I'm going nuts, literally...

I'm worried about my health. I've recently started to eat a lot of nuts - cashew and pumpkin seeds - for the #TTC project, and at the same time, getting sudden mild headaches for no reasons. This happens frequently in the office. I suspected that it was due to the cold temperature (stupid centralised aircon!!) but just now, I had the headache again after finishing a packet of cashew nuts.

Did I just go nuts? Apparently not.

I google and find out that eating nuts could cause headaches. What? Yes, seriously? My body is such a weirdo, reacting to nuts this way. Right now, as I type, I feel like I'm seeing stars. Suddenly feel so unwell :(

What should I do now? Scrap nuts from my list? Boohoo... I've just started to appreciate them and now this!

Leah A A

TTC...

Ditto. AF is here to visit. Boohoo!

I've always thought that TTC is quite straightforward and easy. I am so wrong. Having TTC for nearing 6 months (I think), I'm starting to think if there is something wrong with us? My period is so regular that it comes on the dot! Well, I know there are couples out there who have been trying for years and so, who am I to complain for waiting 6 months only. But... I can't help it, my maternal instinct is doubling up rapidly that I groaned each time AF is here. Like yesterday :(

I recalled last week conversation with Mom and Sis when I told them I had a craving for Lemak Sayur Pucuk Ubi, my mom went, "Dah ade ke? (have already?)". Haha! I wished! When I told them that we are TTC, they started nagging at me for my exercises. Seriously? I mean I've heard that exercising may reduce fertility but there are some articles which encourage exercising as it helps to better prepare the body for pregnancy.

Yesterday I was really quite disappointed. The past few months, I've been a maniac, tracking my ovulation and fertile period, as if by doing so we will hit the jackpot. When we failed, I totally removed this "tracking" method and tried to take things naturally. So for last month, we just let it happen. Ditto. We failed.

My friend had recommended Blackmore as she was successful with that. It's so tempting to just try it but Husband disagree and prefers to take things naturally. Sad! And so I thought, I have to do something, at least naturally (pfft!), to increase the chances of pregnancy. Well, I have to admit that maybe my exercise routine do play a part in my chances to conceive as my body feels tired and exhausted every single day. I'm not totally omitting exercising out since it has always been part of my lifestyle, but probably I could something about it. For instance, reducing the intensity?

I've gathered this list by sourcing through various website. I'm going to start my next project #TTC. For those of you who are still puzzled what TTC means, google it! :p

Food that Boost Fertility

Fruits

• Bananas, Oranges, Berries, Prunes, Mangoes

Vegetables

• Asparagus, Broccoli, Spinach, Lettuce, Garlic, Bell Peppers, Potatoes, Yam

Seafood/ Fish

• Shellfish, Salmon, Cod, Snapper

Poultry

• Eggs, Beef, Lamb

Beans/ Nuts

• Almonds, Peas, Edamame (my favourite!),Lentils, Pumpkin seeds, Kidney beans, Tofu

Others

• Whole Milk, Whole Wheat Bread, Olive oil, Yogurt, Green Tea

Moderate Exercises

• Cycling
• Brisk Walking
• Swimming
• Zumba
• Light Jogging

The list could be exhaustive but this is as much that I could gather. I hope that this project works! Give me some baby dust y'all!

Leah A A

Small steps at a time...

When we said, "It's ok, take your time. We are not in a hurry to move-in to our new home", never did we realize our contractor will really take his own sweet time. Not that we mind now, but I'm just getting excited seeing the bits and pieces of work happening at our home right now. I wish I could see the end results, like now! Haha!

So far, the workmanship is not too bad. We faced several issues here and there but Alhamdullilah, they are easily resolved. As of today, our reno progress already have the kitchen carcass done up and I quite like the color. It was suppose to be different shades of pink but because the laminate material went obsolete, we had to make do with another color (I know right, blue is so off from the original pink). It turns out to be quite pretty (too soon to say huh?) right now. Hehe.

That's my dear husband :)

While I can't wait for this process to end, I'm quite tied down in terms of financial these past few months. The reno works has drained up all our savings and it will take some time for us to pick up the pace again. I'm quite grateful towards my parents who are kind enough to let us stay with them, and not rushing for us to move out. In fact, they are suggesting that we should stay with them and rent out our new house (quite typical huh?).

Speaking of dollars and cents, I really need to save up for my Bali trip this December (help!).

