Oatmilk

Before we had a proper diagnosis done on what she could and could not take, we were only guessing she could be allergic to soy also. In midst of desperation, I came across this milk from a kiosk at a supermarket near my office :


Organic Soy Milk. Beetroot flavour. Pink color. Very nice. Vanilla and chocolate flavours available too.

Initially I thought it was another dairy product with oats but the promoter explained to me it's daily free, made from oat grains. I was so happy then to have found something to satiate Amber's milk needs.

I like this milk a lot. Since Amber can now take Isomil, this tin of milk is MINE. It's delish and do not give me the bloatedness and gas that cows milk does.




Organic, with antioxdants, high calcium, soluble fiber, lecithin and DHA, I'll choose oat milk over dairy milk anytime.

A bit expensive if compared to dairy milk powder but cheaper than Isomil and Pediasure. RM27 for a tin or RM50 for 2, its available at Village Grocers, Mercato and Olives.

Try it if you can't tolerate dairy milk.

Chitter Chatter - Update

Been a long time since I last updated on Amber's conversation.

She's a joy to talk to, *when I have the time*. Very often, I try to cut her conversations short or in other words *shut her up* when I need to get things done.

I know, I am guilty and I'm sure many moms out there face the same issue. . having kids who can't stop talking !!

I'd better note down her conversations before I forget. English, as spoken by Amber, my 4 year old :

~~~~~~~~~~~

Mama, you better don't eat so much. Afterwards ah.. you become very fat already.

If you fat, you cannot walk, your leg pain ..

When you are fat ah... your legs will become short.

**shame** - my own daugther asking me to diet ? I don't know where she got the idea of fat woman has short legs but I do know after putting on so many kilos the last 10 years, I do look a lot shorter than before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

one day, I was folding 'kam ngan' for Ching Ming prayers for my mom. She asked me what they were for.

It's for Amah.. Mama's mummy.

Questions marks starts running in her little head.

Your Mama ah ? Yee Ma ?? (Yee Ma is my father's current wife)

No, Amah. Mama's mother passed away and I'm folding these to pray for her.

You have 2 Mama ah ?? Not wanting to explain further and can't wait to shut her up, I said 'Yes'.

How come you have 2 Mama, I don't have ?

???????? You want 2 Mama meh ? You don't want me already ?

Errr. no no no no no ! I want only Mama !

I quickly distract her and changetopic before she ask me why I have 2 Mama .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While I was baking cupcakes for her one day.

Mama ! One day ah.. can you teach me how to make cake ?

Sure..

So ah, next time I can make cake for my daugther to eat .

I teach you everything I know ok ? And then you cook for MamaPapa to eat , can or not ?

Caannnn...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and so many more chitter chatter that left hubs and me in stitches. I really must note it down more frequently now before I forget.

Stomach Flu

Amber's down with stomach flu. In fact the a few of the kids at the childminder got it and I heard even Sharon is down with fever.

Stomach flu - with diarrhea and vomitting is very contagious. She last had it when she was 20 months old, diarrhea for 2 weeks. I spent so much money sending her to the hospital, paeditrician and forth and lastly sent her stool for test. -ve and she recovered.

My guess is we'll have to let it run it's course, let her tummy clear itself off the bad virus and slowly recover.

The childminder picked her up from kindie yesterday and the teacher didn't look too happy. She vomitted on the floor on the way to the toilet. She also told me : Teacher Mila say tell your mummy if you are sick, don't go to school.

*shame* I feel bad for the teachers but honestly, she was fine yesterday morning albeit tired looking. No fever, no vomit, no purging.

Last night, she woke up at 2.30am, crying, complaining of stomach ache, I took off her diapers and saw she had diarrhea-ed. She sat on the toilet seat and cried and later let out a big Hiroshima... hubs who was sleeping soundly heard the big explosion of yellow smelly goo and lots of gas. She felt better after that.

We've decided to let her rest another day today and I've been scrubbing the toilet with Dettol this morning. I don't want hubs or me to get it as stomach flu can be contagious. The last round she got it, when she was 20 months old, she spread the germs to hubs and me. Boy, it was CHAOTIC, having 3 in a family sick n running to the toilet all the time, and were were staying in a small apartment then, sharing the same toilet !

Ok, I need to scrub ALL toilets that she uses with Dettol tonight. There goes my Friday evening !

She Knows Best

Amber's been sick since Monday. She has fever running from midnight of Sunday and I gave her paracetamol. She skipped school and we sent her to the babysitter's instead. Over there, she just took paracetamol and continued her day as usual, played with other kids.

Hubs and I are not surprised she fell sick coz it's been almost a year since she last had fever. We said, 'it's about time'.

We gave her another day off on Tuesday and her fever subsided.

