Health is Wealth

Remember when I had surgery a year ago to remove a cyst? Immediately after that, my gynae had put me on an induced menopause so that my body has enough time to heal and rest post surgery. His concern was that my regular menstruation might trigger a regrowth and it would be such bad news to have me sliced up again so soon after my first surgery.

It was quite a roller coaster ride during my induced menopause. I mean, I'm only in my mid 20's and I'm already getting first hand experience on what my mom would be going through. The benefits that I enjoyed were to quit buying sanitary pads, clear skin and not having to worry about a regrowth for at least one year. Bet my husband wouldn't agree that it was a walk in the park, because he was bearing the brunt, or rather, wrath of my uncontrollable emotional meltdowns. They were powerful, uncontrollable and constant, believe me. I no longer question the ability of a middle-aged woman to control her emotions because I've been through it. 

The effects from the injection stayed in my body for about as long as my gynae had predicted. He did say that some of his patients had gone back to their normal period cycle quicker than he had expected. So my uterus went to sleep for about a year and got back up to its normal working condition at the month right after my wedding. Talk about good timing. I'm glad it came back only after the wedding because I didn't have to worry about WHAT IF MY PERIOD CAME WHILE I WAS WEARING THE MOST IMPORTANT WHITE DRESS OF MY LIFE?? The worst thing that happened was my face went into this crazy breakout phase ever since my period came back. So after experiencing an early menopause, I'm now reliving puberty all over again.

I didn't change my skincare routine too much because I was using the same products from before. I've been eating so much more healthier than I already had been and my skin's still going crazy. I've been asked to go for facials more regularly to see if it helps.

It's pure havoc on my forehead and nose. I tried to look up some references online and most diagrams tell me that the area between the eyebrows is related to my liver and the nose is related to my heart. I really don't know what to make out of that. I've been struggling with indigestion and constipation since I was really young and have been taking steps to manage that. So can someone please tell me how I can help my buddies, namely the liver and heart? Note that my eye circles are so dark - that is also from childhood and should be due to my sinus. Blocked nose and mucus are my best friends ever since I can remember.

One of my friends have been updating on Facebook about this liver cleanse that she did. Basically you go on a detox and expel liver and gallstones that are trapped in those organs. I followed her lead and did a liver cleanse two weeks ago and although it was really difficult, I'm glad I did it for my body. Take a look:

Scary stuff, eh? These are mostly gallstones that are pushed out of the gallbladder. Although this detox is called a liver cleanse, liver stones aren't that common. The analysis of my stones indicate that I'm a typical modern human being, as it is green, but also with the likelihood of my liver not being able to process fat and cholesterol. It might explain why I have oily scalp and excess sebum on my face, but my pimples are still here so it could take a few more cleanses before I can blame it on my liver. I was quite gung-ho about wanting to do a few cleanses before I started the detox, but I think I'm going to stick to once every six months (as advised by my nutritionist) because it is quite challenging. I've had to really watch what I eat during the weeks leading to my detox. I only had natural yoghurt with fresh fruits and organic nuts for lunch two weeks prior and have replaced whatever I can into organic products. The reason for being so tired doing this detox was because I had to go clean my colon before and after. It's a fairly easy and quick process but it does make me feel tired because, guess what, I have constipation. But if it's something that will help ease the liver cleanse, then I will have to do it. The liver cleanse only takes a day but the stuff that you need to take can really test your gag reflex. Try to imagine chugging a glass of pure lemon juice mixed with olive oil. Yeah, it wasn't easy for me actually doing it. It was also tiring for me when it came to the time when you're supposed to 'output' the stones because again, I have constipation. But it's good results because my friend who did her liver cleanses told me that I have more stones pushed out than her. Yay?

I've also cut out a lot of processed food. I have homemade bread every morning, made with ingredients that I get from the organic shops. I'm not one to preach about going all out on organic living but I guess replacing whatever we can could go a long way. I've also been really good about eating free range chickens and eggs. The hormones that we put in chickens just goes back into my body and screws it all up.

I'm not sure what else I can do to help improve my skin problems but I guess I'll have to just keep doing what I do, or else it could be much worse. 

February so far

I've been jobless for more than a week now since I resigned from my job on the last day of January. I'm not really jobless since I have a new position to report to come beginning of March, but I have three weeks off before I embark on a new career journey. Three glorious weeks!! So far it's been filled with days well spent with family and friends over Chinese New Year celebrations. The timing couldn't be any more perfect. I'm also cramming in opportunities to go out looking for stuff that I need for our house. Who knew even a minor thing like curtains could turn out to be something totally major? Now I realise that the devil is in the details and I'd better get things sorted out while I still have time.

We usually go back to Mr Bun's hometown for up to a week during CNY but he doesn't have that privilege this year. So we only spent three days, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th days of CNY back at the kampung. Kinda glad for the fact that we didn't have to get caught in the pre and post CNY mad traffic. I spent the first two days cooking, which got me thinking if I want to do this again next year (I guess I can overlook the fact that it's super tiring since it's a once-in-a-year affair). 

