests. But lots of parking space. Oh well...

10 Monte's

When we feel like a good juicy steak, we like to come to Monte's at the Bangsar Shopping Center. The ambience is pleasant and relaxing - a great place for conversation - and the service excellent. It does not cost us an arm and a leg to enjoy the dining experience. Very good value for money.

There you are, our top 10 favourite eating places. Note that I have deliberately left out the ubiquitous McDonald's and KFCs which are no-brainers - kids love them no matter what.

Well, bon apetit!

Random Ramblings

- Son No 2 flipped through my wedding album and commented that he did not recognize his daddy. But mummy looked the same. I couldn't resist asking him, "Did mummy look like a princess?" He answered, "Yes!" Such a sweetie. BTW, he also did not recognize a lot of other people, but for diplomatic reasons, these names shall not be revealed here. Son No 3 asked me, "Who made you look that way?" My dear, mummy DOES look like that, what do you mean?!!

- I just love the way Son No 3 play Pet Society - so unbridled by convention. His pet can walk around without clothes and he does not think twice about changing the pet's name. He is absolutely tickled pink that his pet is now called, "Name" - so he could say, "My name is Name!" Before this, he plagiarised the name of his aunt's pet, but in caps, COPPER. He loved it when we got confused about which Copper we were referring to when we played the game. How did he earn his trophies? By buying and selling clothing items immediately. Son No 2 shook his head and said such a waste of money. But to Son No 3, money is but a means towards getting what he wants. *grin*

- Today, I found myself asking, if I have one wish, would it be for "safe driving" or "good health"? Hmm... tough one. Now that I am back behind the wheels, my fellow road users are getting on my nerves again. Patience, patience.

- Is it just in my house or are mosquitoes generally getting larger in size? Dunno if it's a different species or what, but we are seeing giant mosquitoes here, easily >1cm in length. These lumbering giants are not difficult to catch as they are pretty conspicuous. We all participate in this sport in our house - mosquitoes-slapping - and even Son No 3 is getting quite adept at it. Whatever it is, mosquitoes remain a bane in our lives.

- Chinese New Year is approaching like a speeding train. The malls have switched from playing christmas carols to guo xin nian in the blink of an eye. Santa Claus is giving way to the God Of Prosperity. Christmas trees to pussy willows. Turkeys to waxed ducks. I am scrambling to do my CNY shopping. Son No 1 has already put in a request to buy lots of waxed ducks, his all-time favourite CNY delicacy. My mom has requested for nga-ku chips and love letters. The festive spirit here, in the Chinese-dominated part of town, will only get more and more .... festive. Better be prepared for the throngs of crowds.

- Did anyone notice the redundancy in the title? Ramblings are by nature random, so there is no need to say random ramblings... but it just sounds nice!

Love Story

Son No 2 has taken an interest in his daddy's and mummy's past. He has asked to see our photos when we were children and was keen to know how we got married. From his questions, it would seem that it never occurred to him before that daddy and mummy grew up separately *smile* - he probably thought that right from day one, mummy and daddy have been together - exactly like how it was in his world. That's why when I told him I was from KL and hubby grew up in JB, he seemed incredulous!

Time to dig up the archives. Unfortunately, most of my photos when I was a child are still in my mother's safekeeping - these will have to wait until another suitable time.

Then I remembered something. Years ago, before the advent of the blog and the omnipresence of the internet and the word processor, I have attempted to diarise my wedding day. I wrote a short piece, in the style of a newspaper report or a society magazine feature, in which I was the star (see below). It was carefully written in my best handwriting, blue ink on a piece of A4 paper, a photograph pasted at the side, and get this - it was written in 2 columns and the subheadings were in bold (I wrote many times over the words to create the effect - lol)!

This piece of memory was tucked safely between the pages of my wedding photo album. My name was there at the top, but I cropped that out, together with the heading. As I re-read what I have written, I am immensely glad that I did what I did. Memories can so-easily slip through the fingers. And when the children grow up, they too will be able to share this moment of our lives.


