12 April 2019

Alex Fights Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) at 3-Months-Old.

So, I thought it is time to talk and post on when RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) decided to attack a three-months-old baby boy, named Alex Koay.

It all started with coughing and flu and then it got worse with phlegm building up and he was just not sleeping and breathing rightly.

We went to see the doctor and he was given some medicine and his very first session of going through the nebulizer. He took like a champ please. He was so curious with the smoke coming out but did not fuss at all - though feeling super uncomfortable.

Then, few days later, his body started showing red marks and slowly over the next few days, his entire body would be in red - like tomato red. He was not in pain though. He was just struggling to breathe properly because of the flu and cough (becoming worse).

It was a scary time for Adrian and myself because we were just clueless on what was happening. Dahlah Alex had to deal with having thick phlegm on his throat and coughing his lungs out and having fever every now and then, he still had this tomato-redness going on.

Adrian was panicking and that made me panicked because it was just insane. Like I have never seen that on Sha Lynn or Daryl so this is new and alien to me.

I remembered we rushed him to Adventist's Emergency because it was just too scary.

Doctor Mary (on-call) checked him and let him go home to be monitored. But he was not getting better. We returned to the hospital the next day (I think) and decided to see Dr Pong instead. He checked his breathing and immediately asked for Alex to be given an oxygen tube because his oxygen level was dropping and abnormal.

Turns out the redness was an allergy reaction to don't know what. Doctor initially thought it was Ventolin but when the redness was gone, we tried again and he never turned red again. So, it shouldn't be the Ventolin. Or anything that he was drinking because he was fine with Similac.

Till today, it remained a mystery to what causes the redness on his entire body.


At that moment, I thought the inner-me crashed. Of course I still held it together because if I panic, Adrian sure also panic. Hah. But we were in good hands so we know all will only get better. It was heartbreaking nevertheless to see Alex being poked (first time) with needles and put on an oxygen tube. He was crying the entire time because it must have been too scary for him to be surrounded by people wearing masks and gloves. I would too please. Heh.


Thinking back right, it was quite drama la to be honest. They put him on a big roller-bed and rolled him out using the main entrance where everyone was at, and it felt like everyone was probably thinking, "Wah this is serious wei. This baby gotoxygen tube all"

Then, we went to the main lifts because the staff-lifts were all under maintenance and the bed could not fit inside. Even with the main lifts, we had to lift one side of the bed up and everyone was squeezed up real bad.

I was just staring at Alex who by then had fallen asleep with all the pushing around. I should have slept on the bed with him and have them push us around la. I was beyond exhausted at that point of time - physically and emotionally drained.


Adrian went to do all the admission paperwork thing so he met us upstairs when we checked-into the Isolation Ward.

They had removed the curtain (or it was already missing I don't know) to monitor Alex's oxygen level throughout the night. And that means zero privacy for us.

Felt like we were animals in a zoo because other parents and children would walked pass our room and stopped at the window and just stared at us on the inside. It was the most awkward thing ever.

And we were not allowed to bring Alex out of the room because RSV can spread okay so stay in the room nia. No fresh air whatsoever for 5-days.


We stayed every night with him (of course) and because he was only 3-months old, he still needed to be rocked to sleep and also because he was feeling really bleh - which we didn't mind really but it was tiring to the max.

The hospital bill came up to about RM6000 (I think - averagely RM1000 per night) but Prudential covered it all so yay.

So, this was it.

His very first hospitalization story at 3-months old.

What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger okay.

Stronger and better. All of us :)

27 March 2019

Cheesy Chicken Milanese by Chrissy Teigen.

More cooking post yas.

So, who is Chrissy Teigen and why of all people, I decided to follow her recipe?

Chrissy Teigen is like the funniest-most-realistic-celebrity-model I've ever known and ever since I started following her on Instagram, my life macam brighter ki. Cos she's just so funny and raw and real, I love it. And I just found out that she's only 3-years older than me. Heh. And she's the wife of the ever-famous, John Legend. So, you cannot not know her okay.


Chrissy Teigen published her first cookbook in 2016 - Cravings: Recipes for All of the Food You Want to Eat and then in 2018 - Cravings: Hungry For More (aka Cravings 2).

I have always been wanting to get my hands on these two cookbooks but can only get them in US (I think) and they will prolly cost like RM100 each or something.

Unless anyone knows a way for me to have both cookbooks in soft-copies. Then that would be the bestest. Heh. Let me know if you know any kangtau!


Okay, back to this.

Oh did I also mention that she now has her own line of cookware - Cravings by Chrissy Teigen (available at Target). Of course we cannot get it here in Malaysia. For 12-piece Non-stick Aluminium Cookware set, its USD140 at Target - about RM700 (+-) to own a complete Chrissy Teigen's cookware set. WORTH THE MONEY PLEASE. Ahh dream kitchen will happen one day.


This post macam all about Chrissy Teigen je.

Back to the cooking part.

So one day, she decided to cook her Cheesy Chicken Milanese and film them on her Insta-story and guess who watched it too many times?