I'm not a big baby-hugger type of person but here I am caught in one of those rare heartwarming moments. This is the 3rd niece from Mr Bun's family and here she looks like a super adorable baby zombie trying to chew me alive.

Been spending some time lepaking at home while Mr Bun is at work over CNY. But we did manage to have a nice meal on Valentine's Day. No flowers, gifts and shiz because we never got into the silliness of those stuff. Just spending some quality time with each other will do :D We had dinner at this quaint restaurant called Taste Gallery at Bandar Mahkota Cheras and their molten lava cake is the best letmetellyou!!

My second elder brother had his registration of marriage two days after Valentine's Day. It was at the NRD in Putrajaya, the same place where I had mine. Back then they weren't open on Saturdays but now they are. We spotted a few hot-air balloons from the public carpark and walked over for some photo-op after the registration do but they were calling it a day. It was a MAKNA private event and how I wish I could've snuck in a little earlier. They had free helicopter rides!! ARGHGHGHGH :(

This really happened. You can't disagree that there is a resemblance.

Snuck in a few lou sang makans with different groups of friends and here I am with my girlies from PESS. That's Baby Cherish, who is the 2nd baby of the group. Wonder who will is next in line to be a babymomma?

Markets @ Jaya One

Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit yet another installation of Markets @ Jaya One. I've been wanting to go to this one because I wanted to get my hands on some of the goodies that were being given out. Thank my lucky stars that the freebie booths were already open even though we reached about 30 minutes earlier than the official starting time.

First stop was the Markets booth to redeem a free Topshop tote bag and I headed straight to Tongue in Chic's booth next because I wanted these supercool DIY tote bags... and the Bobbi Brown loose powder that they were giving out.

No hands got dirty in the making of this tote bag. If you've seen my earlier post, you would've guessed which one I went with. I was told that I was the first person of the day to go for Proenza Shoulder. Guess Malaysians didn't really quite get that. The two Ah Lians who queued in front of me didn't know what Can't Clutch This meant but they chose that anyway. And one of them stamped it upside down. Go figure.

Tadaaahhhh!!! Opps, I look as if I have no pants on. Hold on a sec...

Here you go. Much more decent and family-friendly.

Can you believe I went to a shopping event and ended up only buying one of the tags above and three cupcakes? Yes exactly, WTF?!

By the way, they only look good. They were more like muffins than cupcakes. Meh.

Working Weekend in Penang

I had a slightly longer-than-usual weekend in Penang last week due to a road show that we had in Gurney Plaza. We left for Penang last Thursday before the break of dawn and got back to KL earlier this week on Monday afternoon. I was alright stepping into the office on Tuesday but the bugs had to prove that they owned me. And owned me they did. I'm only well enough to be back at my desk today after a two-day sick leave. I still feel sick if another bastard/bitch turns on the air-conditioner (I've just switched one of them off right after I got back from lunch). Why do Malaysians love to freeze themselves in the office? Is this another one of life's mysteries that we'll never be able to solve?

I've always had a soft spot for Penang, since 2007. My love story with Bun kinda started from there but I'll leave that for another time. Maybe during my wedding? Since this was a work trip and we had to stay in a shopping mall the whole time, we barely had a chance to go around to sample Penang's famed local delicacies. Thank goodness we had a one-hour window while we had to wait for our hotel room to be ready and off we went to the streets of Georgetown, in search of some yummy grub.

The view while we passed the Penang Bridge. I think this was sometime before 10.00am.

We had char kuey teow with big, fresh, juicy prawns. But they don't come cheap at RM8 per plate.

It's already hard enough to find a stalls that sells orh chien here in KL, and they make me regret ordering every single time. Why can't they be even half as good as those in Penang??!

Here's the signboard if you're ever curious enough to find the stall. I may be mistaken but this should be Jalan Anson.

I bunked in a room with my colleague. This is our city view. Check out the rainstorm on the far end of the left. Pretty cool stuff.

What I would like is a sea view like this but who cares since we're not on a holiday. This was taken from the lift lobby on our level.

Check out this mansion that is sandwiched between two hotels. I'm not sure if it's a private residence but the pool is surely one to envy!

We tried walking from the hotel to Gurney Plaza on the second day. The distance wasn't too bad, just a little over 1km. But the hot sun in the morning and our sore feet at the end of the day resulted in us driving for the rest of the days.

You'll find lone fishermen like this uncle in the photograph, or a group of uncles hanging out on the sidewalk of Gurney Drive in the daytime. Tourists are mostly visible after the weather is less punishing.

I managed to meet up with a few friends over dinner and post-dinner as well. Tze Chin and his wife is the lovely couple behind www.tasteiest.com and they took me to Mizi Bistro for dinner. I have no photographs from the place, so feel free to read up on their reviews of the place. I will ask to be taken back there the next time I'm in town to try out the steak selection. Their food portions are humongous!! The set meal is only RM25 and you can take a pick out of a selection of mains, comes with a soup and free flow of ice cream. The soups were thick (yummy!) and I would've had more yam ice cream if I hadn't been hearing my Chinese physician's voice nagging in my head. They recommended me to go to a quaint little cafe in Gurney Plaza, it's called Winter Warmers. I was told to try their rose cheese cake, waffles and flower tea.

