Izumio and Incontinence

Less than a week after Cass started taking 3 packs of Izumio hydrogen water per day, she could hold her pee for 1/2 hr without leaking out her pee. Today, she could hold her pee for over an hour! Praise the Lord!!

To recap, Cass is suffering from incontinence. She underwent a complex Uretheral Reimplantation surgery at 13 months old, which resulted in an unfortunate complication and was operated on again a week later. There was a kink at the end of her guts. Even  a Fluoroscopy scan and CT Scan (both with radiation) and X-ray scans carried out every night for 3 nights (those were my hellish nights in the hospital which I will never forget) - those  did not detect the kink!  You see, how I have no confidence in machines!!  Even the bacteria in her bladder were resistant to the range of antibiotics that she took on a daily basis.  When the antibiotics did not work on the bacteria anymore (Cass was not even a year old then), I had to stop Cass on all antibiotics and pray for mercy from God.   We then quickly brought her to see a surgeon and scheduled a date for operation ASAP to prevent further UTI attacks.  Each UTI attack would eat up her kidney. Last year around August, she was on 6 weeks of bladder relaxation drugs and that did not help at all.  Call me cynical, I have totally no confidence in drugs and machines. I am all for natural healing with food and a healthy lifestyle.

I found out that Cass was dribbling urine when I started to potty train her at 3YO. Her diapers were perpetually wet.

Cass had gone through umpteen invasive diagnostic tests, including an MRI recently and none of the tests could point out what is wrong with her urinary tract that is causing her to leak urine. The team of surgeons wanted her to do a CT Scan, which has high amounts of radiation (emitted from both the contrast and scan) and my hubs and I say NO!  What if she is healed from incontinence and next to greet us is another big issue like the big C?  NO WAY!

Today is day 14 Cass is on 3x/day Izumio hydrogen water. She still finds it hard to swallow Super Lutein. Today she told me that she wanted to test herself by holding on to an hour and amazingly, she could!   She could keep herself dry for over an hour! Before starting on Izumio, her pad would be soaked to the panty after 1/2 hour.  These days, I let her go bare at the bottom (at home) so that she has a better feel. When on diapers or pads, she tells me that she cannot feel her pee dribbling.

Izumio is definitely doing the healing and repairing work inside Cass. I have a renewed flicker of hope on MLM products, for once!

As for me, my period would drag on for 14 days, caused by a fibroid in my uterus but this month, my period only lasted for 8 days!! I have  taken both products (1 pack Izumio hydrogen water and 3 tabs of Super Lutein) for only a week and I simply cannot believe how fast I could see a positive response.  I can't wait to see my gynae to have an ultrasound scan done to see if the fibroid has shrunk!  And I feel that I am an almost brand new person now, with renewed energy, something which I lack ever since Dyah, our live-in maid returned to Indon for good 3 years ago.  The lack of sleep and having  too much on my plate have left me feeling chronically fatigued, coupled with anemia. I can't wait for the day when Cass can say goodbye to her diapers forever. Her 7th birthday is in 4 days. She told me that on her birthday, she wishes to throw all her diapers away! I pray that her birthday wish will be granted.  I am full of hopes now. :)




Izumio Hydrogen Water

What is it? It is literally pure concentrated Hydrogen in water in very, very high levels; unlike any other in the market. IT IS NOT ALKALINE WATER. Please do not get them mixed up.

 None come even close when comparing the levels of Hydrogen in Izumio. Hydrogen has been proven to be the future in Science for Medicine and the US is beginning to pay attention to Hydrogen experiments on the body of late. The NCBI (National Centre for Biotechnology Information) which is a US Government Agency under the umbrella of the National Library of Medicine has many papers about hydrogen and its benefits. If you cannot find them, do contact me at shireenyong@gmail.com and I will send them to you.

1 Box of Izumio Hydrogen Water has 30 packets of 200 ml of highly concentrated hydrogen water at 2.6 mg/l or 2.6 ppm. Hydrogen is the smallest atom in the world that can penetrate your cells at mitochondrial level and has strong anti-oxidant properties, eliminating free radicals within your body at enormous rates.

