Wednesday 28 March 2018

Flower Seeds

To my surprise flower seeds are hard to find at the hypermarkets here, most of the seeds for sale are vegetables.  After visited the stingless bees farm, we decided to plant some flowers to attract the stingless bees to our backyard, our intention is to provide a pleasant home for the stingless bees if we were to put a beehive log at our backyard, the bees will stay if there are flowers around.  

Since I could not buy the flower seeds on the days I looked for them, I searched online hoping to buy  some seeds to be sent to my door steps.  Again to my surprise, a shop that is selling flower seeds online is only a few minutes drive from my house.  

My better half went to this shop the next day morning, he sent me the photos with packets of flower seeds on the display racks. 


 and they also sell something new--- the ready to germinate potted flower seeds. 

After picked and chose, my better half bought 4 packets of flower seeds and he got a free gift from the shop owner too..

 I opened the little paper packet and I found these 2 seeds, engraved with {I Love you 4 Ever}.  My immediate question was "Are these real seeds or souvenir?",  "The shop owner said Yes, they are real seeds, she is giving them free to all her customers." answered my better half. 
But we have not tried to germinate these 2 seeds yet.   That would be an interesting post if these seeds can ever be germinated and produce flowers. [Update : I failed to germinate these seeds, they were covered with fungal after 3 days I planted them in the soil].

Meanwhile, please visit my humble backyard garden which we are working on to add more flowers.

Tuesday 27 March 2018

Banana Cheese Puff Pastry

Could not remember when did I buy a pack of the puff pastry sheets.  Though I noticed it whenever I opened my fridge, I kept giving myself all sort of reasons to postpone my plan to bake some puffs which I planned to do so at the time I bought these pastry sheets.  Without further procrastination, I finally used them to make some banana cheese puff pastry, with my self created recipe.   

Unlike the self made from scratch pastry, the store bought puff pastry sheets always give the 100% result and less work.   

My fresh from oven Banana Cheese Puff Pastry 

The simple method in making the Banana Cheese Puff Pastry :
 Place half slice of cheese on the pastry cheese

 Place your favourite type of banana (I used Pisang Saba cut into half for each puff) and wrap it up.  Seal the edges, egg wash each of them and bake in the oven till the pastries turn brown like this.

 and serve when the pastries have cooled down to room temperature.  
 My afternoon tea : The Banana Cheese puff pastry & hot Sabah Tea

Tuesday 20 March 2018

Bubble C Orange Drink

Bubble C, its name sounds like some kind of a drink for the kids, it is actually a Vitamin C & Calcium drink from Edmark for young and old.  My friend is a member, I am her occasional customer buying Red Yeast Coffee of Edmark's brand, red yeast is said to be able to lower the bad cholesterol, healthy coffee why not.  Few weeks ago, while ordering the red yeast coffee at the same time I ordered this Bubble C orange vitamin C & Calcium drinks meant for my girls, after trying a sachet, I like its fizzy and refreshing taste.  I hardly take cold drinks but for this I like it to be served cold.
Bubble C is suitable for young and old..it is sweetened by natural fructose so it is safe for those with diabetes.


There are 20 sachets in a box, every sachet is equivalent to 3 oranges, I personally do not get the sufficient amount of vitamin C and Calcium from my daily food intakes, this will at least be a supplement for me. 

Like any other sachet drinks, just add lukewarm or cold water, stir till dissolve 

and enjoy a mug of Vitamin C and Calcium goodness!!

[Note : this is not a paid post, merely my own opinions and sharing of one of many products I have tried, however, sincere sponsors are most welcome :D].

Monday 19 March 2018

Stingless Bee Natural Honey

After reading the health benefits of the stingless bees honey (Madu Kelulut), I told my better half that I want to buy a bottle for my father and mum to try,  he has to whatsapp the farm owner on Saturday night to check whether they are opened for business on Sunday.  I am very happy that his reply is Yes.  My father is a stroke patient since 12 years ago and has been having lungs infections very frequently.

I am glad that my mum tagged along to see the stingless bee farm. The owner is so kind to let us try the honey and patiently explained to us on the goodness of this honey.  

