Sunday, February 26, 2006

mei liang xing

Today asked my girl.
"Will you bring mummy and daddy to your house when you're married?"
A : No
M : Will you send daddy and mummy to the Old Aged Home?
A : Yes

Mei liang xing the nu er

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Cute little Amanda Lee

Today's Little Notes class is the funniest one so far.

Amanda, that cute girl, never fails to amuse me with what she says or complains to the teacher about her mummy. (once she complaint to teacher Peggy that her mother make the mask so tight for her). Today, she wasn't her usual self (probably over stimulated from her lack of sleep). She refused to sing or dance, Peggy asked her why isn't she singing and dancing. Her reply was "my tummy is too full.." I couldn't help but laugh at her. Throughout she didn't do much.

The best performance must always come at the finale right? It did!

When the children were singing the Goodbye Song, they were all seated on their stools quietly except for Amanda who was standing up/down the stool. The mummy was quite pissed off "Amanda Lee, sit down!" Anyway, that girl didn't listen. But just as they were coming to the end of the song ' goodbye everyone. See you again.' I noticed Amanda was a little dizzy and before I knew it she kindda had her head forward, she bent towards the floor and did a forward roll (all from the stool!!) That was the grand finale, perfect timing too! Come to think of it, it was really bad of me but I found it funny and was giggling. When she got up I kindda rub her head for her (guilty for laughing at her). Peggy couldn't help but laugh at her. And some time later the mummy also sat there; look at Amanda and started laughing.

Kids are just kids!

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Sensible girl & guilt-stricken mother

Last night I had to ask my girl to sleep in her own room as she's sniffing away. She was afraid and asked me to sleep with her, I said okay. Turned on the night lights for her, and then she turned on the Winnie The Pooh light (the one Aunty Jus gave her) which I told her the room is bright enough as the lights from the opposite block are shining into the room.
She was chatting with me and I told her that she will have to learn to sleep on her own now since she's a big girl. But she's not comfortable with the idea of sleeping alone(probably we started her too late) Anyway, I did tell her next time our helper might be sleeping in the same room as her and when baby comes, the sensible girl said " baby sleep here. I take care of di di, mei mei." I was quite pleased but I hope she will remain as sensible when the time comes and not get jealous. (which was why we decided that both children shall sleep without daddy/mummy to avoid the jealousy that may arise)
As we talked I started feeling queasy and instead of making that horrible sound; I cough out. She asked me 'mummy, you want to vomit?"
M: Yes
A: You must drink hot tea. You drink hot tea then you will not vomit. Athena drink hot tea and never vomit....
M: (laughing)
A: Athena like to drink many many hot drinks. I drink barley juice...
Anyway, feeling rather tired myself I told her to sleep. Hubby woke me up an hour later and I moved back to our room. Anyway I had my pee break at 6am and went over to check on girl. I was surprised that she was sleeping the wrong side (leg on pillow and head on her fluffed up quilt), anyway went back to her cot and brought out her another blanket for her. As I covered her; she stirred. I thought I saw her open her eyes, went closer and she gave me that sad look. And she spoke "I want mummy.."
Guilt-stricken as this is the second time I've lied to her. (the first time she woke up crying, this time she chose to keep quiet)
Anyway, I deduced she must have gotten up at some time in the night, sat up rubbing her favourite bear's nose hoping I'll come by, moved her butt and waited and then plop down to bed in the wrong direction. (based on observations on how she'd behave these years).
I asked her :
M: Were you waiting for mummy?
A: Yes
M: Are you angry with mummy for not keeping to my promise
A: Yes
M: What time did you get up?
A: (kept quiet)-anyway silly question from me
M: When you didn't see mummy, why didn't you go over to daddy/mummy room?
A: (kept quiet)
M: Were you afraid
A: (nods her head)
A: I want mummy... (sounding really sad)
M: Ok, mummy's here now. I am sorry I did not keep my promise.(kisses her) I love you, Athena. Can you move aside to let mummy sleep?
A:(moves to the side)
A:(hugs me as I lay down to sleep next to her)

