What do you usually offer when a friend or a relative of yours is sick and has to stay in the hospital for a week or so? Don’t have any idea yet? I listed down some ideal gifts you can offer. Some of them are very common while others are pretty unique and I hope you find this list quite useful. If you have any suggestions, feel free to comment on this post and I would really appreciate your participation.

► Flowers - Flowers are very common yet still effective “Get well soon” gift for sick patients. Sending a sick patient a gift is the best way to help them in their speedy recovery. They said that flowers can change someone’s mood. So if you’re friend is really sick, you can help him/her in your own simple way by sending them flowers and put a smile on their face.

►Fruits - Another common yet very ideal Get well soon gift are fruits. Of course, they need more strength to fight for their illness and for faster recovery as well. Giving them fruits and encouraging them to eat some will definitely boosts enough energy and will give them enough nutrients that their body needs to fight their sickness. Doctors might restrict them to eat heavy meals that’s why it is very ideal to bring fruits because most likely, these are the only foods they are allowed to intake.

►Personal Hygiene Products – It is quite unusual to give personal hygiene products to someone but if you know that your friend will be staying in the hospital for quite a long time, then you might consider bringing such items. It doesn’t mean that you are teasing him or criticizing his or her personal hygiene, it’s more of a way of saying, Keep yourself healthy and strong.

►Stuffed Toys – Mostly for Girl patients. Stuffed toys will keep their boredom and loneliness away while they’re staying in the hospital. Of course, you cannot visit her in a regular basis most especially if you have other obligations to prioritize. With the use of stuffed toys, she will’ somehow, feel that you’re there for her. So sweet right?

►Personalized Get Well Gifts – Nowadays, most people offer personalized get well gift because this will show how much you care and how much you wishes him/her to recover. As what the term connotes, it is personalized, which means, you exerted effort just to have that gift. It will help the patient to recover much faster because they will be more determined to recover. Sometimes, recovering from sickness is a Mind over matter thing. The more you think positively, the more positive outcome you’ll receive.

► Your Presence – The most important thing of all is your presence. Show him or her how much you care by visiting them in the hospital. Spend time with them and express how much you wishes them to recover.

Wow, finally, i know 2 or 3 dishes now other than fried hot dogs, fried egg and Instant noodles hehe. It was my mom who prepared this dish but i watched her while cooking this Sweet and Sour Tilapia. It wasn’t that hard if you asked me and I think i can do it all by myself too. There are 3 main procedures here. First, you have to fried the Tilapia, then do the sauce, and then mixed them together. Frying the Tilapia is quite easy but preparing the sauce is quite complicated for me.  As far as I know, you just have to saute the garlic, onion, carrots, ginger, and bell pepper together. Add 2 cups of water and simmer for 5 mins. Then add the tomato sauce (or is it tomato paste??), sugar and vinegar. Then mom diluted the cornstarch in 1/2 cup water and then add it on the sauce to make it thicker and saucier. So what dah yah think huh? Not bad for a beginner LOL. Next time I’ll show you my own recipe hahaha.

I’m sure you guys have tried “Halaan”. It’s our main dish for today and Mom even matched it with fried Tilapia. Halaan or Clam Soup is quite easy to prepare. Just buy clams (1/2 kilo would be enough), bunch of Malunggay Leaves (others used Sili Leaves), ginger, garlic, onion, and fermented fish oil. Saute the garlic, ginger and onion until fragrant. Pour in the boiling water. Add the clams. The clams should open within two minutes after the water starts boiling again. Boil for another 30-45 seconds then turn off the heat. Place the malunggay leaves on top and cover 5 to 10 minutes before serving. The procedures are almost the same with Chicken or Pork Tinola. Okay, Clam Soup Anyone?

We used cherries mostly to complement almost any sweet or savory dishes like desserts most especially on ice cream or salad, they mixed it with wines too. But did you know that these miniature wonder is packed with full of health benefiting nutrients. Cherries are high in antioxidants, help reduce the risk of cancer, inflammatory problems and heart disease. Cherries also contain melatonin, which helps slow the aging process and helps regulate sleep patterns ( well that’s exactly what i need). They are also good source of minerals such as potassium, iron, zinc, copper and manganese. Potassium is a heart-healthy mineral; an important component of cell and body fluids that helps control heart rate and blood pressure. So what else can you ask for right? But here’s the thing, Cherries are quite expensive here and no so affordable and it’s not the type of fruit that a typical household can have everyday. Sigh.

