The Household COO

I saw an entry on John Chow’s blog recently about a lovely house he was looking at in Whitby Estates and it reminded me that I haven’t been doing my homework for our own house that has just been completed.  To be honest, I was actually spurred by the picture of the kitchen that he posted.  Although it is the sort of kitchen layout I would love in our home, I would still opt for a more modern cabinet design - the type where you can’t see the handles, like the ones pictured below from Trendir:

I want soft close cabinets so that when you swing the door shut, it doesn’t slam.  I also prefer the lacquer finish rather than wooden cabinets, although for a while there I was thinking about wood.  As much as I love the all-white finish, I realise the impracticalities of having white kitchen cabinets, especially when you’re planning a home with young children.  A better bet would be to go for off-white:

I’m kind of fond of black, too, but I’m worried that too many dark colours in the house attract mozzies.  Then again, this kitchen design taken from Freshome looks great, don’t you think?

In fact, this design looks like it would fit our house plan pretty nicely.  We have space for an island and a single wall for the cabinets to be lined against because the room design is an open concept with the kitchen connecting to the living and dining.  I also think it is more practical to have floor to ceiling cabinets so you don’t have to worry about cleaning above the cabinets where dust collects.

I hope I’m not making a false generalisation, but when I was working, I got the impression that “sour” was a taste a lot of women were fond of (myself being an exception).  I have never liked anything sour and I avoid acrid foods like a child avoids yucky-flavoured medicine.  I was told that once I became pregnant, I would pick up the taste for sour foods because it seemed a lot of pregnant women crave sour foods.  I think it has something to do with the fact that sour flavours can help stave off the nausea from morning sickness.  Well, after being pregnant with my son, I can confirm that I still don’t like sour foods.

But I digress…  If you are at all like me and unable to stomach sour flavours, you may find this tip useful when blending whole fruits for fruit drinks.

Because of their beneficial properties (see below) I like to blend blueberries and raspberries into my juices.  Well, so far I’ve yet to taste a sweet blueberry or raspberry.  I used to add a sweetener to my fruit juices but recently I discovered that if I blend a sufficient quantity of banana or grapes with these berries, the sweetness of the banana and grapes negates the tartness of the berries.

Blueberries are beneficial because they have antibiotic, antiviral and natural aspirin-type properties.

Raspberries have anticancer, antiviral and natural aspirin-type properties. 

In addition to providing sweetness to your fruit mixture, grapes are rich in antioxidants (especially the seeds which can be pulverised in a highspeed blender); they help boost good cholesterol levels and inhibit platelet clumping (which helps prevent blood clot formation within the blood vessels that are responsible for causing blockages).  Red grapes are also have antibacterial and antiviral properties. 

Bananas has antibiotic properties and are great for stomach upsets (great for hubby who suffers from a lot of stomach problems); they also help to strengthen the stomach lining against acid and ulcers. 

So the addition of bananas and grapes are not only a great way of naturally sweetening your juice, but they also provide an additional boost of goodness.

And if you are at all like my hubby - who gets put off anything that looks too healthy, the surest way to get him to consume it is to make it taste good. 

For instance, he came into the kitchen today while I was preparing his juice and he saw the actual contents of what was going inside it and he remarked, “Is that carrot?  Please don’t put it into my juice.”  Then a suspicious look came across his face and he said, “Or have you already been sneaking it in all this time without me knowing?”

To which I replied, “Well, could you taste the carrot?”

Sheepishly he said, “No.”

“So it’s not a problem is it?” I asked.

“Good thing I never saw this before.  This concoction looks far too healthy for me,” was all he had to say after that.

I never eat raw carrots, celery or green apples, but adding them to a fruit mixture of grapes, bananas, and strawberries really does wonders to make it so much more palatable.  If you find the mixture too thick, just add 200ml of water before blending and a handful of ice cubes to chill it.

I’ve never liked celery - raw or otherwise.  About the most I’ve ever been willing to tolerate is cooking it in my soup, but I still don’t eat it.  But because celery is purportedly a “cure for gout” - something the hubby suffers from on and off (although you do need to eat about four stalks of celery a day for it to be an effective gout remedy) - I decided to incorporate it into the juice I’ve been blending for him.  To mask the flavour of the celery (although you can still smell it), I blended it with banana, apple, orange, grapes (Red Globe), and strawberries in these proportions:

• one celery stalk
• one medium Montel banana
• one small apple
• one small orange
• about 12 Red Globe grapes with seeds
• five strawberries with their stems
• 150ml of water
• 1 cup of ice cubes

The resulting juice was very palatable.  I’ve discovered that the key to blending pleasant-tasting juice without having to add sugar (because I can’t stomach sour juice) is to make sure I incorporate sufficient quantities of “sweet” fruits, like bananas and grapes to neutralise the acrid tang from an unripe orange or sour strawberries. 