Hubby has been very supportive in terms of financial. I wish that I could do more for him and so I reciprocate by making him packed lunch, cooked for him dinner, and try my best to do the laundry for him. I'm so happy that he had completed his studies which could lead to a promising future for both of us. I'll be happy if he could just find another job which allows him to spend more time with me while bring home a decent paycheck.

I wish to earn side income and have some plans in starting a new business in the future. In the past, I've tried selling cosmetics, perfumes, and took up freelance designing jobs but none of them were long-term. However this time, I wish to make it long-term but I just can't decide between these two:

 

Food Business or Retail/ Tailoring Business

 

Help me pick? Or should I do both?

 

 

Of course these are just ideas at the moment. I will need to brush up my skills in these 2 areas and we shall see how to move ahead from there. Currently, I'm just testing market using Carousell app. LOL.

 

My latest tailoring project - The Bridesmaid

A customer that ordered Honey Cornflakes from me

 

 

Leah A A

LEAH's Kitchen: Lemak Sayur Pucuk Ubi (Tapioca Shoots in Hot Coconut Gravy)

Cravings can be quite monstrous for ladies, a deadly virus that can make us fat huh?

My sudden craving for #lemakpucukubi came out of nowhere and I wished I could have it there and then. It has been a long time since my Mom cook this very popular kampung-style dish. The dish is normally accompanied with fried fish, sambal belacan and fragrant rice - simple but yet satisfying meal. And of course, the spiciness of this dish makes it a number one favourite in my list :D

 

Lemak Sayur Pucuk Ubi (Tapioca Shoots in Hot Coconut Gravy)

 

Ingredients:

2 tie of pucuk ubi (tapioca shoots)

500ml of coconut cream (I used KARA brand)

Handful of anchovies (I bought $1 worth)

3 cloves of garlic

1 large onion

1 small piece of ginger

30 nos. of chilli padi

1 small piece of belacan

Salt

Ajinomoto

Water

 

Instructions:

1. Remove stems from the tapioca shoots. We only need to use the leaves. Place the leaves in a boiling pot and add 4 teaspoon of salt. Using your hand, grind the leaves against these salt to soften the leaves' texture. When it's done, fill pot with water and boil the leaves for a few minutes till it soften (and also to remove the rubbery taste).
2. Blend garlic, onion, ginger, anchovies, belacan and chilli padi till it form a liquid mixture.
3. Drain the boiling water leaving the leaves in the pot. Pour the liquid mixture, coconut cream and water into the pot and start stirring the mixture. Adjust water level according to how thick you want the gravy to be.
4. Boil the mixture till its cooked. Add salt and ajinomoto to taste.

My Healthy Rating:

This dish uses a lot of coconut cream (fattening down there!). Oh well, #yolo.

 

LEAH's Kitchen: Noodle Soup

I love soups! Especially those that I can modify with lots of chilli!

I didn't have time to upload the recipe for #noodlesoup and only realised today, after drooling at the pictures of food. I remember cooking this simple dish for the family on Mother's Day. It's so easy that you should try it! So here you go...

Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

Soup Base

1 pkt of anchovies (small to medium size)

3 cloves of garlic (mashed)

1 piece of ginger (sliced thinly)

Water

Salt

Pepper

 

Main items

500gm of prawn (half-peeled)

1 tie of kai choy or sawi

1 tie of Chinese celery or daun sop (for garnish)

1 pkt of fried shallots (for garnish)

1 pkt of Dodo fishball

Chilli padi

Sweet soya sauce or kicap manis

2kg of yellow noodle or bee hoon

 

Instructions:

1. Using a large pot, boil water with anchovies, garlic and ginger. Seasoned the soup with salt and pepper
2. Boil prawn, sawi and fishball separately. Put it aside for servings later
3. Cook yellow noodle in hot water for a few seconds. Put it aside for servings later
4. Blend chilli padi with a little water. Mix soya sauce into this mixture and put it aside for servings later.
5. When everything is prepared, serve noodles with all the items prepared.

My Healthy Rating:

This should be quite healthy. Eat in moderation will do :)

 

LEAH's Kitchen: Stir-fry Broccoli with Chicken and Mushroom

Hubby keeps nagging me to cook for him some #broccoli for his post-workout meal. So yesterday after gym, I tried out this recipe to satisfy his cravings.