For more reading on Izumio and Super Lutein, please click on the following link:

Izumio Hydrogen Water and Super Lutein

Super Lutein

The Beginning – How I Started Consuming Super Lutein 
 My life has been blessed in many ways. When Cass and I were holed up in the pediatric ward of GMC Penang in May 2009 for 3 weeks, her bill escalated from a mere few thousand to ten thousand within a week. The amount slowly climbed up until it exceeded RM50,000 when Cass was finally discharged 3 weeks later! We could not claim a single sen from our insurer as Cass’ condition is congenital. Cass underwent a complex Uretheral Reimplantation surgery to fix her Kidney Reflux, which resulted in a complication a week later. My group of blogging friends pooled together and helped to raise funds to ease our burden. One of my friends donated all that she had in her Paypal account to us, in USD. I will forever be grateful to her. This same friend recently gave me a box of Izumio hydrogen water for Cass. She really wanted to help Cass get healed from incontinence. After just a week on Izumio, I noticed a positive reaction in Cass. I was really excited! I called this friend and told her that I wanted to sign up as member and purchase more Izumio hydrogen water. I also purchased 3 bottles of Super Lutein.

Today is day 15 that Cass is on Izumio. Today I had the confidence to get her to put on her underwear when she was at home. She sat the alarm to 30 minutes. Tick tock tick tock and rrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiingg!! We quickly went to the bathroom together to check the underwear and we both did our high fives and screamed for joy! Her underwear was dry… for once in her life!!!! Praise the Lord again for his blessing and healing upon Cass. I told Cass that this is Jesus’ gift to her on Easter Day :)

This is certainly giving Cass and I so so much hope. We are so certain that Cass will be completely healed from incontinence, though it will take a lot of practice and patience. She will need to learn and practice over and over again how to control her pee whenever she does activities that exert energy like jumping, running, coughing, screaming, etc. Cass’ condition has certainly taught me to be patient and to never give up finding cures, without having to go towards the medically invasive ways. A mother’s instincts are always right, all the time. My guts feelings told me to NOT LET Cass go through a CT Scan, as suggested by her surgeon. She has been scheduled for a Cystoscopy scan in June 2015 but a month ago, I kept receiving spam comments on one of the old posts that I wrote about Cass going through a Cystoscopy scan before her surgery in May 2009. I kept receiving the spam comments on this post until I thought deep about it, discussed it with my hubs and we agreed that we will not let Cass go through this invasive scan, where she will be knocked off. The spam comments stopped flooding my inbox when I made up my mind on the no-go. See, God works in mysterious ways!

I tried giving Super Lutein to Cass but she still finds it hard to swallow the soft gel capsule. However, I am confident that soon, she will be able to swallow it. My baby girl is one very determined girl, who never gives up.

Since a week ago, I have been popping 2-3 Super Lutein capsules and 1 pack of Izumio a day. The reaction was very, very quickly seen on me. On day 2, I could feel that I was more energetic and not as tired and zombified as I used to be. I happened to start taking Super Lutein when I was menstruating. My period would normally drag on for 14 days, with the first 3 days of very, very heavy flow, caused by a fibroid in my uterus. Then the flow gets lighter and I would get spotting until day 14. This month, my period stopped on day 8! I was so happy! And excited! The amount of money that I can save on sanitary napkins every month can be spent on Super Lutein and Izumio! But that is besides the point. I am full of confidence that with continued consumption of Super Lutein and Izumio, the fibroid in my uterus can be zapped away by the hydrogen water and a stronger immune system.

Sherilyn has been taking 2 Super Lutein capsules a day for the past one week. She tells me that she feels more energetic and does not fall asleep easily in her classroom.


Composition of Super Lutein




Super Lutein Vegetable Carotenoids Extract Liquid Capsules 
Super Lutein is essentially the extract of vegetables essence encapsulated in a sealed soft gel capsule completely safe for everyone including children and babies. It has more than 11 ingredients from top quality Lutein (best in the world) to other carotenoids from tons of fruit and vegetables that one could never eat in a day.

The capsules can be swallowed or chewed and taste like a mixture of fish oil and dark leafy green vegetables. If the tip of the soft gel cap is snipped off with a scissors, the high potency liquid (vegetable essence) within appears black at first sight but if spread on a white paper towel or napkin, will exhibit the colours of the rainbow, essentially the colourful vegetables that we all need in our daily diet. We need colours, not just greens.

