You Should Experience This Father's Day Game at Least Once in Your Lifetime and Here's Why

Take a break from the constant screen-time and try activities or games at social gatherings to interact with friends.

For Father's Day celebration this year, we had planned both husband and wife take part in this funny and yet romantic game for couples. You had to try this game once maybe in your birthday celebration or any occasion related. It takes almost no preparation and I personally think it's the best tricks to add fun to romantic moments.

It's the Spouse Makeover game or better yet put-makeup-on-your-husband game. Some of us ladies are expert in putting up makeup right? Try it in blindfold?!! It's funny cause you'll be doing it with your eyes closed and romantic as well cause there'll be a lot caressing on your spouse's facial features.

And the results is quite awesome actually....

All the daddies are lucky this year. We even handmade our own bouquet of gifts for them.

Proud ladies with their handmade bouquet of either flowers, chocolates or men's product for the husbands.

Proud husbands as well, as their makeup are done by their loving wives. Maybe next time we should try a game where husbands try to put makeup on their wives in exchange.

A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.  

~ Billy Graham

Happy Father's Day!

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Five Interesting Facts About Father's Day You Might Want to Know

1. Father's Day cards dates back to roughly 4,000 years ago. Elmesu, a Babylonian* youngster carved a card out of clay to "wish his father a good health and long life.

*Babylon, a famous city from ancient Mesopotamia whose ruins lies in modern-day Iraq.

2. Father's Day is celebrated on the third day of June in many countries of the world. Many Christian countries, such as Spain and Italy, celebrate father's on St. Joseph's instead (March 19).

3. A necktie is among the ultimate gifts for Father's Day. Did you know that neckties could date back on 221 B.C.? When Chin Shi Huang, China's first emperor and founder of the Qin Dynasty, and his famous "terracota army" were discovered, each replica was wearing a necktie.

4. Thailand Father's Day is celebrated on the birthday of the King Bhumibol Adulyadej on 5th of December. Before the king passing on 13th October 2016, everyone will wear yellow to show respect for the king and also celebrate father's by giving them a canna flower.

5. Father's day originated in the United States after Sonora Smart Dodd was inspired by mother's day. It has been celebrated in June since 1910.

So, father's day is just around the corner - it's close enough that you should put some thought to it. But shopping for Dad is hard, I know. 

Aww, please get your Dad something this year just to tell him how wonderful he has been in your life. It's not necessary to buy expensive gifts. A homemade card with a personal message will do.

Why not, for this year, buy your Dad a personalized gift which has a sentimental touch to it. A personal message just for your Dad printed on a special selected gift just so that he look at it every morning or anytime of the day and thought...I'm blessed. 

At Bavakoo Gifts & Crafts you can personalized a regular white ceramic mug with your own unique photo and message.

So the next time your Dad take a sip from this personalized mug, you will always be in his mind. 

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Reasons You Should Love Brownie in a Mug

It's a fast paced world we living nowadays. Everything's in a hurry. If you are a sweet tooth like me, baking a cake could drain you from all the measuring and cleaning afterwards. That's why this brownie in a mug recipe is perfect for those who's craving for their daily dose of sweet treat but is in a rush.

Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes shows how to make a single serving brownies in a mug, in just 5 minutes.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup flour (30 g)
• 1/4 cup sugar (50 g)
• 2 Tbsp (13 g) cocoa (natural, unsweetened)
• Pinch of salt
• Tiny pinch of cinnamon
• 1/4 cup water (60 ml)
• 2 Tbsp canola oil or vegetable oil (NOT extra virgin olive oil, it's too strongly flavored)
• 1 to 2 drops vanilla extract
• 1 small scoop of ice cream or 1 or 2 teaspoons heavy whipping cream to serve.

INsTRUCTION

1. Place flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, and cinnamon in a microwave safe ceramic mug. Stir with a fork or spoon to mix well and break up any clumps.

2. Add the oil, water, and vanilla to the cup and stir until the mixture is smooth and there are no lumps.

3. Place in microwave and heat on high until the mixture is cooked through, about a 1 minute and 40 seconds for a 1000 watt microwave. You may have to experiment and adjust the time for less or more powerful microwaves. If you don't know the power level on your microwave, start with 60 seconds and increase until the brownie is done. It should still be moist when cooked through, not dry.

4. Let cool for a minute and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a teaspoon or two of whipping cream poured over.

Personalized your mug with this microwave safe mugs with your own unique quotes or photos. Order yours at Bavakoo Gifts & Crafts. 

