May 2007 – Page 3 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Healthy Homemade Nutty Cheddar Cheese Bread

First, just measure and dump all the ingredients into my breadmaker.

All the healthy bread ingredients in the breadmaker.

Add in a small wedge of smoked cheddar cheese from HK.

Switch on my Sanyo breadmaker and ……

2 hrs 40 mins later….. a delicious fragrant loaf of nuttylicious bread, just in time for lunch.

I was in a mood to bake this morning so after I came back from jogging, I quickly baked a loaf of ‘healthy nutty cheddar cheese bread’ for the gals just before they woke up. Took me only 20 minutes to gather and measure all the ingredients and another 5 minutes snapping the pix. Even dumped in 2 tablespoons of my gals’ Sustagen chocolate milk powder for added calcium and DHA/ARA and protein. Instead of putting the usual 2 tablespoons of butter, I substituted it with 1 tbs of butter and 1 tbs of cheddar cheese that sil no. 2 brought back from HK on Monday. The result…. a yummilicious, nutty, cheesy, chewy bread that both my gals couldn’t stop asking for more to munch for lunch.

No. of times viewed = 365

Bedtime Ritual

Alycia and Sherilyn reading on my bed. Note : Sherilyn busy counting away with her fingers.

Sherilyn reading her favourite book.

Alycia learning to read from her Leap Frog.

On most nights before bed, I will either read to Alycia and Sherilyn or sometimes the gals prefer to ‘read’ on their own and Alycia will tell me to go to my room to do my own things and not to kacau them. You see, so young and they already want their own space and want me to get lost :shake head:

The gals can sometimes ‘read’ independently an entire book, especially if it’s their favourite books. I think it’s more of them memorizing the pages. Anyway, I am glad that my gals have acquired the love for books and hope that this will be their lifelong love as there is no better and cheaper way to broaden one’s horizons than to keep reading, always.

No. of times viewed = 258

Tag – The Meaning Of My Daughters’ Names

This is my 3rd tag in 2 weeks. This time, got tagged by Samm (Just My Lil’ Organic Life). As DH is quite conservative and traditional in his thinking, he left the chinese name choosing task to my mil who in turn tai-chied it to her eldest daughther and son-in-law in HK who are very proficient in the chinese language.

Alycia – when I was still preggy with Alycia, I had wanted to name her Ellisa but my mom said why not choose Alycia, which, when the name is broken up is a combination of both DH’s name, Alan (Al) and my name, Shireen (the sound cia). That’s how the name Alycia came about.

Alycia’s chinese name is Kay Lynn, pronounced as Kai Ling in Mandarin and Hoi Ling in Cantonese. Meaning of it? Kai means victorious / triumphant (yes, she is my victory after years of battling with infertility and a very risky pregnancy). Ling means petite and dainty (oh btw my brat is not at all petite and dainty, how ironic). That’s all about I know about this chinese name… don’t really know how to write the chinese characters. I’ve written the meaning and han yi pin yi down in a book.

Sherilyn – when I was preggy with this babe, I wanted badly to name her Chloe or Chelsea but on 2nd and 3rd thoughts, dropped the idea as I didn’t want some people with horrendous pronunciation to pronounce Chelsea as ‘chee see’ (meaning pig’s poop in cantonese) or pronounce Chloe as lolli or mispronounce the names into some crappy names altogether. So why did I name her Sherilyn? Because I like it so, no real reason actually, and Sherilyn means dearest / treasured.

Sherilyn’s chinese name is Kay Yi, pronounced as Kai Yee in Mandarin and Hoi Yee in Cantonese. Again Kai means victorious / triumphat (she’s also another precious baby) and Yi simply means glowing health / vitality.

Now, I am going to pass the ball to these 5 blogging pals of mine :

Leena (Baby Shern)… another tag for you, hope u don’t mind ar.

Jenn (The Imperfect Mom)… I know you hardly do tags, you are one very prolific, high profile & celebrity blogger wan. Do this favour la k?

Chin Nee (Demoments)

MamaBok… eh you still owe me one tag, rite? Don’t mind another one?

Jazzmint …. care to do?

As with all tags, you need to copy this to the end of the Tag and dont forget to add yours too and go tag another 5:

Msaufong – Meaning of SQ & Kiki’s names

Shoppingmum & Kids – The Meaning of My Kids’ Names – Justin and Isabelle
The World @ My Fingertips – My sons – Gordon & Malcolm
Health Freak Mommy – Tag – The Meaning Of My Daughters’ Names

No. of times viewed = 362

Goodies From Hong Kong Again

Organic biscuits from HK for the gals.