How many of us are diligent enough to eat all colours of the rainbow and how much can we really eat? 3 Super Lutein capsules offers 4 servings of fruit, 5 servings of vegetables of 6 colours of all the vegetable nutrients that we essentially need in our bodies for our best health. Cancer patients at Stage 4 take 25 Super Lutein capsules per day.





How did Super Lutein come about?
Naturally Plus collaborated with Swiss Pharmaceutical Tillots (that originally started in London, but are now owned by the Japanese pharmaceutical group, Zeria Pharmaceuticals) and Aliment Industry in Japan (one of the largest provider of soft gel capsules in the world exporting to the USA). They are made using the highest pharmaceutical standards and every product is tested before entering a foreign country.

We know of people who have been consuming these products for more than 10 years and they have not been healthier than now. These are cancer survivors. Not just one cancer but several within the body. That is just how powerful the products are.

The products are AMAZING and I will not swear by them if I have not tried them on Cass and for myself to feel and see the difference. You will only know this if you tried it and consumed the appropriate dosage customised for you as everybody is different and our bodies are all made out differently.

My personal recommendation for Izumio and Super Lutein is that EVERYONE should take it. Even the most fit and healthy, just in lesser doses. It benefits everyone in everything. Just some of the ways it can benefit you:-

More Energy – more time to be super productive to do all the things you really want to do or make more money!

Much Better Skin / Hair / Nails / Face – Severe acne vanished, Eczema improved by leaps and bounds, hair and nails stronger and much healthier

Kidneys – people who have just started dialysis have been able to reverse the process

Eyes – the blind can see again but you need a few years of consumption depending on severity

Brain – Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s patients have improved, similarly with autistic children and the DHA helps kids brains develop too. The products are also very powerful with stroke patients especially if taken immediately, though certainly helps even if not taken immediately

Blood – a very powerful product for Leukaemia patients and any other diseases that require blood cleansing

Breasts – heals breast cancer, money back guaranteed!

Lungs / Chest – clears lungs of embedded sputum, asthma improved, allergies eliminated

Liver – keeps liver cancer at bay

Heart – Heals heart cells

Nerves – has an analgesic effect on pain

Digestive Track including Colon – the products have healed all sorts of cancer when consumed appropriately and correctly

Women Hormones / Uterus / Menopause – balances out women hormones to make everything work as they should

First Aid for EVERY Home – Apply them on cuts and burns, removes itch immediately, helps to heal wounds quickly, wash eyes with Izumio if eyes are infected

It is the greatest thing that has happened to me and Cass. Thank you, Izumio and Super Lutein for giving us back our lives!



For more reading on Izumio and Super Lutein, please click on the following link:

 Izumio Hydrogen Water and Super Lutein

Izumio and Incontinence

Dinner - 1 April 2015

Grilled herb and parmesan cheese chicken breast with panko bread crumbs, tomato omelette and blanched yau mak veggie...






This is my first time trying out this recipe, which I googled and got from EatYourselfSkinny.com. The recipe calls for Panko bread crumbs, which gives the exterior of the meat a crunchier texture.

I also bought dried basil leaves and dried thyme leaves for this dish.









Here's the recipe from Eat Yourself Skinny, but I tweaked mine a little...

Baked Parmesan and Herb Chicken 
Yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS 
4 skinless chicken cutlets
1 cup panko bread crumbs
2/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. fresh rosemary
Chopped 2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
4 Tbsp light butter
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. minced garlic

INSTRUCTIONS 
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine panko bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and fresh herbs.
In a saucepan, melt butter and stir in Dijon mustard, Worcestershire and garlic.
Remove from heat. Dip chicken in butter mixture, roll in breadcrumb mixture, pressing gently to make sure all crumbs cling.
Place on baking pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden.



What the kids had to say:
A little heavy with cheese and butter.  I noticed that each time cheese is added into a dish (except for pasta or spaghetti), the kids will comment that it is heavy! Hmmm...
So... my conclusion is that I will ditch the cheese and butter whenever a chicken or rice recipe calls for them.
As I still have half a packet of Panko bread crumbs left, I shall make this again very soon.  This time, I shall replace the butter and Dijon mustard mixture with just egg wash.    My kids have typical Chinese DNA.  The Westernized combo of Dijon mustard, butter and cheese just don't tickle their fancy, just yet :)

Izumio Hydrogen Water and Super Lutein

Someone is very excited as she is opening a box of treasure! It's a box of health treasure - Izumio hydrogen water, all the way from Japan!

