Hardrock Hotel Penang Part I

Date : 11th December 2009

We have to attend a friend's wedding dinner in Penang on the 12th Dec. So we took the opportunity to book ourselves into the Hardrock Hotel in Penang with their promotional rate. The rooms were really nothing to shout about as they are pretty small and would not justify the normal rate price that they are charging. I'm not complaining this trip cause we were only paying 50% of the normal rate.

We left KL early in the morning and drop my mother in law and our maid in Ipoh before continuing our journey to Penang. To our surprise, the entire place was packed and crowded. We were lucky that the front office was kind enough to check us in without much waiting because we have little Ryan with us.

Honestly, we were not totally impressed with the lobby nor the room but it was an experience.

We have not had our lunch and since we are too lazy to drive out for our lunch, we just went to the Hardrock Cafe for our lunch (at around 3pm). It was Ryan's first trip to his first Hardrock Cafe! The restaurant was not really crowded but it too quite a while before our meal came. Meanwhile, Ryan was enjoying himself having his pictures taken.

Continue in Part II.

Kiss Kiss

Ryan is one fast learner and has learnt to make many funny faces whenever we mentioned certain words. We have taught him to put his hands and wave against his nose when we mentioned 'smelly'. Now whenever he has pooed in his diapers, he would walk to us and make the `smelly' sign and point to his soiled diapers.

The recent word that we taught him was `kiss kiss'. Whenever we asked him to `kiss kiss' he would give me and his mommy a kiss on our lips...He will even catch hold of Zoewe, our toy poodle and will plant a kiss on her nose! (with all his saliva).

I just hope that he does not start kissing all the little girls in the park or he could end up with a tight slap on his face soon....or parents would come complaining about our `Casanova' son kissing their daughters.....

Pa Pa and Ma Ma

Date : 2nd December 2009

After months of trying to get Ryan to call us, he is finally shouting 'Pa Pa' and 'Ma Ma'. He is a very noisy and talkative boy, often shouting and yelling on top of his lungs in a language that probably only he can understand. When he got hold of any handphone, he will put it to his ears and will start rambling and yelling as if he is talking to someone on the other side. But no matter how hard we try to teach and coach him, he just refused to call Daddy, Mommy, Di, Mi or Papa or Mama until today.

The very first word that he is good at is 'Emm Mooi'. (In Cantonese, is No or Don't Want). Whenever he doesn't want something, he will be frantically shaking his head and repeatedly said 'Emm Mooi. Emm Mooi..'

Looks like he has two more new words into his limited vocabulary. Two words that both his daddy and mommy is SO SO happy to hear him repeat over and over again...

The Youngest Windows 7 supporter

Was in Sunway Pyramid shopping recently and saw this backdrop. Couldn't help but to get both mommy and son to pose for this picture. He gave a big Flying Kiss and thumbs up for Windows 7. I guess I should sent this picture to Bill and see whether we could get some advertising or modelling fees. Ryan is probably his youngest Windows 7 supporter!!!!

First Trip to Sunway Lagoon!

Backdated post.

2 Saturdays ago, we brought Ryan to Sunway Lagoon for the very first time. We knew how much he loves the water and we thought it would be a perfect weekend for him. And I'm sure that you would agreed with me that he has a fabulous time.

My wife has a free voucher for 2 theme parks which expires on the 30th Oct and another that gave us a discount. So, we woke Ryan up early and by 10:00 a.m., I was already waiting at the ticket counter to get our tickets and I was their first customer! Got our tickets and went for our breakfast before returning at 11:00 a.m., ready for our adventure.

The moment Ryan saw the water slides and pool, he couldn't contain his excitement. We quickly got our lockers and changed and headed straight for the water. He was having so much fun and just refused to come out.

And the most embarassing moments were when he started waving and smiling and eyeing all the young beautiful girls in their wet t-shirts and swim suits walking pass.....!! And his mother was blaming me and insisted that he inherited that from me!!! Hahaha....

