Category Archives: family

Chinese New Year Celebrations In The Year of The Rat

Hi there.  I am back to the blogsphere after a Chinese New Year break.  Boy it has been a busy one with us travelling back to Ipoh for our annual CNY get-together with my family and relatives.  After we returned to KL, there were more visiting to relative’s and friend’s houses and get-together with friends for a belated birthday and Chinese New Year celebration.  I went back to work last Friday and there was a lion dance performance.  On Saturday, we brought my mother-in-law and brother-in-law who is back from Canada, for a short road trip to Tg. Sepat.  Here are some photos that were taken during the week-long celebration.

 

Loh Sang with friends

A shop near the Lover’s Bridge in Tanjung Sepat

The new Lover’s Bridge. The concrete bridge has replaced the wooden one.

Chinese New Year Decoration At Home

Not in much mood this year for Chinese New Year.  I did not DIY any Chinese New Year wreaths at all.  Last year‘s is still hanging on my front door.    The only thing I did todate is to decorate my bamboo plants.  I got the plants last year too.

Hung some Chinese knots on the plants and tied a few peonies to the vase.  Will see if I got any inspiration after my trip to the mall tomorrow.

Happy 2020 Everyone

With just a blink of an eye, we are on the 2nd day of 2020 already.  The days after Christmas seemed to whizz by so quickly.    We did not do anything to celebrate the New Year.  As a matter of fact, we went to bed at 10.30pm and did not even do any countdown.  Too old for that kinda stuff now.  Also because we wanted to go hiking at the Taman Tugu Forest Trail on the first day of 2020 so we have to wake up early and reach there before 8am.   Trying to have a healthy start on the first day of 2020 *chuckle*.

We always buy our morning coffee from the  @2gocoffeekl truck which is parked just at the entrance of Taman Tugu.

The three of us after our hike.

There are only 3 more weeks till the Chinese New Year.  I have not prepared anything yet to usher in the Year of the Rat.  Not in the mood to do anything at all this year although I have bought a few new clothes for missy.   Hope to get my mojo back soon.

Pasar Karat Petaling Street

We wanted to walk around Petaling Street (Chinatown) and check out some retro-inspired hipster cafes along Jalan Sultan on Saturday but we stumbled upon the Pasar Karat in one of the alleys.   Pasar Karat is like a flea market for vintage items.  Back in the 80’s,  it was known as the “Thieves Market” because most of the things for sale there look like they were stolen.  As a matter of fact, most of the items still look like they were indeed stolen.

There were rows of ‘stalls’ selling old phones, old handphones, clothing, accessories, shoes and some old coins and currencies.   Hubs likes to explore and look at the things while I was trying to capture a few photos of the traders and the wall murals.

According to the information I read online, the stalls begin from 5 am until 10 am.  Some of the old-timers have been selling there for over 20 years.

This place is kinda dodgy-looking and missy was rather uncomfortable.  So, we did not spend much time here and head elsewhere.  In the end, we did not visit any of those cafes in restored heritage buildings as the sky was opening up.  We went to look for the famous Madras Lane Chee Cheong Fun after this.  Do stay tuned.

Puku Cafe Cameron Highlands

If you are looking for an Instagram-worthy place in Cameron Highlands, then you must check out Puku Cafe which is located in Kea Farm, Brinchang.   You can spot this cafe right at the entrance to Kea Farm (on the left).  Puku Cafe is known for its homemade fruit ice-cream, especially strawberry (what else eh?) ice-cream.  Other flavours include tiramisu, vanilla, chocolate, green tea and passion fruit.  My family enjoyed the smooth milky ice-cream very much.

How quaint is this?

Check out the yummylicious authentic homemade ice-cream.

(Photo taken from Puku Cafe facebook page)

(Photo taken from Puku Cafe facebook page)

As I did not have any ice-cream, I got myself a cup of latte.   So so good coffee made from real coffee beans.  Definitely a must-stopover when you are doing your marketing at Kea Farm.

Less than 500 meters away is The Sheep Sanctuary.  You can click on the link to read more.  There is another Puku Cafe here, which overlooks the sheep sanctuary.  After you are done feeding the sheep, you can sit down and relax while enjoying some tea or coffee.  It is cooling and breezy here.

Hours:  9am to 6pm

Keto Gift Basket Ideas

The holiday season is upon us.  Do you have a keto or low carb person on your gifting list and you are not sure what to get them?  You can make a custom gift basket or gift box if you do not want to just get one specific gift.  Do scroll down to get the best low carb or keto gift ideas for a keto gift box or basket.

Zerro – Erythritol ( ZERO CALORIE SUGAR) which is a sugar substitute that looks and tastes like sugar, yet has almost no calories. Erythritol has been approved for use as a food additive in the United States and in many other countries.   I have used them for my baking and they are amazing.