 

 For those of you who know me well, I am not someone who can be easily convinced to buy a product, especially if it's one from MLM companies, more so if the products are expensive.   I can be a very hard nut to crack.  The person who sells me the product must be darn convincing plus I will do my own research first before I part with my money.

For half a year, I googled Izumio and hydrogen water, trying to find faults with it but I could find none. I got to know of Izumio hydrogen water about half a year ago when my very good blogger friend started taking it for her heart disorder and slipped disc.  She got healed from slipped disc after taking Izumio and Super Lutein for 6 months (both products are from Naturally Plus). Since then, she has been taking these two products religiously.  A friend of ours who has been taking these 2 products for years looks radiant.  As a bonus for consuming the products and introducing them to other people, she is now getting a huge 'thank you bonus' from the company that sells it, in the region of 5 figures, every month!!  Don't you just wish that you could do that too?!

Finally I took the plunge, though the products are very expensive!  Mainly because I am hoping that Izumio and Super Lutein can help to heal Cass from incontinence.  Cass also seriously needs a detox for her body from all the radiation and toxins from drugs that she has been exposed to since birth.  For the first 15 months of her life, she had to take antibiotics ON A DAILY BASIS as she had monthly UTI attacks caused by a Grade 3 Kidney Reflux and a Duplex right kidney with duplex ureters. On some serious attacks, she needed antibiotics via IV and hospitalization.  Thank God, the problem is now fixed after a complex Uretheral Reimplantation surgery when she was 13 months old.  But she still has another problem to deal with, which is urine dribbling.  This is my last ditch effort in trying to heal Cass naturally vs. CT scans and invasive diagnostic tests (these tests emit radiation into your body).   Plus, I have not been in top form myself for almost a year. The fibroid in my uterus is causing me super heavy menses every month and the bleeding would go on for 14 days. Every single month.  Can you imagine how tired and lackluster I feel everyday from being anemic?   From a powerful horse that can run twice a day (half an hour each session) just 5 years ago, I no longer have the stamina to run each morning. I have now cut down on running to light jogging, brisk walking and air-walking in the gym. I thought to myself that I have nothing to lose and everything to gain as my kids and I are consuming the products for good health.

Today is day 11 that Cass is taking Izumio.  Day 2 for me - I am taking Izumio and Super Lutein. I am so excited to tell you that I FEEL GREAT and NOT TIRED anymore after just 2 days on Izumio and Super Lutein!  Yesterday I was like a blue-arsed fly rushing everything off as it was our maid-free day.  I cooked, cleaned up, coached Cass in homework, did chaufeurring, shopping and I was asking myself "heck, how come I am not tired and did not doze off on my massage chair by 11pm? Why was I still feeling so insomniac??"  I am amazed!  I have never been insomniac ever since my kids came along!

As for Cass, on day 6, she experienced some detox symptoms.  She told me that her leg was painful, throat was sore, headaches came in waves and randomly and she told me that her whole body ached. She also had loose stools.  I thought that she was going to fall sick!  Then I remembered that these could be symptoms of a body detoxification.  I quickly did a google search and yes, those aches and pains were indeed symptoms of the body detoxing. She is well now! No more body ache and sore throat and no need to go to the doctor's office! These are part of my Izumio stock.

 

1 Box of Izumio Hydrogen Water has 30 packets of 200 ml of highly concentrated hydrogen water at 2.6 mg/l or 2.6 ppm.

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

Cass drinks 3 packs a day. I am still trying to coax her to swallow the Super Lutein soft gel tabs.  She finds it hard to swallow, though the tab is not big.

   

HOW HYDROGEN WORKS WITHIN THE BODY

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

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

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

 4. Hydrogen is difficult to preserve within the body but without it, cells get weak and deteriorate, then high acidity is produced in your system. Thus Hydrogen has also a pH balancing effect on the body not turning acid into alkaline at all, but balancing the equilibrium of the body whilst flushing out acidic toxins through sweat and urine. In short, normal water has been helping us do this all our lives but Izumio is much, much stronger.

 5. Open Wounds - open wounds are acidic. When Hydrogen is applied onto them, it reverses the acidity slightly causing pain to lessen. It does not cure the wound but regenerates the new cells to a point of equilibrium.

 6. Back Pain and other Organs Pain - same concept where Hydrogen helps because our bone mass, body organs, muscles, they all need Hydrogen. It helps increase bone density too.

