Give A Smile

When you feel down, just give yourself a smile,
When you have friends around, flash your sweet smile,
When you miss your train, just scream and force yourself to smile,
When you don't understand a foreigner, signal "sorry" and give a smile,
When another day has gone by, surely it's something to smile,
A smile for you and me , and life is actually quite simple.


Prescription : Smile Always

Porridge For Dengue Patients (Eel Porridge)

   Dengue fever could cause haemorrhage. It's caused by a type of virus spread by female Aedes mosquitoes. It's very dangerous if not treated early and may cause fatality. Actually there's no specific treatment. Only treat the symptom such as fever- give fever medicine and if dehydrated-on water drip ( given saline solution). Nothing much could be done. The patient's immune system has to do the fighting and extremely low platelets counts spelled danger.

  All 3 of my children got this fever before. Suspected that they got it from being at their tuition centre because the tuition teacher and son was down with dengue fever a few days earlier and was warded at a specialist hospital.Our house has mosquito nettings and I took extra precaution to keep away mosquitoes. A family friend recommended me to cook thick eel porridge with a little ginger (use freshwater eel is better and cook like cooking fish porridge - 1 cup rice, 1 eel  steam & take out the flesh, 3 cups water and a few slices of ginger, some fried garlic and fried shallots, a pinch of salt and little soy sauce - boil first then cook using low fire till rice is smooth and soft) because it is believed that it helps in improving platelet counts. Cooked that for my children to hopefully improve platelet count, gave them "100 Plus"(get rid of the gas), coconut water (is believed to be a good remedy for cooling and detoxification by Malay community) and made them drink lots of water (at least 1/2- 3/4 glass per hour except at night- about 2 cups) for cooling the body because to me, logically, water could dilute the strength of toxins and urinating more could maybe and hopefully flush out more toxins from the body. Luckily they recovered quite fast to my relieve and praise GOD for that. I was so scared  and worried then. Their platelet count improve each day I gave them eel porridge till become normal again. Maybe it's coincidence but my family friend swear by it because her daughter was admitted before for the same dengue fever and her platelet count also improve after taking eel porridge. No harm in trying because eel porridge is very nutritious and full of iron boost for red blood cells formation in the body since dengue fever is a haemorrhagic fever.


  I sincerely hope to share this experience and hope it will help those down with dengue fever although not exactly proven. Tell me if it works for you too but of course 'touch wood !' that you don't get dengue fever. I hope you know what I mean..... The tuition teacher and son drank lots of red guava juice because it was believed to help for recovering from dengue fever too (natural Vitamin C boost for immune system ?Probably yes too!) They recovered after more than a week in the hospital. My children was admitted to the hospital for 3 days. The earlier stage about 3 days high fever and 2 days intermittent mild and moderate fever (went to local GP only) which I thought was the normal kind of fever because they have sore throat too until I saw red patches of rashes on some parts of their bodies which made me suspicious and sent them to the hospital for blood screening. They were on water drips and on paracetamol medicine for fever only during their duration in the hospital. Another remedy which the Chinese believe helps to cure dengue fever is an organ part of the porcupine that can be bought from Chinese medical shop at exorbitant price. The last time I heard was RM 200 for very little. I didn't try it because I heard from my plumber about it after my children got well because he was down with that fever before and he spent quite a sum for the porcupine part. Another thing to remember is when having fever, don't eat oily stuff because it is believed that oily food slow down fever recovery. Better take precaution in case it's true...

Prescription : Could try some unproven scientifically remedies if it brings no harm to the body. Some natural remedies actually helps in some cases ( I am nuts about natural remedies and a believer but I balance out with western medication and Chinese medication - must know how to go about it or one might actually aggravate the situation instead of improving)

Busy Bee

    Been so occupied with work that I just didn't really have time to do other things. Charging up my energy by just taking a few minutes rest was blissful. Then I was up on my toes going around doing things and by the end, it's time to sleep and slept like a log. Think about it, actually I didn't get much work done but the days ended just like that.