This was my colleague's tuna waffle.

My chicken waffle. The waffles here are soft and moist, absolutely putting the waffles I've been having at the hotel's buffet breakfast to shame. I would've loved to try the green tea ice cream waffle but I suspect my Chinese physician was spying on me because I started hearing her voice again *shivers*

We shared a pot of tea. I couldn't remember what it was but it was nice. Check out the heart-shaped thingymajingy below the pot. So cute!!!

Check out the matchy matchy chinaware and tablecloth. They even have a display cabinet at the side with the rosiest chinaware collection - for sale, if you're wondering.

It's not everyday you stumble upon a rose cheese cake on a menu. This is certainly a piece of cheese cake that I wouldn't mind having more than a slice.

We had originally planned for a dimsum stop in Ipoh before heading back, but we figured that we'd run really late if we tried to venture into unknown territory. So we settled for Restoran Zim Sum instead. Again, you may head over to Tasteiest for their review.

We shared all of these, including a fish head meehon that didn't come to our table before the photo was taken. I had to take it fast before my colleague finishes half of everything. See, one of the fishballs behind the fried yam ball was already gone? Too bad I only got Tze Chin's message about their char siew pao being a 'must-try' after I left. It's okay, there's always next time!

I'll leave you with an amusing shot of this one booth that was opposite ours. I'm not quite sure of what services they provide, but I do hope they serve those lambs on a plate if I sign up.

Abby's birthday

It's my darling Datin Abby's birthday today and I'm so happy that we got to spend some time together, catching up on our girly talk over brunch. We initially had the idea to meet at Publika and I've been wanting to go check out the place after 9 out of 10 people I know who have been there gave me rave reviews. But then I remembered the very reason why we could catch up today was because it's a public holiday for the installation of the King and it would be the dumbest idea to head down to where the new palace is O.o

So we decided to meet at this Italian place called Casa del Cocco at Taman Danau Desa. I found this place with Mr Bun the other day, after realizing that a Korean place that we never tried before but wanted to, has already closed down. I usually shun places that has a limited menu but I actually like this place because the food's kinda great and the prices are super affordable. Not that I keep tab on the price of every dish, but both my visits thus far has not gone over RM60. My first visit with Mr Bun had two mains and a pizza, and today we had three girls with a main course and drink each, plus a pizza. How can you not love that?!

Check out the logs behind me. They're for the pizza oven. This place has a huge oven that takes up almost 1/3 of the open kitchen.

My pork herbs burger. My only gripe was that the buns were actually panini bread and they were kinda too hard to get away with being called a burger.

The birthday girl with her pork chop, which she deemed 'too porky'. Don't ask me.

Elvina decided to join us after waking up from her long, deep beauty sleep.

Her garlic pasta. It's not too big of a portion, I feel it's just nice. But this woman got hungry after just over an hour and wolfed down a slice of cake when she got home. She complained that the pasta portion was too small. I think she just has a case of the worms in her stomach because she had two slices of pizza to go with the pasta.

Our mushroom pizza. T'was nice. I love their thin and crunchy crust. I had the porky pizza with Mr Bun the other time and that was good too. They have a couple of dessert pizzas on the menu but I don't think I'll be brave enough to try those. 

I bought Abby some macaroons and it totally made her day. It's nice to see how friends appreciate and get excited over little things you do.

This is how they looked like when I got them home from The Gardens Mall yesterday. I took out Delectable's ribbons and replaced them with cute ribbons with 'Happy Birthday' printed on them <3

Trust me when I tell you she wasn't faking it. This woman had a massive sugar rush by just looking at them huge macaroons. I don't know what happened after she went home to her boyfriend lol.

Happy birthday Datin Abby!! Aren't you honoured that your birthday this year is declared as a public holiday and it's also an earth-shattering occasion? I came home after our brunch to an endless stream of tsunami and earthquake updates and it's hard not to get worried about what's going to happen to the affected areas. I guess we'll have to stay tuned for these couple of days. I remember it rained almost close to 24 hours back when the tsunami hit Japan. It was strangely sunny and warm today even though it's happening closer to home in Indonesia.

I was wearing a brand new mullet dress that I picked up at Cotton On while I was out getting Abby's macaroons. I couldn't help it!!!! Oh, please don't tell Mr Bun that I've been a naughty girl, out shopping when he's away ;)

Who is Uncle Jang?

It's been a while since I had a nice relaxing time with my girlfriends so we decided to do just that. Sunday lunch at a small family-run Korean joint sounds like a great hangout to me. Jasmine's birthday is also coming up so what better excuse to meet up and have good food? Deb's going to be leaving to Oregon for good in two months' time so I'll try not to say no to meeting her before she leaves :( Here I got to taste bulgogi for the first time. I must say that it's a much better feeling to eat the yummy pork bulgogi than having to cook it all the time while I play Pucca Restaurant. Haha!