Breastfeeding + Eu Yang Sang "So Hup" Pills = JAUNDICE

If you plan to breastfeed your baby, then don't take any herbal pills like 'SO HUP' pills, regardless of what the salesperson said.

Take it from me.. I paid a heavy price for trusting a saleslady from Mid Valley Eu Yang Sang branch.

Through breastfeeding my baby was indirectly consuming those herbs and his small-yet-to-fully-develop liver was unable to process it and it became toxic to his body.

It was these toxic which caused him to have high *jaundice or skin appearing yellow.

*[granted that having assisted vacuum during natural delivery will also contribute to higher risk of jaundice.. Yes you read correctly, babies which were delivered through natural birth using vacuum to suck the baby out will also tend to have jaundice].

But consuming more than 1 1/2 boxes of 'so hup' pills push the jaundice reading higher.

By Day 6 when I sent my baby for check up, his jaundice reading was 361 umol/l approximately 20.63mg/dL.

Apparently in Malaysia once the level reach 400 umol/l the baby will have to go for a blood exchange with possible risk of brain and ear damage.

Since it was 361, my baby went through hospital admission for 2 days 1 night with photo therapy with 2 lights.

While he was in hospital, the jaundice level had to be monitored every 6 hours through blood test. It was really heart wrenching to hear his loud cries as the doctors try to find the correct tiny veins on his tiny hands. Imagine doing this every 6 hours  T.T

After checking out of the hospital, we have to continue to monitor the level at local government clinic by drawing blood too but thankfully this time from his heel.

The whole ordeal took 2 weeks to end and all because of the simple mistake of taking herbal concoctions while breastfeeding!

So if you plan to breastfeed, please steer clear of ALL herbal potions. Just consume normal chicken soup etc for nourishment.

Because apparently most emergency wards are not as effective as it should be, especially when your emergencies happen at night!

It can really SAVE LIVES if you know what to do and where to go for medical help. I hope what I learnt the hard way can help you avoid the same mistake and HEARTBREAK which I went through with Hospital Pantai Cheras and Ampang services, so CLICK baby-jaundice-emergency-what-to-do.

Buffet Lunch @ Contango, Hotel Majestic, Kuala Lumpur

Love Love Love this place!!

Buffet Lunch @ *RM68++ ~ RM78.90
Buffet Dinner @ *RM88++ ~ RM102.10 from 6:30pm to 10:30pm

Majestic has since February 2014 revised their buffet lunch and dinner price to RM78++ and RM98++ respectively. (meaning dinner @ ~ RM113.68).

Difference between their lunch and dinner spread - addition of oysters served during dinner.

From the ambience to the food, this place is fantastic. So reservation is a MUST especially for dinner!

Parking at their basement parking is at a flat rate of RM10 per entry but make sure to get the token from the reception.

There are plenty of drinks available (free flow) but at an addition of RM30++ you may enjoy free flow of quality wine and beer.

Here's a list of the drinks available:-

Must try is their ICE CHOCOLATE.. Yum yummmmm...!!

Here are some photos of the food:-

Here are photos of the desserts:-

Buffet Dinner @ The Mill, Grand Millennium, Kuala Lumpur

I'll just sum it in one sentence:-
Nice food but not worth your money.

Why?
While the food taste good, there are not enough variety to justify the price tag of RM102.10 (including tax) for the buffet dinner.

With the same price, I think you will enjoy a more sumptuous buffer dinner at YTL's Hotel Majestic KL.

In Hotel Majestic (HM), there are 2 counters of food and one big dessert counter but in Grand Millennium (GM), just one long counter and one small dessert counter.

See photos below for a comparison between Grand Millennium and Hotel Majestic KL:-

Just one row of food in Grand Millennium

Part of dessert counter in Grand Millennium

Chocolate fountain in Grand Millennium

* * * * * * * * * * *

One of the two food counters in Hotel Majestic KL

Part of dessert counter in Hotel Majestic KL

Just take the ice cream as an example, in GM there are only 5 basic flavours from Nestle but in HM the ice creams are custom made by the chefs including some pretty unexpected flavours like pistachios and coconut.

Choice of ice creams in Hotel Majestic KL

Besides, if you are going to be in Bukit Bintang area, you'll be spoilt for choices for eateries especially if you are willing to pay more than RM100 per person for a meal.

