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After 12 years of having Maria, my part-time helper, take care of our home, life feels different now that she’s no longer coming by. Maria, who’s now pregnant with her second baby, has had to stop work due to health concerns. Last year she had a molar pregnancy and had to perform a D&C. She borrowed money from me for the procedure and was traumatized by the incident for a long time. Her eldest child, a boy, is already 4 years old and living in Indonesia with her MIL.

Rather than looking for a replacement, I decided to manage the household chores myself. While it’s an adjustment, I’ve found ways to make it work and even uncovered a few new strategies for keeping my sensitive hands safe.

My hands are quite sensitive, so a big priority for me has been to find gentle cleaning solutions. I’ve switched to mild dishwashing liquids, which tend to be a bit pricier but are much easier on my skin. When it comes to cleaning, disposable nitrile gloves have been a true lifesaver. 

Nitrile gloves are made of synthetic rubber that resists punctures and harsh cleaning chemicals. They’re thin yet durable, keep my hands dry, and handle just about every task without tearing. Although water sometimes seeps in from the top, I’m planning to invest in some elbow-length gloves to minimize that as much as possible.

Aside from dishwashing, these gloves have proven essential for heavier tasks like scrubbing bathrooms or wiping down greasy surfaces in the kitchen. I tried disposable plastic gloves, but they were no match; they tore easily and let water in. Nitrile gloves have made my transition to self-sufficient cleaning so much easier.

As for the rest of the household routine, I’ve had to make some adjustments. Cooking every day isn’t feasible anymore, so I’m opting for simple meals or leftovers on some days to save time. We ‘tapau’ food from shops for lunch almost every day and dinner is either homecooked or we just skip dinner altogether if lunch is heavy. Similarly, I’m learning to be more relaxed about the little messes—like dust on the fans and windows or a bit of grease on the kitchen walls—that aren’t urgent. Keeping up with everything perfectly is less important than finding balance and keeping things manageable.

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I learnt a trick from the mil on how to deodorize the oven in the cheapest, fastest and efficient way.

She used to put a  halved used (squeezed) lemon into the oven and turn on oven at low heat for about 15 minutes to deodorize the oven after baking fish. Now she has switched from lemon to used tea leaves.   And the aroma of the tea leaves are much stronger than lemon.

Method:

1. After brewing Chinese tea, keep the used tea leaves on a heat-proof plate.
2. After baking fish or any food with a strong and pungent smell, deodorize the oven with the used tea leaves.
3. While the oven is still hot, place the tea leaves on the heat-proof plate into the oven. Lower temperature to about 20C and warm the tea leaves for about 15 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat. Let the tea leaves remain in the oven for a few days.

When the oven door is opened, you’ll get a very fresh tea aroma from the oven!

So don’t junk away your tea leaves after brewing them.  Besides de-stinking your oven, used tea leaves can also be used for:

1. Use as Incense: Use a Japanese tea leaf burner or on an old skillet with a low heat setting to roast the tea  leaves and get them smoking slightly. The smoke has a pleasant aroma and is effective in absorbing bad odors in the house.

2. Soothe sunburned skin: Wrap used, damp tea leaves in a cloth and press or gently rub on sunburned skin. The tannic acid in tea has a cooling effect and helps repair the skin.

3. Clean windows and mirrors: Wrap used, damp tea leaves in a cloth and wipe glass surfaces clean; use this instead of chemical glass cleaner. Buff the glass after the treatment with a soft cloth to remove the thin film of tea.

4. Prevent rust in cast-iron kitchenware: Rub your cast-iron pans, pots or teapots with used tea leaves. The antioxidants in tea react with iron and form a protective film that prevents the formation of rust.

5. Keep your cupboards dry: Tea leaves are very effective in absorbing excess moisture. If you place dried used tea leaves in an open bowl and keep it in a damp cupboard, the leaves help to reduce the dampness. Make sure to replace/dry the leaves from time to time.

