Oreo BLACKPINK

Everyone’s favourite cookies – Oreo has collaborated with BLACKPINK, the all-girl sensation K-pop group and came out with limited edition cookies. The oreo cookies feature the symbolic crown of BLACKPINK.

In this collaboration, the OREO cookies are available in chic limited edition packaging and in 3 different flavours such as follows:-

  • Black oreos with pink strawberry cream filling
  • Pink oreos with dark chocolate cream filling
  • Chocolate oreos with strawberry cream filling

Each multipack  includes one collectible photocard of a BLACKPINK member (Jennie, Jisoo, Rose and Lisa) and two group photos of the members.

So missy is one of the BLINKS (fan of BLACKPINK) and have been searching for these multipacks. She found the first one which is the regular chocolate oreos (blue packaging)  from De Market for RM6 and it has a photocard of Jisoo. She found the pink oreos at Central Market for RM15. Yes the price is double there but she still bought them. Guess what? It has the same photocard of Jisoo. Now, she is looking for the black oreos but so far she has no luck.

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Positive or negative?

After spending a few days in Ipoh for Chinese New Year, I have been busy going out to meet some of my friends who came back for the festive season. Thereafter, there were dinners and brunches with the inlaws and more meet-ups with my other friends. This Chinese New Year has been a busy one for me.

After going out almost daily, alas, my body cannot take it. I did not get proper rest and last Sunday night, while wiping the TV console table, I started sneezing nonstop. I thought it was due to the dogs’ fur that made me sneeze. I didn’t sleep well that night as it was the prayer night for Jade Emperor and there were deafening fireworks  and firecrackers up till 2am. Can you believe it that there was even a lion dance at 1am at one of the houses nearby?

The next morning I had to get up for work and I didn’t feel right. That day was the first day of work after a week of office closure for Chinese New Year and my office had organized a lunch at a restaurant. I felt cold and did not have the appetite to eat the sumptuous lunch. Luckily office closed early that day and I went home to rest. Decided to see the doctor and was given some cold medication. I did a test when I came back and it was negative. I couldn’t work the next two days. I was coughing at night and had the sniffles during the day. I have never been this sick since 2018 when I caught a cold in Cameron Highlands during the year-end holiday.

On day 3, I suddenly lost my sense of smell and taste. It was a shock to me as this is one of the symptoms of Covid. My family and friends think I may be positive so I took another test and it turned out negative too. I did not have any sore throat though I think I was feverish on Day 1. As I didn’t feel tired and slowly recovering, I did not take anymore test. As a matter of fact, I did not even quarantine myself.

Now I am wondering if I was actually positive but the test kit cannot detect it?

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Our Chinese New Year Celebration

I have been neglecting my blog lately.  Life has been so busy with all the cleaning up before Chinese New Year, then travelling back to Ipoh on the first day of CNY and returned to KL on the 3rd day of CNY. Then right after, the inlaws came back and there were dinners to attend and also I also met up with some of my besties who are in town this CNY.

I came back to work on Monday 30th Jan and was down with a bad flu the next day so I took medical leave. I have never gotten this sick before since 2018 when I went to Cameron Highlands and caught a very bad flu and was wheezing for a while. I did not wear enough clothing when the temperature plummeted to 20 deg. C that year in Cameron Highlands.  Right now I am still nursing a phlegmy cough and a bit of a runny nose.  I did a test on Day 1 and it was negative. Did another test today and it is negative too. Phew!

Time flies and it is almost Chap Goh Mei. There is another round of celebration this Sunday at my friend’s open house. Glad I am feeling better now and can attend the gathering. One of the most delicious loh sang that I have had is the Nyonya loh sang that my sister had ordered. We had it on Day 1 and also Day 2 of CNY. It tasted like kerabu style and I love the sweet and crunchy onions, cucumbers and lemongrass as well as the spices in this dish. This combo is very refreshing

I hope all of you had a lovely reunion and celebration with your families and friends.

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DIY Chinese New Year Wreath For 2023

I try to make my own Chinese New Year wreath every year after seeing how expensive these wreaths are selling from the shops or online. This year I did not have the inspiration to do any until like 2 weeks ago after seeing some being sold in Mid Valley Mall (over RM200 each). I went to check out a shop in Sri Petaling that sells Chinese New Year decor items without any wreath designs in mind and got myself some plastic leaves and orchids spray-painted in gold. I also got some red berries and a red Chinese knot. When I got home, I was contemplating if I should use a weave basket or a wreath as a base and decided on the latter.

The Before.

Tada…the After. Actually I didn’t have to use any glue for this wreath. I just stuck all the items around the wreath. I also added the plastic gold fan thingy to give it a bit of balance. So this year, my DIY Chinese New wreath does not contain any peonies and it is all gold and red.

