The Household COO

The Kindness of Strangers

figur8 — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:47:00 +0000

I’ve always been a bit of a skeptic when it comes to common courtesy among Malaysians. It has come to the point where I wouldn’t be surprised if a person fell down and required help, everyone in the vicinity would just turn around and walk in the opposite direction. No. They wouldn’t walk away. They would stand there and watch but do nothing to help.

However, recent events have reinspired me… Is it coincidentally because I am pregnant or would they have helped in any other occasion, I really don’t know but these are events that have really happened to me.

While shopping at Midvalley Megamall on my own, I was pushing Gavin around in his stroller. We got to the bridge between Midvalley and The Gardens on the second level. Unfortunately, it isn’t too stroller friendly because they only have a set of stairs there. Being a little lazy to go all the way to the ground or lower ground floor, I began to negotiate the steps with Gavin still sitting in his stroller. I was about three steps down when one of the sales staff from the computer shop appeared and helped me carry Gavin’s stroller down the stairs.

To say that I was utterly dumb-founded would have been an understatement. I couldn’t thank him enough for his kindness. Unfortunately, he was so shy about his act of kindness that he wouldn’t even meet my eyes.

A second time when I was crossing back to Midvalley, I had to negotiate the stairs again. I really didn’t expect any help because I felt it would have been too much all in one day. Since Gavin wasn’t sitting in his stroller this time, I thought I would lead him down the steps first and go back for the stroller. While I was leading Gavin down the steps, a waiter from the Little Penang Cafe carried Gavin’s stroller down the steps for me.

And all this all happened on the same day!

Then on another occasion at The Gardens, I was attempting to wheel Gavin into Baskin Robbins. His stroller was a little wide to fit and I had to keep moving the cue poles out of the way so I could make my way into the shop. To my surprise, a young boy who could not have been more than 10 years old jumped out of his chair and came to help me move the cue poles!

How lovely it was to see that parents are still teaching their children such thoughtfulness.

Peanut Butter Carrot Muffins

figur8 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:16:07 +0000

This is a recipe adapted from one of the free recipes by The Sneaky Chef.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup carrot and sweet potato puree (1 medium sweet potato, 3 medium carrots, 2-3 tablespoons water)
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter

Method:

Peel carrots and sweet potato and blend with water in a Vitamix. (If you don’t have a high power blender, steam of boil them in water to soften them first).
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius and grease a muffin tin.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until well combined,
Whisk in the oil, sweet potato and carrot puree and peanut butter.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until flour is just moistened (don’t over-mix or the muffins will be dense).
Scoop about two to three tablespoons of batter into the large muffin cups until half full.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. I think I should add that the Sneaky Chef recipes tend to over cook when following their recommended cooking times and temperatures. The original cooking time was 25-30 minutes, but mine were done in less than 20.

Personally, I felt this recipe was a little too “healthy” tasting for something that is supposed to be health food in disguise. If I had to make them again, I would:

add some walnuts
add a little more sugar or top them with cream cheese frosting
replace the whole wheat flour with plain flour.

As it is, I don’t think I’ll be in any hurry to try this one again.

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Pregnant Woman’s Wrath

figur8 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:38:26 +0000

A couple of nights ago, we were having dinner at Nandos in The Alpha Angle. While waiting for our food to arrive, I suddenly had an attack of the cravings – something I hadn’t felt since I was in my first trimester. Anyway, the craving was for cake and upstairs, conveniently, was Secret Recipe. To be quite frank, whenever I think of Secret Recipe, I think of cheesecake. Not any of their other cakes, but specifically cheesecake because I don’t like many of their other cakes.

Thinking it might have been the hunger pangs speaking to me in a rather unhealthy way, I thought I would wait until after dinner to see if I still wanted my cake. Well, I did. So off to Secret Recipe we went…

After looking through all the cakes on display, I settled for one called “Hazelnut Cheese”. Since no one had ordered it, the cake was whole and I couldn’t see the inside but I figured the name “Hazelnut Cheese” left little to the imagine. It was basically a hazelnut flavoured cheesecake with possibly some hazelnut pieces in it. Sounded good to me.

