Kid's friendly rambutans

I'm not a big fan of rambutan just because of the hard shells at the outer of the seed. What do we call it eh? It's something flaky and scratchy to the throat. Anyway my kids love it so much! But I rarely let them enjoy rambutan because I don't feel fancy peeling up the flaky thing *lazy mom alert*. 

You can eat the flaky thing all together if you want, but it can cause cold and make you cough. I don't know how true is that because the words are taken from the oldies but somehow it happens to me if I had rambutans. So I decided to believe in it and painstakingly peel the flaky thing from the flesh if I ever give rambutan to my children.

Hence, that explains why I rarely give them rambutan.

Anyway...things kinda changed after I saw my sister-in-law feed her daughter rambutan. There IS a short cut, and very kids friendly!

Maybe you already knew about this, but this is something new to me, like, after 5 years being a mom? haha...so I gotta share it with you guys!

The trigger - they've been hauling rambutans like crazy, so I gotta reward them somehow right? 

So here it is step by step. Well, it is so simple that I can summary it within few sentence...but I'm feeling fancy now, updating my blog with pictures. So bear with me =D

Halves the hairy skin. I used to use my only mouth and teeth to open it. How....nice, and poise. Well, it's easier that way, as you can immediately pop it into your mouth haha!

Halves as much as you can. Because once you do it this way, the rambutans will be gone in jiffy!

Like so! It will have some hairs naturally because you are using your hands of course!

So wash it

And rinse it

Then slice it side by side and try not to slice very close to the seed, to avoid slicing the flaky thing altogether. Sorry no slicing picture because nobody bothers to take my picture slicing them *roll eyes*

It's ok if the flaky thing accidentally sliced. Well, nothing is perfect in this world.

And enjoy!

I told you it will be gone in jiffy! I haven't finish slicing all and the kids attacked them like a piranha!

Rambutan never taste sweeter and juicier than ever. Because it is so easy to eat this way! Best to keep it in the fridge overnight and you'll have instant cold dessert. But it's hard to keep it safe that long!

Oh ya..you will get some rambutans juice when you slicing it...don't throw it away! Just drink it..like normal juice. Well..that's what I do! Hehe.

Landed in Kiddy Land

Zahra got a couple of gadgets few months ago (kids nowadays!), given by her auntie. Well, it's supposed to be grand auntie actually because she is actually MrComot's auntie hehehe (but all of his aunties very young at heart!). 

Anywayyyy...it's candy floss and popcorn maker!! Awwwwww who doesn't love that cottony melt in your mouth sugary floss? 

And the best part is, the machine comes in sweet baby pink! Whaaaaat! I want one!

Hands on at auntie lala's cave. She is so excited!

Switch in on. There is a heater underneath to heat the plating where it will melt the sugar

The plate will spin and the sugar melt will fly and you have to catch it with a stick. We used coarse sugar, mix with food coloring.

To get this subtle pink floss. Weeeewoooooo it's flying!

Need a lil bit of practice

In soft green color

And why don't we eat it while we ate it. Yum!

Emir is IN too! Included the iPad. Addicted much.

Testing the popcorn maker after that

Just pop in some corn kernels and voila! Perfect for movie night in. But it will be bland, need to explore on adding the flavors 

The gadget is so so fun! Especially when they are minis. Cuteness overload!! But we don't really have time to explore more after that and both of them stack nicely on my kitchen cabinet . I plan to make a simple video on that stuff if time permits later, insyaAllah!

Happy weekend everyone!!!

Destressing @ Hammam Bangsar

I'm not the girly type who goes to spa, do my hair or facial. In fact I never had any facial the whole my life (come to think of it, it's pretty funny. I should try at least once!). I prefer reading or shopping to de-stress my life. But lately (it has been months in fact), I'm so stressed out and was thinking to try a spa, maybe it will help. I mean, why not? The last spa session I had was when I got a FREE voucher by buying my wedding ring (that will be like more than 5 years ago) and last massage session was about 2 years ago, after I gave birth to Emir. But that was confinement massage, so it doesn't count right?

