Sleep Like a Baby with ErgoLush Gel-Infused Memory Foam Mattress Topper

Product review

Image source: https://mattresstopper.sg

It is a well-established fact that getting enough of quality sleep during the night is crucial for our long-term health and well being. 

Before I had kids, I could sleep like a log. I was able to drift off to sleep easily, enjoyed prolonged periods of deep sleep and managed to even sleep through noise. I wistfully remember the years I used to get a minimum of 7 hours sleep at night. All through my teenage years and early twenties, I would retire to bed by 10:30pm (latest by 11pm) and rise by 6:30am. The regular sleep schedule coupled with good quality of sleep meant that I never ever felt sleep-deprived (even during stressful examination times).

As the years went by, I started staying up late at night (the husband's bad habit brushed off on me) and waking up earlier (to get some exercise in and then dash to work). My nightly sleep reduced to about 6 and a half hours. I could still function normally and never felt like sleep was an issue.

Fast forward to today - if I get 6 hours of sleep at night, I consider it a personal victory 😕 Most days it is about 5 hours and 30 minutes. I know this because of the sleep tracking function offered by my Fitbit. I do have some good nights but those are few and far between.

The drop in the quality of sleep began during my pregnancy and after the twins were born, it progressed to full-fledged insomnia. I'm assuming it was the cocktail of surging hormones coupled with motherhood anxiety and round-the-clock nursing that put my internal clock out of whack. And the change, unfortunately, hasn't been transient. Since the past five years or so, it takes me much longer to drift off to sleep, I'm sensitive to the slightest of sounds, I awaken multiple times each night and at times, getting back to sleep takes a herculean effort. I often wake up feeling tired and as the day progresses, the feeling only intensifies and I find it hard to focus on the task at hand. Feeling really, truly rested is a luxury to me now.

Don't get me wrong, my children themselves are not to blame for my predicament. They have been terrific sleepers since the time they were 5 months old. I haven't even been sleeping in the same room as them since the past 2 years but still, good quality sleep continues to evade me. I am generally a happy, healthy and active person with little to no stress in my life so this is something that I just can't comprehend. It is one area of my life that I have been striving to improve but with little success. 

That being said, no one is a perfect sleeper. All of us wake up at some point between sleep cycles, or to use the bathroom, adjust to a more comfortable position, and a certain amount of waking during the night is normal and to be expected. But fragmented sleep and insomnia are problems that hamper the quality of life and have to be taken seriously. 

So when the kind folks at SleepWiz contacted me to review their Ergo Lush Gel-Infused Memory Foam Mattress Topper, given my history, I felt like I was the perfect candidate to do so! 

Image source: https://mattresstopper.sg

SleepWiz is a company that aims to help Singaporeans sleep better and feel amazing the next day.  In today's stressful world, that is a pretty good enterprise if you ask me.

Recipe of the month: Roasted Butternut Squash and Farro Salad

YES ✌

Finally the time has come for another salad on the blog (bringing my grand total to three 😂). I had started feeling guilty for promising to post more salad recipes and not staying true to my word. But better late than never right?

I showcase a lot of the salads that I make for myself and the husband on a weekly basis on Instagram (if you are not following me yet....what are you waiting for dude?). But like I've said somewhere before, preparing a salad for a blog post is a challenge for me because it requires me to do it over the weekend and the thought of eating salads over the weekend never crosses our mind. Not that we are casting any aspersions on their potential to serve as a good appetizer or even as a main meal, but we have so many other classic dishes, comfort foods and indulgent meals that we would much rather make on the weekend owing to the luxury of time and energy.

But I do get a ton of requests to post more salad recipes on the blog so I decided to break my weekend rule for a change. It turned out to be a good thing too because on that particular day, after a hearty brunch of homemade mushroom-ricotta ravioli in a luxurious tomato-cream sauce, we felt like having a light dinner and this salad worked like a charm.

So, this is how a little backstory of how this salad came together.