Books, stickers and finger paints all from HK.

My SIL no. 2 arrived from HK yesterday and brought with her a big bag of goodies for the gals again. Each time my SILs from overseas visit us, my gals will benefit the most coz they have 4 doting ku mahs and ku cheh who adore them to bits and love pampering them with food, toys, books and branded clothes.

The clothes that my sils normally buy for the gals are all branded stuff and cost way more than my own clothes, like Polo Ralf Lauren and Zara Kids, fuiyoh. How I envy my gals. In a way, I am lucky too coz I rarely ever have to buy my gals clothes, food, toys and books. All these items are being taken care of by my sils, mil and my dear mom. That’s a lot of savings here. I am not gloating here but I just feel thankful to God that my gals are so loved by everyone. So to my sils and mom, if you are reading this post, I’d like to say thank you so much for being a caring and generous sil and mom. The gals and I are blessed.

No. of times viewed = 232

My Perfume Collection

When I was still working in the corporate world a couple of years back, I would habitually go on shopping sprees and make impulse purchases of just anything I set my eyes on that I fancied. When I was sad or had a bad day at the office, I’d indulge in retail therapy which gave me instant stress relief. When I shop, all my woes and worries are just no where in my mind. One of the many items that I loved buying was perfume, apart from clothes, shoes and handbags. I adore perfume, I used to put a few bottles at my office, a small bottle in my handbag and I have a closet full of bottles of perfume with brands ranging from Salvatore Ferragamo, Estee Lauder, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel to Calvin Kline. As a PA to a Dato’, I had to look presentable and smell good too as I used to deal with many VIPs, Datos’ and Tan Sris. Gone are the days now.

Eversince I left the corporate world, my dear collection of perfume remained in my closet, rarely touched. I seldom put on my perfume when I go out with my kids as I don’t want them to be in contact with scented chemical. Each time I opened my closet, I will spend a good few seconds staring at my collection of perfume, longing to spray them all over my body. Sometimes, I would put a few dabs on after my bath before going to bed, just to have some self-gratification.

No. of times viewed = 210

An Unforgetable Mothers’ Day

Yesterday’s Mothers’ Day was quite an eventful one for me. Well, the day started off well but ended in a nightmarish note. As usual, my maid will jaga the gals in their room each night when I fix them their milk in the kitchen downstairs. Yesterday, my samseng Sherilyn tried to climb up the table to switch on the stereo. My maid then used the cane on her. I still don’t know if she actually hit Sherilyn or not but Sherilyn who is very attached to my maid cried incessantly. It wasn’t a painful cry but an upset cry as she was obviously very upset that her kakak had hit her / threatened to hit her. Only God knows whether my maid had hit her or not.

The crying session lasted about 1 hr until bedtime. As I slept with the gals, Sherilyn who was still crying (as if she wanted her kakak to sayang her back)suddenly choked and after a few coughs, vomitted. OMG, she vomitted like a just erupted volcano … all her dinner and her milk spewed out onto the new mattress, the pillows, comforter, all over her hair and everything on the bed. To make matters worst, Alycia got scared and tried to cover the stinky vomit with all the blankets and cried coz her pjs also kena the vomit and she wanted me to change her pjs immediately. Oh God, it was messy, really messy and stinky and it was 11pm for pete’s sake. I could barely open my eyes nor move my tired body. I then yelled out to my maid to help clean up the mess and as she entered the room, I erupted like a volcano too screaming at my maid and snapped at her. I told her that no one can hit my gals except me. My maid denied hitting Sherilyn and said she just threatened her with the cane. She was even in tears when I queried her further. Earlier when my maid left the room, I had asked Alycia if kakak had hit Sherilyn or not and Alycia replied dramatically “yes, very very hard and punched her hand and scolded her”. I know I cannot fully trust my 3.5 yo drama queen’s words for she is a very imaginitive girl and very exaggerative too. But I just had a guts feeling that my maid had hit Sherilyn to discipline her.

My maid and I spent the next 1 hour cleaning up the total mess in the room. Still seething with anger, I went down to the kitchen to fix Sherilyn another bottle of milk. As I opened the can of milk powder, I slopped milk powder everywhere on the counter and floor. GREAT, why must my hands play me up at such time? It was almost midnight then and I was sweating though I had just taken my shower. Spent another 10 mins cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. I ended my day being drenched with sweat and vomit. What a way to end Mothers’ Day.

Oh, today my guilt-stricken maid was super nice and patient to my gals.

