Container Garden - A Thriving Update

It looks like the garden has an iron will to live and to thrive even though the weather has been crappy and I've not been able to give it the love and attention it needs.

Yummy fresh cucumber from the garden!

Chillies!

Capsicums!

Mint!

Cashew Multigrain Titbit

Ingredients:

1. 250gm raw cashew nuts (chopped to fine pieces OR blended roughly)
2. 1 cup of millet
3. 1 cup of quinoa
4. 2 cups of oats
5. 1 cup of puffed canawa
6. 2 large eggs
7. 1/2 cup of sunflower oil
8. Soft brown sugar (how much you use is up to you) (I used 1/4 cup)

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1. Mix all ingredients above in a large bowl.

2. Once everything is combined well, scoop up mixture into mini cupcake liners and place them on a baking tray.

3. Preheat oven at 180C.

4. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

5. Allow to cool. You can store in airtight containers which can be kept in the fridge for about a month.

Bon appétit!

Chicken Stew with Chives

Ingredients:

1. 4 drumsticks/thighs (cut into half) (seasoned with sea-salt)
2. 2 stalks of chives (cut into 3 cm in length)
3. 7 medium sized potatoes (skin peeled and cut into wedges shapes)
4. Sea-salt
5. Sunflower oil
6. 1 cup of chicken broth

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1. Pour some sunflower oil into a large pot. Heat it up and add the potato wedges in when oil is hot.

2. Cover the pot with lid and allow potatoes to cook until soften.

3. Add the chicken, sea-salt and chicken broth.

4. Bring the stew to a boil and then allow to simmer on low heat for 1 hour with lid closed.

5. Add the chives and simmer for another 5 minutes.

6. Serve with piping hot rice.

Bon appétit!

The Demon Named Influenza A

Last year it was Nightmare On Influenza B Street. This year it's his brother the Demon Influenza A. If you thought that you've seen it all, been through it all and know it all after an experience with Influenza B, you're sadly mistaken.

1. Your Brain is Just One Big Blob of Goo
Nothing makes sense. You see A and B are supposed to go together, but somehow you can't even put them together. Your brain is jammed. Its simplicity just bamboozles you. No matter how hard you try, you can't even tell which is your left hand. Your brain is just in the Cloud up there.

2. Six-Packs, Eight-Packs, Quadruple Packs
You'll have all those packs above in no time with all the pulling and stretching that your body has to accommodate for those hours and hours of never-ending-marathon-coughs. You'll instantly turn into Mr or Miss Body-Building-Machine unlike some Mr-I'll-Be-Back who took years and yet could never come back somehow... Eeeeeewwwww... I'd rather choose Wolverine over Arnie any day. *sigh* Wolverine....... *drools* *SLAPS SELF!* Forgive my foggy state of mind. It's the virus that's turned my brain into this blob of goo drooling over some silly nonexistent mutant.

3. Casper the Ghost
You know how Casper tries to makes friends with everybody but ends up scaring everybody out of their wits? That's how you will feel. Even the reflection of your own hand will cause you to jump 10-feet out of your skin. I was constantly being frightened by any sound and everything that moved. I would have been a good candidate for a ghost movie. I would just jump and scream even if they moved the camera.

4. A.L.I.E.N
Yup. You read that right. Alien. The one that drips acid saliva and has the never-ending-fond-habit of bursting out from human's rib cages or abdomens. That's how you'd feel when you're coughing and coughing and coughing endlessly. You'd think that the violent, never-ending spasmodic coughs will cause your insides to finally explode out giving birth to a tiny 'cough-alien-baby'.

5. Your Bed is Out to Kill You!
I can't emphasize this point enough. It's sole purpose during this time of unfortunate illness is not to comfort you or give you some relief from the sore, aching body.

You see the virus can be akin to the Mafias. They are both the same. Sadists in the fullest sense. First they beat you up. Then they pull out a tooth here and there. And then they use pliers to pull your fingernails out. And then they 'try' to drown you for 5 minutes while they continue to beat the shit out of you. And then they slowly electrocute you to death. And when you're about to die, they resuscitate you and throw you in your cell to only continue the torture the next day.

So you think the cell is a welcomed relief. But NOOOOOOOOO! You can feel every contour, every crack, every shape and everything. You try to position yourself into a more comfortable position to try to get some relief when suddenly it feels like a sinkhole has appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the cell and it is sucking you in! And then it's GONE! Out of nowhere the cell is suddenly filled with thorns. It is hurting, tearing your skin apart, causing you more pain. When you try to get that bit of rest that you so desperately need it will come back in full force to make sure you don't get that. You then twist, you turn, you curl up, you sleep like a scarecrow, you do whatever it takes to get a teeny-weeny bit of relief. The cell will NEVER give you that. It has formed a pact together with the Mafia (a.k.a Influenza A) and the devil to make you wish you had died before they resuscitated you for tomorrow's round 2.

The cell is YOUR BED.

Simple BeeHoon Soup (ABC Chicken Soup)

Ever since I've been down with this Influenza A virus, I haven't been able to stomach rice. I will throw up. I've been having spaghetti or beehoon with chicken soup. My son has been asking for noodles. And my husband too. Somehow this virus has changed our system.

ABC Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1. 1 whole range-free chicken (cut into quarters - without skin and all fats removed)
2. 3 medium sized old potatoes (skin peeled and cut into 4 parts)
3. 2 medium sized carrots (peeled and cut into chunks)
4. 1 celery stick (peeled and cut into about the same size as carrots)
5. 1/4 cup of barley
6. Sea-salt (depending on pot size and individual taste)
7. Filtered water (amount depending on pot size)

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1. In a large pot, add all the ingredients above. Make sure everything is submerged.

