A few things I cooked in the past months.

I am consciously trying not to write about babies and hormones. So I am going to blog about food instead.

+++++++++++++++

A while ago, I attempted to make Seremban beef noodle, one of my favourite things to eat pre-preggers.

Seremban beef noodle is quite different from KL’s. The former is lighter and has a variety of textures while the latter is richer and more punchy in flavours.

It was easier to cook than I initially thought, and the recipe I used was from this lovely blog.

# – My first Seremban beef noodle attempt.

I used Korean udon noodles, which were a tad too stodgy for my taste, so stick to chinese rice noodles!

I have since developed a disdain for innards of any kind, so I probably won’t make this dish until after the baby has arrived.

+++++++++++++

Another thing I really loved pre-preggers was salt beef. The only place I know that serves good salt beef is Nutmeg at Bangsar Village 2.

Salt beef is just a cheap cut of beef that has been cured and then boiled, so instead of paying extra I decided that I should make them myself.

The recipe I used is from The Telegraph.

# – Cure brisket in spiced brine.

# – After 7 days…

# – Poach for 3 hours until tender.

# – Salf beef, DONE!

We ate it with potatoes and Dijon mustard. Well, must say I was a little underwhelmed despite the amount of effort put in to make the dish.

So, I think I will stick to going to Nutmeg (after baby comes cause the idea of eating salf beef right now makes me want to hurl), hehehe.

++++++++++++++

I friggin loveeeeeeeee hummus. I could eat it everyday. It’s quite a pity that hummus is not a more common sight at supermarkets here.

Fortunately, it’s very easy to make hummus, if you cheated….

The traditional way of making hummus is complicated, you have to pre-soak and grind the chickpeas, grind sesame seeds till they become paste, boil olive oil till it’s scalding hot etc etc but the angmoh way of doing it is very easy…just blitz with a food processor. Don’t even need cooking.

The recipe I used is from BBC.

# – Stick canned chickpeas, tahini (sesame paste), crushed garlic, lemon juice, ground cumin, olive oil, salt and water into the food processor.

# – Blitz and season if needed.

# – Serve with flat bread….so healthy and easy.

Use it like a bread spread too in sandwiches..healthier than butter. Yummy!

+++++++++++++

I had leftover pears, so I made a pear cake. I used a recipe from this blog, and it’s easily one of the easiest things I’ve ever baked.

Looks quite beautiful too I must say. The sponge was light and fluffy, the pears were soft and chewy. Yums.

# – Italian pear cake.

# – Served with vanilla ice cream.

++++++++++++++

Lastly, I made Gordon Ramsay’s pork neck curry again. I used shoulder loin (funnily, they are also called butt) and it worked very well.

Instead of mango salsa, I made apple salsa because I forgot to buy mangoes and I had loads of apples in the fridge. They worked well…just cubed apples, halved tomato cherries, lemon juice, salt & pepper and a handful of pea sprouts.

# – Yummy yum yum….served with rice.

++++++++++++++

That’s all, kthxbai.

The day we found out.

This was written on  2.40am on 27 January 2014. I was sitting on my toilet bowl, emptying my bowel for the umpteenth time.

==========

7 days ago on the morning of 20 January 2014. All those haziness, emotions, fatigue, sore breasts, suspicions and violent belly gas in the past weeks had culminated into a strong urge to head to the pharmacy.

I walked in, asked the pharmacist for folic acid. She asked me back, “For pregnancy?”.

“Hurm, guess so.”

“Ah…for pre-natal. Just one second”, she said.

She passed me a box with ‘FOLIC ACID’ brightly emblazoned across it.

“Take one a day, that’s all you need”.

I could have walked straight out. I could have walked straight to my car and driven home. But I didn’t.

Instead, I grabbed two boxes of ClearBlue. I was familiar with the contraption, having used it a couple of weeks ago when I suspected I was with child.

I paid up for my goods. While walking to the car I felt suspiciously eyed on. Felt like I was doing something naughty. What a weird feeling!

As soon as I reached home, I ripped open a box of ClearBlue and peed on it. And then I waited for what seemed like an eternity.

