Stormy

It's always a sad thing to see my blog neglected like this. Things happen and I can't help it that I don't have the time to blog as often as I want to. God knows how many times I want to write but things get in the way. I just had to blog about Stormy. Just 2 days left before 2018 draws it's curtain and I need to write this before it's too late. I might add some more facts later on when I have the time, but for now, I'll write about how Stormy came into my life.

For those who follow me on my Instagram, they would already know about Stormy. Every other day I would do an update about her. She came into my life last October. To be exact, I found her on the 18th of October 2018 in my own garden. She was screaming away like crazy. Sounding so desperate for help. I knew something was not right. I heard that scream the night before around 9.00pm. At that time I thought the sound came from the roof of our house. Never did I imagine that the little kitten was actually in my garden that night! There was a storm that night. Very heavy rain. The screaming became louder and louder. I couldn't help but wonder why the kitten was screaming so helplessly. If there was a mother....why didn't the mother comfort her. The sound was so disturbing. When it was time for me to sleep, I could still hear the screaming on and off. I suppose, she must have been tired of screaming and took a rest at times.

I couldn't sleep very well that night. I kept thinking of Manja. The stray cat that died in 2016 at our house. She died trying to give birth. It was a nightmare for me to see her die that way. I'm still traumatized about it till today. Whenever I see a cat, I'll be reminded of Manja. So when I heard that little kitten screaming, I kept thinking of Manja's babies that died with her. I cried myself to sleep that night.

The next day, the maid to our house. So we were busy that day. There was rain throughout the day. Off and on, I would hear the screaming. It was just so weird to hear a kitten STILL screaming since the night before. In my mind...I kept thinking, what on earth is the mother cat doing??? Where the hell are they anyway? Are they at my house of someone else's house?? WHERE!!! The screaming is killing me!

Finally....late in the afternoon, around 6.00pm....I went outside the house to see Bulat, my Kaloi. I wanted to feed her. At that time, I heard the screaming again....but it was not as loud as I heard before. Every time the kitten screamed, I tried to locate it. I followed my instincts....it lead me to the back of the house. I couldn't see anything. I almost gave up and was about to go back into the house when I heard the scream again and saw something small moving on the ground near the wall at the back of our house. Under the metal scraps and old wood, I saw this little new born kitten, with it's umbilical cord still on her. Luckily she moved. If she hadn't done that, I wouldn't have noticed her from far.

Immediately I ran inside the house to get some cloth to wrap the kitten with. The kitten was soaking wet!! My heart broke into pieces seeing her like that. I didn't stop to think if I did the right thing taking her in. If the her mother wanted to get her, she would have done so earlier. I mean, she had the whole entire day to do that, but she didn't get her little kitty. Until today I wondered why was Stormy left there all alone. How many siblings does she have? Who are her real mother and father?? 

To cut the story short, I had a hard time taking care of her. Because at that time, I was not well. At the time, I had a very serious eczema issue on my feet. It was just so bad, so much so that I had a hard time walking. I hadn't been taking good care of myself for almost a year. Not only did I not avoid foods that harm my body, I also ate a lot of it....A LOT!!! And because of that, my body just couldn't take it anymore. I had to detoxify my body immediately! It wasn't easy because once I start eating those foods that harm me, I just couldn't stop! October was just the hardest time I had in 2018. 

Ok, back to Stormy. Obviously I named her Stormy because I figured she was born during the storm. I assumed she was born on the 17th because I heard her scream the night before. Just so you know, I have no experience at all at taking care of new born kittens. I had to Google to educate myself about how to take care of her. I learned a lot from a YouTuber called the (KittenLady). Her videos are great! So easy to understand. Because of her videos, I was able to be a mother to Stormy. I may not be a great Mom, but I sure hell tried my best! LOL!

Stormy is almost 3 months old now. Although she is a handful, she is family now. :)

Soursop leaf

Soursop! I love Soursop! Who doesn't right?? The fruit is delicious! So they say. Honestly to date, I've only experienced eating the frozen flesh of the fruit which I bought a few years ago from a shop somewhere in Alor Setar, Soursop fruit in powdered form which was said to be good for curing cancer and also Soursop fruit in the form of juice which can be found in many supermarkets nowadays. All of them are Soursop fruit that have been through some form of process. So I've never had the chance to try the fresh ones before in my life! Haha! Kesian!

All these years, I've been dying to eat the fresh Soursop fruit from our very own tree, because I was informed of it's great health benefits. Besides, growing them would be much cheaper than buying the fruit itself. They are SO EXPENSIVE to buy! I only thought that the only great thing about the tree is the fruit. Because that's what everybody is talking about. The fruit! Little did I know that not only the fruit is great for our health but so are the leaves and bark of the tree! Wow! Who knew!! It was not easy to grow the tree itself as many of the trees that we planted have died. We have bought so many Soursop trees over the years and some were given by our own good neighbours. Now, we have some that are struggling to survive. It's a real challenge to grow them I tell ya! Haha! I heard that they don't like strong wind so much. :D

Today I would like to share here what I found out about the Soursop leaves so far. And also what I've personally experienced from using it the past one week.

