May 2015 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Our Sunday – 31 May 2015 (Lunch at Citrus Cafe and Restaurant, Bangsar Village)

Hubs told me that we should avoid going to Mid Valley Megamall on the first Sunday of the 2-week long school holidays. True to his forecast, the roads to Mid Valley Megamall on both ways were clogged up with vehicles. We made a quick spin to Bangsar Village and thankfully the roads were still not congested yet.

Did some camwhoring with my 2 vain pots on the way up to Bangsar Village to hunt for food. In case you’re wondering where Alycia is, she’s camera-shy and hates taking pictures. She dodges whenever she sees me focusing my phone at her. Secret – I have to turn my mobile phone to mute mode just to secretly snap pictures of her when she’s not looking! How pathetic huh? Oh well, hopefully this is just another passing phase for this tween with raging hormones.

We passed several restaurants and finally settled for Citrus Cafe and Restaurant. We hit the bull’s eyes as everyone thoroughly enjoyed the food at Citrus today.

Nasi lemak for Sherilyn…

Breakfast set and spaghetti Marinara. The spaghetti totally hit the spot! Everyone loved it. It was intense in flavor and ingredients, as you can see from the picture below.

Nasi briyani…

Gado-gado for the health freak mommy. Love the rich and flavorful peanut sauce to go with the plate of healthy veggies, fried tempeh, fried hard-boiled eggs and fried tofu.

Another dish that was wiped cleaned was the delicious seafood pizza, with generous amounts of seafood.

Pancakes that the girls ordered. Immuno Crush juice which composed of fresh beet root, apple and celery was for me.

Cass bolted down her glass of fresh apple juice…

Citrus Café & Restaurant

Lot 2F-25A, 2nd Floor, Bangsar Village II
No 2, Jalan Telawi 1,
Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2287 9560

After brunch, hubs brought Alycia to Borders for her to claim her reward for her first term exam. I brought Cass for shopping. Again, the hubs would only be appeased if he gets his gourmet coffee and cakes. We had our desserts and coffee at Artisan Coffee Bar.

When I came back from shopping, Sherilyn excitedly showed me something that hubs bought for me…

A Lorna Jane sports water bottle in shimmering baby blue! I loved it and the gift was totally unexpected. He knew that I had wanted to get a Nike sports water bottle and he got a similar one for me, with the same features. But I was a tad disappointed as I think the water bottle is really overpriced!

Happy Sunday and happy holidays peeps. I won’t be getting my holiday until Saturday, SIGH!!

No. of times viewed = 30

The Fear Of Getting Cancer

This morning, I went to the hospital to do the remaining medical tests — blood test, urine test and ECG. I was in a rush yesterday and only managed to have the pap smear, Mammogram and chest x-ray done.

The moment I reached the hospital this morning, the nurse told me that my gynae has ordered me to do an ultrasound scan of my breasts. The nurse told me that the Mammogram yesterday showed ‘something’ and the doctor wanted the ultrasound scan done to find out more. I asked the nurse if it’s something bad but she was reluctant to let me know – that’s the standard ethics which nurses have to abide to. OMG, my first thought was “Am I doomed? What if it’s cancer? I don’t want to suffer and I don’t want to die yet!” I was paralyzed with fear and worries.

I had so many unfounded fears and what if’s running in my mind in the one hour I sat outside the clinic waiting for the doctor cum radiologist to attend to me. Suddenly, I felt that my super hectic life with 3 high-maintenance children is really nothing to complain about. Money issues, personal issues and work issues suddenly seemed so paltry vs. being stricken with cancer. Sitting at the clinic made me realize once again just how important good health is to me and to anyone. You can only run around as busy as a beaver doing so many things every single day ONLY if you are healthy.

This little scare has thrown me back into perspective as regards how I live my life. As I sat in the hospital, I told myself not to complain about being super busy, tired and having no time for myself anymore. As long as I don’t have the big C, I don’t mind living a very hectic life – minding my kids and making money. I have always complained to God that I have too hectic a life. I told Him that I really wanted a good rest and sleep. Now I know that being able to rest and sleep all day may not be what I really want. Only sickly people get to rest and sleep all day! I want to be up and running. And I also told myself that I will do anything for myself and for my kids to buy us good health.

