100th day old celebrity

YY was exactly 100th days old on 4th March, 2011. According to my MIL, we have to let YY lick a kai pei (drumstick) to initiate the "hoi zhai" day. Never heard of this tradition before? Me too! But we did the same to QQ as well. So far, none of my friends have heard of this practice, so it's kinda rare tradition. But fun! =)

This is my favorite picture. YY was smiling when I held the kai pei infront of her, touching her lips. And the forever kepoh QQ tried to adjust her head lah, kept telling YY " sik kai pei lah!! sik laaa...sik laaa!!" O.o  See the meaning of fun which I mentioned just now?

After the kai pei licking good session, I told QQ to pose with the kai pei for me before she bite it. Very cooperative. She even said that she would "bai pou si", means show me different pose for my camera! She loves posing for the camera, just like her mama lah :P

There goes the kai pei.....first, QQ declared that she wanted to finish it all by herself. This kampung chicken was a bit kenyal, but surprisingly she could chew 'em nicely. But there were some left over meat on it, so baba didn't want to waste it and he polished the kai pei properly.

And finally, happy mama managed to take picture with her 2 ultimate gaga girls! Small gaga seemed to be happier than me!

Sushi-dough, anyone?

Aren't they cute? I don't like sushi. But this special sushi suits my taste bud =) They are from Big Apple Doughnut and this new edition is call Donashi. So creative neh...

Most of it has chocolate filling. Kinda too sweet and jelak after taken 3pcs...but kids will surely love it. Smellybutt couldn't get to try this, coz when I reached home with this, she already ZzzZzzz. Don't think I'll buy it again lah, coz I don't like sweet sweet stuff.

Color me bad

Dragon fruit is always my lil gal's favorite and don't know why most of the time my mom can only get the cheap and yet sweet dragon fruit with red flesh (the inner part I mean) from the morning market. I don't really like red flesh as it always leave my hand stained with the maroon purplish color. Even when you go to the toilet on the very next day, you'll see your "output" (big or small lah) with the same color! But dragon fruit really helps to combat constipation. If Smellybutt doesn't poop, she'll get dragon fruit buffet =)

See, this is the result of self servicing. When she was just about to finish her portion, left a few more small pieces of the fruit in her plate, aaaah.... mula lah drama dia. This time round, she rubbed her mouth with a piece of the fruit and obediently posed to my camera some more! When come to this kind of silly stunt, it is always her pleasure and honor to fulfill my wish!

I took my own sweet time to snap these photos. Then suddenly the stain problem strike my head! I was so worried that the big patch of maroon purplish stain on her face would stay there, irremovable. Muka comot how? Luckily and amazingly that the stain on her face was so easy to clean off, except her hands. Strange lah...I wonder why.

The faces of DraculaQing.....

Pumpkin seed is very nutritious

and cheap! Pumpkin seed contains these:

• high in pottasium
• vitamin B, C, D, E, K
• beta carotene
• calcium
• good source of zinc
• unsaturated fatty acids (good fat)

Click here and here to read more about this tiny mighty seed.

My mom loves to munch on something while watching tv or reading newspaper. So pumpkin seed is 1 of her favorite. Whatever my mom eats, Smellybutt would definitely wants her share too!

The snow-white shell is not too hard but very VERY salty (don't worry, the seed itself is not salty) So we have to remove the salty shell for lil kepohchi (with high speed!) coz she will ask for it non-stop, "zhung oi...zhung oi...". To eat it is very fast, but to remove the shell for her takes time leh. Gotto handle each of the pumpkin seed with TLC!!

Kepohchi being kepohchi lah...she wanted to follow us, using our teeth to break open the shell. Sekali bite on it, she immediately 'bluuueekkk'. Hehehe...want some more or not?

Have you tried 'kai dan wong'?

Here's a yummy dessert with this unique-but-a-bit-tasteless 'nut'. Is it a nut or what? I really don't know. In Cantonese it is call "Kai dan wong" (egg yolk). Grown from a tree, and guess who planted it? The same lui cha sifu from Ipoh =) The tree is pretty big and tall. Normally my MIL will cook this with fu jok barley. Delicious!!!

My mom already prepared a pot of barley (without fu jok) and while cooking it with low fire, we can start to remove the shell. This is how we did it. Not easy though as it has 3 layers in total. Firstly, after rinse the nuts with water (they are very clean actually coz they are from the tree) use a knife to cut on the shell. No need go round the nut, only half the nut will do. We just want to have some opening on the shell so that it'll be easier for us to peel it off later. Then boil the nuts with plain water for about 10-15min.