No. of times viewed = 185

Tag – 10 Things I Hate About My Hubby

Got tagged by Karen Yiau today. This tag is rather straight forward, no need to add pictures whatsoever. Though I really don’t like to badmouth my DH to the whole world, nonetheless, will still accept this tag as part of the game of the blogosphere. Darling, if u read this, no offense k, it’s just the plain truth 😉

Now the 10 things that I dislike about DH :

1. He is a neat freak, loves to keep and hide my things without telling me where he kept them. When I need those things and can’t find them at the original spot where I placed them, I get really peeved.

2. Loves to eat lavishly and at classy expensive restaurants and hotels all the time. This is unnecessary extravagance.

3. He leads an unhealthy lifestyle… eats at odd hours, eats unhealthy food and loves to drink soft drinks (loaded with sugar!!)

4. Does not initiate to look after the kids so that I can rest and have my day off. I even had to look after the kids when I fell ill and he happily went to play basketball.

5. He spends too much time playing basketball and too little time for me and the kids.

6. He works late and comes home late.

7. He sometimes uses vulgar words and swears in front of the kids.

8. He is not the lovey-dovey romantic kind of hubby.

9. He is impatient with me but SUPER patient with the kids.

10. He snores.

Now, I’m going to pass the baton to :

Leena (Baby Shern)

Elaine (Montessorimum)

MamaBok

Sweetpea (Bubba Stuff)

Scribbles For My 2 Angels

No. of times viewed = 195

Durian Lover

The ‘antidote’ for heatiness…. Mangosteens. Our favourite exotic fruit too.

Everyone in my family and DH’s family love durian to pieces. During each durian season, whenever my mil is in KL, she would buy loads of durians and we will all eat durian till we fall sick and feel bloated with durian. Burrrrppp…. yikes…. I hate the aftertaste and smell of burp. The odour of burped durian in a car with all windows wound up is enough to drive anyone nauseated instantly.

My gals have also acquired the love for durian right from the start. We once fed Alycia durian when she was around 6 – 8 months, she loved them so much that she screamed and wailed when the durian was finished. That was so funny and I even have that recorded in my camcorder.

Many people say that durian is an unhealthy fruit and is very fattening but the durian also has many nutritional values.

Here are the nutrition values of Durian (value per 100 g of the edible part) :

General components
Water 64.99 g
Energy 147 kcal
Energy 615 kj
Protein 1.47 g
Total lipid (fat) 5.33 g
Carbohydrate, by difference 27.09 g
Fiber, total dietary 3.8 g

Minerals
Calcium, Ca 6 mg
Iron, Fe 0.430 mg
Magnesium, Mg 30 mg
Phosphorus, P 38 mg
Potassium, K 436 mg
Sodium, Na 1 mg
Zinc, Zn 0.28 mg
Copper, Cu 0.207 mg
Manganese, Mn 0.324 mg

Vitamins
Vitamin C, ascorbic acid 19.7 mg
Thiamin 0.374 mg
Riboflavin 0.2 mg
Niacin 1.074 mg
Pantothenic acid 0.23 mg
Vitamin B-6 0.316 mg
Vitamin A, IU 45.000 IU
Vitamin A, retinol 5.000 µg

No. of times viewed = 383

Essential Oils May Spur Breasts In Boys and Other Health Issues

I was reading this month’s Reader’s Digest this morning when I read this article which may be of interest to mummies with boys. Here’s an excerpt of the article :

Use of lotions, soaps and shampoos containing high concentrations of lavender or tea tree oil may lead to breast growth in pre-pubescent boys, according to US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Pure lavender and tea tree oils can mimic the actions of oestrogen and inhibit the effects of androgen, the hormone known to control masculine characteristics, says Dr Derek Henley, one of the study’s lead researchers. If you use these products on your child and you see changes in his body, talk to your dr or paediatrician.

Scary isn’t it? There is also this current widespread scare of SLS (Sodium Laureth Sulfate), a relatively cheap chemical which produces suds in almost all the body shampoos, soaps and shampoos, which is cancer causing if used excessively. And then there is this recent report in the newspapers that some of the vegetables sold in our local markets are tainted with pesticides, fish tainted with mercury, diseased poultry and what not, tell me…. what are we to eat and what are we to bathe with? I guess back to basics….. use plain water to bathe lor, use natural oil from plants to smoothen on our skin, plant our own crops lor and rear our own fish and chicken lor, just like what our forefathers did decades back and lived till a ripe old age!

No. of times viewed = 239

Happy Mothers’ Day

We had an early Mothers’ Day celebration yesterday as my mil had to fly back to HK today. DH brought us all to have a sumptuous lunch at Genji Jap Restaurant, PJ Hilton.

