Vain or Not

Little Lea came home over the weekend telling me that her friend Juventis (if that is how it's spelled) had nail polish on her nails and it was so pretty. Normally I let my girls do their nails during the school holidays but not on a school term. I wasn't sure if the teachers in her Kindy would approve of it. Even they are not allowed to have coloured hair bands, clips and hair ties except for blue, black and brown. And I'm talking about Nursery and Kindy, not Primary School.

But Lea was adamant in wanting to be a Princess nowadays. She had become very girly girly lately, perhaps following her sis' footsteps. She is learning to like Pink stuff, Princess stuff and all that girly things Rae has always liked.

On Sunday morning, I came down and saw Lea on the floor, wearing a crown and painting her nails! Gosh my 4 year old is getting quite vain, eh? Rae wasn't even aware of things like these till she was about 5 or 6.. I cleaned out the nail polish on Sunday evening and she threw into a tantrum...

Cool Hot Weather

The weather gets pretty hot in Singapore lately. In Singapore recently, we had forest fires blazing away because of the heat. And in the concrete jungle in the city, the haze is more prominent as it gets trap among the tall buildings.

It may be hot in Singapore but perhaps after living in the tropical city all my life, our body is already 'seasoned' to withstand the heat. I suppose if you were to put me in another country like the deserts in Australia or Arizona deserts in United States, it shouldn't be a problem. The only difference would be the humidity levels. Arizona is known for its desert climate but compared with Singapore, at least it still has it's winter and cool breezes. November through February is considered cool winter months with temperatures of 4 deg C - 24 deg C and summer months of about 32 deg C - 48 deg C.

I definitely prefer to have some cool months like those in Arizona because the only cool temperature of below 24 deg C in Singapore means we are in the mall or in our own home enjoying the air conditioning. Time to look at what the homes in Scottsdale have to offer. We are talking about big open spaces, big homes and rooms, perhaps a possible cactus garden and a real garage for the car. How about a space for a swimming pool? It does sound tempting.

Awarded

I received two beautiful awards from my favourite bloggers, Claire and Jo-N. Claire gave me a Best Mom Award. Jo-N awarded me an Awesome Award.. WOW! How Flattering these awards are!

Thank you for your thoughts and thanks so much for the continuous support both of you have been. It is not easy to find many good friends especially bloggers but I have found that in both of them, among many others too.

A meal for her Collection

I was a sea shell collector in my youth. I collected large milo tins of various sea shells and when i was in my 20s, my island hopping trips like Langkawi, Phuket and Tioman made my collections bigger. I even bought big sea shells that had been varnished from vendors and wanted to dressed up my home with these shells cemented on the wall. However when I had both my daughters, I decided to throw them away for hygiene purpose. It was quite a shame to do that.

My eldest daughter now loves sea shells. And she would probably have loved my collections so she really has to start her own collection. In Singapore, we hardly could find shells on the beach. And what made it worst was a request from her art teacher to bring shells to school for art..

So what did I do? I went to the local market and bought a mixture of clams and shellfish! hehehe What can I do? I can't get them if we do not have the time to go island hopping right?

See, we cooked a variety of Chilly Tomato Clams and Shellfish... had a good meal then wash, soak and clean the shells for her...Good Idea?

My Kids, My Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!

The girls have been secretive in the past week. They talk in whispers and they walk like crab in front of me (walking sideways) acting suspiscious and hiding things behind their backs. As much as they try to do things not to make me aware, I knew what they were up to because they whisper so loud, act too weird and my younger one tries to sneak colour paper IN FRONT of me and hide behind her back thinking these actions are invinsible. Well, nothing escapes mom's eagle eye.

They were making me a gift (stringing a necklace of Beads) and making a Valentine Card for me of course. And I have to pretend nothing happens of course, not to spoil their fun. And I had to also pretend nothing happened when I was on the dining table and my elder girl was still stringing her beads under the table while eating breakfast. Once she dropped the chain and I could hear the beads dropping one by one onto the floor... and although I wanted to help her pick them up, I had to turn a deaf ear on it since she pretended nothing happened but her eyes and mouth open wide when it happened!

Then this morning, they both came to me with a wrapped envelope sized gift for me.. Mommy, we have something for you... I opened it and saw their lovely patient gift of a beady necklace and cards they painstakingly took a week to make for me. I was so touched and happy. Gave them hugs and kisses.

A beautiful necklace using beads.
It even has a string of word - MUMMY.. I was so touched.

Cards made by Lea and Rae.

Oh I also bought them Valentine gifts... something they both WANTED BADLY! A Ben 10 watch with sound effects! They were both ecstatic of course!! They wanted to zap everything they see and they spoke in unusual alien languages...

Ben 10 Fans!

Lea Dances

Lea loves to dance. Any type of song that she thinks is worthy to. A facebook friend shared an indian upbeat song and dance video recently. Lea heard it and quickly moved to action. Indian dances usually have quick dance movements and very active. But that doesn't stop Lea from trying to learn it. Watch and enjoy how she does it.

Hmmmm for a four year old, I think she has a little potential, don't you?

Salivating over Biriyani

I'm in this delirious craving for Indian food these days. If Ah Boy was around for dinner, perhaps we can take a walk into Karu's curry for some nice Masala Curry or something. Ohh and those papadums that are free flow.. makes my mouth water already.

