Wee Green Flat Mini House Tour

 

 "Our house is a very, very fine house/

 With two cats in the yard/
 Life used to be so hard/"'

 ~ 'Our House', by Crosby Stills Nash and Young

  

I moved into the Wee Green Flat in June, but put most of my home improvement and decorating projects on hold when poor Shadow fell ill and later crossed over to the Rainbow Bridge.

 

I am just grateful my cats and I have a safe, comfortable, healthy place to call our own now. This is as much their house as mine. I'm just sad Shadow didn't get to enjoy it for long.

 

I've always wanted to own and create a living place filled with plants, cats, natural light and ventilation. Buying and moving into the Wee Green Flat fulfilled this dream, and my goal of having my own living space that is energy and water efficient.

 

So far, my energy and water use have been so low that both bills are subsidised by the Federal and state governments respectively as part of governmental efforts to encourage environmental responsibility and conservation. I practice the 3Rs, I have a composting system, I use solar lighting and I am growing my own vegetables. My home is decorated with beloved items that tell my story.

 

My surroundings are filled with trees, plants, birds and fresh air. A stream runs behind my low-rise, walk-up flat. I swim in the pool every week but haven't had the inclination to use the gym in the clubhouse. I have time for leisure, exercise and entertaining. I love having friends over. My friend Karen lives a few doors away and we meet often to share a meal or carpool to activities. Friends drop by on the weekends. I've hosted one of our Malaysian Nature Society branch committee meetings in my home already. I am finding home ownership to be a life-changing and empowering experience.

 

My home is still a work in progress, but then again, my life is also a work in progress. Still, I am happy to conduct a mini house tour of where I live.

 

These photos show what the interior of the flat looked like before:

The previous owners left behind most of their larger pieces of furniture as they were moving abroad. I decided to keep and reuse a number of them, but gave away the rest to charity. I called up Pertubuhan Amal Seri Sinar, a registered charity, to pick up the bed, couch, dressing table, and a number of other items. The previous owners didn't paint the walls either, so although the walls are reasonably clean, they are just a thin coating of chalky white primer over hurriedly-done plaster skim. As you can see, the original interior wasn't terrible, in fact it's quite clean and pleasant and the kitchen cabinets and stove are practically new, but it didn't have personality. It was all brown and beige and looked mass-produced. It didn' tell a story. I needed a space that tells my story.

 

This is what my apartment pool area looks like.

 

View from the clubhouse cafeteria.

A little stream flows from the neighbouring forest reserve past our apartment blocks and the pool area.

 

My minimalist living room. Obviously there is no TV set, because if I had one, this would be known as the Dying or Wasting Room, not the living room.

 

Cat-friendly, cleanable armchairs.

 

Katniss cleans herself next to my T-Bolt.

 

Recognise the artwork on the wall? This is a selection of my Postcrossing postcards!

 

No screens allowed. Talk to each other! Read a book! Have a drink! Play board games! Try solving some of these indigenous rattan IQ puzzles!

 

Board games, puzzles and Jenga, for when friends come over.

 

Toy bins full of vintage toys from my childhood, to occupy young children who visit so they won't harass my cats.

 

Pix gets comfortable on the window seat.

 

I used the TV bench left behind by the previous owner for book storage. I spruced up and repainted some of the pre-loved furniture and gave away the rest.

 

My minimalist Reds bedroom.

 

Informal dining area, with preloved furniture spruced up and dressed up to play along with my veggie theme. I saw the veggie poster online and knew I had to have it although it cost a bomb. And the capsicum tablecloth was part of a shop display and I convinced the shop to sell it to me. I'm sorta kinda obsessed with vegetables in case you couldn't tell.

 

I saw this huge poster of vegetables on PopChartLab and knew I had to have it, it is SOOOO ME. So I had it shipped across an ocean and framed and now it tells my veggie-loving story in my entryway/dining area.

 

Minimalist guest room. With an empty storage tub that just won't fit anywhere.

 

The storeroom/cats' room. Previous owners left the sideboard cabinet behind, so I cleaned and fixed it up and used it for storage. I store most of the things I need for volunteering here, so there's an SPCA Bag, an MNS Bag, a Reach Out Bag, a Teaching/Reading Programme Bag etc. Window ledge was added for the cats.