   I suppose many people are much busier with hardly any time for rest. They forgo their sleep at times just to finish whatever stuff at hand. We are living in a rat race and every minute counts. No wonder many are having stress related problems these days. We know that lack of rest is detrimental to health but sometimes we just don't have much choice. It's not that we want to be workaholic but for many reasons we just have to be. We can't afford to rest well. Maybe we are afraid. Afraid to loose, afraid we can't finish, afraid business will drop, afraid not enough money, afraid of this and that. Then there is the 'want' in us. We want to do well and be successful, we want to earn more, we want to live comfortably, we want branded stuffs, we want to be recognized, we want to have a lot of things, we want our dreams to come true...So we end up becoming as busy as can be. Welcome to BUSY BEES CLUB!!! 


Prescription : Stopping just for a while won't hurt much

Face Life Bravely

 


Prescription : No matter what happen, you have to carry on and handle your life yourself

Tiny White Spots On Parrot Fish

  It all started with our pair of orange Taiwan parrot fishes. Both of them became inactive, not swimming much and not feeding. Later they only remained at the bottom of a corner of the aquarium and not moving much except when we went near. Been having them for more than half a year and had never seen them behaving in such a peculiar way. We tried to focus our eyes on them that was quite difficult for both of us, hubby and I because both of us are long sighted. After some time only did we notice that they had some tiny white salt-like particles on their fins. We also noticed that our other red parrot fishes were also having salt-like particles on their bodies but much lesser. We looked up in the internet and read up about fish diseases under different entries until we got hold of the correct one which diagnosed the problem as white spot disease or ich disease caused by Ichthyophthirius multifilis which is a parasite. Other fishes in the tank did not get it such as a tiny Taiwanese koi and 'lampan'. They were still swimming vigorously and feeding normally. Maybe its due to the introduction of a new fish, the 'Bandaraya' fish which died after 2 days in the aquarium.

   We bought medicine specially for white spots made by a local company, raised the water temperature by installing a heater and add the salinity of the water but the condition of the fishes did not improve much. One of the orange parrot fish died. Then we tried another white spot medicine made from Germany at RM 40. Saw some improvement but still slow. So we added a type of yellow powder from Japan. This combination seemed to work well. Its after 2 weeks now and all of the fishes are feeding and swimming but two of the fishes still have white spots on them at the fins and head. These two are swimming slowly and spend most of the time floating near the surface. Got to continue treatment and need to buy more medicine because the one we bought is nearly used up.


Prescription : All living things need care

Great ! It's My Birthday Again !

   Feel real swell today. Yet another year had passed and I had nothing much to complain about my life so far. Basically everything went smoothly though at times there were some minor hiccups but those times only showed me how blessed I am to have people around me who really love and care about me. I am really thankful for that and look forward to many more happy moments to hang on the wall of my memories as my journey in life goes on. I just love presents on this day. It's not so much about opening them excitedly but the feeling of not knowing what lies inside a present and the satisfaction of opening them slowly. Sometimes I may get presents that I didn't really need or want but each of them came with the heart of trying to please or make me happy. Most of all, those people actually remember my birthday ! Isn't that wonderful since I am just mere ordinary me ?


   On a more somber  mood, well, there are still so many things I want/need to do and experience but time is running out fast. Gosh, feel that time is real short for me now unlike before I used to feel that our orbit was turning a bit too slow for my liking. Anyway, thank you so much to all the people who care and love me for myself. Love you too!!! 


Prescription : Feel young at heart

Thank You Daddy !

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO DADDY DEAREST !!!
DADDY IS A REAL SPORT,
ALWAYS FULL OF SUPPORT,
LUCKY TO BE FOREVER IN HIS TIME SLOT !!!

Herbal Blue Rice (Vegetarian)

Herbal blue rice is very easy to prepare. All the core ingredients are natural and contain medicinal value to boost our immune system. Furthermore, it's simply great to have it together with any dish especially hot and spicy food e.g. vegetarian pineapple sambal which I gave the recipe yesterday. 


The main ingredient is the flowers of butterfly pea, Clitorea ternatea ( bunga telang in Malay) - flowers from a vining tropical  plant. The flowers are rich in blue delphidine which is a type of anthocyanin. This antioxidant flavanoids protect many body systems from free radical damages.

