Fruit Diet Day

There is this email that has been in circulation in the cyberworld for a while - about the goodness of eating fruits. It advocates eating fruits before a meal (not after a meal as what is commonly practised) and having an all-fruit diet for 3 days for detoxification purposes.

Now I have always been sceptical about such emails. There are too many wild claims that are unsubstantiated. Son No 1, a true netizen, regularly asks me complex questions - derived from the internet - such as whether it is true that the length of one's thumb is always the same as the length of one's nose. *Roll eyes*

But this particular email caught my hubby's and my attention. Especially the detoxification part. Man, besides the various health benefits a fruit diet purportedly brings, it promises that I would be GLOWING after a 3-day fruit diet... Hmm, not bad a proposition at all, especially since I should try to lose some weight before the grand wedding bash that is coming up in one week's time.

So I floated the idea and received enthusiastic buy-in from everyone. We decided to try it out for one day first. It's not difficult to guess why we chose yesterday, a Sunday. We figured we would all be weak from the lack of carbohydrates and proteins and so what better day than Sunday, our rest day?

But first, we needed to stock up on fruits, and so we had a fruit shopping spree at Mercato (left) the night before.




Bananas (two combs), apples, pears, oranges, watermelon, lychee, mangoes, grapes... Be warned, it is not cheap to go on a fruit diet :)

Sunday morning came, we had watermelon juice, mangoes and bananas. Some of us miss our morning cuppas... and throughout the morning, we snacked on fruits.

We were a bit worried whether it was suitable for young children to go on a fruit diet and surfed the net to find out more. In any case, in the afternoon, we relented and told the two younger boys to go and drink some milk - which they gulped down hungrily. Son No 3 decided to push his luck further and asked for his otah bun - and he got it.

I was rather impressed, though, by Son No 1's determination to keep to the plan. He had a project group meeting at his friend's house that day and his friends had McDonald's take-way for lunch. But Son No 1, tempted thought he must be, did not sway. He just ate the pear that he had brought along with him - and later he told us that he only tasted the tomato sauce from McDonald's. Good on him.

Late afternoon, hubby and I drove out to buy the King Of Fruits - DURIANS! Ha, that was our secret weapon *grin*



I don't know if the writers of those fruit emails considered durians as a fruit - but it certainly is - and so we were not breaking any rules. We bought three fruits of the "udang merah" or "hong ha" variety - widely regarded as one of the superior species of durians.

After the scrumptious durian meal, we all felt full and contented. Ah, no sweat, this fruit diet!

For dinner, Son No 3 eagerly squeezed some oranges to make juice for us. We had more fruits - grapes, lychees, bananas...

That night, the children and I went to bed earlier than usual.

So did I glow at the end of the diet? Erm... not really. Maybe the next time, we will do it for 3 days. Just maybe.... It is not really a breeze, this fruit diet. The craving for some savoury food is there all the time - for me at least. Son No 2's verdict? "I don't like Fruit Diet Day", he said before he slept. Hmm... I guess it will be difficult to garner support the next time round!

Mother's Day

Popo was in town on Mother's Day and we had a 3-generational celebration at a dim sum restaurant here.

Son No 1 sent me a message on Facebook - and this is totally in keeping with his character. On-line chatting is his favourite mode of communication right now. I am glad I am his Friend on Facebook. The two younger boys made cards in school in conjunction with the occasion.

My sis sent me an sms message and showed her perceptive nature once again. She said boys are generally not very "showy" but she is sure my boys appreciated me just the same. Thanks, sis!

Pepper Lunch

The popular Pepper Lunch chain from Japan has opened its first outlet in Malaysia - at the Pavilion Shopping Mall. *Hurray*

We have patronized the restaurant twice over the past one month since it opened. Its signature item, the beef pepper rice, served on a sizzling pan, is Son No 1's favourite and he never fails to order the meal whenever we have the chance to go to the Junction 8 food court in Singapore.

So enthusiastic was he over the dish that he tried to make his own version of the pepper rice at home (below, left). I reckon it's not too bad, considering he did not have the corn and the beef in his rice!
The real deal is on the right -enough to make you drool!!!

G*U*N*S

Yesterday, Son No 3 got another belated birthday present. (WHAT, is this birthday thingy never going to end???)

It's a pair of Ben 10 walkie-talkie. Son No 3 was very excited and possessive over the new toy. But this is one toy that is really no fun playing on your own - so in the end, all the boys had a go at it. I was quite happy to leave them alone playing with their new toy while I did my own thing on the computer. They were shouting inane messages loudly from one room to another - their actual voices drowning the transmitted voices - but no matter...

