Sunday, October 26, 2008

Ex-Straw-bana-ry Blended Shake

I have been enjoying fruit-based drinks lately as part of my food change regime. One of my fav is strawberry & banana shake. It is not only easy to prepare, but cheap too if you make it yourself! So who says you can't enjoy a little luxury in this difficult time? :)

Introducing my 'Ex-straw-bana-ry Shake', made from wholesome ingredients!

Ex-Straw-bana-ry Blended Shake Recipe

Ingredients:

• Crushed ice
• Strawberries - cut
• Banana - cubed
• Unsweetened soy milk (my choice: Homesoy) - 200ml
• Fruit yogurt (my choice: Nestle Extra Creamy & Fruity mixed berries yogurt) - 2 spoonfuls
• Nestum / instant oat / muesli - 3 spoonfuls to provide fibres to keep you full for hours
• Honey - for those who wants to sweeten their drinks, but the fruits are already sweet enough to me!

How to make it:

1. Add in crushed ice and strawberry followed by banana and yogurt.
2. Pour in the soy milk. Blend until smooth.
3. Lastly, blend in the fibre-packed nestum / oat / muesli. For weight watchers, 2 scoops of Herbalife F1 French Vanilla powder & 1 scoop of F3 for extra flavor (and benefits. Ngeh3x!)

Try this recipe today!

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Saturday, October 25, 2008

I heart one of these...

Recently I have been such a hardworking worker got a slight increment and suddenly, all sorts of unreasonable temptations came to mind! I certainly have been thinking to buy a brand new BMW PDA phone because it's a hassle to bring both PDA & phone around (I certainly need a PDA because I have to attend a lot of meeting / training / deadline in my current job).

I have zeroed down my dream phone to these two of which I was hoping to buy... erm, as my birthday gift next year? (have to start saving RM200 per month exclusively to afford one of these gadgets!):

Samsung Omnia... powered by Windows Mobile 6.1Professional, WiFi, Bluetooth-enabled, 16GB memory, 5MP camera. Current market price: RM2.8K

HTC Touch Diamond... powered by Windows Mobile 6.1Professional, WiFi, Bluetooth-enabled, 8GB memory, 3.2MP camera. Last checked price: RM2799

So, which one should I burn my hard-earned cash for, huh?

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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Got No Idea What To Post Leh So I'm Recommending You To Take A Drink!

.... get a life la, Carneyz. *Shake head*

Seriously, I don't know what to write this week. I'm so busy with work, work is too boring to tell here, so how leh?

Anyway, this weekend I'll try to spare some time to think of how to have fun in 100 days. Can or not? Have fun also need to think, kesian la this lady... Memang tak de life la.

I'll start with Fun #1. A Healthy, Yummy Drink.

If you work in KLCC like me, it'll be good for your health. Why la? By lunchtime, food court is packed to the brim with people you can't hardly feed yourself, so are fast food outlets. Other places are too expensive to eat. So, go cuci mata la. Walk around and burn some calories. Or go to either TTFC or Fitness First gym to work out.

Today while I cuci mata, I decided that I should have something light for lunch and I stopped by Juiceworks. I was tempted by O'Briens but I was craving more for something sweet. So I bought myself a meal replacement drink called Ri*e N Shi*e.

What's in it? Mango, banana, soy / dairy milk, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, cereal, yogurt and other nice stuffs. They also have one almost similar drink called Bana*a Bla*t *ff that swaps mango with strawberry.

The taste? I am oh-so-lovin'-it! It's simple, fuss-free pick-me-up that tastes yummy and fulfilling. I'm not too sure about the calorie content though because its lousy website doesn't carry the info - but it leaves me full till 7pm. Hah. How's that for a power meal? Not only it tastes good, it has protein, fibre-packed cereal, yogurt and vitamin C-packed fruits which takes care of the nutrition part.

I am so seronok now that I have a healthy option for lunch :) So, can put in Fun list, kan? Boleh kan?

(I love the shake-juice so much that I made my own banana-strawberry shake, minus the vanilla ice cream for dinner. Will share the recipe later, Insya Allah)

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Friday, October 17, 2008

The Case of Who Lost Who's Memory

We were watching 'Troy' on TV3 tonight and I swear by God's name, I have not watched this entire movie before. So naturally, I did not recognize the characters in the movie. Naturally.

'Wonder who's that guy? Must be Helen's hubby.'

Suami Terchenta casually answered, 'Nope. He's Paris' brother.'

Surprised, I asked him, 'How did you know?'

He replied, 'We watched this movie together. Don't you remember?'

'No we didn't.'

'Yes, we did. I remember we watched it during one of our dates.'

How could I NOT REMEMBER a character if I've watched this movie before??? I know sometimes I forget stuffs, but it can't be that bad that I forgot the entire story line of a movie I watched before?

