Courtyard @ Heeren

We stayed at this really quaint hotel in Melaka. It is actually a house that is converted into a boutique hotel which has in total 14 rooms only.



The location of our hotel is really good.It's on Heeren Street which is parallel to Jonker Street so we could just walk there and not have a headache thinking about where to park. At the back of the hotel, there's parking spaces reserved for guests only.

Our room was a Family Deluxe room meanwhile Bapak & Mama's room were the Deluxe room. We actually booked 2 Deluxe rooms but were upgraded to the Family Deluxe room once we checked in. The family room is slightly bigger with an extra single bed. What I really like about the rooms is that it's not identical. Each room has a unique style.



I loved the service that was provided. The hotel staff were friendly and the buffet breakfast was adequate. So those of you planning to visit Melaka I really recommend Courtyard @ Heeren. A great place to relax after a hard day's shopping and eating..

Yummy Melaka

We brought my mom to Melaka last weekend as a birthday treat. It was really fun and I'm sure I gained at least 2 kgs from all the food we ate there.

Here's a summary of what we ate:

1. Asam Pedas Selera Kampung
We left KL at about 1000 so we reached Melaka in time for lunch. Initially we were looking for Nyonya Suan, a halal nyonya restaurant but Hubby saw in the same row, at the corner lot there was an Asam Pedas shop. He absolutely loved the food and even had 2 plates of rice.



2. Cendol
Hani recommended Jonker 88 for us to eat but it was so packed with people so we just opted for a commercialised one because the store was big and had air cond. Hahahhah...the cendol was so-so only. Will try Jonker 88 next time we're in Melaka.



3. Seafood @ Umbai
Afraid that we won't be able to get a table, we arrived at Umbai just before 1900. There was no crowd and we chose to ate at D Muara as Hubby read online that this place was good. It was yummy and cheap!



4. Nyonya Suan
I'm not really a fan of nyonya food so the food was ok lah. I will probably give this restaurant a miss if I come to Melaka again.



After we had our nyonya lunch at Nyonya Suan we left for KL. I'll probably explain in more detail on the restaurants in a separate post. Now you know why I think I gained weight.. :P

MAIDless

Yes, our maid of 11 months ran way last Friday. She called a cab when we were out and took along her passport with her. Oh and she also took along my mom's maid who just worked for 1 month.

Because my maid has worked more than 3 months, the agent will not provide us with a replacement. So we will need to fork out the agency fees again. At this rate I can get a Chanel bag with all the money I have paid the agent!

I'm really contemplating on whether I should get an Indonesian maid or a Filipino one. Although Filipinos are more expensive, at least they will give me less headaches. Even when we made the report at the police station, the policeman was saying it's common for Indonesians to run away. He said they were so many cases because it's easy for them to find work else where but it was rare for Filipino maids to do that. I guess they're more professional.

My cousin also had an issue with her maid this week as well. Her maid went back to Indonesia for Raya and had a miscarriage and the baby is not her husband's!

I get really irritated with comments like " Oh, how are we going to progress if we treat them like slaves!". The percentage who does that is only about 1%. What about the dishonest maids who steal our stuff, who runs away and who mistreat our children when they are entrusted to care for them.

We'll probably get a new maid because we need to take care of Sarah while we're at work and hopefully this time we'll be luckier.

It's all about the money!

I like spending money but I love saving it more. I know this sounds weird but I get an adrenaline rush when I see there's lots of cash in my bank account. However I am very very bad at investing my money.

I'm scared of risks and I wish I could just put all my money under my pillow for my retirement fund. But looking at the inflation rates I know I have to take charge and think on how to save so that I don't burden Sarah when I'm old.

So instead of buying Female or Glam to browse through the latest handbags, I bought Personal Money to help me understand more about finance. I still am clueless on all this stuff but I did get some key takeaways that I'm trying to adopt now:

1. Always pay yourself first!
This is such a great tip. I usually just save the balance of what ever I have spent that month. So now, I will immediately make sure I transfer at least 10% of my pay to my Tabung Haji account. This way I force myself to save money for my Hajj too.

