One-Week Food Diary

Been trying to entice Jiale to eat more and to eat more healthily, so I am trying out new recipes. To be honest, I had been very lazy in cooking for the boys because Jiale hardly ate anything anyway and Jiahe ate almost everything :p But I realised we couldn't continue like that forever.. I have to risk wasting food in order to find out WHAT on earth Jiale will eat! Hopefully I will be able to find more things which suit his appetite AND are healthy.

[About bento recipe books: I have quite a few such recipe books. But I realised that though the bentos really look very nice, they are often very complicated to make as they comprise of many different ingredients &/or side dishes in order to complete the 'picture'. In addition, the food is not exactly healthy most of the time... e.g. it is very common to use processed foods like ham and hot dogs and even food colourings. I have tried making nice-looking bento-meals for Jiale before, and it is difficult to compromise what he does eat and the aesthetic effect of the bento. And the worst is that while he might admire the product, he might still not eat it! So this time round, I am focusing on the food itself, and going for only simple decorations such as using cookie cutters to cut cheese etc into animal/letter shapes to put on the sandwich.]

Monday breakfast: Cheese toast, kiwi, fried egg

Jiale: Didn't eat the bread at all.... Ate some of the egg... Finished his half of a kiwi.
Jiahe: Finished almost everything on his plate.

Monday lunch: Steamed threadfin, garlic asparagus

JL: didn't eat any of the fish and asparagus.. boo hoo... Ate a little rice...
JH: Tried everything but didn't eat a lot in total (wanted to go and play too when Kor Kor said he was full)

Monday dinner: Soboro beef, apple corn pork soup

(It's supposed to be apple corn chicken soup but I made a mistake and thawed pork instead. Both boys were coughing and the soup is supposed to be good for coughs.)
JL: Didn't eat the beef. Finished his soup and asked to eat the corn.
JH: Finished his beef plus half of kor kor's portion. Drank half his soup then wanted to join kor kor to play.

Tuesday breakfast: Blueberry waffle, hot dogs, sunny-side-up egg

JL: Only ate the hot dogs.
JH: Finished the hot dogs. Ate some egg and waffle.

Tuesday lunch: Kabocha with shitake mushrooms & pork, sesame spinach

JL: Said the pork was nice and ate quite a lot! : ) Didn't try the spinach (said he didn't want veg).
JH: Loved the pumpkin (he seems to love all orangey vegs & fruits). Didn't try the spinach (repeated what kor kor said. Sigh.)

Tuesday dinner: Chicken tofu, luohanguo pork soup

(The luohanguo soup is also supposed to be good for treating coughs)
JL: Liked the chicken! But didn't want to eat the tofu. Tried the soup but didn't like it.
JH: Liked the chicken tofu. Drank quite a lot of the soup.

Wednesday breakfast: Ham & cheese sandwich, scrambled eggs, cherries

JL: Ate almost all his sandwich (2 slices of bread)! Didn't eat the egg and cherries at all.
JH: Ate some bread and took out the rest of the ham & cheese to eat. Finished his and kor kor's cherries. Ate a little egg.
Also gave them a Laughing Cow cheese wedge each but both boys didn't like it.

Wednesday lunch: Panfried garlic butter salmon, garlic asparagus

(Didn't realise both dishes were garlic till it was almost lunchtime.. As an amateur cook, I didn't have the expertise to modify the menu at the last minute. Shall be more cautious while planning meals in future.)
JL: Ate some salmon. Didn't try the asparagus.
JH: Finished his portion.

Wednesday dinner: Chicken yakitori, orange vegetable fish soup

JL: Finished his chicken and soup.
JH: Finished his portion including the carrot and pumpkin in the soup.

Thursday breakfast: Tuna sandwich, grapes, oranges

Both boys finished all (2 slices of bread each) in school.

Thursday dinner: Garlic butter shrimp with mushrooms, papaya corn chinese yam soup

JL: He loves prawns so he enjoyed this as expected. But didn't eat the mushrooms at all. Finished his soup.
JH: Finished his portion.

Friday lunch: Cheesy alfredo pasta with minced beef

(Had swimming lesson in the morning so I only cooked a simple lunch.)
JL: Ate about half his portion of pasta. Didn't want to try the beef : (
JH: Ate about half his portion.

Friday dinner: Panfried pork chop, papaya fish soup

JL: Finished his pork chop and said it was nice! Finished his soup and ate a lot of the fish!
JH: Finished his portion.
(but I think the pork chop was too tough. Shall use chicken next time.)

