Rafa tasted his first solid food several days after his 6 month birthday on 29 Dec 2012. Although I believe his systems were ready much earlier than that but I waited anyway, just to follow what the books say and mainly because Rafa is such a good little baby, he was very much satisfied with milk alone. He was hardly fussy and slept well through the night.

To be fair with Miki, Rafa’s first solid food was also avocado puree with expressed breastmilk. And Rafa’s verdict? Nope, totally didn’t like it. I wondered if Rafa is the type of child that detests solid food and preferred milk alone until much later in their babyhood, hmmm?

Rafa with his first avocado.

The next day I prepared something else that I thought would be more appealing to his taste buds – carrot and pumpkin puree, and guess what, Rafa ate a whole lot! Wow! For someone who has never tasted anything but fluid before, a baby’s palate can sure have a mind of its own eh?

The same puree was also sent to his babysitter and according to her, he walloped everything all up! Good job Rafa!

On the first week of his solid food journey, my baby was a little constipated. I guess he was not used to having solids in his tummy. So I gave him some prune juice and I even add some of the juice in his puree for dinner. When the effect was not immediate, I gave him papaya and it worked wonders! Rafa poops happily ever after. Haha!

Now that Rafa has no constipation problem at all, I just loveeeee preparing and planning for his meals. Many have asked me on Facebook, so here I am sharing the babyfood recipes tasted and proven yummy by Rafa, below in bold.

1) Apple and celery puree

Clockwise -

2)Pumpkin and carrots puree
3) Rice and pear puree
4) Cauliflower, carrot and spinach puree
5)broccoli and sweet potato puree 

6) Carrot and sweet potato puree plus some prune juice

7) Sweet pumpkin puree – Delicious! Rafa loves this and pumpkin is highly nutritious too!

Every couple of days I would be preparing  two or three types of babyfood for Rafa. It should be enough for the next 2 or 3 days. I kept the puree in ready-to-eat portions in the freezer and heat it up before consumption. To date Rafa ate home-cooked food only except a couple if Heinz baby food and rusks that’s just too handy when we travel.

Syukur Alhamdulillah my lil boy has good appetite. Occasionally he would refuse to eat a certain food like this delicious pea and sweet corn puree below, I thought he hated green or something but he finished off a whole container of the same food the next time I gave it to him. Maybe he was just not hungry the first time.

So to new Moms out there, persistence is the key to introducing a new diet to your child. I read somewhere that a child would only accept vegetables for example after the  8th time of trying. I think most of us would have given up after the child spat mashed green broccoli on our faces. lol!

Muka hazab gilerr kena makan pea! hahaa! Nak kata  macam muntah hantu cerita The Exorcist, Rafa bukannya penah tengok movie tu pun.. Hmmmm…

I will only introduce animal protein to Rafa once he turns 8 months. So until then, it is all vegetarian baby! Easier to digest ya.. Big Bro Miki had almost the same thing when he was a baby, vege and fruits as first food for several months in his life and somehow I think that’s why he loves vegetables now. Hopefully Rafa will also follow suit and will not be a picky eater later on.

Mummy loves you Tiger Rafa! Muahhh!

 

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I had a conversation with my bosses the other day and one of them was complaining about how bad the food they serve at Wadihana Steakhouse in Bangi. For RM40, they can’t even serve homemade mashed potatoes, the one that is simply milk, butter and potatoes? But instead they used instant powdery ones you get in KFC. Hampeh!

People are watching the Food Channel these days, my boss said. And you restaurateurs can no longer serve customers so low an F&B standard without having them complain and well…. Not come back. Or worse, they could blog about it and others would read.

I think he is right, the food channels have influenced us quite a lot don’t they? I cannot remember when I started watching the food channels on Astro. But I remember even before watching those shows I have always wanted a good kitchen, I serve my food neatly although not artistically beautiful on a nice serving dish that is made of glass or porcelain but hardly plastic. Often my friends call me Makcik for my liking towards good cutleries and dinnerware but I call my ADA STANDARD! Ko ada? It is not that I insist of eating on Royal Dalton day and night but please I am not a 2 year old with tendencies to break my plates and bowls, so please la pengusaha restoran sekalian, treat your customers like adults and give them real glass plate to eat on.

That’s why I cannot take it when restaurants serve food on plastic dishes. Kalau mamak atau warung bawah pokok tepi jalan takpe lah but a proper restaurant? Haishhh..