The next moment when I turned around, who knows, the walkie-talkies (see picture) had morphed into a pair or guns, lol! The boys were no longer contented with the game of transmitting voices but were now leaping off the sofa, hiding behind walls and aiming at each other with their "guns" - shooting, dodging, reloading..... are they creative or what? A two-in-one toy!

Sigh! Should have known this would happen.

I have never bought a single toy gun for my three sons - but this had not stopped my three sons from developing this fascination with guns and shooting. They somehow manage to turn whatever they can get hold of into their "guns", whether we like it or not.

You're right, it's in the male genes.

*Give up*

Mothers of daughters only will not understand.

I learnt very much earlier on, thanks to the boys, that the versatility of Lego building blocks makes them ideal for the construction of all types of fanciful weapons.

Disposal wooden chopsticks are also good materials for shaping into guns or bows and arrows.

Plastic drinking straws are easily available and quite malleable.

Even crackers can be bitten and shaped to become a 2-D pistol.

Ya, the boys' imagination knows no bounds when it comes to creating the things that they like (and forbidden).

And when absolutely nothing is available to them, then their thumb and first finger, shaped into the familiar L-shape, will give them the instant gun that they desired!

It's amazing how realistic the boys can be with this shooting-thingy. I notice that, a split second after they have fired a shot, their arm will jerk backwards - as if it was pushed back by the recoil force. Ah, where did they learn that - Newton's 3rd law of motion?! Dodging imaginary bullets, rolling on the ground injured, pretending to be dead - hmm, they can be really good actors, these boys. Hey, no need to go for drama classes-leh...

I have no doubt that, from here, the two younger boys will eventually move on to first person shooter video games - like Son No 1.

Last night, I heard a stream of merry laughter coming out of Son No 1's room. Curious, I went in to check what movie he was watching on his MacBook. But no... it was not a movie he was watching - he was laughing out loud for shooting the wrong people in some computer game. Really.

*Give up*

Women will never understand, I guess.

Restaurant City

The three boys and I have moved on from Pet Society and are now playing Restaurant City.

Both games are found in Facebook.

If you have always wanted to be an entrepreneur, this is the game for you :)

Restaurant City is a game in which each player runs a restaurant. The game is quite simple.

The aim is to (1) run the restaurant efficiently so that customers are satisfied and (2) to grow the business so that it is the highest-ranked restaurant and/or the most beautiful restaurant.

Briefly, the modus operandi is as follows:

1 The number of workers and the size of the restaurant is contingent on *gourmet points* earned based on customers' satisfaction. To level up, players need to collect these points. Customers give a thumbs up for a meal promptly served, thumbs down for a long wait or unclean tables. At higher levels, customers also demand clean toilets.

2 The player hires the workers from the pool of Friends. These workers are designated either as Cleaner, Cook or Waiter.

3 For each meal served, dollars are earned. These dollars are used to upgrade the restaurant or to buy other functional items to improve the popularity of the restaurant. Full discretion is given to the player with regards to the aesthetics and the layout of the restaurant. Dollars are also used to buy food for the workers. If the workers are not taken care of, they will stop working.

4 The menu is dependent on the ingredients collected by the player. Each day, a free ingredient is given when the player logs in. Nevertheless, to make a meal, necessary ingredients can be traded with Friends (ah, there's where the social networking element comes in).

5 The efficiency of the restaurant is measured by the popularity indicator. The absolute maximum is 50.

Watch this space for tips on playing the game!

Postscript: The restaurants depicted above belong to the 4 of us. Come and visit!

Belated Birthday Treat

Son No 3's birthday celebration ain't over yet!

Owing to our hectic schedules over the past 2 weeks, we have not had time to keep our promise to bring him to MegaKidz, the huge indoor playground at the Mid-Valley Megamall. It was to be his birthday treat. So yesterday, we finally made our way there. The children spent 4 hours there crawling through tunnels, sliding down the mega-slides and jumping at the bouncy castle. Hmm... it's a good way for them to expend all their excess energy :)


Good thing the place was located within the Megamall. Hubby and I left our maid, Siti, there with the children and had a pseudo-holiday - in mini-Singapore! We had lunch at the Food Junction, shopped at Robinson's and enjoyed coffee and kaya toast at the Killiney Kopitiam for tea, lol!

That night, we celebrated Siti's 26th birthday at home with pizza delivery and a cake (see below).


Well, I guess another to look at it is that we went to MegaKidz today to celebrate Siti's birthday!