Tuesday, February 21, 2006



After I dropped my girl in school, I went down to Mt E (silly me, forgot to check my medicine stock on my last visit on Friday) to get my stock. After which, I went to pass some time in Amara before collecting my girl's photo at 1.30pm.Here are some of my favourite pictures. More will be uploaded in her blog and the link on the side.
Anyway, was suppose to get myself a pair of flat shoes but ended up with 3 tops from Modern Maternity (and not forgetting a damage of $130!) I hope this is my first and last purchase as every mothers know that maternity wears are not cheap, also this is going to be my last pregnancy so I do not want to end up with more than what I need. Girl refused to come back home so I left for home at close to 8pm and fell asleep at 10pm. At that time hubby came back with some magazines- 8 Days, Family and i-zhou kan and he mumbled something about what promotion.. obviously I didn't understand him in my drowsy state. He repeated himself but all I did was to pout my lips for him to kiss me goodnight and I fell asleep. I couldn't hear what he was saying anyway.... shrugs:)

Saturday, February 18, 2006

The much awaited results.

Thanks to the support given by my friends and their friends/colleagues my girl has made it! Votes put her in the Top 10 position, after which the judges casted their votes. And my girl is the 1st runner-up. Yippee!!

But I am must really thank everyone for putting her closer to the Top 3 position.

Thank you! Thank you!

Interesting articles on : Confinement Period

Confinement nannies among the Chinese
No shower or washing of hair for a month. Forget about going out, shopping or meeting friends.
And the only thing to touch your lips, is food cooked in sesame oil or ginger.
If you want a drink, don't reach for a glass of water. This is what confinement means for the Chinese mother.
Chan Mui Yin recounts, "After delivery for the first one month, I actually feel very tired and actually pretty weak. If you stay up late, you get a little bit of headache. Especially looking after the baby in the night, and the next morning when the baby does not sleep very well.
"Traditionally, the confinement period is a time of rest for the mother.For Miu Yin, she decided she needed extra help so she hired a "Pei Yuet" or confinement nanny.
The Pei Yuet's job is to care for the mother and baby for about a month after the child is delivered.
Chan Mui Yin explains, "If you actually look at it in Mandarin terms, Pei Yuet actually means "company during one month". Yuet actually means one month. What really that means is that she will take care of the mother and she will take care of the baby. "So that the mother will get a lot of rest. On top of it, she prepares a special diet for the mother. And some of this food, generally are not basic home-cooked food. It needs special preparation." For the first two weeks of confinement, the new mother is not encouraged to take anything too nourishing. The main concern is to rid the mother's body of "fong" or wind.It is said to be caused by toxins and impurities found in the body.
Chan Mui Yin says, "Throughout the confinement period, basically no plain water at all. I will be taking the red date and longan water. "All the food I take, whether vegetable, fish, meat or even chicken, are fried with ginger. A lot of ginger is actually put in. Ginger, then there is a lot of sesame oil. I feel all of the practices that have been passed down, all of the advice that they have given you are usually for a good reason.
"According to the Chinese, pregnancy is considered to be a hot condition, while childbirth means loosing the heat. That explains the taboo of touching water which is cold after birth and having the red dates drink, which warms the body.
Food taken during this first two weeks is usually "sheng hua tang", or herbal soup.It will literally "cleanse the body after birth", with the area the soups targeting to clean out being the uterus. Usually the Pei Yuet would have her own concoctions, like Miu Yin's aunt who has her special family remedies. Tjong Sui En shares her secret recipe, "Mix juice of tumeric, betel leaves, ginger and galangal. Tumeric will be good for blood circulation - the body will not be tired - the betel leaves make sure that the body does not smell."Following this, the mother would then be allowed to take other energy giving food such as steamed black chicken, pig's liver and kidney.
Chinese remedies have a well-documented history and today it still continues to influence life, especially new life.
- extracted from www.channelnewsasia.com/baby/chinese.htm
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Article 2 :
Information on Confinement Practices