Ingredients

2 handfuls of of butterfly pea ( soak for 1 hour in 3 cups of hot water to get the colour out-squeeze out the juice as well)


2 cups rice


1 stalk lemongrass, 1" ginger, 3 pips garlic, 3 shallots, 1 onion (blended)


1 tsp fenugreek seeds (halba) & 6 cardamon seeds (buah pelaga)


5 screwpine leaves (pandan)- tie into a knot


1/2 tbsp oil (for stir fry) & a pinch of salt which could be omitted


1. Stir fry blended ingredients and put in the seeds. Continue stir frying till aromatic. Add in rice and screwpine leaves. Stir for a while. 
2. Put into rice cooker. Add in the water and juice from butterfly pea. Leave it to cook until done. Serve.


Prescription : Enjoying food is precious


  

Vegetarian Pineapple Sambal

I simply love to eat especially hot and spicy food with a tinge of sweet and sour. As I can hardly resist the lure of food, it's difficult for me to control my waistline after giving birth to my third child. Thank God that I'm tall and still manage to maintain exactly on the line of normal BMI. I used to be able to eat enormous portion without feeling guilty or worrying about the kind of food that I took and still stayed lean. It's history now. Must remind myself not to pile up the plate, eat more veges, oh this is too high in calories, that contains too much  fat/cholesterol or this is too meaty. Therefore I seldom cook my favourite food to avoid having to restrain myself from eating extra. Force to control your urge for your favourite food is definitely not satisfying. May as well don't cook it at all. So I'll give myself a break, just cook my favourite and eat my heart out once in a blue moon.

Ingredients :  1 pineapple (sweet and sour type e.g Morris pineapple- cut into triangle slices , 2 lemongrass (smashed) , 2 onions, 10 shallots, 1" galangal, 3 candlenuts, 3 pips garlic, little tumeric (pound) , 5 dried chillies and 5 fresh chillies ( pound/blend finely), 1 star anise , 2" cinnamon bark, 1  tbsp oyster sauce or tspn vegetarian belacan (optional-can omit if can't find this),1 cup thick coconut milk , salt and white sugar or brown sugar to taste ( I prefer the sweeter version) , oil for stir fry

1. Stir fry the pounded ingredients with oil, put in the lemongrass, star anise and cinnamon bark. Continue to stir fry until red chilli oil ooze out. Add oyster sauce and continue for 1 minute.
2. Put in the slices of pineapple. Mix well. Then add coconut milk. Cook for a while till bubbling. Add in salt and sugar. Cook for a few more minutes.  Wait for a while before serving. Taste better if left for a few hours. If you prefer to eat while hot, you can reheat it.

** for non-vegetarian version, could add prawns and squids, and replace vegetarian belacan with non-vegetarian belacan (shrimp paste)


Prescription : No Food, No Life












             

Earthquakes In Indonesia Felt Here

  Of late, earthquakes that happened in Sumatra, Indonesia (5.5- magnitude at 8.08 am & 5.6-magnitude at 11.01 am on 14.06.11)  could be felt here in parts of Malaysia (Selangor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Perak & Putrajaya) which were unlikely many many years ago. Could be the shift of earth movements underground. Oh dear, wouldn't be surprise that stronger earthquake tremors would be felt in future and our buildings on the whole were not built to withstand that ! Without tremors, some of our newly built buildings already had big cracks before dwelling due to ....ehm..ehm..(guess whatever). How sad that it's usually some kind of calamity must happen before any action would be taken here. Even that, couldn't be too sure...So may we be blessed, whatever will be, will be.

   Some of the students in my daughter's school felt some small swaying like the water in the bottle was swirling, the wall slightly shaking, the tables and chairs moving slightly. Some blamed their friends for pulling a prank until there was an announcement to ask all the students and teachers to evacuate the school buildings immediately. Even that, some teachers continued to teach a few more minutes to finish whatever teaching they had planned  thinking very little about the announcement. So are we prepared for some bigger picture in the coming future ? It's the slack mentality in most of us ...uurgh...Me guilty too...but couldn't those big figures on the top with paid big fat pockets who are supposed to do something, really do a real good job for once... really do their work well because it's their job instead of cheap bickering on unimportant issues, giving third class comments and producing half cooked works ? Well, remain to be seen...wishful thinking...