 7. Skin - Skin is made out of millions of cells but what ratio of cells do we have, good healthy cells or free radicals? Good cells produce smooth, supple skin. It all comes back to the theory of cellular structures and they all need Hydrogen

8. Cancer - Cancer is the result of too many free radicals in the body. Cells that have lost their electrons and gone around stealing goodness from other cells causing havoc and great imbalance within the body, a war of cells within. Hydrogen will strengthen the good army team and with sufficient Hydrogen, they will win the war.

I shall come up with subsequent posts on the benefits of hydrogen water and Super Lutein. If you want to find out more on this product, I'll be more than glad to let you know. I can be reached at shireenyong@gmail.com.  :)

Tick Tock Tick Tock...To GST

And so, there are only 2 more days left before the dreaded GST!

Yesterday, the roads leading to Mid Valley Megamall were jam-packed. We avoided the roads at all cost. I think kiasu shoppers like yours truly were charging the stores to sweep the shelves clean on items that are bound to be taxed.

A few days ago, I went to a nearby mini mart to get toilet papers but they were all sold out.  Many items on the shelves were swept clean.  There were long queues at the check-out counters with shoppers pushing trolley-filled household essential items. I was one of those kiasu housewives at the long queues to stock up on taiyima  and pocket tissue papers, muahahaha!

The loot here is just my first round. I swept the shelves of 99 Speedmart clear of my favorite brand of sanitary pads... then went to another outlet to have another sweep.  On Saturday, I went to Tesco for another round of sweeping items that are bound to be GST-axable.



Go ahead and have a good laugh.  My friends are already laughing at me. But who cares. I think I have saved enough to buy a bag of oranges and apples to make smoothie for my family. A little goes a long way ok.







Here is a list of taxable sundry goods from the Star newspapers.




However, do not stock up on everything ok. Some items like soft drinks, clothes, household white goods (TV, refrigerators, air-conditioners, hair dryers, etc), milk powder, toothpaste, soap, toilet papers (the list goes) are expected to be cheaper. These items have 10% sales tax now and are expected to be cheaper with GST (replaced with 6%). I read that even cars will be cheaper (10% SST replaced with 6% GST).

How are you preparing yourself for GST?

Video of Sherilyn Doing A Hip Hop Dance

Here's half a video of Sherilyn performing a dance to Meghan Trainor's Lips Are Moving today, specially dedicated to me on my 42nd birthday. The video was truncated as there were many Whatsapp messages coming into my phone.

Enjoy! :)

Conversation With The Kids and Lunch - 27 March 2015

Just now after picking up Alycia and Cass from the transporter at our condo lobby, Cass was chasing after Alycia. She wanted to hug her che che but Alycia was avoiding Cass by running away. Though it is nice to get hugs, I have to say that being hugged  and kissed incessantly all the time  can be darn annoying. Cass has a habit of hugging Alycia  and the friends whom she is fond of, to the point that it gets irritating, especially when she hugs too roughly and uncontrollably, thereby pushing the person down, inadvertently.

Conversation inside the lift...

Alycia - Cassandra, you have to know and learn what PERSONAL SPACE is!!

Cassandra - *looking stunned at her che che*...

Me - Personal space? Oh look who's talking eh!  Who reads all my Whatsapp messages  even before I read them?  Who secretly reads all my Facebook messages? Who goes through my drawer, takes out the things that I hide and asks me what is this and that?  Who is invading my personal space huh?

Alycia -- *speechless*

Me -  So give me my personal space and privacy and stop using my handphone ok?!

Silence..... and the lift door opens.

* evil grin*


This is our lunch today (leftover from dinner last night)...
Stir-fried organic cabbage with minced pork, braised chicken drumsticks and eggs with soy sauce, garlic, star anise and blackstrap molasses.  Otak-otak from pasar malam.  All these to go with coconut milk rice.

Our Saturday - 21 March 2015

My very own Charlie's Angels @  Fong Lye Taiwanese Fusion Cuisine Restaurant @ The Gardens on Saturday night for grandma's farewell dinner. She flew off to Hong Kong the next day.





Seafood fried rice and seafood fried noodles. These 2 items came first and were polished off in just minutes by the 3 famished angels who ate like feral dogs.




Deep fried pork ribs.