Many women throughout Asia believe strongly and adhere to cultural postpartum practices. This is apparent in some degree in Singapore. The Singaporean new mother may be modern, but traditional customs and beliefs still hold sway in the postpartum period. The information given here below pertains to local Chinese practices that dominate during this period.
In general, the postpartum period coincides with the duration of confinement. Here, women are expected to follow a set of prohibitions and restrictions concerning diet and lifestyle. It is believed that women reach an imbalanced state of being after childbirth. Yin and Yang are not in harmony and cultural taboos and practices are set in place to restore their balance.
The theory of Yin and Yang is briefly mentioned here. Traditional Chinese beliefs hold the theory of Yin and Yang to be basic and fundamental. The Yin-Yang theory holds that all phenomena consist of two opposite aspects that are in continual mutual interaction, Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang are opposing forces, yet remaining in interdependence. Yin is seen as passive, dark, descending, feminine, cold and negative whilst yang is light, active, ascending, masculine, warm and positive. Each organ in the body has Yin and Yang within it and the balance of Yin and Yang is maintained throughout the body.
After giving birth, women are considered to be extremely imbalanced towards Yin. This is considered a 'cold' stage and comes about due to the loss of blood and energy. In order to re-establish balance between yin and yang, there is therefore a strong emphasis on keeping and building warmth in the body and avoiding exposure to cold elements. The new mothers should not expose themselves to cold water and low temperatures, avoid the wind and air conditioning, abstain from drinking ice water and eating 'cold' food. Strict followers would avoid washing hair totally, take occasional baths and eat 'warming' food. Generally, the wisdom passed down is this, "If you don't listen and follow, then you will have backache, arthritis, rheumatism and incontinence when you are old."

- extracted from http://www.littledreamers.com.sg

Old wives' tales

Just yesterday mom started nagging at me for drinking cold drinks; eating too much fruits. She believes that having too much of "cooling food" will only induce a miscarriage. And mind you, this is not the time to hear such inauspicious words.
Many of us who go through pregnancy will hear alot of old wives' tales right from the start till 10 months later, and bombarded with many restrictions. I remember having a discussion with a girlfriend years back on tales and confinement period. She doesn't believe in confinement period and has not practiced any of it with all her pregnancies. I practiced it with my mom doing the confinement period for me. And not forgetting I did mention that I really did wonder why Chinese came up with so many restrictions or why they say certain foods are fit/not fit for consumption when women in our planet go through pregnancies. I mean, caucasian ladies (white); negroids (black), mongolians (yellow) - don't we all have the same body? Anyway, I did ask mom about this and she told me actually it started as the way of life in laidback China. I don't know if she spun any stories to me but they definitely sounded logical, eg. why women don't bathe? Her story was that people have to walk a long distance just to get pails of water. Logical! And talking about China, I have been talking to this lady who's from Shanghai (actually Wuxi which I just found out) in the clinic. I asked her about their confinement restrictions and how strict are they in China, her answers surprised me when she told me "we don't practice anything." Infact I surprised her when I told her that most Chinese here would practice. Her answer was " In this modern metropolis city?" So instead of me trying to find out more things they practice, I was sharing with her what I can on the practices. Darn! I hope I don't sound like an ah-soh. Come on! At first I thought she didn't believe or practice all these because she's from Shanghai. But the Wee Chee told me they're from Wuxi - and that place sounds ulu to me.
If 10 months down the road is not bad enough, what about the current 9 months of pregnancy? There are tales of :nailing something on the wall; painting; cutting & sewing on the bed. Speaking of which, I didn't know the tale of cutting & sewing on the bed - which apparently I did (sewed clothes for my 2 teddy bears). My girlfriend did that too and she checked from her gynae "okay no cleft lip". My girl is perfectly normal. I heard of someone's child who had a patch of black on her baby's face just because she painted the baby's bedroom. Coincident? I don't know. During my first pregnancy, my house was going through renovations. However, my designer did ask them to stop work whenever I pop by the place to check out the progress.
Having written so much, now it's my personal point of view. I choose to believe and practice especially for the confinement period. Because I do not want to suffer in the future; all I need to do is to endure the one month (but we changed some eg. shower and wash hair; aircon)If I don't practice, and what if it's true... I get pains all over my body and no one can help me to ease the pain.

Friday, February 17, 2006

News

Today, - I finally decided to put down in my blog this news.
I'm pregnant with my Number 2. I had known my pregnancy about 2 days before CNY but had chose to keep this in secrecy until now.
I should be 7 weeks pregnant, I need to calculate again.
Today a visit to my gynae showed that my EDD is 4th Oct (3 days before mine) but it may be earlier cause I will go for Elective C-section (had Emer C-section the last time so might as well cut me again)
A diary was also set up for my baby No. 2 (whom my girl keeps insisting it's a boy. We shall see if she's correct okay?) at http://sweetlifestories.blogspot.com. A link will be provided by the side of our blogs.