Prescription : Be prepared - prepare your umbrella before it rains(Malay Proverb)


(16.01.11-Thursday)

Find Reasons To Smile

When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry,
Show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile.....

  

Truly Listening

A TRUE LISTENER HEARS WITH THE EARS,HEAD AND HEART.

 Truly listening to another person is a gift-the ultimate sign of respect for another's thoughts. But it's a difficult gift to give. Instead of listening, we may be wondering what we should do later in the day or what we should say next. The bottom line is that most of us are simply too self-absorbed to be good listeners.

  Listening is a skill that requires practice and determination. To master it, you must be willing to close your mouth and consciously focus on the other person's words. Becoming a  good listener is hard work, but giving the gift of being heard can make a great difference in the lives of those around you.


Prescription : Talk less, listen more.


(13.06.11-Monday)

Marriage

A great marriage is not when the perfect couple comes together.
It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences.

- by Dave Meure

Fate controls who walks into your life but you decide who you let walk out, who you let stay and who you refuse to let go. It's not about being possessive but all about respect, effort, tolerance, loving and forgiving to maintain a wonderful relationship.

Prescription : Love is in  the air


(12.06.11-Sunday)

Marriage Proposal

   It is not everyday that you get a marriage proposal or make a marriage proposal. It is the norm that a man is the one to make the move to propose although woman could too which is still rather rare. Each and every marriage proposal is unique. Time, effort, great care, preparation and attention over the way to propose on the part of the person who is going to propose is no laughing matter. Need a lot of courage and be prepared mentally. You may get a nod, left hanging wondering without a definite answer or worse, being rejected head on.

   Oh yes, your heart must be prepared. So don't ever propose if you are not confidant about the outcome unless you are real hardy. Nowadays, the trend is to engage a wedding planner to draft out a special way to propose is on the rise. But for me, I feel that I would still prefer my special one to propose using his own innovation. Only special that way and from his very heart.

  Before you propose to your intended one, there are a few things that need some deep thinking and pondering (for both) :


1.   Are you really in love or blindly in love ? Do you know what is love ?
2.   What do you love about her/him ? What are you willing to do for the sake of love ?
3.   Answer truthfully, could you go through thick and thin together no matter what or how?
4.   Marriage is no laughing matter and not always a bed of roses. There will be up and down. Are you ready? A gamble with your life and children if any with no definite knowledge on how the ending would be.
5.   You love her/his outlook beauty more or inner beauty or both? Answer truthfully please.
6.   You'll be seeing her/him everyday or most of the time.Waking up to see a face with no pretense, no make up, hair in tousle. Are you ready to tolerate her/his shortcomings which would not be shown out when both are dating e.g. snoring when sleeping, temper, moodiness, always farting, kicking when sleeping, don't screw up the toothpaste after using, don't like to do the dishes, couldn't cook a decent meal , don't flush the latrine after use etc.
7    You want to change her/him to your standard or are you going to go through your marriage by respecting each other and agree to meet each other's standard halfway? Be a teacher or a partner to each other?
8.   Imagine that she/he in 10, 20, 30 , 40 years on, will have wrinkles all over, all her/his hair drop off, not as beautiful, may grow fat and ugly. Not that sexy or attractive anymore. Tummy bulging. Would you feel embarrass or your love dwindling or your eyes going other ways? Be truthful. You know your own kind.
9.   Are you the responsible type ?
10. Are you the type to forget your marriage vow easily ?
11. Are you the type to put yourself first or family first ?
12.  Parents, relatives,in-laws could be troublesome to a marriage. How tolerant are you? Who to listen ?
13. Why do you want to get married in the first place ? For the sake of marriage, to own her/him, for self-esteem or whatever?
14.  Money rank what place to both of you ?
15.  What are children to you ?
15.  Are both of you committed and rational ?
16.  List down all the pros and cons. Which weigh more?


