Hello dear friends! Hope you enjoy a wonderful Tuesday! After a long Chinese New Year break since last Thurday, my hectic schedule is back on when the girls start schooling today. Now I've prepared dinner and have some time to myself before they reached home at 6.00pm!

There are still two more days to go, but just in case I'm off the internet again, I would like to wish all my precious friends "Happy Valentine's Day!!" Hope you have a lovely valentine!

Where there’s chicken, definitely there are eggs. Many of us try to limit or even avoid taking so many eggs as to avoid high cholesterol concentrated in the yolk. However, that’s about to change with the availability of designer eggs containing qualities of a rare Chinese herb and has 30% less cholesterol than normal chicken eggs.

 
Egg producer Chew's Agriculture, in collaboration with AP Nutripharm, a biotechnology firm, develop a feed for chickens that result in what it says is a world first - the cordyceps egg i.e. eggs containing a key components in cordyceps sinensis.

 
Have you heard of the cordyceps? Cordyceps sinensis belongs to a family of parasitic fungus which attacks a species of caterpillar in winter.

When the caterpillar is hibernating, this fungus slowly eats away at it and, by the end of winter, the process is complete, and the caterpillar now looks like a plant. A literal translation of the Chinese term for cordyceps is 'winter worm, summer plant'.

The Chinese discovered the health benefits of cordyceps sinensis centuries ago when they noticed that sheep which grazed on it were stronger and healthier. Traditional herbalists then began using the fungus for curing several diseases.

Cordyceps was believed to be able to fortify and provide anti-ageing and immunity boosts.

Cultivated cordyceps, produced here in Singapore by AP Nutripharm, are what is used in the feed for the chickens that lay cordyceps eggs.

With all these goodness you can surely expect them to be pricier. The retail price is twice the price you would usually pay for 10 eggs.

It is said that these eggs do not have that marked 'eggy' odour and that the yolk is a bright orange-yellow. Soft-boiled, it has more flavour, leaving the slightest hint of sweetness as an aftertaste.

You can read more details HERE.

This article was first published in the Mind Your Body supplement on Jan 9, 2008.

Take Good Care & Hope You Have a Wonderful Tuesday!!
Ta Ta For Now!!

Hello dear friends! Happy Hump Day! Heehee! I’m a bit late for Chicken Tuesday now but I know some of my friends are still on their Tuesday, so here goes…

Chicken Tuesday is 1 year old on February 5! So, it has been around slightly longer than I have officially became a blogger! Heehee! Good to know we're still young... Now to commemorate Chicken Tuesday 1st Anniversary, let me share some of my own chicken stories!

It's funny how we take things that we see in our everyday lives for granted, isn't it? Now I'm a city girl married to a country boy. Back when his late mother was still around, every now and then we went back to her house in the countryside. She had a few chickens. When my little Bubbles was about three, she was so excited at seeing the little chicks and will chase after them whenever the mother hen and chicks passed in front of the house. You see, in the urban area where we live we’re not allowed to breed chickens. One day she learnt how to catch one and I told her to let it go, every time. The next day we found one chick had died in front of the house. Suspecting it was murdered, we asked that one obvious little suspect. The little voice said, “I don't know... I was holding it and then it went to sleep..." Hmm... what can you say to that....?

Now I have my own share of memory with chicken during my childhood. But this time it's a white rooster. Make it a BIG white rooster! Whenever my Mum had to leave us, me and my five siblings, alone just for a couple of hours, she would let out our white rooster to guard us! Yes, to guard us because we wouldn’t dare come out from the house if it's loose. Can you believe it bites!! Even the postman was not spared. Pity him! We saw him coming that day but the rooster was loose so we didn't dare to come out. When the postman didn't see us, he came to the front door to deliver our letters, ignoring the angry rooster that came charging at him! One big mistake! The rooster pecked at him so hard that he ran out from the gate! See how easy my Mum’s life was taking care the six of us!! Heehee! Actually she seldom leaves us alone. But on those rare occasions when she had too, she sure can rely on that white rooster!

So there goes another glimpse of my little world! CONGRATULATION ON YOUR 1^ST ANNIVERSARY, CHICKEN TUESDAY!!!

Take Care & Hope You Have A Wonderful Wednesday!!

Ta Ta For Now!!

Hello dear friends! Happy Hump Day!! Heehee! I'm gonna cheat a bit here! I know some friends are still on their Tuesday, so I still have time for this!

Quite some time ago, my dear hubby came home with a grocery bag in hand and announced to the girls that he's preparing something special! Every once in awhile when he gets into the mood to cook, I will just let him do as he wish and helped only when he asked for. Heehee! Well, he can cook. In fact, much better than me! It's just the aftermath that I have to take care of!! Whatever ingredients he used will be all over the kitchen and he will used up all containers in the cupboard! Even the ones I haven't used in ages! Men!!

Heehee! Now back to his cooking... I only saw he took out a packet of oyster mushrooms and a box of ready-mix KFC flour! Then he dip the oyster mushrooms into the KFC mixture and deep-fried them. By now the aroma of KFC mixture has filled the whole house (our cooker hood is still in the box!) and the girls are already waiting anxiously at the table! When he finally served them, they eagerly asked their father, "What's this, Papa? What's this?!" And the father gingerly answered, "Chicken ears!!" and the girls happily wallop the whole thing! Well, he knows if he says it's mushroom the girls will not touch it! The girls, just like him, are chicken lovers! So whatever chicken, they'll love it!! (I'm a beef person, by the way! Maybe that's why I'm a bit slow with this Chicken Tuesday, Cherei?!)

However this story has its downside... One day when we're getting some groceries at the supermarket, my little Bubbles saw the mushroom and eagerly called out, "Mama! Chicken ears, Mama! Chicken ears!!!"
Now tell me, if you hear someone says that, what would you think?

So, there goes another glimpse of my little world!

Happy Chicken Tuesday! Bawk! Bawk!!