Did a birthday card and a frame

One of my best friends, Christina, had her birthday last week and I did a card for her. Luckily the card reached her safely in Shanghai. Happy Birthday, Chris!
Was inspired by someone's use of Sassafras Las Fawned of You paper. And I used the plastic flowers that I bought on Etsy.com recently. I love love the flowers!A friend asked me to do a card for her sis-in-law's house-warming. I decided to embellish an Ikea frame, so she can put a photo of her new home in it. I used a patterned fabric for the inside, some Love Elsie chipboard alphas for the tile and Luxe Design's pp (house, sun and clouds).I had so much fun with this two pieces!

Jonathan's playmates at church

Today, one of the mommies brought play mats for the cry room at church. Before this, our babies and toddlers will crawl on the floor and put their dirty hands into their mouths. With the current hand, foot and mouth disease spreading and the Health Ministry advising the kindergartens to voluntarily close for two weeks, we didn't want to take chances.Jonathan had a good time playing with Abigail (10months old) and Phoebe (a year old). But big boy didn't know his own strength and accidentally pushed ABi down...twice too! Thankfully, Abi has 3 older brothers and still wanted to play with Jon. Jonathan had this game where he would stick very close to the wall. And he would giggle when he did that. Abi gamely joined in this silly game of his, which brought more giggles from him.

And I was most comfortable on the floor! Check out my Facebook for more photos.

Local fishing contest

Today is a public holiday courtesy of the birthday of an Agong. His birthday was actually on 13 Sep. But as it fell during the Ramadan period and people couldn't celebrate as they were fasting, the holiday got postponed to today. A local fishing competition was held today and three of our staff took part. I told Simon to sign up but he didn't...

Anyhows, it rained the whole of last night, which meant that today was not a good day to fish. The sky was overcast, but we decided to bring Jon out to have a look see. He was quite excited to see all the anglers at the breakwater. He was well behaved and looked, and peered at everything and everyone. Although in this photo, Simon looked more excited than Jon.

Ah Min and Mos (front) with two friends.

When we were there, the current top catch was an eel about 1.6kg, followed by a catfish weighing 750g. When we got close to check out the catch, Jon wanted to touch them!

Then from a distance, we saw an angler bringing in his catch. It was a mega long eel, longer than 6ft and when weighed, it was a whopping 4.3kg! Here's the angler and his eel. The eel was very long and from this photo, you can't see but the rest of the eel was coiled in a plastic bag (so it could be weighed).

The organisers, who were mainly Chinese, were saying that it should be cooked with Chinese herbs and what nots. I can't really imagine this eel being cooked, but I would prefer it to be grilled in teriyaki sauce, Jap style!

Simon was tired from carrying Jon, and I suggested we put him on the car (an old Toyota, can you guess how old?). Doesn't this remind you of those shots in the 70s where parents would ask their children to pose with the family car? Within a few seconds, Jon wanted to climb to the top of the car...aiyoh! Super active toddler.Then after a while, we thought we had better bring him home before it poured. Wonder if there was a bigger catch after we left. Will check with the guys on Mon.

How did Jonathan spend the rest of the day, when he's not sleeping? Here's what he did.

Playing with the catch at the bottom of the door

Lying down on the sofa after drinking his milk. Does he look like he can slouch really well like Simon?

Playing with cousin Megan at the curtains. Both of them are playing quite well together now.

Swinging on Nai Nai's legs and watching telly prog

Being cornered by me and having his photo taken

How do you keep your toddler occupied?

A toddler and his rides

On Thu, I went to order a new batch of disposable contact lenses and brought Jon along. He was very well behaved and we decided to reward him with his frst kiddy ride. Turns out our toddler (have to get used to not calling him our baby) was a wee scared of the loud ride and held on with both hands....alll the way till the ride was over. We also put him inside the boat rather than on the seat, since it was his first time and we weren't sure he could balance on it.Then we brought him to the toy store called Toys World. It's the only major toy shop for kids and babies in Miri, apart from those in dept stores. Then we found a bike that's suitable for Jon and us. It was big enough for Jon and comes with a safety rail and foot rests, which are removable when he grows older. Then he can pedal the bike on his own. But in the meantime, there's the handle that's tall enough for us to push the bike without having to bend double. I tell you, without it, we will surely get backache after pushing the ride for a few minutes OK? Jon's one happy camper that day!