Finally, the doctor cum radiologist arrived. I was told to change into a white gown and lie down for her to perform the scan and then… the scan showed that there were 2 water cysts on my left breast (measuring less than 2cm) and 1 water cyst and several other very tiny water cysts on the right breast. I asked the doctor if these are dangerous and she said that I can leave them alone. As long as the cysts do not cause any pain, swelling and fever, I can leave them alone. If the cysts become too big till they can be profoundly felt externally, then my gynae would have to aspirate them out via a simple procedure. I’ll just need my bi-yearly ultrasound scans to monitor them. She also pointed out the cysts to me on the monitor — which are black oval like lumps. However, if the cysts are GREY in color on the monitor, then these are tumours/growth and would need to be removed for biopsy. I guess I have my mother’s genes. She is also very prone to getting water cysts in her breasts 🙁

After going through a mere 1 hour of agony, I have decided to love and appreciate my health and that of my kids’ even more. As it is, I think I am already doing my level best to ensure that my kids and myself have good health. I prepare only healthy meals, I make sure they have their daily dose of fresh fruit smoothie and I give them supplements. Now, on supplements – this I have to admit that all these while, I have only placed extra care and attention in this area on Cass as she has the most problems, while for Alycia and Sherilyn, I tend to lax a teeny wee bit when it comes to ensuring that they pop their supplements on a daily basis. I have made up my mind that I should give myself and my kids the best supplements to ensure that their health is protected, though it may mean that I would have to fork out even more every month.

I am thankful to my friend once again, for introducing me to two very good health supplements – a high concentration of hydrogen infused water and a powerful carotenoids and lutein supplement. You can email me at shireenyong@gmail.com or Whatsapp me at 019 266 4290 to find out more.

No. of times viewed = 6

Yearly Pap Smear And Full Medical Test

Yesterday I finally moved my arse and dragged myself to the hospital to do my slightly overdue pap smear and ultrasound scan of my breasts and reproductive organs. In addition, for the first time in my life, I asked for a full medical test, consisting of a Mammogram, chest x-ray, blood tests, cancer marker test, urine test and ECG. That made me RM700+ poorer 🙁

In the past, I have heard and read of mixed responses from people as regards pain on the breasts when doing Mammogram. Yesterday, I got to experience it myself and it certainly was not a pleasant experience! Well, going through medical tests are hardly ever pleasant. But they can be life-saving and you just have to go through the motions whether you like it or not.

To begin with, I have very low pain threshold (yet I survived 3 C-section births!). And secondly, I am pretty flat chested and do not have the extra baggage on my boops to cushion off the pain. But I have to say that I felt like I was in a freezing cold torture chamber where my boops were fondled and manhandled by a total stranger. It would probably be easier for me and the radiologist had I been blessed with bigger assets, thus easier for her to place them on the Mammogram machine. With smaller assets, you just have to adjust your position (tip toe) and let your assets be manhandled shamelessly so that they are propped nicely on the machine for the radiologist to ‘lock’ them between the upper and lower gadgets — one boop at a time. Each side = 2 positions.

You see the black zerox like machine below? I had to place my boops there with the white machine above almost squishing them. Thank God the radiologist was a female!

And yes, I did yelp out in pain when my boops were sandwiched tightly by the zerox thingy — 4 times (2 positions on each boop). I felt really screwed up!

Results of all my tests will be out next week and I will have another appointment to see my doctor next week. Wish me all the best in the results!

No. of times viewed = 3

Grilled Chicken With Japanese Potato Salad

Remember my post dated 10 May 2015 where I wrote about our Mother’s Day dinner at Kozaku-Ai Modern Teppanyaki Kitchen? I told my girls that I would try to dish out the fried chicken with Japanese potato salad dish for them soon. And I did! It sure was a big hit with the girls!

