I think my daughter is "addicted" to milk. I don't mind if it's Raina because she is only 7 months old and is fully on breast milk, but it's Ayra.

At 2 years old, milk is still Ayra's number one source of food (if that counts as food). Can you believe everyday she drinks 7oz of milk every 2-3 hours?! Macam baby pulak.

Oh by the way, if she wants milk, she'll say "Nak shi-shi" (shi-shi = susu).





Ayra only eats a minuscule amount of food or sometimes she refuses to eat anything and only wants milk. Kalau tak bagi susu, mengamuk! I was kinda curious of how her milk tastes like yang membuatkan dia sampai tak nak makan semua benda so I tasted it. OMG have you ever tasted your kid's milk? I was surprised it was sweet! I've always thought kid's milk powder rasa macam yucky but no, it tastes just like adult's milk powder yang dah dicampur gula.


It never occurred to me to check how much added sugars are in her milk until I got this sugar calculator, which can be used to check the level of added sugars in your kid's growing up milk powder based on the amount of carbohydrate per serving.



As I've mentioned in my previous post, the common names for added sugars are corn syrup solid, sucrose and glucose syrup solid. But most of the time, they don't list it as any of those in the ingredient so look for carbohydrate instead. The amount of carbohydrate per serving in the milk powder that Ayra is currently drinking is 23.6 grams...




So I pointed the arrow at number 23 on the sugar calculator and OH. MY. GOD.



There's approximately 7-10 teaspoons of added sugar in her milk - IN A SINGLE SERVING!!! This is shocking news! I almost had a heart attack when I saw the number. I seriously don't know what to think. Is that how much sugar I've been feeding my child all this while?? Isn't that like the same amount of sugar in a can of Coke or something?




I really need to do something. Do you mommies know any growing up milk with less sugar or better yet, no added sugar? Seriously this is not funny. You should really check the amount of added sugars in your kid's growing up milk powder too using that sugar calculator. Or you can just check it at www.semakgula.com.my. Please tell anyone you know with children about this. Excessive sugar intake at such a young age can lead to a lot of health problems!

Labels: Advertorials, Mommyhood and Baby

Labels: Wordless Wednesday

This is what happens when I'm in a hurry:



Thing is, it always happens to my favorite scarves. That's the fifth favorite scarf so far, ruined by Mr. Iron. And I have only wore it three times! I don't have a lot of scarves... Well ok, I did have quite a lot. I had about a hundred scarves - but that was before the iron ate 5 of them and before I decided I don't want about half of the scarves I have (too dull, too lembik, too keras, too small, too big, too short, too long, haiyoo).


These are the only ones that I like at the moment.






Most of my scarves are from Tie Rack, but I also have other brands including Mortada, Donatello, Warehouse, Next and also from pasar malam. I don't wear expensive scarves one!


Oh by the way, did you notice I have the least number of pink scarves?
Yeah well, I like pink but I don't really like to wear pink! ;D

Labels: Fashion

I spent the whole afternoon today playing around with my new toy, the Nikon DSLR, while my kids were playing with their toys.

But that was before Ayra dropped the camera lens on the floor! *shudders*




Yes, my new just-out-of-the-box camera lens terjatuh atas lantai! I was taking out the camera from the box when I heard my baby crying (she was in another room with Ayra) so I left the camera and everything on the bedside table and went to get her. The next thing I know, I heard a thud coming from the room where I left my camera. Thank God it didn't break or anything. Kalau tidak, pasti saya akan bertukar jadi Green Hulk. I am never going to leave my DSLR anywhere reachable by my kids even if it's just for 3 seconds!

Anyways...

I studied the manual for a good 5 minutes and then decided to just test it out using the basic point-and-shoot mode. I'm loving it!












Aperture, ISO, white balance and whatnot tak khatam lagi. Nanti-nanti lah belajar! ;D

Labels: Gadgets

Excuse me for being overexcited but I JUST WON A NIKON D3100 DSLR!!!