 

The storeroom/cats' room. Although the cats actually rule the entire home. Two of the boxes hold Green Living's documents, equipment, educational and display materials and merchandise. I possess very few unnecessary things, and a quarter to a third of the things in my home are held for and on behalf of the organisations I volunteer for.

The back balcony with the laundry/storage area. The veggie garden is still a work in progress. On the advice of my bestie Nic, I acquired a rack to put my potted plants on in the laundry area in order that the plants get more sunlight. Hope this works!

My little citrus-themed kitchen. It looked really dull and beige before so I washi-taped the edges in fun citrus colours. That's Mini-Me on the cookerhood and it's okay, I wipe down the tops of the cabinets and cookerhood every night.

The lighting is all yellowy and weird and my camera angles are always a bit off centre but here's the apron corner in my citrus-themed kitchen. Dog apron, cat handtowel. So me.

 

My wee citrus-themed kitchen, with a sunny lemony motto.

 

I actually have a designated bento drawer.

 

Find the hidden cats in the Wee Green Flat! Both items are gifts from friends and the ginger cats unexpectedly match.

 

 

 

 

Thank you for coming on a house tour of the Wee Green Flat.

 

 

Food Review: Medifoods Lifestyle Café

 

I have been eating very well for a very reasonable sum these days, thanks to KindMeal.my. It is also thanks to them that I discovered restaurants and cafés serving exceptional food that I would not have otherwise discovered on my own.

Medifoods is a chain of retail outlets, restaurants and lifestyle cafés with a strong emphasis on natural, organic food prepared with the advice and endorsement of nutritionists and dieticians. It currently has outlets in SS18 Subang Jaya, Sime Darby Medical Centre, Sri Damansara and SS2 Petaling Jaya. While it is not vegetarian/vegan, its menu does have a commendable variety of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free choices, and these are clearly marked with colour codes and symbols for ease of reference. 

 

My friend Karen and I dropped by the outlet in SS18, Subang Jaya, one rainy weeknight after downloading the discount coupon from KindMeal.my. Karen had skipped her yoga class to join me, and we arrived around 8.30 p.m., half an hour before closing time, yet the restaurant staff treated us with nothing but courtesy and patience. At no point did they hurry us or do the usual rude-Asian-restaurant-thing of switching off the lights or sweeping up a dust storm around our guilty munching faces.

The restaurant from the outside.

 

The outside of the restaurant is warmly-lit and welcoming, with an entire ecosystem of tropical plants to provide shade, privacy and oxygen. There were many younger professionals and college-age patrons in the outer dining area, while a gaggle of senior citizens filled the inner dining area, joyously singing a series of classics and thus providing us with dinnertime entertainment.

 

The retail section offered a large selection of organic and natural products, including non-toxic, biodegradable household cleaners and personal care products, dry food, fresh fruits and vegetables and locally-produced eco-friendly goods.

  

A wide range of organic foods and household products.

Fresh local produce for sale.

  

Ever the frugal consumer, I spotted several bargains and stocked up on organic goods and household products while waiting for our food to arrive. As I was waiting to pay for my purchases, I noticed that the lady next in line was holding merely a carton of organic eggs, and so I asked the cashier to let her go ahead of me. The said lady thanked me, paid for her goods and was about to leave when she overheard me replying to the cashier that I do not have a membership card. She then offered to have my purchases rang up under her membership account to entitle me to a 10% discount, for which I am very grateful. While this incident might not have its place in a food review, it does indicate the kind of clientele Medifoods has, and the sense of community it fosters and encourages.

  

Stocking up on organic and local products.

 

For our entrees, I ordered the Curry Mee Hoon while Karen ordered the Vegetable Mushroom Herbal Soup (i.e. vegan Bak Kut Teh), as the Hakka Lei Cha was sold out before our arrival. For our appetiser, we ordered the Thai-Style Bamboo Fungus Salad.

The Thai-Style Bamboo Fungus (RM8.50) is a cold appetiser prepared with onions and chillies in a spicy, sweet-and-sour Thai sauce. The mouth-feel of bamboo fungus (whose unfortunate scientific name is Phallus indusiatus, and I cannot even say it without cringing or grinning) is uncannily similar to chicken feet or fried pork skin, both common ingredients in Thai salad. It has the same puffed, chewy, rubbery texture, and this would have made me shudder in fright after years of plant-based eating, but the fungus tasted reassuringly light and lacking in any gamey smell or flavour. It also soaks up sauces particularly well, and as a whole, this dish is successful in reflecting the tangy, spicy complexity of Thai cuisine.