Stir-fry Broccoli with Chicken and Mushroom (6pax)

 

Ingredients:

4 stalks of broccoli

1 packet of oyster mushroom

200gm of boneless chicken (cut into pieces)

10 sticks of baby corn

4 tbs of oyster sauce

4 tbs of light soya sauce

2 ts of cornstarch (I used normal flour)

2 tbs of sesame oil

120ml of water

3 cloves of garlic (chopped)

1 large onion (chopped)

Small piece of ginger (sliced thinly)

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

 

Instructions:

1. Mix oyster sauce, light soya sauce, sesame oil and cornstarch. Put it aside for later.
2. Using a small amount of olive oil, cook chicken for about 10 minutes in a wok or large frying pan.
3. Pour in the broccoli, mushroom, babycorn, garlic, onion and ginger. Keep stirring till vegetable is medium cooked.
4. Pour in the mixture (from no. 1) and water into the wok. Stir fry, season with salt and pepper and adjust taste accordingly.

My Healthy Rating:

Definitely healthy! Will give it 5/5. Yay!

Adventure to S.E.A Aquarium @ Resorts World Sentosa

Mr. H had bought the tickets for 2 ages ago but we just couldn't find time to visit S.E.A Aquarium. Funny part is, we decided to give it a miss and sell the tickets at Carousell for $30. Within a day of listing the tickets, we had a number of keen buyers and so Mr. H found it amusing and realised that $30 for 2 tickets was too cheap a deal. Expectedly, he asked me to do the dirty job of declining all offers, making me look like a "bad seller" in Carousell! Pfft!

But secretly, I was relieved we didn't sell away the tickets :)

Honestly, SEEA isn't something that I will genuinely pay for because I don't really know much about admiring sea creatures or even nature. But the experience was really an eye-opener. For instance, I've never seen creatures like jelly fish and sea horses and when I saw them for the first time, they looked amazingly mysterious that I could hardly take my eyes of them.

Sea Horse

By the way, don't you think the sea horses looked like golden seaweed. LOL.

Jellyfish

Jellyfish

There was 1 interactive station whereby you could touch the starfish. I was reluctant to touch it at first but after much convincing from Mr. H, I stroke the starfish lightly. Eh, not bad lei, feels like soft rock. And I touched it again. Haha. But I only manage to capture Mr. H touching the starfish. Not fair!

Ok more pictures from the visit below;

 Leah A A

Pictures are not 100% rosy all the time

I'm waiting for time to pass as I blog useless thoughts here. I say useless because these thoughts are really uncalled for and I know I should appreciate what He has bestowed upon me. But I can't help it. Well... I've been feeling down the past few days, envying the glamorous lives of others who seems to have no boundaries to travel all over the world or achieving successful career. For instance, take a look at this instagram account @esteezaki and you will know what I mean (boohoo!).

The clothes, the lifestyle, the beauty... all of these seems picture perfect! How can these be? I don't even have time (or rather, quite lazy) to even put on proper makeup and clothes to go to work every morning; preferring baggy clothes rather than body-hugging outfit, flat shoes rather than heels, and quick eyeliner drawn rather than having full makeup. Jeez, with such a lazy attitude, how to be picture perfect?

I know right.

I read somewhere that there are some ways to overcome this self-esteem. One of it is to write down the list of things that you are grateful for, and you will realise that things for you is not that bad after all. Well, let's try and see...

1. I'm married to my "dream" husband who cares for and loves me to the moon and back.
2. I have a complete family which I know I can rely on
3. I own a property at the age of 25
4. I've been to Europe for a solo business trip
5. I'm holding a decent job with a good pay (and time to do personal things during office hours!)
6. My financial situation has never left me to starve or in debts
7. I've successfully saved a large sum of money for my wedding
8. I've completed my private degree using my own savings
9. I've learnt sewing and can make my own dresses at the moment
10. I have great friends whom I can gossip and have fun with...

Hmm... Not too bad, for the 1st 10 list!

I guess every individual has something that they are grateful for. Whatever is being portrayed on social media may just be a façade and there could be something else lying underneath that beautiful smile. I've just seen a shocking photo of a CEO whom I used to work with, someone who holds 6 companies (as she claimed) and holds the title of Business Guru. Someone, whom I believe is one of her haters, had created a fake FB account, uploading photos of her and her scandal behaving intimately. Problem here is that she's married, to a home-stay husband (as she always proudly announced) and has 3 lovely-looking kids. But... that photo... with all hugs and close proximity to other guy... It is just heart-breaking to imagine what her husband and kids will feel when they see this today :(

If you climb up too high, you will fall and break hard. Period.

Leah A A