6. Deodorize your refrigerator: Tea leaves are extremely efficient in absorbing odors  Put used tea leaves in a bag and place it in your refrigerator to get rid of bad odors.

7. Improve your compost: Used tea leaves are a great addition to any compost. They create a very rich soil and help to improve the smell of partially working compost piles.

8. Deodorize your cutting boards and kitchen utensils: Rub used tea leaves on cutting boards and knives after using them for onions or other strongly smelling foods. The tea leaves deodorize them and help to sterilize them through the antibacterial properties of camellia sinensis.

9. Enjoy a relaxing tea bath: stuff a small gauze bag with used tea leaves and put into the bathtub. The tea helps to sterilize your skin and acts as a tonic. You could also create an exotic bubble bath by adding some nice soap and baking soda to your bath and let the leaves float freely (it actually looks kinda like in a fancy commercial if you have tons of used leaves from our Rose Oolong left over…).

10. Use as fertilizer: Tea leaves are full of minerals and brewing extracts only a small percentage of these rich resources. Place used tea leaves around acid-loving plants (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, etc. love it, so do rhododendrons, azaleas and many more) or dig into the soil around the roots.

11. Make a tea pillow: Stuff used tea leaves into a pillowcase. Granted, you’ll have to save the leaves of your tea for a little while until you have enough to fill a pillowcase, but the Chinese belief that tea-stuffed pillows soothe headaches, relieve insomnia and reduce blood pressure. The aroma of the tea leaves also acts as a natural sleep enhancer.

My mil has a pillow stuffed with tea leaves that she collected over the years!

12. Wipe your baby’s bottom: Wrap used, damp tea leaves in a soft cloth and soak in tea. The leaves are antibacterial and help to sterilize your baby’s bottom eliminating odours at the same time.

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I discovered something that will ease my kitchen chore yesterday. The discovery popped up in my head when I was trying to figure out a quick way to  wash, soak and julienne my 2 heads of cabbage without much mess and hassle. My girls and I love cabbage but I have always tried to avoid buying cabbage as I hate, simply hate cutting the cabbage into strips. I find it messy, especially in a shoe box size kitchen, with a micro mini counter top to work. But yesterday, at the ripe old age of a few days shy of 41 years old, I just realized that cooking a stir-fried cabbage dish can be so easy! LOL!   It’s true when they say that you grow wiser with age muahahaha!

All I had to do was to reverse the order of how I prepare the cabbage. For decades, I used to 1) remove leaves of cabbage 2) soak them in a basin  3) after few rounds of rinsing, julienne the cabbage into strips  4) whine and fuss how messy it is when cabbage strips and water drop on the kitchen floor   5) clean kitchen floor

Yesterday, I cut the cabbage head into half (BEFORE WASHING & SOAKING), as shown in below picture…

Also, you have to cut off and discard stalk end. Remove any discoloured or wilted leaves and discard.
Cut each half in two again.

You will notice that there is a white hard stalk inside, so you cut that out too.
Then I julienned/cut the cabbage into thin strips. It is SO SO easy to julienne the cabbage when it is in its original form as the leaves are stuck tightly and neatly to each other, making the chopping job so much easier.

Once the chopping is done, use fingers to loosen the strips of cabbage leaves in a basin of water. I always wash 3 rounds before soaking the veggie for a few hours. I also use my fruits and veggie wash from Melaleuca to wash my veggie.

Drain water off the cabbage with a colander before stir-frying them.  Yesterday, I made a big portion of stir-fried cabbage with minced pork and egg sauce.  I kept one portion which will be my lunch today 😀

I know many of you already know this easy way to wash and cut your cabbage but if you are still as blur as a sotong like me and love eating cabbage, this method will help ease your cabbage cooking job a lot 🙂

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For the first time in my life, I accidentally dropped an egg onto the kitchen floor yesterday. I was rushing to prepare half-boiled eggs for my Miss Demanding and then at the slip of my hand, the darn egg slipped through my fingers and lay DOOMED on the floor!