Nikon offered the prize for blogger with the best video for Nikon Coolpix S1100pj (the camera with projector, remember?). I was shocked and literally jumped up and down, yay-ing like a mad person when Nuffnang emailed me that I was one of the winners! (Kenny Sia was the other winner by the way).


You see, this is the first time I have ever won anything and I never owned a DSLR camera before so of course I was mad excited! Hubby was even planning to get one for me the other day. Tiba-tiba menang! It's like a dream come true, Alhamdulillah. Thank you Nikon, thank you Nuffnang and of course... thank you dear hubby for helping me with the video! Couldn't have won it without your help! ;D



This camera got great reviews on Amazon.com by the way.
I cannot wait to use it!

Labels: Gadgets

Labels: Wordless Wednesday

This is The Apartment's Chicken & Mushroom Pasta.



And this is MY apartment's Chicken & Mushroom Pasta. Tee-hee!



This chicken & mushroom pasta is actually my first time cooking pasta that is not tomato or cream based. After having it for the third time at The Apartment, I decided to try making my own using err... my instincts. I mean, the ingredients are all there in the pasta - chicken, mushrooms, garlic, cherry tomatoes, rocket.

The rest hentam saja.

A little bit of chili flakes, a splash of Italian zesty dressing, a bit of this, a bit of that and it's done. It's not exactly the same like The Apartment's of course - my version is spicier!




And the best bit of all?

My fussy little eater actually liked it! (I think because it was spicy).

Labels: Food and Recipes

When we were small, my mom used to be very strict about our consumption of sugary stuff. Eating chocolates, candies, ice-creams and soft drinks was like a crime. Seriously, she was so strict. Me and my adik-adik were not allowed to buy them ourselves. We can only have chocolates and ice-creams once in a while when mom was around.





Now that I am a mother, I try to follow my mom's step. I only allow my 2-year-old to have ice-creams and chocolates once in a while (like, once or twice a month), itu pun setakat bagi rasa sikit jer. But she's not a fan of those - or at least, not yet!


Anyway, the other day I went to a talk about excessive sugar intake in children. One of the topics was about "Kempen Kurangkan Pengambilan Gula" which was launched by the Ministry of Health last year. They found out that the average Malaysian adult adds 7 teaspoons of sugar in his/her drinks per day, not including the sugar we take in other food like breads, doughnuts, cookies, cakes, etc. So now it is estimated we consume more than the World Health Organization recommendation. Yikes! We Malaysian are really "sweet" people, aren't we?!


I've always thought there are good sugar and bad sugar, just like fats. There aren't. There are 2 types of sugars tho: natural sugar and added sugar. Natural sugar is found in fruits, veggies and honey. Added sugar is processed sugar that you add to your food and drinks. Natural sugar sounds like a good type of sugar and added sugar sounds like the bad one, right? Well, not really. I was surprised to find out that even natural sugar can lead to health implications, just like added sugar, if consumed excessively!


Even tho my child doesn't eat chocolates, candies and ice-creams, she still eats sugary food. It's not like I'm not aware of that. It's just that.... Ayra is a very VERY fussy eater. She only wants to eat fish, chicken, carrots, apples, pears, bread and hmm....that's all. Itu pun ikut mood dia, kadang-kadang tak nak langsung. But what she likes the most are roti krim, chocolate drinks, yogurt and kids' cereal so I thought takpe la, at least she eats something daripada tak makan langsung.




To be honest, when I buy food, I would only look for the expiry date and halal ingredients/label. I never really bothered to check the nutritional information except for the calorie content. But I've learned now that it's important to check for sugar content as well. The common names for added sugar are sucrose, corn syrups solids and glucose syrups solids. Sometimes they don't list it as any one of those but it's included in carbohydrate - the higher the carbohydrate, the higher the level of added sugar!


