Author: Kimberly Low

Power some toys up this Yuletide.

In the spirit of giving, Energizer will be playing Santa to the children of Kiwanis Malaysia, gifting over RM20,000 in educational and fun toys. Toys that can improve their confidence and social skills to brighten their days ahead.

However, all these toys are battery-powered and you can help to power them up by donating new Energizer Max batteries to Kiwanis Malaysia.

Just buy Energizer Max batteries and donate them at these locations between 22 November and 4 January 2015.

You could also do so at 1Utama Shopping Centre (Ground Floor Highstreet) between 18 to 28 December 2014. On top of donating batteries, you can donate your pre-loved battery-operated devices (especially those with educational value) that are still in good working condition to the children of Kiwanis Malaysia.

They can be dropped off at roadshows nationwide or 1Utama Shopping Centre (Ground Floor Highstreet) starting 18 to 28 December 2014.

How I am coping with not eating dairy.

Those who know me know that the bottom of my food pyramid is actually dairy. When I was living abroad at one time, my diet consisted of just blue cheese + grapes and muesli + milk for a whole year cause I didn’t have anyone to nag me.

I love everything dairy – real butter, full cream milk, whipping cream, whipped cream, clotted cream, all cheeses, ice cream, yogurt, as long as it’s dairy I will love it.

Often times, I tried to substitute milk in recipes with whipping cream because I crave for that milky aroma. When it works, it works like a dream but when it doesn’t…it’s really quite horrid. So, please, do not use whipping cream to make custard and do not pour it into tea. Sorry I have digressed.

Then I started breastfeeding Liam. He would puke after every feed, more often than not, projectile style. At first, I suspected it’s the chillies I had been eating, so I cut that out of my diet.

Still he was vomitting. It was always accompanied by a pained expression on his face, stretched-out back and he would also throw his arms and legs out a lot, all signs of pain :(

I think I kind of suspected dairy as the main culprit but I didn’t want to believe it. As a matter of fact, I had been eating an unusual amount of dairy shortly after giving birth to him.

A slice of red velvet cake almost daily, milk with my tea everyday, hot cocoa with whipped cream several times a week and the worst of it all, I was spraying whipped cream into my mouth multiple times a day because I LOVE IT.

Yeap, this scene in Mad Men was me. I hear you Betty Draper.

So yeah, it’s time to cut dairy out.

I mean I could always use soy milk and coconut milk to replace cow’s milk. Heck I’ve even used coconut cream as a substitute for whipped cream and as for butter…I’m using this amazing brand of margarine called Nuttelex. I swear it tastes better than our regular Lurpak!

Why Nuttelex? All the other cheaper local margarines have some kind of dairy derivatives in them. Nasty stuff.

I can’t believe it’s not butter.

Anyway, I could find replacements for most dairy except for ice cream. I thought of sorbet, but it’s just not the same is it?

I really, really missed ice cream :(

Then I remembered this appliance that I bought on a whim from a group buy site that’s been sitting collecting dusts in our cabinet.

It’s the Yonana! FYI, the one I got is an OEM model, but am pretty certain it’s the same exact machine.

The Yonana.

I’ve had it for more than a year but only took it out to play recently. All that was needed were two frozen bananas and some frozen strawberries. Thaw the fruits for about 5 minutes.

Then, put them through the machine. It came out slightly mushy at first…

And then the magic happened.

Perfectly cold, soft-serve ice cream minus the sugar, dairy and additives. The best damn soft-serve ice cream I have ever had!

So I think I can finally believe myself when I say I could do this dairy-free diet for a year more. Who knows, I might even stop eating dairy then.

Hmmmm, maybe not.

p/s: You can check out all my recipes with dairy here.

Why dogs are better for babies than people

I know what some people are thinking, “Aiya, so precious…can hang out with a dog but cannot with people. Dogs more dirty lah”. Long story short, because dogs don’t catch colds, humans do.

When you look at pictures of Liam, he looks strong and healthy right? Yeah, he does and I’m happy for that.

However, he’s still a preterm baby, which means his lungs had not been able to develop fully before getting born. Unfortunately once he’s born, his lung development slows down significantly, to the point that it will be a year before we’re confident he could fight off colds/flu on his own like an ordinary full term baby.

If he were to contract any cold now, not only it is bordering dangerous for him, it could also mean developing asthma when he’s older. That’s why we’re not really into bringing him out although, trust me I really want to get out of our house, go shopping and attend parties (especially children’s parties!).

I mean, we live in a society where people think it’s heroic to go to work when having a cold. People that cough and sneeze without covering their noses/mouths and people that don’t wash their hands regularly. The scariest of all is that most people don’t even know that they are carrying cold viruses until they develop running nose and coughs, by then it’s too late already.

So yeah, don’t give me the stink-eye for keeping my bub in.

Also, dogs don’t smoke. Preemie lungs are incredibly sensitive to cigarette smoke, that should a smoker wants to visit a preemie, he or she would have to shower and change into fresh clothes! That’s because the smoke and chemicals could paralyse the microscopic hair-like structures in immature lungs causing SIDS (Sudden infant death syndrome), asthma and other respiratory issues. In fact, cigarette smokes are as bad for full term babies for the first few years of their lives.

I was a smoker and have quit for almost a year. When I was still smoking, I used to think Malaysia was so awesome cause we could smoke anywhere as long as it’s outdoor or in kopitiams (cheap cafe restaurants with cheap food) and used to pooh pooh parents who were bitchy about wanting to hang out in smoking places. Like, “Hello, if you’re scared of cigarette smokes than don’t hang out here lah wtf”.

Well, now it’s back biting me in the ass cause now I finally understand.

The fact that I can’t eat outdoors to enjoy a breeze or at kopitiams for a few years when Liam’s with us because people could just nonchalantly light up piss me off. I hope Malaysia will be like Singapore or England soon, where smoking bans whether indoors or outdoors are strictly enforced. I hope smoking will be stigmatised in Malaysia, I truly do.

Dogs on the other hand, they bring in faunas, germs and “dirts” that could strengthen his immune system. I’m not making this shit up, it’s been documented since at least year 2002. Here’s another more recent article from Time extolling the virtues of having children with pets (btw dogs are scientifically proven to be better than cats, hehehe).

So I apologise for being anti-social, for being unexcited about visitors and for preferring dogs over people. But I’m not sorry about it.