  

The Curry Mee Hoon (RM13.90) arrived next in a bowl big enough to swim in. Rice vermicelli, eggplant, long beans, tau pok (fried hollow tofu puffs) and enoki mushrooms were steeped in a fragrant santan-free curry that was surprisingly spicy and thick. It was clear from the first bite that the curry base did not come from a paste or boxed mix. It was like South Indian curry, with all the pieces of cinnamon, cardamom and star anise still sitting in the bottom of the bowl. The vermicelli and tau pok were a good foil for the spiciness of the curry, and the vegetables added flavour and crunch. Karen found it too spicy, so I polished most of the curry off, as it didn’t have the heavy, cloying effect of coconut cream-based soups.

  

The Vegetable Mushroom Herbal Soup (RM13.90) is an almost clear broth of herbs, cabbage, spinach, carrots, mushrooms and tau pok, served with a bowl of signature Medifoods rice, which is basmati cooked with lentils and millet. The soup tasted significantly milder and lower in sodium that the vegan bak kut teh I am accustomed to from the food courts. If you are not a fan of the overpowering herbal flavour of the average bak kut teh, this is the soup for you. The natural sweetness of the cabbage and carrots really shone through in this soup. Personally, however, I find that this soup does not have the depth of flavour of most bak kut teh soups, although it is still admittedly very palatable and wholesome.

  

What Karen and I liked about the appetiser and both entrées is that we obtained our five-a-day of vegetables in each dish, and all the dishes are low in fat and sodium, but packed with nutrients and flavour.

Karen's herbal sugarcane drink.

My ABC (Apple, Beetroot, Carrot) shots in a bucket of ice. Looks deceptively like watermelon juice, doesn't it?

To wash it all down, Karen had the sugarcane herbal drink (RM3.50), while I had the ABC shots (RM9.50). My drink came in shots of unsweetened and freshly-blended apple, beetroot and carrot juice in 3 glass test tubes chilled in a cup of ice. Beetroot formed the dominant flavour, which I have no complaints about since I do like beetroot. (I love all vegetables, so this really isn’t saying much, is it?) The apple and carrot provided a hint of tart sweetness, and the drink was altogether very refreshing.

 

We used the KindMeal voucher to obtain a 30% discount, and were pleasantly surprised to find that our bill came up to merely RM34.50, less than what we would have paid for a less satisfying meal in another restaurant.

I took a photo of the interior of the restaurant at closing time, which does not do it justice, as it was virtually packed at the time of our arrival. Apart from ala carte meals, the restaurant also has a buffet of dishes to go with rice, i.e. mixed rice.

  

With a name like ‘Medifoods’, I had expected the food to be blander and milder-tasting than what I am used to, but thankfully the use of spices, vegetables and natural plant ingredients made up for this.  

 

 Verdict:

 4 stars out of 5.

 Worth skipping yoga class for.

 

 Medifoods Lifestyle Café and Store

 SS18, Subang Jaya
 5, Jalan SS 18/6, Subang Jaya, 47500 Petaling Jaya

 Business Hours: Mon - Sun: 7.30am to 9pm

 Phone: +603-56325714, +603-56365338

Our 30-Day Minimalism Challenge

On 16th June, my friend Nick Jukes invited his friends to do the 30-Day Minimalism Challenge together with him and report our progress in a closed Facebook group. Around 9 of us accepted the challenge, and in turn I invited my friends to play as well. We started on Wednesday, 17th June, and by the end of 30 days most of us successfully purged 465 unwanted items from our homes.

This proved to be a little tough for me because I have only recently moved house and rid myself of hundreds of items, and I am not one to purchase or accumulate many things in the first place anyway. Still, I loved the idea of the challenge and find decluttering and cleaning to be highly pleasurable, and managed to move my decluttering efforts to the parental home after I completed decluttering my own home.

 

Here's how I did in The Minimalist Game and some of the things I jettisoned:

 Week 1: My barrister's robe

One of the hardest things to let go of is items of sentimental value. However, reading Marie Kondo's "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" taught me how to release such items in a gentle, respectful and satisfying way without feelings of guilt and remorse.