Here I will now transcribe what I have written:

A Once-In-A-Lifetime Day
Corporate banker wedded EW, 29, a property consultant on October 27 1991


How they met: When I entered Varsity in 1985, he was in his final year. We were staying in the same hostel and there were many opportunities for group interaction. There was once, however, just the two of us had dinner at Pizza Hut, Bukit Timah Plaza. It was a Saturday night and the hostel did not cater for dinner. All our other hostel-mates had plans and so, it was left the two of us. He was an easy person to talk to and we talked until 2am on that occasion. We remained friends when he started working while I stayed on in the Varsity. It was not until two years later that we went on our first date. We went to the movies. The show we watched was An American Tail.

The Proposal: There wasn't one specific occasion. In the early days, he seemed more ready than I was. Perhaps it was because he was already working. I used to evade the subject when it was brought up. Gradually, things just fell into place. We finally set a date for the wedding when we realised that we didn't want to say goodnight after a day together. Our family members were also complaining that we hogged the phone too much!

The gown: We saw some wonderful designs from this bridal shop during a Wedding Fair and promptly placed a deposit. However, when we visited the shop, we learnt that those designs have been reserved and there was little choice left. I was livid! Not wanting to forfeit my deposit (and it was kind of late to try another shop), we managed to have a gown tailor-made for me from the shop. E was very understanding. I recall changing my mind on the pattern (of the gown) overnight and was so afraid that the tailor has already commenced work on the gown that he rushed me down to the shop in Hougang during our lunch hour.

The wedding day: The weekend before our wedding, we had the tea ceremony and a dinner reception in KL for relatives from my side of the family. We drove to KL and back - it was hectic. He caught the flu bug but recovered sufficiently for our wedding day. I slept well the night before and had to be woken up to do my make-up and hair at 6:30am. My mom and I shared a touching moment alone just before he arrived with his entourage. The rest of the day passed by in a haze. We took some outdoor pictures at the Botanical Gardens and were even asked by some Japanese tourists to favour them with a pose. We proudly obliged. While I savoured the limelight, the day seemed unreal. We managed to catch forty winks before our dinner reception at the Marina Mandarin Hotel. I wore a slim-fitting dark green gown which received many compliments.

The wedding night: It had been a long day and everyone was considerate, leaving us to rest at 11:30pm. I was somewhat reluctant to remove my make-up and wash my hair as it signified the end of this once-in-a-lifetime day. The hotel suite was very luxurious. The next morning, we had breakfast served in the room and felt like The Rich And Famous.

The honeymoon: Four days in Bali at the exclusive Nusa Dua resort. After the excitement of the wedding, it was good to relax and enjoy the gentle serenity of the tropical island. On our first night there, we were serenaded by a group of Filipino guitarists with Love Me Tender.

Home: A four-room Bukit Batok flat. Every piece of furniture and decoration has been chosen with love and care. After all, home is where the heart is and when the wedding ends, a lifetime together begins.

Holiday's End

Learning a new skill needs persistence, grit and determination. Son No 2 shows that he has plenty of these qualities as he practises swimming almost everyday now this past week under his very patient but demanding brother coach.

As the designated swim coach of the family, Son No 1 has done an excellent job. He succeeded where I would not have because he demanded more and got more. Initially, I kept a close watch on their swimming sessions, but soon began to relax as Son No 1 earned my trust as a responsible brother coach.

Son No 3 has been understandably peeved that he has had nobody to play with in the "baby pool" - which we now call the "children's pool" - with due consideration for his feelings. He is not ready to learn swimming as he still dares not submerge his head fully into the water. I tell him when he is seven years old, like Son No 2, then it will be his turn to learn swimming. That does little to pacify him.

We have had a peaceful week, this last week of the school holidays - watching TV/DVDs, resting, completing homework assignments (in the case of Son No 1) and generally getting mentally prepared for the start of the new school year. I would say for all of us that this long holiday - starting from our trip to Singapore in early December to the Gold Coast to this do-nothing week at home - has been particularly rejuvenative.

Ya, we are all charged up and ready to run... bring it on!

A Lesson On Economics

Son No 1 groaned when he read in my AirAsia blog post that I would not hesitate to book AirAsia again when our family next goes on holiday. He'd much prefer Cathay Pacific or Singapore Airlines, which we took when we went to Hong Kong the year before. But... of course. Who wouldn't?