2. Boil for 2 hours

3. *You can add eggs into the soup by using the 'drop egg' method. Or you can just break an egg(s) directly into the soup without breaking the yolk while the soup is being boiled during the 2nd hour.

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While the soup is being cooked, you can prepare the beehoon by soaking it in a container of water. Once it has softened, drain the water away and set aside.

In a bowl, add some of the beehoon and scoop some boiling soup onto the beehoon until it is submerged in the soup.

Bon appétit!

Influenza A Positive

By afternoon hubby came down with a temperature. And I started one again in the afternoon which was 99.6 that soon spiked to 102.3.

Shivering, severely nauseated and blacking out I knew I needed to get to the ER again. And I knew that I had some sort of an influenza.

I almost collapsed upon reaching the hospital and they immediately dripped me and gave me the anti-vomit medication and stomach medication through IV. 

They took some blood for tests and swabbed me again. And this time it's Influenza A positive. The other day was a false negative as it was only the first day. 

I'm home and the fever is low-grade again. Still fighting this. Such an exhausting time it is.

It's 1.40am and I am currently trying not to cough out my lungs.

A classmate of Joel's AND his parents are down with high fever and cough too and flat on their backs too. I don't think they've gone for any test yet.

Spreading Like Wild Fire

My brother has caught the virus from Joel and I. And hubby has started coughing.....

Dear God.....

ER

I was burning at 104F and it wasn't going down. I was dizzy and on the verge of passing out. Hubby brought me to the ER and they placed me on a drip and sponged me. Some blood tests were done and it is a viral infection. I have some bacterial infection too. The doctor said I must be too weak and am a magnet for viruses and bad bacteria. It's not dengue or Influenza.

They had to IV an anti-vomit medication as I was on the verge of throwing up. That medication gave me palpitations but I could eat something that night.

The fever broke somewhere early in the morning but has currently returned though it's low grade.

Coughing seems to be preoccupying most of my time. Joel too is coughing and hacking like a barking seal.

It seems there is an outbreak of HFMD at our area and Joel's school just sent a mail stating that there is a kid with this virus.

Thank you for your positive thoughts and prayers.

Down With a Virus

I caught Joel's bug and am currently burning at 101F. I've not even eaten and am feeling like a pile of shit. The last time I had fever was last April. Not bad for someone who doesn't take supplements and has a restrictive diet.

Sleep is disruptive but the bed is currently my best friend.

This virulent virus has been going around in Joel's school for awhile now. Joel was burning at 102 almost the whole day yesterday and he threw up. We had to insert an anti-vomit supporsitory to help him to keep his meds down.

Do keep us in your thoughts and send us lots of healing energy over.

Thank you!

The Crack

Before they could even begin, it appeared. Like an insidious disease. It crept in like a thief in the night. It came so unexpectedly that no one saw it. No one had thought that it would happen. 

But it did.

At first it was as fine as a hairline. In fact everyone who saw it brushed it aside thinking it was a strand of hair that had gone astray. 

But it wasn't.

And everyone thought it didn't matter much. 

As it widened, the humans found a way to overcome it. At first they could skip over it, hop over it. As it grew wider the younger humans took it to be their new skateboarding hangout. 

Soon it grew as wide as a chasm. It wasn't a problem. The humans constructed a bridge over it. First it was a wooden bridge. And then a new concrete bridge was built. And in the end it was replaced with a titanium bridge.

Of course there were some who fell into the chasm. But they rationalized that it was their bad luck that had caused their death.

It never occurred to the humans that they needed to fix the crack. It took too much effort. Too much work. Too much thinking. Building something over it was much quicker and easier. If it grew wider, build a longer bridge. Build a more magnificent bridge so that the chasm wouldn't be noticed. The brightness and luminosity of the bridge's brilliance would divert the attention from the chasm. 

And then it happened.

It gave way. The chasm turned into a never-ending-abyss. And it continued to expand and it ate up its surroundings.  Its appetite could not be quelled the moment it tasted land. Its thirst could not be quenched. It was ravenous for more. It lusted and hungered for more and more and more.

And it couldn't be stopped. 

And it all began with a hairline crack...

Stir-Fry Garlic Minced Pork

Ingredients:

1. 500gm of minced organic pork (seasoned with sea-salt)
2. 1 garlic clove (outer layer removed) (leave in bulb form)
3. Sea-salt
4. Sunflower oil

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1. Heat up a work.

2. Pour some sunflower oil into the heated wok.

3. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic bulbs.

4. Stir fry until garlic is slightly browned.

5. Add the minced pork and cook until it is well done.

6. Break up the minced pork into tiny pieces.

7. Add sea-salt if you find it isn't tasty enough.

8. Scoop onto serving dish.

9. Serve with hot rice.

Bon appétit!

Water Rationing Over... Is It Really Over?

Though the water level at the dam is only 40%, rationing was called off. They've been pumping water from ex-mining pools into the dam. There has been concerns on how safe the water is as some experts say that mining pools have high levels of metal (such as arsenic and lead) and laden with bacteria.

Though we have been having thunderstorms everyday to the point of flash floods, apparently it hasn't rained much at the catchment areas or the dam. This either means the catchment area is completely bald and devoid of trees or we're being taken for a ride. The dry and hazy season will be here VERY soon and I am worried to how we are going to go through 5 to 6 month of minimal rain with no water in the dam.

As of now, I can taste and smell a very strong chemical smell in the water. A neighbour said that the water smells 'very earthy'. I say it smells like chemical!

Here's a link in 2012 to an article which states that water from mining pool is not suitable for drinking:
Mining pool water not safe for drinking.

But today in 2014, we are being told that it is safe!

Can I have back my safe drinking water??!