Family Archives

About a year ago, I have started reading positive reviews about the New Zealand Anchor Butter. These reviews are way different from the bashings American butter gets in the press.

Apparently, it’s because Anchor Butter that comes from grass-fed, free-range cows is said to have a richer taste versus barn raised non grass fed animals. Besides that, the New Zealand government prohibits the use of animal growth hormones in dairy, sheep and beef farming. American cows on the other hand are fed with corn, and regularly are injected with growth hormones and other hormones to promote larger secretions of milk. And even when the cows eat organic food, apparently, the cows are eating organic corn, rather than going out into the pastures and chewing on fresh grass.

And the taste? The Anchor Butter has a richer yellow color, and critics have raved about the superior flavor as well.

Here’s another review of the butter below. I have copied paste the entire review and added the link to the blog. The reason I’m doing this because I have, in the past, lost a few links as some articles on the web went missing for some reason or the other.  The Delicious Truth blog has other very informative stuff about health.

=============

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Grass-Fed Cows = Real Butter = Anchor Butter

A specific example of a grass-fed product that I use during in-home cooking lessons in New York and in my own kitchen is Anchor Butter.

Anchor is made in New Zealand, where cows are grass-fed and law prohibits the use of hormones in dairy, sheep and beef farming.

When I hold Anchor Butter next to a stick of commercial butter for my students, they are amazed at the difference in color. Anchor is yellow (because of the grass the cows are eating), compared to the white butter derived from the milk of corn-fed cows. Even organic butters shade toward white since the cows are still eating corn (albeit without pesticides).

The myth (yes, MYTH) which states that butter is bad for you is based on unsound assumptions and studies, the same ones that classify all fatty foods as dangerous. (Gary Taubes, in his book, “Good Calories, Bad Calories,” does a masterful job of showing how many supposed nutritional and dietary truths are merely unproven statements that have morphed into accepted gospel.)

A story-starved media and clever marketers have so inculcated us with these myths that we have blindly accepted the false preaching and are left eating incomplete, flavorless and nutritionally-unsound foods like egg white omelets, lite mayonnaise and skinless chicken breasts. Whoever your god is, don’t you think it would have made eggs without the yolks if we were supposed to eat egg white omelets? The egg–with the yolk–is as close to the perfect, most complete food that exists.

Back to Anchor Butter. Yes, butter is terrible for you . . . if you are eating butter made from milk from cows eating a corn-based diet and shot up with hormones and antibiotics. If you are eating butter from grass-fed cows, you are providing yourself with a wealth of vitamins (especially A), minerals (selenium, an antioxidant), healthy fatty acids (CLA and omega-3’s) and cholesterol (essential for the composition of our cell membranes).

Did I mention how much better Anchor tastes than conventional butters? The flavor is much deeper and the texture is much creamier.

Anchor butter is available at the Fairway stores in New York. Other butters made in Europe–where cows grazing on grass is the norm–include President, Kerrygold, and Lescure. These can be found in progressive food stores and local supermarkets.

====================

More about health

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

I added just a bit of dehydrated raw wheat grass powder in my plain water today. My almost 5 (so he says) year old rugrat took a sip and said, “Hmmm, this is good tea Mummy”. This is excellent because it means his taste buds are starting to appreciate more complex flavors.

ften times, we don’t know what they like. So it’s always good to keep introducing new food to them every once in a while.

============

More on healing raw food

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

You can lose weight breastfeeding, I swear!

I brought out my very accurate weighing machine an hour earlier to weigh myself, which I haven’t done in two months. And guess what? I gained 7 pounds! That’s 3 kilos more for you guys who read metric.

7 pounds! That’s a lot.

I’ll tell you why I gained that much. I stopped breastfeeding 4 months ago. To tell you the truth, I’ve been breastfeeding almost a total of 4 years. I stopped each child when he was almost 2.

John at 6 months

Ethan, almost 2

And when I breastfed, weight just peeled off me. Just like that.

I never thought I’d be breastfeeding so long. Really. I thought, 4 months tops per kid. But I found that once I went past the nipple pain (too much info?), mastitis and the need to sleep 24/7, I found it such a relaxing moment to breast feed. Just me and the baby, and some peace and quiet.

If you ever want an almost fool proof diet program to get rid of your baby fat. Try this. And don’t do what I do know, which is still eating for two despite not doing so. Fast track to being over weight.

===============================

More about babies

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Chemicals we put on our body

American Eagle Seventy Seven Perfume

Britney Spears Curious Perfume

A study conducted by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the Environmental Working Group found that 17 of the top fragrances contained 38 secret chemicals!

Halle by Halle Berry Perfume

J. Lo Glow

Here are the list of the fragrances that has the most chemicals:

American Eagle Seventy-Seven – 24
Chanel Coco – 18
Britney Spears Curious – 17
Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gio – 17
Old Spice After Hours Body Spray – 16
Quicksilver – 16
Calvin Klein Eternity for Men – 15
Bath & Body Works Japanese Cherry-Blossom – 14
Calvin Klein Eternity for Women – 14
Halle by Halle Berry – 13
Hannah Montana Secret Celebrity – 13
Victoria’s Secret Dream Angels Wish – 13
Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce – 11
Jennifer Lopez J. Lo Glow – 11
AXE Body Spray for Men: Shock – 10
Clinque Happy – 9
Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue – 7

See the problem is, studies have shown that our skin do absorb chemicals that we put on our body.