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Penang's Cheap Banner & Flyer Printing

For our Pesta Gawai and Kaawatan event, we had to print flyer and backdrop for the indoor stage. We made our own design to minimize the cost and next find the most affordable printing shop around the Seberang Perai area of Penang.

I found seberal printing shop at Bukit Mertajam and after requesting for quotation, I found that the pricing offered by Percetakan Nasional Malaysia Berhad (PNMB) at Bandar Perda is the most affordable. In fact, the pricing is among the cheapest in the market.

The person-in-change of the printing department is the friendliest salesperson ever! 

Between exchanging emails and through PNMB's website I found that the minimum flyer to order is 500 pieces but Mr. Shahrul of the printing department allowed us to print 200 pieces since we only need that much. How kind of him! 

And since designing for the 10 feet × 10 feet indoor banner we need a higher resolution image, I had to asked Mr. Shahrul to design it for me. And guess what, he didn't charge me for designing! Adui, where else can you find a bargain like this! For the info, designing for printing marketing tools such as banner or brochures is included in the pricing. My last experience of printing a backdrop, one certain shop charged me RM20.00.

Designing process which includes 4,5 amendments and still Mr. Shahrul is patient as ever! 

The finish product. I got to say I am fully satisfied with the color of the image printed.

For the flyer, since it's going to be circulated to the public, it has to be attractive in term of color and designs. I regret that I didn't take photo of the finish product.

The term preforation only come to my knowledge when printing this lucky draw ticket. Perforation is row of small holes punched in a sheet of paper so that a part can be torn easily.

Small details like this costs more. One shop quote me over RM200.00 just for the perforation (not including the printing!) since they'll be using machines to make the fine cut. So we decided to just print it and manually cut it later on.  

For the reader's information, I am a freelance designer. For those who are interested in designing flyer for all occassion please leave comment below or email me at feliciawilliambinsol@yahoo.com.

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Kotobian Tadau Kaamatan & Gayu Guru Gerai Nyamai

We had just finished our first time ever night of Pesta Gawai and Kaamatan. Months of preparations; organizing and practice come to this night in full gear to offer what we have to make it succeed. 

A quick recap here on the celebration of Pesta Kaamatan and Gawai.

Kaamatan is a harvest festival celebrated by different ethnic groups especially among the Kadazan-Dusun community in Sabah. It lasts for the whole month of May where different ritual stages are held to commemorate the spirit of the harvest and all leading up to the climax of the festival on 30^th or 31^st May. The peak of the celebration is often accompanied with Sugandoi (singing/karaoke contest), Unduk Ngadau (harvest festival queen), traditional sports, multi-ethnic cultural shows and carnival with an array of local food at the Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association Hall or KDCA.

Similar to Kaamatan, Hari Gawai is also celebrated to mark the end of the harvesting season which falls on 1^st and 2^nd June each year particularly by the Dayak people in Sarawak normally at longhouses. Celebration begins on the evening of May 31^st with also different stages of ceremonial rites performed and ends with a merrier gatherings. The celebration may last for several days and activities included dances to the traditional music, cock-fighting matches, blowpipe and ngajat competition and also beauty pageant to choose the festival’s queen and king or also called Kumang & Keling Gawai. 

The Gabungan Anak Borneo team. 

So our very own Pesta Gawai and Kaamatan held on the 1st of May at Creative Ballroom, Butterworth, Penang. 

We have opening performances in dances and acoustic singing. The first special performance were neither from Sabah or Sarawak but from Indonesia. Since we had lots of Indonesian friends in Penang, we thought it was a good idea to showcase the traditional Batak dance from Sumatra, since they are also included in the third largest island in the world which is Borneo.  Batak is an ethnic group predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia.

Some of the dancer who performed the traditional Batak dance.

I wish I had taken photo of each of the performances that day but everyone were busy making sure the event were on track that not even one of us remember to take photo! Or maybe, we were simply mesmerised by all the performances or maybe just busy taking selfies...haha..

Between performances, we had lucky draws and our kind sponsors make sure almost everyone get home with a prize or two. 

The Magunatip team dancer. Although the Magunatip dance or bamboo dance is from the Murut people from Tenom, all of us wearing different attire from the people of Dusun, Rungus and also Lundayeh of Sabah.

The guys from the Gabungan Anak Borneo team. 