There is something which is so interesting which I must share. It is how I found out I was preggie.
You know the thing they say about children can sense is very true.
It was on 25th Jan night when I was playing with my little girl. She kindda out of the blue said this "mummy, where's baby baby?" " Yes, where's baby baby?" It was because of her I decided to run the pregnancy test. I saw two lines but one line was fainter than the other.. so my happiness was only felt when the gynae confirmed it days later.
PS: Can my dear readers tell me how your older child hint to you about your second or third child. I'd love to hear your stories>

And if her prompting me to run the test was not enough. You will find it hilarious if I told you she even know when was my ovulation date. ?!?! Amazing? I think it is. As usual I was playing with her on the bed, out of no reason she spouted "Mummy daddy have di di, mei mei tonight." It was like she's telling us "hey! It's time you two should jump into bed tonight and make baby."

Anyway that's history but I will tell her this story when she grows older.

How do I feel now? Hungry all the time. Eating & eating. Remember too I've been writing about how I've been very tired lately? I'm still feeling that, so I take afternoon naps; sleep early in the night; whine when I get up in the mornings. I'm trying to get as much rest as possible, although I'm so tempted to go shopping. Anyway, shopping is secondary.. will do that when I feel more energetic. Now I'm only hoping to get the nod from my gynae to start my exercise regime. I've put that on hold. Talking about exercise.. I didn't know and actually went for Bodycombat class. My poor children have been bopping up and down in my uterus when they were little embryos. With my daughter, I only knew of my pregnancy the day I ended my holiday in the US. And my poor little girl was also subjected to all the rides in Universal Studios!! Haha!

The verdict!

Now I am already beginning to understand.
I usually bump into this IFS Peter Yap (did a couple of fun flights with him. Real funny guy!) at TMall. But everytime he did not look at me. Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised that he looked and took the initiative to smile at me and mouthed "Hi".
What can I say?
My hair is short, people mainly recognize me with short hair. Maybe I look more 'human' this way..
No wonder, my girlfriend June that day didn't even realise I was standing behind her in the toilet.
Verdict? Short hair people recognize me. Today my gynae said I look slimmer.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

The eventful day of an orange balloon

Bought my girl an Orange balloon yesterday from the Party shop.
Funny, she actually remembered what happened the last time we were in Raffles City. She started yakking away "mummy you remember? You buy me purple balloon yesterday (er... she always use the wrong word)? You angry with Athena, then you buy me balloon?" When I asked her why was I angry with her, she said "mummy tell Athena don't open the toilet door. Athena open mummy beat my hand here (and pointed to her hand)" - Real cute lah!
Anyway, she wanted an orange coloured balloon this time so she was like showing off in the shopping centre to the other kids. Once she pulled the string and I stopped her in time.
When we got down from the carpark at our place, that girl was holding the plastic bag which I've tied the balloon to. She kindda pulled the string and the balloon flew away. She made a quick fuss about wanting her balloon back. Hubby being the tallest there was jumping up to grab hold but couldn't(Umm.. I better tell him to start exercising). One guy offered to help and though he was also taller than my hubby he also couldn't reach. To make it worse, the wind was like blowing the balloon here and there. Anyway, we thanked the guy for his help.
Girl kept turning to look at the balloon when hubby carried her away. She was really sad.
I couldn't bear to see her so sad but I told her "well, teach you a lesson next time don't pull the string."
Somehow the soft-side of me caved in. I was at home and saw the stick for hanging up bamboo poles. Went down hoping that the balloon is still there. It's there to one corner, maybe waiting for me to retrieve it back for my girl, coz' it can fly away when another gust of wind comes by. Strange as it is, the wind came but the balloon kept coming towards me. I extended the stick longer and tried to twirl the string around the hook. I failed in three attempts. Finally on my last attempt, I did it more slowly by twirling and stop and bring it against the wall; twirl and stop; twirl and stop - synchronising with the wind. I got hold of the balloon.
When I got back home, I gave the balloon to my girl. And she asked "mummy, you went downstairs to get my balloon for me?"It made her happy for awhile..and soon she started playing with something else
Was it worth the effort? I think so at least she did smile. But even if I did not get it back from her I think she would have forgotten all about it.
She brought the balloon to school today, told her to enjoy it while she can coz' when she gets home in the evening, it's going to drop on the floor.

