Accessories (Chomel Jewelry)

I don't wear jewelry, but I like it. I get great satisfaction by looking at it. However, real precious metal jewelry, especially gold is very expensive. I only bought like three pieces before, and my mom gave me a bangle that I wore when I was a baby. Although some said that buying gold is investment, I couldn't justify buying gold jewelry and not wearing it. Might as well invest in gold account from banks. 

Anyway, thanks to online shopping platform, I found many cheap accessories, however, after watching some reports on the high percentage (much higher than allowable limit) of toxic chemicals found on cheap jewelries, I got cold feet. So, I started to look at cheaper precious metal, which is silver. Not sure how long silver can maintain the price, it's increasing like nobody business. Looking at the silver price trend, I actually buy more silver jewelry pieces. LOL! Before it increases until not affordable anymore.

Anyway, my latest purchase was a ring and bracelet from Chomel. It's a Singaporean company from the website introduction. I wondered where it's manufactured though, maybe in China or somewhere in South East Asia. 

rose gold plated ring with cubic zirconia stones

rose gold plated bracelet with cubic zirconia stones

I studied materials engineering for my degree and majority of the courses were metallurgy (steel) related. I was very fascinated with the metals, was even thinking to work in steel mill before I graduated, nowadays, I am more interested on precious metals. I guess the main metal for the ring and bracelet is silver and then coated with rose gold. The description on the metal is 18k rose gold, which is an alloy of gold and copper. Given the colour of the ring, I think the copper percentage is not so low though. 

No matter what the metal is, both the ring and bracelet are very good looking. The surface finishing is smooth and I didn't feel any kinky corner. I only wore it once though. Now it's inside my drawer. 

the invoice

inflated plastic to protect the items

the items came with paper bag and paper box

velvet bag

cloth to clean the jewelry

Anyway, I think one of the important parts of a bracelet is the clasp, it's quite sturdy, not bad. 

clasp of the bracelet

I was not exposed to all these items when I was growing up. I like to eat, however, as I aged, not a wise decision to eat like I was in my 20s. All these accessories are part of my emotional outlet after food. Ahh, so beautiful!

Dreame D20 Ultra Robot Vacuum & Mop - Maintenance & Cleaning

I had a medical scare last year and I was really tired all the time. Still, I couldn't stand too dirty floor and I still did all the cleaning jobs at home. I spent a lot of time and finally I surrendered and got a robot that could vacuum and mop. I saw the robot from a youtuber review. It sounds easy, hands free! 

However, after I did get it. I found out that I still had to do some basic maintenance on this, ergo cleaning. Well, I ran the robot everyday from Monday to Friday, on Saturday, I cleaned the parts. Let it rests on Sunday. On the robot maintenance videos, their robot parts were so clean! Mine were much dirtier than that. So I took it out, remove the dust, dirt and cleaned.

Below are the items that need regular cleaning, or else it will accumulate. And I doubted it could still do the job with the dirty parts.

vacuum box? before the dirt is sucked to the dust bag

side brush

roller

roller after thread being rolled into it and worn it out

another part that needed to be cleaned

base part - dirty water accumulated there

dock base parts that needed cleaning

dock base after cleaning

dock base after cleaning

Apart from the cleaning, some parts also need regular replacement. Yes, not only the dust bag. I didn't realize that before I got it. The side brush, roller, mop pad, HEPA filter, etc. And the genuine parts on Dreame are not cheap.

So I searched online and those dupes were much affordable than the genuine parts. 

Number 1 item: dust bag. Actually both are similar looking, but for the plastic connector, the dupe one is more flimsy compared to the genuine one, However, for the price (~80% cheaper), it's ok as long as it works. This is consumable parts, for me, don't need to use too high grade parts. 

left: dupe, right: genuine original

genuine dust bag connector

dupe dust bag connector

Number 2 item: roller. The genuine one is around RM79. And the dupe is around RM9 from some China shop in Lazada. The materials feel different, but it's still ok. My original roller also get caught up with thread and worn until a very visible dent could be found. After I replaced with this dupe part, still working. And there's a 3 year old child in my house, toys, etc are scattered around, not long after, this dupe roller also got some wear and tear marks. Nevermind, dupe is cheaper, can change regularly. 

left: genuine roller, right: new dupe roller

both dupe and genuine has some connecting end shape

dupe roller, after 1 month use

Number 3 item: side brush, it's around RM79 for 2 in Dreame offical store. I did try to get the dupes, however, I couldn't find the brush for this exact model, most description is for model with like one character different, I did ask the customer service, and the person mentioned it's compatible. I bought one and sad to say, it's not, the connecting part shape is different. I bought from official store after that, because my robot keep coming up with error "side brush wrapped", I thought it's the side brush issue and changed it. However, not working and I finally contacted the service center. Then, I sent the robot to the service center to get it fixed. It's the motor issue. Customer service for Dreame was actually very decent, they did informed that they could arrange courier to get it from me if I still had the box, I didn't, so I sent it personally to Bukit Raja. And after repaired, they agreed to send it to me by courier. I got it back safe and sound, and I kept the box, just in case, mana tau!

Dreame D20 Ultra error code: The side brush wrapped

I already got the dupe mop map, hepa filter too. But I haven't replace it yet. Hope it works! My friend told me cannot simply use other detergent, I think I will get the genuine detergent after the current bottle finish. Conclusion, I think getting this is a really good investment, although I still have to spend time cleaning it on weekend, at least, for five days a week, only job is just to add clean water and pour the dirty water out. And if not satisfy with the cleaning job, just request the robot to re-do the cleaning, no one will complain to you. Hahah!

Frozen Corn in Instant Oat

Finally I saw frozen corn only packet in supermarket. I really don't like the mixed vegetables (green bean, carrot and corn) frozen pack, mainly I don't prefer the green bean. But a lot of people like it on fried rice. 

