By the way, she turned 8 months yesterday!
 |
| Hannah at 7 months |
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Weaning Hannah - the basics
After the last blog by Mr Knightrider-wannabe, this one is going to take a 180-degree turn and move into...
... our kitchen.
By popular demand, we are responding to a very common query by friends and strangers alike when they see Hannah: "What do you feed her?"
In this age where we are drummed with the concept of 'you are what you eat', most assume that Hannah's fair and rosy complexion must be due to a secret ingredient mixed into her daily feeds. Never mind that Hannah is half an English rose, and naturally looks different from the typical Malaysian baby.
So, you have been warned. If you have absolutely no interest in what goes into a baby's mouth, and think that this mother is slightly looney to post pictures of common kitchen appliances, then surf on to another website.
We have been careful to follow official recommendations in weaning our daughter. The reason is simple. Not only has Hannah inherited half of Daddy's looks, she has also inherited his family history of allergies - food allergies, hay fever, asthma, skin allergies etc. So if you wonder why we have been so fussy with her food choices, then wonder no more. We simply want Hannah to have the best start in life possible.
Making baby food is simple and easy. We've used this over and over again:
Baby food jars are notoriously expensive and contain high amounts of preservatives that can't be too good for a baby's young tummy. We've taken to preparing our own food , storing it in ice cubes (one cube = one ounce) and storing it in our freezer. When required, we take out one to two cubes of fruit/vegetable, mix it with two cubes of expressed milk, a small amount of cereal/rice/oats and ta daa, we have one healthy, tasty baby meal ready.
Doesn't that take up a lot of time?
Not really. Writing this blog is probably more time consuming. Weekends are the best time to prepare the food cubes. Or in my case, any day when I am post-call.
In fact, looking at the kaleidoscope of colours in the freezer is pretty rewarding. Let's see, we have: Sweet potato, carrots, green peas, mango, apples, pears, pumpkin, bannanas, plums and avocado in view.
... our kitchen.
By popular demand, we are responding to a very common query by friends and strangers alike when they see Hannah: "What do you feed her?"
In this age where we are drummed with the concept of 'you are what you eat', most assume that Hannah's fair and rosy complexion must be due to a secret ingredient mixed into her daily feeds. Never mind that Hannah is half an English rose, and naturally looks different from the typical Malaysian baby.
So, you have been warned. If you have absolutely no interest in what goes into a baby's mouth, and think that this mother is slightly looney to post pictures of common kitchen appliances, then surf on to another website.
We have been careful to follow official recommendations in weaning our daughter. The reason is simple. Not only has Hannah inherited half of Daddy's looks, she has also inherited his family history of allergies - food allergies, hay fever, asthma, skin allergies etc. So if you wonder why we have been so fussy with her food choices, then wonder no more. We simply want Hannah to have the best start in life possible.
Making baby food is simple and easy. We've used this over and over again:
Baby food jars are notoriously expensive and contain high amounts of preservatives that can't be too good for a baby's young tummy. We've taken to preparing our own food , storing it in ice cubes (one cube = one ounce) and storing it in our freezer. When required, we take out one to two cubes of fruit/vegetable, mix it with two cubes of expressed milk, a small amount of cereal/rice/oats and ta daa, we have one healthy, tasty baby meal ready.
Doesn't that take up a lot of time?
Not really. Writing this blog is probably more time consuming. Weekends are the best time to prepare the food cubes. Or in my case, any day when I am post-call.
In fact, looking at the kaleidoscope of colours in the freezer is pretty rewarding. Let's see, we have: Sweet potato, carrots, green peas, mango, apples, pears, pumpkin, bannanas, plums and avocado in view.
But, what if you travel?
These frozen food cubes travel surprisingly well. We've brought them to Port Dickson, and as far as Penang. I suppose if you're used to handling frozen / chilled expressed milk, this is no different.
If fact, since Hannah loves to eat with the family, we have made it a habit to bring her food along when we go out for simple meals. Never mind that she gets comments like "Yucks, what's that green stuff she's eating?". She laps it all up and even asks for more at times!