I bought a bottle of 530gm honey to share with my parents.  This is the packaging and a natural product produced by the hard working stingless bees that can only fly the furthest 3km from their nests / hives.
I also bought a small bottle of ginger powder, produced locally as well.  It can be mixed with the honey drink,  Ginger possesses anti cancer properties.  
besides the Air Mata Pengantin flower (picture in my last post), I also sighted this type of flower in the Stingless Bee farm, anyone know what's the name of this flower ?  

Saturday 17 March 2018

Stingless Bee Honey Farm (Madu Kelulut)

Stingless Bees honey farming has becoming popular in Malaysia, the honey harvested from stingless beehives is believed to contain much higher antioxidant than the regular honey, thus makes it a Superfood.

My better half has visited a local stingless bee farm a couple of days back.  He has taken some photos and also video to share the knowledge with me.  We have been taking honey all this while but honestly, I do not have a clue how the bees got the honey from.  I now learned that stingless bee is actually not poisonous. 

this stingless bees farm is set up with 50 logs.  They are also selling the logs and also the plants that make the bees happy (the bees will work hard to bring in more honey if they are happy).
The Stingless Bees' favourite flower here is the Air Mata Pengantin (The bride's tears) 
the entrances made by the bees 

this is how the propolis / beehives look like, the honey is being stored there.
The video taken at the farm

Tuesday 13 March 2018

The Super Bitter Premium Tea - Peria Katak

There is no reason why we would want to choose a bitter drink over the sweet one right?  Unless it's for health purpose. This is exactly the reason why we are willing to try this super bitter drink made from Peria Katak (Bitter Melon).  Peria Katak is much more bitter than the normal bitter gourd.   

 This box consists of 25 sachets of bitter melon tea bags 
 once opened, I kept the tea bags in a Tupperware container

 Translation :  "Blended from fresh and quality bitter melon from the farm into an aromatic drink suitable for the whole family.  According to scientific studies, bitter melon acts as natural insulin because they contain active ingredients that can effectively lowering sugar level."
 A mug of super bitter Peria Katak drink.  Believe me, it is super duper bitter.  Hopefully it is helpful for diabetic patients.
The look of the Peria Katak are more like a mice than a frog (Katak) to me..What do you think ??

Saturday 10 March 2018

On Women's Day 2018

On Women's Day, I had breakfast with my better half.  As I need to rush to complete an assignment requested by my boss, I decided to start work an hour earlier, I am glad that this pork noodle shop near my office starts business early.  This is also one of our favourite noodles shop.  One of the comments about this shop is, the elderly lady stall owner (I guess) there can be pretty rude when they are overloaded with orders. 
We called this local version of Sarawak konlou noodles.  I have never tried the authentic Sarawak noodles just yet to make a comparison.


Later in the morning, my better half sent me this whatsapp image to wish me Happy Women's Day.  Kind of telling me that my body shape is not an issue I think, haaahaaa!!
And also this image from my friend which I really like.

How have your Women's Day been ? Any celebration ?

Thursday 8 March 2018

Pomegranate Juice and Coffee

I have not heard of Pomegranate (buah Delima) when I was young.  Only in the recent years that people started to promote the health benefits of many super fruits/food, one of them is Pomegranate, mostly sold through direct selling /Multi Level Marketing.  The prices are relatively higher.

I happened to see this product displayed at the counter where I have my roti jala.  Upon asking, the price is reasonable and affordable to me, I bought a bottle to try.  If I am not mistaken, it was only around RM20.00 (USD5.00).  As I did not take it consistently everyday, this small bottle lasted for a few months in my refrigerator.  I can not comment of the effectiveness of this product because I hadn't consumed it as prescribed to see the result.  The taste is on the sourly sweet side.  



Another Pomegranate product that I have tried was this coffee mix from a small retail shop selling all kinds of health products, skin care and cosmetics in Complex Karamunsing.  It says to have Pomegranate extract, I only bought 1 packet to try because I was not sure whether the mix of coffee and Pomegranate will blend well or not for my liking. 