Three Is Fun!!!

Note: For all who are watching from the office, be reminded that you need to switch on the sound to hear the audio.... :)

1,2,3...and Go!

This year, we were unable to celebrate the children's grandma's birthday with her and so we decided to create a short video and post it on Facebook. It would be the children's birthday gift for their popo.

Easier said than done.

The final product was 42 seconds, but the production took days in the making! OK, we had other things to do and could only talk about it at night. But we had a glimpse of what directors of films have to go through to get a movie done :)

First, we had to decide on the concept. Initially, Son No 1 wanted to mix a birthday song using the GarageBand software which he has been using in his Music Technology class in school. Son No 3 would play the tune on the piano and it would be a collaborated effort. But after a few attempts, the sound that came out was just not .... right. So we had to abandon the idea.

Then, we thought of having each son performing an item. Son No 3 was ab-so-lute-ly game, he was excited and practised diligently the "Happy Birthday" solo on the piano and I duly recorded it. Son No 2 did not practise a lot but managed to play another solo piece on the piano. But Son No 1 was stuck. Hmm... maybe not... somehow, the whole thing was turning out to look like a piano recital.

On the day before the actual day, I finally provided the story-board and the direction for our grand effort. I would play on the piano and the children would sing the "Happy Birthday" song, first in English and then in Mandarin. Hubby would be the cinematographer. We had to agree on how and where the children would stand, the type of lighting and the effects. I wanted to pan the children's faces close-up, but hubby said our camera would not be able to do a decent job. So we settled for what our equipment could do... which was not a lot.

Anyway, then the actual recording started. The children were nervous on the first take. They sang softly and kept looking uncertainly on the floor or at me. The next take, Son No 2 acted up a bit and moved from his position so that he was half-hidden behind Son No 1. And so on and so forth. Mid-way, I amended the script to have them cheer and greet popo at the end, but after a certain point, it was difficult even to coax smiles from the boys. OK, I think we just had to make do.

Then the post-production began (cheh!). We played the various videos and chose what we thought was the best. But we had a setback when we tried to upload the video - we were told that it would take something like 20 hours! That would cut it really fine to meet our deadline. So, as Plan B, we took a backup video with a poorer resolution and smaller filesize, just in case. But thank goodness, somehow, the uploading speed accelerated a bit and we got our original video up after a few hours.

The feedback from everyone was good - especially popo, she was really happy with her three grandsons. Well, all I can say is that it was definitely worth the effort!

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!

National Science Center, KL

I learnt something from our visit to the Pusat Sains Negara at Bukit Damansara yesterday.

A roundabout number is a number that when you multiply by something, the numbers in it are in the product. An example of a roundabout number is 142857. So,

if multiplied by 2: 142857 x 2 = 285714
if multiplied by 3: 142857 x 3 = 428571

Try multiplying by other numbers. Fascinating, isn't it?

A puzzle:

Draw 4 straight lines to connect all the dots.

[Scroll down for answer.]

Answer:

Piece of cake?!

Facebook

"The family that plays together, stays together." This old adage still applies in the modern age, albeit in different forms.

Our whole family are members of Facebook, the social networking site. That's right - from my 5-year-old son to my forty-something husband. It helps to connect us somewhat in the digital world. Our extended family members are also on Facebook. This has the effect of levelling all relationships - such that the stern Auntie Mrs Low is now privately called by my young children as Goh-See, their interpretation of her avatar's name!

My young children use it mainly to play interactive games. Their favourite is Pet Society - which is modelled more or less on the same ideas as Sim's. They play with each other as well as with their cousin and uncle.

It's sometimes educational. Their latest favourite game, GeoChallenge, saw the children brushing up their Geography knowledge. Son No 1, through trial and error, has considerably improved his score. I was also extremely heartened to see Son No 2 lugging out the big atlas to learn the flags of the various countries. So much so that he has got his competitive Mummy, who is so far the top scorer, brushing up her knowledge too. Well, all's fair.

At the end of the day, it's a good way for keeping in touch and for sharing photos. We can now "visit" a niece's new house in Melbourne and enjoy another niece's wedding in Singapore. I also see it as a new dating tool - economical, convenient and hassle-free. Hey, are you free to go on Facebook tonight?

Fun At Ikea Playland

Son No 3 did not need to go to school today as the kindergarten declared a special holiday after Saturday's concert. As a treat, I brought him and Son No 2 to Ikea's Playland this morning.

