June 2015 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

33-Month Old Boy With Leukemia – Prayer and Donation Request

What is most heartbreaking for a mother is to see her child suffering in pain. If you are a mother, I am sure that one of your most feared nightmares is when your child falls sick. You get worried sick even when your child is down with fever and pray fervently for your child’s recovery. But when the doctor tells you that your child has a serious sickness or disorder, your entire world collapses, literally. I had gone through it all when our doctor told us that Cass had a high grade Kidney Reflux with a Duplex Kidney on the right side. It was double whammy for my hubs and me. I am glad that this is now behind us and we are now rallying together with Cass in her journey to complete healing from incontinence. Having a child who is seriously sick or needs medical attention regularly is life altering.

My friend’s 33-month old son was diagnosed with Leukemia a month ago in May 2015. From a bright, bubbly, active and happy baby boy, Ethan is now having mood swings, temper tantrums and semi-paralyzed from the waist down after many sessions of chemotherapy, bone marrow extract and Dexa oral medication. He feels very uncomfortable and does not like to walk, stand or move much these days.

I am pleading everyone to please say a prayer for Ethan for a complete recovery from Leukemia. He really does need lots of prayers. I also plead for some kind souls to pledge a donation towards Ethan’s high cost of medication. Ethan is currently undergoing medical treatments at Sime Darby Medical Center (SJMC) and his mummy is a single parent. My friend has another older son. She works in a hotel in the Klang Valley to support her family.

It does not matter if you donate just RM10, RM20, RM100 or RM1,000 or any amount that you are comfortable giving. Ethan’s chemotherapy sessions are very, very costly and your kind contribution will help ease my friend’s burden. Each pop of chemo session costs a few thousand to tens of thousands of Ringgit. In addition, Ethan is also consuming Izumio hydrogen water, which adds to her already sky high medical bills.

For those of you who would like to contribute towards Ethan’s Medical Funds, you may send a Whatsapp message to my friend, Mary Anne Loh at 010-220 4123.

Mary Ann Loh’s MBB account number is 1143 9318 6527

Your small contribution would mean a LOT to Mary and Ethan and I thank you from the bottom of my heart if you are making the move to donate.

Ethan before Leukemia…

Ethan post chemotherapy…

The swelling on his tummy is caused by his swollen liver 🙁

Please help Ethan to get well soon.

You can also drop by Mary Anne Loh’s Facebook page to read more about her journey with Ethan in battling Leukemia.

Do share this post in Facebook so that more people read this post and would contribute towards Ethan’s Medical Funds.

Thank you, xie xie, terima kasih, nandri, domo arigato… from the bottom of my heart 🙂

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The Girls’ School Sports Day

We reached school before 7am this morning for the girls’ sports day and spent 7 frigging long hours in school!! Today is the day that the girls have been waiting for months. They have been diligently practising the Sports Day dance and running events for many months. While today is the day that they looked forward to, it is the day that I scorned at! Can’t blame a puteri lilin, can you? If there is any activity that involves exposure to the hot sun, no thank you, you can count me out and I won’t blame you 😀

Breakfast in school at 7am to fuel the girls for a long and tiring day…

This fiery cili padi can really eat spicy food, I kid you not!

The four teams in the school – red, yellow, blue and green with super heroes as their mascots. Red Team was Flash, Yellow Team was Spongebob, Blue Team was Captain America and Green Team Ninja Turtles.

In previous years, the Sports Day event was held at various stadiums. This year the school has a new track of their own. The new track was officiated today in pomp and grandeur.

The school kids doing the Sports Day dance. Can you spot Cass in blue?

Alycia was second runner up in one of her running events. Their house clinched first place in the marching event and mascot decoration. All her hard work yesterday paid off.

Sherilyn who is a girl guide stood for hours on end under the fiery sun, to help hold the tray of medals in the prize giving ceremony after each event. I was so worried that she’d collapse under the hot sun!

It’s been yonks since I last drank a cup of cold ice Milo from the good old Milo truck, often seen at Sports Day events. Seeing the Milo truck brought back lots of sweet memories of my very own Sports Day in school. One of the best things to look forward to during my Sports Day was a cool cup of iced Milo from the truck. As it was Cass’ first time, she was really, really excited and queued up under the scorching sun over and over again to get her free cup of ice Milo.

I lugged along a few packets of Izumio hydrogen water along with me as I knew that everyone would need it badly to rehydrate and recover from the blazing heat @ 35 degrees Celsius. For 3 years straight, Alycia and Sherilyn had fever after attending their Sports Day event under the ferocious sun at the stadium. This year I preempted the fever with Izumio! I had a blasting headache after 7 hours in the sun but the headache was subdued with 2 packets of Izumio…amazing!

Here’s another refreshing tip for hot Sports Day event – cold ice water that you can bring along from home. It’s anytime healthier than sugar-laden boxed, bottled or canned soft drinks from the canteen. I kept 2 bottles of water in the freezer the night before and removed them from the freezer in the morning of the Sports Day. The bottles of ice water was cool until 2ish pm. Sipping ice water while you’re under the hot sun feels like water dousing off the fire within, so refreshing and good way of preventing a heat stroke.

Cass’ team did not win in their 50m relay event. One of her team mates’ shoes were yanked off her feet when she was running LOL! She wasted a lot of time running back to retrieve her shoes. Cass was a tad disappointed for not winning. She had been telling me before the Sports Day that she was hoping to win a medal. Her wish now is to take part in next year’s Sports Day to claim her medal 😀
After a long and exhausting day in school, we had lunch at our neighborhood coffee shop and then segued to the roadside durian stall to indulge in durians again! 😀

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My Friday – 26 June 2015

Hubs and I had brunch together at a newly opened cafe in the neighborhood when the girls were in school today. I actually had my brekkie of homemade muesli and sprouted wheat bread at 8:30am after my 1-hour daily exercise regimen. Since he invited me out for brunch, I thought, why not… though I was still not hungry just yet. And so, here’s what we had…

Nasi lemak with fried chicken (the fried chicken was put into doggie bag for Cass’ lunch) and curry noodles.

As both hubs and I are following a low-carb diet, we chowed only a quarter plate of the rice and a quarter bowl of the noodles. You just have to close both your eyes to food wastages when it comes to keeping your weight and blood sugar in check and waistline trim. If I can remember, I will always give instructions to the seller or waiter for a reduced portion of noodles or rice.

Alycia gave me a fright today. She came back from school at 8:30pm today. She volunteered to help out in the sports day prep in school, in preparation for the Sports Day to be held tomorrow. She told me that she would be back by 4pm but ended up coming home at 8:30pm. I was put through the wringer when I could not get in touch with her. The morbid thoughts that ran through my mind I tell you! She got a long lecture from me when she got back. It’s quite a long story and I’m a little pressed for time to write about what happened. I need to be in bed now and rise really early tomorrow for a very long day in school.

And yes, I am forced to be in school before 6:45am tomorrow and can only leave after 1pm when the Sports Day event is over. I hate sports days and if you know me well enough, you will know that I hate the sun! Exposure to the scorching sun is sure to send electrifying migraines into my brain. I’m going to lug along a few packets of Izumio hydrogen water for the girls and I to save us from the wrath of the blazing sun! Cass and I have been praying hard for a gloomy weather tomorrow and I hope that our prayers will be answered, haha!

On another note, it will be another 1 week before the girls sit for their exam again and we have not done any revision yet. It looks as though we are in for another eleventh hour revision with lots of hair pulling moments again for me, sigh 🙁

Happy weekend peeps! 🙂

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Healthy Homecooked Dinner With Black Rice

Our wholesome, hearty and healthy dinner last night…

Black rice (mixed with a handful of low GI Basmati rice), sauteed leek flower with garlic, pan-fried salmon fish and Sanbeiji chicken fillet (3-Cup Chicken) (cooked with ginger, wine, sesame oil, garlic and basil leaves).

Check out the beautiful purplish, blackish hue of the black rice – so exotic, beautiful and impressive!

What Is Black Rice?

It has been said that this highly treasured ancient grain was once eaten exclusively by the Emperors of China. It’s also known as “Forbidden Rice” and “Longevity Rice”.

I bought a pack of Mewah black rice from the supermarket to try and yesterday was the first time we cooked it. Thankfully, the girls were pretty receptive and had zilch fretting and fussing.

Taste wise – the Mewah black rice is absolutely delicious, has a nutty flavor and the taste and texture remind me of black glutinous rice. Mewah black rice is gluten-free.

Benefits of Black Rice

High content of Anthocyanin antioxidant
Low Glycemic Index for stable, longer lasting energy level
Rich in Potassium, Phosphorus and Magnesium
Daily source of Vitamin, Fiber and Protein
Delicious roasted nutty taste and soft texture
Beautiful deep purple (Anthocyanin) for striking presence

Mewah black rice can also be served as dessert. The cooked black rice can be paired deliciously with cold soy bean milk, or palm sugar (gula melaka) or coconut milk.

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Oxidative Stress

Our body is made up of cells. Our cells have DNA within the nucleus that is bound by Hydrogen bonds. Can you see how relevant Hydrogen is to our cells? There was a customer who drank hydrogen water and had her defected gene mutated.

The act of breathing produces free radicals, just like a car producing exhaust fumes when you add petrol into it (our food). When we are exposed to the sun, air pollutants, toxic fumes (newly painted walls), stress, bad food, our cells get attacked by free radicals. The more ‘poison’ we expose our body to, the higher our chances are of getting sick. Yet, however healthy a lifestyle we lead, we will still have free radicals.

In order to prevent diseases, our healthy cells need to outweigh the damaged cells by far. Or we will get sick in various degrees. Hydrogen water gets absorbed into your cells within 20-40 minutes to cleanse out the free radicals and get them back to being healthy again.

You can email shireenyong@gmail.com to find out more on hydrogen infused water.

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Conversation On Bang Bang Over Dinner

At the dining table over dinner today, the song “Bang Bang” by Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj was played on the radio. The girls sang along as they ate dinner.

Alycia – mummy, do you know what “bang bang” means actually?

Me (acting dumb) – yeah… bang bang with a gun like this *and pointing my hand like a gun towards Alycia*

Alycia – NO-O, it’s not that kind of bang bang! You know… thaaat bang bang?

Me – what kind of bang bang? *Question – should I stop acting dumb and explain the birds and bees to her?*

Ok, I should!!

Me – OH… you mean thaaat bang bang? Of course I know what it is!

Alycia – so err, you and daddy bang bang?

Me – OF COURSE! How do you think you, Sherilyn and Cass came into this world? Dropped from heaven just like that?

Alycia – you and daddy bang bang? OMG, that’s so dissssgussssting!!

Me – no, that’s not disgusting!

Alycia – luckily I did not bump into you and daddy banging on those nights that I woke up to pee.. HEE HEE!

Me – you think we would be so dumb to bang bang with the door opened? And when our door is closed, don’t you bang on the door to see if we are banging ok… coz we will not open the door for you!

Alycia, Sherilyn and Cass – HA HA HA!!

(Alycia has a habit of knocking on our door just as hubs and I have turned off the bedroom light to sleep. She then walks into the room in the pretext of taking the hand lotion and peers at me who is on the bed, suspiciously and in the hope of seeing ‘something’, LOL! Oh well, she’s at this stage where she’s just curious about the birds and bees)

Alycia – err, by the way, I finally found out what a CONDOM is! You know, at first I thought a condom was some kind of birds. But I recently read about condoms being banned in some schools in the US. SO… daddy wears a condom when he bang bang eh?

Me – OH yes! We baaaaaang all the way with it so that you won’t get another naughty younger sister or brother to bother you!!

And then the girls broke into a loud guffaw! 😀

I love having dinners at home together. It’s the time when the girls and I talk and laugh about everything and anything. It’s also the time when Alycia (she can be quite a hard nut to crack) is in a jovial mood and I take this opportunity to give her pep talks, advice and knock sense into her head.

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Our Father’s Day Sunday – 21 June 2015

After attending a friend’s baby’s full moon party, we adjourned to Durian De Tropika @ Section 19, PJ for a roadside durian feast with two of our very close family friends! The durian stalls were previous located at SS2.

Durian De Tropika is a must-go-to place for hardcore fans of durian.

Check out the bustling and festive ambience at the roadside, as if durian fans were celebrating this seasonal fruit’s first grand arrival. Durian lovers were swamping the durian stalls and tables. Tables and chairs were placed on the pedestrian pavement along the road shoulder and fans of durian were thronging the durian stalls, choosing and making a bang for their buck for the most delicious durians. Many tourists were seen sweating it out in the sweltering heat, licking the king of fruits off their fingers. For us, we wore the disposable plastic gloves and I have to say that with gloves, the syiok-ness is just not there!

Many durian fans were camwhoring at the durian stalls, including us! 😀

Cass squashing her favorite che che’s face ha ha!

Disposable plastic gloves and boxed tissue papers are provided for the patrons who opt to eat at the roadside tables. After our sinful Musang King, we washed away the heatiness with fresh pandan coconut water.

After our very sinful indulgence, hubs suggested gourmet coffee and cakes… as expected. As I had said in my earlier posts, hubs can only end his Sunday happily satiated after a dose of gourmet coffee and cakes. The girls and I were shaking our heads on hearing the coffee suggestion by hubs as we were already super full and cloy that we could puke anytime.

At Salt n Koffie @ Jaya One for coffee and cakes.

Sherilyn and Cass were goofing around in our friend’s car.

That’s how we celebrated Father’s Day. How was your Father’s Day Sunday?

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Exams and Schools

Our Saturday today started off very early. We were already in school by 8am for the parents-teachers meeting and report card collection day.

In under 2 hours, we were done meeting with 3 teachers. Last night, I wrote down the questions that I’d like to ask the 3 teachers on a piece of paper. It helps that there is a check-list of questions — you go straight to the point and time is not wasted. Hubs met Sherilyn’s teacher and I met Alycia’s and Cass’ teachers.

After report card collection, we went to Han Room @ Mid Valley for brunch. Then, rushed off for Cass to attend piano class. Err, I should say that I had to rush off for Cass and I to attend piano class. I sit in each and every piano class too, just like a student, except that those classes are more of refresher lessons for me. I have a Grade 7 ABRSM piano Cert. Today, I was really knackered and dozed off during the class HA HA!

Now, on the girls’ position in class!

Alycia’s total marks for 2 exams this year landed her the top position in her class! Though being 1st in class and 35th out of 210+ Year 6 students sounds pretty good, her marks in her latest exam, which is the UPSR First Diagnostic Test ain’t up to my expectation, especially in Chinese Writing (I was appalled when she showed me her Chinese essay paper!). She really needs to work harder and buck up.

Sherilyn’s position is within top 10 in class but standard position is still not up to my expectation. She is hankering to go back to the second elite class which she was in for 3 years and now has to work really really hard in order to make a sweet comeback.

Cassandra’s position is 5th in class and 25th out of 215 Year 1 students. She is very happy with her position but I told her that this is only her very first exam (which is usually easy) and the subsequent exams will only get tougher.

My next big decision to make is which secondary school to register Alycia into — should it be Catholic High School, Kuen Cheng High School or a private homeschool? Decisions, decisions, decisions – I have to make this important decision by next week and I hate having to make crucial decisions!!

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Cassandra’s Swimming Lessons and Position

This picture was taken at Cass’ swimming session yesterday at our condo.

Cass is now joining two other girls (aged 8 and 9 years old – living at the same block as us) in the swimming class. Can you spot Cass?

Of the 3 girls, Cass is the slowest in terms of speed and agility. Nonetheless, she has shown vast improvement within these 2 months under the new swimming coach (female coach now). Cass has been telling me that she ain’t exactly enjoying her swimming lessons as she finds it tough and tiring but I ain’t letting her give up. I will never let her give up learning swimming until she can swim like a fish. I told her that swimming is a survival skill and whether she likes it or hates it, she has no choice but to master it, period! I told her that she will one day love me for forcing her to learn swimming. And that’s what I always tell Alycia and Sherilyn – that they can hate me now for forcing them to study hard but one day, they will definitely secretly or openly tell me that they love me for being a tiger mom!

On another note, Cass told me 2 days ago that her teacher informed the class that she is one of the students who has garnered the top 5 positions in class! But the actual position is not announced yet. I don’t understand why the teacher has to wrap this up in such a suspense for the kids and mothers! Cass can’t wait for this Saturday to come as it will be parents-teachers meeting day for report card collection. This impatient mommy quickly logged in to the MoE website to check her class and standard position online. For 2 days the website was down and today it’s finally up and running again and I managed to check the positions for all 3 girls! So am I a happy and satisfied mommy or a crestfallen one? Ain’t letting you know yet. Do catch my post on Saturday to find out! 😉

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Get Cash Back With ShopBack

Everyone loves getting a portion of their cash back after spending it to buy stuff. I am a sucker for cash back rewards! They are savings alright! So naturally, when I heard that ShopBack Malaysia has a cash back scheme where cash will be credited back to my bank account after I’ve shopped at their merchants’ websites, I made a dash to their website to see if I can catch some great deals 😀

ShopBack is a cashback site where you literally get cash back when you click through to their merchants from their site. On top of existing discounts and voucher codes, shoppers get back a percentage of the money that they spent. Now, that’s quite a bit of savings!

After making payment, the cashback is credited to the ShopBack account, which can later be cashed out into your bank account or PayPal for real cash. ShopBack is a legitimate service and they have established themselves not only in Malaysia and Singapore but are expanding to Philippines and the rest of South East Asia.

ShopBack scouts out the best deals and coupon codes from the merchants and provides cashback on every successful transaction. Shopback partners with local and global e-commerce merchants such as Ensogo, Zalora, Groupon, Lazada, Expedia and Apple.

The cashback concept is very popular in the US and Britain and now, we have it right here in Malaysia at ShopBack. Malaysian shoppers can buy online and receive cashback when they shop at over 300 stores at ShopBack.

The ShopBack website is very user-friendly and easy to navigate around – you can shop by category or by stores.

You can refer to the picture below on how to use ShopBack…

1) Click on any store

2) Get redirected

3) Pay on the Merchant’s site

4) Get cashback within 1-2 days (the exact amount of time is specified on each merchant page)

I tested the site by ordering a 4-slot sunny side up egg frying pan from Groupon. There was a 60% discount on top of the cashback! See all Groupon deals here.

The entire process of ordering the frying pan was a walk in the park! Just click on ‘Buy Now’ and I was redirected to the payment section. I chose M2U and logged into my M2U account from ShopBack site to pay.

Some of the benefits of using ShopBack include:

EXTRA SAVINGS

ShopBack gives you Cashback on top of existing discounts and voucher codes – this means extra savings when you shop online through them at any of their merchant stores!

CASH OUT EASILY

CASH OUT EASILY Your Cashback can be transferred to most bank accounts or your PayPal account. Talk about hassle-free!

UNLIMITED Cashback

UNLIMITED Cashback There are no limits to the Cashback you can earn – spend more and earn more Cashback!

With so many benefits of shopping online at ShopBack, you really have to give it a try now! Happy shopping! 🙂

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Update On Cassandra’s Road To Recovery From Incontinence

It’s been 2 1/2 months since Cass started consuming Izumio hydrogen water to treat her incontinence and I am still very pleased with the results.

Cass has reduced the usage of diapers by more than half since she consumed Izumio. She only wears them when she is in school, when we are out for long outings and when she sleeps at night. During the day at home, she is completely off diapers. Before she started consuming Izumio, she had to be diapered 24 hours a day. She had severe involuntary urine dribbling. According to her doctor, this is one of the symptoms of a patient with high grade kidney reflux. The kidney reflux problem has since been fixed with a surgery at 13 months old. This could also be that the nerves and muscles of her urinary tract are weakened as a result of 2 major surgeries when she was still a baby with delicate organs, nerves and muscles still growing. The surgeons whom she is seeing cannot pinpoint what exactly is wrong internally that’s causing the incontinence though Cass had gone through a battery of invasive tests.

Today, she accomplished yet another milestone in her journey to recovery!

We had wanted to go to Mid Valley Megamall for shopping but the traffic into Mid Valley was horrendous! We spent over an hour stuck in the traffic and had to detour as all the entrance points into Mid Valley Megamall and Gardens were FULL. So I drove to Bangsar and went to BSC instead. All the while in the car, I kept asking Cass if she had leaked and if she felt like peeing and she said NO.

Cass was off diapers and only wore a regular pad today. I normally get her to put on a diaper when we are out. Today, I wanted her to break the norm and move on to be diaper-free when we go out. She has to start somewhere and I chose today.

When we finally reached BSC, I quickly brought her to the washroom to ease herself. I was delighted when I saw that the pad was dry though she had held on for over an hour! Then we went to have lunch and 1.5 hours later, I brought her to the washroom again. What a joy when I saw that the pad was still dry! If you have a child who has battled with bladder problems all her life, seeing a dry pad would mean A LOT to you! The joy is immeasurable!

In the past before Cass started to consume Izumio, she would soak through a 42cm long pad and the pee would seep onto the underwear in just 20 minutes. What she has accomplished today is indeed a very big mile stone. Previously, the urine leakage would be even worse whenever we were out shopping and had to walk a fair bit. Any rapid movement of her legs would exacerbate the leakage. I wouldn’t say that there is a 100% healing yet as I know that Cass’ bladder muscles and nerves are still weak but they are definitely on the road to recovery. Based on my own observation, there is a 60-70% recovery now. We still have a lot to work on together to strengthen her muscles, nerves and sphincters.

I believe that her muscles, nerves and sphincters were in a ‘comatose’ state but were revived when she started to drink Izumio hydrogen water.

Hydrogen is the smallest atom in the world that can penetrate your cells at a mitochondrial level and has strong anti-oxidant properties, eliminating free radicals within your body at enormous rates.

HOW HYDROGEN WORKS WITHIN THE BODY
1. Hydrogen is the smallest atom in the chemical chart making it perfect for accessing the deepest darkest parts of the body (mitochondrial cells) where others cannot reach. Every chromosome, amino acid and protein block in our bodies need Hydrogen to build good quality cells.

2. Hydrogen is required by our bodies for organ function. We get it from the air, from water, from food. But less from food because when cooked, there is hardly any hydrogen left. Hydrogen from the air we breathe dissipates quickly. The body needs Hydrogen in ion form. Water is our best source of it.

3. But now there is Hydrogen water – and Izumio has the HIGHEST Hydrogen levels in the world compared to any other Hydrogen product and the Miracle water from Lourdes, France, etc. It is proven that Hydrogen rich water is essential to building good, healthy cells and is also capable of balancing the pH within the body.

As I believe that Cass has weak muscles and sphincters, I am trying my best to get her to do exercises everyday.

I get her to do brisk walking everyday, indoors. On days when I have the time, I jump with her on the trampoline. When she jumps, she has a strong urge to pee. Heck, I feel the same too! In fact, after 3 C-section births and a short period of incontinence after the birth of Cass, I have a rather weak bladder too. So we jump together on the trampoline and encourage each other to work out our muscles and bladders too.

… and watch the TV while we jump to beat boredom.

You can email shireenyong@gmail.com to find out more about the products that Cass is consuming.

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Looking At Life Through Rose-Tinted Glasses

While in Ipoh last weekend, the girls and I, along with my dad had a long walk around the neighborhood in the evening. We stopped outside a few houses to play with and pat other people’s dogs 😀 This is something that we don’t always do in KL. The girls’ schedules are pretty much filled to the brim with tuition and extra curricular activities, with very little time left for outdoor and leisure activities.

Alycia who was in a jovial mood, was hopping and traipsing on the road when all of a sudden, she tripped on her running shoes (which are my mum’s actually) and then rolled on the road a couple of times. I screamed and thought that she’d have some nasty injuries. But this young lady quickly picked herself up, dusted her hands and elbows and gave me a sheepish grin. What a scare she gave me! Fortunately, there was no oncoming car coming towards her!! She had some grazes and cuts on her hands, elbows and back of her waist.

Moments later, as we were still taking our long stroll, my 11 1/2-year old said this cheerily to me “well mummy, I can tick ‘rolling on the road’ off my bucket list now, HE HE HE!” And I have to love Alycia’s perspective in life. If only I can see the negative side of things as positively as how Alycia seeds them through rose-tinted glasses, there wouldn’t be any stress in my life. But can I? *shrug shoulders*

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What’s For Dinner Tonight?

Guess what we had for dinner tonight?

It’s a homey dinner but the price is that of a fine dine dinner at a 5-star restaurant.

Yes beef steak… but not the regular beef. Look carefully at the marbled appearance…

It’s Kobe beef, all the way from Hong Kong! The MIL hand carried the Kobe beef back from Hong Kong yesterday! The pictures (taken on hubs’ Samsung mobile phone) do not justify the actual stuff.

What is Kobe beef?

Cows that drink beer, are massaged with rice wine and listen to classical music! For meat lovers, Kobe beef is considered the epitome of fine dining. And at a few hundred bucks a pop you’d want it to be!

To retain maximum flavor, Kobe beef should not be cooked further than medium-rare. In fact, the fat in Kobe beef has a lower melting point than that of other beef so if cooked for too long at too high a heat, it simply melts away. And it is this feeling, of the meat melting in the mouth, that really makes Kobe beef an outstanding culinary experience.

Its prized value must also be credited to the mysterious rearing techniques said to aid the meat’s delectable flavor and texture.

Melt-in-the-mouth Kobe beef — so yummy, though the only seasoning used were a few dashes of pepper! Second to none that we’d tasted thus far. Remember my earlier post on the tough shoe leather beef steak that I’d cooked? Now I know why. Hubs bought the wrong kind of steak. We need steak with marbled effect to get tender and juicy steaks.

A big thank you to my dear SIL for the yummy Kobe beef! 🙂

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Happy 2015 Mid Year Everyone!

The view of KL Tower and KL Twin Towers is a regular sight greeting us everyday. From the 5th floor of our unit, we can see these prominent buildings very clearly.

For the past one month, there is something different about the KL Tower. First, it was illuminated in neon green for several days. Then, it flickered in rainbow colors several days ago and that awed us all. That was a rare sight of KL Tower to behold. Now, it has turned neon red! And I just want to share the view with you, my dear readers, if you hardly ever have the opportunity to see the KL Tower (illuminated in color) and KL Twin Towers in night view 🙂

Pardon the blurry image – pic was taken with my Samsung mobile phone 😀

I’d also like to wish all my readers Happy 2015 Mid Year today! We have completed 183 days this year and still have another 183 days to go. I wish for everyone to have a wonderful and smooth-sailing 183 days to complete the year 2015! 🙂

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Amazing Race To The Train!

HOLA from the land of pomelos, waat leet leet tau fu far (smooth bean curd), leng luis (pretty girls) and super crunchy bean sprouts!! 😀

We almost missed our ETS (Electric Train Service) ride from KL Sentral to Ipoh yesterday! The ETS ticket was at 1pm and we hopped into the coach at 12:59PM! Phew, what a real close shave!!

With only 15 minutes to 1pm from our condo to the train station, I knew that we may not make it coz Hello Shireen, you are in KL, the bustling city of horrendous traffic jam, not Ipoh ok. Even if it was Ipoh, we may not make it in just 15 minutes!

Hubs had planned to park his car and accompany the four loves of his live onto the coach to send us off. But we were super late. Hubs only managed to park his car at the drop-off area in front of the KL Sentral station and directed me where to go. But this lady with a faulty compass in her head went to the wrong station, DUH!! As I ran down the escalator to the wrong station with 3 little girls in tow, ran up the escalator again, asked for direction to the correct station, then ran as fast as we could lugging 2 trolley bags, 1 lap top bag, an oversized handbag and the girls carrying their own bags, I felt like I was in a real life Amazing Race, trying to beat the time to win the race — which is to reach the train. That was by far one of the most suspense, adrenaline rush of 15 minutes for me EVER and I thought that our RM80 worth of tix would go down the train tracks. I really thought that we would not make it . I prayed fervently to God to help us and He never let me down, again 🙂

I saw the train master with a walkie talkie outside coach C and I hollered to him “train ini pergi Ipoh?”, to which he said “YA” and I hollered back “tolong intercomm untuk tunggu YA!” and the train master chuckled “relak… perlahan-lahan” and I felt a tad relieved. But our coach is no. F, FARK!! And we ran as fast as we could to Coach F and felt a GREAT sense of achievement the moment we hopped onto the coach. The time on the TV showed 12:59PM and the train moved off the tracks at 1PM on the dot. What a close one, phew!!!

Memories to last a lifetime for the girls — our Amazing Race to catch a train back to Ipoh 🙂

See the camera shy big girl? Aiyo *shake head*

Cass doing her school holiday homework on board the train to kill boredom.

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Ostania Premium Mangosteen Amrita Juice

Mangosteens – we all love them, both for the one-of-a-kind succulent taste of the flesh and the vibrant purple color of the rind. My kids love them. I love them. I do not know of anyone who does not love them. But I hate peeling them! It’s so troublesome to get to the flesh of the mangosteen. Sometimes, I would accidentally stain my clothes with the bright purple color from the rind. And it is so time-consuming to eat mangosteens, for you have to labour over yanking the hard rinds, just to eat a few segments from each fruit. For this reason, I seldom buy mangosteens. I wish that peeled mangosteens will soon be available in the market. But for now, we can drink the goodness of mangosteen juice from a bottle.

One of the mangosteen juices with the highest grades available in the market is the Ostania Premium Mangosteen Amrita juice. And I am so thankful that the company that manufacturers Ostania mangosteen juice, Furley Bioextracts have so kindly sent me 3 bottles to try! Thank you Furley!!

We have always discarded the hard purple rind of the mangosteen but did you even know that the rich purple mangosteen skin is where all the goodness is? Yup, it’s true and Ostania mangosteen juice is composed of the purple mangosteen skin, as one of the ingredients. The mangosteen skin / rind is said to be packed with xanthones, anthocyanins and polyphenols — potent antioxidants that have been scientifically proven to be beneficial.

Furley Bioextracts has now made the Ostania Mangosteen Amrita – its mangosteen drink with skin and all, available in certain pharmacies in the country. The Ostania Mangosteen Amrita is the only health beverage in the market to be tested and validated by the National University of Singapore (NUS). Every single one of Furley’s Ostania Mangosteen Amrita products have been validated to have a 14186 ORAC. This ORAC score reflects that the Ostania is higher in antioxidants than some of the other well-known superfoods such as blueberries, acai berry and raw cacao, the purest form of chocolate said to have the highest source of antioxidants of all foods and the highest source of magnesium.

Ostania Mangosteen Amrita contains the whole mangosteen fruit, including the skin, and is combined with apple, roselle, acai berry, grape and pomegranate. With no added sugars or colouring, it is suitable for the whole family and is a health drink that anyone, including diabetics can indulge in.

Some of its benefits include boosting the immune system, improving the bowel system, easing allergy symptoms, helping skin conditions, maintaining eye health, stopping fatigue and fighting harmful free radicals responsible for ageing and inflammation.

At only RM49.90 a bottle, the Ostania Mangosteen Amrita is a very affordable health supplement. You can buy it cheaper at RM43.35 if you buy 3 bottles.

Ostania Mangosteen Amrita is a great tasting beverage. You can drink it neat from the bottle but it’s best served with a 1:1 dilution with water or ice. It tastes best when chilled. You can even make ice popsicles for your little ones to enjoy. Or add it into your homemade fruit smoothies, like what I am doing now 🙂

This is the orange + green apple + fresh coconut water + Ostania Mangosteen Amrita juice smoothie that I made yesterday – so refreshing! To give this smoothie an extra kick, blend it with ice cubes – perfect thirst quencher on a sweltering day.

Mangosteen Amrita comes in an attractive reusable aluminum bottle. It is of export grade and is sold in other countries such as New Zealand.

To order Ostania Mangosteen, just click on this link.

You can also find Furley Bio at the following social media sites:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/furleybio?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/furleyb
Instagram: https://instagram.com/furleybio/

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