It's very challenging to feed kids, kan? Especially fussy eaters! I don't want my kids to develop sweet tooth since they are young because too much sugar can lead to obesity, diabetes, dental caries and other serious health problems. Maybe I should look for non-added sugar products instead, but I wonder if she'll like it. Do you mommies have the same problems like I do? How do you control your kids' sugar intake? Share please!

Labels: Advertorials, Food and Recipes, Mommyhood and Baby

Labels: Family/Friends

My uncle emailed this to me (and my cousins). It made me want to be a better wife and mom after reading it. And I thought of sharing it here. Tak tahu sahih ke tidak, wallahualam, tapi kesimpulannya perempuan memang senang nak dapat pahala, especially wives and mothers.


1. Seorang wanita solehah adalah lebih baik daripada 70 orang wali.

2. Seorang wanita solehah adalah lebih baik daripada 70 lelaki soleh.

3. Seorang wanita yang jahat adalah lebih buruk daripada 1,000 lelaki yang jahat.

4. 2 rakaat solat dari wanita yang hamil adalah lebih baik daripada 80 rakaat solat wanita yang tidak hamil.

5. Wanita yang memberi minum susu kepada anaknya daripada badannya (susu badan) akan dapat satu pahala daripada tiap-tiap titik susu yang diberikannya.

6. Wanita yang melayan dengan baik suami yang pulang ke rumah di dalam keadaan letih akan mendapat pahala jihad.

7. Wanita yang habiskan malamnya dengan tidur yang tidak selesa kerana menjaga anaknya yang sakit akan mendapat pahala seperti membebaskan 20 orang hamba.

8. Wanita yang melihat suaminya dengan kasih sayang dan suami yang melihat isterinya dengan kasih sayang akan dipandang Allah dengan penuh rahmat.

9. Wanita yang menyebabkan suaminya keluar dan berjuang ke jalan Allah dan kemudian menjaga adab rumahtangganya akan masuk syurga 500 tahun lebih awal daripada suaminya, akan menjadi ketua 70,000 malaikat dan bidadari dan wanita itu akan dimandikan di dalam syurga, dan menunggu suaminya dengan menunggang kuda yang dibuat daripada yakut.

10. Wanita yang tidak cukup tidur pada malam hari kerana menjaga anak yang sakit akan diampunkan oleh Allah akan seluruh dosanya dan bila dia hiburkan hati anaknya Allah memberi 12 tahun pahala ibadat.

11. Wanita yang memerah susu binatang dengan "bismillah" akan didoakan oleh binatang itu dengan doa keberkatan.

12. Wanita yang menguli tepung gandum dengan bismillah", Allah akan berkatkan rezekinya.

13. Wanita yang menyapu lantai dengan berzikir akan mendapat pahala seperti meyapu lantai di baitullah.

14. Wanita yang menjaga solat, puasa dan taat pada suami, Allah akan mengizinkannya untuk memasuki syurga dari mana-mana pintu yang dia suka.

15. Wanita yang hamil akan dapat pahala berpuasa pada siang hari.

16. Wanita yang hamil akan dapat pahala beribadat pada malam hari.

17. Wanita yang bersalin akan mendapat pahala 70 tahun solat dan puasa dan setiap kesakitan pada satu uratnya Allah mengurniakan satu pahala haji.

18. Sekiranya wanita mati dalam masa 40 hari selepas bersalin, dia akan dikira sebagai mati syahid.

19. Jika wanita melayan suami tanpa khianat akan mendapat pahala 12 tahun solat.

20. Jika wanita menyusui anaknya sampai cukup tempoh (2 1/2 tahun), maka maalaikat-maalaikat di langit akan habarkan berita bahawa syurga wajib baginya.

21. Jika wanita memberi susu badannya kepada anaknya yang menangis, Allah akan memberi pahala satu tahun solat dan puasa.

22. Jika wanita memicit suami tanpa disuruh akan mendapat pahala 7 tola emas dan jika wanita memicit suami bila disuruh akan mendapat pahala tola perak.

