August 2016 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Our Merdeka Day Holiday – 31 Aug 2016

We had brunch with the girls’ grand aunt and visiting grand uncle from New Zealand at Han Room today.

As we were alighting from the car at the car park of Gardens Mall, I had a major heart attack. Alycia who was in the midst of getting down from the car, missed a step and fell onto the car park floor with a loud thud! Hubs’ car is an MPV and the passenger seat is much higher than a regular sedan car. Thankfully her fall was cushioned off by my thigh and she didn’t fall onto a hard tar road. The both of us were in shock. She was too shell shocked to even tell me if she had hurt her body but my thigh hurt as a result of her body hitting me before she fell flat onto the floor. Thank God there was no bruise or graze, except that she turned pale white from the shock of the fall. ** PHEW, sweats!! **

The main purpose of going to the Gardens Mall today was to get myself a new swimsuit but I didn’t find one that I really like, though I had tried on a few at the Speedo and Arena shops. When we were at Robinsons, I saw a few sexy maxie swimsuits which I really like but the big girl kept bugging me to hurry up as she wanted to go home to study for a test tomorrow. Plus the queue at the fitting room was a long one, so we left. That’s why I hate shopping with the girls on a public holiday. I’ll have better peace of mind shopping on my own on a school-going day when the girls are in school. This gives me an excuse to go retail therapy again next week 😀

For dinner, we scrapped our plan of eating out as the big girl wasn’t in the mood to eat out on the eve of her History and Chinese composition test. So we cleared our fridge and walloped all the leftover food.

I reheated the kafir lime leaves fried rice that I cooked for dinner yesterday and blanched some ladies fingers. I also blanched some vermicelli to go with the leftover chicken curry that the girls’ grand aunt gave us yesterday. Drama Queen helped to cut avocado, cucumbers and capsicums.

The crisp and sweet raw capsicums tasted really good with a drizzle of Uncle Jeff’s Berenberg Creamy Parmesan Caesar dressing. Hubs bought this salad dressing for his Arugula Rocket salad, which he eats in the morning for breakfast along with hard boiled eggs.

Berenberg Family Farm is an Aussie brand and they have a tasty range of dressing sauces, jams and condiments.

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Truly Organic

I almost dumped this fella into the wok yesterday. It was snugged inside its shell and velcroed to a piece of organic lettuce.

Why didn’t I see it when I washed the veggie earlier? Eeesshhh, that’s the problem when you’re too busy and can only afford half an hour to cook!!

I like to see holes, snails and worms on the organic green leafy veggies that I buy. This gives me the reassurance that the veggies have not been sprayed with pesticides. When I see vegetables that are exceptionally big, leafy, shiny, plump and flawless with not a hole on it like fake veggies, I get really skeptical. How can crops grow so impeccably without being attacked by pests?

Would you rather (unknowingly) eat vegetables laced with pesticides or eat an organic worm? I choose the latter. It’s protein anyway 😀 And people in some parts of the world eat BBQ-ed worms and bugs like a delicacy.

Cass begged me not to kill the snail as she wanted to keep the cute baby snail as her pet (good gracious!) while Drama Queen manhandled it! After they got bored playing with the garden snail, Drama Queen flicked it down the balcony, hoping that the snail would land on some plants below and survives *slaps forehead* You think snaily survived the fall?

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Happy Sunday – 28 August 2016

We left the house early on our Sunday morning yesterday as I had a training session to attend at the NP office. We were caught in a bad traffic jam as many roads were closed in the heart of KL for the Merdeka Day celebration rehearsal and to make the traffic even worse, there was also a Marathon event around the area. Good thing was the girls got to see how a Merdeka Day rehearsal was.

I was about 20 minutes late for the training session. Thankfully nothing much was missed.

The slide below shows my team members posing with a 4th stage colon cancer survivor. This Japanese man was told by his doctor that he only had a few months to live. But after consuming Iz**** and Super L*****, he survived… until today! Amazing!

My team leader conducts training sessions very frequently but I can only attend selectively due to time constraints.

If you wanna find out more about these products, do email me at shireenyong@gmail.com or give me a call at 019- 266 4290. Again, there is no obligation on your side to purchase anything 🙂

Cass tagged along with me to the training session while the two older girls followed their dad to Low Yat Plaza to get some accessories for our laptop and phone.

After the training session, I had a quick bite at Secret Recipe with Cass while waiting for the hubs to fetch us.

In the car, Alycia asked me a peculiar question…

Alycia – mummy, if your hand phone was spoilt, would you ask daddy to buy you a new one?

I instantly smelled something fishy coz Alycia my introvert daughter hardly asks me such questions!!

Me – I’ll get him to buy me a new phone then coz I deserve it big time!!! Bring it on!!

And then Alycia and Drama Queen fished out my new Huawei mobile phone from a bag and passed it to me!

Me to hubs – whatttt? Why did you buy me a new phone? My Samsung phone is still OK what!

I was told that there was an on-going promotion for Huawei mobile phones and hubs told me that the deal was a bang for his buck. So…

And then I heard the 2 big girls behind me chortling away and showing me another new Huawei mobile phone!

Drama Queen – See mummy, I won a new Huawei phone! After daddy bought your phone, we were given a chance to spin and win a prize and I won a phone!!

WOW, really?! I could not imagine our luck!

The spin needle was just half or maybe a quarter centimeter away from touching the picture of an umbrella next to the phone picture but luck was with Drama Queen, the spin needle stopped short at the picture of the phone as if an invisible hand stopped the needle!!

The MC of the event congratulated Drama Queen and photos were taken. The event organizers were dancing and singing and her wind fall was celebrated with grand fanfare. It was like a dream come true for Drama Queen as she had been bugging me to buy her a new mobile phone. She won a Huawei Mate 8 phone retailed at over RM2k.

The previous shoppers who tried their hands on the spin wheel were green with envy. Too bad I wasn’t there to share her joy.

Next we went to the Gardens Mall to have lunch at Alexis. For the first time, we were all not eager to order our food. We were all too preoccupied with our new mobile phones.

My new Huawei is a P9 with evolutionary dual camera lens technology and Leica lens. This enables my phone to capture pix like a DSLR camera, wooohoo! I am so happy!

Below – Hubs test snapped a picture in monochrome mode using my P9.

I ordered a chicken pie and shared it with Cass…

Pizza for the girls…

Mee Siam for the girls and me who all love this Thai dish..

My kryptonite – Tiramisu from Alexis, best in the world!

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Yummy Kitchen Tales

My 2 kitchen side-kicks helping me to peel and chop garlic and onions. I am SO thankful for them coz I HATE this chore!

They bicker and fight a lot but when they yak and laugh non-stop with each other, it really warms my heart 🙂

From a mere kitchen helper just earlier this year, Drama Queen has been promoted to Commis Chef! I can now delegate such easy task as sauteeing veggies, cooking omelettes, sauteeing meat and simple pan-frying of dishes to her.

She’s great at whipping up delightful salads too…

When the 3 of them are in the kitchen, we always have loads of laughter, albeit commotion do erupt when things go wrong like someone accidentally cuts her finger, breaks a bowl or burns a dish! It is NOT uncommon that a dish is burnt when I leave it entirely to her to cook. It’s A-OK. Failures are fertilizer to success.

In action – Drama Queen cooking tomato omelette, ala Taiwanese.

The tomato omelette that Drama Queen whipped up, all by herself and it’s really delish.

One of our simple dinners at home – blanched veggie, tomyam white pomfret fish and Taiwanese style tomato omelette.

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A Quick Beach Getaway to Port Dickson

Port Dickson started life as a humble charcoal producing town, but in recent times it has turned into a thriving and popular beach destination.

This jewel of a destination is just 60km from Kuala Lumpur, meaning it is a popular destination for city slickers looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Indeed, many of them own holiday homes in the area. It also means that the city is readily accessible for anyone who is visiting this exquisite area, it is actually just a one hour drive to the world renowned city.

But don’t go jumping for a rental car too quickly, because there is plenty to do and see in this picturesque holiday destination.

Naturally being near the coast, the area has a great abundance of beaches, with all types and levels of beauty. Teluk Kemang Beach is a popular beach for the locals, calm clear waters and beautiful golden sandy beaches, it is the perfect scene for a relaxing sunbathe and a frolic in the ocean. It is also a great place for water sports, the beach side is well stocked with exciting water based activities to hold your attention all day.

While you’re at a beach, the one at Tanjung Tuan to be exact, why don’t you try the thrilling climb up the historic local lighthouse? Not only is it an amazing example of human engineering, keeping our oceans safe, but it also offers amazing views across the bay and beyond.

Finally after a great day at the beach, perhaps a relaxing massage should be considered, there is only one place to attend. The Thai odyssey is a famous massage parlour and is always reviewed well, thanks to their experienced experts in massage comfort, just be sure to book your slot well in advance.

So you’ve swum and relaxed, now it is time to sleep. Fortunately, Port Dickson has a myriad of hotels, ranging in all qualities and prices for you to choose from (Click here to find more options of hotel!). Below is a small selection of hotels, to give you an idea of what to expect.

Hotel Seri Malaysia Port Dickson
Lot PT 49, Jalan Pantai, Port Dickson 71050, Malaysia
With a nightly price beginning at just RM133, this is a very affordable and good quality hotel. There is a pool and restaurant on site, ensuring you’ll never go hungry or bored and the free hi speed WIFI means you’ll always be connected; enabling you to be able to send those priceless holiday photos to your social media sites. This hotel is available in Traveloka. Simply visit https://www.traveloka.com/en-my.

Corus Paradise Resort
3.5km, Jalan Pantai, Port Dickson 71000, Malaysia
This excellent resort combines quality with reasonable pricing; with prices starting at just RM215 a night. It has all the amenities you’d expect at a high class resort including; pools, a gym and excellent restaurants. You’ll never be bored and the business centre ensure you’ll always be connected.

Ilham Resort Port Dickson
Batu 10, Tanjung Biru | Si Rusa, Port Dickson 71050
This is a high end resort and you get what you pay for. Spacious rooms and the highest quality possible, the hotel even provides a viewing tower, so you can enjoy the amazing views it has to offer. An amazing pool and brilliantly stocked gymnasium, all you could want on your resort holiday.

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Beauté Feminine Mist Spray For Miss V!

Do you always get that niggling discomfort down there? Yes, I am referring to your Miss V. The annoyance when your Aunt Flow visits, during mid-cycle, when you are on the go all day and haven’t got the chance to clean it with water or when you have a yeast infection, bad odour or UTI? I am pretty sure that many of us have experienced some or all of these at some point of our lives.

If you experience from any of the above, help is on the way with Beauté – Fem Mist feminine spray!

Beauté Fem Mist has been created exclusively for women to maintain their cleanliness, youthfulness and health. Feminine Mist fights fungus, bacteria, discharge, odour, etc. to ensure that you are free from your feminine worries. It can even be used as a natural deodorant.

We super women and super mummies are always on the go – be it for work, chauffering our kids from one place to another or for everyday chores and activities. Sweat, heat, discomfort and even odour can build up, making it a favorable condition for opportunistic bacteria to grow. Beauté Fem Mist is created to reduce irritation, inflammation, swelling, odour and discomfort.

Discomfort usually comes about from:
– Aggressive chemicals from washing agents
– Sweat and heat
– Irritation of the pubic hair
– Stress
– Poor hygiene
– Unclean water
– Overuse of wet wipes/tissues

Beauté Feminine Mist can help to:

Refreshen, prevent & eliminate bacterial buildup.
Relieve itchiness caused by bacteria & inflammation quickly
Prevent embarrassing moments
Eliminate and prevent odour causing bacteria while being gentle
Prevent discomfort
Reduce excessive douching. Use Feminine Mist to be confident & secure.
Prevent UTI and yeast infection

Guarantee
Experience the world’s 1st all natural feminine mist which can be used daily to prevent UTIs, discomfort, odour and even discharge. This product is manufactured in a JAKIM – HALAL Certified premises.

How – Just Spray/When to use?
1. Spray when convenient or when experiencing discomfort.
2. After going to the washroom.
3. Rapid drying formula or just wipe/rinse off

I spray it on my panty liner. You can also spray it directly onto your Miss V.

Packaged in a convenient sleek and discreet spray bottle, Feminine Mist is a specially formulated natural intimate hygiene spray designed to solve everyday feminine worries.

Chemical Free
Feminine Mist is free from:
Harsh soaps
Coloring
SLS
Parabens
Harmful preservatives
Pore blocking compounds
Synthetic fragrances
Bleaching agents

Ingredients
Naturally formulated to be hypoallergenic for all skin types. Some of the ingredients include mangosteen peel extract, PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil and lavender oil.

Manufacturer
Beauté Fem Mis is manufactured by Furley Bioextracts, the same manufacturer of Ostania Mangosteen Amrita juice.
Ostania Mangosteen Amrita is a healthy beverage formulated using whole mangosteen fruit including puree and rind which is an excellent source of Xanthone.

Affordable
Beaute – Feminine mist is just under RM0.15 per application. One bottle of 35mL can be used 300 times. Beauté – FemMist 35ml is currently retailed at RM48.

Discount Code For Health Freak Mommy readers!!

A discount code just for you, my dear readers! 🙂

Discount code to key in: FBIO-J3M

Value of discount: RM10 per receipt

Simply key in this code at the Coupon Code box and click ‘Apply Coupon’ during check-out from the Furley Bioextracts store.

Grab a spray bottle of Beaute Fem Mist today to keep yourself free from your feminine worries. I’ve got mine already 🙂

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Our Kitchen Our Haven

Drama Queen was helping me chop onions in the kitchen today while I was cleaning the fish and marinating it. Alycia sauntered into the kitchen…

Alycia – hey Kay Yi, do you want to play badminton downstairs?

Sher – *sniffs sniffs and wipes off tears from her eyes* I can’t… (sniffs and wipes tears with back of her hand again). I have to cook first.

Upon hearing this, I burst out in a loud guffaw!

Me – HAHAHAHAHAHA! You sound like a crying Cinderella who has to cook and can’t go out to play!!!

Then the three of us chortled while Drama Queen and I wiped off more tears from our eyes. Gawd, how I hate the deadly sting gas from raw onions. Though I did not chop the onions, the smell and inhalation of it is enough to make my eyes sore and shed buckets of tears. Thankfully, Drama Queen does not mind a wee bit, though she will always be screaming dramatically “MY EYES, MY EYES, I HAVE TO RUN TO THE BATHROOM!!“. But after washing her eyes, she will gleefully continue chopping the onions and shed more tears. LOL!!

Today Drama Queen helped me to cook rice and sauteed vegetables. Not bad for an 11-year old and she fares a lot better than her 13-year old sister.

I am really blessed to have this ever enthusiastic dramatic side-kick to help me in the kitchen. We look forward to cook dinner each day. It’s the best way for us to bond, though our wires often cross when we are out of the kitchen 😀

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Baked Corn Flakes Chicken

Our girls love grilled chicken. I cook it at least once a week, sometimes twice. My grilled chicken is cooked in a variety of styles – with turmeric powder, teriyaki sauce, honey, lemon grass, lemon juice, curry paste, tomyam paste, black pepper, breaded and much more. Last week I tried something different with the chicken thighs – I baked them with crushed corn flakes.

Drama Queen was quick to help me crush the corn flakes with a rolling pin.

The chicken thighs were marinated with coriander powder, pepper and soy sauce.

Directions:
Dip chicken thighs with eggs (beaten)
Then coat with crushed corn flakes. In some recipes, the chicken is coated with flour before coating with crushed corn flakes.
Line baking tray with baking paper and oil the paper.
Bake at 150C for 15-20 minutes on each side.

Ready to go into the oven…

I also grilled some fresh Portobello mushrooms with minced garlic and olive oil.

Since the oven was hot, I toasted some silvered almonds.

Silvered almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and cashew nuts (all lightly toasted) are my favorite low-carb high protein snacks.

Bon appetit!

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Butadon (Pork Bowl Rice)

It’s been a busy 2 days for me.

Two days ago, I discovered that 99% of the photos in my 3 blogs from the period November 2015 – May 2016 were not loading! That’s one of the worst nightmares to happen to a blogger. It’s tragic! My blogs mean a lot to me. I started them in 2007 as an online journal and diary on my girls. I spent all my time since yesterday putting the photos back into each and every post. I am only 90% done with my main blog. I have 2 more blogs to rectify. This is such a waste of my precious time.

In between fixing my blog, I met with a few customers to pass them Izumio and Super Lutein that they ordered from me and explained the products to them. Also had a lot of work to do on the computer and processing of membership application. Before I even realize it, it is time to cook dinner already. Dang it! How I hate cooking when I don’t have the time.

Yet, despite my busyness, I managed to whip up a new dish – Butadon (pork bowl rice). Also whipped up a sauteed organic French bean with fish paste and julienned carrots.

My pork bowl rice was YUMS! Almost like the real thing from Japanese restaurants. And the 5% of not tasting identical to the authentic Japanese ones is because I did not use sake, mirin or dashi. These sauces are all very costly and I don’t use them often. I replaced sake, mirin and dashi with Teriyaki sauce and organic shoyu. And cooked it with 3 large big onions, which added so much sweetness and flavor to this dish. My girls are big fans of onions, garlic and scallions.

I also grilled 4 super huge Portobello with minced garlic. They were so juicy and yums! Portobello mushrooms are great as meat replacement for vegans.

Ingredients:
Thinly sliced pork or beef – get those thinly sliced meat for steamboat / Korean BBQ
Carrot, julienned thinly
3 large onions
Chopped garlic
Teriyaki sauce
Shoyu sauce
Chopped scallions
1 tablespoon sugar (I used organic brown sugar)

Directions for Butadon:
1) Marinate pork slices with a little corn flour and teriyaki sauce and leave in fridge for a few hours.
2) Heat oil in non-stick pan.
3) Brown the onions and garlic.
4) Brown the pork / beef slices
5) Add julienned carrot
5) Add water, sugar and shoyu and simmer for about 15 mins.
6) Check doneness of meat.
7) Add the chopped scallions.
8) Plate up and enjoy!

I used pork belly purchased from De Market Supermarket and asked the pork section assistant to slice them thinly for me. De Market has a very good choice of fresh pork that are free from growth hormones and antibiotics. I can’t remember the brand name of the pork but I shall let you know in my next post. Yup, the pork is branded and not overly exorbitant. I always get the guys there to mince or slice my selected meat. I even request them to wash the meat for me before they mince the meat.

This dish is pretty easy to prepare and ain’t very messy to the kitchen. My 3 fussy-pots loved it. Even the one who’s the hardest to please gave it a double thumbs up. Do give it a try!

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Crazy Hazy Hot Days Are Back!

The inevitable time of the year is here again, totally unwelcomed. For the past two days, the familiar acrid smell of haze can be smelled first thing in the morning at 4:45 a.m. when I stepped out of my bedroom.

Thankfully my girls and I have always been pretty OK during the haze period with no respiratory problem, no sore throat and no congested chest and lungs. Last year’s haze was by far the worst with schools closed several days in a week over a period of 2 months. Will this year be just as bad? Pray tell! Let’s hope not, though I sometimes wish that it would be, just so I do not have to rise by 4:45 a.m. each day to prepare the girls for school 😀

We can’t run away from the haze, unless you migrate to another region unaffected by the haze but we can certainly do something to protect ourselves from the ill effects of the haze.

Hydrogen water and carotenoids are antioxidants that can protect our cells from damage from free radicals and environmental pollution. My family and I have been consuming them them since March 2015 and have never looked back since. I am glad I found these 2 products who have been helping my family and I tremendously in our health.

Do email me at shireenyong@gmail.com or call / Whatsapp me at 019 266 4290 to know more with no obligations to purchase anything.

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Tau Yew Bak (Braised Pork Belly With Soy Sauce)

Ever since the mil went to Hong Kong, I have been spending quite a bit of time cooking. I cook dinner from Monday through Friday. On some days, I cook twice a day, like today. I now have a pot of porridge bubbling in the rice cooker and it will be ready just on time when Drama Queen and Cass come back from school in a bit. Tonight I will be cooking dinner with 3 dishes – a fried fish, veggie and a braised potato with tomatoes and minced meat. I wish we could afford to hire a cook so that I don’t have to spend so much time cooking!

Fortunately, I still have Drama Queen to help me. Thank God she loves cooking and baking and does not mind doing laborious stuff like peeling garlic and onions! She even washes the dirty dishes, which is my top most dreaded chore.

Here’s Drama Queen helping to peel garlic for my tau yew bak…

Braised pork belly with soy sauce is one of the easiest dish to whip up that kids and adults will enjoy. Peeling garlic aside, it is an otherwise sweat-free dish to prepare with no oil splatter. The pork belly can be replaced with chicken drumsticks. Some people add tofu, puffed tofu and dried mushrooms.

Ingredients:

1 Pork belly
2 Star anise – I used about 10 pieces
3 Some pepper corn – just half a handful or about 1 tablespoon.
4 Garlic – I used 1 whole bulb
5 Soy sauce – I used organic shoyu
6 Dark sauce – I only used a dollop. You can substitute it with blackstrap molasses as it tastes very similar to dark sauce and is a much healthier alternative. I ran out of blackstrap molasses, thus used dark sauce
7 Filtered water
8 1 tablespoon of organic brown sugar
9 Eggs

* adjust the amount of seasoning yourself, that’s what I always do. I never really follow recipes.

Method
Boil water in pot.
Once water boils, put all the ingredients into the pot and simmer in medium heat for about 1.5 hours.
Boil the eggs and peel off shell. Dump eggs into the pot to simmer together.
Plate up and enjoy!

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Easy Double Boiled Kaya Jam

Kaya (meaning rich in Malay) jam is my absolute favorite. My girls’ too. We only like my dad’s homemade pandan kaya and no other. Just like its moniker, kaya is rich in eggs, santan (coconut milk) and sugar. Kaya jams sold commercially are too cloy for our liking as they are all loaded with sugar, preservative and food additives. Once you’ve tasted homemade kaya, you wouldn’t want to buy store-bought ones.

Since my parents won’t be coming to visit us any time soon as they will be on a cruise from Taiwan to Japan next month, I figured I better get my arse moving and make some kaya for us until we get my dad’s pandan kaya supply in a few months’ time. Alycia is gaga over kaya toast. She can eat it every single day and even orders it when we are at our regular coffee shop. She loves those kaya on white toast sold at Chinese coffee shops, which I don’t fancy coz white bread has almost zero nutrients. And have you seen how much margarine they slab on the toast? Gawd, I can almost feel my arteries clog looking at the amount of margarine.

So yesterday I bought a small packet of fresh santan from my regular supplier. Unplanned. I bought it since he had one last packet left (he does not always sell santan) and I thought that if I had no time to make kaya, I’ll just drink it neat! I love santan and all the edible parts of the coconut.

When Drama Queen was back from school, after lunch and after her shower, we only had 45 minutes to spare before the Mandarin tutor arrived. She volunteered to cook the kaya. I said NO but she kept assuring me that we would have enough time. She always has a positive mindset.

It’s very easy to make smooth and creamy kaya IF only you know the tricks. Also get ready to have a good workout on your hands as you will be standing at the stove stirring continuously.

For the basic kaya, all you need are eggs, fresh santan (coconut milk) and sugar. You can add pandan juice if you wish. As we only had 45 minutes to do and did it in such a rush, I could only use pandan leaves, knotted and thrown into the pot with the 3 ingredients. My dad uses fresh pandan juice.

Measurement – same volume for all 3 items but you can reduce the sugar. For eg, if you have 200ml of santan, your eggs and sugar have to be 200ml too. But the sugar can be reduced. We always reduce our sugar.

For my kaya yesterday, I used 1 small packet of santan (1 coconut), 4 eggs and about 3-4 tablespoons of organic brown sugar. Mix all the ingredients well with a whisk in a pot or bowl.

Whilst waiting for the water to boil in the wok, I cooked the mixture in a smaller pot at medium – high heat on the stove. Then transferred the smaller pot into the wok when the water started to boil. Then I left the stirring to Drama Queen, UNSUPERVISED for about 20 minutes while I attended to Cass who was in the bathroom.

Below – initially the mixture still looked smooth and nice until….

When I came back to the kitchen about 20 minutes later, I was shocked to see what the kaya had turned into!! FUDGE!! It had turned into kaya omelette! Steamed kaya with minced meat! Such was the consistency. I was so disappointed. I couldn’t blame it all on Drama Queen as I had not given her specific instruction on how high / low the flame should be. She could have turned the flame to the highest point when she saw that the mixture wasn’t thickening like it should. But I wasn’t there to supervise her. My bad.

Lesson learnt – never ever attempt to cook anything when in a rush and leave it to an 11-year old to help you take charge.

Drama Queen remarked dramatically when she saw the ‘kaya omelette’ —“Our kaya is an EPIC FAILURE!!”

I almost wanted to bin the kaya but after calling my mum to discuss on the ways to save the kaya, we came up with the idea of blending it. Thank God for the blender, the kaya went through an aesthetic transformation and came out beautifully, as if it were cooked by a pro kaya maker!

With just a few pulses in the blender, my pandan kaya had a major transformation. It tastes heavenly, smooth and so full bodied.

In under 45 minutes, we managed to make one bottle of yummy pandan kaya. I am glad that Drama Queen persuaded me to make the kaya despite having so little time on hand, helped to cook it and I took the effort to salvage it. We will definitely be churning out more pandan kaya soon!

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Breakfast – 10 August 2016

Avocados are back in season and we are having them everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner! 😀

From RM15 for an avo just about 1.5 months ago, the price has now dropped to RM5 each for New Zealand avos. I stock up on our avos twice a week. I buy green, hard and unripened ones and they ripen really quickly when I place them together with other fruits like bananas and oranges in room temperature. If only avos are more affordable here, we could then eat them all year round. When we were in New Zealand two Decembers ago, avos were sold cheaply everywhere. At the weekend farmers’ market, avos were sold at NZ$1 each and I remember buying a big bag full of them, only to have them all polished off in just a few days.

Since we have a few ripen avos today, the girls had avo on toast this morning. Alycia mashed up the avo and spread them like butter on her crispy wholewheat toast while Drama Queen had thinly sliced avo on her toast. Cass had avo wedges minus the toast.

Also known as an alligator pear or butter fruit, the versatile avocado is the only fruit that provides a substantial amount of healthy Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA). Avocados are a naturally nutrient-dense food and contain nearly 20 vitamins and minerals. Avocados do not contain any cholesterol or sodium, and are low in saturated fat.

Avocados are good for your heart, help to lower your cholesterol and are loaded with fiber. The fat in avocados can help you absorb nutrients from plant foods while the power antioxidants in avocados help to protect your eyes. Avocados may help prevent cancer too, just to name a few.

As for moi, I had half an avo, a blood red orange, a slice of wholewheat toast with dad’s homemade pandan kaya and chia seeds, a handful of coconut coated almonds and boiled curried chick peas. And not forgetting my Izumio hydrogen water to give me all the energy I need for another busy day while detoxifying my body.

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Random Conversation With Cass

Yesterday Cass informed me of her class and standard position for the second term exam. Though the position dropped 3 notches down, she is still within top 10 in class and in the whole standard of about 300 Year 2 pupils in her school.

Next came the request for reward!

Cass – mummy, remember you promised me that you will buy me more Shopkins if my standard position is within 15?

Me – Yes I do but you can only claim it when we go shopping ok? And why do you still need Shopkins? You hardly look at them after buying them!

Cass – because I want to collect all of ’em!

Me – *rolled my eyes* Your daddy and I are not so rich to buy you the entire collection of Shopkins remember that ok?

At night, she made an about-turn in her claim for reward!

Cass – mummy, I think I want to change my mind. Would you promise me if I asked you for something else instead?

Me – WHAT? Something more expensive? I am really broke la!

Cass – can you promise me that you will live until 100 years old please? Then I don’t want my Shopkins.

Awwwwwww, that was so so so sweet of my baby girl… but I told her that this wish of hers is beyond my control. She will have to ask Jesus for this wish.

Cass at 8 years 8 months

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Sunday Meals – 7 August 2016

Our Sunday lunch was at our favorite neighborhood Japanese restaurant. We had a meat intense lunch and was so stuffed that even the foodie hubs didn’t suggest the usual post lunch gourmet cakes and coffee. Yippee!!

Below – I love this spider sushi, composed of fried soft shell crab, cucumber, avocado, daikon sprouts, flying fish roe and mayonnaise rolled inside nori and sushi rice.

Besides the above dishes, the gourmand hubs also ordered an assortment of raw sushi and beef teppan (not in picture).

Since we were still so cloy in the evening, we dropped our initial plan of having dinner at our favorite ‘tai chow‘ restaurant. Instead, the girls suggested a meat-free dinner of sandwiches. They were in the mood to help out in the kitchen, woohooo! This gave me more time to do my things while they played masak-masak in the kitchen!

The tai siew che Alycia helped to slice Mozzarella cheese for the cheese on toast.

Drama Queen helped to prepare the salad. I buy only organic veggies so that even if the girls don’t wash their veggies thoroughly, it is still safe to eat them raw.

Cass helped to grate the block of cheese for our aglio olio spaghetti tomorrow (Monday).

The girls then fixed their own sandwiches, which is totally meat-free. I’m glad that they love lots and lots of raw veggies on their toasted wholewheat bread.

Below – the tai siew che‘s sandwich…

Below – Cass fixing her own sandwich…

Below – Drama Queen’s sandwich…

Drama Queen is on a salad craze now. She even prepared salad for her recess in school the next day. The Hello Kitty lunch box is to store the grated cheese and roasted almonds. What a super healthy snack for recess. Thumbs up to Drama Queen. My health freak choice of food has definitely rubbed off on her! 😉

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Tom Yam Fish & Grilled Boxing Chicken

Dinner on a hectic Wednesday yesterday…

1 Tomyam pomfret fish with lots of brinjal, tomatoes, carrots and broccoli. I used half a packet of Mak Nyonya Tomyam paste.

2 Blanched organic broccoli.

The reddish tomyam paste looks and tastes really fiery. I sauteed the paste with some oil and garlic. You can add onions and lemon grass if you wish. Then added water and simmer the vegetables with the paste. After tasting how sour it was, I added about 1.5 teaspoon of organic raw sugar and added more water to it. After a 20-minute simmer, I added the 3 pieces of pomfret fish and continued simmering for another 10 minutes. Each spoonful sent mouthwatering hot and sour fireworks in the mouth. The flavor is pretty close to what we’d find at a Thai eatery. With half a packet of paste left, I’m considering cooking tomyam noodles with it.

I also grilled some boxing chicken. I marinated the chicken with lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon, coriander powder, turmeric powder and soy sauce. Grilled for 15 minutes on each side at 140 Celsius and added organic honey just before turning off the heat. Honey tends to burn meat very quickly in the oven, so it’s best to baste meat with honey when meat is already cooked.

I saved a portion for next day lunch for Drama Queen and Cass.

Today, I popped the boxing chicken + rice into the microwave and walah… the girls had a hot and yummy home-cooked meal in a jiffy! Also sliced a red capsicum, cucumber and avocado.

Smoothie of the day for today is orange + apple + pineapple + chia seeds + fresh coconut water.

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