Beach Bums

Because there's nothing like spending a blisteringly hot afternoon at the beach with your best friend. Trying to hold in your building excitement as you grow impatient with mummy carefully rubbing sunscreen all over you and popping a sun hat on, being warned not-to-remove-it-or-else.

Gleefully squirming away to start the all important tasks of fetching water to pour on the sand for reasons only little boys know why. Loud giggles over silly boyish jokes, building sandcastles before abandoning them midway to dip your tootsies into the warm water, inhaling deeply the salty tang of the ocean breeze.

Digging holes deep into the soft sand, running away shrieking at the top of their voices as they accidentally uncovered a resting crab - I don't know who was more terrified: the boys or the poor crustacean.

Waiting for the frothy tide to rush in, looking for seashells and random pieces of treasure to drift ashore. Finding a tiny clam and trying to be oh-so-gentle as they place it in their bucket with some sand and sea water. Wincing as sand and sting salty water goes into their eyes, trying to heed their mummies' admonition not to rub the particles in anymore and to just-stand-still! as drinking water is used to flush it out.

Before deciding that the best game ever was to just lie flat on your tummy right at the ocean's edge, clinging on the sides of the wet sand as the waves splash over you while keeping a watchful eye over your shoulder just in case a shark decides to nip your toes.

These are the stuff that childhood memories are made of :)

Sephora's 20% Member Sale

Who else is excited about Sephora's black card member 20% off sale? *squeals*

Jess got me this Stila convertible colour for cheeks and lips palette since we are massive Stila fans during uni days and I absolutely love it! This is now at 20% off which is such a great deal.

ps - Bubs thought that his Lego Nexo Knight minifig would add a nice pop of blue to this pic ;)

Paper Plate Fish Bowl

Much to everyone's amazement (mine included, hah!), our guppies are still alive and we've also managed to add in a couple of cherry red shrimp.



The aquatic plants and gravel are courtesy of work colleagues so all in all, this has been a very cost effective fish tank.

After much begging to bring the fish to kindy for show and tell and being firmly rejected, Bubs was placated with this paper plate version that he happily carted off to school with.

You'll need:

• Paper plate
• Felt or paper scraps
• Beans or pea gravel

I reminded Bubs that the ocean has many different shades of blue so he used a few different tones to colour the paper plate.

He then busied himself with sketching and colouring different fishes on some scrap paper. I helped him cut them out after he added details like eyes and scales. "Winkles, Mummy, they have winkles on their bodies!"

We made good use of the soybeans from his school's risshun festival and leftover felt to decorate the paper plate fish bowl.

His very own fish bowl :)

The Diary of Bubs

I've been keeping a One Line a Day journal for a little over 2 years now. Bubs is extremely fascinated with watching me scribble lines into it and regularly asks me to read out excerpts. He has been so inspired that he started his own diary. Hubs took a peek at the contents and said I sound like the perfect fairy tale evil stepmother ...

In KL, we did so many Bubs-centric stuff! He had fun with other little kids, had ice creams and cake everyday, shopped for toys and books, played at the park with Godma ... and this is what he summarised from the trip, complete with a sad face?!

In my defense, we were at a basement car park and you hear all those creepy stories of KL car parks and I was trying to get all of us safely into the car when I didn't realise that his little finger was still at the side and I shut the door :( Poor Bubs was sobbing so hard and when I kept apologising, he choked out "It's ok, Mummy, it was an accident," between his cries. *guilt-ed out to the max*

This entry was about his house chores. Apart from tidying up his toys and books, he's now tasked with folding the clean clothes for the entire family. Bubs does a very neat job (Hubs pointed that even his folding is much nicer than mine!) but it's not a chore he looks forward to. He often whines, sleeps on the pile of clothes, hides his face under a T-shirt so no one will look for him ;)

Red Kettle, Taman Desa

I saved the best of our KL eats for the last: Red Kettle at Taman Desa. Be warned that this is an ultimately biased post because the food is so darn good and Des, one of the co-owners, is my uni buddy ;) He was the sweetest guy ever at uni and has fond memories of bumping into me carrying different shopping bags at the apartment lobby studying hard.

It's been a while since we last met up and this time around, I suggested that we could meet for dessert at Red Kettle.

"You know, we do serve mains," he pointed out.

I hesitated. Cafes in Penang are a dime a dozen and excluding the stellar ones, I find that the majority of the time, the food served are often decent though very over priced, especially those within the heritage zones. I thought of how KL Godma often had to drag me to try out new stuff and figured this time around, she'd be pleased that I was taking her to try a new place. Hah!

Tucked within a cosy neighbourhood amidst other eateries, Red Kettle doubles as a restaurant and bakery.

The aroma of freshly baked bread wafted throughout Red Kettle and the rows of crusty baked goodies beckoned invitingly.

I was further distracted by the yummy looking cakes on display. So many yummy choices, such limited tummy room :( Bubs tugged at my hand, for that moment, the both of us understood each other perfectly.

Red Kettle has a minimalist but yet cosy feel with its rustic, white washed brick walls and benches built into the sides. Red and white cushions offer a pop of colour plus making it comfy to lean back.

This was the signature pork chop and porkie rice bowl. Do note that rubbery spiders are not included in this dish and you'd have to borrow them from Bubs ;) R gave the Hainanese inspired pork chop a huge thumbs up and particularly liked the gravy. Hubs enjoyed the onsen (soft boiled) egg with its luscious, oozy yolk and crunchy sweet peas in the porkie rice bowl, which added a nice contrast of textures and tastes to elevate the humble siew bak rice.

The Cajun prawn and pork burger was the ultimate comfort food with its soft, juicy pork patty and zingy sauce. Even Hubs couldn't stop stealing bites of my burger and he usually doesn't even like prawns! I'd to admit, the food here was super yummy.

This was the aglio olio and specially substituted with angel hair for Des and his wife.

"You sure you don't want the soft serve? It's so good that customers pop by just for a cone." Des offered. I shook my head as Bubs eagerly tucked into his icy dessert.

After a while, my curiousity was piqued and I took a mouthful from Bub's ice cream. Its rich, creamy chocolaty flavour was totally unexpected in a simple soft serve.

"Maybe just add on one chocolate ice cream cone for me ..."

At the end of my week long stay in KL, we went back 3 times just for the ice cream alone :)
Do not miss out their bacon focaccia which is baked in-house daily, Bubs and I easily polished a loaf off in one sitting ;)

Red Kettle
37, Jalan Bukit Desa 5, Taman Bukit Desa,
Kuala Lumpur Tel: 03-7988 0801
Closed on Sundays