2. Diversify!
This also makes sense. You don't want to keep all your eggs in one basket right? So you should always invest in different things. Don't just dump your money at one place. I'll share with you later how I plan to achieve this.

I'm still trying to understand all this money business so I welcome any tips anyone else would like to share!

Date Night at the DFP

Last Saturday we went to see Sheila Majid with the MPO. I loved the show. She really has charisma and can interact well with the audience. I think she exudes confidence in the way she dresses too. Her first outfit of the night was gorgeous! The arrangement of the songs were really good and the way the songs were performed by the orchestra was beautiful.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the show because it's just the two of us. Sometimes when you have a child you forget how it's like to eat together (and not in turns), how to not have to worry if we brought the diaper bag, stroller..etc, how to just listen to each other and not be interrupted by your child's cries of attention.

Don't get me wrong, I love Sarah and being a mother is the best thing that has ever happened to me. But sometimes, even mothers need a time out.

Shopping Training

Today my mom and I taught Sarah an important lesson in life :

Diamonds are a girls' best friend.

We brought her to De Gem and she really enjoyed herself. She was so busy looking at the jewelry displayed and playing with the sales people's calculators.



She didn't cry at all and when she was too tired she just slept in my arms. So good luck Ayah, looks like we didn't need to train her after all...it's already in her genes... :P

My BFF went to New York and all I got was...

Chocolates from Dylan's Candy Bar!! :D



She bought me 4 "It" bars and the flavours are so unique. Dark chocolate with sea salt, milk chocolate with potato chips, milk chocolate with peanut butter & salted peanuts and white chocolate with banana bits.



So far I've tried both the milk chocolate bars and they're so yummy! Especially the peanut butter one.

Dylan is Ralph Lauren's daughter and her candy bar is inspired by Willy Wonka factory. Aaahh..this would be my dream job. I would gain too much weight though.

For those of you who aren't lucky enough to go to New York like me, you can drop by the Chocolate Research Facility in Singapore. They have lots of interesting flavours too. My favourite is the milk chocolate with pretzels! My best friend loves this shop too.

Beach Baby

Beaches or islands are the best places to bring your baby for a relaxing holiday. Since Sarah was born we have tried to familiarise her with the sand and the sea as there are so many beaches and islands for us to explore here in Malaysia.

These are a few of the places we dragged her to:

1. Port Dickson when she was two months old. She slept most of the time while we were there. Perhaps we were too ambitious!



2. Batu Ferringhi and Cherating when she was three months old.






3. Batu Ferringhi again when she was four months old.



4. Beaches near Kuala Terengganu whenever we balik kampung.





Sarah loved all her trips. She especially likes the ocean breeze. I just hope she doesn't become a beach bum when she grows up!

Terengganu Starbucks

On the way back from my MIL's place we stopped at Hai Peng in Kemaman. It was the first time for us and I was really surprised at how packed the place was.



We ordered the roti paung bakar with kaya and it was sooo yummy. So much better than the roti kaya we get at Pappa Rich and Oldtown White Coffee. Sarah even had one plain roti paung just for her and she finished it.



I also ordered a french toast but if you're ever in Hai Peng give this a miss. It was soggy and oily.



Hubby had 2 cups of coffee, cafe au lait and normal coffee. He preferred the normal one.



A good thing is you can also buy the 2 in 1 coffee sachets and the kaya so you can attempt to recreate the food and drinks at the home.

So for those driving to the East Coast, make sure you stop here. It's really worth it!

A trip to the zoo

This raya instead of only visiting friends and family during their open houses we decided to also bring some Raya spirit to the animals in zoo negara. SIL #2 organised the impromptu trip and we happily tagged along as Sarah has never been to the zoo before.