When it comes to salad grains, my numero uno is farro....by a MILE. Farro gets an A-plus nutritional rating. It is nearly fat-free and completely cholesterol-free, making it a heart-healthy choice and perfect for vegetarians and vegans. Farro is a great source of iron and is extremely high in fiber. However note that while farro is a whole grain, it is not gluten-free. I love how nutty and chewy this ancient grain is and how it beautifully blends into any salad. Quick cook farro is so much more convenient since the cooking time is drastically reduced but I don't always get my hands on it so I make do with the regular kind (in Singapore I usually buy from Cold Storage or Redmart). I have a tendency to favour farro, pearl barley and pearl couscous in the salads I make probably because of their texture. On the other hand, I am not picky when it comes to salad leaves. I like 'em all. I tend to use baby spinach a lot more because of its nutritional value, easy availability and the fact that I enjoy it. In my household, we love butternut squash and pumpkin. My most preferred way of cooking the squash family is roasting in the oven because it just turns so tender and sweet. The other components of this salad were fairly easy choices - feta cheese (gotta have it every time), pistachios (by far, my most favourite nut) and dried cranberries (I am obsessed with them). I like the bite raw onions give to salads so I generally add them but if that isn't something you would like, you can either skip them or consider roasting the onions in the oven along with the squash.

For the dressing, I rustled up my favourite apple cider vinegar - Dijon mustard vinaigrette. You could use whatever salad dressing you like but I suggest you try this one (if you haven't yet). I usually don't use store-bought salad dressings except for one roasted garlic balsamic vinaigrette that I love. I just want to avoid any nasties store-bought salad dressings may contain so I am more comfortable preparing my own. It hardly takes 5 minutes anyway.

I hope you try this salad. Go through the notes section for loads of suggestions on substitutions and variations.

Happy grazing.

Valentine's Special: Nanaimo Bars

I saw these delectable bars on a blog I religiously follow about 7 years ago and it was love at first sight. Until then, I had frankly never even heard of Nanaimo Bars.

The Nanaimo bar is a dessert item of Canadian origin. This no-bake dessert is named after the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island. It consists of three layers: a wafer and coconut crumb-base, custard flavoured butter icing in the middle and a layer of chocolate ganache on top. Many varieties exist, consisting of different types of crumb, different flavours of icing (e.g. mint, peanut butter, coconut, mocha), and different types of chocolate.

The idea for trying out the recipe had been lurking somewhere in the depths of my mind all these years. It wasn't until last week while casually browsing instagram, these Nanaimo Bars popped up on my feed and propelled me into action. With Valentine's Day around the corner and all things chocolate gaining all-round favour, I thought there couldn't be a more perfect time to make these for my family. 

With a crunchy and nutty texture on the bottom, creamy sweet custard goodness in the middle and decadent chocolate on top, I can completely understand why these bars are so popular. And although I imagined that these bars would taste cloyingly sweet, they were actually just right (for me) so that turned out to be another win. My husband and kids loved them too so I feel a bit silly waiting so long to try the recipe 😝

Now, if you have followed my previous Valentine's Day posts, you will know that I don't attach any special significance to this day. It is like any other day (except that I eat more fancy than usual and  subsequently get high on sugar). I genuinely believe that I am an affectionate person by nature and I do try my best to make those dear to me happy on a daily basis. And when it comes to food, they way I express my love is loud and clear 😁

That being said, I do have a tradition of making a special dessert on this day every year. It is just something that I like doing and it makes my family happy, so heck, why not right? If you are like me and plan to whip up a sweet treat for a loved one, then you cannot go wrong with these Nanaimo Bars. In case you want to try some other dessert, I have recipes for all kinds of cakes, cupcakes, pies, brownies, tarts, fudge and cookies in the recipe archives so take a good look around okay?

I took my own sweet time to make this dessert and so it ended up being a leisurely task. The blog post on the other hand was a completely different story. I had no other time to photograph the dessert except for a busy weekday morning (that also happened to be cloudy) so in the midst of getting ready for work and attending to the kids, I did the best I could. And did I mention, my kids were climbing all over me to get "good pictures" of my creation with their little cybershot camera? 😀 I've spared you from my characteristic ramblings in this introduction of this post because, I honestly didn't have time for any of it.

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours 💖