Trying to grow vegetable

I bought this bitter gourd seeds together with some chili seeds many months ago. Since Clet is very much into Castor farming now, he always brings our girls to check on the progress of his plot of young Castor trees, we did some watering on the young Castor plants last Sunday too. Some way some how under such an influence, Crystal wanted to grow her own plant too. It is thrilled to see the seeds we sowed having new shoots after a few day.

We planted some chili seeds in the pot last week till now there isn't any new shoots coming out apart from wild grass, Crystal thought those are the new chili shoots. :) Will keep checking on them who knows there are shoots coming out soon!

I am trying my luck on these bitter gourd seeds which is expiring in 2011 same as the chili seeds. This time I planted them on the ground instead of in the pots.

While digging the soil, I dug out several of this root from the ground, at first I thought is onion, later than I realised they are the roots for the lily plants which Clet cleared them off together with the wild grass.

One of the bitter gourd seed ready to be planted. Hope it will grow to give us some bitter gourds (one of my favourite vegetable).

Tropical coconut shampoo for a change

I was jokingly telling Clet that I am going to get a coconut extract shampoo when we were on our way to the supermarket yesterday evening. Knowing that he doesn't like the smell of the coconut oil in the cooking for sure he doesn't like the coconut smell in the shampoo too. I told him that it would be best if I can find a shampoo content of coconut oil and aloe vera extracts, wonder where I can get one.???

I was delighted to see this Tropical Coconut shampoo in the supermarket. The coconut essence is not as strong as you may think, the fragrance is actually not bad, yes, I am going to try this one for a change.

Annual Detox and Rejuvenation

It has been more than a year since I last did my Detoxification and Rejuvenation Programme (DRP). After much delay, I finally put a date to do my annual DRP maintenance on the form to claim for a free set of DRP products from the Company.

I took home these set of health products yesterday and ordered some fruits and vegetable needed for the programme which I have planned to start next week for 7 days, it's going to be a long week because I can not eat like what I normally do, mind you I am a food lover thus a big eater, luckily I love fruits and vegetable or else it would be even tougher for me because lot of fruits and vegetable (preferably organic) are the main diet throughout.
Last year, healing crisis set in right after I completed the DRP programme, hope it won't be so bad this time. It is not easy to complete the whole 7 days program unless I am mentally and physical ready, that is the main cause of the delay in starting my yearly maintenance detox programme. :D, Well, I am all ready to roll now to a healthier me in 7 days.

One way for me to prepare a fast dinner is to dump all ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning before I go to work. It works pretty good for me as a full time working mum as I have got little time to prepare dinner during week days.

Yesterday morning, I boiled this pot of Kampung Chicken soup on the stove top till it is boiled then transferred the whole pot of soup into the slow cooker, set to low heat, let it cook by itself till I come back from work, usually more than 8 hours. Just add salt to taste and serve.

Slow cooker is very useful for cooking that requires long hours of boiling like kampung chicken soup such as this one. It is also ideal for stewing beef too.

A wedding token

I received this wedding token my colleague, Rosalind, who got married in August this year. Besides having their wedding dinner reception here in KK, they had another dinner reception in Kuala Lumpur a week later for her mum is from West Malaysia and her dad is working there as well.

She brought back this token from KL for us. I like the design very much and had not seen one like this KK. It is a red hard cover ang pow pocket stuffed with sweet chocolate inside. I specially like its bright red colour and the smiling couple. I am still keeping this pretty ang pow on my desk as decoration.

The Coconut Oil Miracle

The Coconut Oil Miracle by Bruce Fife, C.N., N.D. is a book I have been reading for the last 4 weeks. It has been due to be returned to the library 2 weeks ago but I am still have not finished reading it. It is a very resourceful book about the benefits of coconut oil that I am ready to pay for the fine. :D

It's hard for me to find time to read a book, the only time I could do some reading is when I do my coffee enema that's when I could do nothing but lay down for a good 10-12 minutes waiting for the coffee to cleanse my colon once or twice a week, and at times I do some reading during my private time in the toilet, :D. That's why it takes ages for me to finish this 232-pages thick book.

Like many others (before reading this book), I thought coconut oil is very fattening because of it is a saturated fat, this medium chain fatty acid is in fact promote weight loss, consuming coconut oil can actually helps reduce weight (first time I got to know eating fats/oil can be slimmer +_+), and it also provides a much healthy diet in strengthening our immune system thus protecting us from heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other generative diseases. Help us to look younger too.

Let me just show you the contents of this book to give us some ideas what health benefits coconut oil could bring:

Home cooked steamed dishes

I always opt for steamed food over fried food. A steamer in the kitchen come very handy, more so if you have got an electric steamer, and we were given one by my SIL. I always use it for steaming fish, vegetable, heating up food (instead of using microwave) .

Last night, I have got an idea of dumping everything in the steamer, cook and heat up everything at one go, save time and my energy. This was what I did,

Steam chicken on the top layer, warming of lamb curry in the middle decker, and steam organic cabbage on the bottom decker.

the raw chicken ready to be steamed

the steamed chicken, the soup is tasty

warmed up curry lamb

before steaming

steamed cabbage with dried shrimps

Fine Multi Grains from Greenmax

After trying half a glass of my colleague's eight grains dessert the other day, I want to cook some for myself too, I like the taste, the ingredients and the health benefits of having natural grains as meals or dessert. She brought the dessert from home as lunch, so it was not nice of me to ask for a share of her lunch. She told me that she bought the mixed grains from the supermarket's organic food section, I set my mind to buy a packet this weekend.