Want to know what I did previously? Here are my DIY Chinese New Year for 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. I skipped doing the wreath in 2020 because I wasn’t in the mood but I did decorate my bamboo plants.

Gong Xi Fa Cai Everyone! May The New Year Brings You & Your Family Great Health, Prosperity And Happiness!

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Revamp Your Work Space With Cool Stationeries

There are several things that can hinder our productivity such as lack of organization. This can make us lose focus during working hours but with the right tools, we can easily give our productivity level a boost. Studies have shown that tidy workspaces or positive environment can increase productivity.

As we have just welcomed the new year, there is no better way to give the year a fresh start than to get organized for the year ahead. It is the perfect time to get organized for better productivity and mood to tackle big goals. We spend a third of our lives at work and when we become tired of the workspace, our motivation can decrease. As such, it a good idea to give our workspace a refresh and thankfully, there are many ways to foster our well-being on the job. Something as simple as this leather desk pad from Galen Leather is enough to perk us up.

This stylish executive desktop pad from  is made from vegetable tanned bridle leather and is large enough to offer protection to your desk. This versatile pad is soft to touch, durable and can be used as a laptop and mouse pad, and desk blotter. It offers a smooth and firm surface for writing on. It is available in several colors from tan to pink, orange, green and bright blue to match your personal style and taste. This luxe desk writing pad can further be personalized with any 3 characters printed on the front bottom corner of the mat. Besides keeping your desk tidy, protecting your devices or surfaces clean from scratches, this desktop pad can instantly make it a more inviting and stylish space to work in.

You can further power up your productivity with a leather jotter pad. In order to work more efficiently, it is a good idea to jot down any important notes with a proper writing pad. Having stray bits of paper everywhere can add to stress so this undyed leather jotter pad is a good choice. It is perfect for taking notes on-the-go, making lists, setting goals, and prioritizing work tasks. This leather jotter pad will help you to stay on top of tasks stylishly.

When you have a jotter pad, you should also have a pen handy to write things down. Good pens such a Scrikss fountain pen writes well as the the ink from it glides effortlessly over the surface of a paper. Featuring a retro design, this fountain pen comes with a sensitive medium nib and a transparent window barrel for easy gauging of ink level.

Tweaking the workspace with high quality, visual pleasing stationery and chic accessories is the key to being productive. Check out Galen Leather for more beautiful and practical leather products.

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My Birthday Gifts

I celebrated my birthday last week and received a pleasant surprise from my sisters and my friends. My sisters gifted me a lovely carrot caramel cake from Keesho and it was so delicious. Just what I needed as I was craving for some cakes. I find the caramel a bit sweet but maybe because I haven’t been taking any sweet food for a few years.  I am eating a slice a day and it is so so good.

Then later there was a delivery from Grab and my friends gifted me some Italian cheese and cured meat. The best gift for a keto-er like me.

It was an ordinary day for me and we did not go out for dinner. Saving my tummy for the coming Chinese New Year feasting. Below are the birthday messages from the gifts.

My friends like to make fun of the keto cakes that I have been eating and they said the cakes tasted like cardboards! But I do love the idea writing the messages on a recycled cardboard *chuckle*

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Dinner At Restoran Sin Chua Kee

My friends and I had an early Chinese New Year gathering at Restoran Sin Chua Kee a few days ago. I have been to this restaurant more than 10 years ago and it is quite close to where I live.  This restaurant is a no-frills eatery and food is affordable and delicious. It is famous for crabs but we did not order any that night.

Here is what we ordered that night:-

Our first loh sang of 2023

Tossing of loh sang while shouting out auspicious phrases

Homemade tofu with minced meat

Fried brinjal.

Stir fry intestines.

Braised pork belly with salted fish. A very savoury dish.

This is pork ribs with superior sauce. It is one of their signature dishes. It is a bit too sweet for me.

Paku Pakis Kerabu. This is a very flavorful dish that is served cold and we like it very much.

The dinner was also to celebrate 3 of our birthdays. There were 2 old school coffee and vanila butter cakes for Elaine and Annie, and a keto burnt cheesecake for me.

Restoran Sin Chua Kee

Address: 
No. 47, 1, Jalan Kuchai Lama, Taman Lian Hoe, 58100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah  Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
Telephone:  
012-688 8022

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Not Ready For It

Last week while I was walking out to the market in my neighbourhood, I spotted some red things bobbling in the air.  They are none other than red lanterns! Yes, the red lanterns are all up on the main roads surrounding the market area.

Red lanterns are being put up every year for Chinese New Year to give it a festive feel. I was quite surprised this time because we haven’t celebrated Christmas yet.

Chinese New Year 2023 falls on the 22nd January and I find this too early. I have not even started doing anything around the house or getting things ready to decorate the house for the festival.

