Make Your Own Homemade Facial Toner For Blemish Prone Skin

As promised, in this entry, I will share a recipe of a homemade facial toner using only 3 ingredients easily found in your kitchen pantry. I found this recipe here but instead of using Witch Hazel, I replace it with ACV for its many beneficial properties as I'll explain further plus ACV has a lot of positives reviews when used as a toner. Store bought toner usually contains alcohol which can strips our skin off its natural oils thus upsetting its balance. I have been using this for quite a while and am really loving it. It controls my breakouts and doesn't dries out my skin. 

But please bear in my mind, this can only be used at night, as the acidity in lemon juice could heighten skin's sensitivity to sun exposure.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Lemon juice

1 cup water

2/3 cup Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)

Mix all the ingredients and funnel into a bottle of your choice. Shake to mix well. Please use filtered water or bottled mineral water as the tap water may not be as hygienic. Place in the refrigerator to maintain shelf life and for that cool refreshing sensation whenever you apply them.

Voila! you have made your own facial toner minus all the unnecessary chemicals, preservatives and fillers that are loaded in a commercial bought toner...not to mention how very cheap and easy this is on your budget.

Lemon Juice - lighten skin, removing wrinkles, blackheads and dead cells

Apple Cider Vinegar - balances PH of skin, contains AHA beneficial for sun and age spots lightening and treat blemishes

 Any question, feel free to leave in the comments section. You can comment in Bahasa Malaysia as well okay. Till next time...

Secrets Of Natural Beauty

If there's one thing I love doing in my spare time, it is producing my own homemade skincare. Homemade skincare often using natural ingredients readily found in our kitchen pantry is not something new in western countries, but here in Malaysia, where we depends so much on commercial beauty products, natural homemade products are often disregarded as ineffective approach to beauty, but this is far from being true.

Our great great grandmothers does not have the luxury and the availability of mass produced beauty products, so they turned to nature and concocts their own blends of lotions and potions.They made their own soap, cold creams, scrubs and more. They barely have skin problems, just look at their photos originally as it is, no photo editing was available either.

I took my interest on homemade remedies when I purchase an old book more than 10 years ago. That book was published in 1978. The title is SECRETS OF NATURAL BEAUTY by Virginia Castleton, loaded with tons of beauty recipes from head to toe

Nonetheless, it is important to search for the right ingredients and recipe for your own skin types. We can't just smear lemon on our skin without knowing its correct steps. So, in my next entry, I will share a recipe I have been using for quite a well and loving the result. See u soon..

Craving For Yummy Malaysian Food!

Hello readers,
It has been a while isn't it?  So, today is the fourth day of my attempt to lose another 5kg as I was planning to reward myself to a new pair of jean..hopefully..hihi..That little journey to weight lose is going on fine until I sat down in front of the TV and watch Food Network. Those colorful mouthwatering dishes were torturing me, the slices of breads, the cracking sounds of the crispy deep fried chips, the melting cheese oozing from that hot pizza...aarrrgghh!. But I have to remain calm and compose. Looking at all those foods reminds me of what I love to eat, and honestly I love food, was never a picky eater. Chinese food, Indian, Malays,just bring it home to mama...hahaha. So I decided to compile them all here for my own viewing pleasure...you too! (All photos are courtesy of Google)

Favourite Indian Food

 Roti Nan Cheese
I called this my Indian Pizza. I just have to have this once a week at least and I prefer having this on its own minus the mint dippings and all.

 Vadai

 I love this while it's still hot for tea time of course. I love the taste of lentils, curry leaves, shallots and chillies combined in a deep fried dough.

 Roti Thosai
 Hot and aromatic Indian pancakes with  blends of lentils, seeds of fenugreek and soaked rice. I craved this when I was pregnant. We drove  all over the town and most shops that we usually frequent are closed. By the end of the day, we did found one..pheww!

Favorite Chinese Food

Fried Kway Teow
 This is a complete meal of flat rice noodle with crunchy bean sprouts, veges, and lots and lotsa prawns and cockles (if the hawker is generous that is..hihi..)

Dumplings
 Comfort food at its best! Soft steamed doughs stuffed with meats and veges.


Favorite Thai Food
For me, Thai food is considered as one of Malaysian food, as there are quite a numbers of Malaysian citizen Siamese especially in the northern region, Kelantan and Perlis.