Imagine my shock and surprise when this arrived:

This looks like a Hazelnut cream cake, not a cheese cake! Rarely in my right mind do I ever order cream cakes because I don’t like cream. I took the cake back and told them, “This isn’t a cheesecake.”

The staff replied, “Yes it is.”

Are you f***ing kidding me? You call this a cheesecake?

“Oh, the cream is cream cheese,” they say.

Right… Let’s take a closer look at that “cream cheese”:

Let’s just give them the benefit of the doubt and say that it really is cream cheese frosting in there, that still doesn’t change the fact that this is NOT a cheesecake. Carrot cakes have cream cheese frosting but that doesn’t make it a Carrot Cheesecake.

Some idiot in Secret Recipe really has no idea about cakes. After that enormous letdown (hey, I’m pregnant with a craving for cheesecake, okay?), I don’t think I will be going back there again…

Shopping for a New Baby Carrier

figur8 — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 21:14:41 +0000

I’ve been bitten by another shopping bug… I don’t know whether to get myself one a Baby KTan camouflage wrap:

An Ergo Sport baby carrier:

Or the Ergo Organic Blue baby carrier:

Ah… choices, choices, choices…

I am leaning more heavily towards the Ergo because of what I read about the Ergo being better designed to provide the correct sitting position for optimal hip, pelvis and spine growth. That, and the fact that it transfers the baby’s weight to yor hips which is better for your back.

I like the Ergo Sport because the fabric is supposed to be lighter and more breathable – good for the warmer climate in this country. But I like the pockets that the Ergo Organic blue has. Plus, it’s blue – Gavin’s and my favourite colour. I’m not particularly fond of black because it’s a mosquito magnet – not particularly attractive when we have to worry about dengue.

There are other colours to choose from, too. So what should I get?

A Very Tasty Green Smoothie Recipe

figur8 — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:23:37 +0000

After reading about The Sneaky Chef for hubbies, I decided to try out one of the The Sneaky Chef recipes for children on my son. It was titled “Brainy Brownies” and contained spinach as one of the healthy ingredients.

Since I had excess spinach left over, I decided to try making my first ever “Green Smoothie” using the Vitamix. As it happened, the internet was down at the time so I couldn’t look up any useful “Green Smoothie
recipes so I came up with my own. It was surprisingly very palatable. Despite the very green colouring, I didn’t even notice the spinach flavouring in it.

Looks like I should make myself more Green Smoothies…

As odd as it might sound coming from a former vegetarian, I have been struggling to eat my veggies of late. Ever since I became pregnant, the thought of eating veggies makes me want to gag. Yeah, go figure… Anyway, this is an excellent way to sneak in those greens without wanting to throw up.

So here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Cup of spinach
20 Red Globe grapes
2 small bananas
1 Navel orange
A handful of ice cubes

Method:

Blend everything in the Vitamix (starting on low speed and moving quickly to high speed) until smooth – use the tamper stick to push down the spinach as necessary.

Serve and drink. Yum.

Serving Healthy Food to Your Hubby the Sneaky Way

figur8 — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:46:47 +0000

I’ve always griped about my hubby’s unhealthy approach to his diet – that and the fact that he seems to put on about as much weight as a pregnant woman whenever I get pregnant because he claims to have “cravings”. Unfortunately, after the last pregnancy, I lost the weight but he didn’t.

Now that I am pregnant again, I do wish there were some way to get him to trade in his unhealthy snacks for something better.

And then my SIL2 told me about a book called “The Sneaky Chef” by Missy Chase Lepine. It was actually in reference to the fact that my son is a picky eater and this might be the way to get him to eat his greens without having to go to war over it. I was very intrigued when I heard that you could make chocolate cake with hidden veggies in it. Goodness, why didn’t someone come up with this idea sooner?

Anyway, while visiting their website, I discovered there is also a book for the husbands:

The only pity is that the food is Western and my hubby is a Chinaman to the core. He has to have rice in most meals and it has to be Chinese style rice – not risotto or biryani or whatnot.

