Self Pampering

life, as we all know it will never be like a mapped route. at times it will grab us by our collar, throw us off our chair and sometimes cause our chin to quiver. and when life gets a tad bit too overwhelming, most of us will go on a quest for solace. i consider myself quite fortunate as my quest for solace is less than 10 steps away from my bed. it is my so called sanctuary where i regain my senses. a haven that dissolves the ache, dolefulness and sorrow. so when the crotchetiness threatens to surface, my other half will usually run the hot water and push me in there.

he'll dazzle me with a few drops of natural foam bath to aromatise the tub which also acts as a pampering agent to the skin. the feeling of submerging into the deliciously hot bubbly scented water is pure and utter bliss. it literally feels like all my letdowns are melting off my shoulder and i feel better instantly. eminently therapeutic in every sense of the word and exceedingly convenient too. half an hour usually does the trick and i'll come out from my hide out very much less crotchety and almost an entirely different person. no more tight lipped monster waiting to pounce at any given chance.

the pampering doesn't end here, though. after the hot bubble bath it would be time to slather every inch of the skin with rich and creamy body lotion that smells completely divine. i've always been an ardent fan of victoria secret since i could remember and they never disappoint. then of course,followed by a spritz of my favourite scent that would surreptitiously make the whole therapeutic experience complete. this is by far, one of the best therapy i've known that doesn't burn a hole in the pocket. expect a sudden rise in your water bill, though. but it is considered as an inexpensive way to pamper yourself plus it is way better than retail therapy i might say. you should know that this statement is coming from i, the retired shopaholic. 

give it a try and you'll know what i mean. but if the weather is scorching outside, don't be a simpleton and try this out. i suggest having a cold shower or a swim instead.

Little Palates

many find cooking for toddlers in particular quite challenging. it's only because their taste buds are new to all the flavours that we adults are so used to. i have seen many mothers getting frustrated and ending up forcing food down their toddlers. if you happen to be one of those, i am not criticising your parenting method because my mother used to force mustard leaves (sawi) down our throats too and i am always indebted to her for cultivating the love for greens in us since we were young. never mind the bulging eyes and lethal glare. however, the forcing method did not work with nunu. he preferred to be encouraged instead, i wonder why though (note the sarcasm) and so i rewarded him with plentiful of praises and little treats. 

finish all your peas and you can have yoghurt after this.

finish your mushrooms because good boys eat up their mushrooms!

ooh look at that little tree on your plate, it looks reallly yummy! (referring to broccoli)

and the encouragement is never-ending. it is tiring to be enthusiastic all the time especially after kitchen duties but it is all worth it. so here it is, upon my cousin's request for an easy but absolutely scrumptious recipe that will tickle the palate of little fuss pots and never fails to win them over all the time :) 

Cornish Fish Pie

Ingredients :

1kg potato cut into large chunks

150g butter

750 ml milk

700g skinless white fish, dry well before cooking (cod, haddock)

2 bay leaves

100g prawns peeled (optional)

60g plain flour (i use organic flour, it's healthier)

small bunch of parsley chopped (dried one will do too)

100g grated cheddar cheese

Method :

1. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Simmer the potatoes for about 20 minutes until tender, then drain and mash with half the butter and a little milk. Season.
2. Meanwhile, bring the rest of the milk to a simmer in a frying pan, add the fish and bay leaves, cover and cook for 6-8 minutes. Remove the fish (keep the poaching milk) and flake into a dish, sprinkle the prawns on top.
3. Melt the rest of the butter in a pan, add the flour and mix, then gradually add 300ml of the poaching milk, mixing constantly until all the milk has been absorbed. Bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes then take off the heat and mix in the parsley. Season. Pour over the fish and prawns. Spoon the mash over so it covers everything, then sprinkle with the cheese.
4. Cook for 20 minutes in the oven until the top is golden.

courtesy of bbc food network.

this dish can be enjoyed by the entire family. you can always cut down the ingredients if you're cooking only for little tummies. oh and you can also add carrots, sweet corn and peas if you like. makes it nicer me thinks! happy trying especially to my cousin, and i hope your little one loves it :)

ps: kalau dia tak suke jugak, kau try la buat menu jawa plak.

