Growing black sugar cane at home

There are varieties of sugar cane where the thick cane can range from dark red-browns to yellow-green and have similar appearance to bamboo in the landscape [5].

However from my search via Google, seems like the one grow in Florida [3] and Sydney [2] also use black sugar cane. Maybe because it provide more output than the green ones.

This sugar cane I plant on 14 Aug 16. Just notice that it have grow new shoot after 15 days

I cut the stem of the black sugar cane and planted it in my house compound last 14 Aug 16. After 15 days of planting it, I could see new shoot grow from it. So happy to see the little baby leaf.

This black sugar cane I bought from Indian guy who grew it in front of his shop. He said that there are plenty of people come and look for this black sugar cane for traditional medicinal purpose. Unfortunately, I do forget to ask him how to use this sugar cane for medicinal purpose.

There are plenty usage of sugar cane such as for indigestion, jaundice, typhoid fever, hiccoughs and etc[4].

Sugar cane juice has a lower glycemic index than refined sugar [6]. Natural sugar cane sweeteners are less refined containing more vitamins, minerals and trace elements [1]. This allows our insulin levels to not spike as quickly as white refined sugar [1].

Due to the above, I started to grew sugar cane in my house compound in order to benefit from organic and fresh sugar. Since sugar cane is more durable than stevia plants. Hopefully I could keep track time to harvest my first sugar cane.

Till then, have a good day ahead.

[1] http://www.myhumblekitchen.com/2011/12/a-simple-introduction-to-natural-sweeteners-and-how-to-use-them/
[2] http://www.palmland.com.au/black-sugar-cane/
[3] https://pickmeyard.wordpress.com/tag/types-of-sugarcane/
[4] http://www.theayurveda.org/ayurveda/herbal-medicine/medicinal-benefits-of-juicy-stick-sugar-cane/
[5] http://theprepperproject.com/grow-sugarcane/
[6] http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/nutrients-sugar-cane-juice-2281.html

Update on the growth of my black sugar cane:
Update 1
Update 2

How long does it takes for you to inflate a flat tyre?

If you asked me, it took less than 5 minutes for 1 tire of my car.

Try to imagine if you have more than 1 flat tire and don't have this tire inflator in hand around 3 am in the morning? Total disaster if you asked me😱 Talking about fresh experience that happen to me yesterday.

Using this tire inflator, it took me less than 10 minutes the next day to reach tire workshop to patch the puncture flat tire from the stranded scene after pump the flat tire.

Not only it safe time but also safe me from sweat and tedious work of changing to spare tire in order to drive to workshop.

The tire inflator. Could fit my handbag

Frankly speaking, this tire inflator helps a lot. Especially for :

• Woman like me
• Those who always drive or travel alone
• Those who sometimes or always stay back late to meet dateline
• Thoe who work in shift
• Those who cannot lift heavy things (spare and flat tire were heavy as it is) and helps when you're already tired

Plus, this tire inflator also helpful if it happens that your spare tire also flat. Since this have happen to me once in 2011.

Conclusion:

• A must item to have in every car
• Helpful for woman
• Could safe person who stranded in deserted area
• The inflated tire enable driver to drive up to workshop to patch the flat puncture tire. Refer picture below
• Provide more safety for those who drive alone. As driver can move to safer place without waiting long time
• Best and suitable for those who work shift, long hours
• Could save the tire from further damage when move in flat condition = safe cost also!! From  a totally new tire replacement
• Handy especially when your car trunk is full of luggage. No need to unload to change to spare tire

Pumping the flat tire. The wire of the tire inflator is long enough to reach back tire

The pressure indicator needle move from 0 to 30 (outer reading). I stop at 30 for my car tire pressure

My tire being patch up in workshop

Patching up process

For those who are interested to get this tire inflator, could contact me directly for order. 

Offer price till end of Aug 16 is RM 55 excluding delivery at this moment. While stock last.

Till then, be safe than sorry.

My review on oval brush set

Brush material: synthetic hair

Size: range of 11.9 - 16.5 cm (H) x 0.5 - 4 cm (W)
Total brush : 10 pieces
Consist of foundation, blush, eye shadow, eyeliner, concealer, eyebrow, lip finish, nose contour, powder, cheek contour.
The set comes with pouch to store brush.