My creation — grilled chicken with Japanese potato salad…

vs.

the Japanese restaurant’s version…

Cass helped to make the potato salad…

Japanese potato salad using Just One Cookbook’s recipe, which I adapted a little. Composition – I used washed potatoes, carrot, sweet corn kernels, cucumber, 2 hardboiled eggs, Japanese mayonaise, spring onions, pepper and salt. You can even add onions but I was time-pressed to peel onions, so omitted it but replaced onions with spring onions.

Mine is way healthier than the Japanese restaurant’s as mine was grilled vs. deep fried.

I used boneless chicken thighs — marinated with soy sauce, coriander powder, garlic powder, pepper and palm sugar (gula melaka) syrup.

Chicken was grilled in oven setting of 180C for 10-15 minutes on each side.

This dish is definitely for keeps if you have young kids. It can be eaten without rice as the potato salad is pretty filling. You can cook a bigger portion to last you 2-3 meals. It did last us 3 meals and Sherilyn even brought some to school for recess the next day 🙂

No. of times viewed = 9

Super Sprout Natural Food Powder – Share&Win Contest and Promo Code!

One of the things that makes me really happy is healthy food. I love being surrounded with all things healthy and colorful. Thus, I will go gaga inside an organic shop or at the fruits and veggie section of a supermarket. I love dishing out colorful meals and smoothies for my kids too. 🙂

Yesterday, I was one very happy health freak mommy when I received my package of healthy fruit powder from Super Sprout Malaysia, comprising of blueberry powder, beetroot powder and ginger powder. Thank you so much for sending these good stuff to me Reako Sdn Bhd! I love them so much!!

Why is Super Sprout so good?

Super Sprout powders are natural food powder which can be used in cooking, baking (bread, cookies, cakes, tarts), smoothies, yogurt, salad, soup, sauce and basically any recipe.

Not only can Super Sprout powders improve the colour and taste of a dish in a very natural way, the food powders also enrich nutrient profile and improve digestibility of the nutrients found in them.

Using Super Sprout powders is easy peasy too. Just a teaspoon a day — sprinkle, stir, mix or add into any dish you like. No fuss, no waste, no mess.

Super Sprout powders are suitable for the whole family’s consumption, including children of one year and above.

Super Sprout powders come from 100% Australian grown fruits and vegetables.

I could not wait to try out the powders and made a quick dash to the kitchen to whip up my smoothie-of-the-day, which was orange + green apple + Super Sprout blueberry powder for the girls.

I whizzed a teaspoon of Super Sprout blueberry powder with the fruits for 20 seconds on my Blendtec blender. Then, sprinkled another teaspoon for decor. I was worried that my fussy girls wouldn’t like the taste but they were awed by the vibrant colors of their smoothie and bolted down their smoothie in a jiffy!

Mine was orange + green apple + beetroot powder. I find that beetroot powder is much more palatable than taken raw. The beetroot powder is super fine and slightly saltish, which tantalizes my palate. I love it!

I used a teaspoon of Super Sprout beetroot powder to pulse it with my fruits and sprinkled another teaspoon for deco. Don’t you just like the reddish pinkish hue of my smoothie? It’s good stuff, bursting with flavors and nutrients ok.

I wasn’t in the mood to eat any meat yesterday (again!), so I whipped up something that’s excitingly meat-free for lunch.

I had toasted sprouted wheat bread with cream cheese and Super Sprout blueberry powder. The combo tastes like blueberry cheese spread, with a hint of saltiness and tanginess. Just perfect for health freaks who are on a low-carb diet. You can drizzle some Manuka honey, maple syrup or palm sugar syrup on the toast, if you fancy it slightly sweet.

Crispy, yummy and wholesome sprouted wheat toast for lunch, with a hard boiled free-range chicken egg, avocado and fresh blueberries. I love the colors on my plate – so vibrant, so enticing and so healthy – anytime better than a plate of nasi lemak or chicken rice 😀

In the afternoon, I made myself a cuppa Super Sprout ginger powder tea, sweetened with palm sugar syrup. I used a teaspoon heap of ginger powder and a drizzle of palm sugar syrup to a cup of hot water. Drinking this ginger tea brought back sweet memories of my confinement days where I was treated like a queen — I had sumptuous meals in my bedroom 4-5 times a day and gulped down cups after cups of ginger tea 😀

Ginger is well-known for reducing gas and painful spasms in the intestinal tract. It also reduces menstrual cramps, has a warming effect, stimulates circulation, inhibits such bacteria as Salmonella and protozoa and prevents stomach ulcers.