It is beyond the scope of this blog to talk about what and when to feed your baby. Here are some sites to check out if you'd like to know more about recommended feeding schedules and baby food recipes that are tried and tested:
http://askdrsears.com/html/3/T030100.asp
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/
For a more local perspective, check this helpful book :
"When and What to Feed My Baby" by Mrs. Gill
Cooking for Hannah has been a joy. It has also been a way for us to reclaim some territory (the kitchen) that we've lost to Po Po since she moved in.
Our culinary skills must be of a decent standard. After all, the proof is in the pudding:
Have we answered your question?
Thursday, March 15, 2007
The 
of the Proton SAGA
I am relieved to finally be able to write this blog. That's because I acually have a Proton SAGA to speak about, as opposed to one supposedly ordered but not materialised.
So what is a Proton SAGA?
It's a car. Chris decided 5 years of Malaysian public transport was enough, and we came to the conclusion we could spare enough money to get a second car (Cindy depends on her car to get to work in Klang every day - approximately a 25km journey one way). We chose Proton because, being a local company, their cars are cheap to buy and cheap to maintain. We chose the SAGA because it was the cheapest! It also has a 1.3 litre engine, so it isn't going to guzzle petrol.
So Proton make cheap cars... but are they any good?
Well, Proton (like other developing-country car manufacturers - think Daewoo, Korea) have cunningly made a living out of rebadging someone else's cars. Namely Mitsubishi. Now they DO make their own models. And did you know Proton actually owns that marvellous British automotive company 'Lotus'? Anyway, despite having a range of brand new models, they still get away with rebadging increasingly old Mitsubishis.
Ok, so what exactly is...or was... the Proton SAGA?
It is a 1983 Mitsubishi Lancer (yep, almost as old as me! Well, almost...). A fine car in it's day. And still fit for the roads today.
Nice. And why do you call this blog the "Saga" of the proton SAGA?
Well, that is what I'm getting to. You see, after some deliberation, Cindy and I decided to settle for the Proton SAGA. We found a dealer just round the corner from where we stay - very convenient, so we were feeling good. The salesman was helpful and seemed professional. All was looking good.
Then we wondered if these salesmen couldn't offer a bit of an incentive to buy their cars. So we asked around and managed to squeeze a meager discount out of a couple of salesmen. We reasoned that the car was already cheap, so we couldn't expect much discount anyway, yet it was still a bit disappointing. We went back to the first guy that we liked and asked him what he could do. He laughed (evil cackle?!) and assured us he could "do better than that." Thus, buoyed up with confidence we went to see him again.
This time, we went armed with credit card and cheque book. We felt we could just about pay for the car in cash and avoid any more bank loans (both of us really dislike loans except when absolutely necessary). Well, maybe it was a rush of euphoria at finally getting my own set of wheels, but we did a silly thing. We wrote a cheque for the full amount and went home, expecting a car in less than 2 weeks time.
Later we reflected on our situation. We paid a LARGE sum of money and went home with nothing! Not even a receipt, since their finance office was closed by the time we made the payment. What were we thinking?
The next day Chris got a faxed copy of the receipt. A few days later, feeling increasingly uneasy, we called our friendly salesman to find out when the car was coming. We were told the colour we wanted was not in stock. Could take two weeks more. Maybe three. Can't promise anything.
Gulp. Money paid. No car. What could we do?
When I got home that day, my Father-in-law thrust the newspaper in my face. There was a new ad from Proton. They were promoting the Proton SAGA in celebration of Malaysia's 50 years of independence...with a 25% discount. That was it. I suddenly felt completely cheated - although I really only had myself to blame for being so naive.
After much deliberation of our options (including going straight to Proton HQ to beg for mercy!!!), my Father-in-law agreed to see our salesman the next day. Well, he was also very unsure of how to approach this issue. So he prayed. Of course, he didn't want to get nasty and he hoped the salesman would be reasonable. He asked our Heavenly Father to make the way smooth for a decent resolution. He was an example to me since I was hardly able to sleep due to the issue, let alone commit it in prayer to God.