I was also happy to note that based on “risk versus benefits” and “nutrient density” (i.e. vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein per 100 calories), bananas rated under the category of one of the best foods to consume.  I found that particularly interesting since a lot of weight conscious people I know hold the misconception that bananas are very fattening.  I’ve always found that notion perplexing because all fruits (except avocados) are fat free.

Okay, so one stalk of celery mixed in juice that serves four probably isn’t going to be enough to make a huge difference to the hubby’s gout attacks but perhaps it might be just enough to work as a preventative measure (so long as he watches his consumption of purine-rich foods).  Regardless, celery does have some pretty good properties which can only add to the nutrients in my juice.

I’ve also realised that adding about 150ml of water to my juice mixtures help to thin out the juice mixture sufficiently (without diluting the flavour too much) to make it more “drinkable” as the incorporation of the whole fruit (pulp, skin and all) can result in a rather thick mixture.  Blending in ice chills the juice sufficiently to make it more refreshing.

So you see, a healthier diet doesn’t necessarily mean having to eat more unpleasant foods.  There are ways of combining your food so it tastes good as well.  What good news for the hubby…

Having just started the practice of “whole foods living”, I don’t really know a whole lot about it, but the main benefit lies in the fact that you can absorb more nutrients by eating the whole food than you would if you were to cut away part of it for discard.  Well, after having written it like that, I’m sure you’re thinking, “No s**t, Sherlock!”

But seriously, I used to remove the skin of the apples I ate which contain vitamin A.  Since the bulk of vitamin C sits just below the layer of the skin, it also gets discarded if you remove the skin of your apples.  Not to mention, the skin provides about half dietary fiber in the apple which is something most of us don’t get enough of anyway. 

Likewise, with a lot of other fruits and vegetables.  Most of the time we wouldn’t eat all these extra bits but I find blending them in a cafe-strength blender makes them much more palatable. For instance, I never knew that strawberry leaves contained vitamin C as well as other flavonoids and proanthocyanidins, but you’d never see me eating the tops of the strawberries.  Now that I’m blending them into my fruit juices, I just leave them on.

If you are at all interested in nutrition and vitamins, I’m sure you would have heard of grape-seed extract, which a lot of vitamin companies are now bottling up as a dietary source of antioxidants.  If you don’t know anything about grape seed extract, then you might be interested to know that grape seeds are rich in antioxidants as well as other beneficial health properties. 

I used to swallow the grape seeds whole because I was simply too lazy to remove them, but I never chew them up because they’re bitter.  I’m not sure I would have absorbed much of the antioxidants by swallowing them whole, but blending them into my juice certainly provides a better alternative to taking a grape-seed extract supplement. 

Aside from these obvious benefits of eating whole foods, Vita-Mix has been doing some research on the ability of absorbing vitamins from foods through chewing versus foods that have been blended with a Vita-Mix.  The results are pretty interesting.  It looks like we might be able to absorb more nutrients from the foods we eat by blending them in a high-powered blender as opposed to just chewing them:

“whole foods have it all–but teeth can’t cut through food fiber to deliver all the nutrition trapped inside their cell walls, particularly the nutrient-rich skins and seeds. When whole foods are simply chewed, lots of nutrients are tossed out as inedible or they pass through the body undigested.“

Not that I need this to convince hubby, now that I already have a Vita-Mix, but it’s certainly another reason to blend more fruits and veggies for consumption on a daily basis.

In Chinese culture, filial piety is very important.  One of the duties that demonstrates filial piety is the taking the responsibility of looking after the elderly in their old age.  Although the Chinese tradition is for the sons to look after the elderly, in this modern day, it is equally applicable to both sons and daughters to assume the responsibility of looking after the elderly. 

Raised in a Western society, there were a lot of Chinese traditions that I was never made aware of.  However, this Chinese tradition was not one of them.  From an early age, my parents inculcated the importance of filial piety and the need to look after the elderly in their old age. 

When hubby and I got married, we had originally decided we wanted to live on our own, however the hubby made it clear that my in laws would eventually move in and live with us as they grew older.  Having been raised to that expectation, I have never had an issue with this.  In fact, had he not believed in this practice, I would have assumed that responsibility because it was what I had been taught since young.

What I never expected was to be living with my in laws during the early part of our marriage - even if it was intended to be a temporary measure.  Even more unexpected was that I would be living in the house of my in laws, rather than they living in our house. 