Green's my fave colour

Jonathan's walking a few steps nowadays. From three steps last week to 17 steps at one go on Sunday. Some of my friends' children are already walking when they're younger than Jon. Although he's only walking now, he's very steady. I didn't manage to take any photos of videos of him walking....hey, i only have a few seconds to do so, and by the time I get my camera, he's caught eye of it and crawling quickly to me to grab the camera. So here's a photo of Jon standing, wearing my fave green shirt, with an orange.Today, I saw the guy with the vespa. This time, with one in another shade of green! Found out he services vespas and he's got like more than 10 vespas! He's selling the better ones and offered me a red one for RM9,000. Hmmmm, very expensive, but very tempting. And I'm the one to talk, me without a bike license. I'm trying to talk myself out of it....you know how dusty the roads are in Miri. And with so few high rise buildings, it's very hot here too. And how am i going to take Jon out for a ride on it? blah...blah...blah.

Durians in season!!

Woohoo, durians are in season!! Everyday this week, we would pass by this roundabout where entrepreneurial hawkers would be peddling the durians they harvested. I kept wondering when I would be enjoying them. But MIL said FIL cannot eat durians coz they're high in cholesterol and since he has a heart condition, he shouldn't be eating them.

By Friday, I was delirious thinking about durians, so I suggested to Simon that we would buy them for small group! In the end MIL said, FIL could eat some lah. So off we went to the roundabout near the E-Library to shop for durians.

I tell you, the aroma is so wonderful I knew that we would hit pay dirt no matter which ones we choose. Selling price for D24 is RM20 per kg and the normal range was RM8 or RM12 per kg. We chose a few of the D24 and the RM12 ones. I believe in paying for quality when it comes to durians. After dinner, I got Simon to do the honours. Ooh, the wait was finally over. D24 is quite overated lah...but they're nice and meaty. I made Simon give Jon some. He took one lick and decided he didn't like durians. Even when Simon gave him a second time, Jon moved away! haha!We brought the durians to small group, and Jimmy did the honours this time. We had only three durians. But I guess we shouldn't overdo it, hor? In case we kena sore throats!Don't you agree that durians are best enjoyed in the company of good friends? I remember last year, I was pregnant and waiting to deliver Jonathan in Aug when it was durian season. The wonderful aroma of durians was too much to bear when one who loves durians is not allowed to eat them. I had pregnancy high blood pressure you see. So after I gave birth, I ate some. My rationale was since I was supposed to keep warm during confinement period, durians would be very helpful indeed since it's a "heaty" fruit!

The best durian time I had was two years back, at Sonny and Lilian's home, after we had the de-brief for our mission trip to North Thailand. Chee Keong ordered baskets of durians and I believed he must have paid hundreds for the supply! There was no limit to what we ate. And that was after a barbecue. The thing is that one cannot rush when one is feasting on durians. We opened a batch, ate and listened to the good doc's dissertation, and opened and ate some more.

Another time I remember with fond memories of eating durians was with our Singapore small group in KL three years back. The stall was located near Restaurant Green View (at e roundabout at Rothman's and Sin Chiew Newspaper) near SS2 mamak area. After a sumptuous dinner of 8 crabs cooked in 4 different ways, we feasted on durians. Talk about cholesterol loading!

Breakfast time

This is the conversation, or how I imagine it to be at breakfast time.

Jon: Hmm, looks yummy, mommy. can I have some?

Me: But you just had your milk.

Jon: But what you're having looks yummy.

Me: Ok, you may have a taste.

Jon: It's really yummy. Can I have more (especially when I am eating noodles)?

Me: All right, but I need to make tiny pieces for you.

Jon: Faster, mommy, faster.

Me: I need to make sure there's no chilli....

Jon: (getting impatient and jumping up and down in the play pen) Don't keep me waiting.

Me: Ok, here's another piece.

Jon: And another, please (jumping even faster, if I am slow in cutting the noodles into bite-sized for babies)!

How's your breakfast today?

Bombs away

Everyone drops a bomb now and then. Buy this decal here.

More vintage stuff

I just love this coffee table design from the 50's.
And this bookshelf, an Argyle (pattern) multi-function storage system, containing diamonds in a diagonal checkerboard. They can be bought from here.
Check out this beautiful Vintage Scalloped Edge Side Table. It's decoupaged with one of Amy Butler fabrics....I only found out about her through scrapbooking.

I wish I can buy all these things and ship them in a container over to Miri!