I was called to the Bar in 2004 and left legal practice in 2009 to enter into humanitarian service. I had initially wanted to sell the robe that I was called to the Bar in, but my parents objected to the idea, saying that I should keep it "to remember the day" with.

 

But our memories are ours alone, and it is not likely that I would ever forget that important day. I don't need the robe to remind me of the hallowed ceremony, the judge's encouraging words, the look of pride on my parents' faces, the testimonial of my Mover, or the lunch that followed.

 

The robe had been left forgotten in my closet, and I made up my mind to donate it to the KL Bar Room in the Jalan Duta Court Complex, where it would be loaned out to lawyers who forgot to bring their robes. I had myself benefited from this service many years ago. My friend Audrey volunteered to take it to the Bar Room on my behalf. My robe would continue to be of service to others and bring good energy both to the donor and the beneficiaries. I thanked my robe for the years of service and the memories, and gently released it to a higher good.

Week 1: Bowls, a juicer and a yoghurt maker

 

When I moved out of the parental home in 2000, I inherited a number of items from my parents. I never got around to using many of the items. On the second day of the challenge, I removed 2 melamine bowls from my mother that I had never bothered using because I preferred using the vintage pyrex bowls that I had also inherited from her. The bowls, as well as several food storage containers, were given to Kedai Jalanan for our homeless friends.

 

My parents had also given me a juicer and yoghurt maker which they stopped using, but which I never used because the juicer is too large and unwieldy for my kitchen (and the noise scares my cats) and the yoghurt maker is useless without the powdered mix (plus I am giving up dairy). I posted pictures of the two items along with many others in a Freecycle album on my Facebook and my offers were snapped up by friends.

Week 1: Office supplies and stationeries

 

I have a tendency to stockpile office supplies and writing materials. I ended up sorting through the pens, markers, notebooks and pencils and giving a bagful away to Beacon of Hope, the community learning centre that I volunteer at.

 

 Week 2: Bento tools

 

Things that come in sets are usually a waste of money. I bought inexpensive sets of cookie cutters and stampers for making bento lunches with, and found that I usually only use 2 out of every 4-5 designs in a set. I offered these duplicate and excess bento tools on my Freecycle album and they were snapped up by a friend with a toddler. Now they can make butterfly and teddy bear shaped sandwiches and cookies. Or maybe just use them together with play-dough, that's fine too.

 

 Week 2: Football magazines

 

 I really have to stop buying every FIFA World Cup souvenir magazine published even if the World Cup only happens once every 4 years. And I really, really need to stop buying those World Cup sticker albums. I have been buying them since Mexico '86 and have NEVER been able to complete an album. I will need to buy several hundred packets of stickers to complete the damned things. It's just a trick to make people (especially gullible children) waste a lot of money.

 

I didn't give away my World Cup souvenir books, although I did resolve not to buy more than one each World Cup. I did, however, give away my sticker albums to my students at Beacon of Hope. The boys love football and do not mind at all that the sticker albums are incomplete. It helps them learn about geography (names of countries that made it to the World Cup, continents, regions, and towns in which the matches would be played).

 

Week 2: Empty plastic jars and detergent containers

 

 I have been saving dozens of jam jars, plastic lidded jars (the kind that festive cookies and snacks are sold in) and empty detergent bottles (even the ones from my parental home and from my former roommates) for years, and while tidying the Wee Green Flat, found that I had more than I need.

 

Some of the plastic jars were repurposed for storing compost in the freezer (I do have a compost pot in the balcony, but larger items such as mango and jackfruit seeds are stored in the freezer to prevent decomposition until I can bury them in the forest reserve behind the flat on weekends) or batteries and bulbs for e-waste recycling, and some will be given to my friend Reita for the indigenous communities she works with (the ladies have asked for these screw-top airtight jars for storing grains and sugar in).

 

The fabric softener and detergent bottles and several plastic jars were given to BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle), a detergent refill station that I frequent near the SPCA shelter. It would help customers who didn't bring their own containers and bottles, especially walk-in first time customers who would like to try out the products but could not do so without available empty containers.

 

Weeks 1 and 2: Books

 

Everybody loves books and it is difficult to view books as clutter. However, using the same Marie Kondo method of decluttering, I decided to let go of books I had enjoyed but am unlikely to read again. Now the books can bring others joy and knowledge as well.

