Selamat Hari Raya

Here's wishing all our Muslim friends Selamat Hari Raya, especially to my "feel good" ex-colleagues (you know who you are) and my old classmates whom I've not met for the past 15-22 years, until Facebook came along and connected us all!

Also, drive safely to those who are travelling and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Oh, and these are the two little chinese kids in their indian costumes wishing our Malay friends Selamat Hari Raya!

Milk scandal?

I was just reading a piece of news on babies in China being given formula milk since they were born!!

Oh my, don’t these mothers know that a mother’s milk is the BEST that one can give to their child?! And the ‘first milk’ called the colustrum is probably the super-nutrition food for newborns.

No offence to anyone, but I believe all mothers have the capability to breastfeed their newborns, given the right advise in latching and of course, feeding by demand before a routine and milk supply is established.

I don’t believe in a mother having no milk, no time and worst of all, having the belief that formula milk is better.

It’s au natural, with DHA, vitamins and minerals not found in processed milk. I know of a relative from my in-law side who even insisted on giving goat’s milk to her infant after getting jaundice, with the belief that goat’s milk is more superior than mother’s milk!!

Oh well, I’m a strong supporter of breastmilk. So, I just want to bring this out. Breastmilk is the BEST food for babies. In fact, I believe that it doesn’t cause a baby to fall sick so often and even if the baby did, he/she will not be so badly affected and will recover very fast. I noticed that with my daughter.

In a baby warehouse sale a few months back, I was shopping for some baby products for my pregnant sis and saw a demonstration by a lady selling a breastpump. I stood there watching and was literally pissed off with some of the instructions given by the saleslady. I wanted to tell them to just throw those pumps away.

My mum asked me to ignore them and I just regretted that I did, fuming inside that getting a lousy product that doesn’t do a good job will actually cause less milk to be produced overtime. I’ve tried a few pumps and I will give two thumbs up to the manually operated Avent breastpump - efficient and quiet. I heard Spectra is good as well.

Easier said than done? Well, let me share with you my breastfeeding journey. Those who know me, will know that I'm not busty at all. So, "how come I got milk ar?"

I berastfed Brendan until he was 6 months, but by 4 months, I had to supplement with formula milk. Brendan was staying with my parents in Johor. I pumped every single day, freeze the milk, and every Friday night I will take a bus from KL to Johor, carrying a cooler box FULL of frozen breastmilk. Thus is my determination in wanting to give Brendan the best. Yes, I did that every weekend.

No one imagine the tears in my eyes and the trouble I went through.

So, when no. 2 came, I was more determined than ever to give Eryn 100% breastmilk for at least 6 months. And yes, I did. In fact, Eryn was on 100% breastmilk until she was 1 year old. I gave her solid at 6-7 months to supplement her diet. No formula milk at all. She was still on breastmilk, partially, before she goes to sleep until she turned almost 2 years old.

There was once, when I was using an extremely noisy battery operated pump in the ladies toilet and when I came out of the toilet cubicle, there was this group of ladies going, “coming out already!! Coming out already!!” I turned to look at them and all of us started laughing cos they were feeling scared and thought there was some weird person doing some weird things in the ladies toilet!! Duh!!

Then, there's another time, when I had a letdown at a press conference!! I had to carry a file throughout the press conference and avoid shaking hands with clients so my wet blouse won’t show.

Pumping became easier when I did it in the comfort of my own office room, with the doors closed and I put up a long piece of cloth to cover the windows. Even the guys in my office always knew that it’s ‘milking time’.

I was in the media line, and we have meetings and appointments and proposals to do. Time was a constraint, but I always try to maintain my pumping time and pump 3 times in the office. My colleagues all know about it. I am actually thankful for their understanding.

So, reading about the sick babies in China due to all these stupid milk scandal really got me stirred up. And to even think that newborn babies were not even given breastmilk at all right from the beginning!!

Those poor babies shouldn't even ben affected so much. What a shame..

Made in China again!!

All these made-in-China stuffs just seem to be giving some problems or another right? From toys and food. I wonder what's next.

In a Singapore news yesterday, it was stated that Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) says its latest laboratory findings show that the "White Rabbit Creamy Candy" from China is also contaminated with melamine.

Oh, my favourite sweets when I was young!! I just loved it! And it's banned? Well, I wonder what else is in danger...