Live Beats

i was just relaxing on the sofa,  doing my favourite thing in the www - day dreaming about a longchamp bag, when i heard a funny and odd sound coming from the backyard. it sounded like someone was trying to blow a stuffed trumpet. just like the sound of air that is forced to come out but suppressed by something at the end or it's like slowly releasing air from a balloon. i'm terribly sorry if i'm not making much sense but that was how funny and odd that sound sounded like! so much so that is beyond description. right, i don't think my feeble attempt at trying to hide the colossal truth about my horrible writing skills succeeded but bear with me will you?

thank you, you're very kind. now, there is always a cure for boredom however, with a sinking heart i say nobody has found the cure for curiosity. therefore, being the very curious person that i was at that very moment, i rather hurriedly went to the patio and witnessed something quite phenomenal. my 3 year old toddler was happily running around in the garden, singing his favourite kiddy song in that little voice of his accompanied by a 'musical beat' coming straight from his rear end continuously! can you imagine how hysterical that was? of course you can't, you weren't there! 

but it was so ridiculous that i burst into a very loud guffaw! he realised then there was an audience and instantly cracked up too. it didn't stop there by the way. his short legs then climbed onto the trampoline and he started to bounce. all along while bouncing his rear end was producing some 'live beats'. OMG i couldn't contain it any longer. i was laughing hysterically until my abdominal muscles were sore just like after 100 sit ups. i was so tickled, puzzled and after all that hype became very worried. being the wacko that i am, i was already  contemplating on whether it was an unknown farting decease that he could possibly have. what if he has to live with the condition all his life? and all the embarrassing scenarios that i could think of were swimming in my head. you'd be worried if you heard the continuous 'live beats' he was producing too.

it was a very unsettling feeling i must say. i wasn't too sure about how nunu felt about this though. he seems to be enjoying his newfound errr habit should i say? it doesn't sound appropriate does it? but since we're already on an inappropriate subject lets give it a miss. anyway, yes nunu was not bothered but poor mummy was indeed. so i had him checked and thankfully there was absolutely nothing wrong with him. i was informed that it could be something he ate that caused all that excessive wind. most importantly, all is well and nunu shall not be letting out continuous 'live beats' on his wedding day. well, he better not.

muke teran kentut, hehe i kid i kid.

Mummy, dog doesn't like it!

it was quite a sunny day today so nunu, my cousin and i decided to go for a walk. we walked towards humberstone park and took in the lush greenery that sprawled before our eyes. we were really enjoying the walk when out of a sudden, a big black dog sprinted across the park towards us and tried to go for nunu. there was this jolt in my heart and i was delirious. i was trying so hard to keep nunu away from the dog and i was so certain that if anyone was to be bitten that day, i would let it

 be me. my cousin managed to grab nunu during the madness and held him up high.

it all happened in a split of a second and the dog just stopped trying and ran off. i wasn't really sure wether it was due to our vociferous NO's but most importantly, it stopped and left. my breath was staggered and i've never experienced such an adrenaline rush in my entire life. i turned to see nunu if he was alright. he was still held up by my cousin and to my surprise, there wasn't a trace of fear on his little face. all that came out from his mouth was, "mummy, dog doesn't like it!". at that moment, i was just too overwhelmed to decipher what he was trying to say until much later. when i found out what he was trying to tell me, i was absolutely and utterly flabbergasted. 

what seemed like an attack to me, appeared to be like a friendly gesture to nunu. what he was really saying was, don't say no to the dog he doesn't like it. i was stupefied. no, i was beyond stupefied. i couldn't rationalise my thoughts and i wasn't certain anymore of what i saw. i am a bit puzzled though, if the dog was attempting an attack, why wasn't it barking ferociously? maybe it was just trying to get to nunu to nuzzle him. oh, i don't know.. thinking of it just peeves me now. it just seemed a bit jeopardous at that time, or so i thought.

put all that aside i am glad that no mishaps happened. (though mummy is a little bit traumatised but that's a minor.) i learned a very poignant lesson today as a mother. once, my grandma told me a similar story. only in her version, the dog actually sank its teeth into the flesh of her thigh in her attempt to save my uncle. when she shared her experience then, i couldn't really relate (mind you i was a dimwitted 10 year old at that time) but i found it very stupendous, of course. but now, i can fathom the act of sacrifice that any mother would do for her child. a natural reflex you extemporaneously master once you embrace the title, mother. 

Hocus Pocus Backfired

i have always found my other half's ability to decode my cryptic line of thoughts (i warned you about my fling with exaggeration) very enthralling. wait, i beg to differ. he finds me very ambiguous most of the time actually. but what i was meant to say was, he seems to understand my needs very well. for instance, when i was absolutely seduced by a bottle of bvlgari rose essential. but because i am naturally a very shy and timid person (citation needs not to be confirmed) i kept my desires well locked in my heart. i was prepared to face bvlgari rose essential and discontinue our impending love affair. then one day, i discovered a bvlgari rose essential in a shopping bag next to my bed. i think i went partially up the moon. well okay, the reason i didn't go right up the moon was because of a previous little squabble we had the night before. details will not be spared, thank you very much.

wow, a whole paragraph about bvlgari rose essential. you see how enamoured i was/am till today? but that wasn't the only mind reading my other half did. there was numerous occasions when he would surprise me with his magical ability to know my needs at that given time. there was the nike trainers, the steak house, chocolate cakes, clothes washed+dried+ironed, house cleaned and etc. by now you must think that i am a lady of great needs. well i'm not going to deny the fact that i am one, only i don't make it always apparent by telling him dead straight. most of the time i don't, i only drop a nuclear bomb when he becomes a complete obtuse and needs a thump. 