And to be fair, he does eat his veggies. It’s just those damn in between meal snacks…

Home Made Gourmet Chocolates from Australia

figur8 — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:43:08 +0000

Will wonders never cease? My parents flew in last night and my Mum gave me these:

The surprising part was that they were made by my cousin. Not just any of my cousins but my male chauvenist pig cousin whom you would never ever see in the kitchen unless he was raiding the refridgerator for snacks. Not only did he make these but he actually attended a course to learn how to do it!

What’s gotten into him, I wondered. Mid-life crisis?

I asked my Mum and she said my cousin’s been complaining about the prices of gourmet chocolates. He finally decided to do something about it -- learn how to make his own gourmet chocolates. They don’t taste half bad either.

I thought I’d youtube to see how these chocolates are made. Well, didn’t exactly find a home-made video, but this is how the commercial ones are made…

Livescribe Digital Pen

figur8 — Fri, 22 May 2009 06:55:27 +0000

Where were these when I was at school?

This was recorded early last year and these pens are apparently on sale already. I saw one advertised in a technology catalogue hubby picked up while looking for a new printer. I can’t remember the price exactly but it’s going at around RM800-900 here.

Here’s a cool ad they created for the Livescribe pen:

More about the Livescribe pen.

Ah… I can’t really justify paying nearly a grand on a pen but seriously, if money were no object, this would be a really cool toy.

The Wedding Planner

figur8 — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:53:01 +0000

Planning a wedding has always been a big affair. A once in a lifetime event, every bride has dreams to make her wedding day one of the most memorable events of her life. Planning a wedding is also a pretty hefty undertaking. I’ve known brides who have quit their jobs to devote their full attention and focus to planning their weddings.

Of course, not every bride can afford to do that. Thankfully, that is where a trained and fully qualified bridal consultant comes into the picture to make sure everything goes according to plan. It may come as a surprise to you but these days you can attend a backgammon free casino money free craps game play free black jack craps video poker strategy play black jack online how to win video poker casino game online uk best casino online casino secure online gambling jackpot casino online casino black jack learn to play craps how to win at video poker craps online blackjack casino game online casino betting free on line video poker casino games no download casino online gambling casino play free casino slots video poker machine bonus video poker free on line slots double bonus video poker free video poker games free casinos roulette online craps rules free on line casino rules of craps online casino free money blackjack 21 internet casino how to play craps free casino game download fortunelounge online casino free casino download free casino card game free roulette game free casino play no deposit free money casino internet casino online wedding planning course to help you manage all the details of planning a wedding.

Perhaps it is thanks to Jennifer Lopez starring in the movie “The Wedding Planner” that created such an interest in event planning or perhaps the industry has always been a popular one to begin with, regardless, you can count on this business to be relatively recession proof. Not matter what happens, people will continue to get married and for that special day, you can bet they’ll be willing to splash a little to make it extra memorable. Even if you aren’t planning weddings, there are always other functions, parties, corporate events, etc. to cater for.

If you are serious about becoming a bridal consultant and event planner, then you may want to consider getting qualifications for it – what better way to put you ahead of your competitors than to learn from the professional experience of the co-founder of a successful New York City wedding planning business? You can get your professional qualifications and work experience from Sheffield School.

The course at Sheffield School not only teaches you about how to plan a successful wedding, but it also advises you on how to run a successful business as a wedding consultant. They cover everything from planning the event to the legal aspects of running your event planning business. If you enjoy organising parties and events, then this is definitely a career path to consider.

Movies: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

figur8 — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:08:18 +0000

Here’s another movie I’ve been dying to watch…

Harry Potter. Who would have thought I would get swept up in the series like everyone else? At first Harry Potter books were all the rage with the kids, then the adults were reading it, creating a new cult following for JK Rowling. Admitedly, my initial interest in the book was merely to see what all the fuss was about. After all, if I was planning to write that best selling novel (which is on my list of things to do before I die), I had better be in the know about the movers and the shakers in the literary world.

After that, I was hooked. Now I’m just waiting for the final three movies to be released. It appears the final book “Deathly Hallows” will be made into a two-part movie, hence three more movies to go…

Although, the more I see of the later books, the darker and more sinister they appear. I almost wonder that they can be classified as children’s books given how dark they are. Even I got creeped out reading them -- or perhaps I’m just more susceptible than the kids?