I received an sms this morning which states that the following items have been recalled due to the china's milk situation : M&M's Snickers, Mento's Yoghurt bottle, Dove Choc, Oreo wafer, Monmilk, Dutchlady sterilised milk, Wall's all natural mango, Mini poppers ice cream, Magnum ice cream, Moo sandwich icre cream, mini Cornetto and Youcan ice cream.

Are these made in China? Are these rumours? Should I just ignore it or just follow suit? With so many claims here and there, what should we actually do?

Well, looks like I better just watch my labels more carefully, made in China or not..

Blog Tag

This is really such a sweet tag I got from Martini. I never really thought whether anyone would like my blog at all :-)

I just have to add that Martini is really such a wonderful mummy from Medan whom I find to be a very independent and kind mummy.

Rules:

1.The winner puts logo on her/his blog.

2.Link the person you received your award from.

3.Nominate 7 other blogs.

4.Put links of those blogs on yours.

5.Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve chosen.

I hop around now and then to a few blogs here and there and would have many to nominate. So, randomly, for today, I'll now present this award to : Jazz, Rina, Wen, Sue, Pek Imm and Louise (I love your 'travellogue' stories time to update ur blog friend :-D).

craving for kueh chap

The first time I tried kueh chap was in Penang, and that also because my dear brother-in-law purposely ordered a bowl for us to try. Before that, we had just had a very satisfying and fulfilling seafood dinner by the beach when we decide to explore more food.

It was simply yummy.

So, during the Merdeka weekend, I had the chance to eat it for the second time in JB. This particular shop in JB (can't remember the name of the shop cos I don't remember seeing any signboard in front of the shop) has very yummy kueh chap which I've not tried before. I have to say that this is actually better than the one I tried in Penang.

It's like the kueh teow version of bak-kut-teh but the taste is slightly different. We order side dishes to go with it. My kids actually enjoyed it too.

Since then, I've been wondering whether there's any kueh chap stalls in PJ area cos I've been craving for it for the past one week! No, I'm not pregnant. It's one of my occasional crave for yummy food. Any recommendation?

Mid-autumn festival fun

Mooncakes

Mooncake festival is around the corner... Eryn's nanny makes a wonderful cook and baker. She made mooncakes and gave us so many to try. Her mooncakes are biscuits are really yummy, with just the right texture and not too sweet.

We also ordered 3 boxes of mooncakes with some animal-shaped mooncakes.

Brendan's and Eryn's favourite are the animal-shaped mooncakes. I like her yam filling, with a nice and fluffy pastry on the outside.

Nothing beats home-made mooncakes..

A lovely dinner

I'm not really a 'blogaholic' and therefore, haven't been posting a lot of things I've wanted to post. I wish I'm one though, but I've been focusing on other things which require my attention. Here's a delayed post.

Just have to post about a lovely dinner at hubby’s aunt’s place some time last month, with lots of food prepared for the guests. It was a fusion of food and guests. Fusion of food, cos there’s Japanese food and local food and fusion of guests because hubby's aunt had guests from various countries. I thought it was the usual family dinner and I wasn’t well dressed for the occasion and had only turned up in a singlet and short pants. The children were quite well dressed and hubby wore his jeans.

Dinner at Kor Poh Ai and Granduncle Nishida’s (as how the kids address them) place was always superb. It was always a local meal cooked by our aunt’s maid, Yatmi, or by a relative who hails from Kelantan. Our favourites are the Nasi Dagang and the authentic Nasi Kerabu, cooked in plants and vegetables that come all the way from Kelantan.

Anyway, dinner last night was simply superb. Hubby and I started with the sashimis and sushis, before we proceed with steaming white rice with sambal petai and one of my favourite dish from Yatmi called sayur lodeh, cooked with chicken, daun salam, nangka puteh (white young nangka), tempe, long beans and some other stuffs. This is served with the lovely sambal belacan. This was accompanied by the tasty miso soup with bits of tofus and fresh seaweed.

The kids enjoyed their rice with fried chicken cooked by Yatmi.

After the sashimi meal and rice meal, I can only take a small portion of the Kelantan laksa. Cooked in a gravy of coconut milk and other ingredients, it is normally added with a handful of other fresh and raw vegetables, all finely chopped, such as long beans, bunga kantan (lotus flower), cucumber, taugeh (beansprout), and daun kesum.

For dessert, we had smooth and Japanese ice-cream and the best durian cheesecake I’ve ever eaten, made by hubby’s aunt’s friend. A nice cup of freshly brewed jasmine tea gave a good ending to the awesome meal.