This place is highly recommended for stay-at-home moms who need a reliable baby-sitter for an hour or so. While the children were playing, I had time to run some errands and browse at the Popular bookstore. It was a lovely morning. It's times like these that make me appreciate my life as a SAHM.

"Toon Town" Zoo

Be warned. The Children's Zoo has turned into the "Toon Town" Zoo.

Those of us with children will remember the Children's Zoo within the Singapore Zoo. It was the favourite section for pre-schoolers because the children were able to pet the friendly animals (guinea pigs, rabbits) and feed the goats and other animals. The Children's Zoo has been closed for a while for a major revamp. The last time we visited the zoo at end-August this year, the whole section was still barricaded and hidden from view.
To my horror, when we visited the zoo today, I saw that the Children's Zoo is unveiled and has become "Toon Town" Zoo - that's my name for it. There are these ghastly strongly-hued cartoonish structures at the entrance (see left) which appeared starkly out-of-place in this environmentally-friendly zoo.

Dominating the entrance are a carousel with gaily decorated pony mannequins (ugh! - see below) and the run-of-the-mill tourist souvenir shop. In my view, it is crass commercialism at its worst. What is the management thinking about? Surely there are other ways of making legitimate money. If we had wanted these attractions, we would have gone to Orchard Road or some other theme parks. This is the Singapore Zoo, for heaven's sake. I don't mean to be overly-critical, but my main emotion this morning was one of disappointment.

When the children wanted to feed the goats, we found the goats in a new home. Another horror - the path outside the goats' new home is largely cemented, with hardly any trees. Few trees = few leaves = little feeding opportunity. The children had to literally scavenge the whole place for a few miserable leaves to feed the goats (see below). The children still fed the goats cheerfully but with visibly less excitement.
OK, enough of that. Let's talk about some good surprises... hmm, the family membership fee has gone up from S$150 to S$180 per year. Nope, that's not it. Prices have gone up everywhere, so it's not a surprise. YES - there is a new boat ride (see below) which starts at the Children's Zoo and ends at the exit. It serves to carry visitors back to the exit without their having to walk through all the exhibits, a walk that is easily half an hour. But seats are very limited and you need to wait for designated times.

(Above) The boat, Pedro, is named after one of the otters in the Zoo.
(Below) During the cruise at the Upper Seletar Reservoir.

(Above) The children enjoying a little KFC picnic.
(Below) The jaguars are still alive and well. Thank goodness, feeding time remains unchanged at 11 am.
(Below) After our zoo visit, we went to the Oasis at Toa Payoh for lunch. Faidu loved this scenery very much and we just had to show it ....

Short Trip To Singapore

We are in Singapore for a short trip to run errands. To Singapore's credit, things went very smoothly on all fronts (read: no queue) and we managed to sort out most of our stuff by Saturday morning.

The children are having a lovely time, as usual. Their primary purpose for coming to Singapore is "to play with Faidu". That meant, playing computer games (see left) and a game called "day and night" in Faidu's bedroom. When asked what else would they like to do, it is going swimming and going to the playground at the condominium, in that order. If pressed further, it would be a trip to the Singapore Zoo.

We, the whole family, are creatures of habit and we are not too adventurous about going to new places in Singapore. We like to go to familiar places, like Por Kee Restaurant at Outram and our favourite shopping center, Junction 8. We also like to feel at home and that's why we made a beeline to Best Denki to buy a wireless router for the apartment so that we can all remain connected on-line (we brought 3 laptops from home!). As you can see, I am thus able to continue blogging and surfing.

This morning, we went to Chinatown, a relatively "new" place for the children. We had porridge for breakfast at the Chinatown Complex.

Chinatown has changed quite a bit. We saw the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple (above) which was impressive in its gleaming and somewhat modern facade. But I can't help thinking that it would be better if there was less of the synthetic and gimmicky feel to it.

Son No 2 was in his element. Eagerly practising his mandarin, he impressed his grandma by reading almost every signboard in Chinese.

The morning stroll in Chinatown was pleasant. I am sure if we had more time, it would be a truly educational visit.

Book Fair And Cheow Yang

This morning, we braced the heavy morning traffic to reach the MPH warehouse sale before 9 am. The sale was to start at 9am. I thought I've got it figured out - to reach there early to get a parking lot. But it was a shocker - both sides of the road were already fully double-parked by the time we reached there. I suspect it's the normal working crowd - it just goes to show that there are too many cars on the roads, but what to do? There's no alternative transportation.