If you still intend to get married, then think positive and work hard to respect, communicate and find things to love each other more. Don't look too much on each other's shortcomings but each other's strong points. Be a good heart to heart buddy with each other and for each other. GOOD LUCK ! MAY YOU LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER !


Prescription : I Do Till The Day I Die. Lean on each other's strength;  forgive each other's weaknesses.

(11.06.11-Saturday)


Two souls with a single thought, two hearts that beat as one.
- by John Keats

A Child

To some...
The ultimate gift of true love,
The focus of one's life,
Willing to sacrifice,
To do just anything to ensure their little one survive.


But for some...
A breathing living curse,
The burden of one's life,
A disgrace,
Will do anything to see the little one vanishes from life.


Prescription : A child is always special

(10.06.11-Friday)

Food Is Good

   Been some time since I cooked herbal blue rice with accompanying dishes such as dry curry chicken, pineapple prawns with baby squids, fried prawn crackers and julienned cucumber.  Mum, dad and my aunt dropped by for dinner yesterday. So I just cooked those since I was more free during school holidays. We enjoyed our dinner and finished everything up. After that we had cool slices of watermelon and chilled shandy.

   The feeling was real good to be able to eat dinner happily together with the whole family. Made all your effort  worthwhile. When was the last time you ate with your family ? As we grow older, the chance of eating together become lesser. Treasure the time together.

Prescription : Value the little things in life

(8.06.11-Wednesday)

Kids Just Wanna Have Fun

   Well, all my relatives and their kids had gone home last night. Everything is back to normal. With their kids running around the house and making a lot of noise made me wonder how in the world did I manage my own children when they were young. Kids are super active especially all of them are boys. During the last few days, the kids were enjoying themselves playing with all the toys which my children used to play when they were small and messing the whole place up. Being children, they bound to leave bits of crumbs everywhere when they were eating. They kept on climbing up and down the staircase in our house which made me rather nervous in case they fall. Their mums seemed to be immune to their ways.

   Frankly, I am feeling a bit tired today after doing all the cookings and cleaning up. Finally I could take a quiet rest. Anyway, their visit did put some noise to our otherwise rather quiet and peaceful home. Something different for a change and we did some catching up with our share of stories.


Prescription : Enjoy each day as it is

(06.06.11-Monday)

 

May You Have A Beautiful Day !

It's school holidays over here. There are many visitors at my place and they are still here. So I  am basically busy playing host to them. With all the children running around the house, it's better for me to just wish all of you a nice and beautiful day! Will get back here when I am free...

Don't Let Go

Having achieve success is not final because you never know if you may fall along the way. Going through failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue and hang on where others have let go that matters. In life, when you are still breathing, you will not know what lies at the end of the road for you. Don't ever give up till your last breath.




Prescription : Keep your fighting
spirit high


(3.06.11-Friday)

Parents, Be Fair

   Being fair is impossible but to be as fair as possible is  possible. Being fair to children is not an easy task because it is quite subjective given certain situation. If it's quantitative, it'll be easier e.g. giving the same amount of sweets to each of them. On the other hand, subjective fairness is quite tricky to handle. Example, you wouldn't buy the same birthday gift for all your children for that year due to their differences. So you try buying what they like which might be difficult because of the price, you feel it's not right or you can't find one. So for one child you got something he/she like and the other something which 'you think' is to his/her liking. Maybe to a child they see it as unfairness. 

   Therefore parents must try to be 'a good radar' at detecting what their children are thinking. This can only be achieved through good communication and spending more time with your children in order to learn reading their mood as well as body language. Some children are easier to care, understand and teach than other children. Do remember that each child is unique in his/her own way and love all of them the same. Love here doesn't mean spoiling them or giving whatever they want to compensate your guilt for not spending enough time with them or caring for them. Also remember that children are not for show to your friends about how successful you are. They are for love. So parents must learn and try their best in parenting. Different child means different approach. Parents must be creative and innovative in parenting. You must learn to know your children well and know what approach will work better for them. After trying your very best, if they are still not what you expected then have no regrets because you have tried your best.

