Wholemeal Fish Fillet Sandwich

I had a pleasant surprise this morning when I found a 1 footer wholemeal bread at the table ready for me to take along to work. The contents were pretty simple. A few slices of fresh lettuce, freshly prepared fish fillet and a few sprinkles of table salt (look no mayonaise). Looks like my plan to loose a few more kilograms would work now that the diet is well organised. Thank you, Mommy!

Lumut Town and Teluk Batik

I had the opportunity to visit Lumut town for 4 days recently and found that it is still a good quiet place to visit for a few days with the family. Besides the pleasant beach and lots of greenery, I have found that good food is a constant feature during my stay thanks to the kind hospitality of my relatives. I will walk down Teluk Batik at dawn tomorrow to catch the sunrise and pandan coconut water. My stay at the Orchard Inn has been pleasant although it doesn't have a lot of fancy features to offer. I made sure that I bought some Satay fish and got some 'Kong Piah' from my relatives to bring home.

I took a few photos of the town and uploaded the photos on my blog at McDonald's. I have finally found it convenient to surf broadband outside my home or office. But I insist on having a relatively quiet environment where I can write without any interruption. The special brewed coffee and Beijing Olympics live coverage (Astro) was also useful to keep me occupied.

Hand Foot and Mouth Disease: Preventable Potentially Fatal Disease

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) caught my attention last year when an adult caught the infection from his two little girls who were attending kindergarden in USJ. The viral disease hit our home the second time after 1 year but this time it was through a friend of Clarissa at a different Montessori. Clarissa told me that her friend had mouth pain (ulcers) for several days and finally was away from school sick. Apparently her friend's sibling who was attending a Nursery caught it first and passed it to her and the Nursery was closed for a week due to HFMD. I was shocked that the health authorities did not advice the Nursery or Montessori earlier and parents were not advised of the possibility of the disease spreading to the other siblings or family members. After 3 days of fever and mouth ulcers, Clarissa developed red spots and blisters on her hands (palm) and feet (sole). Christa just started developing mouth ulcers.

Although HFMD is rarely fatal, it is moderately contagious and proven so since Clarissa and Christa have caught the disease twice from different Montessoris. Every parent who has a child infected probably has to take care of the child at home for a week to prevent the disease from spreading to others. (Some parents find it impossible to care for a contagious child for 1 week). The viral infection usually causes mild symptoms like fever, mouth ulcers, skin rash and blisters, sore throat, malaise, fatigue, loss of appetite and diarrhoea. Potentially fatal complications to the brain, lung and heart may occur with infection from certain viral strains (EV71). Treatment is only to reduce the symptoms.


Here are some of the scary and gory details for those who still find it hard to believe that the disease needs to be given more attention and exposure:-
United States 2007
Taiwan 1998
China 2008
Vietnam 2008
Mongolia 2008
Singapore 2008
Malaysia 2008 and here
Malaysia 2006
Sarawak 2008 and here

HFMD is preventable if parents and teachers are careful to undertake these measures:-
*Maintain good ventilation.
*Wash hands before meals, and after going to toilet or handling stool soiled
materials.
*Keep hands clean and wash hand properly.
*Wash hands when they are dirtied by respiratory secretion e.g. after
sneezing.
*Cover nose and mouth while sneezing and coughing; and dispose of
mouth and nasal discharge properly.
*Clean children’s toys and other objects thoroughly and frequently.
*Children who are ill should be kept out of school until their fever and rash
have subsided and all the vesicles have dried and crusted.
*Avoid going to overcrowded places

I urge all parents to check your children for symptoms daily while encouraging good hand washing practice to avoid contracting HFMD. I also urge the health authorities to expedite the action required to advise kindergardens and schools with HFMD cases.

X-files: I want to believe

I thought it would be a great idea to find out what happened to Special Agent Fox Mulder and Special Agent Dana Scully after the last movie.

In this movie "I want to believe", Agent Scully is a doctor in a Missionary hospital treating children after leaving FBI and her ex-partner, Mulder is a wanted man in hiding from FBI. She was visited by a Special Agent who wanted her to trace Mulder who is to assist the FBI to find a missing FBI agent.

Upon convincing Agent Mulder to help, he starts working with a convicted paedophile priest called Father Joe who had visions of the kidnapping of the missing agent. Agent Scully was sceptical that Father Joe's visions was true and refused to assist. As the time passes, more victims have been kidnapped and more body parts were 'found' by his visions. They noticed that the body parts contained traces of an animal tranquiliser.

Agent Scully resumes work at her hospital and decides to start stem cell therapy for a boy with terminal illness. FBI reported that a suspect of Russian origin was found to be in possession of human organs for transplant but they released him after interrogation. While hot on the heel of a suspect, Agent Mulder was run off the icy roads down a cliff in Agent Scully's car. He manages to escape with a few bruises and continued to search in darkness for the modified truck which hit the car. Upon finding the truck and entering the animal laboratory, he gets caught and is tranquilised. As Agent Scully was reviewing the data search from internet, she found out that a Russian scientist was doing illegal transplant operations on anumals (dogs).

You need to watch the movie to find out more about it. Those of you who love thrillers and gory details of anatomy (being butchered) may find it very satisfying. Mommy loved it but Clarissa, Christa and I preferred comedy anytime.

Win a Hyundai for Nothing!

We had a surprise when we went to Cineleisure to obtain tickets for the latest X-files movie yesterday. Hyundai was giving out a new car for absolutely nothing. You just have to be a Malaysian with a valid driving license, fill up the form, willing to queue up for your turn, put your hand into the box of a thousand over keys and pull out the key which opens the padlock to the car. The promotion is only on from 30th July to 1st August 2008. So you'd better hurry on to try your luck and get that Hyundai beauty for Nothing!

It didn't take too much of time to get to the box but we surely didn't win the car although it would be great as my car is still in the garage until .... . I surely hope they get my spare parts! Good luck to those who would like to try to win the car!

As it turned out the car was a four-speed automatic and five-speed manual transmission, fuel efficient sleek 1.1L hatchback called Hyundai "i10" which is retailing at RM48, 888. A more powerful 1.2 L 16V DOHC variant with Kappa Engine of the car is available in India.

Danger in a parking lot!

A Proton Saga 1.3 was seen to swerve rapidly across the divider, crossed the curb of the road, hit a new Proton Persona car parked next to my Citroen Picasso which in turn smashed into the left side of my car. A bank staff who was walking in between was hit on his right hip and had bruising on his right ankle.

I heard the loud bang and came out to have a look outside the office. I was too shocked to be angry at the driver and stood staring at the sorry sight of the 3 cars. It took just a few seconds for a sympathetic crowd to commune at the scene and they started interrogating and chastising him. Within minutes there were many agents (accident consultants and towtruck agents) who joined in the fray. Again, I was thankful the regular police patrol car came by and gave us assistance and ensured calm and provided us with the much needed advice.

Who says it is safer to park in the parking lot? Maybe it would be a good idea to ride to work on my bicycle now that I am without my car?

All for One and One for All!

Clarissa, Christa and their cousin, Li Shuen celebrated the birthday together. Their uncle bought a Pandan cake from Golden Bake Bakery and there were 7 candles. Clarissa (5 yrs old) wanted to be in the centre while Christa and her cousin stood on the chairs beside her. They each took turns to sing the Birthday song and blow the candles. This was the first birthday where the candles were almost fully utilised by the time all three girls were through with them. Then came the cake-cutting for the photo. They each had a pastry knife in their hands and cut at various angles for the photo. I don't think they would be afraid of any papparazzi at this age.