Creamy Broccoli Soup - Good for Pregnant and/or Breastfeeding Mommies

Since it is a Sunday and we got tired of eating out, I've decided to cook dinner tonight. We still have four chicken drumstick left in the freezer and some frozen tiger prawns bought back from our holiday in Kota Kinabalu. The drumstick are baked with peanut butter and potato chips while the tiger prawns are simply baked with butter and garlic.

Our meals are never complete without a soup. Went online to search and came across this recipe, Creamy Broccoli Soup. Apparently, this soup is an excellent dish for pregnant and breastfeeding mommies since broccoli is rich with frolic acid. And the soup is relatively easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 2 crowns of broccoli, chopped
• chicken broth
• skim milk
• ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Boil onion, carrot, celery, garlic and chicken broth in a large soup pot. Add pepper to taste
• Add broccoli and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes or until broccoli is tender
• Allow the soup to cool and transfer soup into blender. Add in milk and blend until smooth.
• Transfer blended soup back into pot and reheat the mixture slowly until heated through.
• Serve hot.

"Ka......!!!!!!!"

"KAAA.......!!!!!"

We found a old malaysia flag and gave it to him over the weekend. As he was waving it around, we were teaching him to shout "MERDEKA!". After a few rounds of us shouting excitedly, suddenly, without realising it, he was waving the flag and was shouting "KAAAA....!!" " KAAAAA...!!!" What a hilarious time we had seeing him running around the house with the little flag and shouting "KAAAA....!!!!"

Starting them young to love the country...hahaha

Ryan's first car wash!

He enjoys anything to do with water. He has a natural affinity for water and is totally at ease and at home when he is in the pool. He will purposely dip his head into the water and comes up laughing and giggling.

Since my car was rather dirty 2 days ago and I had to fetch a client yesterday for an appointment, I have asked the maid to give my car a wash. And since it was a hot hot afternoon, I passed the water hose to Ryan and boy, did he have a field day. He was happily spraying water all over the place and left no part of the car dried (even after kakak has wiped).

But getting him to stop was a nightmare as he was enjoying it too much that he just refused to stop and was screaming at the top of his lungs when he took to water hose from him. He even refused to let the maid to give him his bath and insisted that he wanted me because it is the maid who took the water hose from him. He was just angry with her!!

Saliva Show!

We caught him playing with his saliva one day while watching TV. He was comfortably sitting in his high back chair watching his favourite cartoon. The more we laughed at him, the happier he became and the greater the saliva show.

He is really an attention seeker and is most happy when all eyes are on him.

A sore loser!

Ryan and Zoewe likes to play together. And Ryan likes to take Zoewe's favourite toys like her ball and pebbles while Zoewe would like to take his little building blocks away. They were playing as usual and Ryan managed to grab Zoewe's favourite `sepak takraw' ball and was walking everywhere in the house with it. Zoewe was following him all the over the house and trying to grab it back whenever she gets the chance.

I managed to grab this video and see how a sore loser Ryan can be when he lost the ball to Zoewe. Fortunately, Zoewe is such a good nature pet and she totally just ignored him and walked away.

Milestone: He is taking more than 5 steps! Finally!

23rd Aug 2009

He has been taking a few steps at a time but nothing more than 5 before he would just sit down and crawl instead. I'm a little worried that he will take much longer to learn to walk if he continued preferring to crawl than walk (since he finds it faster to reach his `targets' when he crawls). With lots of encouragements from my mother in law (who is staying with us during the school holidays, the maid who spends a lot of time with him and us), he finally managed to take more than 5 steps! Another great milestone achieved. :)

His First Haircut!

Date : 22nd Aug 2009

We have not cut his hair since birth although everyone has been telling or advising us to get it done for him so that he will have more hair. However, we just could not bring ourselves around to crop his precious baby hair especially when they are so soft. However, over the last one year, the only patch of hair that had grow seemed to be right on the top and center of his head. Everyone has been telling us how terrible he looked, but to us, that is his uniqueness. But I guessed the time is ripe for us to crop his hair to allow a more even growth, but not until we did what we had always wanted to do with his hair. Make it spiky!!!!