I bought a pack of Basmati Rice last month. I have to cook it by hook or by crook one of these days. So I dropped by at Sheng Shiong on Saturday and bought this pack of Biriyani Masala powder. I am not sure if it's good but this beats all the spices that I am not too sure about. There is A Lot of work in cooking Chicken Biriyani and the Rice, 'Dum' style. I am thinking of challenging myself to try it.

So when should I be trying it? Perhaps on Saturday? Or on the next few days.. I've been reading up on the recipes and methods for Chicken Biriyani. Anyone has cooked it before?

Read About My Garbage Enzyme Post

Following the previous post about Garbage Enzyme, check out the MY FIRST GARBAGE ENZYME on my other blog, fadaboutfood.com

I posted some photos of some steps and the recipe of Garbage Enzyme. It is not yucky at all and should not be foul smelling because the dregs are mainly veg and fruits. No meat, no oil, etc.

I would like to encourage my readers here to try it, for the sake of our environment. It is very simple and can be done in your kitchen if you cook everyday. Keep the vegetable and fruit skins and parts of the vegetable you are going to throw away in a bag and save it for making garbage enzyme. You can start making it right away. Be sure to measure the weight of vegetable dregs you add each day as you add into the container. For me, I actually collect those dregs in a bag, keep it chilled in the fridge for 2 days and weigh them and made it. But you can measure the sugar solution in the container, leave it aside and add the veg dregs in daily too. Once the right weight of dregs are in, close the lid tight and mark your dates.

The Miraculous Garbage Enzyme

Sometime last week, I chatted online with a good friend, Taoju. She was telling me about this Green Movement called Garbage Enzyme. I didn't really understand much about it, actually. She told me about the advantages of the Enzyme and how one can use it to enhance cleaning more effectively.

To me, of course I can always buy that cleaner, detergent, antiseptic liquid from the stores. These are just as effective. However, one thing that drawn me to grow interest in it was not really the cleaning part, but the usage of it that can help us create a more environmentally friendly world. If we could use less of those 'bad' chemicals that is depleting the ozone layer and do otherwise, why not?

Garbage Enzyme works in a miraculous way in purifying our earth.


What can Garbage Enzyme do?

Purify Air/Reduce Pollution
Can you imagine how much pollution is in the air? All that smoke from cigarettes, exhaust, chemical residues from our household products.

Purify Underground Water
The enzyme we create when is flowed to the ground goes down further and also helps to purify the water from our rivers and to the sea water.

Natural Pesticide
Enzyme acts as a natural pesticide so we can be rid of pests like cockroaches, flies and mosquitos that carries many ailments to human

Antiseptic Use/Household
It has anti bacterial value and you can use it in your household as a natural antiseptic. Adding 30mls of enzyme to the water you use to mop the floor acts as a cleaner and steriliser. Soaking your vegetable in 30mls of enzyme and 1 litre water helps to clean your vegetable/fruits more effectively from the pesticides/chemical residue that are toxic to our health.

Prevent Chokage
Residues are also what is creating our basins and toilet bowls clogged up. These chemical residue can be released when you pour some amount of concentrated enzyme into the toilet bowl. It will help to purify sewage and prevent blockage. Adding a little to your cistern also helps to purify the water.

Deodorizer
Spraying this enzyme in the air helps to deodorize the air since it works as a purifier and antiseptic. It has been successfully tested to remove bad odour from shoes soaked in it for a short period of time instead of a whole day (Taoju tested this on her kids' dirty gym shoes).

Others
It also helps to cool down your car temperature if you add 30mls of enzyme into your water tank. If you have pets at home, bathe your pets in an appropriate amount or deodorize the kennel to rid it of bacterial and foul smell.

The release of Garbage Enzyme to the ground and air will in future help to ease global warming. Garbage Enzyme was invented by Dr. Rosukon from Thailand who was concern about the state of the world, the depleting ozone layer. She has been encouraging people to start saving the earth by making garbage enzyme at home from our kitchen.


I kept an open mind and for the next two days thereafter, I did more readings from the internet to read about the usage as well as how to create this Garbage Enzyme from our kitchen waste. Creating the Garbage Enzyme is actually very easy.

All you need are:
An Airtight Plastic Container
Brown Sugar/Molasses
Water
Vegetable/Fruit Dregs

The ratio for the ingredients in making Garbage Enzyme is:
1 part Sugar
10 parts Water
3 parts Dregs

Remember to use a plastic container as there will be some gas build up. The ingredients when added up should come up to about 80% of your container, thus 20% space is needed for fermentation. You may release the gas once in a while (some say once daily, some say once every week) in the first month during the fermentation process. After that keep it airtight till it reaches the end of the 3rd month when it is ready for use. Filter it into your bottles and use it on your household and those recommended.

You may read up more in detail on it's usage recommendation here.

Let's all do our part. And if this Garbage Enzyme is natural and effective, why not?

I have started collecting dregs for making Garbage Enzyme. Watch out for it.

UPDATED! Read about the GARBAGE ENZYME I DID on my other blog.

Social Problems

I read about the crime rates that are going up lately. Could it be the desperation of the weak economy that is driving such people to them? I certainly hope not. Watering holes at the local pub are seeing an increase of customers as people drink their sorrow away for those who finds themselves deeper in the financial crunch.

Those who need to seek help like alcohol, codeine and cocaine addiction and more may find it in Promises, a treatment center. It involves in a variety of treatment modalities like psychiatry, counseling and psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral techniques, stress management strategies, holistic therapy and medically- monitored detox. There is no compromise for the best treatment and environment at Promises.