MCT Oil which stands for medium-chain triglycerides.  It is a form of saturated fatty acid that is found in certain foods like coconut/coconut oil. MCT oil is a concentrated source of these fats since it provides more than would be found in whole foods like coconuts.  I think that a good quality coconut oil would be one of the first things I would add to your low carb or keto gift baskets.

Caroma Tik Tik Low Carb Coffee which is a Malaysian slow brew coffee in a teabag.  This conveniently packed coffee is made from 100% Arabica ground coffee bean.  Caroma Tik Tik Low Carb Coffee is available in 3 flavours.  I think they would make a fantastic addition to your basket!

Chocolates are popular gifts and one of my favorite treats is  Lindt Excellence 99% Cacao Dark Chocolate.  It is delicious, smooth and silky.   Lindt chocolates are available at Tesco and Jaya Grocer.

Himalayan Pink Rock Salt contains beneficial nutrients and minerals that are good for our health.  It is an ideal substitute for your normal table salt.  You can find them in the supermarket like Tesco or Jaya Grocer.  Watsons also carry them.

A low carb or keto gift basket is a great way to go and they are pretty easy to put together.  Any of these single items would make a great gift or keto stocking stuffer for that low carber or ketoer on your gift list!  Whether it is your coworker’s birthday, your anniversary or Mothers’ Day,  if the recipient follows a low-carb lifestyle, then I have got you covered with keto-friendly gifts for every occasion.

The Sheep Sanctuary Cameron Highlands

We made a short trip to Cameron Highlands last week and visited the latest attraction in Cameron Highlands.  Now we do not have to fly out of the country to see the baa baa white sheep because we can do that in Cameron Highlands at The Sheep Sanctuary.  It is located at the Kea Farm in Brinchang. You cannot miss the big signboard which is next to the Kea Farm market.   Brace yourself before you visit The Sheep Sanctuary because the merino sheep are too adorable.  You may find yourself wanting to bring one home.

This is how the sanctuary looks like.  Once you have bought the tickets, just walk in and take the stairs down.  It’s a beautiful place with nice scenery.  (Photo taken from The Sheep Sanctuary Facebook page)

Look at these faces!  Some of the sheep are in the enclosures because they are too heavy to run around with the visitors.  These sheep are waiting to be sheared.  The owner has hired a shearer from New Zealand to shear the sheep.

This cute fella went up the stairs and followed us.  I wanted to cuddle it but its fleece was kinda wet that morning.  As you can see, the merino sheep have very thick fleece.

Missy and her cousin, Sophie were busy feeding the sheep, one pellet at a time.  Can you imagine how long it took them to finish a packet of pellets?

We really had a great time here.  The weather was cooling and it was not crowded.  Best to go there in the morning.

There is also a cafe overlooking the sanctuary for visitors to sit down and sip some tea or coffee.  I love Puku Cafe as they have very good coffee.  Do stay tuned on my next post on Puku Cafe.

Tickets for the Sheep Sanctuary is RM5 per adult and RM2 per child.  Visitors can feed the sheep with the food pellets which is sold at RM3 a packet.

The Sheep Sanctuary opens at 9.30am.  A must-visit if you are in Cameron Highlands.

Our DIY Halloween Costume

Happy Halloween Peeps! The time has come for me to DIY another costume for missy. She was actually quite reluctant to be my model. Well, you know how teens are. After bugging her a few times, she agreed to be my model. I do have a backup though and that is my hubby who is more than willing to be my model but I think my DIY costume would fit missy more.

Tadaa……. here is this year’s DIY Halloween Costume.  Can you guess what it is?

It’s missy’s favourite drink – Boba Tea!    I thought of the idea a few weeks ago and was actually looking around for material for this Halloween costume.  She does not have any brown outfit and I wanted to use cardboards but I could not find any.  I was going to call it off until an idea came up.  I could use my favourite kraft paper and stick some black round papers onto it to look like boba.  I cut out the black round paper from a black paper bag.   I used a roll-up cardboard as straw.

This costume can only be used for a while, like photo-taking.  This is because the kraft paper is too thin to withstand any walking around.  If you plan to make this costume for next year, I suggest that you use a cardboard as a cup instead.

Effective Way To Lower Blood Sugar With Just One Drink A Day

Having high blood sugar is incredibly common these days.   When our body cannot effectively transport sugar from blood into the cells, high blood sugar will occur.  When this problem is left unchecked,  this can lead to diabetes.   According to the Health Ministry of Malaysia, some 3.6 million Malaysians are suffering from diabetes, the highest rate of incidence in Asia and one of the highest in the world.   This is definitely a major health concern in our country.