Hmm... a lesson on economics seems to be order. Economics is, simply put, how one manages limited resources to fulfil unlimited wants. In other words, we want a lot of things, but our resources, be it money or time or manpower, are limited. Here, I would focus on money as the limited resource - we are far from the calibre of Daddy Warbucks.

So I asked Son No 1 to think about it: Would he prefer that we go on an overseas holiday once every two years, flying AirAsia, or once every three years, flying a full-serviced airline? The cost of flying AirAsia is roughly two-thirds the cost of flying a full-serviced airline and airfare is by far the single largest expenditure for an overseas holiday for our family of five. This is a question of trade-off.

The next lesson is a bit more complex - the question of notional incremental benefit. If we pay 30% more for the full-serviced airline, do we get 30% more enjoyment? Not forgetting that this questionable 30% more enjoyment is only limited to the duration of the flight, which is a small fraction of time for the total trip. For our recent Gold Coast adventure, total flight time was 16 hours versus 168 hours (7 days) that we spent at the Gold Coast.

Good thing Son No 1 is mathematical and is logical in thinking. I think he can grasp the arguments that are posed. Let him mull over it. My objective is to raise awareness, not to dictate his thinking. We all recognise that there is no right or wrong answer. How we allocate our resources, or in this case, money, depends on many factors, such as one's value system, objective and personal preferences.

If I were travelling alone, I do not even need to think about it. Flying a budget airline is not a problem for me. I do not need the frills. I'd sit there on the plane with a good book and some good tidbits and that would keep me quite happy for hours on end. So long as the airline has a good safety record, I might add.

Now that I am travelling with hubby and children, sigh, it is a different ball-game altogether. They are all individuals in their own rights with different wants. There are more decision criteria that need to be assessed.

I always feel that as the children grow, it would be good to have them understand how we make decisions. It is a lifeskill. In our household, we always apply principles of economics, whether we know it or not. We do not always go for the cheapest that is available in the market. We go for value for money.

And to determine value for money, we always look at alternatives available and the incremental benefit. The 160GB i-pod may seem "cheaper" when compared to the 80GB based on cost per GB, but if we do not even use more than 30GB, then it would not make sense to buy the 160GB. The other useful measurement is cost per use. If the item would be used frequently, then we wouldn't mind paying more for one that is of better quality.

Even when I go to the market, I apply some sort of economic principles, lol! It is really quite simple when it becomes a habit and a way of thinking. Cod fish or mackerel?

Click - Not Another Review

Today is the first day of 2009. It is probably cheesy to write a review of 2008 and/or a list of resolutions for 2009. So I am not going to do it.

Instead, I am going to write about the Adam Sandler movie that we watched on DVD last night, Click. Briefly, this 2006 comedy is about a busy, up-and-coming architect who constantly needed to balance work under a demanding boss and a charming family consisting of a pretty stay-at-home wife and two children aged 7 and 5. One day, he landed a universal remote control that allowed him to control his life, like a TV box. He could fast forward his life when he hits rough patches, pause his life to give him time to do things that suited him, or rewind his life to specific past moments in his life.

Ya, it is another time travel show - and it was appropriate for us to watch as a family (minus Son No 3 who is still very selective about the type of shows that he could sit through) on New Year's Eve. Of course, when we began watching the show, at the recommendation of Son No 1, who had watched the show alone when we were in the Gold Coast, we were just looking forward to it as another comedy. But there is good food for thought from this show...

As I reflected on the show on New Year's Eve, I find myself asking what would I have done if I have this gadget with me. Fast forward my life? Pause my life? Rewind? I am not about to reveal in this public blog what my action or actions might be, or to which point I would like to rewind or fast forward, if indeed that was desirable. Private thoughts are sometimes better reserved in the remote recesses of the mind. And I have already been more than honest in this blog of mine.

But I would like to invite you, my dear readers, to pause for a moment and think about your life too.

Oh no, I hear you say, is she going to be moralistic and highbrow about things? Well, the answer is no, obviously *twinkle*

What I am saying is this: it's the start of a brand new year, I know the tills are ringing in the shops with fabulous post-Christmas sale, but it's timely that we take stock of our personal lives. In the mad whirlwind of these modern times, I know how easily it is to lose track of time and find that oops, yet another year has passed.

Going with the flow could mean precious years lost. Think about it.