His punk spiky look!!!!!

We had a great time taking pictures of him with this new hair style. Once, we are satisfied, we took him to the hairdresser. We were worried that he will be not be still or will be yelling and screaming away, but surprise surprise....

He was so quiet and still throughout, seemingly enjoying the process, either the sound of the electric hair cropper or the sensation of his hair being cut.

He actually looked so different after the hair cut. So much naughtier. We actually had to take some time to get ourselves accustomed to him not having any hair. Our next hair style for him would be one with a little tail...hehe...

Holiday at E&O Part II

Second part of some pictures taken of Ryan while he was holidaying at Penang. He enjoyed every inch of the hotel, literally. He was crawling all over the room, crawling or trying to walk at the lobby, making out with all the waitresses and Mat salleh girls (even while he was having his swim in the swimming pool). This little guy has an eye for pretty girls and he knows one when he sees one..wink wink.

All the ladies were saying how cute he is lar and wanted to carry him. He doesn't seem to mind as long as they are pretty. He was giggling and laughing so loud in the pool that most eyes were on him while he was enjoying himself.

"See. E&O. You are staying at E&O"

Fooling around in the long bath tub in the bathroom.

A storm brewing on saturday when we arrived. Looked like a huge tornado is about to hit. Scary. Can't imagine the fear if it is the real one that close.

Ryan having fun in the lobby, crawling everywhere. Caught here crawling under some tables in the lobby.

In the midst of being undressed and getting him ready for bed after attending a friend's son full moon party.

`Chiak! Peek-a-boo'. Ryan having fun and making a fool of himself in the pool. Needless to say, he became the center of attention and he seemed to be enjoying every minute of it.

This little guy has no fear for water. He intentionally dipped his head and face into the water and start giggling and laughing so loud each time he did that.

`Face-off' with waves that were splashing against the retaining wall near the swimming pool. Pretty scary actually and I was hanging to Ryan so tight, waiting for the moment when the waves will come splashing down. It's that little boy in me that urges me to do.

'Totally overwhelmed!' The waves were just 8 to 10 foot tall but the power when they came crashing down was awesome. I had to turn away but little Ryan took it head on, not realising what is coming. Did it scare him? No way! He enjoyed it so much that he was crying for more!

Mommy's turn to play with him in the pool while daddy became the camera man.

Riding on the big gun.

The only time we could get him to sit still. He was afraid of the pricky grass. So, he did not move an inch from the moment we placed him down.

Holiday at E&O Part I

We went for a short weekend holiday in Penang. We have initially wanted to stay at Lone Pines but unfortunately they are closed for upgrading works till October. And, all the hotels around Batu Ferringhi were fully booked. Fortunately a good friend of ours got us a suite at E&O.

Well, it certainly is an experience staying in this charming hotel. Some of the layout and design of this hotel brings you back to the good days of the early 1930s while others give you the impression that you are in your parent's era, the 1950s.


A nice pair! Something that I have never lay my hands on before.

Something that we were trying hard to make sure that Ryan does not press.

The dresssing table in the walk-in closet. Creepy....

The elegant bathroom...

The bedroom and the two queen size beds and two TVs.

The antique lift with it's iron grille...

Marketing Gimmick or Misrepresentation?

"INTERNATIONAL BEER PROMOTION. Daily. Time : 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m."

Whey you walk past this poster and look at their promotion, what do you think that they were promoting and what is the duration of the promotion?

We were staying at E&O during the past weekend for a short break and I came across this at one of their outlet. My wife was looking at me and said, "Wah. You happy lor! International beer promotion and some more whole day!" Honestly, I was excited looking at the range of international beer that was displayed at the poster and the whole day promotion period.

So at 4p.m. we happily walked into this outlet and ordered our snack since they have their burger promotion. Fortunately, I am sober enough to ask what kind of international beer do they offer and at what promotional price? Shocking as it sound to me, this was the waitress answer...