23. Wanita yang meninggal dunia dengan keredhaan suaminya akan memasuki syurga.

24. Jika suami mengajarkan isterinya satu masalah akan mendapat pahala 80 tahun ibadat.


Pandangan: Amatlah mudah bagi seorang wanita untuk menjejak Syurga.

Namun begitu mengapa terlalu ramai yang masih hidup dalam kejahilan?

Sang suami pula perlu ingat, tidak kamu jejaki syurga sebelum keluarga kamu menjejak syurga. Jangan ingat hendak kahwin empat jika yang satu belum terbela. Yang belum kahwin tu ingat, kamu terdedah kepada kemungkaran. Iman akan dicabar sehebat-hebatnya ketika ini. Pilih lah Syurga dan bukannya Neraka.

Siapa tahu, hari ini kita tak sampai ke rumah sebab dipertengahan jalan kita bertemu Izrail.

Siapa tahu, hari ini hari terakhir kita berjumpa pasangan kita sebab dipertengahan jalan, dia berjumpa Izrail. Bagaimana rasanya ketika berjumpa Izrail?
Untuk yang beriman, macam 700 pedang yang tajam mencucuk kamu dalam semua arah. Yang tak beriman,bayangkan pisau potong daging kat pasar tu yang tumpul.

Pisau tu menetak kepala kita macam mana orang memecahkan tempurung kelapa. Kepala kita di kopak dua,dipisahkan dengan kasarnya, ketika kita masih hidup. Lepas tu di kapak-kapak kan kepala kita macam tembikai. Itu baru bab kepala. Belum masuk tangan, kaki, badan, etc.


Hadis Nabi mengenai wanita.

Doa perempuan lebih makbul daripada lelaki kerana sifat penyayang yang lebih kuat daripada lelaki. Ketika ditanya kepada Rasulullah akan hal tersebut, jawab baginda, "Ibu lebih penyayang daripada bapa dan doa orang yang penyayang tidak akan sia-sia".


Nilai Seorang Wanita Solehah

Dibawah ini adalah beberapa petikan hadis yang menyatakan mengenai kelebihan wanita solehah, mudah-mudahan dengan membaca dan menghayati hadis ini akan memberi kekuatan kepada kita untuk mengamalkan Islam dalam erti kata yang sebenarnya. InsyaAllah.

"Empat jenis, siapa yang diberi akan keempat-empat jenis ini bererti dia telah memperolehi sebaik-baik dunia dan akhirat. Iaitu hati yang selalu bersyukur, lidah yang sentiasa berzikir, jiwa yang selalu sabar dengan cubaan dan isteri yang tidak melakukan dosa dan menzalimi suaminya". Ath-Thabrani.

"Tidak perlu lagi seorang mukmin setelah ianya bertakwa kepada ALLAH akan sebaik-baik keperluan baginya selain dari isteri yang solehah. Jika ia menyuruh isteri mentaatinya. Dan jika dia melihat kepada isterinya, isterinya menyukakan hatinya. Dan jika dia menyumpah memarahi isterinya, isterinya tetap juga berbuat baik kepada suaminya. Dan jika suaminya tiada dirumah dia menyimpan rahsia dan harta suaminya". Ibnu-majah.

"Janganlah kamu mengahwini wanita kerana paras rupa yang cantik, mungkin paras rupa itu membawa kehancuran, jangan kamu kahwini wanita kerana hartanya kerana berkemungkinan harta itu membawa kepada kezaliman. Tetapi kahwinlah wanita kerana agamanya, seorang wanita hamba yang hitam yang menghayati agama sesungguhnya lebih baik". Ibnu - Majah.

Labels: Random Stuff

Sometimes I am so jealous of my husband. Even after 11 years, he still hangs out with his high school buddies almost EVERY WEEK! Bromance. Sheeshhh.


The last time I met my high school friends was..... about 2 months ago (and that was after more than a year tak jumpa).