And what was the resolution?
My Father-in-law first asked for the original receipt (of which we only had a faxed copy prior to this) and then - Praise the LORD - the salesman himself said "oh, and by the way uncle Proton is now offering a discount on the SAGA, so we will be issuing you a refund for the difference once the car is registered." That's right - because he couldn't get his hands on a car earlier, he hadn't registered it so he still had the money. By the time he would get a car, the new price would be in effect!
I called him that evening to tell him we were willing to change our colour preference - if the offer was for a limited time, we might have missed it by the time he found our first choice. We went for black. Sporty, yes. Sleek, yes. But hot in a country like Malaysia. But I figured with the savings from the discount we could invest in a bit of window tinting to keep the heat down.
It took another week after that phone call to get this:
of the Proton SAGAI am relieved to finally be able to write this blog. That's because I acually have a Proton SAGA to speak about, as opposed to one supposedly ordered but not materialised.
So what is a Proton SAGA?
It's a car. Chris decided 5 years of Malaysian public transport was enough, and we came to the conclusion we could spare enough money to get a second car (Cindy depends on her car to get to work in Klang every day - approximately a 25km journey one way). We chose Proton because, being a local company, their cars are cheap to buy and cheap to maintain. We chose the SAGA because it was the cheapest! It also has a 1.3 litre engine, so it isn't going to guzzle petrol.
So Proton make cheap cars... but are they any good?
Well, Proton (like other developing-country car manufacturers - think Daewoo, Korea) have cunningly made a living out of rebadging someone else's cars. Namely Mitsubishi. Now they DO make their own models. And did you know Proton actually owns that marvellous British automotive company 'Lotus'? Anyway, despite having a range of brand new models, they still get away with rebadging increasingly old Mitsubishis.
Ok, so what exactly is...or was... the Proton SAGA?
It is a 1983 Mitsubishi Lancer (yep, almost as old as me! Well, almost...). A fine car in it's day. And still fit for the roads today.
Nice. And why do you call this blog the "Saga" of the proton SAGA?
Well, that is what I'm getting to. You see, after some deliberation, Cindy and I decided to settle for the Proton SAGA. We found a dealer just round the corner from where we stay - very convenient, so we were feeling good. The salesman was helpful and seemed professional. All was looking good.
Then we wondered if these salesmen couldn't offer a bit of an incentive to buy their cars. So we asked around and managed to squeeze a meager discount out of a couple of salesmen. We reasoned that the car was already cheap, so we couldn't expect much discount anyway, yet it was still a bit disappointing. We went back to the first guy that we liked and asked him what he could do. He laughed (evil cackle?!) and assured us he could "do better than that." Thus, buoyed up with confidence we went to see him again.
This time, we went armed with credit card and cheque book. We felt we could just about pay for the car in cash and avoid any more bank loans (both of us really dislike loans except when absolutely necessary). Well, maybe it was a rush of euphoria at finally getting my own set of wheels, but we did a silly thing. We wrote a cheque for the full amount and went home, expecting a car in less than 2 weeks time.
Later we reflected on our situation. We paid a LARGE sum of money and went home with nothing! Not even a receipt, since their finance office was closed by the time we made the payment. What were we thinking?
The next day Chris got a faxed copy of the receipt. A few days later, feeling increasingly uneasy, we called our friendly salesman to find out when the car was coming. We were told the colour we wanted was not in stock. Could take two weeks more. Maybe three. Can't promise anything.
Gulp. Money paid. No car. What could we do?
When I got home that day, my Father-in-law thrust the newspaper in my face. There was a new ad from Proton. They were promoting the Proton SAGA in celebration of Malaysia's 50 years of independence...with a 25% discount. That was it. I suddenly felt completely cheated - although I really only had myself to blame for being so naive.
After much deliberation of our options (including going straight to Proton HQ to beg for mercy!!!), my Father-in-law agreed to see our salesman the next day. Well, he was also very unsure of how to approach this issue. So he prayed. Of course, he didn't want to get nasty and he hoped the salesman would be reasonable. He asked our Heavenly Father to make the way smooth for a decent resolution. He was an example to me since I was hardly able to sleep due to the issue, let alone commit it in prayer to God.