Clockwise from top : 1st layer, 2nd layer, and 3rd layer which is also the thickest. Sometimes I get to peel off all the 3 layers at 1 time. Need some skill here. Otherwise, just peel it layer by layer lah.

We have a big pot of these nut. Lil Kakak also didn't want to miss out this mega project. So she was seated on her high chair and happily peeling off the 1st and 2nd layer of the shell.

Once we were done with the nuts, boil them again together with the barley for another 15min....and ready to serve. The texture of this 'kai dan wong' is soft. And again, they are tasteless so we got to cook it with sweet dessert.

Barley kai dan wong

I am a big fan of Hor Por Lui Cha

Before I get to know Mr Pang a.k.a. HubB, I have never came across this type of Hakka delicacy, Hor Por Lui Cha. It's simple (to see :P), healthy, yummy and price wise, ok lah. Best for vegetarian too, if you omit the dried shrimps lah. My first attempt on this full of vege delicacy was back in year 2004. Yeah...during our pak thor time lah. He brought me to a 23hour food court, Pa Ya Thin in Taman Maluri, Cheras. Just like what people normally say, cuba sekali hendak lagi. Boy, it tastes so delicious! So how much does it cost? Tadaaaa....for a bowl of rice with at least 4 types of vege topping + some dried shrimp + some pickled vege teamed up with a small bowl of lui cha soup = RM5 kaaachiinngg!

Actually ar, to prepare this dish really eat your time (makan masa. haha) Lucky me as I managed to witness the preparation of it. One of my Ipoh mari relative who is very good in cooking, has decided to cook this for everyone on the 7th day of CNY - Yan Yat ("Human Day" geezz soli ya...too much of lousy direct translation here due to the lousy blogger).

So here it is....the making of Hor Por Lui Cha in Ipoh.

The most tedious job is to wash at least 6 types of vege and chop them into small pieces, then stir fry them separately. Also need to have dried shrimp, pickled vege and roasted ground nut.

My relative bought this special porcelain vase alike, specially made for preparing lui cha soup base ingredient. The right picture shows the gadget which she uses to pound the ingredients. It is actually a guava tree trunk. Why? Because as a result of pounding, there may be some residue/deposit left over in the pot. By using this guava tree trunk, any residue from it, will be edible! Safe to your tummy =)

Apart from using roasted ground nuts, there are some other green ingredients, for which I've no idea what do they call it +_+ but 1 thing for sure, peppermint leave is part of the ingredient. While pounding, she will occasionally add some chinese tea into the mixture too, so that the texture is not too thick. But it can't be too watery as well, because in the end, we will just take a few spoon of the greeny paste and mix with some hot water. Then it's ready to serve with the rice and assorted vege.

That's her, the sifu behind the scene :)

And the Hor Por Lui Cha buffet begins...........eat and eat and top up so many times until I couldn't sleep that nite. For once, I felt like being a cow too, coz whacked too much of vege at 1 time. Haha!

Biscuit Biskut

These are Smellybutt's favourite snack, anywhere anytime. I always have to bring along 2 small container to store some of it, so that she can munch it while I shop. Must have 2 flavors ooo, coz half way enjoying her biscuits, she will definitely ask for the 2nd choice. If none, just get ready to listen to her default question "where is xxx biscuit?" non stop, just like a casette player yang sudah rosak - makan tape.

Ranking No. 1 - Leibniz butter biscuit

This is her so called animal biscuit.

• Taste : good!
• Sweetness : very good!! I mean not very sweet. Actually can hardly taste the sweetness on it. So thumbs up!
• Texture : a bit crunchy, just nice for toddler.
• Size : bite size, just nice for small hands.
• Price : affordable. not more than RM6 (lupa the exact price!)
• Where? : bought it from Jusco supermarket.

Ranking No. 2 - Heinz Little Kids Mini Corn Cakes

She calls it "yuen yuen beng", round round biscuit

• Taste : very good! really got the smell of apple and banana too.
• Sweetness : just nice for toddler. not too sweet also.
• Texture : crunchy, and if holds it longer you'll feel a bit sticky on your fingers.
• Size : round shape, just nice for small hand.
• Price : manyak mahal oooo...RM8.90/pack
• Where? : Jusco, Carrefour, Giant, Tesco pun ada.

Ranking No. 3 - ABC Choc flavour biscuit

She calls it ABC biscuit.

• Taste : good!
• Sweetness : way TOO SWEET for toddler. Not offering her anymore!
• Texture : very crunchy.
• Size : letters shape, just nice for small hands
• Price : slightly more expensive then the animal biscuit.
• Where? : Jusco supermarket.