I find that our zoo is not that impressive and the animals looked depressed. But all in all it's a good trip if you are already bored of the shopping malls in KL.

Here are some tips for a day out in the zoo:

1. Be there early. We arrived at 0900 which was the opening time and the weather was really good. We finished looking at the animals by 1100 and proceed to enjoying the animal show before heading home. By that time it was really hot so we were glad to drive off in our air conditioned cars.

2. Bring cash. Zoo Negara only accepts cash. It's RM 20 per adult and RM 6 for kids aged 4-12. You will also need to pay RM 2 for the tram ride inside the zoo.

3. If you are bringing a baby, bring a carrier as well as a stoller. Babies would prefer to be in the carrier so that they can see the animals better. It's also less tiring because I forgot to bring ours and had to keep on taking Sarah out of the stroller when there's something interesting and carrying her just like that uses more energy. But you also need to bring the stroller just in case he/she falls asleep.



4. There's lot of empty spaces in the zoo so bring your own food so you can have a picnic. There is a restaurant in the zoo but the food doesn't look interesting and it would be more cost effective to bring food from home. Just remember to clean up after the meal!



5. Make sure you being mozzie spray, mozzie patch and a hat for your child. This will help him/her feel comfortable throughout the trip. Of course hubby & I didn't bring any of this but thankfully SIL #2 did!



And finally relax and have fun just like the kids!

I'm backkk

I've been religiously following my friends' Jas's and Huda's blog nowdays and realise I miss blogging.

So here I am again in cyberspace. Hopefully this time it'll last longer. :P

Welcome Aryssa!

On Saturday we went to visit Aryssa. I haven't seen Hani since she gave birth and she looked great. Unlike me, she's lost all the weight that she gained during her pregnancy.

Aryssa is such an adorable baby. I really like her lips! I think she looks more like Azmir. We had a lot of fun taking pictures of the two girls. They're only 1 month apart. In our close cirle of friends they're four 2009 babies: Syaza, Zara,Sarah & Aryssa. It would be so cool if they all went to same school nanti, just like the mommies!

Atok & Opah

When I found out I was going to give birth to a girl, I immediately thought, " Oh no, she's going to be Daddy's Little Girl".

But I was so wrong! Sarah is Atok's Little Girl! She absolutely adores my dad. When she's crying and whatever hubby or I try to do doesn't work, I just pass her to my dad and she just keeps quiet.



So far she likes my dad the best and then followed by mom. She likes her Umi and Ayah the least. I wouldn't be suprised if her first words were Atok & Opah instead of Umi & Ayah.

Thirty Three

Yesterday was Bro #2's birthday. In the morning SIL organised a surprise bday celebration for him at home and for lunch we went to Favola, the new Italian restaurant at Le Meridien.



The deco of the place was realllyyyyy nice. Umfortunately the same couldn't be said about the food and service. I ordered the wagyu beef lasagna. I couldn't really taste that it was wagyu though.



I tried hubby's pasta which was angelhair with garlic, chilli, olive oil and seafood. Sedap jugak but it was a bit too pricey for just a plate of pasta.

My verdict is that the restaurant serves so so food and nothing really to shout about.You can read a full review of the place here

Oh Prada!

My SIL and nephew just came back from London and they bought Sarah this:



Yup she has her own designer item at 6 weeks old! Sarah, you better cherish this keychain. I don't think Ayah is going to buy you anything from Prada anytime soon.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

I've always liked watching crime shows. CSI, Cold Case, Law & Order..I'll watch them all. Hubby doesn't understand my fascination with these shows. I think I was influenced by my dad who loves watching them as well.

So when I saw this book , The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo at the bookstore the other day I thought I'll give it a try. It's written by a Swedish author, Stieg Larsson. The story is about this financial journalist, Blomvkist, who was convicted of libel because he wrote this piece on a famous businessman in Sweden. The truth was he was tricked.