And what was the resolution?
My Father-in-law first asked for the original receipt (of which we only had a faxed copy prior to this) and then - Praise the LORD - the salesman himself said "oh, and by the way uncle Proton is now offering a discount on the SAGA, so we will be issuing you a refund for the difference once the car is registered." That's right - because he couldn't get his hands on a car earlier, he hadn't registered it so he still had the money. By the time he would get a car, the new price would be in effect!
I called him that evening to tell him we were willing to change our colour preference - if the offer was for a limited time, we might have missed it by the time he found our first choice. We went for black. Sporty, yes. Sleek, yes. But hot in a country like Malaysia. But I figured with the savings from the discount we could invest in a bit of window tinting to keep the heat down.
It took another week after that phone call to get this:
Monday, March 12, 2007
The "A" List
Chinese New Year has come and gone, so why are we still so busy?
Each weekend seems packed - either being occupied with work-related activities or meeting up with relatives near and far. Our plans next weekend have been changed and changed again, and still remains uncertain.
Gone are the days when our ideal weekend consisted of a trip to the local supermarket, a leisurely home-cooked meal and a movie on DVD, all in the comfort of our apartment. Our social life? Practically non-existent, but it suited us fine.
Suddenly, as parents of Hannah, our status has catapulted. We now find ourselves well within the "Celebrities' A List", with invitations to functions pouring in.
We find it pretty unnerving, but Hannah has taken it all in her stride. In fact, she seems to thrive on all the attention and adoration. The little social animal somehow manages to work her way through the crowd, laughing, squealing and charming everyone's socks off.
After a hard day's work, she can always look forward to a little R & R at home...
And if a nice warm bath doesn't do the trick, then Hannah can always depend on her parents to soothe any ruffled feathers (read: overstimulation resulting in excessive night time grumpiness).
That's what parents are for.
Each weekend seems packed - either being occupied with work-related activities or meeting up with relatives near and far. Our plans next weekend have been changed and changed again, and still remains uncertain.
Gone are the days when our ideal weekend consisted of a trip to the local supermarket, a leisurely home-cooked meal and a movie on DVD, all in the comfort of our apartment. Our social life? Practically non-existent, but it suited us fine.
Suddenly, as parents of Hannah, our status has catapulted. We now find ourselves well within the "Celebrities' A List", with invitations to functions pouring in.
We find it pretty unnerving, but Hannah has taken it all in her stride. In fact, she seems to thrive on all the attention and adoration. The little social animal somehow manages to work her way through the crowd, laughing, squealing and charming everyone's socks off.
After a hard day's work, she can always look forward to a little R & R at home...
And if a nice warm bath doesn't do the trick, then Hannah can always depend on her parents to soothe any ruffled feathers (read: overstimulation resulting in excessive night time grumpiness).
That's what parents are for.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
The 15 Days of Chinese New Year
It has been a marathon of festivities (and sales) in this country. First it was the Muslim Hari Raya and Hindu Deepavali in October, then it was Christmas in December and now it is the Chinese New Year!
Surprisingly, I often get asked if I celebrate Chinese New Year, as though being a Christian (or married to a Caucasion) makes me any less Chinese. However, this confusion can be explained by the simple fact that most other major festivals in this country are closely linked to religion. We can probably draw a parallel to the celebration of Christmas in the UK - CNY is more of a traditional celebration of ethnic Chinese all over the world, with a cultural rather than religious significance.
In fact, so much of the superstitious and religious practices of the festivities have been omitted in our own family that substantial research had to go into this blog!
Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year is based on the Lunar calendar. Celebrations start on the first day of the first month of the lunar year, and concludes on the 15th day, also called Lantern Festival or the Chinese Valentine's Day.
Yet, perhaps the most important day of the celebrations actually falls on the eve of the Chinese New Year:
The eve of CNY, also known as Chu xi, is marked by the all important Reunion Dinner. The meal is usually held in the home of the patriach, or the most senior member of the extended family. Although I have fond memories of CNY past where families of all 8 uncles and aunties used to gather under the roof of my paternal grandfather's house, we had a far more relaxing time in our small KL apartment with close family members.