I was surprised to know that a lot of studies have shown that the Soursop leaves are even better than the fruit itself. They say that it is the most beneficial part of the tree. The people in the Caribbean have been drinking the Soursop leaf tea for ages! It's like a traditional thing for them to consume it. Whenever they feel a little bit under the weather they would drink this tea to help them feel better. No wonder they are so strong! I read a lot of articles and saw a lot of videos of people from the Caribbean saying that the tea is so good for the nerves. So people who worked long hours or who does a lot of physical activity would take this tea after work so that they can sleep well at night and feel better the next morning.

So, since my Soursop trees are still pretty small and not bearing any fruit for us to eat, I could at least use the leaves for making tea. I've heard about how good it is for curing and preventing cancer but I never knew that is was also for other health issues such as Gout, Back pain, Eczema, Rheumatism, Diabetes, it can boost the Immune System, inhibit the growth of bacteria, virus, parasites and tumors, treats inflammation and swollen feet, reducing fever and high blood pressure, aids in digestion and improving appetite, improves stamina, good for treatment of boils and lice on your hair.   For me, I'm taking it for my skin and for something else that I rather not mention here, hahahaha :D.

I did a lot of research about the tea before consuming it. I wouldn't want to poison myself with it so it was really important to find out more about it. When I found out about how to make the tea and saw how so many people all over the world are taking it on a daily basis, I realize that it was actually very safe to consume after all. You can use the fresh leaves or air dry them first before making tea with it. It doesn't matter. What I also did find was that whatever tea we drink or whatever food we eat, do not OVERDOSE. That's why I only take one cup or one small mug of the tea everyday. It's better to do it that way rather than get too excited about the health benefits and overdose ourselves and thinking that the more we consume it, the better health we will have. It is so not the case.....so, less is more guys. Believe me, it's better to be safe than sorry.

How I make the tea is actually very similar to how I make the Lemongrass Pandan tea. All there is to do is boil water based on how many cups or mugs of tea that I plan to make/drink. Since I usually make one for me and my Mother, so it's always 2 mugs of water. I would bring it to a boil in a small sauce pan and then dump in the shredded leaves inside the boiling water. Lower the heat and leave it to boil for 5-10 minutes. Take out the leaves from the pan when it's done and pour the tea into the mugs. I usually would add some rock sugar to sweeten the tea a bit. And it's delicious!

I am pretty excited when it comes to talking about how wonderful the Soursop leaves are for the skin. I've experienced this first hand when I had a really big acne on my chin a few days ago. It was so painful!! I haven't had a big one like that in ages. So since they said that the leaves were good for the skin and acne, I decided to give it a try. What I did was, I used the dry mill to grind the leaves to tiny pieces. Then I would add in small amounts of rose water to it, to get the juice out of the leaves. Then, I would apply that on my face or any parts of my body that I felt needed the attention. 

What happened after that really shocked me. I applied the extract of the leaves on my skin and left it on overnight, and when I woke up the next day, the acne shrunk and is no longer painful! Amazing!! The day after that, it totally disappeared! WOW! The effect was pretty fast! 

I noticed that if you have itchy skin, that too can be healed with the juice of the leaves. No more scratching all day and all night. Especially if you have eczema, you should give it a try. It really works!

So that's all I have to say about the Soursop leaves for now. I'm just super happy that I get to use it for my health. All these years the trees were just there in our garden and we never knew the leaves could help us. I just wanted to spread the word and hopefully other people can benefit from it too. Take care everyone! 

  

Blooming Tecoma trees

Currently in Alor Setar, most of the Tecoma trees are blooming with flowers all over the city. It's that time of the year again when we can see this phenomena happening and it's so beautiful. I just love it when the flowers starts to bloom and brightens up the gloomy city.

I sometimes get distracted when driving the car in the city because of these flowers. My eyes sometimes keep wondering off the road and focusing on those pretty flowers especially when they are in full bloom. I didn't get the chance to take photos of the white Tecoma flower. I only got the chance to get good shots of the pink ones this week.

This is usually the time when photographers starts to roam in the city and start shooting photos of them. Brides and grooms will take advantage of the opportunity as well to get pretty wedding shots with the flowers. I for one have never taken photos of myself with the flowers. Maybe I should! LOL! A selfie perhaps! :D

Lemongrass and Pandan Tea

I'm not exactly sure how I came to know about Lemongrass and Pandan tea. I guess it was probably when I was browsing on YouTube early this month when I saw a tutorial on it made by someone from Thailand. The tea looked really tasty, I just had to give it a try. It's a very special drink it seems that can easily be found in most restaurants in Thailand. People even serve this drink in tropical beauty spas before and after treatment. It is well known for it's healing and therapeutic benefits. You can drink it hot or cold, but I prefer it served hot.