Contestant in the Sugandoi (singing/karaoke contest). Song performed in the local dialect of both Sabah and Sarawak. What interesting is we got one contestant who performed Batak song.

Contestant in the best dress competition. Attire worn are from the people of Murut, Rungus, Dusun and Lundayeh. 

The winner of the Sugandoi competition.

Winner of the traditional best dress competition. 1st goes to traditional dress from the Murut people. 2nd goes to the Rungus people and 3rd from Dusun. 

Overall the event was a success. We were all thrilled and excited to be hosting our first Gawai Kaamatan in Butterworth, Penang.

Till next year!

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Squeeze Your Stress Away

I’m a full time mom doing part time home-based gift business and occasionally doing artwork for my homemade gift or artwork for church.

Stress is inevitable whether you are a student, working mom or housewife. One sure way I go through my stressful days is by crocheting (apart from praying). The repetitive action of crochet distracts me from whatever issues I had at the moment.

Nowadays, it seems everybody is stressed out.

A more easy quick way is to use a stress ball. The act of squeezing and stretching stress ball somehow ease you. You can also use these stress ball for your kids as well.
Find out how to make one here.

Have fun!

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Homemade Remedy for Cough

I had these terrible itchy cough that won't stop these few days. It would get worse during the night. I hate eating medicine especially cough syrup. I would feel sleepy the whole day. Even if I consume the non-drowsy cough syrup, for some reason, I would finish one bottle of medicine and still cough like crazy.

I saw these homemade remedy for coughing on the internet and thought I give it a try. 

Basically you just mix slices of lemon into the honey.  So you will be only needing these two ingredients;  1 lemon and a cup of honey. 

Place lemon slice in a glass jar or a mason jar and pour honey until the jar is full. Leave overnight in the refrigerator and take one spoonful when required. Or even you can take it by mixing with warm water.

I got to say I found out that my cough will subside during the day. You have to consume this homemade remedy for about 2-3 days for it to show effects.

I did give this homemade cough syrup to my 6 yo. He was having this dry nonstop cough when we had a month long haze right here in Penang. We would come home one day and by evening he would have this really bad cough. Went out to the pharmacy and buy the most expensive honey I could find (it was raw honey and it was imported from somewhere...) and get home. I give my son a spoonful of honey mix with a few drops of lemon and by midnight the cough's gone.  

So I think this homemade remedy works. But consume with caution. Honey is not suitable for babies below 1 year old.

Enough of my rantings! Try it yourself! 

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Mamalamai Tokou Do Tadau Tagazo

Rough translation of the above post title - "Let's come together and celebrate on this festive occasion!"

A few more days before the Pesta Gawai and Kaamatan at Butterworth. I'm excited because this is the first event that I helped to organise. All preparation for the charity dinner is done and all that left is for the day to come.

Traditional costume checked. Practice for the traditional dance checked. Makeup and hairdo booking of course checked!..haha. 

In order to support the event, I've also join the traditional costume contest and I'll be wearing the Rungus tribe attire. 

The indoor stage banner is designed and printed by Percetakan Nasional Malaysia Berhad. I would highly recommend this company because their service and pricing are definitely awesome.

One of the cultural performances will be Magunatip or Bamboo Dance. It is one of the most popular traditional dances from Sabah. We're getting ready for our final practice here.

The trophies for the traditional singing and costume contest. Since I'm in the traditional costume contest, I might have the chance to get me one of those shiny trophies..Haha..

In my next post, I will be posting on the event night.

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Sayang Kinabalu all the Way from Penang

Tinggi-tinggi Gunung Kinabalu

Tinggi lagi sayang sama kamu

Biru biru hujung Kinabalu tengok dari jauh

Hati saya rindu…

Excerpt from the song 
'Sayang Kinabalu' 
by Kimin Mudin

So it’s been, I don’t know….about 8 years??, since I Iast celebrate Kaamatan in my hometown. Yes, hati saya rindu…I miss Kaamatan festival.

Luckily Sabah and Sarawak community are growing here in west Malaysia and for this year we the Gabungan Anak Borneo have the opportunity to host Gawai and Kaamatan festival in Penang.  

Gabungan AnaK Borneo (GAB) is a small association comprises fellow Sabahan and Sarawakian living in peninsula Malaysia, particularly in Penang. Apart from organizing futsal and badminton tournaments, for the first time GAB will be hosting Gawai and Kaamatan fundraising dinner. The event will take place on 1^st May 2017 from 6pm to 10.30pm at Creative Ballroom, Butterworth. The profit from the event will be given to support orphans and children in shelter.