Share & Win Contest For Health Freak Mommy Readers!

Reako Sdn Bhd is now running a Share&Win contest in the Super Sprout Malaysia Facebook page. The winner of the contest will get a Super Sprout powder worth RM59!

Contest deadline is 31 May 2015 midnight.

All you have to do is:

1. Like Super Sprout Malaysia (click on the link here to go to Super Sprout Malaysia to LIKE the page)
2. Find this post in Super Sprout Malaysia Facebook page and ‘LIKE’ it
3. Share this post in Facebook and you can even tag your friends in your share to increase your chance to be selected

Promotion Code For Health Freak Mommy readers!

In addition to the contest, all readers of Health Freak Mommy are given a promotion code to enjoy a 10% discount on any Super Sprout product!

The promotion code is Health Freak Mommy

How to use promotion code:

Upon checking out from Reako Nutrition, key in the promo code, which is Health Freak Mommy to enjoy a 10% discount on any Super Sprout product.

Validity of promotion code is from now through 30 June 2015.

All the best in your contest and I am very sure that the winner will love the gift of health from Super Sprout Malaysia! 🙂

No. of times viewed = 19

Cool As Cucumber

It’s already 9:30pm and the big girl started to work on her school Kemahiran Hidup (Living Skills) project. She whipped out a screwdriver from daddy’s tool box and began to assemble the project item – which is a wooden tool box. Then, she painted the tool box.

I wanted to strangle her for doing her homework at the eleventh hour! This girl gets excited only at the eleventh hour, even during exams. Why doesn’t she have my genes?!! My good planning genes? She’s just like her daddy – cool as cucumber and drives me bonkers with the nonchalance.

But I have to give her an iota of credit — for being pretty hands-on in completing this project in under an hour. I would have fumbled with this thingy as Kemahiran Hidup was not yet introduced during my time. Thankfully I married a man who is pretty hands on with tools, which Cass calls Daddy The Handy Manny!

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Frying Fish – Successful Attempt!

Who hates frying fish? I.hate.frying.fish!

I hate the oil splatters on my skin. You can never miss at least a drop or two of hot oil splatters on your skin when you slide the fish into the wok unless you wear gloves and a full body protective suit. Once, the oil splattered onto my eye lid and lips, bugger!! And never once had I been successful in frying a fish without getting the fish skin stuck onto the wok and some meat detached from the bone. I hate serving fish that looks like half of it has been eaten by a cat!

Last week, I gave fish-frying one last try! I patted dry the fish with kitchen towels before sliding it into the wok (this step is crucial to ensure minimal splish splash of oil and for a crispy outcome).

The moment the fish touched the hot oil, the splish-splash of oil jumped out of the wok. With one hand holding the fish and another hand holding the wok lid to shield myself (LOL!), I quickly closed the wok with the transparent lid. This time, my fish turned out PERFECT! I was SO pleased with my little achievement and proud to show the girls that their mummy can finally dish out a perfectly fried fish with skin and meat intact! And the fins were crispy too! 😀

I can only deduce that a good non-stick wok is key to getting nicely fried fish. And I am glad that my new non-stick wok comes with a transparent lid with a steam hole – just perfect for me to peep at the fish whilst it’s being fried inside. It’s kind of therapeutic to see your fish sizzling nicely inside without getting any smoke and oil splatter outside 😀

So yes, the fish was perfect this time — I would rate it 9/10! 😀

I did not marinate the fish but stuffed some cut kafir lime leaves inside the flesh through the diagonal lines that I cut on the fish. After the fish was fried and removed from the wok, I fried a handful of kafir lime leaves. The leaves turned out super crispy and aromatic – like eating chips! With the remaining oil left in the wok, I drizzled some soy sauce in the wok of oil and let it heat up for a minute. Then poured the sauce onto the fish and serve!