They said that in order to see the results of your diet more quickly and faster, skipping meals is the best solution. However, skipping meals is an unhealthy diet and should not be practiced by anyone. In fact, skipping meals can lead to an eating disorder. And take note that Eating Disorder can lead to death in a way that people who suffers from this condition tend to commit suicide. There are different forms of eating disorder like Anorexia, Bulimia and the what so-called Binge Eating disorder. Actually, it is very hard to find out if an individual is suffering from either Anorexia or Bulimia unless the effects are pretty much obvious already. Bulimia is characterized by defensive vomiting, fasting, enemas, use of diuretics and even over exercising. Binge Eating disorder on the other hand is the opposite condition of Anorexia and Bulimia where in a person tend to overeat. It is said that these eating disorders have something to deal with mental and emotional problems. These is actually the reason why there are specialized Eating Disorder Treatment Centers to help patients to recover completely from this unhealthy and abnormal eating habit. They act almost like drug rehab centers but instead of curing addiction, they are meant to cure patients who suffer from eating disorders. Binge Eating Disorder Treatment Centers are responsible for treating patients with the same condition. Same thing goes with the Bulimia Treatment Centers. I know most of us are desperate to lose weight but we do not have to take unhealthy actions for this. There are so many alternative healthy diets out there that we can try.

Two days ago, i mentioned in my post, “Improving Your Kid’s Appetite“  that Milzon and I will make a Bento. And so this is it. Our very first Bento.

A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container. Here we called it Baon where my parents used to put our lunch in our lunch box but in Japan, they try to make it more appealing by arranging the foods inside and sometimes they also make fun of it by making images from the foods just like what we did. We do not have Japanese Rice so we just used the ordinary white rice here. We put Pasta on the top as a substitute for the meat. And we placed yam and green mango on the side. We put carrots on top of the rice and arrange it as if we’re making a face on it. Is it a Chicken? A Duck or A Lion? Be the judge.

For some reasons, i started to become acidic again. Well, i know it’s my fault, i disobeyed my doctor advises. They told me not to drink beverages that are high in acid content like Soft drinks, citrus drinks and coffee. I was able to manage not to drink soft beverages like Coke but i just can’t control myself in drinking Coffee. I am a coffee lover and i think consume 5 to 6 cups of coffee every day.

I think i have to start drinking Buko or coconut juice more frequently again. Buko juice offers a lot of health benefits which includes the detoxification of toxins inside our body. It also raise your metabolism, rehydrate your body, control diabetes and cleanse your digestive tract. It also treats Kidney and urethral stones and other kidney related diseases. It is said to reduce risk of cancer too and can boost poor blood circulation.

I’m not really into Noodle dishes but when it comes to Mom’s home made Chicken Lomi, i just can’t stop myself wanting it, crave for it and eat it over and over again. She did it really really good and she considered it as one of her specialties. Actually we told her to make her own Lomi business so that she have something to keep her self busy rather than spending most of her time at home.

Tastes like heaven… Cheers!

We’re making Tiramusu this Christmas Eve!

I bought one pint of Fruit Cocktails

Placed  them in the aluminum tray. We used small aluminum trays this year.

Mix the Cream and the condensed Milk

Pour the Milk over the fruits and place the graham crackers on top

our the milk again over the first layer of Graham crackers and layer another set of graham crackers.

Put them inside the fridge and Tadah! We got the creamy and icy Tiramisu!

Yummy!!

Boil, bake or grill but never fry. This is what being advised to ask by our home economics teacher. I am surprised at the amounts of fried foods most Australians and Britishers eat. Meat, fish, poultry and potatoes saturated in repulsive hot fat. Food cooked this way is unfit for the lowest animal to digest, let alone the sensitive stomach of a human. if you want to avoid heart problems and enjoy better heatlh and longer life, do not eat fatty foods. You can just boil it, bake it or grill the meats, fish and poultry but never ever fry. But if you do not have any choice, you can make use of olive oiul as an alternative for your ordinary cooking oil. One more thing, do not boil the life out of vegetables, you can just stem them. Do not fill up on white bread, rich pastries and highly sugared tea or coffee. Use honey to sweeten beverages.