He decided to lay low for a while and stopped being a publisher and journalist for the magazine he owned. At the same time, a prominent businessman of a family empire, Henrik Vanger asked him to write a book about their family history but more importantly to solve the murder case of his niece, Harriet that happened years ago.

Of course he refused at first but Henrik told Blomkvist that he had information that would clear his name so finally relented. And that's when the story gets really interesting. Along the way he teams up with Lisbeth Sander, a weirdo private investigator who has a dragon tattoo hence the name of the book.

I really enjoyed how Stieg Larsson wrote about how Blomkvist with the help of Sander slowly uncovers the mystery and the deep dark secrets of tha Vanger family. It was a real page turner and I'm definitely going to buy his second novel, The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Black Out

We were lying in bed trying to go to sleep when suddenly the power went off. I thought it was going to be just for a short while but it lasted for almost two hours.

It was too hot in our room so we lepaked in Mama's room. Amazingly Sarah didn't realise a thing. It must be because we all took turns to fan her. Such a princess!

Bapak called TNB and they said there was a trip or something like that. But come on, two hours to fix that? Baaaaddddd service...

The next Habib?

Yesterday hubby & I went out for dinner to bid farewell to Si Busuk. She'll be going to London for a short course in jewelry designing. I'm sooo jealous! The course sounds so cool and London is my favourite city in the world after KL.

Dinner was good and it was really funny to see Si Busuk's bf constantly sakating her. It didn't help that most of the time hubby and cousin M would always join him.

So Busuk, good luck and make sure you ace the course! Sarah & I are expecting hand made jewelry for our birthday this year!

3 Gs

Although it has been 10 years since I left high school, I still enjoy watching tv shows about them. My current favourites are Glee ang Gossip Girl.

I had a great experience during high school and the best thing is the friends I made during that time. We started being close when all of us were in the same class during Form 4. Just like in the tv shows we were all very different characters but got along really well.

If I imagined we were a cast in a tv show :

H*** would be the captain of the cheerleader squad and an honor roll student. She would also be the prom queen. (She was the queen for our prom actually)

H****** would be the really loud one who isn't afraid to tell it as it is. She would be the creative one, maybe in the drama and arts club or something like that.

J** would be the captain of debating team and have lots of guys fall for her.

S** would be a Martha Stewart, organising all the school events with her creative ideas.

And all of us would be besties and have great times together just like now!

Look a Like

Everyone who has visited Sarah have said that she looks like Ismail. So today when my aunt said " She looks like Zeti now". I was soooo happy! Over the moon in fact. Finally after 5 weeks, she looks a bit like me. I guess the Malay saying that states if you say something 40 times it will come true is TRUE. Lol...

See, even Sarah is happy that she looks like her Umi. :P

Her Fearful Symmetry

One of the things I enjoy is reading. When I was young I was a real bookworm and was always bugging my parents to buy me the latest Sweet Valley book. ( That was the craze back then). As I grew older I had less and less time to read. Now that I'm under house arrest I'm taking the opportunity to catch up on my old hobby.

The latest book I have completed is Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger who also wrote The Time Traveler's Wife which has been made into a movie.

The book tells the story of a pair of identical mirror twins from the US, Julia and Valentina, whose aunt, Elspeth (one that they have never met) just passed away and left all her money and her apartment in London to them. The apartment is next to Highgate Cemetry, a famous cemetry in London. Their neighbors include Martin, who has severe OCD which triggers the wife to leave him and Robert, Elspeth's partner who volunteers at the cemetry and is writing a thesis on it.

Elspeth's spirit still lives on after her death and the twins and Robert communicate with her and find out what happened between Elspeth and their mother, Elizabeth. (they're also identical twins BTW). I really like how Audrey unfolds the story and the twist at the end. It's not a romantic book like The Time Traveler's Wife but a really complex and interesting tale. So if you're looking for a quirky read, go and get this book!

Oh and I love the title...If you pronounce symmetry in a posh British accent it'll sound like cemetry. Cool pun eh!