Me: "So, you have beer promotion right ?"
She: "No sir. Not now. Only happy hour."
Me : "Huh? Happy hour? What time is your happy hour?"
She: "5 p.m. to 8 p.m."
Me: "But your poster outside says "11:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. daily"
She: "Oh...That is our opening hours sir."
Me: "Huh? Eerrr...ok...so what kinda of international beer do you offer?"
She: "On the menu sir. Tiger, Guiness and Kilkenny"
Me: "Huh? That's all?"
She: "Yes sir."

At this point in time, I am really not in the mood to argue with her and I don't intend to spoilt my holiday over a glass of beer. But what happened to the Corona, Asahi, Leffe that were in the poster?

Wife: "How about your burger promotion?"
She: "Oh. That we have the whole day."
Me: "Huh????"

Two seemingly similar messages in the same poster but with different results. So, is this just a marketing gimmick, pure oversight or gross misrepresentation.

Anyway, since by the time, the burger arrived, it was already 4:30p.m., I just waited till 5:05 p.m. (just to be certain) before I ordered my Kilkenny draft at happy hour price. A holiday will be a holiday and nothing is gonna spoilt it.

Latest Release : A mouse cum handphone...COOL!

Have you ever had that problem when you were busy blogging away and working at your computer when you mobile rang, and you have to get up to search for your mobile phone (which you have just forgotten where you have last placed it). How you wish if you could answer that call there and then since you have just settled in nicely and comfortably. Well, Ryan might just have the answer for you, the latest IT gadget that will take the world by storm, - the mouse cum handphone (at least to the one year old baby's market!) How cool is that! No running around the house searching for that darn handphone. Just pick up your mouse in your hand and put it against your hear and bingo, it turns into a handphone immediately!

Yupe. This is his new trick that he has learned from us when he observes us talking on my mobile phones. Now, he will put almost whatever he has in his hand to his ear and pretend to be talking on his `mobile' whenever he hears us saying `Hello! Hello!' Now, we just got to make sure that we don't cry out `Hello! Hello!' when he is holding something sharp in his hand...haha.

Next invention in the pipeline: An iron cum handphone. Watch out for it's release soon. Guaranteed to give you a `hot lasting impression' .......

Five Giant Leaps!

Date : 31st July 2009
Time : 8 p.m.

Ryan took five `giant' steps on his own without any aid for the very first time! He has been standing on his own and walking around holding on to sofas, chairs and cabinets for quite a while now. He has attempted to walk on his own without any aid but had not been very successful other than a small step. He finds that he can get where he wants to go to faster if he crawls and he can really crawl. If he wanted to `sprint crawl' he will put his head down and crawl like mad (just like the F1 drivers putting their head down, a term used to denote pushing to the limit).

Yesterday evening, as usual he was crawling and walking around the sofas. At then it happened. He stood up unaided (he was quite a distance away from anything to hang on to). My wife was sitting on the floor some distance away from him. As he stood there for 2 seconds as if thinking what to do next, we were busy encouraging him to take those few crucial steps. Of course, our heart was pumping with excitement and at the same time with fear that he would fall and hurt himself! Then he took his first step forward! Our instinct was to immediately rush over and put out our hand behind him just in case he falls. We have done that a couple of times, and he would immediately reached out for our hand and hang on to it. So, instead of holding out our hands, we just encourage him to walk further towards my wife, seated in front of him. He held out his arms to trying to reach my wife and started to take the next step. After a good five steps, he finally sat down, looking as excited as we are.

This is yet another milestone in his journey. For him, it was just five very little steps, but for us, these were the five biggest leaps in his life as he continue his journey and his adventure in this world.

My bed is crowded

It's 6:50 am and I've been up since 5:30 a.m. after giving Ryan his milk. My wife in US for her business meeting for a week now. She is currently on her way back, expected to reached Tokyo by 3 pm Malaysian time. We have successfully for many months now `kick' Ryan out from our master bed. He has also `graduated' from his playpen cum baby cot to his own super single mattress on the floor for one month. Our plans are to slowly get him accustomed to his mattress and then proceed to further `kick' him out from our room to his own room.