What’s the difference, you ask? Well, when you live in someone else’s house (even one that you call home), there are certain expectations that you need to follow just because this house belongs to them.  That means that there are a lot of things you cannot do because you need to be mindful of the person who runs the house (at least, that’s how it should be if you respect that person’s feelings).  When you own the house, you have greater liberty to do as you please.

This minor adjustment is something I could live with since it is, after all, just a temporary measure.  What I found most challenging was learning to understand the way my in laws tick because they are very different people to my parents.  When you stay in close quarters with others, there is always a greater tendency to inadvertantly rub sandpaper on raw skin.  Learning how to live together takes time and effort.

For instance, when I was a kid, my Dad had a pretty explosive temper.  Now that he’s older, he seems to have mellowed out somewhat - either that or distance has made his temper seem cooler.  What I discovered while I was growing up was that giving my Dad a wide berth when he was mad was often the best thing to do.  My Dad appreciated the time to cool off on his own and I developed a similar preference of wanting to be left alone when I was mad at something that wasn’t in reference to anyone in particular.

So on days when my MIL lost her temper, I tended to stay away from her - to give her the time to cool down without being underfoot.  Little did I realise was that with my MIL, this is exactly what you should not do.  It took me a while to discover this, but I’m glad I did, because at least now I know how to help her better.

Even though living with my in laws is a very different experience to living with my own parents, there are a number of practices that my MIL has that I like.  For instance, I like how they always wait (whenever possible) for everyone to get home first before having dinner so we can all sit down together for a meal on a regular basis.  In my house, we only ate together if everyone happened to be home at the same time.  Sometimes, we didn’t eat together because someone would be busy doing something else around the house, or another person wasn’t hungry yet.  What I like about eating together is that it encourages bonding for strong family ties.

Although we had a number of teething periods when we first moved in, I find they grow less and less as we spend more time together and learn to live together.  If I felt intimidated by the idea of living with my in laws in their house initially, I can honestly say that I do enjoy living here now.  That said, I still look forward to the time when we will move into our own house because I want a place of my own to furnish as I please.  My TY bears are still waiting for a proper home outside of a plastic box, Gavin still needs a dedicated play area that he can freely mess up and be responsible for, and I want an area where I can set up my ergonomic computer desk and chair.  I also want my own kitchen because I’ve always felt more comfortable cooking in my own space - knowing exactly what I have stock of and what utensils and equipment I have available.  Cooking in someone else’s kitchen just isn’t the same.

When it comes to home furniture, I’m glad to say that both hubby and I are in agreement with one thing - modern furniture.  As much as I enjoy looking at homes decorated with fancy old-style furnishings, for the practicalities of home living, I still think modern minimalistic is the way to go.  I put comfort and practical above fancy and pretty, any day.  I like my home to have simple, clean furniture that are useful, comfortable and look good together.

For instance, in the living room, I would want a Leather Sofa with a high back.  There is nothing more uncomfortable than a sofa that only supports your back halfway. 

And in the study, I would want a Corner Computer Desk with lots of closed storage space.  I’m not a very neat person so I like to have cabinets and drawers that can hide away all my junk.  There is nothing more untidy than a stack of papers lying around.  Or worse, those glass cabinets that reveal the mess that’s hiding inside.  Having drawers and cabinets are also great because it keeps the dust off everything - which makes it a lot easier when cleaning.

The hubby and I started looking for a house a couple of years back.  Although it took a bit of convincing, I finally agreed to get a house in Rawang near where he works.  Being a city girl, I really couldn’t imagine living in a little back-water place like Rawang, however, thanks to a new highway, civilisation is a mere twenty minutes away.  If it weren’t for that, we would probably still be looking for a new house.

It turned out that hubby had already been eyeing some new homes in a new housing estate.  After some browsing and Feng Shui research, we bought a Semi-Detached house off a plan.  The house is supposed to be completed sometime in September this year, although when we will eventually move in still depends on how long it will take us to complete our renovations.  You see buying a house off the plan here is like buying an empty shell - you still need to modify the house to your needs and put in fittings, built-ins, and do up the kitchen and bathrooms, among other things. 

The other factor determining when we would finally move in is the occupancy rate.  Most new housing estates take to fill up and it isn’t really very wise to be the first or one of the first families in a new estate due to security issues.  That would mean that although the house is ready this September, it would be at least another year or more before we could - or rather should - move in.

Recently, my FIL started recommending we sell our house and buy one of the bungalows in another more established housing estate.  Although I was initially uncertain about the idea, the bungalows are starting to look more and more attractive with each visit we make around the area. 