The kids and dogs

Brendan and Eryn are not really fans of dogs except for our neighbour’s tiny little dog which doesn’t really bark and one of hubby’s aunt’s golden retriever dog.

The kids called our neighbours dog the “disco dog” as it can dance on its two hind legs, but with the help of its owner.

Hubby’s aunt has two golden retrievers, Murray and Musha. Musha is a very friendly dog and loves children. He will come near you and sniff and lick you, which makes the kids extremely terrified of it. Murray, on the hand, doesn’t really bother anyone, probably of age and loves to lie down for the rest. The kids are more fascinated with Murray as they can go to him up-close without having Murray suddenly giving them a jumpy surprise.

Once a puppy chased after some children at a nearby field. All the children were laughing and running around, and enjoyed having the little puppy running around them but Brendan screamed and yelled at the top of his voice! Gosh, that's how terrified he can be..

Merdeka!

With Merdeka round the corner, I don't know if Merdeka means anything to the kids now since they're still too young to even know about the world. They only know merdeka when they see Malaysia flag.

With the current situation in the company, I reserve my comments on my feelings and thoughts on the current development.

However, over the weekend, I had a good long chat with both my mum and my second eldest cousin. My maternal grandparents, had 15 children, of which 13 survived.

My mum and my second cousin talked about how tough life was during the Japanese occupation. My grandpa came all the way to China and worked his way through to support his family here in Malaysia and his siblings and parents back in China. No subsidies, no outside help. Life was tough. They stayed in the jungle, and had many encounters with the gurkhas, the Japanese soldiers, the British soldiers, and the danger the lurks everywhere around them - poisonous snakes, hornets, bobby traps, etc.

Merdeka truly meant a lot to people like them where they saw the development of the countries and now enjoy life to the fullest.

People nowadays are just spoilt for choices. Talking about human rights and this rights and that rights, but forgetting the reason and the strength that brought us so far.. Hope the unity of one single Malaysian race won't be forgotten...

Still, here's wishing everyone, especially to the older generation who saw through the pre-independence days.... "Selamat Hari Merdeka"

Steamboat at home..

Once in a blue moon, we like to have a steamboat meal at home. Hubby will normally get the ingredients from the morning market consisting of prawns, various types of fishballs, dumplings, vegetables, mushrooms, etc..

I will boil the stocks using fish bones, chicken or pork bone, garlic, celery stalk and half a handful of tai-tou-choy (big head dried veg) and cook some rice. I’ll make my own chilli dip which I’ve yet to master the right texture and taste.

We always start with the prawns, fishballs and lots of pre-fried shallots and shallot oil to give the soup more oomph! before continuing with the other ingredients. Spring onions, parsley are optional as the kids dislike the taste.

We normally end the meal by adding the cooked rice into the soup with an egg in it to be made into a delicious and sweet porridge. Mmm….. simply refreshing and yummy!

mini Olympic 2008

It's the Olympic now in Beijing. Back at home, we have our own little olympians :-) With the Olympic fever happening everywhere, I took some fun shots of the weekend exercise the kids enjoy having.

Eryn's tooth chipped.

At home, I'm always telling the kids not to jump here and there, not to do this and that, and it's only natural that I do so. Sometimes, it maybe due to my mood, but most of the time, it's a mother's instinct to tell her children not to endanger themselves.

The children tend to listen more to their daddy as daddy will not hesitate to hit them real hard that will send chills to their spine. However, I can be screaming my head off, give a smack and 'nagging' the kids non-stop and yet they can still laugh and continue with their little business of being active little children. (bully mummy eh?)

Most of the time, I'll leave daddy to put the kids to sleep after brushing their teeth cos somehow, they get it done faster with daddy around. However, when hubby is not around, I have to be the one doing it, and I go crazy doing it. The kids tend to take me for granted!

Two nights ago, hubby wasn't back from his outstation trip, and so, I have to get the kids to brush their teeth. As usual, they'll be laughing and jumping and running while I'm calling them and reminding them to do what they are supposed to do. Eryn then fell and started crying hard.

That made me start screaming at them and 'nag' even more. "Very, good! Always don't want to listen to mummy!..... Tell you not to jump you want to jump!.... I've said it many times, and yet you do not want to listen....blah... blahh... blahh..." Then, I dragged Eryn to the bathroom to brush her tooth for her and noticed slight bleeding in her gums.

I then saw that one of her front tooth was chipped! More like broken, to be exact. I tried to find the missing piece, but I guess she could have swallowed it.