My thoughts after one week:
Many of the recipes came from bento books, and they use a lot of shoyu (Jap soy sauce) and sugar! That means the food was salty and sweet.. and often looked dark brown.. not a very appealing colour.. I shall endeavour search for more recipes.

The boys often eat steamed fish, so after Jiale rejected the steamed threadfin, I googled and learnt that I probably steamed the fish for too long and it became too tough. Shall keep it to about 10 minutes since I don't use a whole fish or very big piece of fish (only for the boys to eat). 

The pasta dish was not very balanced as it did not include any vegetables. Shall improve on that. (Though it probably won't make a difference to Jiale, I guess it's still my responsibility to provide. Will also give them a 'angmo' soup to go along with the pasta. Try try.

Since Jiale seems to be adamant about not eating vegs, I shall let them try salads and coleslaw. I am not very optimistic about it, but just give it a go anyway.

Cut down a lot of processed food this week! No seafood tofu or seaweed chicken or chicken nuggets or fishballs at all! Used to include this type of food at almost every meal to entice Jiale to eat. But I decided to get tough - eat rubbish then might as well don't eat. And it seems to have worked, comparing he refused to eat at all on the first day and was quite willing to try the meat/fish dish by the third day. As long as he is at least willing to try, I am happy, as it allows me to find out what he likes to eat. Shall repeat the dishes he likes and put aside those which he doesn't. So lucky that Jiahe is not a fussy eater! : )

Oh ya, this is where I got all the above soup recipes - http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/children-soups/

Urmm, some of the photos are in the wrong direction cos I only realised it after I uploaded and was too lazy to upload again :p

My Saturday lunch at Batam! Haha!

My Masking Routine

I love to buy masks. Unlike the other skincare products such as toner or moisturiser where you have to stick to one till you finish the bottle, you can try different masks anytime you like! I think masks can be classified into a few groups: Hydrating, Cleansing, Whitening, Anti-ageing. With so many masks, how do I decide when to use which?

Let me share with you my secret! (OK, given that I am not very very fair or have very very beautiful complexion, this is not a skincare secret. It's just THE secret to managing your masks and utilising what you have bought without going nuts over the scheduling :p)

Firstly I have read/heard so many times that the key to good skin is in fact hydration. Without sufficient hydration, the other skincare products will not work well no matter how good they are. What a skincare expert advised was to make sure your skin is well-hydrated after sun exposure, in order to minimize tanning. In addition, as whitening products are usually at least a bit agitating (the level of agitation depends on how 'powerful' its whitening effect is), we should avoid using whitening products too soon after sun exposure. So, since I am so afraid of the sun nowadays, my mask routine is built around this. Being a mother of two young boys, I end up out under the hot sun at least one morning a week, say Monday. Thus:

Sunday - hydrating mask

Monday - hydrating mask

If the sun was very strong &/or I was under the sun for a long time:
Tuesday - hydrating mask

Wednesday - whitening mask 

Thursday -anti-ageing mask

Friday - take a break!

Saturday - might do a clay mask, which is more troublesome cos it's usually a wash-off mask instead of a sheet mask

If the sun wasn't that strong:
Tuesday - whitening mask

Wednesday - anti-ageing mask

Thursday - take a break!

Friday/Saturday - clay mask or do a DIY mask for fun :p

Other than masks, I make sure I don't exfoliate my skin before I go out into the sun, so that I won't be exposing 'tender' skin to the Burner. So if I plan to go for an outdoor activity on Monday, I won't do exfoliation on Saturday & Sunday. The exfoliator I use is supposed to be used in the morning, so I try to do it on days when I won't be going out at all, or maybe only have to walk from home to carpark. And of course, I have some cheaper masks and some expensive masks, so on days of very horrigible exposure, I use the atas one! And on 'mild' days I use the cheaper ones. Given that I use masks so often, I can't afford to use expensive masks all the time! Shall share the masks I have tried in another post soon : )

Outing to Animal Resort

As part of our weekly outings, I brought the boys to Animal Resort (81 Seletar West Farmway 5) this morning. Sounds very ulu, but actually it's not that far from my place (unlike Bird Park and Sungei Buloh! Come to think of it, I should go to Changi and Ubin more often - they are near me!)