Kao Yam
  This is Kao Yam or 'kerabu'. Quite different from our typical nasi kerabu in terms of ingredients used. This one consists of cooked rice, toasted coconut,  lemongrass, watercress, roasted ground chilli, kaffir lime leaves, french beans and beans sprouts. The black sauce is palm sugar with galangal, salted fish and lime leaf

Chicken Phat Phet
 Thai version of red curry. taste more like 'rendang' to me. They include a lot of shredded kaffir lime leaves, chillies(of course), galangal is a must, and more often that not, small thai eggplants.


Favorite Malay Food

Mee Rebus
Very similar to Mee jawa of Sarawak, this is a very fulfilling dish of yellow noodles in a rich gravy made of boiled sweet potato and shrimp broth.

 Nasi Dagang and Gulai Ikan Tongkol
 My first encounter on Nasi dagang is at train station at Arau, Perlis. There's two version of Nasi Dagang; Kelantan and Terengganu but basically its a steamed rice mixed with fenugreek seeds, shallots and ginger. And you can't have nasi dagang without Gulai Ikan Tongkol or Tuna Curry. The curry has a mild curry flavor, sweet with a lot of kerisek or toasted coconut paste.

 Sup Perut
 I remembered when my hubby would drive for an hour from Perlis to Jitra  just to have this Sup Perut or beef tripes in a clear broth. This can be found in a a lot of eateries all over peninsular, but the taste would vary.

Ikan Keli Bakar
 When I was staying in Perlis for 7 years, I would have this every weekend without fail. The meat is tender and the aroma of the charred catfish's skin is very addictive.


Favorite Sarawakian Food
I am a Sarawakian, so this is a must!..hehe..being thousands of miles from home, I am in a constant craving mode of these delicacies;

Pansoh Manok
 Almost all Malaysian knew 'Pansoh Manok' or Chicken Cooked In A Bamboo. Sarawakian especially the Ibans ate way too much of this yet never grew sick of it. A very simple dish of chicken, ginger buds or Bunga Kantan, ginger, tapioca leaves, salt and water all stuffed into a bamboo and cooked over open flame.

Lelita Soup
Aha!..this is a very rare Iban delicacies. Lelita belongs to the family of slug found among the mud of paddy fields. Eeww..It looks disgusting alrite and I don't  have the spine to even grab one alive, but once cooked they're so tasty I can eat a lot of these..haha..

Umai Obor Obor
 Jelly fish salad found abundantly in Kuching, Sarawak. Simple ingredients: just shallots, chillies, lime juice, sugar and sprinkles of groundnuts.

Umai Udang
 My mummy makes the best Umai Udang or Prawn Salad. The ingredients are almost similar to Umai Obor2 minus the groundnuts.

 Umai kaki Manok
 Chicken Feet Salad is my family's healthy snack. This dish is not exclusively made in Sarawak as the Peninsulars have their own version as well.


Drooling already?.So, what's your favorite Malaysian dish? Is it any similar to mine?

Make Your Own Play Dough

Halden told me that he is planning to buy a plasticine from his school's bookshop and I am quick to disapprove. Not only does that cheap commercial version of play dough smells really off, it left nasty oily stains on the table and floor, I have to wipe each table with soapy water, and really wipe them clean as to not leave any residues,  not to mention it ain't toxic free. So, I came up with a solution:

 Conversation between me and Halden;

Me: Let's do our own homemade play dough then

Halden : Do u know how?

Me: Well, I don't , but I bet Mr. Google does

Halden: Who is Mr. Google?

Me: A very wise uncle

Halden: Whose uncle? Yours?

Me: U sure ask a lot of question. Do u wanna make play dough or what?

And so I googled 'The Best and Easy Play Dough Recipe and found the recipe;

Ingredients:

Half a cup of Salt
1 Cup Plain Flour
2 Tablespoon of Cream of Tartar
1 Cup of water
1 tablespoon of Oil
Food coloring

I did not follow the directons to the T as I found out this way is easier than to cook the mixture in a pot and then having to clean and scour the pot.

I just mix all the ingredients except the water. Then I pour 1 cup of HOT BOILED WATER to the mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon. When the dough is not that really hot too handle, knead with your hands and slowly add more flour if the dough is too soft.
They can play with it right away. Store in a zip lock bag and place in your refrigerator to extend its shelf life. Mine last for more than a month. Make several batches in different colors, it's easy and fun!..not too mention that look on your child's face...priceless!