August « 2011 « JEWELLE TAN

Car Loving Mamas

In a group of moms that I am a member of, topics of discussions are quite predictable : kids ailments, vaccines, recipes and all kinds tips and techniques in raising our family while keeping our sanity and sense of humour.

But we do engage in the unpredictables.

Or as my husband, who has the dubious honour of getting detailed reports of one particular discussion, asked me : “Why is your group of mothers talking about CARS?!“

But I never thought I will know of moms (besides myself who has NO choice) who can drop names like Vellfire or Alphard or Elgrand – and not think that they are names of mountain range somewhere…or something!

I never considered my “knowledge” of cars superior but I now know that it is inferior.

At least, amongst these ladies who can EVEN tell the differences between an Alphard and a Vellfire. Or come up with a list of tow trucks and recommended cars or rv repairs in a heartbeat and another which stumped me : list of cars with *something* to latch their baby seats on!

Ladies, I humbly concede.

Puri Bunga Resort Of Ubud

Bali is many things to many people.

Culture, beach, nature and arts.

To me Bali also means one extra thing – paradise for hotel fans. Just imagine, there are over 761 choices of accommodations in the whole of Bali. And this is just a list by one online booking site – other sites have other lists and some smaller bed & breakfast are not even listed online.

Luckily I was clear on the areas where I wanted to stay when in Bali so that narrowed down my choices to about 125 properties in Ubud and 69 properties in Sanur.

Even then my mind changed countless of times – no thanks to reading what seemed like thousands of reviews/recommendations/etc.

Despite being very indecisive for a good one month before the trip, I changed my booking only ONCE.

So instead of Jalan-Jalan Villa that was close to town and even more temptingly, around the vicinity of the house of Ketut Liyer, a man made famous by Liz Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love – I chose a place 15 mins drive from Ubud town – and secluded.

Stir Fry

One of our staple dish for meals at home is stir-fry.

It’s healthier (than deep-fry) and faster (than braise) and we enjoy the sizzling sound that comes out from this kind of cooking style.

We could do with a bigger stove that gives out much stronger fire (industrial-size actually, if my husband gets his way). I would love to try stir-fry where you can hear not only the sizzling sound from inside the work but also the roar of the fire under it. The challenge of frying without burning the food – at least unless you want to stir fry with FIRE!

I can just imagine the heat – hot enough to steam-bath even tiniest pores on the face and purge all impurities that beats even the best SKII or gratiae products – seriously!

Only issue is, this requires outdoor kitchen and I’m sure not I like that idea.

Sigh. Looks like we’re stuck with the regular stove then.

*Photo : “Stir Frying” Wikipedia

Short Is Back

One of my husband regular gripe is finding long hair on the floor, everywhere around our house.

It’s hard not to since there are four females here and all four have long hair.

And it’s not that we did not think that our kids – especially high-spirited ones who are never calm and serene for even five minutes unless they are asleep - should have hair at decent length i.e. short.

But the eldest – who endured two years of her kindergarten years with a short and foxy cut - insisted that she never wants to have short hair anymore. Ever.

Naturally, her younger siblings followed suit.

What’s more, I am not on a first name basis with any hair saloon, so it is very easy to let our hair grow long.

Not anymore though – at least for me.

From now on, any long hair found on the floor is not mine.

Lightning Prone Lumut

For some reason, our family home in Lumut is regularly struck by lightning.

Just a few months ago, it happened again and several of my family in-laws appliances were damaged – modem, television, DVD player and etc. Fortunately our house is insured, not from Wholesaleinsurance.net but from a local agency, replacing those items were not much of an issue.

It was only a little inconvenient when they could not go online and there was nothing to watch.

Actually, come to think of it, it was quite a BIG inconvenience and fortunately it happened during the weekdays (when we were not around).

One of our neighbour whose house was without any home insurance had his house spared and was about to breath a sigh of relief – until he realized that the lightning struck his big electric gate.

*Photo : Lumut road leading to Seria

TV reality-show is at a new low. We are now glorifying gangsters. #Brunei & #Malaysia, do we really need to know about American gangs?