From what I read online, the place's main business is pet grooming and dog training, and I was forewarned that it was rather rundown so I didn't have high expectations. Even then I was quite disappointed as the area accessible to us was not that big.. and the goat has died! So, no more goat : ( I thought the goat would be the highlight of the day, cos the other big animal was a horse and I felt a horse would be much scarier than a goat. There are many goats at the children's section of the zoo, but those goats were quite scary when I brought Jiale to feed them - they seemed very extremely hungry &/or greedy and kept bumping against the metal gates to reach the food! Violent... 

[Pictures actually really don't tell a good story. I read many blogs last night about other people's visits, and the photos all looked so nice!]


Visitors can buy food to feed the animals - $1 for a packet, or $2 for three packets. We bought 7 packets in all! :p I preferred the carrots cos it was fun to see the rabbits eating them, and the carrots were cut into long pieces which made it easy for the kids to feed the rabbits.

All in all, I think Jiale enjoyed himself feeding the fish, rabbits, ducks and geese (many ducks and geese roaming around). But other than that, there was nothing much to the place.. The peacocks and cassowary were impressive birds, but we can see them at the Birds' Park too. We went to Kids' Kampong at Pasir Ris before, and we could feed small animals (including rabbits, chickens, ducks, fish) too. Though all the animals at Kids' Kampong were enclosed and the feel wasn't as rustic, we could do longkang fishing there. So both places had its pros and cons I guess. But personally, I don't think I will do another trip to Animal Resort again. (Plus, Jiahe was definitely traumatized by the geese which were taller than him!)

Danger alert
Many many mosquitoes! MUST use insect repellant! I stuck on mosquito patches on all three of us while we were in the cab, but the patches were no match for the mosquitoes. Luckily I had dressed the boys in long pants and I had brought along insect repellant. If you forget to bring insect repellant, I advise you to leave quickly and come again another day!

Directions
After turning off Jalan Kayu into Seletar West Farmway 4, then you should go to Farmway 6, then Farmway 8, before finally reaching Farmway 6. Gotta drive or take a cab.. quite very far to walk from the main road.

Didi feeding the rabbits at the start of the outing.. still calm & happy

Jiale kept reminding the rabbits to share!

The rabbits' home

Jiale didn't seem scared of the geese at all.. Didi was traumatized.. I was very scared but had to act brave

We could see the fish open their mouths big big when we were feeding them

No idea what this was, but according to another blog, it's a crown crane. I was scared of them too

Peacock but it's locked up..

Friendly parrot said 'hello' to us!

Cassowary - it kept looking at us when we were having a rest outside its enclosure, but I didn't dare to feed it : /

Lone horse.. it was in the enclosure and we couldn't get near to it even if we had wanted to.

My Suncare Regime

[Before I start on this topic proper, I just wanna rant about something. Been watching a lot of 女人我最大 on Youtube. They often have artistes who are 40+ years old and sorta compare them to the 20-somethings. Often, when they 'analyse' area by area (e.g. the neck, then the eye area, then the hands.. etc), the 40-somethings come out on top because they really diligently do skincare and maintenance/repair (not necessarily invasive treatments, just that they are very regular in their nightly routines etc). BUT still, when I look at them on the whole, it's still quite obvious who is younger. Thus I have concluded that with even proper skincare, we can only look better than those of the same age group, but not better than those who are really younger. I wonder why. I am guessing it's because of subtle sagging of the skin. By the way, do you know even the facial bones i.e. facial structure sags? SIGH. So if you don't even do proper skincare, it might not be evident now as you might still have youth on your side. (I almost wrote 'we might still have youth' but I think I shall not kid myself.), but it will be very obvious by the time you are in your 40s.]

OK, now on to the sun. ALL skincare experts point to the sun as the number one cause of visible signs of ageing, known as photoageing. And I really do believe this, cos I have never come across a single article/post which claims otherwise. I have always been very disciplined in applying sunblock. I think since my early 20s, there has not been a single day when I fail to apply sunblock after washing my face in the morning. (Then why did I spend all those Sundays at Siloso Beach under the hot scorching sun??? ARGH! Blame it on beach volleyball! But even then, I was reapplying sunblock very often. But I still got very tanned though seldom sunburnt. No regrets la, cos I had a lot of fun then. But I wonder how much effort, money and time I have to spend now to reverse minimize the damage caused during my reckless youth.)