Our dinner of fried fish and Nasi Briyani (bought for dinner yesterday but was not eaten as we had dinner at an aunt’s house).

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Google Translate Mobile App For Education – Very Useful For Banana Parents!

Today I discovered something very, very useful for banana mummies like me who always try in vain to guide their kids in Chinese. For someone with very, very limited knowledge of the Chinese language, I get really, really frustrated when my girls run to me and cry for help on days when the Mandarin tutor does not come.

Thanks to my good friend, Mumsgather who is ever so willing to share what she knows with us in her Facebook page, she shared this Google Translate app with us today.

I immediately downloaded this app (on my desktop computer) onto my Samsung mobile phone and within a minute, the app was successfully downloaded.

I quickly snapped a photo of one of Cass’ Chinese story books using the Google Translate app by following the very detailed step-by-step tutorial in the app itself and voila, within a minute, the page was translated from Chinese to English with Pinyin too. Wait, there is even icing on the cake! You can even tap on the audio to hear the translation in Chinese!! This is too good to be true and it’s so easy and convenient to translate any reading material in any language to a language that you want! This is even better than Line Dictionary and Pleco. I can’t wait for my girls to come home today, so that I can teach them how to use this wonderful app!

No. of times viewed = 30

What Makes Her Happy

What makes Cass really happy when she comes home from school is finding her favorite food sitting inside the fridge waiting for her to dig into 😀

She would scream out in excitement and without even washing her hands, she would tear open the ‘treasure’ and lay her dirty hands on them, much to my hollering for her to wash her hands first.

But it makes me really happy to see Cass so happy. She really deserves all these little treats to make up for the difficult time that she’s had when she was a baby.

No. of times viewed = 2

Hydrogen Water and Carotenoids For Fever

On Friday I was still well, despite feeling a tad exhausted. For the past 1 month, sleep-ins on Saturdays have been a luxury of the past. Alycia has to attend compulsory tuition in school on Saturdays in preparation for the UPSR exam in September. So my Saturdays are just like any other school-going day, with my day beginning at 4:45am and I was going from badly sleep deprived to chronically sleep deprived, with a maximum of 5.5 hours sleep a day.

Thus, with only Sundays to repay my heavy sleep debt, this is way not sufficient! How long more can I lay in bed when at the back of my mind, there are 1001 things to be done?! Chronic lack of sleep is damaging ok — you turn foggy and grumpy, it dumbs you down, lowers your immune system, lowers sex drive and may even increase risk of death! I am clearly aware of all these but unless you are in my shoes, you will never know how much I have on my plate and how I wish there were 2 extra hours in a day for me to sleep! I can sacrifice all my entertainment and social life but definitely not my beauty sleep!

On Saturday, after dragging my butt out from bed at 5am with a heavy head, I did some house chores and after Alycia had gone to school, I went back to sleep… on Cass’ bed. Cass got up at 7am and she asked me not to worry about her. She stroked my head and face, kissed me and went about to do her own stuff while I lay half-dead on the bed. Again, I dragged myself out of bed at 8am to make fruit smoothie for the girls and to bring Sherilyn to the tuition centre. Then, had breakfast with Cass and hubs. Back home, I forced myself to mop the floor and wash the bathrooms, did several loads of laundry and did some chauffeuring. Weekends are no-maid days. I dozed off while sitting in with Cass in her piano class (hopefully her teacher did not see me snoozing away at the corner of the class haha!). Back home, I was getting chills, had bad headache, body ache, eye ball ache, zero appetite and my legs felt as if they have been flogged repeatedly by a heavy object. My body felt like a burning charcoal but I felt cold. I am certain that I had fever. But I persevered. I drank 3 packets of Izumio hydrogen water and popped 4 Super Lutein throughout the day. In between doing house chores, I stole some time to nap on the bed. Yeah, on the bed! I hardly ever nap on the bed during the day and if I do, I got to be really sick.