My mother is one of the people in the statistics.   She became a diabetic about 20 years ago.  She has to inject insulin into her body using a syringe every day.   Recently, Joymix has sent over a box of Insourin to help her manage her blood sugar level.   Insourin is a drink which consists of the following superior food extract:-

1. Citron Juice Powder / YUJA/ 유자

2. Patented Momordica Charantia Polypeptide ( bitter melon) 고야

3. Erythritol- Zero Calorie Sugar (sugar replacement)

The packaging consists of 3 small boxes that have 10 sachets in each box.

The Patented Momordica Charantia Polypeptide, an extract from bitter melon which is digestion-resistant, effectively activates inactive insulin receptors and allows more glucose channels to bind into the membrane. Hence, more blood glucose can be utilized.

The Patented Momordica Charantia also has excellent effects on body-fat reduction and can prevent muscle atrophy that is common in diabetes.

My mother was very excited to give it a try because she really wants to reduce the blood sugar level which fluctuates eventhough she is on insulin.   After consuming it daily for a week, she has seen effective results.

How To Consume

  1.   Pour 1 sachet of Insourin into a small cup and fill it with room temperature water.
  2.   Drink it with meal.

 

My mom drinking pleasantly flavored Insourin.

Here are the readings after taking Insourin

High reading after consuming noodles, bread and kuih for a day.

Blood sugar level reading after taking Insourin for over a week.    My mother is very happy with the result.  Thank you very much Joymix.

Benefits of Insourin

1. Immediate Reduce Blood Glucose  (diabetic) after meal

2. Reduce Glycated Hemoglobin ( HbA1c)

3. Reduce Body Fat

4.Reduce Total Cholesterol and Triglyceride

5. Prevention of Fatty Liver and Liver Disease

Can Insourin be taken while on medication? 

According to their website, you can drink Insourin even when you are on insulin or any diabetes medicine.  But if your blood sugar with medicine or insulin on that day has dropped to <5.6 mmol/L,  you do not have to drink Insourin.

If you find that your blood sugar reading is high, it is recommended that you drink Insourin during or after a meal.  Your blood sugar will go down within 2 hours.  After consuming it for 1 month,  you may go for the HbA1c test.

Important Note

Insourin is only suitable for pre-diabetic and diabetic patients.

It is not advisable to take  Insourin as a slimming supplement.

If you want help to manage your blood sugar level,  give Insourin a try.   Together with exercise and a healthy diet,  you can reduce your blood glucose level more effectively.

FREE TRIAL 5 SACHETS X 10g 

Joymix is offering 5 sachets of FREE Insourin samples for those who want to try it.  Here are the instructions:-

Only for diabetic patients.  Must write your current blood sugar result in the remark column when you click Buy Now.  Use voucher code FREE.

Taman Tugu Forest Trail

On Saturday,  we decided to explore the Taman Tugu Forest Trail after reading about this and also seeing a friend shared her visit to this park.    The Taman Tugu Forest is located next to Tugu Negara (our National Monument) in the south-west and Padang Merbok in the Southeast.

It is about 40 acres consisting of approximately 4km of forest trails which is open daily to public from 7am – 6.30pm and admission is free of charge.    Project Taman Tugu aims to open more trails by 2020 which will have approx 7km of forest trails.

I found this information online:-

The Taman Tugu Project is a not-for-profit corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) initiative led by Khazanah Nasional Berhad (“Khazanah”) with the support of various public sector agencies, private sector companies, and civil-society organizations.

Taman Tugu – Conserving a 66-acre green-lung in the heart of Kuala Lumpur and turning it into an urban forest park for the community.

The forest trail is very easy to navigate and it has many signages to guide the visitors. All you have to do is follow the arrows and take one loop around the forest.   There were 4 adults and 4 kids in our group and we took about 1.5 hours to cover the 4km trail.   It would be faster if we did not stop to take photos at the many swings and rest area in the forest.  It was a fun day for everyone and we plan to go back again for another round of walking and perhaps a picnic.  Scroll down to see the photos taken during our walk.

One of the rest areas for people to climb up or sit down to rest.

Spotted some monkeys

A baby snail

Can you spot a skink?

Wild mushrooms

One of the many swings available inside the forest. Fun eh?

One of the best things about this park is this bright yellow coffee food truck – @2gocoffeekl!  I was delighted to see it as soon as we reached the entrance to the forest park.  My family and friends know that I love coffee and I must have my cuppa in the morning or else you need to stay away from me *chuckle*

Everyone taking a rest while having some juice and ice-cold coffee.

My cup of coffee from @2gocoffeekl before I start my walk. The latte was so smooth and strong, just the way I like it.   My friends jokingly said that I look like a New Yorker as I held my cuppa while hiking.  You know how Americans are very enthusiastic about their coffee and walk around holding their takeaway cups.

So, if you forgot your coffee before heading to the Taman Tugu Forest Trail, fret not.  @2gocoffeekl coffee food truck is waiting at the entrance.