Being an already established area, it means we can move any time after our renovations are complete because most of the houses are either already occupied or completing renovations so we don’t have to worry about security issues and being one of the first families living there.  The bungalows are also larger than the Semi-Detached units so our renovations won’t be as extensive as what we had been planning to do with our current house.  That also means renovations shouldn’t take as long and the house will be ready to move in earlier.  Finally, the bungalow housing area is better located because it is nearer to Rawang town and hubby’s place of work.

So the question that now remains is whether we can find a suitable house for sale.  The housing area is unique in that there are seven different styles of houses.  What we need is:

• a house design that is baby friendly (some of the houses that occupy land that slope downwards have sharp drops which would be rather hazardous for an inquisitive toddler).
• a house that faces North or Northwest (hubby’s Feng Shui requirements) and whatever other requirements the hubby needs
• a house with a reasonable selling price

So please, please, please let us find one that meets our requirements because I think I’m already falling in love with the bungalow units.

Below: master bedroom ensuite from the show house (the only picture I managed to take on the sly)

Last Sunday (nope, not yesterday, but the weekend before when we took Gavin to the park), we went to Desa Park City.  I was mightily impressed by the new additions to the place since I was last up that way.  There is a new shopping mall called The Waterfront (although I’m not quite sure what waterfront this is because I haven’t seen any water around).  I suspect they are building some man-made water feature because there are quite a bit of construction works taking place nearby. 

The Waterfront has a very Australian feel to it, due to the fact that it was designed by an Australian architect.  Add the surrounding neighbourhood and it makes for quite a lovely area to live in, except for the fact that a 3-storey link house costs a cool $1.3million.  Hard to imagine when they started off around the $200-300k mark when the development first started (so we were told by the hubby’s HSBC friend who is from the HSBC home loans department). 

What a little gold mine this place turned out to be…

Although I like the concept, I wasn’t too impressed by the show houses we saw today.  We went with the intention of getting ideas for our new house.  About the only thing I liked is the design of the kitchen cabinets, the use of full length wall mirrors to give the house the optical illusion of looking bigger, and the use of foot lights for the stairs well.  Other than that, I don’t think the home decor is very practical - definitely not for a family with a young child - what with a water feature within the house itself.

The community they have created is a lovely environment for a family, but I just can’t justify paying that amount of money for what is essentially a terrace house (albeit a 3-storey one).  Even if I had $1.3million to throw away, I still couldn’t buy it.

I find it amazing how the propert prices in Desa Park City have sky-rocketed since the development was launched.  If I could intercept a development like this in its infancy, we could make a lot of money from investing in property…  Here’s hoping more developments like this come up.  The developers for this project is called Perdana Park City.  Might be worth noting for future reference…

The hubby and I have been talking about the flooring for the new house and we’ve agreed not to have full carpeting.  Living in a tropical country, most homes are usually wooden floor boards or tiles of some sort.  When I was growing up in Australia, our first home was fully carpeted, which was bad for my Dad and me because we had sensitive noses that didn’t take well to dust.  In our new home, my parents opted for tiles and wooden flooring with a few area rugs to decorate the family room and living room.

As much as I would like to have wooden floor boards, the hubby is against the idea because of the propensity for termites to find their way into our home.  I think I would like to keep the theme of tiles and a few rugs for our new house because I feel that tiles provide an easy surface to clean and rugs have a way of adding warmth to a place.  I already have an idea of the sort of tiles I would like for the main living areas and the bathrooms.  I’m planning to have high-polished tiles for the living areas, like the ones we saw at a friend’s apartment in Singapore and some textured tiles for the bathroom so that it’ll be non-slip. 

I’m planning to have rugs only in the living room, the TV room and the children’s play area, upstairs.  I found a pretty interesting website that sells a large variety of rugs to suit virtually any home decor at some very affordable prices.  Depending on budget, you can choose from wool, silk, or synthetic.  They have rugs of all shapes and sizes to fit any room.  You can select from a range of rug styles - oriental, persian, contemporary or modern, although I think I’m leaning more towards the modern rug designs.  They even have children’s rugs which I’m sure would perfect for the children’s play area.  My only gripe about this site is that the pictures are limited and the links to more pictures don’t seem to work at the moment so I can’t really see all the designs they have available.

Curtain ideas for our new house…

Note to hubby:  I’m only looking at the fabric for the curtain in the picture below - not the couch so please don’t get alarmed. 

After seeing some interior deco pictures of sheer curtains made of silken organza, I’m quite keen to do the same for our new house - just for the living areas.  For the bedrooms, we’ll either have blinds or blockout curtains.