So again, naturally, I had to smack his bottom and ask, 'No, I don't think so. So, who did you watch this movie with? Answer me!' ((Sambil buat mata besar))

He insisted that we watched this movie together, during one of my date trips to KL. But, I was not convinced totally. I can't have forgotten ALL scenes in the movie!

'If I watched Troy with you, how come I can't remember it?'

'I have no idea... but I know I watched this movie with you.'

'My memory can't be that bad! At least, I should remember at least one scene in this movie!'

'But we watched this movie together, I remember!'

After 10 minutes of bickering, I finally exclaimed,

'I know I haven't watched this movie, mister hubby! Coz I don't remember a thing at all about this movie. Unless I was knocked down by a car and lost my memory. But I don't REMEMBER LOSING MY MEMORY, okay!'

Somehow, the incredulous sentence that spewed out of my mouth got into both of us and we were laughing our heads off. That was the time when he suddenly remembered:

'Oh, my ex-housemate bought the CD. I must have watched it with them!'

*Smack head*

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Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Aftermath

Tomorrow marks 2 weeks after I came back from the hospital without the baby. I am doing better now. I stopped having urges to stuff something in my mouth because I felt empty inside. I stopped crying on my pillow at night. And I stopped dreaming about babies every night - I only dream of babies occasionally. I am coming to terms with our loss.

To everyone who had sent condolences, thank you. To those who shared their own experiences, thank you. To those who prayed that we'll have lots and lots of babies in the future, thank you very much and may God blesses you all.

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Monday, September 29, 2008

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

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Sunday, September 28, 2008

How October Masthead Was Created!

I just created my blog header this morning and hard work, okay! I don't cilok2 gambar one, some more I want to portray the Raya card I gave to Suami Terchenta this year. How, nice or not? Got big, shiny ketupats on the cover :)

First, got to select which cards got featured in the header. This one was given to me by Hubby:

Got heart-shaped pattern, ok la. Not bad la. But from afar, won't look like Hari Raya, more like Valentine's!

Then, this is the card I gave to Suami Terchenta:

Actually, we bought the cards together and I saw that he kept picking up this card, so I bought this for him :)

Next step is to take a creative shot of this card. Since Suami Terchenta is the pandai-er one when taking photos, he became the photographer la! Hehe.

We shot a few photos, but I always complained one:

Towel enter-framed la...

Don't like the lighting la...

Angle not so good la...

Finally, after 20+ shots, I decided on this. Can see the reflection of my book rack in the mirror, hehe. I always read before bedtime, so sleepy and then just stack the books sesuka hati. Some more, can see the mirror a bit dirty. Nampak sangat tak selalu lap cermin! :p

So, after that the selected photo underwent several transformations with the help of Photoshop CS2, and the end result is... October's blog header! :)

Finally, I have a new header until the next time I feel like messing around with Photoshop again :p

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Saturday, September 27, 2008

The Shortest Ever Raya Shopping Trip

I still remember last year's Ramadhan. It was really beautiful. For the first time ever, I spent most of the days cooking instead of selecting food to break fast from the abundance of choices at Pasar Ramadhan. Mr. Hubby helped me in the kitchen and we had glorious time of not having left-overs to clean up.

This year, I still cook. Only most of the time, they are instant, pop-in-the-kuali and voila! Instant nasi goreng for breaking of fast. I have never been so thankful to instant food industry. Maggi, you're a marriage life saver! Of course, I still have to chop up veggies or poultry or anything to flavor the instant nasi goreng, but I can do that while sitting down and watching my favourite sinetron, 'Soleha'. The nasi goreng frying is then done by my Mr Yummylicious Hubby. Me? You can't expect me to slave over the kuali with a back-ache from carrying this grapefruit-sized baby!

Also, I remember the extensive shopping trips I had prior to balik kampung for Raya. I could spend from morning till night at Jalan TAR, going to and fro shops lining up the streets and also browsing through rows and rows of tudung. I spent hours at Jusco to choose from the not-so-many-selection of baju Melayu for Mr Hubby. My Hubby would follow me with a wretched expression tattooed on his face - are we done yet??? Nope, not until the colour of my fabric matches with the colour of your baju Melayu. So, bear with your choosy wife!

So, when Raya is around the corner this year, I was determined to repeat the joyful experience I had last year doing my shopping trips. After all, this year we had added a few more items to buy for my in-laws family and that surely meant a whole day trip, right? I had even planned to break fast at one of the North Indian food restaurant at Jalan TAR because they have this heavenly Chicken Biryani that practically melt in your mouth, to go with it is cold Mango Lassi that is ever so smooth and gut-satisfying.

Sounds like I will enjoy my weekend tremendously.

The reality was otherwise. We reached Jalan TAR at 2.00pm, parked at my old office, then walked to one of the textile shops. That's it. We spent an hour in there, and we bought everything on the shopping list (except for brooches) and I started to have back-ache. My calves hurt too. We quickly paid, then hobbled over to the brooch shop and spent less than 10 minutes there. By that time, my entire body felt all achy and my feet were killing me. Literally.