Stir-fried lotus roots with pineapple, brocolli, chicken slices and deep fried garlic.



Basil and chilli lala clamps on the left and claypot aubergine with minced pork on the right.




Stir-fried lotus root with an assortment of veggies and nuts on the left.  Stir-fried french beans with minced pork on the right.




Tomato and preserved veggie omelette.  I was disappointed with this dish as it was too salty. Definitely not suitable for kid and even adults.  The tomato omelette that we normally have at Fong Lye's other outlets are sweet and not salty. We normally order the tomato omelette dish for the kids.  





Traffic light colors dish - stir-fried beef with bell peppers.




All the dishes were wiped clean from the platter (except the egg dish) as we had a late dinner and everyone was famished.  Though the bill did not come up cheap, we nevertheless enjoyed our late night dinner at one of our favorite Chinese restaurants :)

The Girls' Duties At Home

The girls have specific duties at home.  Everyday.

The eldest has to mop her own room on days when our part-time maid does not come. She is also in charged of mopping the floor of the house entrance area. She has to ensure that all the shoes are neatly arranged everyday. The dining area is her responsibility too.

The middle child has only one task and it is the hardest - the  dirty dishes department. That's something which I loathe the most and I thank God that He sent Sherilyn to help me out!  Thank God too that Sherilyn loves cooking and settling the dirty dishes! :D

The littlest one is in charge of drying and keeping the clean dishes - the simplest job but yet require loads of care. This department is definitely not for those with butter fingers.

All hers to settle at the end of the day...

Last Day Of School For First Term - Friday, 13 March 2015

Cass was one of the handful of Primary 1 pupils who volunteered to don on a white dress for the Assistant HM's retirement ceremony today.  Cass is just like her sister, Sherilyn - a vain-pot in the making, daring (but not as fearless as Sherilyn) and a social butterfly.  She makes friends very easily and is pretty vocal and amiable. And I must also say that she falls out with her friends pretty easily too and would come home to tell me who she falls out with and why whenever this happens. Nonetheless, she patches up with her fallen out friends and become besties with them again soon.






While the girls were at school, I made a quick dash with the mil to Mid Valley Megamall to do some retail therapy. I got myself a Bonia purse with a 40% discount off and managed to grab everything that I had wanted to buy.  It is such a breeze and peaceful shopping sans the kids!!  I told hubs that I wanted to buy  a few things before the GST kicks in in just 2 weeks.

After shopping, mil and I bought lunch for the girls.  Here's the girls' treat to celebrate the end of the first school term.




I am glad that Cass made a smooth transition from pre-school to primary school.  Despite a medical issue with her bladder, she managed to deal with her problem pretty independently, albeit teething issues at school initially.

HFM's Awesome Rawsome Lunch - 12 March 2015

My lunch yesterday - 11 March 2015, fit for a health freak...


A head of Oakleaf Green veggie with cherry tomatoes, toasted walnuts, pecans, almonds. macadamia, Korean seaweed, fried shallots, toasted sesame seeds and a drizzle of sesame dressing.  Also whacked 3 pieces of braised pork ribs, which were from dinner the day before.




Love this roasted laver (seaweed) from Korea - it's packed with so much crunchiness, natural flavor and goodness.  I can even eat my salads sans any dressing if I have this seaweed and a handful of flavorful fried shallots on them.




Orange and mango smoothie...






For breakfast, I ate 2 free-range chicken eggs to boost my iron production (I am anemic), a cup of homemade butter pecan cupcake and a piece of toasted wholemeal bread with homemade walnut-pecan-almond-macadamia nut jam.

Eve Of Alycia's Exam - 8 March 2015

Alycia stuck this note on her room door today to tell her 2 sisters NOT TO DISTURB her. She stayed in her room to revise on her own and later, she timed herself when she did a past year UPSR Math test paper that I printed for her. For BM, we went through the Tatabahasa on Slideshare together on the computer.



This year is Alycia's final year in primary school. It's the year that she will be sitting for her UPSR exam in September. Alycia will have to sit for 7 exams  this year (6 school-based exams and 1 government exam) with the first exam being in March and subsequently a test every month until September 2015! I get stressed out each time I think about her monthly exams and that of Sherilyn's and Cass' (they have exams three times a year). I get even more frazzled thinking about chauffeuring Alycia to and from school even on Saturdays for extra lessons, beginning April until the UPSR exam is over!! There goes my beauty sleep for half a year :(

Sometimes I have thoughts of getting hubs to hire a driver to ease our driving woes, I kid you not!