And I had only 2 sessions of spa my whole life, the FREE one and another one is with Jojoba at Times Square (they had this promotional thingy buy 2 for 1 price, something like that). Woaa...come to think, maybe I am stingy at spending money on spa haha.

Anywayyyyy...so I was thinking, that's it! I am so stressed now that I'll do whatever I can to help myself, and that will leave drugs away. Say NO to drugs kids! So a pampering spa it is!!

Like.....in real pampering style! 

And that's why I choose Hammam! It looks so luxurious and I am feeling posh *cough* *cough* and I read so  many reviews that the service is good. Going there alone will be kinda sad...so I planned this event with my darling Cik Siti months ahead. We are busy with routines and decided to take annual leave just for this session. Imagine the anticipation to the date, I keep on going "Come on! few more weeks to go!" lol

Look at the beautiful tiles!

I booked 2 sets of Princess Hammam package (that will be scrub + massage) because it is the most basic package and I couldn't decide yet what we want to have. We were briefed by a friendly guy (which I didn't get the name, too bad, I kinda like him though!) and while sipping on warm Moroccan tea, he explained all the package they offered. We changed the package to My Fav Concubine (which add body mask) and Cik Siti add on Rose hair mask but too bad, they forgot to change the package and we stick to Princess Hammam :-/ 

Thank God Cik Siti still gets her Rose Hair mask because she said it's soo soo nice! I am jelly you know. I didn't do it because I don't really have hair. Ok, it's not funny..but I am born with thin hair and I'm fine with it, less management (still feeling jelly haha).

We were given a locker each to keep our stuff safe and a robe and the dispos for us to change. Oh my God..I feel like little kids, we even giggled in the changing room :-/

The waiting lounge

I love this spot! 

Two therapists ushered us to hararet - it's a bathroom with steam and were bathed by the therapists like a little kid! She literally pour buckets of water over and over again, you know, like the one you mandi from telaga or kolam.. but better because the water is hot. Not boiling hot but something warm towards hot and it's salt water.. bathing never feels so good! After that she applies traditional Moroccan black soap all over the body and ask me to lie down on a tiled bench in the same room. Since it's steaming room, so the tiles kinda hot but the moment your whole body touch it..again it feels soooo good! My stress is almost gone already. There were two benches there and both of us are about 1 mtr apart and I can't help it but giggles again. It feels funny somehow because we are lying half naked but my eye sight is not perfect, so it's okaaayyyyy LOL. Kinda tone down my shyness :P

The therapists left us for about 10-15mins, well I kinda lost the time because I feel suffocated already and almost call them up. Haha..talk about being drama queen. The steam helps our skin pores to open up and be ready for scrub session.

Then the scrubbing part came...well..to be truth, I am quite shocked initially.. because I was expecting they will scrub us with coffee or whatever grain, but it's purely using a scrubbing glove. Just a glove! And mannnnn....The first min was kinda a torture actually. It's not gentle I'm telling you, but in a good way! The aim is to scrub all the dead skin, so have to do it the right way. I keep on chanting  "think of happy things.. think of happy things" lol! But you get used to it a few minutes after that and I am actually enjoying the torture haha.

After almost one hour scrubbing us, we were bathed again...and she soaped me, shampooed my hair complete with conditioner.  I managed to peek on the scrubbing result and oh myyyy...I can see all the dead skin (or daki) all over the bench. It's a total ewwww! And I definitely feel squeaky clean!

Oh ya, the cut away  the glove that is used on us...so don't worry about hygiene! one glove for each customer!

The therapist then pat me dry and wrap me with towel and robe and ushered us the lounge for a break. Seriously, all I ever did was lift my hand, sit or stand up. Princess sangat!

Bakhlava (which is so sugary yummilicous which you didn't see because it sits happily in my tummy) and Moroccan tea.

