School Holidays - What A Child Can Do

So the parents' nightmares school holidays have started.

This is what Zaria wrote in her journal yesterday.


So yes, she can do lots of fun things, but of course, mummy has to spoil their holidays by giving them work to do! That's what mummies are for. :P

Every Child Is A Creator (Of a Gadget)

Unlike most urban kids, our girls don't own an iPad, don't have free access to one (they can only use it as a dictionary freely), and neither can they watch TV as and when they like. They are only allowed TV or the iPad time if they have earned it, such as, they have done a page of writing, or some worksheets I'd given to them, etc.

Today, I went out for a long lunch, and came home to find the girls have created their own toy with a box which was used to deliver my shopping 2 days ago.

They have created a vehicle which they claimed can be converted to a ship, a car, a plane.


With a very special control console.

I asked Zaria who was 'driving' the vehicle, "How can you have games on your console, you can't play games when you are driving."
She said, the car drives automatically without human control.
But of course.

They created a smart phone too with all the Apps they are interested to have.The 1st app on the right on the 2nd row is photo gallery according to Zaria.

The paw is an Apps for animals, and she hasn't figured out what it can do yet.

And of course, how can someone do without an iPad, loaded with all the important Apps.


Love to see the girls do this instead of just being glued to the TV or gadgets.

Learning Biology Through Our Dog Bubbles

Bubbles has been with us for more than half a year now, and the girls treat him like a brother. Our conversation revolves around him a lot, and through him, sometimes Biology is learnt.



One day.
Zaria : Ma, how come Bubbles' penis has so much hair?
Me : Err, because dogs don't wear underwear, the hair is to protect their penis.
Zaria : Oh, he needs hair on the penis so that even when he doesn't wear underwear, people cannot see his penis.
Me : yeah, something like that.

Another day.
Zaria : Ma, Bubbles pole dancing on me.
Me : Bubbles, no pole dancing! Shuu...
(Bubbles climbed down from Zaria, then after a while, climbed on her again)
Zaria : Ma, Bubbles pole dancing again. Now his lipstick is showing.
Me : Bubbles, stop it!
(Bubbles climbed down from Zaria)
Zaria : Ma, why can't you allow him to pole dance on me?
Me : Because he cannot! It's not right.
Zaria : Ma, actually what is he trying to do?
Me : He's trying to mate with you Zaria.
Zaria : But he's so young ma, how can he mate with me?
Me : In animal years, he's old enough.
Zaria : He doesn't know I'm too young to mate is it? And we're not even married. o.O

Taiping Dec 2013 - Glorious Food, Around Town and Sentosa Villa

(What we saw and where we visited in Taiping during our year end visit is captured in the earlier post.)

Possessing local knowledge helps tremendously in a trip, with this Taiping trip, we just referred to our "Where to eat" list from Zaria's teacher, not having to hunt around or experience any disappointment during meal times.

One of the places that should not be missed is Restoran Kakak 家家茶室 (111, Jalan Pasar, Taiping)

The kuey teow soup is supposed to be famous, with a choice of your own topping (fish cake, fish ball, stuffed tofu etc) tasted alright with a nice soup and smooth kuey teow. And we saw lots of people ordering the chicken feet, which we should have tried but didn't. What we really like is the Kakak Ping 家家冰, which is a cold Nescafe mixed with barley drink; a unique combination, which made the Nescafe has a slight malty taste.

The place is opened early in the morning, and sold out quickly, especially the Kakak Ping. We went back the following day at noon, missing the Kakak Ping already only to find they have sold out.

No photos were taken at the coffee shop as it was a mad morning rush when we were there.

As the coffee shop is located in town, we had a stroll around town after our breakfast.

The girls were fascinated with a shop next door to Restaurant Kakak, which sells animal food, chicken feed and also chicks.


The road that attracted Zaria, Jalan Boo Bee (just because it sounded like boobies) is just nearby.


Nice pre-war shop houses around town.


And we like all these old style shops.


Here are some other places we'd been for something to eat..

♥Siang Malam♥ (Jalan Kota)

It's a bustling hawker centre beside the KFC Restaurant in town.


We went there for supper, and hence couldn't order much, but the cup of tea made by one of the stall was really good. The 'barista' deftly made cups of coffee and tea from the tiny kitchen was interesting to watch.


We tried the chee cheong fun (flat rice noodle) there which was drenched with a reddish sweet sauce with generous topping of friend shallots and toasted sesame seeds. Unlike the brown sweet sauce we get in KL, this red sweet sauce is nicer and more fragrant.



♥Larut Matang Food Court♥ (Jalan Panggung Wayang)
Best place for lunch I believe, as we went three times, once late afternoon, where some of the stalls were finishing up and closing, another before noon, but the Nonya kuih stalls were just about to start their business, and another time slightly after lunch, and the stalls were all bustling with activities.

Famous stalls include, Fishball kuey teow (stall number 78); it's actually like a dry soy sauce fish ball noodle getting fried before serving.

Unlike the fried kuey teow that we are used to, this one is a little wet, and the noodles are thicker cuts; I think we prefer the usual fried kuey teow.

Red Bean Soup 红豆水 and Groundnut Soup 花生汤 (stall number 40); We can just keep going back to this stall. The red bean soup is so rich and thick (but not bitter); while the Groundnut Soup is so fragrant, with melt in your mouth groundnuts. Best of all, only RM1.40 per bowl!





All stalls in Larut Matang Food Court have sign boards which indicate their stall number.


There are also two traditional nyonya kuih stalls (in front of the fishball kuey teow stall) which sell a huge variety of nyonya kuih.

♥Restoran Mr BBQ♥ (Jalan Maharajalela)
This place was so good, we had dinner there two nights in a row.

The BBQ stingray is not to be missed, but the asam steamed fish is also fantastic.






On the eve of Zaria's birthday, she, who's the only pork eater in the house, wanted sweet and sour pork for dinner, so we ordered this for her in Mr BBQ. She said it was really delicious as well.




♥Ipoh Bakery 怡保面包西饼屋♥ (144-146 Jalan Taming Sari)
We chanced upon this when we googled for a bakery to get Zaria's birthday cake. This bakery has been operating for more than 90 over years, the bread and the chicken pies are famous. They have also progressed with time and now they make fondant cakes as well.



Besides getting a slice of cake for Zaria, we bought lots of buns and bread too, and they were all quite nice, some of the bread like the cream roll, sure brought back some childhood memory.

Zaria said the slice of cake we got her tasted very much like my cake, meaning it's very home-styled.


♥Restaurant Tepi Sungai(十八丁海上食店)♥ (150 Tepi Sungai, Kuala Sepetang)
Kuala Sepetang has many seafood restaurants but this was recommended by our friend. The fried little crabs are not common, but I think the fried little shrimps are nicer. They are so tiny they could be eaten whole.


We tried the Bismillah Cendol (Jalan Barrack) as well, but maybe because we are not cendol connoisseur, we didn't find it that nice (Just like we didn't find the famous Penang Road Teo Chew Cendol nice as well).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥Sentosa Villa♥

As for hotel, we stayed in Sentosa Villa which is at the fringe of the Lake Garden. We got a family room at the main hotel block. Room is huge and clean but without any character. I think staying in the family villa would have been better (but they are quickly snapped up).


The hotel surrounding is beautiful, we only realised this when we stayed back on the last day for breakfast.


There's a natural stream and pool in the compound.




And there are chickens, ducks, turkey running around in the garden, which the girls were fascinated with, trying to feed them with bread from the breakfast buffet.


They also tried catching some fishes from the pond, and because there were so many, they could actually scoop them up with their bare hands.