however lately, i am starting to think that he is losing his magical ability to read my mind rather accurately. allow me to enlighten you with the story. i have been desiring for a longchamp bag recently. but as usual, this desire i didn't make known hoping that his mind would pick up the strong signals i was sending nonstop. i was literally thinking about the bag the whole week! that should be sending him very strong signals right? not. he definitely got me a bag. i didn't say he's lost his ability to read my mind entirely but he got me the wrong bag. mr mind reader got a donna karan cashmere bag for me instead. now where did that hail from? i was certain that the visuals i had in my mind was a luscious longchamp hobo although i wasn't quite sure about the colour yet but that is besides the point. the point is, he got the wrong bag. but being the grateful wife that i am (citation needs not to be confirmed) i just gave him a big grin and a mouthful of thank you. sigh. 

and that wasn't the only blunder. one time i was hoping to change my phone because it decided to be a barking bitch on me. so i was contemplating on getting an iphone and was about to send signals to him when he caught me off guard and got me a macbook pro instead. it is getting quite ridiculous i must say and i've a feeling i need to start voicing out my needs specifically soon. which i know will be so difficult for me due to my very shy (choke, if you must) and timid nature. it's just that there won't be much fun anymore. where is the surprise in asking for gifts? half of it is already gone just by the act of asking. sigh. oh well, at least he's still playing his role as a thoughtful husband (thank god he won't be reading this) and i truly am beholden for it. i really am. right, enough rattling for today, i am off to ready myself for our little trip to lancashire. hope you'll have a nice weekend yourself :))

Melancholy

at times when my serotonin level gets a tad bit high, my mind would surreptitiously place itself in a melancholic stupor. i know it is only natural for any human being to feel down which leads to the abominable yet irresistible self pity. however, being melancholic is good once in a while. you'd never cherish a sunny day without experiencing a gloomy one beforehand will you? perhaps people who live in a hot country all year round wouldn't be able to relate (booooo!) but the unpredictable weather of britain is not to be taken lightly. i may have a naughty fling with exaggeration but this time i am truly not and you must believe me!

right. back to feeling melancholic. it is a feeling when you ache for life to stop jostling and hustling you in any way. All of a sudden the five minutes routined walk to the local store seems like an arduous path up the hill. everything becomes exaggerated and strenuous. the only thing you pine for is comfort in your own space and thoughts. you'll carry a languished expression for days (in my case it would be about 2 days or until my other half notices and cheers me up with his slapstick jokes) and a dive into self indulgence is never a surprise.

by this time your hectic lifestyle now feels like an obligation. a longing for serenity and placidity develops and you seclude yourself from the crowd to search for complete and utter solitude. the queer thing is, you enjoy doing things alone and your thoughts are your own reflection. there is pleasure mulling over the past and your thoughts are wrapped up in incidents of the long ago. all along, the heart is weighed down like a trapped paper under a paper weight awaiting for someone to lift it and ease the burden.

what could be the treatment for melancholia? some people claim a cup of hot chocolate with extra marshmallow would do the trick. others swore on the magical power of comfort food, romantic movies and the list goes on depending on each individual. i wouldn't dare claim to have the solution for melancholia. however, i do believe that after a heavy dosage of self pity and passive temperament, people who suffer from a short episode of melancholia would usually spring back to life and end this whole drama at once.

you see, being drenched by those sad depressive thoughts is terribly unpleasant and at one point, gets quite sickening. you will wiggle your way out wether conscious or unconsciously and call upon those positive thoughts to start circumambulating the perimeters of your mind. this exuberant change towards positivity will naturally enhance your perspective of things and motivate you to face life's jostle and bustle that is until the next visit melancholia decides to give you. :)

nunu feeling melancholic 

The First

I have been writing on and off but I have this tendency of trailing off along the way. It must be a bad gene I inherited. Although I can't be certain whether it came from the maternal or paternal side. Moving along, I must admit that this blog is just like any other and much to your despair, will be filled with humdrum entries. That is if you decide to continue reading, of course. But most importantly, I did not create this blog to impress nor to compete with anyone. It is created purely to help unravel my thoughts, articulate and channel them in a constructive way. Or in simpler terms, creative writing. I am in dire need to polish my writing skills by this coming October and I covet the ability to write freely without pressing the backspace key ever so often. I was deeply encouraged to do writing exercises. So, rather grudgingly I put on my tattered thinking hat on and thought of ways to help myself overcome this issue. My reeling thoughts then halted and pointed at the idea of blogging. Right. I am still quite apprehensive about this whole blogging idea but I think I should give it a try once again. Therefore, I'll start this blog off with a reminder to everyone that, constructive criticism is welcome here but by all means, repugnance is absolutely not. Thanks :))