Frankly, I have not been using any chemical perfumes ever since I got pregnant with my first kid. I didn’t want anything to be absorbed into my baby’s body. Luckily for me, Asians have been using fragrances for hundreds of years. Traditionally, we soak flowers and nice smelling herbs in a warm  bath water, hmmm, about an hour before we take our bath. The wonderful fragrance from the bath water is what would lightly perfume our body.

baby bathingImage taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/30471084@N07/2937326324

Mandi Bunga brideBathing with fragrant flower water is something most brides-to-be in Southeast Asia will undergo

Indian hari flower accessories

Asian women also use fresh flowers, like the tiny, pure white fragrant Jasmine flower,  on our hair.

I myself love perfumes, and when I decided to ditch my bottles of perfume, I did feel a twitch of sadness. Only the thought of doing something for the greater good spurred me on.

Ok, speaking of flowers being good for the hair, I’d like to share a natural hair shampoo that you can make at home using the hibiscus flower and leaves.

hibiscus flower

Hibiscus or Bunga Raya (Joyous Flower) is Malaysia’s national flower. And let me tell you, these plants can be found just about anywhere in Malaysia.

All Natural Bunga Raya Shampoo

  • Firstly, you’ll need to collect a handful of leaves and flowers (remove the stems and stamen from the flowers).
  • Wash and soak the flowers and leaves for about 15 mins.
  • Then, cramp the entire thing into a blender. I like my Magic Bullet for this sort of thing.
  • Blend the leaves and flower petal, adding a little bit of water to get the whole thing moving.
  • The brown paste is ready for you to use as a shampoo.
  • When you are washing your hair, first, be sure to wet your hair.
  • Then, massage the brown paste  into your hair (yes, it can be used as a body scrub as well). You will get a mild foam when you do so.
  • Wash and rinse really, really well to get everything out of your hair.

This cleanser is very gentle and totally safe for kids as well…  unless they are allergic to hibiscus.

===========

More info on how to heal your body

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

dl_uht_milkThis is how some of the UHT milk packets look like

I was thinking of how schools were given UHT packets of spoilt milk last year, thinking why was this happening. Milk is truly expensive in a country mainly exports it’s dairy products from Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The act of packing the milk in pricey UHT packages. The cost of transporting milk from packing factories to schools.

There are food just as good or better than dairy milk, and cheaper to boot too.

Why not make soy bean milk, barley water or red bean drinks instead for kids from poor families? Low cost, easy-to-make, full of protein and other minerals, filling, FRESHly made. Pay the canteen operator and skip the middle men who makes all the profit from distributing milk.

soy_milk_maker

Just soak the beans overnight, dunk the beans into soy milk machine with water, sugar N pandan leaf. Fresh food in 1/2 hour.

While we are on the subject of healthy school food, why not ban sugary soda drinks like Coca-Cola, Pepsi and all those artificial drinks, hook up a water cooler machine and sell healthy drinks instead to kids and teens.

Coke_fan

======================

More on school and food

======================

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

I love writing about food, so let me tell you about this cute festivities we have in Malaysia where Mandarin oranges play a huge role in getting masses of single men and women hooked up.

Yesterday, the Malaysian Hokkien Chinese celebrated the 15th day of the Chinese New Year festivities with what is considered their version of the Valentine’s Day. More than 50,000 people headed towards the Penang Island Esplanade, where the Chap Goh Mei (15th day) celebration was held last night to mark the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.

MandarinOranges_ValentineTelephone numbers, names and even email are written on the oranges

What the women singletons do on this particular day is to grab a couple of fresh Mandarin oranges, write down their names in ink on the oranges and throw them into the sea or a lake, hoping some young handsome, and we hope, single men (not dirty minded lecherous guys) will get hold of the oranges and give them a call.

selling_orangesYoung people in yellow selling oranges for charity

timkum2Women throwing oranges

Malaysia Chap Goh Mei FestivalMore women getting ready to throw oranges

men_orangesNo sex discrimination here as you can see because lots of men are throwing oranges as well into the lake

I’ve been told that this was a form of flirting in the old days as eligible young women were usually not allowed outside their homes. This is the only day throughout the whole year where the young maidens would be allowed to walk the streets but they must be accompanied by a chaperon. The young men would also go out and in hopes of catching a glimpse of the young maiden and taking their hand in marriage. Obviously this does not happen anymore but the concept of match-making still lives on.

nyonya outfitModern style Nonya outfit

senior_nyonyasThis is how the chaperons would have dressed

BibiOld fashion marriage costumes

Nyonya_lady

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend
Yet another free WordPress template at SOLOBIS.net for you to make money blogging