What is a Stage Mum? Oh and Happy Mother's Day

My Quay Lo teased me often and call me a "Stage Mum" whenever I share our son’s music. 

I was not very sure what it means so I checked it in the wikipedia. What was written there was “A stage mother may also be the official manager of her child (e.g., Rose Thompson Hovick, Dina Lohan, Ethel Gumm, Teri Shields, Jaid Barrymore, Susan Duff, etc.) — representing her child in negotiations for the professional services of her child. Such managers have often been derided as "momagers" in the film industry.” Haiyah, where would I be qualified to be a Stage Mum? I don’t have a say in my son’s career. All I do is to share his music whenever and wherever I can. LOL!

Having said that I am going to share with you his new venture into making his first electronic dance music and the titled of this piece is “Sieze the Night”. Since today is Mother's Day, hey Mothers, go seize the night and, if you like what you hear, please share the link with your friends. Your support will be greatly appreciated.

Please click on the picture to watch on youtube

This is the first time, I hear up beat music from my son and it is pretty cool because I found myself dancing to the music while cooking in my  kitchen before I broke my foot. So now, you must be curious what dish I was cooking right? It was a simple lunch for me and my Quay Lo on one lazy Sunday afternoon. Although I could not dance to the music today, I will still seize the night for this is my special day. My gift to all the great mums out there is this simple yet delicious recipe. Happy Mother's Day!

Smoked oyster stew and grilled cheese sandwich

Ingredients:

2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes

½ tsp minced garlic

½ small onion, chopped

1 tbs unsalted butter

2 cups full cream milk

1 cube chicken boullion

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 can smoked oysters, drained

1 tsp diced chives

Method:

Boil potato cubes till tender in small pot till tender, drained and set aside. Saute garlic  in butter till fragrant and add chopped onion and saute till translucent. Add cream, milk, chicken boullion, pepper, smoked oysters and cook on low heat Stir occaisionally. Add sliced mushroom and cook for another 5 minutes. Garnish with diced chives. Serve with grilled cheese sandwich.

Happy Valentine to all!

Last year I made a Valentine lunch for my Quay Lo and this year, I will think of something different but I will tell you in another post.

Anyway, I would love to wish all my friends, readers and my family a VERY HAPPY Valentine's day. May you all have LOVE in the air around you. 

My son, Nick had just launch his 3rd single and it is a great song for Valentine's Day titled SKIN. If you like this song, please share the link with your friends.

SKIN

GRIM Film had made a very cute short film for Valentine's day and my son is the actor, which I want to share with you. Enjoy!

BE MY VALENTINE

If I fall into a hole, I know you will "Cover Me"

It was a great way for us to end 2012 and start 2013 because my son, Nick Davis launched his second single “Cover Me” at 12 midnight 31^st December 2012.



On "Cover Me", Nick collaborated with another local performer under the name of, Róisín. "Cover Me" is a song about unconditional love and friendship.

"2012 has seen many ups and down for me. Lost In Time was written during a down time but I am glad the year ended with "Cover Me" which is a song written and produced during a happy time. It has been a great way to end the year and to start a new one with a bang. All these songs that I've written or am currently writing as a solo project, are deeply personal to me. It is from there deep inside me that my music resides. Giving them shape with music and lyrics is like keeping my personal diary. Songs like Cover Me and Lost In Time undoubtedly are realized within a very different side of me compared to performing as the front man of the alternative rock band, "Rosevelt", but I am loving it and I am very comfortable with it. 2013 will be an exciting year for me, and I am sure there will be more songs, more music. If I can point the way for my listeners to that part of them where their own songs are, I will realize my own dreams." - Nick Davis



Have you listen to his first single “Lost in Time” yet? If not, you may listen to it here.

If you like the song and would like to own the track, please purchase it from either iTune or CDbaby for US$0.99 only. Your support will be greatly appreciated.

As a mum, I am always very happy to see my son achieving another of his goals and hear that he is happy. He has been so busy with his 2^nd single that we have not seen him since Christmas day. I can’t wait for him to come home to have a simple meal with us. I will make my mushroom spinach quiche.

Mushroom spinach quiche

Largely adapted from food.com with modification

Ingredients:

1 (9 inch) pie shells

76 gm butter

3/4 cup mushroom (sliced)

1 cup spinach (blanched and chopped)

1 cup milk

2 large eggs

(A)

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

¼ tsp chopped fresh thyme

¼ tsp chopped fresh rosemary

¼ tsp ground black pepper

¼ tsp sea salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Saute mushrooms and spinach in butter. Beat together milk and eggs and then add (A). Combine the two mixtures and pour into pie shell. Bake for 35 minutes.

