receipes i wanna try

taken from the 27 Healthy Versions Of Your Kids’ Favorite Foods online article (hey, that doesn't mean that adults can't eat them =P).

i have yet to try these three recipes so i'm posting them here so that i won't misplace the information when i do get the time to try them out in the future.
*salivating already at the thought T___T*

Carrot French Fries

recipe from here

Cuisine: Lunch
Serves: Makes 5 servings
Ingredients:

1 pound fresh carrots
2 teaspoons oil (coconut, olive oil, your choice)
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions:

Peel carrots into thick slices or cut into strips of desired thickness.
Toss slices in oil and salt.
Bake at 450F for 10-12 minutes, or until desired crispiness is achieved.

Creamy Greek Yogurt Mac n Cheese

recipe from here

serves 4-6

8 oz. (about 2 cups) elbow pasta (I used whole wheat)
8 oz. (about 2 cups) shredded cheese (a sharp cheddar is great)
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (I love Chobani)
2 cups fresh spinach
salt & pepper, to taste
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Cook the macaroni according to the package’s instructions (about 8-10 minutes), until al dente.

Place the spinach leaves in the bottom of a strainer, and pour the pasta over top to drain and wilt the spinach. Save about 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Return the cooked macaroni and wilted spinach to the pot.

Add about 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water to the pot, and stir in the cheese until melted. Stir in the greek yogurt, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, until smooth and creamy. Stir in the remaining pasta water to thin, if necessary. Serve immediately.

Portobello Mushroom Pizzas

recipe from here

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients

4 large portobello mushroom caps
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced (or 1 large sliced tomato)
2 cups shredded mozzarella (fresh if you can find it!)
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped, plus extra for garnish
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Drizzle portobello caps with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Sprinkle a handful of mozzarella onto each mushroom cap, then top with a few slices of tomato and a sprinkling of basil. Then finish with another handful of mozzarella. (YAY CHEESE!)
Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes, until mushrooms have softened and cheese has melted. Garnish with more basil and serve immediately.

pray for MH370

9M-MRO
our thoughts and prayers are with the passengers, crew and families of flight Malaysia Airlines MH370.

go natural w Lush

my first Lush purchase was at Lakeside, West Thurrock. i was tempted to try it for the sake of their 'natural ingredients'.

most of you ladies would be more of an expert at me in Lush products anyway so i'm not gonna give you a lecture about them. i'm just gonna share with you my first lush purchase. after letting the salesperson know that i was a Lush-noob, she gave me a very informational product booklet which i still keep for 'no apparent reason' =P.

i was into shampoo bars at the time (and still am). so after browsing through every shelf in the store (and confusing myself in the process), i went home with a Godiva Shampoo bar, together with a small square tin to keep it in.

A jasmine-scented cleansing and conditioning solid bar that’s a real nudie - we've taken away the packaging and the preservatives to leave nothing but goodness.
There’s no need to be modest about having great hair once you've used this - you’ll want to parade around town. Godiva cleans and conditions with a host of nut oils and butters, and then leaves a heady, lingering scent of jasmine on your newly-glossy tresses.

How to use: Wet both hair and the shampoo bar. Glide the shampoo bar down the length of your hair about three times (right, left and back). Work into a lather and rinse thoroughly. Follow with LUSH conditioner if needed. Keep your solid shampoo in a cool, dry place between uses; we recommend using a LUSH shampoo bar tin.

back in the 'ol days my mom used to have Jasmines planted in the garden, and she'd scatter the flowers all over the house so the house would smell nice (or more like to counter the smell of CATS lingering in the air hahahhahahah). i think i vaguely remember the salesperson telling me that one bar could last up to 80 washes. i bought the bar in September last year, i'm still using it til now. how many months is that? haha.

the second product that i'm intrigued about is the American Cream hair conditioner.