There will be cultural performances from Sabah and Sarawak, singing and traditional attire competition. There will also be lucky draw with prizes from our kind supporters.  

So I was given the responsibility to design T-shirt for sale during the event. The theme of course traditional design of Sabah and Sarawak. Adult T-shirt is RM25.00 and for children size RM14.00 only.

DESIGN 1 - BORNEO UNITED

DESIGN 2 - ANAK BORNEO

For those interested to come for the dinner or order the above T-shirt contact the number below or leave a comment here.

 

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From Kindergarten to Primary School

Your 7 year old with white crisp shirt, dark blue pant and white school shoes just step into a classroom with you tagging behind. When he saw the other children, sitting on their assigned desk, you can see through his eyes the sense of uncertainty on what he should do on the first day of school. Some of the children in the classroom shrieking for their parents who is outside the class peering through the window, some of them sitting chatting happily with their friends and some sitting quietly unsure of what are they doing there blankly looking into space.

As my son is the only child in the family, I can’t help but focusing all my time and energy on him. I was terrified of how his first day of school going to be. I went through the exact feeling, of leaving him to the hands of somebody else, when he was in the kindergarten but going to a primary school is much more different. A 7 year old has much more responsibility these days and much more issues.

Enrolling my child to a Chinese-medium school is of me and husband’s choice although his kindergarten teacher advise me to enrol him to a national school since we are non-mandarin speaker.

Oh how terrified I was. All sort of thoughts goes through my head. Can he catch up with the academic system of the Chinese-medium school which is exam-oriented? In the first few months in the Chinese-medium school I found that that they used corporal punishment (using ‘rotan’) on their students. Oh my God, what did I put my son into?

Then, I would be also wondering would there be any moment that he might be bullied by his friends. Does he knows what bullying means? Since he’s the only son I might be thinking that I raised him to be such a soft-hearted. My son has the problem of expressing himself since kindergarten. He’s unable to express whether he’s happy or sad, well, I can see it in his face whether he’s happy or not, but he can’t put in into words. But before long, I realised that my son grew right before my eyes. I would asked him how were his day, what did he do at school, what did he learn, what did he ate during lunch and very soon it become a habit until he would tell me everything.

Once he told me one of his friends asked for his pocket money and he gave them willingly thinking it’s was okay to hand over his own pocket money. Okay, he’s opening up to me. That’s a start.

There were all sort of issues going through in his first year of primary school and I would be worried to death at home thinking was he doing okay at school. Well, they were friends who would asked his pocket money, one boy even poured glue inside his pencil case, another girl would cut his eraser into small pieces and another would break his ruler. All these things he would say it to me right after I fetch him from school in separate occasions. All I can do was complained to the teacher and asked them to do something about the other children. Then I found out that he wasn’t the only children who has that pesky friend who would be doing mean things to you. The other children also experience the same.

As times goes by, I learnt that, children will be children. They sometimes doesn’t know what they were doing. Yes, pouring glue to your friend pencil case is not okay but these children sometimes copy or see someone doing it and before long they start to do it to somebody else. And they could sometimes be just curious.

But what we can do as adults is guide them and show them what is correct and what is wrong. What should you do in that situation. They may confide to you in matter that they may even feel confuse. Yeah, they sure going to be sad or angry if they had a fight with their friends, or ashamed because the teacher just scold them in front of the class. But hey, it’s the process of living. Good or bad they have to learn it by their way.

When he goes to his second year of primary school, my son has become of what I could say independent for an 8 year old. He’s able to converse in mandarin. Able to tell to his teacher whenever he had a problem with his friends. Able to remember the homework the teacher’s given. The used of ‘rotan’ in his school is only when they didn’t do their homework. So at home he is motivated to finish his homework in time.

He has several best friend and I would always see them hang out during lunch time or after school. Then I found out that my boy is actually a happy go lucky person. He doesn’t give in to grudges as we adults sometimes does. Someone would be doing mean things to him today and tomorrow I would see him chatting happily with that child. All this small accomplishment of him growing up makes me proud as parent.

 

Here are some parenting tips I think we should all learn.

-        Your child is in the process of learning. Let them learn by themselves you can only supervise.

-        Ask him how was his day. What did he do at school, what did he learn, what did he ate during lunch and very soon it become a habit until he starts to open up.

-        Check his homework but make a habit that he should take out his own homework himself. At 7 years old teacher will mark pages from book as the homework for that day.

