TIPS COOKING & FEEDING FOR YOUR BABY

First time being a Mommy, made me always look for information about nursery and taking care of a baby; I search through books, internet, my mother and mother-in-law, and from my friends’ experiences.
So, when my baby is about ready to eat other food than breast milk (around 6 months old), I also look for information on how to choose the right menu for my baby, the variation menu, and how to prepare and serve it.

I bought a book, entitled “Variasi Makanan Sehat Bayi” (Healthy Baby’s Meal Variations), written by Wied Harry Apriadji. Since it is written in Indonesian, I tried to translate it into English.

 

 

the cover & the pages are no longer smooth, too often read by mommy  & played by my son :)

my son tore the cover, because he wanted to read it too :)

In that book, instead of writing some baby’s food menus, Apriadji also wrote about some tips to prepare and serve baby’s food, and also the best way to choose baby’s food based on baby’s age and eating skills. But here, I only want to give general tips on how to prepare, serve and feed baby’s food.

1. Get used to wash your hand first, using hand soap, before you preparing the ingredients and the cooking utensils.
2. Prepare the ingredients which suitable for baby’s age and eating skill. For example: for 6 – 7 months old baby, it is better to be feed with liquid fruit juice; for 8 – 9 months old, it is better to be feed with smooth vegetable puree or smooth porridge, etc.
3. It is better for you to have separate baby’s cooking utensils with your regular cooking utensils. For example: small pan, small frying pan, small and bigger sieve, grater, knife, blender, etc. It is because when you cooked spicy food, the rest of the spicy taste in your cooking utensils would not affect the baby’s food.
4. Because the quantity of baby’s food only in small portion, it is better to have mini blender (special for baby) or hand blender. Usually it is sold at baby shops. But, if it is hard to get it, you can use the grinder of new-regular blender set only for blending your baby’s food.
5. Wash the ingredients before it is cooked. Wash it with flowing water, so the germs will wash away.
6. For meat, wash & cut it into the portion needed, then pack it in sealed container, after that put it in the freezer. Do not melt and chop it again. Because by melting it, it makes the bacteria grows.
7. For fruits juice or puree, it is better not adding any sugar. Let the baby learn the original flavor of fruits. It also helps to develop sensitivity the sense of taste. Besides, sugar will burden the work or baby’s pancreas and liver also will make your baby addicted to sweet.
8. Do not blow baby’s food when it is hot. Just let it cool down first before feed it to your baby. Because by blowing the food will transfer the germs from your mouth to the food then to the baby. Remind this also to your baby sitter, so she will be aware.
9. The last, although not the least, serve the baby food using cutleries special for baby, such as bowl, spoon, and glass. Sterilized those in boiled water before using them.

Well, those are some tips which I am able to summarize so far from the book.
Happy cooking and feeding for your baby, because cooking for your baby is challenging and fun :)

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Tips Choosing Fresh Fish

At first, I was bad in choosing good-fresh fish with the bad one. They are look the same to me, as fish :). But then, one day I went to the market with my mother-in-law, we were going to buy fish. (Just for information, at that time I was pregnant, people said it is good for pregnant woman to eat fish, because fish contain Omega 3 and Omega 6, which are good for baby’s brain.)

At the market, I saw one small tuna. I like tuna. So I picked it up, and said to my in-law, “Ma, aku mau ini, sepertinya enak.” (“Ma, I want this fish, it looks yummy.”). Then my mother in law said, “Iihh, ini sudah tidak bagus. Yang ini saja, lebih segar.” (“No, not that one. It’s no longer good. This one is better & fresh.” She picked another fish, looked like tuna, but we called it kembung fish (sort of mackerel). (Well, I like kembung fish as well, so no problem for me if she changed the fish :) ). Then I asked her, how to figure out the good & fresh condition of a fish?