Wednesday, we changed her to school uniform and she complained of stomach ache, crying and wailing. Doesn't seem right to me and we took her to the clinic. She was given Colimix and Buscopan for the cramps.. and we sent her to the childminders. No fever but vomit after taking Colimix. I stopped giving her the medication. Other than complaining of tiredness, she appears normal, I gave her soya milk before she slept

This morning, she complained 'tired' again, asking to be carried and doesn't want to go to school. So tired that she slumped on the floor. I thought it was a ploy and excuse for not skipping school.

After 3 days of skipping school with no high fever, I send her back. She wailed when Teacher Mila carried her away from me. Poor girl, hung on to me like a koala bear. When teacher took her away, her legs held tightly to my legs. I let go.

At 9.20am today, Teacher Jo- the principal called me and said Amber vomitted twice. She made a mess as she was running to the toilet to throw up but didn't make it in time. There was a trail of vomit along the floor.

I called Boon to pick her up from school.

Poor girl, she was right when she complained of tiredness and unwell. Terrible me, for insisting to send her to school. :(

Naughty ! Naughty !

How often is it that our kids does naughty stuff, we get soooooo angry and at the same time find it so hard to bring ourself to scold her.

Hubs was taking a shower and I was downstairs with my usual cleaning, clearing, ironing, etc.
Amber said hubs she wanted to put on some talcum.. hubs said OK but don't put too much.

Once he got out of his shower, he screamed when he saw this :

Baby

I couldn't help laughing at this photo. She is so grouchy and angry ! After getting it from us, she had to pose and take a photo :

Baby powder all over her body :

This photo, taken a month ago, when she was off milk including soya. See how skinny she is ?

What's Happening in the Garden ?

A burnt leaf :


I heard Amber shouting : Mama ! Come and see ! Come and see !

I saw the 'big kid' and the little kid squatting on the grass and hubs asked me to grab a camera. Father and daughter, doing this :

Starting a fire, burning a leaf with a magnifying glass.

Amber learned new words 'magnifying ( a mouthful for her ) , and 'focus'

She's very excited, like any kid.

Father and daughter, so alike, one a kid at heart and the other, a kid at play.

Then I took opportunity to snap some nice kaffir limes fruiting at my garden. I bought this plant a year ago, hubs didn't believe they'll fruit. With consistent watering, fertilizer and the best spot in the garden, I have about 20 limes fruiting.

some in clusters..

some alone..

Nice ? I love it's fragrance..

Time to cook some tomyam soon !

Allergy Free Food - Look Carefully and You'll Find

I spend a lot more time in supermarkets now, reading labels, scrutinizing ingredients, carefully, looking out for words like : dairy, milk powder, milk, eggs and yeast !

I found 2 cereals that she likes and can eat :



The golden word 'may contain traces of ....... ' meaning it does not contain the particular ingredient but no company wants to be sued for minute incident due to a minute ingredient.

'May contain'... this clause is what I have been looking out for nowadays....

Chicken Floss Tou Sar Kok

Hubs is a tau-sar-peah crazy guy (and a fussy one too). We get lots of tau sar peah from Tampin and Malacca from MIL and BIL and my sis will also get us some when she returns from Penang.


Last weekend, SIL gave us a few packs of an unusual tau sar peah.. 'chicken floss tau sar kok' . I thought this was quite unusual but it taste really good. The chicken floss sweetness balance well with tau sar's saltiness.

Called 'tau sar kok' coz it's shaped like 'kaya kok' - ie kaya puffs.

I've never heard of tau sar peah with chicken floss stuffing. So, if you want to get some, head to :

Thin pastry and lots of filling. This is yumzzz..

Goodies from Japan

I love it when someone goes to Japan and brings me back goodies (hint ! hint !). Be it omochi gift packs, candies, paper fans or any other souvenirs, I like the way the goodies are presented. The Japanese are so good with packaging.

MIL came back from Japan recently and gave us these yummies :





these are hand-rolled and hand cut candies. Amber's on low sugar diet and I'll keep it till next year. I hope they dont end up in my tummy before Christmas is over :(



and ... this looks like ??? n*p*l* candy .. LOL !!!

this candy, shaped just like rockmelon.. taste like rockmelon except it's not rockmelon ! Made from white chocolate.

hair accesories for Amber..

Oh, how I long to go Japan !!!!

Nigella's Chocolate FruitCake

I got this recipe from Cold Storage Christmas catalogue and been wanting to make this for a long long time. Have some leftover mixed fruit and peels from CNY and here I am, baking another fruitcake way way before Christmas.. Can't resist, I love fruit cakes too much..


All ingredients, boiled over low fire



Bubbling and smells 'heavenly'.



Fold in flour, cocoa powder and baking soda



Tadaaa....

Foolproof recipe, fruit won't sink ! Here's the recipe :

Tho' it's not very chocolatey, I like it. Hubs didn't like it. I had to give away 3/4 of the cake to friends and family.