Jon's hair cut

Brought Jonathan to the hairdresser yesterday, MIL said that his hair was getting a bit thick at the back and the weather is so hot nowadays. This would be Jon's 3rd haircut. The first was when he was 3plus months old and was shedding some hair. Then the second hair cut was before he turned one by the lady boss at Vincent Hair Salon. The third visit wasn't successful coz lady boss was busy and another hairdresser came to cut Jon's hair. But he kept fidgeting around so much that he could only cut the side burns!This time, lady boss was running some errands, so Vincent cut Jon's hair himself. I couldn't believe how good Jonathan was. He sat quietly on MIL's lap and didn't move an inch. The only time he got distracted was when someone was having her hair blown. The junior hairdresser was instructed to distract Jon, and she brought him a Lao Fu Zhi comic book! Haha, as if he can read...but he gave his attention to the comic for a while. Tadah....hair cut by the Salon Director: RM12...normal hair cut: RM7. For more photos, click here.

Fly direct from Miri to Singapore

Malaysia and Singapore agreed on air services expansion yesterday and the agreement will allow low cost carriers (LCCs) of both countries to operate between Singapore and three cities in East Malaysia - Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and Miri!!!!

Starting Nov 1, LCCs will be able to operate a total of seven flights each week to each city, and from Mar 1, 2009, 14 flights.

This is great news! We don't have to fly LCC from Miri to JB, then arrange for tranport to Singapore, or take MAS from Miri to Kuching, and then to Singapore. Let's hope the prices will be reasonable too....

On another note, my lower back is hurting so much. It hurt a little on Sun night, and Simon massaged the area. Told him to use less strength, but I could bear with the pressure lah. Then yesterday, my lower back still ache and when I reached home, I had to put on deep heating plaster. This morning, it was hurting even more....and I was walking like an old lady! Went out to buy more plasters. Aiyo....

Simon's New Fishing Rod, Reel and Lures

Thank to wonderful wife, Kim and friends from Singapore, Aaron & Albert for giving me this new overhead rod and reel as a birthday present.

Abu Ambassaduer 6600CL Reel

Lamiglas XC 665 6'6" long Graphite Overhead Rod

Of course, I went ahead to buy some new lures to go with this wonderful present from my wife and friends.

Storm SW Thuderstick (4 3/8" long - 14g)
Swimming Dept: 3 - 6'

Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow (Floating 5 1/4" Long - 18g)

Action: Tight Wiggling

Swimming Depth:

1' - 1.5' (Floating)

4' - 5' (Suspend)

Rapala Shad Rap SSR-9 (3 1/2" long - 12g)

Swimming Depth: 6'-8'

Rapala Magnum (4 3/8" long) Floating

SureCatch Lure Retriever Sinker 250gm (For emergency use only)

eupro rubber frog (floating)

Simon's New Fishing Area (Freshwater)

Simon found another freshwater fishing area near his home. It is only 10 mins drive away.

Hopefully he will catch his 1st toman from this spot.

Love Vintage

I enjoy vintage pieces and this lovely chair (at this site) just puts a smile on my face. I found it while trawling the Etsy selling site. I love the wonderful vintage mod floral patterned on the seat and the inside back. The seller has more lovingly restored chairs.

Food in Miri

You know, when people know that I am now in Malaysia, they think that I have access to yummylicious food, the likes of food in Penang, KL, or Malacca.

Maybe I have to remind them that I am in Miri, Sarawak, EAST Malaysia....not West Malaysia. Here, food is simple fare. And according to one of Simon's aunties who operates a restaurant, the folks here like to eat healthy. So, not so much condiments, vinegar, soya sauce, or any type of sauce. As an example, the infamous Kolo mee is very different from those we have in Singapore. It's just plain noodles with some minced pork. No char siew, no fishballs or sliced fish cakes, nano, tidak adah, mei you.

With a small population of 300,000+ people in Miri, it'll be difficult to find eateries serving international cuisines (and I am not talking about hotel buffets). There is one Taiwanese restaurant, two Korean restaurants (just drove by a new one two days ago), one Italian (2 branches), two Japanese restaurants (used to have more, but they didn't do too well to last, and I think it's going to be very expensive to get good and fresh sashimi).

But I still like to try new eating places in Miri, especially on Saturdays evenings. We close around 3.30pm on Sats, and we go home to chill, rest and play with Jonathan. Then we give MIL a break and go eat.

PS: Check out this blog I Eat I Shoot I Post. I so agree with the blogger's mantra "Don't waste your calories on yucky food". Keeps me updated on the food scene in Singapore. Makes me slightly homesick, even nostalgic of the places I frequented. I wait in anticipation of my trip back to Singapore in Dec.

If you have time, go read the comments to the blogger's postings. Wow, some very heated debate by passionate foodies on simple pizza fare in a hawker centre. Just dismiss those comments that are fault-finding and are personal attacks rather than constructive comments. And if you're free, go join them on their makan sessions.