 

 Some of the books were put on offer in my Freecycle album, while others would be given to the MNS Green Living Little Free Library.

 

  

Weeks 2 and 3: Electronic waste

 

I don't have many electrical or electronic devices, and those that I do are maintained, repaired and kept in a good condition so that they would last a long time. However, I do have broken phone chargers, an unrepairable phone, and an 8-year-old cheapie CD player that no longer works after Pix pushed it off a shelf by mistake.

 

I collected electronic waste from my flat, the parental home, my previous rented bachelor pad and from friends and stored them in a bag until I had enough to make a trip to our e-waste collection bin in the MNS headquarters worthwhile. I finally transported all of these to the e-waste bin one Saturday during our MNS branch AGM. It feels great to finally have these out of the house.

 

Week 3: Letters and documents 

Even though I had only recently moved to a new place and had spring-cleaned and decluttered aggressively, there are still things we can organise and declutter if we make up our minds to do it. I decluttered my document folders, removing expired coupons and vouchers, invoices, letters and documents I no longer need, instruction manuals and expired warranties for shredding and recycling.

 

Katniss decided to pose very prettily next to my stack of unwanted documents. Isn't she such a good helper?

 

Week 4: Clothes hangers, and more documents

 

I am running out of things to declutter in the Wee Green Flat. I did, however, find myself constantly annoyed by the assortment of colourful plastic hangers left in the laundry area by the previous homeowners. I prefer a streamlined look, and had brought with me my black clothes hangers to make my closet look less cluttered. I kept some of the clothes hangers for the drying rack, but packed up about 25 for Kedai Jalanan for the pop-up street store.

 

I also tidied up my backpack, wallet, and the cloth shopping bags I keep by the door, and sorted out more letters, documents, coupons, receipts and ticket stubs for recycling.

 

Week 4: Library labels 

Very few things left to declutter now, and my cabinets, cupboards and bed drawers are mostly empty anyway.

 

Still, it occurred to me that I should sort out my folder of stickers and library labels. These are sold in packs of 10-20 sheets each and are great for labelling things, but I will never foreseeably finish using them before they lose their adhesiveness or start 'foxing', since I have already had these for a few years. I kept only 2-3 sheets of each and cut the rest up into strips and put them in a large used envelope. I took these labels with me to Beacon the following week and used them as classroom rewards for cooperative and helpful behaviour and effort and correct answers. My students have reached that level of comfort and confidence around me that I normally don't have to bribe them into trying to answer questions or read aloud in class, but it was still nice to have something to give them, especially since they come from low-income families and do not have much pocket money for little luxuries.

 

If there is anything I know about children, it is that they love stickers and they love writing their names on everything, so the labels were extremely popular and the youngsters were practically fighting to answer questions. I was a little deaf and bedraggled by the end of the session but it was worth it, and I still have enough labels for a few more sessions.

 

Week 4: Parental home

 

Back at the parental home for part of the weekend. I spent 2 hours decluttering the cupboards in my childhood bedroom and cleared out a number of things for the charity shop and to be passed to Reita for the children in indigenous communities. (If you laugh at the pink pony coin purse, I'll kill you).

Of the toys I cleared out, I kept some of them and put them in small shoebox-sized toy bins that I set up in the parental home and the Wee Green Flat for children who visit. This way, the children will be kept busy and happy and our feline and canine children will not be harassed.

 

Week 4: Kitchen pantry

 

The initial plan was to clean out my refrigerator, but there really wasn't anything in it that needed removing. I eat mostly fresh organic produce and use up everything.

 

My kitchen pantry, however, was a bit of a disgrace. I have the habit of stocking up on things (normally organic dry food items, pet food and treats, household items and personal care products) when I spot a bargain, and the pantry was stuffed to bursting point. I sorted out the pantry and removed expired medication and First Aid products for safe disposal at the hospital medicine collection bins. I grouped like items together and put frequently-used and about-to-expire items in front.

 

The packets of organic snacks and dried fruit were transferred into clear jars and put on my entryway table where they are more likely to be seen and eaten by my friends who visit. The pantry cabinet doesn't look terrible now, even though it is still very full, but at least everything in it is needed and will be put to use.

 

End of Week 4: