July 2017 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Our Saturday – 29 July 2017

This morning, Drama Queen complained to me that her Alycia che che wore her new and unworn North Star white canvas shoes to school. She was fuming. Both Alycia and Drama Queen share clothes and shoes but the fact that her che che wore her new shoes to school without asking her was just overboard. I would be angry too coz that big princess has a habit of wearing our new shoes without asking our permission.. and she once wore my new black leather Nike shoes without asking my permission!

After Alycia and Drama Queen left the house, I found this note on Alycia’s table, which sent me laughing like a hyena 😂

It reads: “Smart move. But you ain’t gonna take my shoes again (smirk laugh emoticon). You think I don’t need to wear these shoes to school? Then what (do) I wear, huh? (fuming face emoticon) Wear your own shoes, hunny”

ROTFL!!!!

That’s why I give her the apt moniker of Drama Queen as she’s really good in expressing her thoughts in the most dramatic of ways… and in the most hilarious way too. I just have to love this girl 😁

While waiting for me to hang out the laundry before our breakfast at our favorite coffee shop, Cass ate fruits and did a Chinese test paper. She fared badly in her Chinese writing paper earlier this week. She now has 3 more papers to score well next week to help pull her marks up in order to get a fairly good positioning in her class / standard, which can be pretty hard as she’s competing with a bunch of really smart kiddos. Oh well… whatever will be will be 🙂

Fruits of super sweet Canadian blueberries, Aussie strawberries, South African orange and Malaysian rambutan 😋

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Ultra Lazy Healthy Meat And Broccoli Pasta Bake

Busy moms and dads, you’ll thank me for posting this recipe. It’s an ultra easy and fast healthy pasta to dish out not only for your little ones but for the adults too. This is a complete meal that takes under half an hour to prep, made in ONE baking dish, there’s no need to crank up the stove, no oil splatter and it’s absolutely yummy. It’s 100% healthy with no crap, cooked only using fresh and mostly organic ingredients. I used organic broccoli, organic pasta, organic chicken (for broth) and organic pork.

Just plonk flour, UNCOOKED pasta (YES, you read me right! RAW pasta), raw meat, vegetables, milk, butter and chicken broth into the baking dish, give it a quick stir, then pop it into the oven. Pull it out partway through cooking, stir through cheese, then finish baking. Easy peasy. After I had cooked this and left it in the oven, I quickly drove to the pasar malam to grab some fruits before the skies turned dark, came home and dug into this pasta with my lovelies.

As this recipe requires chicken broth and we don’t use instant broth at home, I made a quick chicken broth using 2 pieces of organic Kee Song chicken (ribs + breast meat), 2 carrots and 1 large onion. Only took 45 minutes to cook this soup and it’s so tasty! You can skip this step if you do not have the time. Just get instant chicken broth from the supermarket.

I first tried to use a Le Creuset baking dish but it was too small. I quickly summoned Drama Queen to help me look for a bigger baking dish and she managed to fish out a stainless steel baking tray from some hidden corner. It was so messy to have to transfer the raw ingredients from the Le Creusent to the stainless steel tray What the FISH!!

Instead of using chicken fillet as per the recipe, I used minced pork. I marinated the pork with soy sauce, dried thyme, pepper, and 1 big chopped Bombay onion.

For the pasta, I use organic mini fusilli.

This is how it looks just before it’s popped into the oven:

I thought that the portion was too big but it was so delish that my 3 piranhas managed to finish over 3/4 of it. I saved the remaining portion for lunch two days later.

You can get the recipe here. Nagi is my current favorite food blogger and she writes awesome recipes. I tweaked her recipe a little; for eg. I used thyme to marinate the meat instead of rosemary. She used chicken fillet while I used minced pork. I had no plain flour at home and substituted it with corn flour 😀 It turned out beautifully too. Happy trying!

P/S: as I didn’t want to waste the cooked carrots and onions in the chicken broth, I dumped them into the dish and baked them together. Waste not, want not 😉

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Tomyam Fish

I bought a packet of Mak Nyonya tomyam paste the other day. As our girls cannot stomach a dish that’s too spicy, I only use a couple of tablespoons of paste each time to cook the dish. This packet of tomyam paste is enough for me to cook three dishes: tomyam fried rice, tomyam fish and I haven’t decided yet what I want to dish up with the remaining paste; maybe I’ll cook tomyam pork or tomyam fish again since I have another pomfret fish in the freezer.

Instant Tom Yam Sauce

The dish is not only outrageously good, it has a kaleidoscope of bright colors too. And it’s a one-pot dish. That’s so important for busy mothers and fathers who are cooking dinners. I always take great pains to ensure that we eat a colorful meal each day, comprising of all natural green, red, yellow, orange and sometimes purple, black and blue.

Ingredients:
Pomfret fish
Tomyam paste – I only used 2 tablespoons. You can add more for a stronger Thai punch and more intense spiciness.
3 tomatoes
Long beans – about 4
Ladies fingers – 10 pieces
Big onions – 2 large Bombay onions
Garlic – 2 or 3 cloves
Carrot – half
Juice of half a kafir lime
Kafir lime leaves – a handful
Water

Method:
Brown the onions and garlic
Add tomyam paste and saute until fragrant
Add in all the vegetables except the ladies fingers as they turn soft pretty quickly
Add water enough to cover the fish and vegetables and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes
Add in the ladies fingers and simmer for another 10 minutes
Add in juice of kafir lime. Mix and turn off the fire.
Meanwhile, steam the pomfret fish in another wok for 10 minutes.
Once the vegetables and fish are cooked, ladle up the vegetables and sauce and pour over the fish.
Eat while it’s still piping hot.

Photobombed again! Someone pinching the onion omelette!

No. of times viewed = 49

Updates – 25 July 2017

Sorry for the lack of update in my blogs. It was only after a phone call from my dearest mummy this morning to check on me on why I have been so quiet lately that I realized that I have not been updating my blogs for days.

So why the silence?

Whenever you do not read updates from me, I am either:

feeling under the weather
busy with the girls
internet down
out of town / country
simply couldn’t find my mojo to write.

This time, it’s no. 1, 2 and 3.

I have been busy revising with Cass and Drama Queen over the weekend. Also, I caught the flu bug from the hubs and Drama Queen and started to have a nose that dripped water like a leaking tap and an irritated throat since yesterday. I was running to the bathroom every 10-15 minutes to blow and clean my nose at the sink. I don’t use tissue papers as this will only cause a sore nose. I was struggling to keep myself alive the whole of yesterday — dragged myself into the kitchen to cook and to revise with Cass who is sitting for her term exam which started yesterday and only ending next Wednesday. To compound matters, the internet at my house was down for more than half a day yesterday and by the time it was up again, it was time for me to cook dinner already. I was really down when the internet was down as I could not do anything on the computer, except to use my mobile phone but that’s using the mobile data. Furthermore, with a phone, my work is limited. When it rains, it pours hard!

This morning while I was waiting for Cass to dress up for school before I tied her hair into a bun, I told Cass that my eyes felt very heavy and I didn’t feel like exercising. Cass looked at me with a stern look and with a serious tone, she said this:

Cass : mummy, PLEASE don’t go jogging ok? We can go down to the lobby ourselves. We are not babies anymore. You go back to sleep. And don’t you dare go jogging!

And so after sending Drama Queen and Cass off to the school van, I snuggled back onto my cozy bed and slept for 2 hours (with dreams some more haha!), only to wake up at 9:30 a.m. for a breakfast of a slice of Japanese chiffon cake and a bowl of light Marmite soup (1 teaspoon to 300 ml of water).

It’s usually safe to exercise when you have a cold as long as you listen to your body. You’ll need to watch out for certain risky situations, like shortness of breath, a congested nose (which may cause difficulty in breathing) and fever. As I felt very lethargic (from lack of sleep) with tired eyes and a beat up body, I decided to catch up on my sleep. Sleep is equally as important as exercise and when you have a cold, you should listen to your body’s calling. It is during deep sleep that our body repairs itself. I listened to my body and took a 2-hour nap, woke up and felt like I’ve recovered from the cold. With just natural supplements like carotenoids, hydrogen water, Esberitox, raw honey, Manuka honey, propolis and lots of sleep / rest, I am on my way to recovery in just a day! PTL!

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Cute Hand-Crafted Key Chains

Despite having to sit for an exam in a few days’ time, Cass still prefers to indulge in craft vs. poring over her school books. Several days ago, despite having a stack of homework and test papers to do, she pushed them aside. Instead, she crafted a homemade gift from scraps – a mineral water bottle made from thin plastic.

She made a cube box by cutting the plastic mineral water bottle with a pair of scissors. Inside the box is a macaron key chain which she made some time back using magic clay from my online store. The ring for the key chain was bought from Daiso. Then she ransacked my cupboard and fished out a red ribbon to tie it on her gift box… and tadaaaaa….

The pretty macaron key chain in a transparent gift box, all hand-crafted with precision and love from my baby girl.

This yummy cake key chain is also hand-crafted by Cass, using magic clay and Daiso-bought key ring.

I asked her if she’s going to gift these key chains away but she said she will collect them all.

On a side note, yesterday was just not my day. The moon and stars were not aligned like they should. After I parked my car outside the school to send lunch to Cass and Drama Queen, the battery went flat. It was the first time in my 27 years of driving that I experienced a flat battery when I was out of the house. I made a quick call to the hubs for SOS and he called his car technician over to his office. They drove to school and the technician changed my car battery. What a way to start my Wednesday!

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Laser Skin Treatments

Laser skin treatments can make your skin look healthy and rejuvenated. Precise, powerful laser treatments target light beams to the skin to address medical issues and cosmetic concerns. Laser treatments are both effective treatments and time-efficient.

Many laser treatment appointments take just minutes from start to finish. There’s little or no pain involved so anesthesia usually isn’t required.

Laser treatments help to enhance skin’s texture and appearance. Some of the most popular skin laser treatments include laser hair removal, rosacea treatment, sun-damaged skin treatment, vein and telangiectasia removal, and psoriasis treatments. Cosmetic dermatology Oregon has everything you need to enjoy more youthful, healthy-looking skin.

A young blond woman in front of a green background

Are You a Good Candidate for Laser Skin Treatment?
Before you have any laser skin treatment, ask the doctor if you’re a good candidate for the procedure. Book a consultation to ask the doctor to explain any procedure that interests you and provide an estimate for how much the treatment will cost. You may need multiple appointments to achieve best results.

If you want to proceed, the doctor will create your customized procedure plan.

A woman's chin and cheek in profile

Laser Hair Removal
Shaving, waxing, or tweezing unwanted hair is frustrating for many people. If you want to remove the wanted hair, ask about laser hair removal. Laser hair removal can be used to remove excess hair from the face, arms, legs, bikini line, underarms, or other areas. Because laser hair removal is so precise, it’s possible to target unwanted hair without damage to the skin.

• Because so many people prefer the results of laser hair removal, it’s one of the most commonly performed cosmetic procedures across the U.S.
• Laser hair removal works by sending highly concentrated light into the patient’s unwanted hair follicles. As the pigment absorbs the light, the hair is destroyed.
• The Cynosure Cynergy ™ laser is used to treat larger areas of skin. Each session is usually 15 – 30 minutes. Most patients require three or four sessions every six weeks to remove excess hair.

Rosacea Treatment
People with rosacea are often embarrassed by constant redness, flushing, and dilated capillaries, known as telangiectasias, under the skin. The pulsed dye laser (PDL) can help people with rosacea to improve their skin. Laser treatments eliminate swollen capillaries on your cheeks, nose, or around the mouth. There’s little to no discomfort involved with the treatment.

Sun-Damage Skin Treatment
Excess sun exposure can cause irregular pigmentation and redness to the skin. Laser treatments can destroy these blemishes and bring back the look of moist, healthy, youthful skin.

Treating sun damage isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, however. Some people with darker skins may not be good candidates for laser treatment. However, many other treatment options may be considered to solve sun damage problems. To protect your skin between treatments, plan to use sun block protection.

Vein and Telangiectasia Removal
Broken capillaries and superficial leg veins may be embarrassing on legs, arms, or on the face. Depending on the location of the broken vessels, the Multiplex laser or the pulsed dye laser can destroy these unsightly veins and capillaries.

Psoriasis Treatment
Psoriasis is a persistent skin problem for many people. It’s often resistant to medicines and creams. The XTRAC laser can help to remove psoriasis plaques without pain. Most patients require several treatments to remove psoriasis patches. It’s possible to see a marked improvement in your skin in just three to four sessions. Many insurers cover XTRAC laser treatments for psoriasis, including Medicare.

Summing Up
If you want to reveal healthy, moist, and beautiful skin, consider laser skin treatments.

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Monday Lunch – 17 July 2017

Lunch today was cooked at the spur of the moment. I had wanted to get takeout lunch but when I was looking at the fridge planning what to cook for dinner, I had this craving for something light and easy since we had spicy Korean food the day before.

Our lunch at Oiso Korean Restaurant on Sunday.

Minced pork porridge (marinated with organic soy sauce, sesame seed oil and pepper) with carrots and sweet potatoes seasoned with chopped scallions, garlic oil, pepper and salt.

Porridge lover just like her mummy, Cass couldn’t wait to dig into her bowl of porridge the moment she stepped into the house upon return from school. And just like me, she only likes porridge cooked with a motley of her favorite ingredients and never plain white porridge. Never thick and gooey porridge.

After digging into a big bowl of porridge while still in her school uniform, Cass finally washed up and changed; next course was her fruits (dragon fruit, purple grapes and orange), another half bowl of porridge (what?!) and a packet of Izumio hydrogen water.

Cass is always extremely hungry each time she comes home from school. The moment she drops her school bag, off she goes to the kitchen to see what’s for lunch. Without even washing her hands, she then stuffs food into her mouth. This reminds me that when I was her age, I was also super hungry after school dismissal. I remember very vividly that almost everyday, I would feel so famished that I felt nauseous during the car ride home. In the car, I would be wondering what my por por (maternal granny) had dished out for us. I loved all her dishes. My por por was a fantastic self-taught cook who, during her teenage years, escaped poverty in China to work in the then Malaya. She was a very well loved and respected Amah who worked for a British expatriate for many years.

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Vitacare Health & Wellness Discovery Journey Event (The Gardens Mall – 14 July 2017)

This is one bloggers’ event that I enjoyed myself thoroughly. What would interest a health freak more than a health event, eh? From start to end, every moment of the Health And Wellness Discovery Journey Event organized by Vitacare Pharmacy was filled with discovery of informative health information.

The most exciting part of the event was a life demonstration of “Live Blood Analysis” (LBA) – a test using high-resolution dark field microscopy to observe the life blood cells to provide information about the state of the immune system, possible vitamin deficiencies, amount of toxicity, pH and mineral imbalance and other areas of imbalance. This test was complimentary to all the bloggers, with instantaneous results of our LBA. I opted to be the first volunteer to have my blood tested and I was really amazed and pleased with the results.

Below: my LBA results, projected onto the screen for all to view, with the pharmacist explaining the results…
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As accurate as a lab blood test done, the pharmacist could tell that I am anemic. As I had eaten a bowl of red beans sweet soup and peanut butter toast for breakfast, the microscopic test shows several slightly acidic blood cells (peanuts and red beans are slightly acidic). Overall, my blood analysis shows good blood profile with healthy blood shown.

After the first LBA of my blood, I was given a cup of Rin Enzyme to drink. Half an hour later, another LBA test was done to see the changes in my blood cells.

RIN Enzyme is a premium phyto-enzyme drink from Japan, fortified with more than 36 kinds of vegetables, fruits, grains, algae and greens. It is the perfect enzyme supplement for today’s hazardous environment and hectic lifestyle.

20ml of Rin Enzyme a day can help to enhance digestion and nutrient absorption, promote metabolism, increase body immunity, reduce blood acidity, normalize hormones, improve skin complexion, assist weight loss and promote general well-being.

Below: blood cells of my 2nd LBA, which according to the pharmacist appear ‘healthier’. Normal and healthy blood cells are roundish in shape and nicely spread across the field. They are sometimes touching or even slightly overlapping, but they’re not all piled up on top of each other. There are occasional small empty spaces.

After viewing the specimens of blood from about 5 volunteers among us bloggers, we were all “experts” already in differentiating healthy and unhealthy blood cells! Ha ha! When the microscopic images of subsequent blood smears were projected onto the screen, we could already tell which looked healthy and which didn’t.

Below: blood smear sample from one volunteer who told us that she’s a Thalassemia carrier. As you can see here, her blood cells are not roundish. They look beat up, clustered and piled together. They deviate from a perfect round appearance.

The LBA from another volunteer showed a bad overlapping of cells. The result interpreted that she has gout, is very stressed, has acidic blood and some other health issues.

I find the LBA very interesting. It’s a ‘fortune telling’ of sorts of our blood and health under the lens. I am now contemplating bringing our girls to have their blood analysed too. At least I know how healthy or unhealthy their blood cells are and how they can be remedied.

Vitacare normally charges a fee for the LBA but on some special occasions, like the event that I attended, they offer complimentary tests. Below is the special LBA microscope costing a whopping RM30,000 each!

Below: one of the founders of Vitacare, Mrs Yap.

30 years ago, in a quiet neighborhood mall in the Klang Valley, Vitacare was born. A long-held dream of two pharmacists, the vision then, of putting the customer first by providing the best top-quality health and well-being consultation around continues today as it did way back then.

Below: the owners of The Good Co., giving a short talk on their set up and products after distributing very yummy energy jars to us.

After the talk was over, the bloggers had a group photo session and refreshments of healthy snacks. We were each given a HUGE goodie bag (I’m SO HAPPY!) bursting with healthy goodies inside!! And gawd, the bag was really heavy with bottles of good stuff! I had to lug it around to get takeout lunch and then lug it to the car park.

I so love the bag…

… and all the contents inside…worth RM500!

Health freak’s delight in a bag: a bottle of Rin Enzyme, a bottle of tonic consisting of a concoction of ginger, lemon, celery, honey and apple cider vinegar, Breton healthy crackers, 123 Easy health drink powder, homemade mushroom powder, granola and nuts from Amazin’ Graze (my favorite – they sell really amazing and tasty granola), Lifestream Asta Zan supplement, wild honey and a very pretty gift tied with a gorgeous ribbon over an elegant box.

What could be inside the box?!

Cass was more excited that I was. I gave her the honour to unwrap the gift. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the bottle of Trilogy organic rosehip oil antioxidant and Trilogy firming body lotion! Trilogy is New Zealand’s no. 1 skincare brand and they are pretty costly here.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the health event and wish to thank Vitacare for inviting me. Please count me in should you have future health events 😉 I don’t mind being an ambassador of Vitacare as I’ve always been a loyal fan of this pharmacy. Vitacare carries an impressive array of health products, supplements and natural products.

For more information on the Life Blood Analysis offered by Vitacare, Rin Enzyme and other health products, do drop by Vitacare at the following address:

FARMASI VITACARE THE GARDENS
Lot LG-220, Lower Ground Floor The Gardens
Mid Valley City Lingkaran Syed Putra
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel / Fax : 603-2282 4641

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Wednesday Night Dinner – Yee Mee With Braised Minced Pork

Yesterday’s dinner was a quickie as Alycia has Math tuition to attend at 8 p.m. every Wednesday. This means that I have to start cooking at 4:30 p.m.; then eat at 5:30 p.m.; dinner over at 6:30 p.m.; give her an hour to shower and dilly dally before her friend’s mum comes to pick her up at 7:30 p.m.

I cooked yee mee with braised minced pork and wood fungus (mok yue).

I prepped a big pot of meat sauce so that Cass and I could have it for lunch the next day.

I used spinach yee mee bought from the organic shop.

Cass having her lunch of yee mee with braised minced meat today while enjoying a good book. Smoothie of the day is orange + apple + passion fruit + lemon + raw honey.

Cass to me ~ “mummy, the number one thing that I can’t live without in this world is book. I love story books. Err, nope. Number one is you. I can’t live without you. And number two is story books”.

If only she could say the same about her SCHOOL books.

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Prayers Answered

Remember I blogged about the 2 items in my hospitalization bill incurred from 28 – 30 May 2017 that were not approved by my insurer? The 2 items were the power morcellator and the morcellation bag used during the laproscopic myomectomy surgery to removed an 8cm fibroid in my uterus. I was devastated when I was told a few days after my discharge from the hospital that these items totaling close to RM5,000 were not approved by the insurance company.

I sought my insurance agent to help me submit my claim to the Claims Department of the insurance company on the rejected items. My surgeon, Dr Tan Ee Ping was very helpful. Despite her very busy schedule, she helped to write a lengthy report to support my claim. I prayed fervently to God that my claim would be approved by the insurance company. At the Supernatural Encounter Healing Rally with Maldonado which I attended on 30th June 2017, I prayed that this claim will be approved.

Last Friday while I was driving, I received a call from the insurance company and this lady (who’s a doctor) informed me that the insurance company will pay for the entire hospitalization bill, except for several excluded items amounting to RM1,060.77. I was informed by my insurance agent prior to the surgery that I had to pay a maximum amount of RM1,000 for the surgery, which I had agreed. I could not believe what I heard and called my insurance agent to ask her to reconfirm the authenticity of the call and to reconfirm that my claim has indeed been approved. I couldn’t rejoice just yet as long as nothing in writing from the insurance company is given to me.

Yesterday, Sunway Medical Center emailed me and attached a fresh guarantee letter issued from the insurance company. In it, it shows that the total amount paid by the insurance company is RM24,272.76 and I, the policy holder only needed to pay RM1,060.77. With this letter, I could finally put my worry to rest. Words cannot describe how overjoyed I was. I am so thankful to God, to my insurance agent and to my surgeon in helping me!💗 Thank you Lord for answering my prayers 🙇🙏

In summary, I needn’t have to pay a single sen for this surgery. In fact, I received a RM1,600 allowance after the surgery, which my insurance agent brought the cheque to me. I so love her top notch service rendered to me.

What I could not claim was all the outpatient consultations with several gynaes before the surgery, amounting to over RM2k, incurred in less than 5 months. And did I tell you that it was only after seeing 6 gynaes to seek their opinions that I was finally convinced to go under the knife? That’s how much I hate surgeries and how hard it is to convince me that I need to be cut up. Thank God all is well now. PTL!

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Our Sunday – 9 July 2017

I had a no-rest day week last week. Every single day including Sunday was a full ‘working day’ for me, without any chance of sleeping in or napping during the day. Drama Queen had to be in school over the weekend for a UPSR exam motivation camp. My day started at 5 a.m. even on a glorious Sunday. After the hubs sent her to school, I quickly completed some chores before getting Alycia and Cass ready for church.

After church, we had a quick lunch at Les Deux Garcons (LDG) before hubs rushed back to his office and shop to continue working. This week is set to be a super hectic week for him as he’s got several mega corporate Hari Raya Open House functions to cater to.

After a super quick grocery shopping trip, I sped off to school to fetch Drama Queen back. Her ankle is still swollen and she still needs to walk around with a pair of crutches.

Drama Queen’s left swollen foot is bandaged and on slipper and the right good foot on sports shoe does the bulk of the hopping. She’s been hopping around on one leg like a lame bunny for 4 days already, since Thursday last week. Despite having one foot lamed, she’s still bursting with energy and didn’t skip a day of school.

Despite a no-rest day week with lots of chauffeuring, drama, screaming (must learn to tone down despite being faced with challenges at home) and cooking again, I’ve received blessings from the Lord in a few areas. I’m very thankful to Him for answering my prayers and pray that he will continue to bless me and my loved ones abundantly 💓💓

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Turmeric Roast Chicken

The first dinner that I cooked after the mil left for Hawaii two days ago is roast chicken. For the next one month, cooking meals for the family will be my responsibility. After half a year of hiatus in cooking and feeling really indolent now, I need time to warm up with simple dishes before my culinary skill springs back into action in full force. As I have mentioned before, cooking is just not my thing. I cook for the love of my girls and for the OCD in me. I love the convenience of eating out. However, the OCD in me screams out in horror each time I taste outside food laden with salt, oil, sugar and MSG.

I always start the first dish with roast or grilled chicken after a long absence in cooking. It’s the easiest to whip up and is almost fool-proof. This dish will never gain any objection from the 3 fussy girls.

This roast chicken is marinated overnight with black pepper, turmeric powder, salt and rosemary. I roasted it with lemon, olive oil, bay leaves, big onions, garlic, tomatoes and lots of potato, sweet potato and carrot (all cut into strips like French Fries) in the oven for an hour at 180C. Drama Queen helped me to slice all the tuber. It’s her idea of wanting the tuber cut into French Fries like strips.

I bought a whole organic Keesong chicken and got the supermarket staff to half it for me. With 3 growing kids with humongous appetite, the entire chicken was walloped over dinner.

I love prepping roast chicken for dinner. The beauty of roast chicken is versatility – you can use whatever spices you have in your kitchen. You can have roast chicken five times in a week and yet feel like you have 5 different dishes everyday as you can use different spices to marinate the chicken and roast it along with different bits and bobs each time.

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Lightning Does Strike Twice

On 25 July last year, Drama Queen created a drama when she missed a few steps and fell from the stairs in school and needed me to bring her to the hospital for an X-Ray of her left foot. On that day, her grandma had just flown off to Hong Kong. Thankfully there was no major injury to the foot, except for a sprain on the ankle.

Fast forward to almost a year later – yesterday on 6 July 2017. Drama Queen’s grandma had flown off to Hawaii just a day earlier. And guess what? The exact same drama happened to Drama Queen!! When I saw how fast she had ran down the stairs at our condo lobby in the morning carrying a box of newspapers for her school’s recycling project, I warned her not to run down the stairs. And several hours later, she called me from school breaking the news to me – “mum, I fell down from the stairs and my ankle is swollen”

On 25 July last year, the exact situation happened in the morning. We had to walk down to the lobby using the stairs as the lifts were all jammed up. Drama Queen had ran down the stairs and I warned her not to run hastily down the stairs. And several hours later, she called me from school to inform me that she had missed a few steps on the stairs and fell.

CREEPY! How could an accident duplicate itself in exact form and happen again a year later?! To the same person. At the same place.

Forget about the adage that says lighting doesn’t strike twice. It does!

When I arrived at the sick bay in the teacher’s room, I saw Drama Queen’s teacher using a packet of ice cubes to apply on her swollen ankle. When I brought Drama Queen downstairs to the car, her teacher helped to carry the school bag. Her teacher knows that I had just gone for a surgery and could not carry anything heavy. I was insistent in carrying the bag for Drama Queen but she kept offering to hold the bag. Another teacher quickly fetched a crutch for Drama Queen.

This teacher should win the ‘Most Caring Teacher’ award. She has always been a very caring and thoughtful teacher, always willing to help whenever she can.

At the A&E of the hospital, waiting to see the doctor.

Deja vu. X-ray again!

The same doctor attended to Drama Queen at the A&E and the same radiologist attended to her at the X-ray room!

Can you tell me what the probability is for an exact accident to happen to the same person almost a year later? The exact same part of the body got injured. The same doctor and radiologist attended to the same victim. The the sequence of events on the day of the accident was almost identical too!