Even then, I have further finetuned my battle strategies against the sun recently. Since sunblock is so important and it is a common culprit in causing clogged pores &/or blackheads, it is important to use a trustable brand. I am now using Laneige Oil-Free Sunblock but I will be switching to Kiehls when I finish the current tube. This is because while the Laneige one is SPF 35 and PA++, the Kiehls one is SPF 50 and PA+++. Actually, I think as long as the SPF is above 30 and there is some PA protection, it should be good enough for normal use (i.e. mainly indoors). But since I am already using Kiehls products, I shall just choose the one that has higher 'powers' la :p And it's also oil-free by the way.

As I am usually busy with the boys once I wake up, I used to take my morning shower only around 10am, after I fed them, cleaned up, cleaned the house etc cos I didn't want to perspire again after the shower. But that meant I didn't get to wash my face and apply the all-important sunblock till 10am! The sun's killer rays are very strong in the morning, especially at the balcony area where the boys play with their trains. CANNOT! (no point just washing face first and bathing later cos most of the time in the bathroom is spent on the face anyway) So now I try to take my shower as soon as possible after I wake up (i.e. after they wake me up) - give them their milk then I dash to the bathroom liao. Minimize minimize the time I am 'naked'!! 

Do you get to wake up late? If so, make sure you close your curtains completely! Otherwise the sun will attack you while you are still sleeping 'naked'! I used to sometimes leave a gap, especially since my hubby likes to let the wind in. But now, it's a no-no! 

I also re-apply sunblock diligently when I am outside. If I go to a shopping mall or other indoor places with no direct exposure to the sun and I have bb cream/makeup on, I will pat on powder before exiting (cos even in the car/taxi, there is still sun hor). But this is only SPF 25.. and because it's a powder, I don't really trust its sun-protective abilities.. Because I want my sunblock to be a lot and thick thick.. Thick powder is ugly lah.. might as well don't put makeup if ugly lor.. Laneige has a powder with SPF 50+ and PA+++, but it's still a powder lor.. (and dunno why it's under the Suncare category but not the makeup category on their website..)

So when I really need maximal sun protection, such as when I bring the boys out for outdoor activities, I give up short-term beauty for long-term beauty :p I will not use any bb cream/makeup, so that I can just liberally slather on more sunblock every 1-2 hours. Because otherwise, how to reapply sunblock on top of bb cream/makeup ah? I googled it and the best answer I got was to reapply powder with spf... not good enough for me. 

The amount of sunblock is important too. Too much sunblock MIGHT cause clogged pores etc, but too little sunblock CONFIRMED will cause photoageing! So when you apply sunblock, make sure you squeeze/pour out a lot a lot! Apply generously on your face and neck and décolletage. 

As for the body, I am lazier la. When I am not going out, I don't apply sunblock at all, just a regular whitening moisturiser. When I do go out, I use Nivea moisturiser with SPF 25. But when I will be under the sun for extended periods, I apply Sunplay SkinAqua, SPF 50+ and PA+++. It's suitable for the face as well and it's waterproof, so I also use this when I go swimming. 

Lastly, my Palmers lip balm has SPF 15. I tried to use a hand cream which had SPF, but I couldn't find one which I liked. So now I TRY to apply the waterproof sunblock first, then I use regular hand cream. But I admit I tend to forget. Neither do I apply sunblock on my legs (unless for swimming or very-out-in-the-sun activities). Argh. I know I am being lazy and a few years later I will probaby regret it and then have to spend more effort + time + money to rectify this : /

Oh yes! Physical blockage is in fact the best, i.e. caps/hats/sunglasses/clothes. I have bought a couple of hats and also one sun-protective long-sleeved top. Things to note: the hats should have wide wide brims and cover your neck and ears. If possible, do get special hats which are sun protective (actually quite common and easy to find - I bought one at BHG Bugis Junction for $26). The sunglasses should be big too and cover your eyes well plus a good part of your face. Can't remember the term, but the sunglasses should be of good quality and can block the rays in order to protect your eyeballs too.   