Pizza delivered to our home is something that the girls only get to eat on the eve of exams... my treat for them only during exams :D   I am no fan of pizza but since the girl sitting for her exam craved for pizza today, her wish was my command.




Eleventh hour revision, as usual *roll eyes and shake head*




Playing 'one two jus' to see who gets the last piece of chicken drummet... the cili padi played referee as usual.

Smoothie Of The Day - 4 March 2015

Since December last year, I have been churning out fruit smoothies for everyone in the family everyday. Fruit smoothies are such a convenience for busy and always on-the-go people like my hubs and 2 older girls. Sherilyn tends to be lazy to eat her fruits. By the time she gets home from the enrichment center everyday, it is already close to 7pm and already  dinner time. This gives her little or no time to eat her fruits.  Sometimes I place cut fruits in a lunch box for her to eat in the car - from the enrichment center back home. But on most days, she is just lazy to eat her fruits, especially fruits that require chewing!

It is so much more easier to get the drama queen  to gulp down a variety of fruits from a bottle in a jiffy.  Yesterday I made kiwi + orange smoothie with fresh pomegranate and apple juice.




I normally use fresh coconut juice, Manuka honey or boxed apple juice to make the smoothie more palatable for everyone, especially the kids.   I find that most boxed juices in the supermarket are adulterated with food conditioner, preservative, flavoring, color and sugar.   The other day, I found a new brand of pure fruit juices  that are sans added water, food additives, preservative and sugar.

Athina is imported from Greece and costs between RM12.90 to RM18.90 a box.  Yup, pure fruit juices are that freaking expensive!  Some of you may want to ask me to make my own fruit juices but it is too time consuming and I do not have the time :(

* fruit smoothie and fruit juice are different.  The former is the whole fruit blended. Nothing is thrown away except for the seeds and core. In other words, you drink the whole fruit and has more nutritional value since you are also eating the fiber.  Fruit juice is just the juice pressed from the fruit.  The fiber and everything else are separated and disposed of.

The below box of Athina pomegranate + apple juice that I bought cost RM18.90 a box. It contains only pomegranate and apple juice and nothing else.








While the orange and kiwi smoothie is for the kids, I made dragon fruit smoothie for the adults.  I pulsed half a red dragon fruit with  the orange kiwi smoothie and apple pomegranate juice to churn out 3 glasses of smooth and refreshing dragon fruit smoothie and even have enough to make 3 frozen ice pops for the girls :)

Our Sunday - 1 March 2015

Sunday morning activity - Cass helped grandma to remove garlic skin while our celebrity chef wannabe helped to remove the core from every clove of garlic and then chopped them up. We are having a CNY potluck party at the girls' grand uncle's place tonight and thus need lots of garlic for cooking.





And I made dragon fruit + orange + apple smoothie for everyone today :)




Happy Sunday peeps and I hope the coming week will be good for everyone :)

CNY Lunch At EGG: Eight Gourmets Gala @ Bandar Sunway, 20 February 2015

On the 2nd day of CNY, many of the eateries at our neighborhood were still closed. Our favorite restaurants were also fully booked.  This leaves hubs with not much choice but to drive all the way to Bandar Sunway  to lunch at his friend's newly opened restaurant,  EGG - Eight Gourmets Gala.






At EGG, diners experience a new level of gastronomic delight where you can choose from eight eateries within the same restaurant; local café fare from Caffeinees, fresh seafood from Hook & Cook, snacks, wine and spirits from Malt Berry Apes, vegetarian fine dining from Yi, premium hawker dishes from Hakka Crab, authentic Japanese cuisine from Chiyo Sushi, soups, salads and sandwiches from Nibbles and exquisite desserts from Confessions of Lady Laura.

The first dish that came was the lou sang with fresh raw salmon slices. This was a tad unique from the other lou sang that we'd eaten as Japanese sesame salad sauce was used.








Steamed prawns...




Stir-fried three-variety beans - petai (stinky beans), long beans and ladies fingers in sambal belacan. This was a very flavorful dish and my little cili padi who is also a petai lover whacked most of the stinky beans!




We ordered this fried mee hoon with petai and lala clams (RM28) specially for visiting sil from Hong Kong who is a petai lover.  It was so delish that we ordered another plate.