However, he has been sleeping on the master bed with me for the past one week since my wife left for US. I had to put him on the bed with me as he was ill with a fever, the day my wife left. I literally had no sleep for the first three nights, checking his fever every hour, feeding him his milk and his medicine. The poor guy's nose is so blocked that he has difficulties sleeping soundly.

Having a king size, one baby does not take up that much space. Unfortunately, when it starts to rain with thunder and lightning, my `daughter' Zoewe, the toy poodle would also insist that she too has to share the bed. She is absolutely terrified of thunder and lightning and will always without fail look for us to `protect' her when there is a thunderstorm. Needless to say, that is probably the only time that she will lay perfectly still by our side without moving a muscle.

Well, it is raining now with a few flashes of lightning and thunder. And guess what, Zoewe is also now on the bed, tucked neatly and comfortably (for her of course) just next to my pillow while Ryan is doing his `helicopter' stun . I have resorted to occupy just a small space, almost falling off bed, trying to balance my laptop on a pillow and trying very hard not to kick either one of them.

I am not complaining. Looking at the two of them, I can not help but to count my blessings, having a complete and happy family. But blessings or no blessings, Ryan will be out of the room in a couple of weeks and Zoewe, back to her own bed on the floor once the thunderstorm ceases. I need my bed back and I could do with some sleep.

Feng Shui anyone??

Although we are not staunch believers in Feng shui, but we do not discount the fact that certain feng shui recommendation of furniture arrangement are good basic sound advice for comfort and provide a better ambiance or serenity at home. So, when a feng shui master recently came to our home and pointed out that it would be advisable to rearrange the living room furniture to further enhance our wealth and health, we went ahead.

Honestly, it was quite fun too because it gave us a chance to re look into our furniture arrangement that we have not changed since we moved in 2 years ago. Our main door (which was originally by the side) was `moved' to the center of our home when we renovated our house, with the believe that a centralised main door would welcome good `chi' (health and wealth). A little step was created between the porch level and the living room area to `elevate' the living room and hence the home. However, in moving the main entrance to the center of the house, we have aligned the main gate, main door right through the kitchen which was the back of the house. (What to do? Small house!). So, something has to be put up at the hallway to block the `alignment'.

So, instead of spending thousands of our hard earned money in building a cabinet, we rearranged our L-shape sofa and reposition our wall cabinet. To get some height for the cabinet, we went to SSF during the weekend to get a plant arrangement to be placed on top of the cabinet. The plant also added some additional colour to our overall arrangement.

So, did it bring us additional wealth and health? I think it's a little too early to tell. But, we like the recent arrangement better, felt more privacy and comfort with the repositioning of our L-shape sofa and definitely a breath of freshness to the overall home. Wait till we are bored and then we will bring in another feng shui master for another reason to redecorate! Or until we struck lottery and move to a much larger bungalow!! HAHAHA!

Our `Eldest Daughter's Birthday!'

Yupe. We seemed to be celebrating lots of birthdays lately. This round was for our `eldest daughter' in the house, our maid. She has been with us for slightly over a year now, and we have come to refer to her as our `eldest daughter'. While news of maid abuse and rights seemed to dominate the local headlines recently, we are only too glad that we are lucky enough to have minimal problems with her so far.

She has her limitations but then who doesn't. While we continue to remind her of our expectations of her performance (we made it a point to lay down our expectations and work schedule the moment she arrived), we are also constantly reminding ourselves that she is also taking care of Ryan now. With Ryan being quite a handful, we have also lowered our expectations on her towards her house chores (although we didn't specifically told her that). The biggest relief is that she has demonstrated time and again her affection towards Ryan and Ryan fondness of her as well. However, we are quick to ensure that we do not allow her to replace our love and our position as parents to him.

She was quite surprised when we took out the birthday cake and told her to change so that she could take some pictures. She loves having her pictures taken and sent home. We also make it a point to allow her to call home to speak to her family and daughters, so that they too could wish her happy birthday.