To make the pie crust, I use the recipe I learned from Joy of Baking (with a little extra care to keeping things cool in our equatorial weather).

Lost in Time by Nick Davis

Our son, Nick Davis, lovea music at a very young age and he seriously learn to play a guitar when his Dad bought him one for a Christmas present. From then on, nothing can stop him from making music.

When Nick was little, we disciplined him when necessary, but we also encouraged him frequently, and we let him know how proud we are of him as often as we can. We want to let him know we are very proud of him again. 

Today is a big day for him. He had launched his first solo single, "Lost In Time".  We are extremely happy for him to attain another goal in his life. He composed the music and song, play the music and sing it and produced it all by himself. We are very proud of him.

I listened to this song at 3.00 am this morning. I was not only lost in time but lost my mind because when I shared this on my facebook page, I made all kinds of typing error. Instead of typying "3.00am today", I typed "3.00 am last night" and instead of "I love him lots", it became "I lot him lots". I am sure all mothers will understand my feelings and how excited I was.  LOL!

This song will be available in iTune soon and music video will be available shortly. If you like his music, please share it with your friends. I will be very grateful for the support. Hugs to all.

Lost In Time will be Malaysian singersongwriter Nick Davis' first single to be released. With this single, he digs deeper into the human psyche with his music with dark haunting sounds, honest lyrics and a sonically epic ending. Be sure to stay through the end of this video for a little surprise. 

SINGLE COMING OUT ON ITUNES SOON!

About Nick:
Nick Davis is a Malaysian singer-songwriter, musician and actor who is also well known as the frontman of modern rock band, Rosevelt (2010 - present).
Davis was raised in Kuala Lumpur, began his musical career when he formed an acoustic trio under the name of The Snow Symphony. Soon after, he joined the band Rosevelt taking the role of a vocalist and frontman for the band who opened for American alternative rock band Incubus mid 2011, before returning to his solo musical career as a side project performing under his own name.
Davis is known for his dark haunting melody lines and the dynamic movements in his music. Other activities include composing for various local theatre and film productions.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/starlightsocial
Twitter/Instagram: @NickRosevelt

Caution! Do not listen to this song while you are cooking or

baking because you might get lost in time and

have your food burnt. LOL!

 Nick Davis, I give you wings and sky is the limit!

Please click on picture to get the recipe.

Killing 3 birds with one stone

When my son, Nick chose to be an actor, 

A scene from the 7th BoH Cameronian Award

Winning play, AIRCON

a singer songwriter, 
Nick wrote this and
the music was jointly arranged
with his friend, Savy

a vocalist in a rock band, 
A big moment for Rosevelt.
They opened the show for the famous
American rock band Incubus 

I knew that Nick had chosen a tough road, especially here in Malaysia. We, Malaysians are not very supportive towards our artististic community. We are willing to spend big money to watch an international show but even if our local talent is comparable, we are not willing to spend much to see a local show. We have a mind set that local talent is not as good. If that were true, why are there so many of our local artists who have done well overseas? Then, when they have become famous overseas, they are recognized in our own country. There is truly something wrong with the logic. Don't you think?

Nick had not done any acting for about two years to concentrate on building his band’s name with his band mates in the local music scene. They had launched the first album last December.

and their song "Moment" has made it to No.1 on the MET 10 Chart

last month and stayed there for a few weeks.

Now he is back into acting and he was one of the actors in the recent play called “End of the world, now scream and run.”  My Quay Lo and I had planned to see the play but unfortunately, he was not well. Since I had to go alone, I thought it would be a good time to catch up with Yen of "Eat Your Heart Out"  and her hubby. I invited them to go to the play and she asked me to tag along to a food review at Millesime in Publika. That was very convenient since the play was one floor above this fine dining restaurant. This was like "killing two birds with one stone". We could do both and have a grand time of it. 

We were expected to be at Millesime at 5.30 pm and when we arrived, there were already other bloggers and writers present. The founder of Millesime introduced us to their happy hour promotion which is an offering of their delicious finger food on a complimentary basis, once you have ordered a drink. Nowadays in Kuala Lumpur, you can hardly even get a glass of water free. That sounded like a good deal, even better when the finger food was beautifully presented and was very scrumptious.  Millesime had indeed lived up to its reputation of being voted as the top 6 dining must-do’s in 2011 by "Singapore Food and Travel Magazine".

What I loved most was their wide selection of wines.  Wine lovers will find this place abundant with choices. 

