The Library@CountryGarden, UDesserts and SangKaya

Recently we chanced upon some hip places in Johor Bahru to eat nice things.

First, Sangkaya. There is only one outlet here in JB, at Mount Austin, near Tebrau City AEON. Speaking of which... IKEA IS COMING TO JB!!!!! And it's said to be next to the AEON building. I.CANNOT.WAIT. Should I prepare a shopping list or a resume? Can't decide!

OK, back to the delish coconut ice-cream. Sangkaya is a home-grown brand, must support! It uses coconut milk as the base, and is suitable for vegans.

We tried the signature ice-cream and the Cha Yen ice cream, which is a Thai milk tea infused coconut ice cream. They are basically four little scoops of ice cream on a coconut husk, and you can choose 3 toppings. RM 9.90 each, quite an indulgence I'd say. The taste? YUMZ.

Another place for sweet tooth, UDesserts. There are a few branches around JB but the one we always go to is at Sutera. We didn't know they renovated the place. Seems like every cafe in JB is starting to look like the ones in KL, or should I say... stereotypical. Nonetheless, it's comfortable and the desserts are good.

Confessions from a suaku. I did not know there is a Johny Rockets in JB. We have been to one in The Curve, and at that time, I have not even heard of the franchise. Their signature is the dancing. So when we went to Country Garden to look for some cool cafe to try, we found The Library, which was joined to Franco and Johny Rockets. I only knew when the staff started dancing! Haha.

Look at my country bumpkin boys. I should've dressed them up in some swanky cool clothes, but it was before bedtime. 

No wonder it's called The Library. There are many books you can read there.

 The exterior. 

Hah, I didn't know Country Garden has changed so much. Quite a hip place!

School holidays

I think every mother scratches her head when it comes to school holiday activities to fill her kids' days while she is at work. Well, same thing if she's a stay home mom too.

Basically, I just don't want them to watch too much TV and play too much gadget games.

So I drew up a timetable for them. I tell you, children LOVE timetables. Yes, it is true that children, especially boys, strive in a structured organization with routines and hierarchy.

I'm a fair mom, so I allocated a fair amount of time for TV and games. I also allocated time for them to play with physical toys because I spent so much money on Legos and that semi-automated Nerf gun which required an expensive battery.

Apart from fun, they will also have to read their books and do their workbooks. Oh, did I tell you I enrolled them in Kumon just this month? So, they have worksheets to complete on a daily basis. I love that.. hahah.

And in the mornings, they have to water the plants, and spend some time with their pet terrapins.. OUTSIDE. They learnt their lesson a few months ago when the terrapins suffered from eye infections and didn't eat for 2 weeks. I brought the shelly friends to the vet and was prescribed antibacterial eyedrops and was told that if their condition don't improve, they will die off.

OMG. So I started to research on everything about terrapins. I thought they are pretty hardy to look after! So apparently, you HAVE to let it bask in sunlight everyday, and clean their tank and refill with fresh clean water.

Thank goodness, after a week of treatment, they recovered! The boys could see how serious it was when the terrapins refused to eat, and when I told them they will die if they continue to starve. They saw how upset I was too. So when the terrapins took their first bite in weeks, we were so elated!

So now, their morning routine is prevent-terrapins-from-dying-under-the-irresponsible-clutches-of-the-great-masters.

I would like to introduce them to gardening and regrowing vegetables, but first I need to buy soil and pots. Fingers crossed!