Hubs had promised to bring us to the mall for me to get my weekly dose of stress retail therapy after a week of slavery but I had to tell him that I was in no mood to walk or go anywhere. My mind was still raring to break free and shop but my body was weak. So he brought us to a nearby new Japanese eatery for dinner. Hubs ordered all my favorite dishes but I had zilch appetite. I only shared some Chawan Mushi with the girls that night.

I told hubs and my Charlie’s Angels that I was pretty certain I was going to be down with Dengue Fever as I had all the symptoms of Dengue and I remembered I was bitten by some farking mozzies too! For the last 2 weeks, I have had over 5 friends and their kids who were down with Dengue Fever. A friend’s hubby nearly lost his life and was hospitalized for over a month for Hemorrhagic Dengue Fever. His lungs and kidneys failed him. We were all praying for his recovery and he had just been discharged after over a month in the hospital, drifting in and out of consciousness and losing part of his memory too. I had all the symptoms of Dengue Fever (I Googled to check on the symptoms!). I told hubs to be prepared to take over all my roles should I get admitted to the hospital. I prayed fervently to God that I would be spared from the deadly Dengue Fever. My kids need me and I just can’t be hospitalized.

All that I ate on Saturday was half a bowl of bitter gourd pork noodles with Cass for breakfast, fruit smoothie, 2 oranges, 2 golden kiwis, 1 huge mug of fresh coconut water, lots of water and some Chawan Mushi. Along with 3 packets of Izumio hydrogen water, 4 Super Lutein capsules and almost 10 hours of sleep from 10pm through 7ish am on Sunday, I woke up feeling 101% well and energetic! Woohoo, I couldn’t be happier waking up feeling SO renewed and recharged. The girls were delighted when I told them that I was well enough to go to church with them!

Today, I had so much energy that I could lightly jog 3 laps and then adjourned to the gym and worked out for another half an hour on the Air Walker.

Did I also mention that ever since I consumed Izumio hydrogen water and Super Lutein, the cold numbness and pins and needles on my hands have been reduced? I can’t say that it is 100% gone but the discomfort have certainly been reduced, so much that I can even sleep on my sides without waking up like an invalid having to shake my hands and fingers to restore them to function!

So yes, Izumio and Super Lutein worked on bringing down my fever. I have friends who have since stopped bringing their kids to the paed’s office for fever meds. They feed their young kids and babies with Izumio and Super Lutein and the fever usually subside within 24 hours.

I am again spreading this hope to everyone out there with an ailment. There’s a cure to whatever ailment that you are suffering from. I have faith that all my ailments and disorders will be cured and controlled and so will yours as long as you’re willing to give yourself a chance.

If you wish to find out more on Izumio and Super Lutein, do email me at shireenyong@gmail.com.

No. of times viewed = 54

My Thursday – 14 May 2015

I’ve been feeling draggy, really bushed and shitty since yesterday, no thanks to PMS. This morning, I downed 2 packs of Izumio hydrogen water and it has never once let me down. I felt like a wilting flower restored back to life after the 2 packs of Izumio. The Japanese man who came up with this product is indeed a genius! No wonder, it is also called miracle water!

I was not really in the mood to work but in the mood to do online shopping! Gawd, I need to stop shopping and save $$! To distract myself from loitering at my suppliers’ websites, I did something fun to perk my mood up. I googled for ‘Health Freak Mommy’ and aha, within 0.33 seconds, about 479,000 results were churned out by this smart engine, WOW! I also found many of my previous blog posts mentioned in several interesting places *mood lifted instantly* 😀

My Blogspot blog posts pinned by people whom I do not know in Pinterest…

My recent post on homecooked Korean style seaweed fried rice…

My post on this fine dine restaurant (Bracu) that we dined at in Auckland last year…

My very old post on homecooked pan-fried prawns…

I also found my blogspot blog (www.healthfreakmommy.blogspot.com) listed in a UK website and pray tell how it’s listed there!! And here’s what this UK website has to say about my blog:

2,962,163 – Rank in United Kingdom

3,950,200 – Worldwide Rank

Monthly pages viewed	7,885
Monthly visits	6,804
Value per visitor	—
Estimated worth	£2,568.05 *
External links	183
Number of pages	3,465

Did you see how much my www.healthfreakmommy.blogspot.com blog is worth? Do check out how much it’s worth in GB Pounds! In another site in the US (sortsites.com), my blog’s name landed there too and it’s estimated to worth a whopping USD338,345! Hmmm, anyone wants to buy it? 😀

For more reading on Izumio and Super Lutein, please click on the following link:

Izumio Hydrogen Water and Super Lutein

Izumio and Incontinence

Super Lutein

Day 18 On Izumio For Incontinence

Symptoms of A Body Detox

Day 20 On Izumio Hydrogen Water For Incontinence

IZUMIO – Antioxidant Hydrogen Water

Hydrogen Water Facts

Super Lutein Goodness

No. of times viewed = 6

Home-cooked Meals For Recess

This is an almost nightly affair for the drama queen. Before she eats her dinner, she would ask me if there is enough food for her to bring to school for recess the next day. If yes, she would quickly keep some in a stainless steel container with cover. The next morning, I would wake her up 5 minutes earlier and she would put the container of food into the wok to heat up. She’s pretty hands-on in the kitchen 🙂

Sometimes I will heat up the food in the microwave oven for a minute.

I cooked this with egg plant dish with minced meat, tomatoes and fermented soy beans (‘taucheong’) sometime last week. Yes, another one-pot dish. You can even throw in some beans to add more fiber into this dish. Just this dish alone is good enough if you have no time to dish out a 3-dish dinner. And it’s so appetizing and yummy!

I also made a quick soup using chicken ribs, dried mushrooms, radish and cabbage with salmon balls (yeah yeah, salmon balls are junk and I was duped into buying them ok!)

And this portion is for Miss Drama Queen’s recess the next morning.

A warm home-cooked bento box for recess – anytime better than sausages, nuggets, fish balls and cold nasi lemak from the school canteen! Have I told you that the food sold at the girls’ canteen REALLY sucks? I shudder just thinking of them. Poor kids.

No. of times viewed = 4

Kazoku-Ai Modern Teppanyaki Kitchen @ 3rd Mile Square, Old Klang Road

This is yet another food post, sorry, can’t help it 😀 In our household, celebration and good food go hand in hand… coz I’ve got a foodie hubby who is in the food line and we’ve produced kids who obviously appreciate and love good food too!

Dinner on Mother’s Day Eve yesterday was celebrated at Kazoku-Ai Modern Teppanyaki Kitchen @ 3rd Mile Square, Old Klang Road. Distancing itself from run-of-the-mill, mall-based teppanyaki joints, Kazoku-Ai specialises in premium Japanese fare that’s satisfyingly well-executed & reasonably priced. This is our second visit to this restaurant – the first time being 4 months ago on hubby’s birthday.

Shake sashimi – salmon belly was oh so fresh and yummy!! A platter was just not enough to satiate me.

On the foreground is crispy and aromatic fried chicken on a bed of luscious Japanese potato salad – superb combo and delish. This dish gave me an idea of what to dish out for the kiddos soon since it’s pretty easy to prepare. Sherilyn who knows how to whip up the potato salad can help me with this dish.

Grilled cod fish…

Teppan assortment of mushrooms and veggie combo…

Tempura Morinase, featuring deep fried prawns and veggies in Japanese batter…

Signature Maki and spaghetti Mentaiko…

Edamame beans…

Teppan combination seafood (scallops, prawns, fish, plump and juicy oysters and a bowl of crispy garlic).

The ever friendly and efficient owner gave this heart-shape sushi to us on-the-house as Mother’s Day gift…

Signature Killer Brownie, served warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and whipping cream. Super addictive and sure way to kill your diet plan!