Labels: Family/Friends

Most of the time when I hear a song, I'd go like "Oh I know this song! I've heard it before.... But umm I don't know who sang it and what's the title of the song".

I suck at identifying song titles and sometimes, the artistes.

Yeap, not even the ever-so-"fofuler" Justin Bieber's Baby song. But now I know la, after asking about it on Twitter some time ago. And I actually *ehem* like the song - Glee's version! ;p


But if you're nothing like me; if you listen to a lot of music and you know them, then you might wanna participate in JD & Dilly's ShortCuts to RM50,000 contest on MIX Breakfast Show!




Basically, JD and Dilly will play a montage of 4 song snippets and you need to identify the song titles and artistes correctly in the correct sequence and if you can do that within 10 seconds, you'll get RM1000 cash! Awesome, no? But even if you can't, you'd still get RM100 for every correct artist and song title.

You know, sometimes I just google a part of the lyrics of the song that I like to find the song title. Maybe you can do that too, except you have to be very quiet so that the DJs can't hear you typing away on your computer and of course you have to be a super duper fast typer because it's only within 10 seconds. Good luck with that.


Or you know, if you don't wanna participate in the contest because you suck at identifying songs like I do and you're not a super duper fast typer, you could just listen to MIX fm Breakfast Show on your way to work, especially if you're stuck in traffic jam and you've got nothing fun to do.



Some of the "menus" on MIX Breakfast Show:


JD's Classifieds
A segment where JD picks a job in the classifieds section of the new paper, calls them up to hassle them for a job with his "special" requirements which includes less work more pay, more benefits and less work stress. Happens every weekday at 7.15am and repeats at 6.30am.


Dilly's Daily Dilemma
This is a segment by Dilly where she plays Aunt Agony trying to solve people's everyday dilemma and problems with the help of our callers and professional help. Happens every week day at 7.30am and repeats at 6.15am.


Battle of The Sexes
The battle between the female and male species to determine which species is the smarter gender. Both genders will be given a series of gender based questions to answer (girls to get guy based questions and guys get girl based questions). The losing gender will have their team captains, in this case, JD for the Guys and Dilly for the Girls, being punished at the month.


Brain Freeze
You will be given a daily riddle and you have to work out the answer within half an hour. See if you can get it!


Like A Version
The old and the new - take a look back at an older version of a song which is covered or sampled in today's new music. Great way to test your musical knowledge too.


You can even listen to MIX fm on your computer.
Just log on to www.mix.fm and click on the Listen Now! button at the top of the page.

Labels: Advertorials, Nuffnang

I don't like to cook in a hurry (kids want my attention) or when I'm hungry, or worse, when I'm hungry and in a hurry. It can be so stressing. And when I am stressed out, I would turn into Incredible Hulk. And when I turned into Incredible Hulk, I cannot focus on my cooking. And when I cannot focus on my cooking, my dishes turned out salty, what supposed to be soft and fluffy turned out rock hard, fingers sliced, plates crashed, burnt tea towels. It's a mayhem! (ok fine, the last two did not happen but still, it could!).


I find the easiest thing to cook when I'm in a hurry/hungry situation is... PANCAKE. Can I call myself the Pancake Queen? Coz I love pancakes and I love to make them. I could eat them everyday. I could make them everyday. The batter only takes about 3 minutes to make, and you can set it aside and do something else - in my case, entertain my kids for 20 minutes.


And so the other day when I was facing the "in a hurry-hungry" situation, I made pancake sandwiches. You can use just about anything for your sandwich fillings, but this zucchini-eggplant-mushroom-beef pastrami combo is SO good! I got the recipe from my mom. And it's still so easy to make, I promise. I use this pancake recipe but reduced the brown sugar to only 2 tablespoons.





And there you have it, pancake sandwich!





Kalau ada cheese pasti lagi sedap.
Ohh cheese...