A date with a guy and a girl




I had a dinner date with a guy and a girl today (hubby & daughter). Hubby asked what I wanted to eat, so I suggested Prego. (I had been craving for my Penne Arragosta since last week but Gusto is no longer in Wisma anymore) Anyway, I got there early but it was fully booked. You kindda of expected since it's Valentine's Day. Dismay I am, I walked away and suggested the Cafe in Esprit. They only serve Valetine's set and no space inside, so we're outside in the heat. We walked away after warming up the seats for awhile. No way are we going to survive without aircon!!
Finally decided on Plaza Market Cafe. It wasn't even crowded at all so we secured a seat immediately. The little girl chose where she wanted to seat - Chairman's place. We started the buffet, (girl had her dinner so we didn't have to bother much about her)
Everything looked good for a hungry person and soon I forgot that moment ago I was very sad for not having my Italian food. Started off with my Sharks Fin soup. Had a few servings of the marinated jellyfish (those served on cold dish)- which happens to be my favourite. Thank goodness my hands were not 'wobbly' after that as I saw my Chilli crab- not xiao hong lou style but the gravy is nice.
The question came, asked my hubby "how are you to eat crab with fork and knife? I can't eat the pincer part, they didn't crack the shell here...." Turned and looked around me, nobody used hands. Infact nobody around me had crabs. But in the end, I gave up and used my hands.
Kueh Pie Tee was next on my list. Had 3 of it, girl wanted the shell without the filling (i've got a silly girl!) It's really nice. Yum yum..The Eefu noodle is nice too.
The best part in buffets are the desserts. But then I have to watch what I eat (not too much sweet stuffs) so it was a torture to see the nice cakes; chocolate brownie;ice-creams greeting me. In the end, I only had one glutinous rice dumpling and one small mouthful of hubby's durian pudding. Now that reminds me of Emicakes Durian puffs. I dunno what hubby gave my girl coz' my girl was munching near the dessert counter and she didn't want to let me see. Obviously she enjoyed the dessert, as shown in the picture. Ps. she really cleaned up the whole bowl.
SURROUNDING
During the dinner, noticed some couples. Obviously dating couples - cause all the girls had big bunch of flowers!! (except me. Sob.. sob...)The waiter would go around tables and asked to take pictures. Strange? How is it that they didn't approach us huh?
They were playing nice lomantik (romantic) music.. yah. I was enjoying it only to be spoilt by my girl's consistent yakking. Did I ever mention that she's very talkative??? Then at some point she would whine out in pain as she has an ulcer in her mouth. Thank goodness this is not a posh restaurant (anyway even if we do go, I'm not going to bring her along)or where everyone around us are gazing deeply in their partner's eyes or sweet-talking. Otherwise we may get forks and knives thrown at us.
POST DINNER
As we walked out of the place, I asked my girl to say goodbye to this old couple. The guy is always looking at my girl whenever he passes by our table. They were pleasantly surprised that she actually went up and said goodbye to them. I see in their eyes the joy of grandparents looking at her.
They Cafe gave all diners a small little gift from Davidoff.
IN RAFFLES CITY
Walked around a little, hubby needed to get his watch strap adjusted. I got him a watch for our 5th anniversary. He asked if I wanted an identical pair. No!I have 2 watches already and that's enough. I want my Rolex he promised me on our wedding day. Umm.. maybe I should ask him to pay for the LV bag I had been eyeing.Hee!Hee!
He should be thankful that I only get one present from him the whole year all these years.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Finally.. I chopped off my messy hair

Haven't had a hair cut since July or was it August last year. No doubt, I was happy at one point of time when my hair is at shoulder length, it makes my face look slimmer. But as time goes by blowing my hair was not easy. And on lazy days, I'd just wash my hair and leave it. So lazy that I even went out with my hair not blown but tied half or full ponytail to neaten it.
Had been itching to cut my hair since yesterday so today I decided to go for it ( I actually fell asleep in the chair - haha!). Option was to go back to Reds at TMall or to Jean Yip at Rivervale Mall. In the end I chose the latter as it's nearer to home and I don't have to wait long. Was infact thinking if there's long queue at Jean Yip, I'd go into the $10 booth. I'm that desperate!