You might want to check out their Wednesday or Friday Wine Lunch Menus. The price is affordable at Rm120.00 nett for the Wednesday Wine Lunch Menu and you will be served with delicious food and paired with a matching wine to taste.  The Friday Wine Lunch Menu offers a 5 courses of scrumptious food with the right wine to go with them and I cannot believe it is only RM150.00 nett. As for their Dinner Menu, you have three menus to choose from. Menu Degustation (5 courses), Menu Gourmet (4 courses) and Petite Menu (3 courses). In Millesime, there is no ala carte menu. The daily menu is prepared by their Chef  and offered on a pre fixe basis (one price for all)for your enjoyment. I will definitely be back for dinner one of these nights with my Quay Lo and our good friends who enjoy good food and good service.

After happy hour at Millesime, we adjourned to see the play and it was over at around 10.00pm. Since all of us felt hungry again, we decided to hunt for some food nearby and guess where we end up? Yamagoya Ramen @ Solaris Dutamas. Yen of "Eat Your Heart Out" wrote a great post on this little new Japanese ramen joint in KL. Head over to her blog to find out more. However, here are some photos which I took that evening.

We ordered two kinds of ramen and both were excellent.

They even have a little sesame mill so that you can have freshly ground sesame. How cool! I would love to have one of these in my home.

I will definitely go back with my Quay Lo because not only the ramen is good, the staff there are well trained, and service is top notch. The service of some "fine dining restaurants" that we have been to don't even come near to theirs. I am very impressed and if you like noodles like I do, I highly recommend that you check this ramen place out. I am very sure you will not be disappointed.


So with the Ramen supper we killed not two birds with one stone but three! LOL!

No fees or promotionl considerations were received

 and my remarks are purely my own.

I am more excited than the Band!

Today is my son, Nick’s band ROSEVELT’s big day!! It is their first Album launch. The launch is held at Club Neverland, 1, Jalan Kia Peng, Kuala Lumpur from 3 – 6 pm. I can’t wait to be there! I want to share my joy with you all! Also, I want to thank those of you who had voted for them when they were competing to be selected to open the concert for their musical icon, INCUBUS in July. Your votes are all worth it! 

Rosevelt opened the concert for Incubus at Stadium Negara

After Nick finished his high school, he decided to pursue Performing Arts. I remembered I was not very glad about his choice because like most parents, I worried that he may not be able to earn a decent living if he was to become a performer, a musician or an artist in our country. It will be a hard and rocky road for him. It will be like living from hand to mouth. My Quay Lo on the contrary said that we should let him choose his own path and pursue a course that he likes and be supportive. He said if one does what he is passionate about, he will excel in it and most of all, he will be happy. I guess that’s true, Nick told me that he is happy even when he is doing his music full time as a singer songwriter and had to eat bread with water for weeks. He did that for a year before he got a day job.  It did not stop him for pursuing his dream. 

After Nick and his band mates formed the band ROSEVELT in 2009, they all worked very hard to produce this first Album and they did it!! These boys did it without financial help from their parents, they did it on their own. I am very proud of them. I hope their story can inspire other young people to pursue their dreams against all odds and like them, never let others tell you, you can’t do it!

A  BIG CONGRATULATIONS TO  ROSEVELT!! YOU GUYS RAWK!!

THE BAND

Extracted from ROSEVELT website: www.roseveltband.com

##The band climbs up, plugs in, tasting the buzz in the charged neon gloom.  And with an amplified whine, detonates the moshing masses with a rush of Rosevelt. Indeed, that night, all the world's a stage and the stage is theirs.

Opening for their musical icons in July 2011 is a long way from Rosevelt's humble college roots, back when Incubus was the spark that ignited a dream. Now with electrifying effects, frenzied beats, and mind-bending bass lines,wrapped up in intense vocal refrains, Rosevelt has made this recipe for rock

into their signature sound.

Alternative Rock, Hard Melodic Rock, whatever you call this assault on the auditory senses, those who have tasted it often developed a curious case of chronic headbanging.

Erupting from their public debut at Indie Youth Fest 2009, Rosevelt exploded among local music festivals, including Rock the World 2009 and 2010, YOUTH '10, Urbanscapes 2010, and Asian Music Festival 2011.

Their contagious energy has set aflame live venues such as Laundry, The Library, and Urbanattic, as well as events including Fly FM Campur Chart, Guinness St. Patrick's Festival 2010 and Arthur Thursdays 2011.

Debuted in June 2010, Rosevelt's single *Madicine* hit #1 at Cravecharts for eight weeks, #1 at Hitz.fm MET 10 for two weeks, #4 at TRAXXfm Upstage, and Top 25 at XFM Underground.

Nevertheless, while Rosevelt's hopes were in the heavens, their feet were firmly on the floor and they paid their dues as campus circuit darlings:

University of Nottingham Malaysia, Sunway University, Monash University, TAR College, HELP University College. In return was a nomination for *BestCollege Act* at the Voize Independent Music Awards 2010

That is how Rosevelt is perfectly embodied in a single word: grassroots. Since breaking into the local music industry, they have been a champion of all talents Malaysian and indie, from music mavens and duds designers to shutterbuffs and architects of art. Rosevelt is local like that.