Then she told me this tips on how to choose fresh fish:
1.    Just see the gills. If the gills brightly red, it means that the fish is good. (While the tuna I’d chosen, the gills already a bit dark-pale-red and slimy too.)
2.    The eyes should be plumed and clear.
3.    The flesh should be springy and densely.
4.    The scales are bright and tight.
5.    The skin is not slimy.
6.    The smells not too fishy

Well at least those are the basic ways to choose fresh fish. I am still using those tips, when I bought fish for my family and my baby son. If it is too difficult to remember or to check all of those tips, usually I only checked the gills, eyes, and the body.

Well for all of you, enjoying in choosing nice fresh fish. Especially for mommy will-be :).

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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2012

Dear all,

Yolah Store and family throughTips Melda wishing you all :

          

 A Happy Christmas & Prosperous New Year 2012.

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Tips for Beauty Hair with Aloe Vera

I am sure you all know Aloe Vera (Indonesian named Lidah Buaya, literary means Crocodile tongue). This plant also famous with its multipurpose use, for beauty and health.

Here, I want to share simple steps of using Aloe Vera to have beautiful hair. It is based on my experience when I was in my Senior High School. 

When I was 5 - 15 years old, my hair is limp, red, and thin per strand, which are not include the type of beautiful hair for Asian girl. Beautiful hair according to Asian girl is thick, black and shiny.

In my 16 years old, or during my Senior High, I stayed in dormitory, which is surrounded by big and fertile Aloe Vera's garden. And also the students had free time twice a week, on Thursday and Sunday. That was the time when I started using Aloe Vera for my hair treatment. Usually, I used my free times for hair & beauty care :). Because this is about hair care, let's focus on it.

Here is the way I applied the method:

1. I cut 1 big piece of Aloe Vera, and wash it. Then I cut it crosswise into several pieces, around 5 cm each, and divided each pieces into two wide parts.

2. Then, I chopped the jelly part until it was juicy.

3. After that, apply and rub the jelly part on to your scalp and made light massage on your scalp. It felt cool when it touched the scalp. Especially during the dry season, when your head and hair felt limp, oily, and hot, massage using Aloe Vera gel gives a sensational and cooling down feeling. Just like finding an oasis in the desert :).

4. When rubbing and massaging all over the scalp and hair with Aloe Vera gel was finished, I wrapped my head with a small towel, and kept it for about half or one hour, while I had feet or face treatment :p.

5. After that, I just wash my hair clean. 

The result is not directly visible. But after one semester I went home for a Semester holiday, my family said that my hair is thicker per strand, and also black and shiny. Although not fluffy, because the type of my hair is straight and oily, so it is hard to get fluffy hair.

That's all the tips to get thicker strand and shinny-healthy hair. Do you want to start planting Aloe Vera? As I wrote above, it is multipurpose plant. :)

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Tips How To Reduce Burn Flavor In the Mouth?

      

I love hot & spicy food, with a lot of chilies. Sometime, it rises my appetite. So, when I felt I have no appetite to eat, I will make or buy hot and spicy food. Because I am Indonesian, I really love sambal, especially sambal terasi (shrimp paste sambal), and eat it with salty fish and hot rice... hmmmm, very-very yummy. 

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Keep your Vegetable fresh in the refrigerator

Because I am a working mother, I am quite busy in the morning to prepare the cooking ingredients. Sometimes, I forgot that I have water spinach or other vegetables in my refrigerator until its dried :) then I have to throw them away :( .
After that, I felt sorry, because I know there are many people hungry out there. It is hard for them to get food, but I waste mine away...

That is why, I try to find some ways so the vegetable and other food which I storage in the refrigerator won't be wasted away.

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Simple Steps To Look Pretty Everyday

For working women, sometimes they do not have enough time to have make-up. Especially if they are also mothers. They need to prepare breakfast for the family, preparing their children to go to school, bathing the baby, etc…etc…etc… (Such a very crowded morning). Even though, they have lots of things to do in the early day, it does not mean that they can’t look pretty during the day. There are some simple ways to be beautiful and stylish.

Here are the tips:

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