Last night, I bought a small packet of Greenmax brand Fine multi grains from a hypermarket nearby. I would like to try cooking some this weekend by using slow cooker so I do not have to keep checking on it.

It consists of 11 types of grains and seeds, can be cooked into rice, or porridge (meat can be added too) or dessert (if you like it sweet). Hope my girls will like it; I think they prefer the porridge to be very soft and fine.

Happy Moon Cake / Mid Autumn Festival

The moon shining so bright & round tonite, on a Mid-Autumn day

We only bought 3 moon cakes this year. I brought one for the gathering at Angie's new home on 31.08.2010 (a once in year gathering with my Innosabah's ex-colleauges). One for Pearl's school. Each of the students has to bring a moon cake to school for mid-autumn celebration. Crystal insisted to buy one more because she likes to eat. Which she did, she ate almost half of the moon cake these two days.

Previous years, we used to buy a box of moon cakes for my parents. However, we stopped doing that this year, because just 2-3 weeks ago my father admitted to the hospital the day after he ate about one whole moon cake by himself, his blood pressure shot up to 230+ and sugar level undoubted went up as well. He can't afford to have another stroke. So we have to control on buying moon cakes for health reasons, furthermore, the price of the moon cake is not cheap.

Crystal enjoying the moon cake, she likes the one with yolk

Crystal asked me why we celebrate Moon cake festival, I told her that I need to find out how the story goes, I can only remember there was a beautiful lady called Chang-er based on an ancient story. So I searched on internet this evening, there I found several versions of the story, I got myself confused which one is accurate, at the end I told her that she will learn about it in school in the future. I never remember Chinese history or stories that's one of my weak point being a Chinese (a Malaysian Chinese, can be excused ba...haha!).

We had a simple dinner at brother's house, we are all working today so only my mum did the cooking herself. A bit stressful on her.

Rainbow over the Mount Kinabalu

These scenes were taken when Cletus was on his way to Sandakan last week. A rainbow over the majestic Mt Kinabalu can rarely be seen by most of us living in the city.

Avoid Canola oil

Thanks to an email from one of our friend with a message he forwarded about the danger of consuming Canola cooking oil. I have been very choosy on the type of cooking oil therefore this has prompted me to read on what is all about on Canola oil.

Shocking to learn that Canola oil is not food; Canola is a genetically engineered plant developed in Canada from the Rapeseed plant, it is very toxic and not meant for human consumption, generally used as lubricant for industrial used.

After reading this article, Canola oil became clearer and familiar in my mind, I have seen it someway, I quickly went into my kitchen to check on the cooking oil that I just bought....yak..Canola & Sunflower Oil clearly stated on the bottle, worst still I have been buying and my family have been consuming it. Pure ignorant on my part, all this while I thought vegetable and plants oil are similarly good for health.

A bottle of newly bought Canola cooking oil in my kitchen

Recently I bought a bottle of extra virgin coconut oil meant for hair care and also read about the benefits of using coconut oil for cooking. Luckily for the past few days I have been using the extra virgin coconut oil for my cooking, if hadn't Clet gone outstation I would have used the Canola oil because he doesn't like the smell of the coconut oil in the food.

A bottle of my extra virgin coconut oil, produce of the Philippines

I have decided to throw the bottle of Canola & Sunflower oil into the bin though I have not used much of it, why should I continue feeding ourselves poison, right? you can read the health hazard of Canola oil here or try search more about it on the web.

Even though coconut oil is known as the best cooking oil for health, some may not like its strong essence, the next best choice would be olive oil but it is much more expensive. Any good suggestion on alternative healthy cooking oil?

The Promise of God

Rainbow - the promise of God, one of the beauty of God's creations.

We saw a very nice rainbow on our way home this afternoon. I captured this beautiful scene from my garage as soon as we reached home. In fact this is a half circle rainbow appeared in the sky but I was unable to capture it all with my camera, joining these 2 photos together will give you a full picture of how beautiful this rainbow was.

More pictures on Catherine's blog.

Crowd control products

Crowd control products can commonly be seen in the banks, government departments, cinemas, galleries, post offices, airports and places where control is needed to keep the crowd staying in the line and get them organized at all times.

Crowd control products like stanchions, velvet ropes, barricades are used in exhibition halls too. These products are highly portable, can be easily moved to suit any locations and occasions. I personally find that with the presence of these products in places I go, they give me a sense of directions, especially with information stating on sign frames.

I always get annoyed with the queuing system in the school canteen where the parents always jump queue to buy food in the morning rush. The school should start using the crowd control products to keep those impatient parents stay in line and let the children get their breakfast first before the bell ring.

Raya Cookies & Selamat Hari Raya

Clet's company received a basket of assorted raya cookies from his business counterpart this year. It was presented in a simple but nicely decorated basket consisted of 5 types of cookies. We appreciate the very good gestures from them and we are sharing these cookies with our family members.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND ESPECIALLY TO MUSLIM FRIEND S WHO ARE VISITING MY BLOG!!

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Greenmax Yam Nutritious Cereal

Yet another health drink from Greenmax, the Yam Nutritious Cereal. My colleague gave a few packets to me because she did not realise it is savoury when she bought it. She prefers the sweet ones. It taste more like soup than a drink to me. Best to serve hot.

The ingredients as indicated in the packet : Yam, Tomato, Pumpkin, Seeds, Green Tea, Job's Tear, Wild Rice, Flat Red bean, Black Bean, wheat Germ, Black Sesame, White Sesame, Sea Weed, Oats, Buck'wheat, Wheat (Cereal Containing Gluten), Vegetables (Carrot, Cabbage, Celery), Sea Salt.