To all mothers out there, wishing you all a very happy and blessed mothers’ day. I say we should all sit back, relax a tad bit, go out and have some fun and make tomorrow a stress-free and happy day. We REALLY deserve this, don’t we?

No. of times viewed = 196

Using TV As Babysitter

Do you use the TV to babysit your kids? I do and I limit my gals’ TV viewing time to between 1 – 2 hours a day. I only allow them to watch educational programs on TV or educational VCDs whenever I need to get some work done or take my baths. I’ve had my fair share of heart attacks when I let my maid babysit my kids when I had my bath. During these incidences, my 2 samseng gals got themselves hurt. My maid is the type who does not have foresight and just cannot predict if accidents can happen to toddlers. So, I prefer to let the TV babysit my gals. My 2 gals will behave so well, sitting quietly or dancing and singing whilst watching their favourite VCDs.

Each night when I need to have my shower, I will lock Sherilyn the samseng up in her cot and I will tell Alycia to jaga her sister. I will then leave the bathroom door ajar whilst I have my quick scrub, peeping into the room to check on them every now and then. My gals also learnt to sing most of their nursery rhymes thru these VCDs. So, using TV as babysitter ain’t that bad an idea after all, as long as there’s a limitation to using it, right?

No. of times viewed = 201

Dragon Fruits

Alycia’s breakfast.

Yellow-skin and white flesh pitaya.

One of my favourite fruits is the red dragon fruit or Pitaya. My gals love them too. We love them so much that we eat them almost every other day. Whenever my gals and I have constipation, dragon fruit always comes to my mind in relieving constipation. So far, I know that there are 2 varieties of dragon fruit, i.e. the red-skin & white-flesh ones and the red-skin and red-flesh ones. Recently, I stumbled from the net a picture of a yellow-skined & white-flesh pitaya. Wow, how unique. I don’t know if this yellow-skined ones are already available in Malaysia. So far, I’ve not seen them in the markets or major supermarkets / hypermarkets.

Here are some of the nutritional claims of dragon fruit :

The red flesh variety is believed to be rich in antioxidants.
The pitaya fruit is rich in vitamins.
The pitaya fruit helps the digestive process.
The pitaya fruit helps prevent colon cancer and diabetes.
The pitaya fruit helps to neutralize toxic substances such as heavy metal, reduce cholesterol levels and high blood pressure.
Consumed regularly the pitaya fruit can help against asthma and cough.

No. of times viewed = 273

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No. of times viewed = 201

Magic Colours

Yesterday, my MIL and I were busy doing our work. So my MIL gave the gals some magic colours for them to doodle and scribble on papers. 15 minutes later, here’s what I saw. Sherilyn had doodled on the marble dining table, on her hands, face and on her clothes. It was a total mess. Hiyah…. I ended up wasting more time cleaning up the stains. Kids… don’t they drive you up the wall all the time?

No. of times viewed = 202

Maids…. are they a help or a pain in your neck?

My current maid of 1.5 years is my 5th maid in less than 5 years. All my previous maids were fired by me before they finished their 2-year contract. I wonder if my current maid will survive the 2-year contract period or not.

Suliah, my current maid is generally an acceptable maid with fairly good work attitude and is diligent. However, she doesn’t like to be corrected of her mistakes. She loves to do work her way, not my way. Each time I correct her mistakes or the way she does her work, she will put on a sour face or let out a sigh. I’ve chided her a few times before. This morning, as she was carrying the garbage from the kitchen to the front of our house to dispose them, I noticed some stinky water dripping out from the garbage bag all the way from the kitchen to the hall. When I asked her to mop the floor, she let out a big grunt, hhhhiiii….yyyahhhh……. as if to tell me “you fussy lady boss”. Trivial matter like this really spoils my day and I always ask myself why am I paying close to a thousand ringgit a month just to stomach someone’s nonsense.

Suliah’s contract will be expiring in December this year. I am still in a dilemma whether to extend her contract or just be done and over with live-in maids for the rest of my life. Maids…. you can’t live with one, yet you can’t live without one.

No. of times viewed = 760

A Special Message to My Dear Friend

This post is specially dedicated to my dear friend, Jennifer or The Imperfect Mom. Just want to say a very BIG thank you for your BIG help recently. I know how busy you are being a SAHM in a foreign land with no maid to help you out but you sacrificed some of your precious time to help your friend in dire need here. Thanks Jenn, you’re truly my true and precious friend of 27 years!

Hope you don’t mind me picking your brain again : )

No. of times viewed = 195