So somehow the food channel has help in moving the quality of F&B service in Malaysia. Now that customers have higher awareness and taste, terpaksalah all these restaurateur be more serious and put extra efforts in keeping up with the standards. Don’t be like most restaurants in Bangi (hari ni hari mengeji restoran Bangi ke apa ni?) I think they spend fortunes for fish ponds and wooden huts for this so-called eco dining concept but the food sucks and they waiter are Jawa mana tah cakap pun tak paham. Membazir duit je buat kolam ikan Wak, baik masak sedap-sedap.

Actually impact food channel ni memang baik untuk F&B industry but in my own household pun impacted jugak. Laki aku yang makan main telan je apa pun bagi kat dia sekarang dah pandai… “Asam pedas Diyana ni tak mesra lah! Masak asing-asing kan?”
Wahhhh…. Dah pandai menggunakan perkataan mesra untuk ikan? Ha… ambik ko Diyana! Padan muka aku!

Ni lah asam pedas ikan tenggiri yang Azman cakap tak mesra tu. Sedih i! Nanti I ajar ikan tu bagi salam 1Malaysia supaya lebis mesra masa makan.

 

Ni pulak roti jala and kari ayam kentang aku buat hari Ahad haritu kot. BTW, masa tu aku malas cari mangkuk pastu lepas letak kat meja baru perasan mangkuk dengan piring tu satu berbunga satu kosong. Aku ni Mak Enon cerewet tak tentu hala, sangat terganggu dengan pinggan tak match gitu haishh… Anyway baru 2-3 kali buat roti jala tapi dah tahu betapa tertipunya aku makan roti jala selama ni. Aku ingatkan roti jala memang rasa tawar kosong-kosong gitu buat actually penjual tu yang kedekut taik idung masin. All they could do is add some butter or ghee, garam sikit gula sikit pun dah OK, it will improve the taste soo much better. I experimented roti jala with ghee dan rasanya sangatla sedap. You guys should try! Tapi kalau laki uols kata ghee dengan roti jala tak mesra jangan salahkan I ok! haha! Have a nice day guys!

 

 

 

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An unfortunate event happened to us last week, and Azman lost his Macbook. Sighh… The machine doesn’t matter but what I weep for the most is Rafa’s photo collection since birth. Sedih kan? Gone also all the pics from Raya and his Akikah. So I went back to my Facebook and kutip-kutip mana-mana gambar I have uploaded before and publish here for future remembrance.

Above-  Me control ayu while Rafa is staring at his milk bar.
Below – Door gift we gave to guests, IKEA jar with candy and sweets inside it.

The night before we drove back to Penang, we stop by at IKEA to buy the jars, then the next day we went to Mydin in Bukit Jambul, Penang for the sweets and that flowery, beady decorative thing we superglued on top.

Above – The marhaban ladies doing their thang… most of the guests were outside having lunch. Rafa slept like baby he is.

Below – Pakcik-pakcik yang baca doa selamat tadi tengah nak makan..

Below – We had nasi beriyani yang sangat sedap. Siapa nak contact caterer please ask my Mum! hehe. Lauk-pauk was ayam goreng berempah, dalca, the akikah goat was turned into masak kurma, perut kambing with kuah asam and hati/limpa etc masak lada hitam thingy. Sedap… orang kata lah… I tak sempat jamah dah habis… Ada jugak sambal ikan bilis and jelatah.Pastu ada laksa Penang and lots of kuih muih and tapai pulut…

 

 

Below- My and my beloved Aunt, we call her Cik Pura.

Below is me posing before the guests arrived. Gedik kan? Haha standard la baru lepas pantang nak tunjuk pinggang yang tak berapa ada. huhu

Above – Mikael, Rafa el and Sarah Khadeeja, my niece.
Below – Friends forever! Aminah and Mimie thanks so much for coming! The girl in red is Aminah’s niece, Aina. When Minah and I studied at Kolej Matrikulasi Pulau Pinang (KMPP) ages ago… she was just 3 years old. And such a pretty young lady she is now.

Diyanazman kalau tak tangkap gambar sengal memang tak sah! Hahahah..

I love the above pic the most. It doesn’t matter if we lost  computers and gold chains and diamond rings. Ya Allah just don’t take away my family from me. Keep us close, healthy and happy. I can never live without Azman, Miki and Rafa. Amin.

 

 

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