To cut a long story short, by luck and gumption, I managed to get a decent illegal parking lot right in front of the warehouse. Son No 2 and I spent a fruitful 1.5 hours there and got 12 books for RM156. What a steal! Mind you, these are quality books, some hardcover, some by Usborne. Son No 2 got 4 books about predators, big cats and volcanoes. I chose a colourful coffee-table hard cover "Lord Of The Rings" book for Son No 1 and an illustrated children's atlas for Son No 3. I also got a few story books for the children.

For myself, I got 2 autobiography by people that I admire: Hillary Clinton and Vikram Seth, the author of "A Suitable Boy". I am gleefully waiting for the chance to bury myself in between the pages - umm, I should be well-prepared for my forthcoming holidays.

Later, we had lunch at the legendary Cheow Yang in SS2. Those of us familiar with the place already know it's no longer owned by Cheow Yang, but the name stuck. As a blogger, I tend to carry my camera with me most of the time and in the spur of the moment, I thought it would be a good idea to capture this significant place in digital history. So, in spite of the curious crowd there, I gamely took a few shots of the place and am posting them in this blog (see below). Ya, they all probably thought I was a tourist, or heaven forbid, an undercover agent from MBPJ, the town council!

In time to come, we can all look back and explain to our grandchildren this place called Cheow Yang (like it or hate it) and the delicious "you tiao" stall in front of it. If your grandchildren were to ask you, in a foreign accent (ya, my imagination is rather fertile at the moment), "Mama and gonggong, what is you tiao?", it's actually dough fritters. I have also taken a picture of this street-side cuisine for your "show and tell"!

Pyjamas Party Every Night

First, it was the broadband to go. Now, it's the air-conditioner.

The air-conditioner in the two younger boys' bedroom has been groaning for a while, but we chose to ignore it. However, now it has started making these loud rattling noises that demand attention. There was no way that the two boys could sleep with that type of racket.

There were only two temporary solutions for the boys:

A) To sleep in their bedroom without the air-cond or

B) To camp in mummy's and daddy's bedroom for a while.

It was a no-brainer. A pyjamas party every night?!! Another dream came true!

Well, they will be camping in our room for the next few nights until the repairman fixes the air-cond. The two boys love the idea of sleeping in our room so much that they asked if we could make it a permanent fixture. Hmm...

A Day At Genting

Before the flu bug hit last week, we were at Genting Highlands for a day-trip. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. The weather was good - unexpectedly cool (about 18 degrees C) which made it more fun.

What was significant about it? For one, Son No 1 is now tall enough (1.55m) to take all the rides. I remember not too long ago when he was about 1.2m and he was quite upset that he could not take some rides. It became a motivation for him to grow. Now it is the two younger boys' turn to wait patiently to grow...

That day at Genting also marked the first time Son No 1 took a roller-coaster ride all by himself.

We did a couple of family rides (see pictures below) and ended the day at the indoor arcade where the boys lived their dreams of being F1 race car drivers (more pictures below). Beats me every time why the male species love to drive!

Yen's Studio Wedding

It was a family bonding time last week as Popo, Ping Yee, Uncle Ronny, Cousins Yen and Jack came to KL from Singapore and Faidu flew in from Bali. The occasion was Cousin Yen's "studio wedding" - to coin a new term!

Unfortunately, there was a flu virus hanging around and most of us were down with flu towards the end of the one-week break. That explains the silence on this blog.

Bake-A-Cake

Last night, Son No 1 finally got a chance to try baking a cake. He followed the recipe closely (read: scientifically) and put in his best effort. His two brothers watched with rapt attention, while clamouring for their turns to stir the mixture every now and then.


Mummy here guided with theoretical knowledge, explaining why each step was necessary. Son No 1 expressed surprise that mummy had such knowledge (I think his quiet assessment so far was that I was hopeless in the kitchen - a fact that I don't dispute) and I had to tell him that I did home economics in school, and scored a distinction too.

The final product was not very successful - ok, the cake was burnt - but it was due to a faulty oven more than anything else.

After putting the cake mixture into the oven for about 10 minutes, Son No 3 alerted us that there was smoke coming out of the oven. Alarmed, we quickly summoned good old dad. As you can see, dads are real handy when things go wrong!

We thought the burnt cake would go straight into the garbage bin, but Son No 1 and Son No 3 both enthusiastically tried to eat the unburnt parts (see the yellow bits in the picture below) and proclaimed it, well, edible and quite nice. Typically, Son No 2, who is more circumspect and selective over his food, gave an "ew", made a face and declined to follow his brothers' actions.

Well, I will need to call the oven guy to come and take a look at the oven soon. For sure, this will not be the last time we are baking. It can be quite fun.