Princess for a day. Still can't leave without the handphone. Still doing some work :-/

After the rest..it's time for massage. There are 4 types of massage oil that we can choose from, all with argan oil base, only with different essential oils to boost up the purpose. Pine wood for muscle relaxant, rose for sensual, another one I forgot what essential but for slimming and detox and the last one is their signature oil which can expel all the negative element and replace it with positive one. That one smells good, somewhat citrusy but you have to add RM30 for that signature oil. I chose with rose essential in the end.

They have jacuzzi in the massage room. I wonder what package will get to use it.

Couple massage room. Nice lighting actually and this pic just don't do the justice.

Pretty lights

The massage....melt all my stress away. I almost fall asleep but I didn't because I am a light sleeper, but it's reaaaally good. The only thing I don't like is the selection of music, because it doesn't sound Moroccan enough to me. I know..ridiculous stuff to concern about haha.

Being social media junkie, updating IG

Sipping tea again. Look how rejuvenate I am!

Talking about rejuvenate, I feel like lazying around and sleeping at home after the spa session..I mean, you can't be stressful after stress-less right? And I can't wait to go back home to have my sleep. We wandered around, browse some shop, had nasi daun pisang for lunch (the funniest part because I am so wangi with the rose oil and suddenly stuff myself with curries lol), bought coffee and around 5PM, we are off from the place and I picked up my husband from work and the kids from school.

I thought I will sleep when I hit the sack, but boy...how wrong was I. I feel so energetic and refreshing that I couldn't sleep at all.

I've been whatsapping Cik Siti and she had the same problem too! Haha.

In the end I decided to iron my husband's working shirt (which resulted in 3 weeks stocks! Talk about being productive!) and only slept at 3AM.

The next morning I thought I'm gonna wake up late but ha ha ha..7AM and my eyes are wide awake.

I feel so good for the next couple of days and stay calm even when my kids giving me headache with their fighting and whatnot.

The spa outing definitely helps my well being so am gonna do it again. And hammam is highly recommended!!

To Cik Siti, tq so much for being my partner in crime!! It was fun! I love ya!! Hahaha.. See.. I'm still excited about it =)

The OverAchieved Cleaner

Remember Emir's obsession towards sweeper/penyapu? I wrote about it in this entry. The obsession still pretty much there only it's upgraded a little bit to mister vacuum. Hello sweeper with growling sound!

Vacuum cleaner will be his ultimate toys nowadays. Everytime we reached home, the first thing he did is pointing to the store room, asking me to open it and get the vacuum, then he will ask me to plug it ON. He doesn't want 'silenced' vacuum anymore. So I have to let it run for a while, then off it and tell him the vacuum is hot while tapping at the top, he will tap it as well and says "haaaaat" as a sign that he agrees with me that the vacuum is hot and need to shut it off for a while. There will be slight heat at the top when it's on after some times, to the trick works. 

Then we will continue with the next step, undress him and wash, brush teeth, etc..to prepare for bed time. The drama begins after that. He will refuse to wear the pyjama and run for the precious vacuum... naked. So again, have another round of vacuuming and after dia macam puas hati sikit main, baru dia nak pakai baju and diaper hahaha.

I tried to force-dress him, but susahhhhh, he will kick me and shout and cry. So instead of fighting it, I just let him having a party with the vacuum cleaner.

Emir in action 

High QC ok, bawah kerusi pun kena vacuum.

But the trickiest part is to let him part with the vacuum for bed time. After he is fully dressed, he still wants to play with it and by that dah almost 11 something, so of course la I instruct everybody to go upstairs and sleep. He won't budge a bit with the vacuum and stay put by it's side. I switched off the light and left him downstairs (Zahra and Mrcomot also upstairs already) and he will cry throwing tantrum. Then I try to pujuk-pujuk him and carry him upstairs but he will hentak2 kaki kat tangga and turun balik nak vaccum. Over and over again. Lastly, I had to go upstairs and let him calm down and climb the stairs by himself (it's a bit dangerous as I always be by his side when he's going upstairs, takut terslip kat tangga kan) but only that way works. Then he will come to me in sobs. Almost setiap malam macam ni. Hensem boy hensem boy...