Labels: Food and Recipes

Remember this facial promo that I purchased from myDeal some time ago?




Yeah well, my husband and I went to redeem it last Saturday. You see, the main reason why I purchased this deal is because of the usage of edible chocolate and honey in the facial. But there were none!


Everything was fine at first. In fact, it was nice. The place (Timers Beauty at Jaya One) was not bad, the staff were friendly. Then halfway through the facial, the facial therapist asked me if I wanted to add a treatment called "M-Peel" or something like that so I thought, sure why not. It's only RM15. She told me that the "M-Peel" thingy will be done before applying the mask, which of course I thought was the chocolate and honey mask. But it wasn't. The facial therapist said there must be a mistake because the chocolate and honey facial is more expensive than the ones we paid for so she'll be using oxygen mask instead. I told her that the facial promo that we paid for includes chocolate and honey mask. Unfortunately, there was no mention of "chocolate and honey" in the vouchers that we printed so there was no proof. The facial therapist excused herself for a while to check with her boss about it.


A few minutes later, she came back and said her boss told her that the chocolate and honey mask is for dull and stressed skin. She said my skin was not kusam and that I don't have problems with my skin so I should use the oxygen mask instead which helps the skin to breathe, blablabla. At that point aku dah malas nak layan so I was like, whatever. I thought my husband would get the chocolate and honey mask because he has tired skin but he didn't get as well. Don't get me wrong, there was nothing bad about the oxygen mask. It was nice actually - very cooling and I like it BUT I felt cheated. I want chocolate and honey mask!


Back at home I checked the deal just to be sure (thank God I saved the screenshot on my laptop). It was clearly stated: "Yummy! Edible honey and chocolate used in the facial" (refer to the screenshot above). I don't know if they forgot about it, but there are other people who bought this deal as well. Adakah mereka juga tidak mempunyai kulit kusam dan tiada masalah kulit lalu diberi topeng oksigen? Curious.


Lesson: always check and clarify things first before proceeding with anything.


If you've bought this deal as well but haven't redeemed it yet, I think you should print out the screenshot (can just print the one above because it's not available on myDeal website anymore) and bring it to Timers Beauty together with the voucher, just in case.



On a more positive note...

I also redeemed another voucher that day - from Milkadeal.com.



These Red Velvet Cupcakes from Kitchen Guardian are so good that we finished them in a jiffy! I should've bought more. The owner is warm and friendly too. *waves to her if she's reading this*

Labels: Beauty/Skincare

There are only 2 reasons why I CANNOT resist online shopping from international websites:

a) massive sale, and
b) free shipping


The latter one rarely happens tho. So I was over the moon when I found out ASOS.com offers free delivery worldwide, including Malaysia! I mean, not many websites ship internationally, or even if they do, most of the time Malaysia is not included in the "international countries" (at least not the ones that I know of).


Yes, there are services like HopShopGo but the shipping cost is almost the same or sometimes more than the amount of purchased items. This free-shipping-worldwide offer by ASOS is like a dream come true for online shopping addicts like me. Yay ASOS!


Anyway I spent hours browsing ASOS and I am particularly interested with their dresses. One thing I love about ASOS website besides the detailed photos of a particular clothing is the catwalk video. I think it's ingenious because it gives you a more precise view of the fit, length and drape of a garment. Makes it easier to imagine yourself wearing it too!


I love chic and feminine styles and here are some dresses which I think would suit hijab-wearing ladies. You can just shorten the hem of the dress if it's too long and turn it into a top/blouse (which is what I'd normally do) or wear something inside if the dress is revealing at the back/sleeves.


Casual:






Dressy:





Special occasion/evening:




I purchased one dress from each of the casual and dressy types. Any guesses?


I also had my eyes on this fab shoe. Love the cut-out details and the wood effect platform and heels but sadly it's out of stock! GAHHH!!!

Labels: Fashion, Sales and Shopping

Labels: Wordless Wednesday