VERDICT:-

For Grand Millennium to draw the crowd, personally I think they should consider:-

a) lowering their prices if adding more variety is not an option.

b) offering other drinks other than just water, coffee or tea.

c) keeping their desserts refrigerated in display counters as many of kuih or cakes tend to be a tad too dry from being exposed to the elements.

Extra note on PARKING:
Generally parking in GM is RM8 for first hour and RM2 for every subsequent hour but if you dine there, then you will enjoy free parking for the first 3 hours, then RM8 for the 4th hour and RM2 every hour thereafter.

Buffet Dinner @ Vasco's Hilton Kuala Lumpur

If you're thinking of stuffing yourself silly this Christmas, there are many options to choose from.

But a current trendy restaurant is Vasco's @ Hilton KL Sentral (previously known as Sudu).

The name of the restaurant was derived from the great Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama. Still can remember his name but not his face from history class ages ago.

Since I was too busy enjoying the food and did not bring a good camera, click spicysharon.blogspot.com/2013/07/vascos-kl-hilton for great photos of the venue and food.

Below are photos from Hilton's official website.

 My personal favourites were:-
1) beef - cooked to perfection (btw you can request for rare, medium to well done)
2) steam fish. Nice and fresh
3) FRIED ice cream

The utensils provided. I specially love the salt
which adds a nice flavour to all the dishes!

Reservations during weekends are a MUST as somehow the place is packed. Call 603-2264 2264.

Price is at RM128++ per person, pretty steep unless you have the Hilton Premium Club (HPC) where you enjoy discounts up to 50% when dining for two.

Parking charges is also high, so remember to request for a concession card from the cashier on your way out, even with the concession I had to pay RM18 for the parking.

If you are looking for better price buffet, you can consider the new Majestic Hotel, KL at RM88++ per person for dinner buffet.

Knorr Instant Macaroni

From my trip to Hong Kong, I realized that Hongkies when eating noodle would have their noodles in 2 options:-

1) instant noodle (ramen) or
2) macaroni (which the locals called "toong sum fun" which literally means hollow center noodle)

So I bought myself 6 packets of instant Knorr Macaroni from a supermarket. You would have known by now that whenever I travel, I must go to the local supermarket to buy their sauce, biscuit etc. Inexpensive way to buy souvenirs ;p

After adding the soup base

Both me and my husband tried it and after eating it, I guess macaroni is an acquired taste meaning Malaysians wills stick to their maggi for a long long time cos cooking time for macaroni is longer and the taste is quite bland especially if you have to finish a bowlful of them. I had to add a tin of corn to add some crunch and variety the 2nd time I cook it.

Which also explains why a check on Knorr's website which is under Unilever reveal that the only Knorr products which we have in Malaysia are their seasoning powder, paste, sauce and soup. No food.. Only seasoning.

So it's everyone guess when macaroni will be staple food for Malaysian but for me personally, it's definitely not something which I will crave for.

Package "Hamil Baru Bayar" @ D'Cost Seafood, Indonesia

Introducing cheap seafood in Indonesia. It costs Rp22,000 (approximately RM7.50) for a box of this takeaway complete with rice, 4 different types of dishes, a bottle of water and a thin slice of fruit.

Well the food is nothing to shout about.. like a normal bento set with (from left to right) stir fry vegetables, tempura squid, fish and prawns.

A check on their website reveals that these boxes are part of the delivery menu.
D'Cost Seafood delivery
D'Cost Seafood delivery menu

For dining in, they are a real seafood restaurant which serves crabs and fish dishes.

They also have a dish called NASGOR.. Simply out of curiosity, I clicked on it and found out that it's short for NASi GOReng... Haha.. Such ingenuity! Price from Rp10,000 (roughly RM3.40).
D'Cost Seafood nasgor

Interestingly they have this new promotion called "Promo Hamil Baru Bayar" which is a special package for those planning a wedding reception, where you pay when the bride gets pregnant! Wow!! I guess they must be really convinced that most, if not all brides get pregnant pronto =D
D'Cost Seafood promo

KFC Egg Tarts

Had dinner in KFC, KLCC recently and was tempted by the picture of the Blueberry Cheese Egg Tart. At RM1.90 each, heck why not give it a try!

VERDICT:-
The actual product is really short.. I meant caved in.. but taste wise.. not bad considering the pastry is quite fluffy.

But if you expect a tart that looks like the picture, well you need a reality check =D