By then, I was reduced to negotiating with my hostile body to let me enjoy a few hours browsing through other shops, but it refused me. My own body refused my order! The more I pleaded, the more the pain intensified. Until I had no choice but to tell Hubby that we should definitely go back because I can't stand, let alone walk any further!

So this year I broke my own record - for spending only 1 hour doing my raya shopping! That is the shortest shopping trip I've ever had, and boy, My Hubby was beside himself with joy - anything that saved him hours of agony waiting for me to make decisions on what to buy, that anything should be celebrated and thanked over and over again.

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Saturday, September 20, 2008

The Million Dollar Project

A few weeks ago, Suami Terchenta & I decided that we should definitely start a project together, and that is called the 'Baby #1 Project'. We have different opinions to the objective of the project though - Suami Terchenta couldn't wait to pass on his gene and I couldn't stand to go back home for Raya without 'the good news' as everyone in our families refer to it.

'When are you guys going to give us the good news?'

The good news is, we finally agree that Mount Kinabalu is going to stay put in Sabah but my aging grandfather will not (although I pray for his long life & good health every day because I love him). And Grandfather wants baby. Now! This instant! Tomorrow, if possible!

Initially, there was a hitch to the start of the project. I was changing jobs, there's a lot of stress going on, and because of years of abusing my body going through a lot of stress being top student / exemplary staff / yada2x, I developed a condition called PCOS which explains my rapid weight gain despite not over-eating, etc. It also explains why our efforts for months after we decided that we want a baby, produced less exciting results.

I was crushed - this dented my self-esteem because it seems that I have failed as a woman - and I hate failing. It's like you are Einstein whose so good at coming up with a groundbreaking formula - only to find out that you fail simple things such as adding 1 and 1 together. Other people can figure it out on the spot, but you struggle with figuring out why you can't do it!

Luckily, it is very much treatable. After investing in the treatment for a month (upon which, both of us fainted right away after looking at the bill), finally last month we discovered that our frenzied efforts at reproduction had delightfully succeeded. All those that we had to go through - depleted savings account, dramatic increase in our water bills and the reduce of electrical bills had paid off.

Behold, our million dollar project is now work in progress (WIP).

WARNING: Don't mess with hormonal-charged pregnant lady. Especially one who had to endure a lot of things including a fragile pregnancy and patience is not my best virtue at this stage.

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Monday, September 15, 2008

Beraya Di Rumah Mertua

Tahun ni giliran beraya di kampung Suami Terchenta, i.e. Kampung Meranek di Samarahan, Kuching, Sarawak. Tak tau nak expect apa. Semoga saya tidak terkena kejutan budaya. Hehe.

Minggu ni mesti berusaha lebih gigih untuk pergi shopping. Baju raya tak beli lagi. Tudung untuk Bonda Mertua dan adik-badek Suami Terchenta belum cari lagi. Untuk Ayahanda Mertua nak beli apa ya? Mungkin belikan sepasang baju Melayu. Asyik2 Bonda Mertua saja yang dapat baju baru. Huahuahua!

Masalahnya, sekarang saya sangat malas keluar rumah. Berjalan 5km di taman tasik dah sakit2 badan apa lagi nak bertawaf di Jalan TAR!

Saya siap buat homework lagi. Macamana suasana beraya di kampung ibu mertuaku ye?

Suami Terchenta: Ala, biasa2 je.
Saya: Biasa2 tu macamane?
Suami Terchenta: Pagi2, pergi solat raya di masjid.
Saya: Lepas tu? Kita bersalam-salaman di rumah macam kat kampung saya ek?
Suami Terchenta: Tak, lepas tu balik rumah ambik lauk. Bawak pergi ke masjid.
Saya: Lepas makan di masjid, kita balik rumah bersalam2an ke?
Suami Terchenta: Tak. Lepas balik rumah, pergi beraya kat rumah orang.
Saya: Habis tu, bila kita bersalam2an minta maaf dengan mak bapak?
Suami Terchenta: ....

Bak kata pepatah, masuk kandang kambing mengembek. Masuk kandang lembu, menguak. Masuk kandang harimau - siapa nak masuk kandang harimau?

Selamat buat preparation raya, semua orang!

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Sunday, September 07, 2008

A Day Before My Mother Leaves For Her Home Sweet Home

Saya: Mak, petang ni teringin nak makan sayur cekur manis tumis, dengan sambal tauhu & ikan bilis tumis. Lepas tu, nak makan sambal belacan mak. Erm, nak makan ikan kembung masin goreng jugak ye.

Bonda Terchenta: Amboi, kemain lagi selera kamu ye.

Saya: Hihi.

Tapi Bonda Terchenta buatkan jugak untuk anak kesayangannya manjanya ni :p Cayang mak!

*Saya sangat sedey sekarang sebab besok Bonda Terchenta dah nak balik.

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