I've been browsing a lot before on YouTube for natural detox drink to try. And this is the first time I came across this recipe. I was very much into green smoothies and juices before but I had to stop doing that recently because it has become too expensive to do that on daily basis. Thinking of ways to save up money instead of spending these days because produce are getting more and more expensive to buy. The price of food are going up and it rarely goes down. So I guess planting my own herbs, vegetables and fruits are back in trend in our house. Well why not right? We have a big compound and it would be a waste not to plant more things we can consume. Yes, it does mean that I would need to spend more time in the garden to achieve all that but, I'm very selective of what to plant so that I won't have to spend too much time on it daily.

But of course, I'm not a great gardener....but I do try my best. My Mom is the expert. But she is in no condition to do a lot of gardening everyday now. She's not well enough to do it like she did before. So it's up to me now to plant what I want to eat. I prefer to plant trees that are easy to grow. 

Anyways, back to the Lemongrass and Pandan tea. How easy it is to grow Lemongrass and Pandan at home. Especially in Malaysia. Almost every home in Malaysia have these two plants in their garden. My Mom grows lots of them at home. So much so that she can actually sell them if she wanted to. Who knows maybe one day when things gets tough, it might be a good idea. LOL!! :D But for now, we just consume it for ourselves. 

To be honest, ever since I found out about this tea, I've been making it everyday. My Mom and I would drink it once a day after lunch because that's when we have our heaviest meal. It makes us feel so good after a heavy lunch. It helps relax the stomach and makes us feel so calm. The aroma  of the Lemongrass and Pandan is so wonderful. Smells so good and tastes so nice.

My Pandan leaves plant

My Lemongrass plant

It is not that difficult to prepare the tea. All there is to do is clean the lemongrass and pandan leaves. I usually use 4 stalks of lemongrass and about two pandan leaves. I would smash each stalk of lemongrass with a heavy pestle to bruise it so that it will release the aromatic oils from it. 

So after that, I would throw the pandan and lemongrass into a boiling water and let them boil for about 5 - 8 minutes. It's easy to know when it's done and ready pour into your cups or mugs, when the smell of the lemongrass and pandan leaves becomes so strong. It fills the air in your kitchen! It's so wonderful! And you could see that the pandan leaves starts to brown and you could see that the water has a tint of light green colour.

If you don't want to add any sugar to the lemongrass and pandan tea, that's perfectly fine......I usually would add some sweet lime or lemon to make it tastes good.  I've tried adding brown sugar before and it tastes SO GOOD!! Really really yummy! 

Honestly I can drink this tea everyday. Believe me, that's how great it tastes. Not to mention all the great benefits too. See the list below, to know a few of it's benefits:

• Good for digestion and stomach disorders.
• Full of antioxidants.
• Regulates blood pressure.
• Boosts metabolism and burns fat.
• Good for skin and hair.
• Heals cold and flu.
• Relieves menstrual pain.
• Lowers cholesterol.
• Detoxifies the body.
• Prevents cancer.
• Treats insomnia.
• Helps with respiratory disorders.
• Cures fever.
• Treats infections (works as antiseptic).
• Reduces aches.
• Tonic for the nervous system.
• Treats Type -2 diabetes.
• Prevents Rheumatism.
• Boosts immunity.
• Treats Edema (water retention).

Jamu Mandara

Hello again.....

I believe the last time I wrote here was in 2015....how a lot of things has changed since then. I never thought that I would leave this blog empty for more than 2 years. I do feel a little upset about that but things happen. Sometimes, I can't control the time in a day to do what I want.

Over 2 years now and a lot has changed. I thought that when I started my healthy diet back in 2015, I was able to stay on that diet forever. Unfortunately it didn't go as planned. I went from a healthy diet to the worse diet ever in my life. I remembered eating a lot of processed foods. A lot of cakes, muffins, pancakes, fast foods etc. I let things go and forget about what's right. I ate things I shouldn't have because at one point in my life I just couldn't go on with the diet anymore. I let myself go. I also didn't exercise that much. I didn't care anymore and it went on for over a year that way. I guess it's because I've been going through a hard time dealing with a lot of health issues for so many years that at one point I just gave up trying to be healthy.

I decided to change that bad lifestyle in August 2016. Because at that time I was feeling terribly sick, so overweight......I just couldn't do much with my life. I was always moody, always so fatigued and not being able to do a lot of work around the house too. I was just so miserable.

One day I was introduced to a herbal supplement called Jamu Mandara. I was skeptical in the beginning to take them but after being advised on how good it is, I decided to give it a try. I'm so glad that I did! It has changed my life!! I got energy back and I could do more than I could before. My menstrual issues are over, no more period pain, bloating etc. That was the most obvious. I had that problem since I was in my teens. Now no more.

The best part about all of this was that I lost some weight that I gained the year before. I didn't have so much of cravings for food either. I used to have problem controlling what I ate everyday. So this was a great relief for me. All I can say is that it has really changed my health. I used to be so fatigued....I find it so hard to get up everyday and work. Now all that is in the past. What's great about it is that the ingredients are all natural. All natural herbal ingredients. No worries. It's not a drug.

I used to think that multivitamins are the most the important supplements to take....but now, I know that multivitamins alone is not enough. Jamu is important too. Not to mention a good healthy diet and exercise. I've been taking Jamu Mandara for more a year now....in my second year and I don't think I will stop anytime soon. I love it!! :)