After drinking it, I find the taste is alright for me but I have not gone back to that shop lately.  We bought some tea bags for diabetes from the same shop too.  Will share in another post to come. 



Wednesday 7 March 2018

The Prettiest Pancake - Roti Jala

To my eyes, Roti Jala (or Lace/Net Pancake) is the prettiest pancake among the pancakes I have ever seen.  I ever wondered how Roti Jala is made, only much later then I found out that it is made by using a utensil with holes at the bottom to drizzle the runny batter in a circular motion onto a hot pan and roll it up.
The rolled up Roti Jala, a traditional Malay dish / snack.

I can eat at least 4 plain Roti Jala in one setting without any curry to go with it (I do not like curry) and take away a few for lunch.   So far the best Roti Jala that I could find is at Grace Square, Sembulan.  
My Roti Jala lunch with coffee.

Since I love it so much, I should try my hands on making some myself. 

Tuesday 6 March 2018

Pan Mien Breakfast

It was still early after sending our girls to school yesterday morning.  Got time to hunt for a place to have our breakfast, we are not always got the chance to have breakfast outside during working days as I drive my own to work after having breakfast at home prepared or bought by my better half.  We planned to sent one of our cars for repair yesterday, my better half got to send me to work.

We settled for Pan Mien at Damai Plaza, If I can remember, this is the first time having breakfast  at this shop.  
 My better half has actually told me to order for him konlou meehoon with Pan Mien soup, but someway somehow I ordered both of us the same Pan Mien meehoon soup.  Luckily he was in an okay okay mood.
The portion given is alright, good amount of sayur manis (sweet leaves) but the soup base is not thick enough to be categorised as nice Pan Mien.  For any request of additional anchovies, RM1.50 will be charged.  It's alright because anchovies are not cheap.  

Monday 5 March 2018

Adoption of Home Pet

Whenever there are dogs and cats come by, my better half will give them food.  Since these cats and dogs knows there are food, they will come regularly and sooner or later they will call it home.

Since we have our own pet dogs inside our home compound, other dogs will not come around to wait for food.  Some 2 months ago, a pregnant mother cat came to our backyard and my better half started to feed her, when she nearly due to gave birth she migrated to our front yard and gave birth to 3 little kittens.
Mother cat and her baby kittens, photo taken on 1/12/17.  One of the kitten which was the most active one has gone and never come back.  My neighbour has told us that he found a cat died at the back of his house after he came back from his vacation in the early of this year, could have been this little kitten.  Now only left 2 hanging around, they have become so homely that they started to come inside the house and sleep comfortably on my better half working chair. 

photo taken yesterday, they have grown up quite a bit.  I like cats but I hate so much if they do their business inside the house.  So far they are pretty discipline.  The rats will stay away with cats meow around.  Cats are cute regardless of the breed.

Sunday 4 March 2018

Sunday Rest Day, Family Day

As a full time working mum, Saturdays & Sundays are very precious days for me.  I still wake up early on Saturdays as it is a school days for my girls (except it's public holiday or school holidays).  We wake up slightly later on Sundays to church.  

It is family bonding time for me on these 2 days.  We can have breakfast together without having to rush to school or work, we can take our time to explore new places to have our meals, shopping and relax at home (I can take a nap whenever I want).

We tried out the Sandakan famous bouncy noodles after church this morning at Damai.

My daughters ordered the Sandakan bouncy noodles.  I still stick to my all time favourite meehoon soup.

 I did try a spoonful of the bouncy noodles but I did not like it.  It is too tough for me to chew, I am happy with the bowl of meehoon soup.  We also ordered a bowl of dumplings soup with pork and century egg fillings.  My better half gave the dumplings a thumbs up.
 The total bill is RM40.10 for 2 bowls of Sandakan bouncing noodles with soup, 1 bowl of mixed meehoon soup, I bowl of dumplings soup, 2 iced Milo, 1 coffee kahwin & 1 glass of Chinese Tea ping. These breakfast has kept us full till afternoon tea at 4pm.