School done

JE's school year is practically all done.  Exams are over and now classes are being rotated to make way for the SPM exams.  JE has about 2 days of school every 2 weeks.  Not that much is happening during these 2 days.  On the off days, mornings look like this... the yellow hippo was placed by me on top of her to disturb and wake her up, but no go.  She eventually woke up in time for lunch.

Zzzzzzzz

She did work very hard during the exam so I guess she deserves some time off.  

Food at home

For weekends, I would be head (and only) chef.   Though I dream of being able to produce great food, reality is I don't have the knack for it.  So I am happy that food from my kitchen has been edible so far.  Sometimes components end up with issues like being over/under-cooked, over/under-seasoned or just plain problematic.  Still, we never had to order a pizza or something at the last minute heh.  But to my surprise, my kiddos actually say they like Mummy's cooking!  JE, my normally not-so-appreciative teen, said she looks forward to the meals I make.  Which boosts my pleasure and confidence no end. :)

Let's see we have been eating... might as well note this down in detail for my records.  Once I have a maid, the cooking probably will be handed over.

Pasta salad with pan-fried chicken

Roast chicken and veggies with mash potato

Fish soup with lime juice/cili padi and veggies

Salmon with assorted roast veggies

Wraps (love the colour of these spinach wraps but the taste isn't distinctive)

Burgers with home-made patty, a simple salad

Roast chicken leg with baby potatoes, simple cucumber/tomato salad

Shabu pork wrapped around enoki 

Fried fish with tofu/assorted veggies

Lok-lok van

My first private lok-lok experience!  I'd always liked the concept of these trucks.  There are all the concerns on food hygiene, which I'm not that particular about since the sticks are put into boiling hot water to cook.  Well the sauces are not boiled of course, have to trust our fellow humans not to dip raw food or saliva inside?  Anyway an iron stomach is always a good thing.

Photos turned out nice against the evening sky...

 

Our very own truck

We can take anything we want!

I have an uncle who moved to Canada with the family.  Various members will come to Malaysia every so often, which will be our excuse for an extended family get-together. 

Noting here that my bro's family couldn't make it for this event as they got influenza A, one after another.

Yak yak yak

Food for SE's lunch

My first task every morning - make lunch for SE. From thinking this job was temporary until our helper returned, I'm still holding the job 6 months later.  We have settled into a routine - each week would typically contain a rotation of salad, soup and sandwich.  SE would prefer zero dressing but I insist she doesn't eat things completely plain, so her salads would have a small portion of dressing - lime/lemon juice, yogurt, olive oil, salt etc. Putting some pictures here for my own record. 

Baby potatoes, chicken, salad

Poke bowl-style

Chicken salad one side, chickpea salad the other

Beef brisket, sweet potato, lettuce+tomato with lime dressing

Pasta salad 

Quinoa salad

Lentil salad

Soups with rice/pasta would be in a tall container hence not as photogenic and I can't find pictures.  :)  

Status of new maid

I had been fortunate enough to locate a suitable-looking replacement soon after our maid Jane 'absconded'.  BUT our agent was offline when her profile was posted up by the agency.  By the time she responded to my message, the profile was already listed as taken.  FORTUNATELY the first taker didn't work out and hurrah, it was green light for us!  We settled back to wait out the 3 months or so it would take for processing.  THEN after all that time, it seemed the new person would arrive right before or smack in the middle of our Bangkok trip.  Come on... how often are we away??  Haha.  Still, worst case she would be able to stay at the agency first (for a fee).

We left for Bangkok thinking we would have a maid again upon our return.

HOWEVER.  In the middle of our holiday, I received a call from the agency... our new maid had gotten pregnant and everything was off.  Right when all her documents were ready, on the eve of her flying to Malaysia!  

Oh no. We are still kakak-less

Sigh.  That night and the next day after the call, I was busy scrolling through available profiles.  Luckily there were quite a number posted, I selected and interviewed one, accepted and now the process has started.  Again.  Another 3 months or so.  Fingers crossed until she arrives.

Bangkok Day7 - Home

Last day... hubby suggested having lunch there to avoid rushing.  Good idea as the airport food court had plenty of choices with super reasonable prices (contrast to what we encountered in KLIA2 ahead of this trip!).

We expected to reach KLIA at 8pm.  Ended up reaching home at 1am that night!  First our flight was delayed.  Still ok, reached and had our dinner.  Surprisingly it took a while getting Grab.  Strange as I'd always assumed getting transport to/from KLIA would be easy.  Finally got into the car, then encountered a traffic jam.  At that time of the night??   I checked Waze way after we started and it was still over an hour home.

Anyway, reached safely.  I like our travel style (so far only 2 trips heh) - don't bring so much, don't buy so much, see/eat/enjoy and just buy some snacks home to share.  We didn't even purchase check-in baggage this time.

Our Bangkok loot

Bangkok Day 6 - Chinatown

One more day in Bangkok... what to do?  Decided on Chinatown - I hadn't been there before and I thought hubby the Cinapek would like it. 

It's a nice day

Got this temple which we didn't go in

Mummy bought some pineapple. I refused to eat

It's a little like Petaling Street but way bigger.

For lunch, surprisingly hubby picked a simple place - I'd expected him to go for the likes of abalone and sharksfin.  Or he was just too tired to walk further. :)  Anyhow, enjoyed our noodles, porridge and dim sum.

For our last dinner in Bangkok, decided to try a Vietnamese-Thai place instead of our usual 'canteen'.  Food was good!  Actually we have had consistently high-quality food this trip.  

Pork bone soup

I have since successfully replicated this pork bone soup at home heh.