Just to put this here for memories – This Christmas, I got missy to help with the wrapping of gifts. We were invited to a friend’s house for a BBQ on Christmas day and there’s a gift exchange event. So after shopping for all the gift at Mid Valley (My friends and I call it Mad Valley because this mall is totally packed on weekends), missy was delegated to wrap them. I did give some pointers on how to wrap the gifts.

We had a quiet celebration on Christmas Eve. Ordered in Texas chicken which was a good idea as I didn’t have any mood nor energy to prepare anything shopping for 6 hours at Mad Valley that day.  Then we went to the Assumption Church in PJ for midnight mass.

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Free Interactive Money Games Online

When Ashley was little, I did not really teach her about money or help her to build a responsible understanding of financial literacy. Now that she has become a teenager, she enjoys purchasing things without really budgeting her finances. Even when I advice her on her spending, she is still not careful with her money.

As parents, it is important that we teach our children positive money habits by learning the basic concepts such as budgeting and savings so that they will practice good financial behaviors when they become adults.

These days, there are many ways to teach children about money and the best thing about it is through online games that are fun. Online games are easily available and have become a popular tool to educate children about the important things in life.  These money games for children cover an array of financial topics that is easy to understand. 

Playing online money games has many benefits that can help children learn key life skills and they play an important role in their personal development. The games encourages strategic thinking and creativity. Some of the benefits include:-

  • Boosting early learning skills – problem-solving, negotiating, planning and much more. 
  • Concentration – online games require quick actions, patience and concentration. Playing online games has shown an increase in the concentration skills of players. 
  • Analytical Skills – Usually the games require players to solve problems in order to advance to the next level. This will challenge their analytical and problem-solving skills. 
  • Understanding The Value Of Money – playing money games gives children more awareness of the value of money and understand that different costs are associated with different value items. 
  • Understanding Scenarios – Playing shopping games will help children to learn more about real life situations that involve money. 
  • Math Skills Addition and Subtraction Skills – Children will learn how to work out how much an item cost and how much change is required and this will improve their addition and subtraction skills. 
  • Saving Habits – Researches have shown that children who interact with money often tend to have better saving habits when they get older. 

Money Games.

If you would like to introduce some fun and educational money games for your children to play, you can check out the games at MortgageCalculator. Ashley and I had some fun time playing these games and she finds them very useful.

Grocery Cashier

This is a game that is great for younger children to practice their maths. When she was younger, Ashley wanted to work as a cashier at the supermarket when she’s an adult as she found it fun to ring up the cash register. So when she saw the Grocery Cashier game, she wanted to give it a try as it brought back memories. This game involves ringing up the cash machine by entering the price of each item as it comes down the conveyor belt. Then tap the plus button to add the things up. After entering, click on the total button and then enter the amount that the customer paid and click on the pay button. Then click on the bills and coins to complete the transaction. 

Bitcoin Tap Tap Mine

Bitcoin Tap Tap Mine is an idle clicker game that is based on the popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Players will collect the bitcoins by tapping on the screen to mine the Bitcoin. You have to click as fast as you can and once you have collected enough, you can use the Bitcoin earnings to improve electricity cost, mining pools, hardware and hashing algorithms. Every time you upgrade your mining, you can increase the Bitcoin production rate to mine faster. You can also collect random gifts and spin the wheel for a chance to win. This game is a good learning tool to explain how Crytopcurrencies work. 

Farm Town

Another enjoyable game is Farm Town that is similar to one that I have played many years ago. This is also a clicker game that involves farming & food processing simulation game with different stages. Firstly, you need to plant the seeds, harvest the crops and also raise animals when you have enough money to buy them after selling your produce at the town market. You can also use the money to buy more seed, purchased commercial equipment and also research new food production techniques. Every level has a unique goal to accomplish and it ranges from cash earned to create certain food items in the kitchen. Let me warn you first that this game is pretty addictive. 

Do check out these exciting money games online at MortgageCalculator with your children. Money games are one of the best ways to introduce the financial concepts to children. MortgageCalculator has games that are ideal for young kids, preteens and teenagers. Even adults can enjoy them too!

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Happy Winter Solstice Festival

Today is Dongzhi festival and this year, we did not roll any tang yuan (glutinuous rice balls) but I cheated and bought the frozen ones. Missy said they taste different. Usually my mom would buy the glutinuous rice flour from the market, add coloring and roll them the night before. Since she is in Ipoh now, I didn’t buy any flour and just bought the frozen ones. Ashley prepared the sugar syrup last night and woke up early to boil them this morning because she said she wants to learn how to do all these. Next year she said we should buy the glutinous rice flour and roll them.

Happy Dongzhi Everyone!

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