The obsession is not restricted in the house only. The first thing he attacks when we reached my PIL's is also a vacuum cleaner. And last Raya when we were back in Terengganu, we went to one of the relative's house and it was the kids first time there. Emir saw a vacuum cleaner hidden at a corner and he went there trying to get it out, boleh? It was very funny that time, but nasib baik family, kalau stranger it will be.... awkward!

The obsession is mind-boggling because Zahra doesn't has any obsession to this extend. On the other side, hopefully besar nanti pun rajin buat kerja rumah, jangan masa kecik je tau!

Perfect livin 2013

We went to perfect livin' 2013 held at PWTC last Thursday. Gigih ambil cuti ok. Haha..little things that I treasure. 

The main intention was to survey on the custom book-rack. We wanted to make a small library at the family hall since we don't want to give up any room for it. We already surveyed the stuff in IKEA for DIY,  but we still want to see how much it's going to cost us for a nice custom made. Apparently, it's going to cost us triple of IKEA's, so we decided scrape the customize book-rack idea :(

How I wish I can afford the customized library, it will be super nice *sobs*, but oh well, gotta suck it up and move on.

Anyway, book rack aside, there are soooooooo many nice thing at perfect livin and how I wish money grows on trees, so that I can just pluck them and buy the stuff lol. Oh life...

A few thing that caught my eyes:

 A nice Gorenje fridge with this cute egg holder

Black granite sink. This is super super super want! Granite sink is the in-thing now. It's super smooth and antibac (nano process-no holes). I don't really care about the antibac features but seriously, the sink is so nice! This pic just doesn't do justice. You have to see and touch it by yourselves.

 Cute bathroom sink

With pretty embossed porcelain

 Super cute bucket sink, super expensive too :(

Kids bedframe with slide!!!! I wannnnnnt it forrrr meeeeeee...er...for Zahra, so that I can share it with her haha kidding. Anyway, seriously, this is the nicest kids bed I've ever found. Very kiddy but simple and safe too. I don't know why I never stumble upon this product because there are very famous in www-land, and andes with online shopping is like BFF, so how come I never come across this? Haha..ok whatever, anyway, this is their website: www.tomatokidz.com. They made lots cute and fancy stuff and those stuff are exported to overseas. So u know what I mean right? It's a real deal.

Detailed tiles

Well, that's some of the awesome stuff I snap, after that I kinda forgot to take out my phone and snap some more..because I was too engrossed admiring things they are selling haha.

Anyway.......we bought a veryyyyyyyyy cute blind. Like cutey cute. I will snap it and post it here once it is installed. Bought an aircond for the hall and I can't believe this, I bought a steam iron!!! Not the normal one, but the standing tall like at the shops. Like wtf man! As if I own some sort of boutique. 

Well, my main intention is to iron MrComot's shirt but apparently the steam iron works best for silk, dresses, polyester, material like that, but my husband's shirt is cotton, so it kinda hard to use it you know. I've spent litres of water just for 3 shirt? Gahhhhhhhhhhh. I think I've been conned haha. Well, will post the iron in the next entry.

A few random pictures:

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Sungai Klang! 

Do you know they have mini waterfall..hmm not really a waterfall but got big stones like in the big river. MrComot said it's man made to beautify the river.Well, it kinda pretty (that is why I snap this picture) but somehow all I can see from this picture is the teh tarik water hahaha.

Us at one of the hall. Compulsory pic lol

The goodie bag. Got STAR newspaper I think (didn't bother to flip in until now) and reusable water bottle.

Another interesting thing I found, gigantic posters plastered at the wall, at surau's area. Some sort of tazkirah, while you putting your shoes outside.

Shop Tesco Online!