Pregnant.

I waited a little bit more.

It still said, “Pregnant”.

I smiled. I ran up to our bedroom, flung the door open to my sleeping husband.

“Boober!”

He roused and rubbed his eyes.

“Hur?”

I couldn’t speak. I was smiling so hard, pee covered stick in my hand.

I turned on the lights and looked straight into his eyes, still smiling.

Then he noticed the stick in my hand. “Pregnant?”

“YES!!!!”, I roared.

And then I jumped right into his open arms and we hugged for the longest time.

We had a look at the stick again, by now it was showing how far a long I was; 3+ weeks.

image

We felt so good, so happy, so at peace because we know we are 100% ready.

Doctor confirmed it with a scan.

A couple of hours later, it began. The epic runs, the green tsunami, pissing from my ass – shit by any other name would still smell as bad.

Instead of morning sickness, instead of constipation…I got diarrhoea. And I was still at it 7 days later. As I spent most of my time on the throne, I decided to blog this.

So yes, Gareth and I – we are pregnant with our first child! :)

==============

Today is 24 March 2014. The hubs has made the official announcement on Facebook and his blog yesterday.

We are now just over 13 weeks, entering 2nd trimester. Exciting times! Went through the morning sickness and had a bit of a scare but all is good now :)

I always thought women who suffer from morning sickness are drama queens, how can you projectile puke without warning?

Well, now I understand that you can. I have learnt to puke in my mouth and then swallowed it back multiple times because I didn’t want to be “that girl that projectile vomitted in a food court”. I have learnt to drive while hurling into a plastic bag.

Here’s the latest picture of our baby:

See the arm? We’ve got a raver!

The most magical thing since running tap water….

…..is my Babyliss Pro Miracurl!

It is a haircurler made for uncoordinated, clumsy, accident-prone women and men, just like myself! Husband gifted it to me at Xmas, I guess obsessively showing him Youtube videos of Babyliss Miracurl got through to him :)

Babyliss Pro Miracurl

 

I have bought conventional hair curlers before, but could never master using it. I always ended up either burning myself or at the verge of burning my hair off.

Too scatterbrained to estimate how long I should leave the hair on the curler and all the turning and twisting of my wrist and hair without burning my face off….wow, how do people even do it!?

Anyone remember this girl?

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/TFgXtrdHsmA

 

In the end, I just opted to tie my hair up coz I didn’t know what else to do with my frizzy mop.

My default hairstyle pre-Babyliss.

 

Thank goodness, those days are now over, thanks to this nifty gadget with a weirdass name – Babyliss.

The best hair curler ever.

 

It has three time settings, three heat settings and three curl settings (left, right or alternate). I find the best setting for me is medium heat with 10 seconds….my curls could last for 2 full days regardless of sweat, cold and sleep.

All the settings on the Miracurl.

 

# – First, you need to do is get about an inch thick of hair, comb it out (I use my fingers only).

Grab about an inch of hair and smooth them out.

 

# – Then, slip the Babyliss Pro Miracurl over where you want your curls to start.

Put hair between the Miracurl where you want your curls to start.

 

# – Then you clamp the hair. It will begin to wind your hair in. No turning the device manually.

Clamp the hair.

 

# – After that, it will start to beep slowly and when it’s time to release your hair, it will beep quickly. Easy peasy.

Tada!

 

# – The trick for the curls to last long is to allow the curls to completely cool down before styling.

Right after…the curls are tight and I look like a Jewish man.

 

# – After hair cools down, run fingers through to loosen curls and style.

After hair cools down, run fingers through and style. More sexy, right????

 

This is not an advertorial, I just really love this gadget and want to share it with the world! It can be bought at Shins in Malaysia at about RM700 or slightly more. I know there are a lot of OEMs out there at the fraction of the price but I think better buy a legit brand like Babyliss lah…

If you’re not into spending that much money, you can check out my hair curling technique using socks here. Yeap, socks…as in the ones you wear on your feet.

Hubs also bought me a Babyliss hair dryer later on hehe. The motor is designed by Ferrari (not joking), will probably blog about it soon.