Braised yee mee with lobsters, ginger and spring onions...




Crabs, ala Hakka style. The crabs were very fresh and  since we have 3 crab lovers who snatched away all the crab claws leaving the adults  with none, we ordered another crab dish - this time fried with salted egg.




Salted egg crabs. This time, the claws were for me!








Eight Gourmets Gala
Suite G-01, Ground Floor,
Pinnacle Annexe, Persiaran Lagoon,
Bandar Sunway,
47500 Selangor.
Tel : 017-948 8684

Sherilyn's 10th Birthday

Today is my drama queen's birthday. It's her first 2-digit birthday!  I will never forget how loud she made her entrance into this world. What a cry baby she was crying and yelling non-stop as she took her first few breaths.   Yes even 10 years on, she is still loud and still very generous with her tears. She is full of expressions and indeed a drama queen. Even when she was a day old, she caused a tad of drama in the maternity ward when she bit off off a small nib of my teat!!  Can you imagine the pain she caused me?  I did not understand and still do not understand how a day-old baby without teeth could bite off a part of my teat! It was bloody and painful and now I can laugh about it though I was writhing in pain each time I nursed her back then.

Yesterday she celebrated her birthday with her 2 besties - Berlyn and Charlene.  Sherilyn's and Berlyn's birthdays are just a day apart.

While making her birthday wish during the cake-cutting session, the drama queen blurted out her wish!  Scroll down to see what she wished for OF ALL THE THINGS!




A puppy, awwwww!!  I love puppies too, especially a Golden Retriever pup but this is an impossible wish for now as we live in a condo.  Do continue to wish for this Sherilyn.  I do believe in the law of attraction.  What you yearn to have may come true one day when your daddy is rich enough to buy a landed house so that you and I and your 2 sisters can finally own our very own Golden Retriever pup :)





Happy birthday Sherilyn. Daddy and mummy love you very much and hope that you will grow up to be a very good person with good values and wisdom.  May God bless you with good health and many more happy birthdays   

Bracu Restaurant And Pavillion @ Bombay, Auckland

On our second day in Auckland, we had a very sumptuous dinner at Bracu Restaurant @ Simunovich Olive Estate . It was a dinner to celebrate the birthdays of Alycia and my MIL.   Just 40 minutes from central Auckland, with breathtaking views across the vast olive grove and the rolling pastures of the Bombay Hills, Bracu is Auckland's finest country restaurant.

Bracu Restaurant offers elegant and contemporary fine dining in a truly exceptional setting.


















Had we gone there during the day, we would have captured the breathtaking green pastures of the olive grove at Bracu.

That evening, we were seated at the patio, as shown in the picture below, the picture of which is taken from the Bracu website...



The road up to Bracu is a tad windy. Too bad it was pitch dark and we could not see how awesome the sceneries there were.  Street lights were far and between and the drive down to the expressway was one of the darkest and creepiest for us!   Hubs, his mum, BIL and sisters were in separate cars.  SIL no. 3 was driving in the car that the girls and I were in while SIL no. 4 was navigating the way by relying on Google Maps on her mobile phone. Half way down the hilly road, we lost data connection and got lost.  It was very cold and very misty that night with no street light on most stretches of the road. All we could see in front of us was total darkness with patches of mist floating.  We felt like we were in one of the scenes of Nightmare On Elm Street and Bewitched! lol!

This is the road leading to Bracu, picture taken from the Bracu website...




Our sumptuous morsel that evening at Bracu....




The cheesy quality of the pictures taken with our mobile phones (in dim lighting at the restaurant) does not do justice to the actual dishes that we had.














Every dish was tastefully and aesthetically decorated with fresh flowers and ingredients.  You can sense that both the heart and mind are involved in their inception and execution.




One of the freshest and juiciest fresh oysters that we had ever tasted...




One of the kids' meals...




After a meal of intense flavors, we had dessert of house-made ice-cream to cleanse the palate.

Everyone had an enjoyable dinner at Bracu. We were pleasantly surprised when we were given Olive shampoo and Olive body shampoo as door gift at the end of our meal.  This brand of skin care products is pretty expensive in Malaysia.  The only setback was the long waiting time before our meals finally rolled in. And of course the creepy ride home when we got lost in the  still of the cold and dark night at the olive grove.