I am very busy since early of the year, that to a point, I feel like having a maid. Seriously..we were so tied up during weekdays and the house is like a mess. I have this regular weekend maid but apa lah dia boleh buat sangat kan. Vacuum mop cuci toilet done..but I still need to iron and fold cloth. And they are piling like mountain! MrComot does help but 2 days weekend is filled with house chores and I'm tired of it. I want to lie back and chill with them, not kemas rumah tak habis2.

Not to mention that we have to go to Giant/market every Saturday since we have nothing in the fridge (because we still have dinner at MIL's) so there goes my Saturday, lunch outside and buy groceries. Then Sunday baru masak. I am so tired of outside food. Too much sodium and expensive! We ate too much outside food sampai rasa boring dah. Furthermore it's challenging for us to eat outside nowadays, with the 2 gremlins. Zahra is fine, all princessy and behave well, the real challenge is Emir! He refused to sit still and we have to eat in rush and chaos. In other word, all we need is simple home cooked food, eaten peacefully in the house haha.

So I was very ecstatic when Tesco sent me an email that the provide online shopping now, where you can just click click click, send it to your door step at any slot of your choice. I went OHHH EMMM GEEE. Bestnya! Before this I already found few small shops that provide this kind of service like Presto, but tak confident sangat time tu. And when Tesco, macam confident sikit, and best sebab banyak barang. Basically you can buy almost anything, just like when you are they physically.

One of my fear is that they will pick bad stuff, like not very fresh chicken, near to expiry date stuff, etc. But they proved it wrong! I received all my stuff in excellent condition, in fact better than when I shopped in Tesco itself, maybe because I chose 10AM delivery time, so barang still baru-baru. I purposely chose some chicken parts and they are freshly cut!

The thing is, I can save up so much time that I managed to cook lunch and dinner both Saturday and Sunday and with different menu! Lunch lain, dinner lain. Kelas okkk. I feel so much happier and satisfied!

I paid the same price as on the shelf, just add RM10 for the delivery charges tak kira u beli banyak mana pun. It's so worth it. All the stuff is transferred with a temperature controlled lorry and this is super awesome! Kalau I pegi beli sendiri pun tak bawak the cooler bag ok. The thing is, you also get the same discount if they are having one. It will shows in your 'virtual shelf'.

They used GPS so takde masalah nak call-call tak jumpa rumah and I booked for 10AM slot, they reached around 10.15AM, not bad! The payment is via card and at your house, they will bring the card machine.

Wanted to snap the delivery guy picture but Emir sibuk menangis la pulak.

So anyway, these what I cooked last week since I had extra time. Both lunch and dinner! This is one of the historical event ok! Normally we just cook lunch and eat out for dinner, or tapau food for lunch and masak dinner, something like that. Oh my kitchen, I miss you so much! LOL

 Our lunch - chicken Curry with sayur bayam and salted tenggiri and bawang potong + cili padi + asam limau. Nyum! Recipe was based on the back of the curry packet and it is my first chicken curry! After 5 4 years of marriage haha. Nasib baik menjadi, Alhamdulillah..

 For dinner, pan grilled salmon with cheesy mashed potato. Initially, I wanted to make roast potatoes but both of us forgot the potatoes broiling on the stove and when I tend the kitchen, it's already mushy soft, so I mash it instead, with some Parmesan and dried parsley. 

Mushroom + beef bacon bits pasta, with pan-grilled rosemary chicken fillet.

Had bread with leftover chicken curry for dinner. Burpppp! It took some effort for me to prepare this while tending the kids but it makes me realize how much I enjoyed simple home meal like this. It's so worth it!

Anyway, of course it won't match the real experience shopping groceries at Tesco itself, but due time constraint, this is really a welcomed helping hand and much appreciated and I am 100% satisfied customer. Go check it out at www.tesco.com.my, there is a shopping online banner by the right side.

Ohhh how I wish everything can crawl to my doorstep! Hahaha. 

Happy online shopping everyone!