Un-boxing the oval set brush

There are plenty of seller and supplier for this oval brush set. So far, I found that there are 3 colour for this oval brush. All black, gold and rose gold colour.

I purchase this brush after make a research on it. Since it is much cheaper than the Artis Makeup Brush [1]. There are huge difference between this oval set brush than the Artis Makeup Brush. Which is the handle. Artis Makeup Brush have sturdier design compared to mine. However, for the sake of satisfying my curiosity for oval set brush, I opt this one as it is much cheaper. Couldn't afford to spend 10 times of money on the Artis Makeup Brush [2].

I bought from https://www.ovalbrushset.com/. Took almost 2 weeks to reach me here in Malaysia after the day I placed order.

Below is my review on the oval set brush after using it for a week.

My review:
Good

• Foundation, blush and contour were soft

Bad

• The powder brush too stiff/dense and feel harsh on my skin. I prefer fluffy brush to dust powder on my face. I am unable to pat or even brush off powder gently on my skin. Better application achieved when using a kabuki brush or powder puff
• Eyeliner brush = too wide for me to use under my eyes and for thin neat cat eye
• Eyebrow brush takes longer time to get good result. Better use normal eyebrow brush. Faster and neat since it is pointy compared to this oval eyebrow brush

Advantage:

• Large surface area for foundation and blush brush. Better for wider area application
• Each brush have labelled with their function. Make it much easier for beginner and new buyer

Disadvantage:

• The provided pouch for the brush is not good enough to protect the brush bristle from damage by being squashed in make up bag. Need to use hard case bag for the brush
• Hard to retain the original texture brush bristle after wash. Especially for eyeliner brush
• Took me longer time to get used to it since the design is different from standard make up brush

Washing the new brush before use. A good habit that I try to keep. The label for each brush is clearly shown in this picture

For those who are interested to know how I wash my brush, could go for link in reference  [3].

Conclusion:

• The brush that I use the most is foundation brush. It is really good in blending the foundation all over the face
• I do find that this brush suits for home usage only. Since it took longer time for me to get ready using it after testing it out for 1 week
• Better use normal design of make up brush for travel. Since the normal brush have standard size for make up brush storage
• I do find faster application using normal make up brush compared oval set brush. Since I am used to the normal type. More time is required to familiarised with this oval set brush
• Better test it out before make a purchase
• Since the tracking for this purchase will only up after the item left the sender country for destination, would advise for those who have doubt to buy from local supplier to be safe and sure

Till then, have a good time in putting on make up  

Reference:
[1] http://www.artisbrush.com/
[2] http://www.artisbrush.com/shop-1#/elite-go
[3] http://serinurulbeauty.blogspot.my/2016/08/cleaning-make-up-brush-is-good-habit.html?m=0

Sabah snake grass that I grew in my house compound

The scientific name for it was Clinacanthus Nutans (Burm.F.) Lindau [1]. In Malaya, it is called daun belalai gajah.

It is also used in traditional herbal medicine for treating skin rashes, insects and snake bites, lesions caused by herpes simplex virus, diabetes, and gout in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and China [2].

One of my friend found that this leaves helps to ease his rapid heart beat when the high blood pressure attacks. And body feels lighter from fatigue each time after consumption. The one that he grew only as long as my index finger, 3 times smaller than mine (refer picture below).

I plant this herb in my house compound and only use kitchen waste compost as fertilizer for it. I am restraining myself from using man made fertilizer as I want my plant to be organic. Where I could pluck and eat it any time I want without fear of food poisoning or any other side effect. The same goes with my flowers. Since I have cats in the house and my cats sometimes do lick and munch on the plants in their surrounding. Being safe is better than sorry. 
Yesterday, one of my cat munch on this leaf almost 1 and half of it. I am really surprised with that. Even my cats know the value of the leaf.

The size of the leaves that I grew. I myself surprised with such huge output. Loving it.

This plant is easily grew using stem cutting. I do notice that this plant grew more during rainy season. I normally water the plant 2 times daily. Morning and each time I reach home (evening/night).

