Kitchen Tip: Use Lemon to Clean Cutting Boards

Who doesn’t need cutting boards when we do our kitchen work? Cutting boards make our work easier. But after months or years of using our cutting boards will have nicks, scratches and grooves from hundreds and thousands of slices from our knives,  and food particles will be deposited in any nicks, scratches or grooves, which transmute into horrid bacteria forming on our cutting boards! Eeeeew!

So we need to clean our cutting boards, right? So, how do you clean your cutting boards? I have a kitchen tip for you that I searched online, I just use lemon in cleaning my cutting boards.

I toss a bit of salt, the salt will act as abrasive cleaning agent, then cut a lemon in half and vigorously scrub my cutting board for several minutes. I let it sit for 20 minutes before rinsing. The acid of the lemon is perfect to remove dirt and stains, also a natural bleach and deodorizer.

Hair at 40’s

I really have a problem with my hair, my once shiny locks are now dull and straggly, every day when I take a shower I could see thousands of hair strands in my shower plug tray.

 Oh, I really freak out! What happened to my thick and lustrous hair? Am I going to be bald? I noticed these changes when I entered 40.

Waa…What will I do to my hair?
Wait...before that, I should understand what is happening to my hair, what is happening to my body. Here are some nice facts that I got online:

1. Blame it to the hormones hahaha! I learned that by time women reach in their 40s like me, I am entering the peri-menopause; this is the time when levels of estrogen start to fall slowly at first and then more rapidly as women aged. At peri-menopause and menopause stage, women’s hair follicles begin to die. This is the reason why my hair becomes drier and duller, my estrogen levels are declining.
2. Female pattern baldness.  It means hair loss is hereditary. I am now looking at the pictures of my older relatives and looks like we don’t have this pattern. 
3. Hair styling abuse, bleaching, dyeing hair and overuse of blow dryer, flat iron and curling iron will all start to take their toll when a woman reach 40s.
4. 4Emotional stress.  Because the stress sets our hormones out of balance.

So what should I do now?

1. First, I should shun away from stress hahaha!
2. And since my estrogen is declining, the clever remedy is to increase my estrogen level. I will incorporate estrogen-rich food in my diet such as: tofu, soya milk,  oats, brown rice, whole grain pasta, chick peas, lima beans, edemame, apples, papaya, kiwi, oranges, bananas, spinach, squash, asparagus, cauliflower, corn, carrots, celery, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes and yams
3. Of course I will continue to exercise, but not zealously. Why? Because I’ve read a study that excessive exercise has been linked to a drop in estrogen levels.
4. I am a coffee drinker and was happy to find out that women who drink more than two cups of coffee per day may have higher estrogen levels than women who don't.
5. I have a shoulder-length hair and I’ve read that that my hair should be cut with layers because layers defined shape and frame the face. Also, I found out that a low, sleek ponytail is a polished look for 40s women. 
6. And since my hair gets brittle, I need a hot-oil treatment every week and trim my hair every two months.

I do hope these feats I will take will give remedy to my hair problem.

Perfume Store: Fresh Fragrance Bar

I’m telling you a secret; I am an addict, a perfume addict!

Is it odd? I just love the perfume’s fragrance. By just dabbing a few drops of perfume on my skin, I feel I am the most beautiful and sexiest woman on the whole world, hahaha!  I am wrapped with happiness. That’s how perfume affects me.

I owned more than 20 bottles of perfume – my fragrance collection,  two or three bottles I bought from my own pocket and the rest were acquired from my siblings, relatives and friends…actually I compel them to gift me with perfume! Why I have to do that? Because I can’t afford to buy perfumes, too expensive!  And I don’t want wearing a knock-off or a cheap”smells just like the real thing” brand.

But I think starting today I will not do that forced gifting of perfume; also I will be able to buy perfumes in reasonable price, because there is now a Perfume Store for Perfume Addicts! Odd?  No, it’s true. This is what FReSH Fragrance Bar addresses as it opens stores around the country. It offers reasonable prices compared to department stores.

Look at these beauties that I am eyeing to buy:

See, a real deal!
Now, I can afford to buy all these perfumes.
Surely, these will include to my fragrance collection!

FReSH currently have five retail stores in:

1. Eastwood Mall
2. Alabang Town Center
3. Lucky Chinatown Mall
4. Marquee Mall-Pampanga
5. Abreeza Mall-Davao 

For further information please visit Facebook page @ www.facebook.com/freshfragrancebar.

This is my entry to Nuffnang’s contest.

Fish Balls

What do you do with your leftover fried fish or grilled fish? What will you do if you still have leftover fish and your kids don’t like to eat it anymore? In my kitchen, it will not go to the garbage because I hate foods that are wasted. My leftover fried fish or grilled fish will surely have a makeover.

Last week, when I wasn’t able to prepare decent meals for my family because I was invalid due to my knee pain, my eldest had to do the cooking – he would open canned foods, fry fish and open canned foods and fry fish.

Fried fishes ended all in the ref!

The other day I did a makeover of those leftover.
I flake the fishes. Beat an egg and mixed with the flaked fishes.  Season it with salt and pepper. Put some flour. Form into balls. Dredge balls in the flour. Plunge it in a beaten egg. Dredge the balls in bread crumbs. And fry.

Look at my fish balls I made, I tell you its so tasty! My kids eat these with gusto.

Thank you

Thanks to all of you who showed concern and care on my knee pain, I am now okay, after several days of my self-care technique that I searched online, the pain finally vanished.

For several days I can’t walk, bend or straighten my right knee. If I forced myself to walk or move, oh it was really painful! I wonder what happened to my knee.

The pain is now over. It’s a good thing that it was not that serious. And I am now back to my normal housework routine and looking after my kids. I am really outraged of that occurrence because now I have to withstand my house work backlogs hahaha.

Thanks again.

Knee pain

After the Christmas and New Year festivities I am suffering for a knee pain for two days now. Is this a sign of old age now that I am 46 years old? Oh, I don't think so... hahaha!

Is this arthritis? No! Oh my god!
I just hope it’s just a simple sprain, the pain is just on my right knee, may be my right knee tissues were just stretched.

Searching online I am doing self-care technique to treat my knee pain such as:

Putting an ice pack to my  knee, and







Raising my leg on cushions.








Optimistically this pain in due course goes away.