My Mee Hoon Kuey

In mid-day, I had a sudden craving for Mee Hoon Kuey.
Thanks to the efficient catering service at Blk 265 Tampines St 21, I was able to make a call to make an order; drive down; sat down and had my MMmmmmm Mee Hoon Kuey - my mummy's cooking.
Sorry pals, no time to snap photos. I was too hungry and finished up the bowl quite fast. And because of my sudden craving, I had to forgo my afternoon nap.
Guess it's okay. I can sleep in later tomorrow.

Thursday, February 9, 2006

Hopeless mother

This morning, my girl said she wanted to tie her hair. At first she told "like that, like that." (grabbed her hair) and I didn't understand, so I asked her if she wanted one ponytail. Half ponytail?? " No! tie like Ms Leaw like that.."
Ms Leaw did a side pleat from left to right for her last evening and she liked it.
Anyway, I did it my style. Very messy...
At school, one teacher asked "she just woke up?" "No, I dunno how to tie as nice as Ms Leaw." Before she went in, I re-tie her hair for her again. This time the end part was horizontally on her right side. It so happened that Ms Leaw was leading a group of students to the playground and was laughing at me. I laughed at myself too! She promised she'll tie her hair for her tonight.
Anyway, after my breakfast I walked past the class. We had a left profile of her, her hair was down (I thought. Ok, she pulled it out.). Then her classmate told her something and she turned to looked at us. The end was still sticking out. Really funny! Pity I didn't get a snap of that. Mom started laughing.. at my skills.

Going through my girl's baby photos


Was looking for something yesterday from my girl's photos and just couldn't help but to put them in the blog. The last photo in walker was taken in May 03 (6months old)
Girl has got a huge collection of photos (the crazy mother keeps snapping pictures)

Saturday, February 4, 2006

What a day!

Started the day by going down to Orchard Rd in the morning. Then we stopped by at Paragon - Marks & Spencer to get something for husband's colleague.
He told me last night that his colleague is holding a housewarming party.. okay since he said that, yours truly was not prepared for anything else right?? And he could have the decency to tell me hey it's a chinese family - I would have brought all the already-been-prepared hongbaos and bring the mandarin oranges. Make it worse, he actually went down to M&S to buy something, all the more I think it's an expatriate's housewarming.
Good thing mom reminded me better have some hongbaos ready in the bag. I prepared 5 coz' we haven't got much $2 in our wallet. I got lots of $5 but we need even figures.
Then the shock came when I saw his ex-colleague outside the host's house. I overheard their conversation and realised it's his ex-colleague(IBM) invitation. Darn! I need more than 5 hongbaos for that man. Heng ah... we have extra red packets in the car so we had to recycle the $$ given to my girl to give it to them. (came home and pay back my girl)Abit paiseh leh... I'm hoping that I don't give back to the same kids.
Anyway, it's really nice of his ex-collegues (he's the only thorn) to always include him in anything they organise although he's left there 4 years or 5 years ago??
We left a few hours later tired. Girl insisted that she wants to sit with daddy so I have to drive from Thomson to Tampines to Punggol.(half the time yawning).
Couldn't take it - the moment we arrived back home I dozed off for 4 hours...
I feel like a pig - oink! oink!

Friday, February 3, 2006

If only..........................


I'd be happy of only everyday it takes me 10 minutes to get her ready for school.
Yesterday, I didn't let her attend school as she was coughing quite badly. Was trying to wake her up coz' I need to bring her to her PD first and I then to my appointment 2 hours later. At first she had no response when I told her "Athena mummy's bringing you to see doctor." Until when I changed my sentence "Athena mummy's bringing you to see doctor, then later we go gai-gai." Yup! 10 minutes is all I took to prepare her, usually she'll walk around the house making me chase after her.
She jumped up from bed and then was so cheerful. I could see her chirping away like the birds. In the car, she was chatting away and laughing.
Sigh...............

Wednesday, February 1, 2006

Hauls from Muar


Last evening at about 7pm, dad called to say that they will be dropping by at approximately 8pm after clearing customs. They needed to borrow my bigger fridge (no use also for a person like me who can't cook) to put their hauls from Muar. My ever hospitable auntie who has a jetty was able to give mom two big fish, about close to a metre long each. And mom bought 40 over packs of Otak otak.
For your information, Muar is famous for its Otak.