Till then, have a good day ahead.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinacanthus_nutans

[2] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1995764516300116

My review on Princess by Vera Wang

I am looking for softer sweet perfume as the one I have mostly not subtle to be used in warmer temperature daily. Due to the strength of its sweetness. After doing some research, I decided to get Princess.

• Top note: water lily, apple, freshly-sweet mandarin and apricot.
• Heart note: exotic guava, tiare flower, tuberose with a touch of chocolate
• Base note: vanilla, amber and wood.

My precious Princess

Cleaning make up brush is a good habit for your skin

I have been disciplining myself in make it as a habit or routine to clean my make up brush every weekend. Or at least do the deep cleaning once per month (each time when I am too busy or lazy).

This is to maintain a good skin condition. As the longer you leave your make up brush unclean, higher probability for infection and breakout since dirty brush could harbor bad bacteria.

I am using a silicon mat as shown in picture below to scrub off my brush since it is faster than scrub them on my palm. Since the honeycomb hole on the silicon surface make a suitable scrubbing material. This silicon mat is cheaper alternative for me than Sigma spa products. And it still serve the same purpose. That is to assist in cleaning my make up brush.

Using a silicon mat to hold the soap and scrub the brush to the impurities

As you could see in the picture, there are a white cup at the sink top. I put some virgin coconut oil in the cup since I left my dropper bottle in ground floor room. You could used any type of oil that you have with you. But it is better to use natural oil. I am using coconut oil since it helps to break down and loosen out the built up impurities or dirt on the brush such as foundation, concealer and etc. I just use around 2 to 3 drops of oil on the brush, depends on the level of impurities or dirt and brush size.

I am using a moisturizing body soap to clean the oily brush and scrub the brush off on the silicon mat. I use body soap since I found it good enough to clean my brush without drying it up. 

Part where I rinse the brush after scrub it off from the silicone mat

I am unable to take picture of me scrubbing the impurities or dirt from the brush. Since it will be hazardous to my phone as I am doing the cleaning process in my bathroom. I will normally put all the cleaned brush in a plastic basket since the hole on the basket it will help good airflow that could assist in faster drying process.

In the midst of drying process. I just put in a basket since it have many holes that provide good airflow

It is a self achievement for me to clean up the brush each end of the week. It is not easy to have a clean and clear skin from breakouts. Lots of effort and discipline involves in the process and routine. I can't afford to skip any steps since it is much harder to restore the skin conditions after breakout.

Till then, have a good weekend.

Plectranthus amboinicus to reduce cough and phlegm

Malay name for this plant is "pokok bangun-bangun"[1], Indian borage [2]. It also used as substitute to oregano in cooking [3].

I have found this plant before and I was mesmerized with it smell. As the smell have a strong resemblance with  maruku. I have come across this plant so many time. I end up take the branch of the plant and planted in my house compound.

Size of the leaf that I grew at home. Not bad since I am only use kitchen waste compost as fertilizer

This week, one of my colleague were coughing a lot and don't want to take cough medicine as wanted to finish up few urgent work. I remember read some where that this plant is used to reduce cough and flame for kids. I give the leaves to my friend on Wednesday evening. My friend steam the leaves and consume the concoction at night. My friend told me that he is able to sleep that night without being awaken/disturbed by cough. By next morning, my friend already feel better. Even the phlegm reduced. My friend end up getting 1 plant from my garden to grew in his house.

Well, I found this helpful since I wanted to use herbs for medicine substitute.

I am very fortunate to have this herbs in my house compound. Seems like I need to grew more herbs afterwards for healthier lifestyle. After this need to plan and organize the plants arrangement in my house. As the land area for plantation is limited at the side if my house.

My "pokok bangun-bangun" in a small pot. I put dried waste as organic fertilizer for my plants

Personally, I do think this is a good option/alternative for me instead of depending on prescribed medicine. Especially for little ones/kids. For those who are interested to try this alternative, could contact me directly.

My reference:
[1] https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokok_Bangun-bangun
[2] https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/herbs-and-spices/indian-borage-mexican-mint.html
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plectranthus_amboinicus