Surprisingly, I often get asked if I celebrate Chinese New Year, as though being a Christian (or married to a Caucasion) makes me any less Chinese. However, this confusion can be explained by the simple fact that most other major festivals in this country are closely linked to religion. We can probably draw a parallel to the celebration of Christmas in the UK - CNY is more of a traditional celebration of ethnic Chinese all over the world, with a cultural rather than religious significance.
In fact, so much of the superstitious and religious practices of the festivities have been omitted in our own family that substantial research had to go into this blog!
Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year is based on the Lunar calendar. Celebrations start on the first day of the first month of the lunar year, and concludes on the 15th day, also called Lantern Festival or the Chinese Valentine's Day.
Yet, perhaps the most important day of the celebrations actually falls on the eve of the Chinese New Year:
The eve of CNY, also known as Chu xi, is marked by the all important Reunion Dinner. The meal is usually held in the home of the patriach, or the most senior member of the extended family. Although I have fond memories of CNY past where families of all 8 uncles and aunties used to gather under the roof of my paternal grandfather's house, we had a far more relaxing time in our small KL apartment with close family members.
Day 1 Buddhists typically abstain from meat on the first day of CNY. Most households will also welcome deities at the stroke of midnight, particularly the God of Prosperity. For our family however, it was church as usual. All the children were decked out in their CNY finery, Chinese or not!
Red packets, or ang pows, are distributed by married adults throughout the 15 day celebrations to children and unmarried adults. Although the original intention was to "suppress or put down the evil spirits" (a homonym), red packets containing money of various denominations are now given, well, just to keep the children happy!
Not to be left behind, Hannah could barely wait to collect her first angpow and decided to descend on her sleepy grandparents first thing on CNY morning. Hannah was later spotted comparing angpows with the children in church...
Day Two Traditionally, married women had little opportunity to visit their birth families. On this day however, married couples return to their wife's family homes to visit her parents.
Day Three and Four are considered inappropriate days to visit relatives for different reasons (more homonyms). Yet for our family, we took advantage of the public holidays and did more visiting. We managed to visit all the families with babies and made endless comparisons!
Day Five is Po Woo, where families traditionally stay at home to welcome the god of wealth. Businessmen often start work in this day accompanied by a display of firecrackers to symbolise a good start to the new year for their businesses.
Day Seven is considered a birthday for everyone, or the 'common man's birthday'. People often gather together for meals including 'Yu Sheng', best described as a tossed salad with many commercial variants.
Day Eight is a day of special significance for the Hokkiens, who may have another family reunion dinner (we didn't) and pray to the Tian Gong, the Jade Emperor (at the stroke of midnight of Day Nine).
And let's just fast forward to
Day Fifteen, called Chap Goh Mei in the Hokkien dialect. While some countries may celebrate it as a Lantern Festival, we have a rather unique practice of throwing fruits in the sea. More specifically, singles are encouraged to throw mandarin oranges into the sea in an attempt to find their lifetime partners (hence the alternate name ' Chinese Valentine's Day).
However, in practical terms, all children consider this the final day to reap in financial gains for the year, i.e. ang pows.
Day Fifteen, called Chap Goh Mei in the Hokkien dialect. While some countries may celebrate it as a Lantern Festival, we have a rather unique practice of throwing fruits in the sea. More specifically, singles are encouraged to throw mandarin oranges into the sea in an attempt to find their lifetime partners (hence the alternate name ' Chinese Valentine's Day).
However, in practical terms, all children consider this the final day to reap in financial gains for the year, i.e. ang pows.
There are endless superstitions related to Chinese New Year - avoiding sharp objects and not sweeping the floor on the first day, eating various food with homonyms for all things good and prosperous, opening every door and window at the stroke of midnight to usher in the god of wealth and the new year, expelling the old, etc.
If your curiosity has been piqued, you can find more information on these sites:
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