Prescription : Be an example of fairness

(2.06.11-Thursday)


Example of unfairness


1.  This child give a house to the parents to stay, be the one to rush him to the hospital during emergency, be in the hospital the the whole day when parent got admitted, brought him home to care but the parents are still unhappy. Those more well to do siblings who just came to visit  then went home, not needing to care for them personally but with gifts and money for them worth more. Why the child feel unappreciated and not fair? One bad episode as example was once when the parents invited friends and the other siblings to a party which the parents held, the parents actually forgot to invite the child who provide the very house they are staying until asked by friends about the whereabouts of that child. They then only phoned the child  by telling her that her sister came and whether she would like to come over. When she reached their house with her family, friends and sisters asked why she and her family were late. She was taken by surprise and felt very disappointed that her parents actually forgot about her. The food are leftover food since all of them had stopped eating. She kept quiet and left after sitting for 15 minutes. Should she still believe that she has the responsibility to care for her elderly parents? She doesn't know what to feel anymore but believe they are still her parents anyhow.


2.  An elderly couple has two children. One of them is an adopted child. The parents are in their late 70s. The parents gave all their assets to their own child who is well to do and left nothing to the adopted child who is although poor is very filial and always care for them. After the transferring of assets, their own child asked this adopted sister to care for the parents who were sick. The adopted child usually will agree but that time she refused because of the parents' unfairness. She said she's only an adopted child and always treated as a maid no matter what she did. She had enough and she needs to work to put enough food on the table.


3.  The parents gave a big chunk of their assets to the eldest child and the youngest child before their deaths because they always complained to the parents that they didn't earn enough money. The fourth child was given a lorry workshop. The house went to the second wife. Insurance money of RM 30 000 was divided between 3rd and 4th child. Whatever other leftover assets (after deducting legal fees) which is minimal(>< RM30 000) are divided between the six brothers. Exorbitant medical fees in private hospitals were mostly paid by the 2nd and 5th brothers who didn't tell their parents about their difficulties by taking out their savings and by credit cards. The eldest refused to pay any saying he didn't have enough (but could afford to buy 2 new cars so far?). Fair ?

Parents Should Be Fair

   Some parents and children become estranged from each other. The relationship became sour for reasons apparent to them. Actually what went wrong ? Blood is supposed to be thicker than water. Things shouldn't turn so bad that they couldn't face each other and settle their differences amicably.

    I feel that parents-children should try to enhance their bond by communicating well and inculcate a culture of respect and appreciation for each other. Parents should be creative in trying to bond with their children and introduce important values into the family from the very first day of family life. Parents should ask themselves as to the kind of family they would like to have. A warm , cozy, loving atmosphere with laughters ringing every now and then in a family needs effort. Nothing comes easily.  Effort must be taken by parents especially from the very moment their children came into their lives. Then as children grow older, understanding of each other and communicating well with each other become very important. Try being good buddies with each other. It's like making a building. The foundation of a building is very important, each brick being laid is very important, if not the whole building will collapse. Same with building a family. First, the father-mother relationship should be strong. Then only they could concentrate to build a close knit family.

   Parents must try to practise fairness all the time with their children. Children are very particular and sensitive to fairness. This is their way of measuring their parents' love for them. This is actually how siblings rivalry come to be. Parents must always be fair and must explain their actions well to their children verbally at all time. Don't let children be in a guessing game and form their own ideas on whatever things you do if possible. They might misconstrue your actions, form some funny, weird ideas in their mind since young which are vital to the development of future relationship as adults. One common mistake made by parents was asking the elder sibling to give way/in to the younger sibling in terms of toys, food, place to sit, etc (even when the younger one is in the wrong) whenever children are fighting  by saying , " You are older, you must give way to your brother/sister because she is still small/younger..." Some children will start to feel the unfairness after some time. They begin to be jealous, angry, resent and so on until one day become out of hand. So much being kept to themselves without showing because they hide their feelings well, unknown to many parents until they explode one day. Parents will be in for surprise that their loving children change all of a sudden......to be continued.........


Prescription : Be Fair


(1.06.11-Wednesday)