With that same personal touch, Rosevelt shows are all about crowd connection. It was no strange sight for the band to be constantly touching base with their fans as they rocked Penang, Kelantan, KL, Selangor, Pahang, Malacca, even Singapore. At the core, their essence is a single idea: have

music, will travel!

Rosevelt is currently on the verge of their album debut set in December 2011, having self-produced a mini-album in 2010.##

TODAY IS THEIR BIG DAY!
Rosevelt's Album is sold at RM25.00 at nhttp://soundcloud.com/roseveltband/politicsormal price but at RM20.00 today at the launch. If any of you would like to have a copy, please let me know. I will have the copy signed by the band and mail it to you.

Click on the Album pic to listen to one of their songs - Politics

They also have their T-Shirts and Jackets on sale at the launch.

YOU ALL ARE THE WINNERS!

This is to update you all that ROSEVELT is selected to open the concert for INCUBUS on 23rd July 2011 at The Stadium Negara (National Stadium), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Just before the competition starts, this video clip was broadcast on the big screen with Mike from INCUBUS thanking the top five bands and their Malaysian fans.. COOL! Click on the picture to see the video.

See what CHILL OUT said about the win! Click on the photo to go to read the article.

I found his video clip of ROSEVELT performing one of their original songs "Moment" after the announcement that they are the winner to share with you. Click on the photo to go to the link:

YOU ALL ARE THE WINNERS! Here are some great shots of them during the performance today. These photos are taken by our good friend, a famous photographer, John Ishii. (Click to check out his other awesome photos) or find out more about him here.

I cannot thank you all enough for helping to make Nick and his band mates's dream come true!

ROSEVELT will launching their New Album in August 2011.

Check out teasers of their songs here.

LOTS OF LOVE

from

Quay Po

My mum's stew chicken feet for the Birthday boy

Today, my son, Nick turns twenty three years old. Each year on his birthday I will go through all the photos in "Nick's folder" and reminisce about his growing up stage. While doing so recently, I found this photo. I did not realize then that he had already discovered music when he was hardly one year old.

Then, I found this slide show that I made for him when he was nineteen. It is just a collection of his accomplishments during the first year of his college studying Performing Arts. The song “Maybe” playing in the background was his first attempt to compose a song. He had arranged the music himself and played the guitar and sang it. This song was recorded in his bedroom with his computer software. The guitar you see at the end of the slide show is his first guitar which is one of Nick's most loved Christmas gifts from his Dad. He too is a music lover and through him, Nick was exposed to all kinds of music at a very young age. When both father and son talk about music, I become an outsider. LOL!

Although Nick is twenty three now but to me, he will always remain my child, just like I will always be my mum’s child. Now at fifty six, my mum still nurses me when I am sick and worries for me when I am sad. No matter how old we are, we are still their treasured child in our parent's eyes, do you agree? My mum still asks me where I am going and what time I will be back when I go out alone. Some of us might not like the repeated questions from our parents and think they are nagging. That is probably because we misunderstood their intention. They ask not because they wanted to be intrusive but because they care. It is when we become parents ourselves we start to understand and appreciate them more, don't we?

Nick is Popo’s (my mum) apple of the eye and each time when she knows Nick is coming home to visit, she will always prepare his favorite dishes and stewed chicken feet is one of them. To Nick, Popo's cooking is the best in the world.

Ingredients:

10 pcs chicken feet, cut into two

1 tbs Maggie chicken stock

2 cups plus 2 tbs oil

3 pcs. Cardamon seed

3 pcs. Clove

1 pc. Star anise

3 stick cinnamon bark

1 ½ cup water

6 cloves garlic, sliced

1 tbs dark soy sauce

1 tbs soy sauce

2 tbs oysters sauce

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 tbs sesame oil

Method to deep fry chicken feet:

Wash, drain and wipe dry chicken feet. Heat 2 cups of oil on high heat and fry chicken feet till golden brown. Drain off the oil and dip chicken feet into cold water for 20 mins. Drain off water and set aside.

Heat 2 tbs oil in wok and fry garlic till fragrant. Add star anise, cardomon seeds, cloves and cinnamon bark and stir fry till fragrant. Add chicken feet and stir fry till all coated with oil. Add dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, oysters sauce, water and bring liquid to boil. Then add chicken stock and pepper. Transfer everything to a deep pot and add more water till water covers all chicken feet. Stew on medium heat for about 1 to ½ hours till gravy is thicken. Turn off heat and add sesame oil and mix well before serving.