Don't worry about looking strange wearing a big hat and big sunglasses... I will be wearing them too! And the more of us start to wear them, the less strange we will be! (think Japan)   
 

Blackheads vs Photoageing - OCM

Sometimes I feel quite paiseh to blog about skincare stuff, cos I am no expert and I thought, who would want to read?? But recently, I have heard a few friends telling me they have been 'inspired' to work harder at their skincare..! And that is inspiring to me to write more! : ) Urmm, but of course, often I am lazy to blog :p

Very often I hear friends expressing concern about their pores &/or blackheads. It was my main concern from my teens to a couple of years ago. Not that I no longer have this problem, just that I decided that after more than ten years of trying all sorts of methods (cheap products, expensive products, weekly facials, etc), I felt that it was time to accept there was nothing I could do about it except maybe more invasive treatments. In addition to the cost, I don't really like invasive treatments cos will become dependent on them.. there's no going back. Anyway, I no longer believe in anything that claims to be pore minimizing.

But since I am so into skincare nowadays, I googled the topic again. Read that blackheads are caused by oxidized oil, and the triggers are usually too much or wrong skincare products (especially sunblock as it is a thicker texture) &/or makeup. I don't use makeup very often, and I already had blackheads waaaaay before I even started using makeup at all. As for skincare, while I can't say the same for my earlier skincare regimes, now I am confident that I am using good products (mainly Laneige & Kiehls) and using them as recommended. So my conclusion is the only possible cause left is too much sunblock (I am obssessed with sunblock. Shall do a separate post on suncare soon.), since even good-quality sunblock is still thicker than most other skincare products.

But then, sunblock is to minimize photoageing. So, between blackheads which will likely go away by themselves in another ten years' time (as I get older and skin becomes less oily) and photoageing (read: wrinkles, age spots, sagging, etc), I choose blackheads!! Bring on the sunblock, more please!

[On the other hand, it's quite likely that the effectiveness of the anti-blackheads products I used was limited by my lifestyle, namely late nights. Perhaps if I try them again now with my new sleeping habits (in bed by 11pm on most nights), I might find they work better. But then, how many people can really sleep so early ah? No doubt that if I further improve my daily habits, such as eating more vegetables and less junk food and cut out soft drinks etc, I will find that my skin will improve accordingly and skincare products will all start to work miraculously. But that's not going to happen anytime soon.... Being a sahm with two young kids is too stressful.. and boring.. and... so I need happy food to keep me going.. I remember when I was pregnant with my first child and I was still working, my happy food were things like Din Tai Fung lunch. Now my happy food can only be tidbits lor... Sigh, perhaps one day when the kids are older I can make myself be disciplined again. (There was a time when I cut out all carbonated drinks cos I didn't want to affect my stamina as a runner, and a time when I cut out all sugared drinks for general health purposes. Oh well.)

Anyway, so whatever skincare products I use have to be effective based on my current lifestyle, and not on some unrealistic far-fetched healthy lifestyle :P]

Then what can we do about blackheads? At my facial a few days ago, my beautician commented (as usual) that I had many blackheads. I asked her what I could do about them, and she replied that I should keep the area (i.e. my nose) hydrated. Same as what I have read thus far, she said that the skin produces more oil to compensate when it feels dehydrated.

That seems to be accurate for me in terms of my general skin condition. Since I started focusing more on hydration (by switching to Laneige which is a very hydration-focused brand), my t-zone has become less oily. (But then, ageing also means less oily. So I don't know whether the reduced oiliness is a good sign or a bad sign!) While in the past I wouldn't hesitate to say my skin is combination of very oily t-zone and normal/dry cheeks, nowadays I usually say combination of dry cheeks and t-zone is a little oily. In fact I have started using the same moisture cream on my cheeks and forehead, to prevent wrinkles on the forehead, while using a lighter moisturiser for my nose and chin.

Of course, despite the reduced oiliness, I STILL have many blackheads on my nose. So.... I really don't know what to think la! I guess it's a deep rooted problem (of more than 15 years!!) and not something which simple hydration can solve. Never mind, since I am resigned to it anyway.

But but but! I have come across something which I will be trying very soon. It's called the Oil Cleansing Method and it is NOT as simple as using cleansing oil as facial cleanser (I have been using and loving cleansing oil for many many years.) The secret to this OCM is apparently castor oil. But because castor oil is very drying for the skin, I have to mix it with another oil. Will update again after I try!

[Warning/Disclaimer: If you are intrigued and would like to try this yourself, please read up read up read up first! Don't try just based on this little bit of info here hor! While I came across many reviews which said OCM was very effective, there were also numerous reviews which said OCM caused bad reactions. Personally I am going to start with a lower concentration of castor oil then gradually go up. Furthermore my skin is very elephant and not the sensitive type at all - I don't get pimples or acne or redness or whatever. That's why I can garung garung try! Please be careful!]