At the end of it all, I can see that she was happy and grateful. To us, we are only happy that she is happy and hoping that she will continue to treat our family as hers as well while she is here.

Zoewe's 2nd Birthday!

Zoewe finally turned 2. It was as if we only brought her home yesterday while she was just 3 months old. How time flies. I can still remember clearly how little she was and how active she was, jumping all over the house, not forgetting peeing and pooing all over the house ....sigh. It was initially a nightmare trying to house train her. And the Sunday mornings that we have to take her for her puppy obedience training classes and the stress I had to go through to ensure that she listen and obey me with simple instructions to pass the final test. (Incidentally, if she fails, it is not her fault but the owner who have not done enough!! stress!)

I can still remember seeing her in her cage at a pet shop and how cute she was. I actually called my wife who was then in Hong Kong and lied to her that I actually place RM500 deposit for a puppy! (Just to get a kick out of it. haha). She was shocked and repeatedly questioned me whether am I sure of the responsibilities that come with it. When my wife finally came home, I took her to have a look at Zoewe at the pet shop and we told ourselves to have a cooling period and will proceed to get her if she is still there one month later. One month later, when we went back to the pet shop, there she was. Much larger now but ever so cute. She kept on `hard selling' herself that my wife could not but to agree to `adopt' her (with the condition that she will only play with her, while I would have to shoulder all other responsibilities...that's what husband is for...sigh)

I can still remembered how she jumped over the bean bag on the 3rd day at home, knocked her head and went into fits. I thought I have lost her there and then. Thank God, she was fine after a check with the vet.

And then, a month after she came home, we found out that Ryan was on his way. We were struggling to decide whether we should keep her or give her away (with mounting pressures from friends and families that baby and dog does not mix well). But by that time, Zoewe is more than just a pet. She is family. We could not just give her up and decided to ensure that she gets the equal amount of love and attention that we would give to Ryan.

Since her arrival, she has brought nothing but sheer joy and adventure into our lives. She is without temper, without mood swings, ever so ready to give, ever so ready to share her bubbly cheerfulness, ever so ready to love.

Happy Birthday Zoewe.

`Chef at Home' Sunday

We decided to turn last Sunday into a `Kitchen day'. Instead of `lepaking' (loitering) around shopping malls, we thought it would be good idea to whip up some new appetizer's and deserts recipe. So off we went to Subang Carrefour early in the morning to do our marketing for the necessary ingredients. By the time we finished and had our very late breakfast, we were ready to start at 1p.m.

For this session, I have two lovely assistants, namely, my wife and my younger sister. They were fooling around with the food and were pretty demanding as assistants. They must have music before they could cook and were only selecting in the tasks they like to do...aiyoh!

Anyway, by 4p.m. we have finally managed to present the dishes below. Rather successful I would said (with a few minor fine tuning if we were to cook them again in the future).

This is a modified recipe from Jamie Oliver. Proved to be an excellent hit recently when we served this during Ryan's birthday.

I had to soak the glutinous rice the night before for this recipe. Best to serve while still hot and while the spring roll is still crunchy. It's more of a sweet desert than a appetizers.

This is one of the easiest appertizers to make. Simply stuff a mixture of minced shrimp, onion and mint leaves, olive oil and lemon juice into cherry tomatoes. Best when served chilled. The only thing is that sizable cherry tomatoes can be pricey.


This fish cutlet recipe is a mixture of minced fish, onions, chili, mint and mash potatoes coated with bread crumbs and fried. The mint and coriander dip is an excellent compliment. Again, ideal to serve while still hot.

This is again another simple appetizer to prepare. Shrimp coated with coconut shreds served with mayonnaise, sprinkled with lemon zest. Yummy.

By the time, we finished sampling all the above, we were already full and hence skipped dinner, which we originally intended to have angel hair cooked aglio oglio style with shrimps and mussels. That, we will do for our Tuesday's night dinner, where we still have our Watermelon Granita prepared on Sunday. Food! Food! Glorious Food!