Me.

So many times that I decided to give it a try because she made the recipe so easy and do-able. And doesn't seem like it's going to cost a hole in my pocket to get its ingredients.

Check out photos below for easier-browsing. No need to read words anymore. Hah.

Enjoy!

Ingredients
For the cheesy chicken milanese:
2 skinless & boneless chicken breast (pounded slightly over plastic sheet)
Cayenne pepper
Salt
Pepper
1 egg
Flour
Bread crumbs (from Jaya Grocer)
Black pepper cheese 

For the side salad:
Washed and cut broccoli
Diced potatoes with skin
A packet of Coat & Cook Sauce: Olive Oil & Rosemary (from Cold Storage)


After pounding the chicken breast, I sprinkled on both sides of chicken some salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Not sprinkle actually. More like pour because I didn't want to be stingy later no taste lagi teruk. Heh.

Then, I put them aside while I prepare the next few items for the frying.

1 egg beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper.
A bit of flour seasoned with salt, pepper and more cayenne pepper.
A bit of bread crumbs, also seasoned with some salt and pepper.

If you follow Chrissy Teigen's recipe step by step, she added Japanese bread crumbs (panko) for that extra crispiness texture but I could not find panko crumbs in Jaya Grocer so no panko it is.

These ones are just sprinkles of salt okay. If not later all becomes too salty.


Then, once done with these ingredients, I cut into small pieces of the black pepper cheese (sandwich slice). You should get the Mozzarella cheese (as according to CT's recipe) but I didn't have enough money that day so I improvised and used sandwich slice with black pepper flavor.

Proceed to put the chopped cheese onto one side of the chicken breast. You can add in like sliced ham or something but I didn't want to be super gau-gau later all cannot eat. Hah.


Then, to seal the chicken breast and make sure the cheese doesn't ooze out during the frying process, use water and flour to seal the deal.

Tap some water (using your finger of course) onto the outlines of the chicken then followed by flour.


After that, roll the-now-sealed-chicken-breast onto the seasoned flour.

Then, egg and then lastly, onto the breadcrumbs.


Then, go and heat up your pan with oil in it.

Once it's quite hot already, put in your chicken breast on low/medium fire and let the oil and heat does its magic. Remember to turn it around after the down-side has turned to your brown of liking.

In the meantime, prepare the side dish of the day - baked broccoli and potatoes.

Once you've cut into the perfect bite-size, pour this Coat & Cook Sauce: Olive Oil & Rosemary into the bowl of your cut vegetables and stir them - till you are quite sure all the bits and pieces are well coated.

Then, put them into the oven and bake.

Don't ask me how long or what is the temperature - because I just hentam and look-see look-see. I adjusted the temperature to about 200 degrees and timed it to 20-minutes of baking.

Once the 20-minutes were over, I checked the veges with a fork and if its still too hard for my liking, I put them back into the oven and add an extra 10 minutes.


Before the added 10-minutes were up, I removed the baking tray and added my chicken breast in it and continued baking for 5-minutes - to make sure that the cheese has fully melted inside and also because Chrissy Teigen said so. Heh.


And dinner is served for two hungry adults.

Sorry ah, no special sauce to present all. We had the chicken milanese with Sriracha - best chilli sauce in the world please thank you.


As you can see, I did some improvisation (a lot of it actually) because I must add own flavor ma right? Hah. 

I enjoyed cooking this because it is really very simple and really very yummy too. I thought it was going to be a little too salty since salt was added in so many parts of the entire cooking process. But nope, it was perfect. 

Here is a comparison photo of Chrissy Teigen's Cheesy Chicken Milanese and Sarah Khoo's Black Pepper Cheesy Chicken Milanese. Or you can call it Chicken Cordon Bleu. Heh. 


Go try cooking this and let me know how yours go!

Till next time. 

11 March 2019

Hearty Lentil & Vegetable Soup by Extra Petite.

I have been very into cooking lately - I think its ever since I followed Chrissy Teigen on Instagram and everytime she posts a cooking related Insta-story, something just clicked. And most of the things she cooks are usually very simple and it makes you feel like you also can cook like this. Or maybe its the fact that her kitchen is a dream kitchen. Oh wells.

So, be expecting more cooking related posts because this cooking train is not planning to stop soon.

Big convert of lentil soup over here since our holiday to OZ Land years back. I have been trying to get that right lentil soup that made us fall in love again but cannot wan.

This is the closest to it I guess.

I found this recipe through this blogger and her recipes are all very easy and direct so I thought of giving it a try. May I say that it was a success.

Husband loved it. Mother in law loved it. Win-win. Everybody happy.

Here are snapshots from my Insta-stories for your kind reference. Heh.


And there you have it - simple dinner on a weekday night.

It looks like it's not going to be enough to fill the tummy but it's so filling! Adrian went for round two and mom in law kept the extra for the tomorrow night meal. It's a win yass.

I did it.


And the next post I'll be sharing should be 'Homemade Chicken Nuggets by Yours Truly'.

Stay tuned to find out!