Joe 'chiak kam'

Chinese New Year is coming. Bring out the kam.

Joseph has been getting himself acquainted with mandarin oranges. Actually he doesn't know the difference between sunkist oranges and mandarin oranges. What he does know is that he loves oranges. So when I gave him a kam, he was thrilled to find that he could easily peel these. See how he has one thumb in each orange.

He managed to peel a kam all by himself, put the orange (minus the skin) into his mouth and then spit out the seed. I tried to teach him some new words related to what he was doing. Our conversation went like this...

me : Joe, what is this?

Joe : Orange.

me : No, this is mandarin orange. It's called kam. Jojo chiak kam.

Joe : Mama chiak eok (medicine in hokkien). Jojo chiak kam. Mama chiak eok.

I couldn't help but laugh. He associates words really fast.

He looks left...

Then he looks right...

Then when he thinks it's all clear, he sticks a straw into the orange to suck out the juice!

a treat at The Saujana

I am 29 years old today. Yes...just one year away from the big 3-0.

As a birthday treat, my husband took me for a 1-night getaway at the 5-star The Saujana. The resort is currently having a promotion of 50% off room rates for weekend stays. We decided to pamper ourselves and opted for a deluxe Club room. There was, of course, a nice comfy King-sized bed.

It had a walk-in closet, with bathrobes and slippers.

And a nice spacious bathroom which has a window looking out at the sitting area.

The toilet flush is also so "canggih". You press this thing on the wall.

The great thing about staying in a Club room is that you get access to the Club Lounge which serves cocktails and snacks in the evening. Snacks turned out to be more than a satisfying dinner. I particularly loved the desserts...

Those chocolate-covered cream puff thingy and strawberries were lip-smacking delicious. I lost count of how many I ate. After filling our tummies with all that fattening food, we went for a walk around the resort gardens. The lake and fountain looked really pretty with all the lights.

When we got back to our room, we found the bed nicely made with a sweet flower on the pillow.

The next morning, we went to the Suria Cafe for a hearty breakfast. I fell in love with the pancake with blueberries and fresh cream. Unfortunately I didn't have room in my tummy for a second helping after tasting just about everything else. Breakfast was delightful except for when my husband found a small stone (about 0.5 X 1.0 cm) in his porridge. When we showed it to a staff who seemed to be the supervisor, he was just plain cool. No apology was offered.

Later we returned to the Club Lounge where we spent the morning reading newspapers and sipping on fruit juices and coffee and tea.

Overall it was a pleasant stay for RM315++. The staff were certainly a smiley lot. My few grouses are the non-working bidet, and floor lamp in my room, and the torn duvet cover. Certainly not acceptable for a 5star resort with such a prestigious reputation. Of course the stone in the porridge was even more unacceptable. Had my husband cracked his tooth on the stone, treatment could cost anything from RM2000-RM7000 or more.

I suppose we could just turn a blind eye and forgive the resort if we are to consider coming back for our annual honeymoon. After all I did enjoy the abundant delicious food. And between lazing in bed, swimming and working out in the gym, I found myself wanting to stay longer because there was just so much to do. I didn't even have time to explore the grounds on the FOC bicycles or explore the lake in the paddle boats.

This is our second time at The Saujana and it just gets better.

So if you're looking for a quiet scenic place for a weekend getaway without having to travel too far, head on down to The Saujana for a relaxing time of peace, quiet and tonnes of lovely food.

town mouse in the country

I like this picture...

It's my city boys in the kampung. Edwin took Joseph for a ride on Joyce's bicycle. Edwin was obviously happy to relive his childhood days. This bicycle in the photo was bought with ang-pow money he saved so hard when he was a kid. It's still in good working condition.

Joseph look so blur. But so cute to me. He didn't cry or whine on the bike. Merely held on...so tightly as if for dear life.

a picture is worth a million words...

Photos as promised....especially for Rebecca's viewing pleasure...


This was sometime in December. Joseph loves to make bubbles. Look at the Santa beard he made for himself!




Then we went to Fraser's Hill for our first ever family holiday in a long long time. And here's our first proper family photo...in a long long time too.

Reuben was sick in Fraser's Hill. Then he generously shared his virus and all of us got sick on returning to KL. Edwin has sorethroat and flu, I had fever, flu and sorethroat and Joe had everything we had. Here's Reuben so hungry he wanted to eat Joe.

Here Joe shows off his cute cute face.

Last weekend in Yong Peng....Joe had a fun time playing with his cousin Brandon.

After the rain, Bran decided to spash around in the puddles and Joseph followed suit.

Here's Joe busybodying in school. Still when I ask him, "Joe want to go to school?" he'll shake his head and say "mai!". Sometimes it's "mai! mai! mai!" As if I deaf...

He's even bigger-sized than some of the kids in Tadika Generasi Hebat, which is the newest kindy in the humble little town of Yong Peng. It's like the 5-star kindy of all kindergartens. Really canggih. It's got a science lab with real stethescope, real microscopes, real 'tabung uji' etc and even a computer lab with seven computers (flat screen monitors mann....).

Oh well...even if Joe doesn't want to go to school....at least he's happy playing and learning for now.

No time to blog...busy...busy...

When it's past the middle of January and I've not finished reading the December magazines in my clinic, it can only mean that business is getting better and I'm getting busier. Yup...December was a good month. School holidays meant more kids came in by the herds. Makes up for the lack of income for September and October.

Joseph has been keeping me busy and thus the lack of life in the blog. His vocabulary is increasing by leaps and bounds each day. Just last week, I was trying to put him to bed at night and he was extra talkative. So our conversation went something like this...

Me : Joseph, enough! No more nonsense.

Joseph : No more? No more nonnnnn...sense.

Me : Yes. No more nonsense. Go to sleep.

Joseph : No more...?

Me : Go to sleep. Don't so sibuk.

Joseph : Siiiiiii buk.

Me : Who sibuk?

Joseph : Mama sibuk. Mama sibuk.

Sigh...I had to keep myself from laughing.

He can also say things like...

Mama dentist.

Jojo clever. Mama sibuk.

Nana make apple juice (while opening the cupboard where we keep the juicing machine)

Yee yee buy McQueen for jojo.

Mama pat. Pa go out. (this is at bedtime when he wants me all to himself)

We were in Yong Peng last weekend to visit Brandon. Joe and Bran had a fantastic time playing together. We enjoyed ourselves too. Living in the city, I had forgotten the joys of small-town living. We enjoyed cycling (with Joseph riding pillion in a special kiddy seat) around the neighbourhood. It was so convenient to cycle to the store for eggs and bread as and when it was needed.

Brandon cried his lungs out when we had to leave. He had climbed into the car by himself. And when we removed him, He wailed so loud I think all of Yong Peng heard him. Poor kid. Looks like we'll have to be making more trips to Yong Peng.

Photos tomorrow....