Kazoku-Ai Modern Teppanyaki Kitchen
3A-G, 3rd Mile Square (151 Old Klang Road), 58100 Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: 03-7983-1919

The next day, on Mother’s Day – which is today, we went on our food hunt again and came back to this place. This time, to Gyutaro Yakiniku for yakiniku (grilled meat) of course. Kazoku-Ai and Gyutaro are located just a few steps away from one another. I shall blog about Gyutaro Yakiniku in a separate post.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you wonderful ladies! To my mummy dearest – happiest Mother’s Day and wishing you a very blessed trip to Hokkaido with dad and Roy today. 😉

No. of times viewed = 12

Grilled Aromatic Lemon Grass Chicken Thighs

Here’s another sweat-free dinner I whipped up last night — grilled lemon grass chicken and blanched organic siew bok choy. I love my oven, it’s better than an air-fryer (as it’s huge vs the air-fryer) and I can save so much time by replacing deep-frying and pan-frying with grilling in the oven. And my persnickety girls love anything that’s grilled and crispy.

Cheat tip: if you want to impress someone with some sculptured food to decorate your dishes, try chopping off the stem of the bok choy. The stem looks exactly like a sculptured rose — so pretty, so green and so therapeutic to the eyes! But remember to keep the baby that’s hidden in the middle of each bok choy – that’s the tastiest and most tender part of the veggie! I even fooled my foodie hubs as he thought that I sculptured the flower, ha ha ha!

The boneless chicken thighs were marinated with copious amounts of ground lemon grass powder, coriander seeds powder, garlic salt, pepper, soy sauce, turmeric powder and palm sugar syrup (gula melaka). I stuff these ingredients underneath the chicken skin and let to rest in the fridge for at least 7 hours. OCD me always wear disposable plastic gloves when I need to rub / stuff these ingredients evenly onto every piece of chicken 😀

Cut some fresh lemon grass and stuff them neatly underneath the skin just before grilling in the oven.

Grill for 15 minutes on each side at 180C or until skin turns golden brown.

This grilled lemon grass chicken tastes like chicken sate and it’s way healthier than sate. Sate (grilled on coals) is not a healthy choice as burnt meat is carcinogenic (potential to cause cancer). So if you can, stay away from BBQ meats and if you have to indulge in them, trim off the burnt parts.

Happy trying! 🙂

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Down With Flu – Super Lutein To The Rescue

I have been down with the sniffles for the past two days (see, month of May is really jinx!), no thanks to the girl who brought back the woeful virus from school and spread it to everyone!

Yesterday I felt so bushed and lackluster that I popped 6 caps of Super Lutein (double my usual dosage) and voila, today I am feeling so much better! Nose not runny and no more sneezing anymore and I could even brisk-walk 5 laps and walked up the stairs to the 5th floor of my unit this morning!

So what’s the best food for someone who is down with a flu?

For dinner yesterday, I was craving for something soupy so I made a big pot of prawn and anchovies soup with a whole head of organic cabbage, tomatoes, fish balls (bought from our day trip to Sekinchan on Sunday) and tofu fish cake, to go with meehoon. Yes, another 1-pot dish!

The soup is cooked by lightly frying the prawn heads (I used 8 big prawn heads), chopped garlic and 2 handfuls of anchovies with a little oil and let to simmer for an hour. The aroma of the soup can send you to food heaven, literally!

Tip: For busy mothers, you can prepare a large pot of soup and store them in separate containers in the freezer for future use. The soup can be used for noodles or you can just add veggies and meat into the soup to make it a one-pot dish on busy nights.

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Lunch – 5 May 2015

These days, I am back to preparing home-cooked meals twice a day – for lunch and dinner. Everyday, I waste a little time thinking of what to take-away for lunch. I am sick of eating char siew and roast chicken rice and noodles are crap, I mean carbs. Economy rice dishes (chap fan) are too oily (and God knows what oil they use!) and I don’t trust that the vendor washes the vegetables. So the best is to cook my own meal. On most days, I cook extra for dinner so that I have enough for lunch the next day. Only Cass comes home to eat lunch.

This was Cass’ lunch yesterday — a fried egg, pan-fried homemade dumplings, cherry tomatoes, blueberries and smoothie of the day (orange + pineapple + apple).

Simple, wholesome and almost sweat-free to dish out — anytime better than outside food 🙂

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