This is just unbelievably spooky, as if it was a yearly jinx, said the girls.

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Wednesday Lunch – 5 July 2017

I had lunch today all alone. It’s CoCo day in school for Drama Queen and Cass; Alycia only got back at 4pm and the mil had just flown off to Hawaii. I hadn’t planned what to eat for lunch and the thought of take out food from the regular stalls did not appeal to me at all.

After getting some groceries from 99 Speedmart, I walked across to the roadside Indian stall to see what they have to offer. I always notice many patrons tucking into the food, under the hot sun, shielded only by a piece of plastic cover above. Such an unassuming stall yet could attract such a crowd. The food must be good and cheap.

I took a piece of mackerel fish curry and a piece of chicken curry. That’s enough for me for I have a very small tummy with modest appetite. Back home, I sliced up a cool kyuri and ate the curry that I bought with it together with some jackfruit.

My RM7 lunch – the fish and chicken curry cost RM4, cool kyuri RM1 and jackfruit is about RM2. Light and easy. Low in carbs and high in protein. Definitely my kind of lunch.

Jackfruit, known as the jack of all fruits is a rich source of vitamin, minerals, phytonutrients, carbohydrate, electrolytes, fiber, fat and protein. This fruit has no cholesterol or saturated fats.

No. of times viewed = 9

Happy Monday – 3 July 2017

Today, being a Monday is surprisingly not a blue Monday at all for me. It’s the first day of school for the girls after a 10-day Hari Raya break. Though it drizzled in the morning and I could not exercise outdoor, I did 40 minutes of brisk-walking at the corridor of our condo lobby after sending the girls off to the van.

Since we still have half a loaf of award-winning bread from Wu Pao Chun Bakery, Taiwan given to us by the hubs’ Taiwanese aunty, I was thinking of making cheese on toast for Cass and myself. But the hubs called me out for brunch. So off I trotted to the coffee shop to meet hubs… and indulged in some sinful morsels – char koay teow with 2 duck’s eggs and nasi lemak.

Back home, the mil made a batch of almond meal banana choco chips and pecan muffins. I absolutely love them. Guess this will be the last time we get to savor her bakes until a month or so later. She will be off to Hawaii in a few days.

The best thing that happened to me today is the shedding of the scab on my wound. This wound is the biggest of the 3 holes on my lower abdomen, where the laproscopic myomectomy surgery was performed on 29 May 2017. I’ve been waiting for this to happen for almost 6 weeks and finally the scab dropped off, PTL!

The picture on the left shows the wound on 28 June 2017, i.e. one month after the surgery. It was slightly inflamed, though there was no pus or discharge. It was itchy and the type of clothes / fabric that I wore affected the wound. Clingy clothes and non-cotton fabric would aggravate the wound. The position of this particular wound made it very susceptible to touches and I got hit there by the little active rascal on a few occasions. On one occasion, I wore a very loose pair of skorts but the waist band (non-cotton) aggravated the wound and made it itch really badly for days. Finally I snap a picture of the wound and Whatsapped it to my surgeon. She recommended an antibacterial cream, which I bought from a pharmacy and applied on it 3x a day. That got the problem fixed I guess, along with lots of prayers. Did I tell you that I attended a Supernatural Encounter with Guillermo Maldonado (Healing Rally) at the Kelana Jaya Stadium on Saturday night? I prayed fervently that this wound will heal and that the scab will shed. And a day later, the scab dropped! Some other healing is happening too and I shall blog about it much later. For today, I shall talk about myself.

The picture on the right shows the wound today, right after the scab dropped off. I feel really liberated today – finally free from the annoying thick crusted scab (consisting of sutures and skin) that’s been clinging on stubbornly to my skin and dresses for 5 weeks, causing it pain each time it got velcro-ed and pulled by my dresses. I’ve been wearing loose dresses the past 5 weeks and now I can’t wait to squeeze into my tight mini skirts and shorts again!

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