Really makes me go crazy sometimes.... Eryn's only 3, which means, her two front teeth won't be dropping out any time soon, until she's 5 or 6. So, she'll have to be in her new look at least for the next 2-3 years.

Sigh! Want to be patient also cannot... Tell me, what are your experiences and incidents you have to face, dear parents? Sigh!

Pea eggplant

My mum is a garden herbs enthusiast. Recently she showed me a cluster of tiny green peas look-alike fruit which she claims is good for anaemia. She's now planting it in her mini-herbs garden.

I did some finding and realised that the round pea -shaped fruit is known as pea eggplant (or Solanum torvum).

Apparently, some people cook this in their curry.

I'm keen to know more about this if anyone can provide some medicinal info and cooking method on this.

The skin seems a little tougher than the normal brinjal, probably due to its size, and the taste is somewhat bitter.

Died of dengue

Yesterday, I received news from a friend that another friend, Jon, whom we've just known recently, had died of dengue last week.

It was a very shocking news to hear. I don't know him that well, but it was so unexpected that it makes my 'mission' even stronger - the mission to explain why it is necessary to get coverage and protect our family and have an income replacement in case something untoward happens to us.

In Wikipedia, the signs and symptoms can be described by "a sudden onset of fever, with severe headache, muscle and joint pains and rashes. The dengue rash is characteristically bright red petechiae and usually appears first on the lower limbs and the chest; in some patients, it spreads to cover most of the body. There may also be gastritis with some combination of associated abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

Other symptoms include fever, chills, constant headaches, bleeding from nose, mouth or gums, severe dizziness, and loss of appetite.

Some cases develop much milder symptoms which can, when no rash is present, be misdiagnosed as influenza or other viral infection. Thus travelers from tropical areas may inadvertently pass on dengue in their home countries, having not been properly diagnosed at the height of their illness. Patients with dengue can pass on the infection only through mosquitoes or blood products and only while they are still febrile.

The classic dengue fever lasts about six to seven days, with a smaller peak of fever at the trailing end of the disease (the so-called "biphasic pattern"). Clinically, the platelet count will drop until the patient's temperature is normal"

Jon left behind his wife and two very young children, some unpaid debts and funeral expenses. His wife is currently non working due to a minor ailment. His colleague called him a day before he passed away and Jon indicated that he's feeling better. News then broke out that his blood count was dropping and he passed away.

He was admitted to one of the local government hospital and somehow, was not able to make any claims due to the hospital report indicating that he didn't die of dengue. In fact, I was told that the family has to let it go that this unfortunate incident happened. What really happened, I do not know. But it got me thinking, that most people are ignorant on the importance of getting basic protection, not only for themselves, but also for the sake of the living family members, in the even of an unfortuante death.

Being in the wealth accumulation and wealth protection business myself, it sometimes breaks my heart when people are ignorant over this, and when something happens, it will be too late. We can only provide support and grief with the family..

My 'mission' goes on...

Brendan's first sports day

It was Brendan’s school’s sports day last Saturday. The number of students in that preschool is so huge that the sports day have to be held at a nearby primary school field.

The day started with the performance by the 5 year olds and the 6 year olds students who danced to the tuned of Hey, Mickey and Mambo No. 5.

Like all parents, I was pretty proud of Brendan, who played one of the instruments in the Mambo No. 5 performance. Well, not too bad, for a 5 year old.

I was extremely surprised to see the youngest child to be around the age of 2, or probably even less, judging from the way the cute little boy walked in his little toddler’s shoes. It’s simply amazing that children are being sent to preschools and daycares as young as 2! (or probably even younger). He had the opportunity to participate in the sports events as well, with the help of a teacher who held him by the hands.

Brendan’s participation in the sack race actually caused an embarrassment to his group due to his slowness and moody look. He started the day full of enthusiast and mid-way, he was already getting pretty moody. Oh boy!

I actually felt really disappointed cos I was a school athlete myself, having won numerous medals and trophies during my school days. I was a sprinter, a netball achiever, a superb long-jumper and a hurdler. But my dear son somehow didn’t inherit this little sports genes from his mummy.

Anyway, I shouldn’t expect too much from him, as I know all child are different. I’m still proud that he went through with all the hassle to be part of the mini orchestra and the gunny sack race. I felt bad for his team mates who were cheering him on.

But he’s my little boy, my champion, regardless of what happened. He did his best, and that’s all that matters.