If you handle raw eggs a great deal, you will know how difficult it is to pick up tiny cracked egg shells that’s dropped into the raw egg mixture. It is also a nightmare to have to clean up  slimy raw egg from hard surfaces such as the floor or countertop as the eggs just won’t soak into the kitchen paper, tissue paper or cloth at all. The raw egg will slip out of the material, creating an even bigger disaster.

As it was the first time I cleaned up the mess, I used toilet papers and newspapers and I had to use  a big stack of newspapers to clean up just 1 broken egg mess on the floor!!

After cleaning up and cursing like a foul-mouthed mother, I googled  ‘best way to clean up raw egg spill’ so that I won’t have to waste so much time cleaning up the next time this happens again.

So this is what I gathered and the magic ingredient is table salt!

STEPS:
1) Cover the cracked open egg with table salt.
2) Leave the salt until it is completely absorbed by the egg.
3) Brush the salted egg onto a newspaper. It will come off the floor or surface very easily.
4) Dispose of the egg. Take more care with your next egg!
5) Spray disinfectant on affected area. For me, I sprayed Sol-U-Guard disinfectant from Melaleuca

Raw eggs are a source of salmonella. After handling raw eggs, always wash your hands thoroughly with water and anti-bacterial soap. Dispose of broken shells and raw eggs in a sealed plastic bag away from children and pets. Wearing protective gloves is highly recommended.

Here are some pix copied from WikiHow on how to clean up spilled raw eggs:

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When the MIL is   around, I never have to peel onions or garlic. I hardly ever have to cook. Now that she is overseas for several months, I am in charged of the kitchen. I so hate to peel and chop garlic and onions.   I hate the smell that lingers on my my fingers after the job is done. Now that I have a part-time maid who comes in the evening to help me, I will leave the job of peeling and chopping onions and garlic to her. Bless her for that!  In the morning when I have to cook lunch,  I will avoid meals that have onions and garlic in them 😀

Yesterday the girls told me that they wanted bread pizza for lunch today.  Their wish is my command, so this morning, I had to chop some onions and darn it, those big Bombay onions made me teared really badly! It was so bad that I could barely open my eyes and the tears were dribbling out so generously from my eyes that I was afraid that I would get blinded by the tears and chop off my fingers!  Once I was done chopping the onions and meat, I went straight to my PC and googled for tips on how to chop onions without tears haha!

So if you are just like me, here goes the tips…

1) Use a very sharp knife when cutting onions. The enzymes are released when cells are broken or crushed; using a sharp knife slices through the onion rather than crushing and thus, fewer enzymes are released.

2) Chill your onions in the freezer for 10 – 15 minutes before cutting them. This reduces the amount of the acid enzyme released into the air. This was found to be the most effective way to reduce tears by the television program Food Detectives.

3) Wear gas tight goggles or a mask.

4) Wear contact lenses. They create a barrier between the surface of your eyes and the gas.

5) Cut the onion under water.

6) Cut the onion near running water or a cloud of steam. Steam from a kettle or pan of water will do the trick.

7) Breathe through your mouth (to draw the gas over your wet tongue) or stick your tongue out.

8) Put vinegar on the chopping board. The acid denatures the enzyme.

9) Soak the onion in water. The enzyme is denatured by the water-air boundary.

10) Soak the onion in salt water. The ionic solution denatures the enzyme.

11) The candle method. Light a candle and set it near the cutting board before cutting the onion. The gas released by the onion is drawn into the flame of a candle.

12)  Point away from the tubes. Because onion “flesh” is tubular in construction, pointing the tubes away from you while cutting will keep the onion from spraying in your eyes. Of course, a breeze of any kind can send the fine, misty spray toward your eyes, so pay attention to air currents too.

13) Whistle while you work. Whistling makes a significant airflow, specifically away from your face, which keeps the onion mist away from your eyes. Just pick a catchy tune that you won’t want to stop whistling and you can cut as many onions as you need.

14) Chew bread or gum. Many people report that chewing, especially gum, helps avoid tears when cutting onions.

Do you have any other method that works pretty well too?

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