A milkshake-thick conditioner with a strawberries and cream fragrance to leave your hair soft and shiny.
This is packed with fresh fruit and juices, honey, and herbs that won't leave your hair feeling heavy; just manageable and healthy.

How to use: After shampooing, squeeze a small amount into your palm. Smooth through your hair, concentrating on the ends. Rinse out and voila, you’re done!

i'm curious to know whether my hair will end up smelling like strawberries after use. just look at that freakin' photo!!! =D =D =D *mouth salivating*

smells more of vanilla than strawberries

i know most of my peeps go gaga over Lush's facial products but i'm not one for experimenting without a review (or racun, if you could call it that). a friend has been trying to tabur racun for the Gorgeous moisturizer. i'll hold out for now, i'm more interested in their bath bombs =D.

fun at the oscars

in my opinion, the success of the Oscars usually depends on how witty the host can be. this year they chose Ellen, a character that everyone cannot help to like =D.

the movies that usually end up being nominated at the Oscars are usually the ones that i end up falling asleep somewhere in the middle of the movie, no kidding (for example: i slept through Captain Phillips, oops). oh except Gravity which i watched until the end, only because Significant Other finds it a cool movie, whereas i found it amusing that in the movie there were only three characters in total (or two? because the other astronaut doesn't count =P~) haha.

how does someone mistake I-dina Men-zel as 'Adela Dazeem', anyway? i am genuinely confused.

on the other hand, Frozen won Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Song =D my kids know the song by heart. which kid doesn't?

now this Ellen, she thinks up the craziest (and the most amusing) ideas. cramming as many celebrities into one photo and posting it on twitter - who would've thought that it would crash twitter from the overload of retweets? LOL. it even surpassed US President Barack Obama's "Four More Years" re-election victory shot tweet.

my boss at the office wants to take a photo of our team just like that one day, haha.

to make things even more interesting, she ordered pizza and have the delivery boy hand out slices to the audience. guess how much of a tip did he receive? a whopping $1000.

that's it. i'm resigning to become a pizza delivery girl. bahahahhaha.

Despicable Me 2 didn't win anything though. but the song 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams instantly became viral. suddenly everybody's 'happy'.



but it would've been fun if the following tweet was real. HAHA.

* images all taken from google, your happy source of information

photoshoot on the side

we had fun. thank you Adrin~!

silver lining of the day:
when Aunty Lits loves little Sophia so much that she absolutely haaaad to leave her mark...
kekeke =P

intelligence sticks

just for fun. anyone interested to get this for their kids? someone is doing a group buy for this.

Intelligence Stick GB

ETA: early April 2014

RM20 inclusive postage to WM

please confirm by 10/3/2014

i've been teaching Dayana how to count (add and subtract for now) using all her crayons in her coloring box to help her visualize the numbers.
i'd usually ask her to draw little sticks on paper and then count them but she'd usually end up miscounting them in the end T___T.
the only drawback i see to buying this is that those little sticks would go missing, since Dinara seems to have been born with Wreck-It-Ralph genes.

the other day, i was looking high and low for this small pool ball that mysteriously disappeared from my room. the culprit would usually be the kids (things don't just grow feet and walk away, tu sabotage namanya) so i asked them if they'd seen the ball anywhere. as usual, no cooperation from them. i had to overhaul the kids' room all by myself to find it. turned out, i found the ball hiding specifically under Dinara's side of the bed. when i asked her about it, she only managed a sheepish smile and a half-hearted 'sorry!'.

*screams silently*

anyway, do PM if you're interested to join.

updated 6/3: yesterday she broke my snow globe!!! even after specifically telling her never to play with it or suffer my wrath!!! *cries buckets*

team NAR 2014

my team has expanded. we're this big now. LOL.

superbly (if there is such a word), everyone in the team is present in the photo.

we had a good waiter to help us take it, heehee~

as usual, we pau the boss. the most important question that we would ask him without fail whenever he comes down to KL is, 'boss, when are you gonna treat us for lunch???'

our own form of team building