The fun part of the whole sports day was when the D.J. announced for the volunteers of 15 parents to take part in a game against the teachers. He even hinted to get at least 3 fathers to participate which will guarantee a win. More than 15 parents volunteered. And the game….? Well, it was the tug-of war between the 15 female teachers and 2 male supporters against the more than 15 parents who won within seconds! Oh gosh, it was a funny sight.

jams and cracks and @*$&~#...

I had full day trainings this week and had to leave early to reach my destination which normally takes 40 minutes. Yesterday, of all days, I chose to leave extra early because I wanted to reach earlier to have my nasi lemak breakfast as I didn't have a proper dinner the night before and my tummy was growling.

Mana tau, the stupid jam caused havoc from my place all the way through LDP and to Kepong. It took me 1 hours 40 minutes to reach my destination. That's an extra one hour!! I didn't exactly know what happened until I heard over the radio on the various road blocks in Klang Valley. It was later in the day, that I was told that it could be due to Anwar's court case. Haiya..... I don't read much papers nowadays, how to know about the case?

Well, as if that is not enough, I have to face the fear of that MRR2 flyover as I went under it to go to Kepong. Some stupid cracks and problems. This one makes me lagi geram... RM70 million spent for repairs also not enough (RM70 million wei, not RM700 thousand or RM7 million). I need money to repair the hairline crack in my house leh, that also apparently caused by some development taking place near my place.

As I come closer to the flyover, I have to try to drive faster to past the place as quickly as possible. You never know what can happened. Accidents happened all the time. Nobody expected a bus that plunged down the ravine near Genting a few months back and killed a few people. Nobody expected the horror accident recently at the Cheras-Kajang road. Nobody expected another horrific accident at Puchong where one person was killed. Then, there's the incident of the monorail accident where some metal stuff dropped on one person's car and injured that person. Haiya!!

And then, reading about Halcrow not advising on the usage of some materials and blah blah blah... really bo-lat already....

As I was already late, I quickly tapao one cha-siew pao and ate hurriedly while walking up 3 flights of stairs to the training hall. As I was waiting for my pao, I saw and kept thinking of one old lady with a bad limp that went around begging for money at the hawker stalls. If only 0.01% of that RM70 million was allocated for a person like her. That money, could have help feed her basic meal for one full year..

Exercise

Though I was a sports girl in school, I've somehow succumbed to my laziness, and yet I complain of not having any energy and gaining weight on my butts!

Early Sunday mornings are the days where the kids will go jogging with their daddy while I choose to take my own sweet time to get up, sweep and mop the floor while waiting for the kids and daddy to be back for breakfast.

They wake up really early at around 7am+ and will go, "Daddy! Daddy! Where are you? We want to go jogging!" and then, followed by, "Wake up, lazy bug mummy. Let's go jogging!"

Below here are some snapshots of some stretching exercise they are doing at home.

Congrats to Chanel!

After lunch earlier today, we headed to visit Chanel who had an amazing fast and stress-free delivery!

After getting an sms from her, followed by a phonecall from her hubby, Othniel, some of us mummies were all getting very excited for her.

I managed to speak to her after speaking to her husband but she had to put down the phone, and it was a surprise to know that she delivered in less than an hour after checking-in to the hospital!

I'll leave the beautiful birth story to her. Upon arrival at the hospital, I was greeted by Chanel and her family members. She looks very happy and was tucking away in her lunch. There wasn't a single thing about her that shows that she has just undergone a delivery.


Congratulations to Chanel and your family on the arrival of your little girl, baby ARIEL.

Assam laksa lunch

I had been looking forward to the assam laksa lunch for the past 2 weeks and was extremely glad to have a nice, homely, warm hospitality from Vichelle and her family and her home-made assam laksa!

Pek Imm cooked a creamy maraconi with sausage for the kids. It was a pleasant and lovely mini get-together. They practically had fun in Rachelle's playroom and seeing so many of Vichelle's husband's Marvel characters on display in the house.

Brendan and Eryn couldn't stop talking about the jie-jie, kor-kor, mei-mei, the games, the toys, Chanel's baby, etc..

Chanel was supposed to join us but I received an sms from Chanel at 12pm+ followed by a phone call from her husband, saying that Chanel was admitted to the hospital after being instructed by the doctor despite only having mild stomach cramps. Upon admission, it was found that she was already 6 cm dilated.

I jokingly told her that her much desired assam laksa meal could have cause the labour! The story and picture to be continued after this post..

Well, thanks for the lunch Vichelle! It was really nice..