-        I used to pack his lunch in the morning but I also want my son to learn how to buy at the school canteen. So I alternate the days where I would pack his lunch or let him have a couple of ringgit just enough to buy a bun and a drink.

-        Exam can be stressful even for a 7 years old. Have you seen the exam sheet those children have these days? Don’t pressure him, exam is not an overall performance check.

Today’s education system is so much different that I had 30 years ago. I just can’t believe that today’s 7 years old are expected to know how to read instead of me when I was of the same age who just started to learn how to hold a pencil! So take things slow and don’t expect too much for your child. Let them grow up and learn. Don’t forget to spend quality time with them too.

 

 

 

 

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Best BBQ Chicken Wing at Pasar Malam Inanam Point

One of the best comfort food you can find is not at a fine restaurant but at a night market. Malaysia are popular with night markets or what malaysians called pasar malam. 

Strolling through the stall of pasar malam, one can find the best local delicacies with affordable price.

The one choice of food I can never live without when paying a visit at Pasar Malam Inanam Point is the barbequed chicken wings. 

Over the past few years, the price of one piece of chicken wing has increased but still it remains a favorite by the locals especially for 'pusas' or snack during 'moginum'/drinking session.

Upclosed chicken buttock. I never had these I  find it too 'exotic' to my tasting plus it filled  with fat. 

Sabahan version of murtabak. Compared to murtabak in peninsula malaysia (which is loaded with meat or chicken filling that made it too soggy), sabah version of murtabak is much crunchier. It is actually a kind of folded thin egg pastry.

Aahh, the recently craze of the pisang goreng cheese or banana cheese fritters...or is it banana fritters cheese? For whatever cool name they have for these I love every dessert that KK has to offer. 

But sometimes I miss my savoury pisang goreng. Sounds intimidating but a few years back, pisang goreng teatime session is accompanied with dipping sauce or sambal. 

Whoever come up with these is a genius! Who doesn't love chocolate?

Vibrantly colored cendol or ABC. I would have these once in a while but I prefer my traditional cendol with pulut. I don't trust food with so much food coloring but I wouldn't mind trying once in a while. 

One stop for all. Normally, pasar malam is what I may call the street hypermarket. You can find almost everything in a pasar malam. There's the food section (even stall with table and chairs for you to dine), the groceries section; meat, fish and vegetable and the 'department store' - toys and clothing. 

Time for a night out!

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Beef Noodle Goodness and Comfort

Happy New Year everyone! I'm back in Penang so one of the things I missed when I’m away from home is food. For whatever reason, food provided me an extra comfort, particularly my childhood food. Apart food from my traditional Kadazan-Dusun root such as tuhau, bambangan, bosou, there will always be the day when I crave the much delighted Ngiu Chap.

Ngiu Chap means ‘beef noodle’ in Hakka, or what we called beef stew cooked with the noodle of your choice (bee hoon, mee hoon or kuey tiaw). In your bowl of ngiu chap, you will have chunks of tender stewed beef and beef slices, beef balls, tendons (my favourite!) and tripe.

Originally from Sabah, now you can easily find shop that served ngiu chap in KL and Sarawak. 

Ngiu Chap Sarawak Style

In love with the original Ngiu Chap in Sabah, a man and his wife who have been living in Kota Kinabalu for four years returned to their hometown in Kuching and opened their own stall.

Kah Hiong Ngiu Chap in Puchong

Kah Hiong Ngiu Chap serves one of my favourite beef noodle. The difference from other beef noodles is with their thick almost blackish broth, added with white radish and that special cili padi dipping sauce.

Kah Hiong Ngiu Chap in Damansara also known as Sabah Kampung Beef Noodle

Kah Hiong Ngiu Chap has been working really hard! They have already have several branches in Sabah. I hope they open a branch in Penang.

If you want the lighter version of beef noodle you can find it almost everywhere especially in Penampang and Kota Kinabalu. ­Another favourite of mine is Loi Hin Ngiu Chap.

Sometimes if I'm craving for the taste of beef noodle, I cooked my own version of ngiu chap but somehow its never taste the same. Or I could be heading to Secret Recipe to quench my cravings on their Vietnamese Beef Noodle. What disappoints me though different branches of Secret Recipe have different version of the Vietnamese Beef Noodle. 

Find the best beef noodle in Kota Kinabalu here.

Now I’m craving for a bowl of hot beef stew…..dang it.

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