There's frozen sweet corn from two brands, both from China. It's actually slightly more expensive than I thought. I bought one pack from Kawan and it's around RM6.50 for 500g. 

frozen sweet corn

Product of China

My initial plan was to just add boiling water to the frozen corn and instant oat. Finally, after some thoughts, I don't dare to do that, I boiled it in a pan, then poured it into the cup with instant oat. 

frozen corn

boiled sweet corn

The instant oat was around half a cup, then the corn and water formed the other half. Then, I added a spoon of fruit jam. I bought the most affordable one, Eva fruit jam. It was our family go-to brand when my parents had 4 school going children. Nowadays, I bought the diabetic fruit jam for my mother. She has diabetes and has to control sugar intake.  

add a spoon of fruit jam

After I added the fruit jam, I put a plate over the cup to prevent heat loss. I got the idea to add fruit jam from the overnight oat meal recipes. I think it's important to add some flavours to the instant oat, the frozen corn was not so flavourful though, so adding fruit jam helped. 

Well, it's palatable, not bad, hahaha!

instant oat with corn and fruit jam

So, my dinner was instant oat with corn, and instant noodle. I noticed that the Shin Ramyun was made in Korea, however, I think I bought one that was made in China last time. Anyway, I just noticed the potato starch made up 19% of the noodles, no wonder it tasted different than normal instant noodle.  

Shin Ramyun

ingredients

shim ramyun with fish cakes

Happy eating!

Malaysian Styled Kimchi Cabbage

I always like kimchi, it was my go to vegetable when I was in Japan during winter. A big container of made in Japan kimchi was around 500 to 600 yen only (I only picked the cheapest), there were other more premium made in Japan kimchi. The made in Korea kimchi was more expensive in Japan supermarket. That was more than 10 years ago, I didn't know what is the price nowadays. Anyway, kimchi in Malaysia is not that cheap either. Although I am a stingy person, I still bought kimchi now and than from supermarket, only small bottle and normally it's more than RM10. I searched for "kimchi" in Lazada and sort from cheapest, there're many kimchi products from China. Read in an article somewhere that even Korea imported kimchi from China nowadays. 

From the sorting in Lazada, the cheapest kimchi is around RM5 per 100g. To me, actually it's still ok. But sometimes, one needs to do some DIY, not just to save money, but also to spend time and energy on something that is not a digital activity. I have been making kimchi for a few times. 

I watched a lot of videos of easy kimchi making and read the theory of fermentation. This round, for the first time, I also added white carrot (daikon). Daikon was added because I saw it in the supermarket. Last few times, I didn't see it, so I didn't buy it. Since it's the first time I would add daikon, I read in FB, reddit on theory whether it's needed to draw the water out of daikon. Then, whether to use brining or dry salted. Finally I settled on brining. Well, I felt that it's easier to brine. 

I bought cabbage (not Napa cabbage, it's easier to just get cabbage), carrot, green onion, daikon, red chilies (I took 10 and only 2 were being used), Baba's chili powder and salt. I didn't get chili flakes, I felt that it's kind of expensive. I also add a bulb of red onion and two cloves of garlic.   

daikon and green onion

carrot, cabbage and red chilies

I cleaned everything, then cut daikon into cubes, carrots, red onion, green onions into sticks, and cabbage into pieces. Then, for the cabbage and daikon, I put all into a bowl and filled it up with water and added salt. I didn't measure how much salt I added, just by feeling. I think I put too little because I started the brining process on around 10pm, the next morning 8.30am, when I checked the cabbage, it could still be broken easily. So, I changed the water and added more salt until I tried the water and it's very salty. The second round, I brined until around 3pm, the cabbage was more flexible. Then, I washed the cabbage and daikon to get rid of the salty water and let it to dry. The weather was hot, around 6pm, when I checked, it's ok, so I started to put everything together.

brining

drying cabbage and daikon after cleaned off the salty water

First, I poured the carrot, green onion, red onion, chili, garlic into a big mixing bowl. Then, I added 2 big spoons of sugar. The role of sugar was to provide food to the yeast. For those who are health conscious, one can use fruits like apple or pear. I am cheap, I use sugar. But I think I added too much sugar, because the next day 10am, I found that it's already bubbling. Normally, not so fast. After sugar, I added chili powder and soy sauce. Mine can be considered vegan kimchi, my family don't use fish sauce. 

carrot, green onion, red onion, chili, garlic

add chili powder and soy sauce

After added all the ingredients, I mixed with hand, and after mixed evenly, I put all into glass containers. Only one of the glass containers was bought, others were reuse fruit jam jar and free gift. I would use this on instant noodles, or eat as it is, or cooked it with tofu soup.

before start to ferment

After that, it's left outside at room temperature to ferment, maybe due to the weather or too much sugar, on next day, after around 14 hours, I could see there are many bubbles, means that it already started fermenting, producing carbon dioxide. From my last experience, to reach that level, normally I needed around 2 days. Anyway, after I saw that active carbon dioxide production, I stored all into the refrigerator, I don't like it to be so sourish. 

bubbles - start fermenting

Finally, cost calculation, for the 3 containers, it's around RM20. Actually, the vegetables didn't cost so much, it's the chili powder and soy sauce that make up major chunk of the cost. Anyway, still cheaper than store bought. 

item	price (RM)
cabbage	3.03
carrot	0.71
red chilies	0.32
daikon	1.76
green onion	2.50
chili powder	5.30
salt	0.60
soy sauce	3.00
others	2.00
total	19.22

Nivea Body Lotion

Recently I finished a bottle of Nivea Body Milk. And I do have a standby, and when arranged side by side, I noticed that the packaging is a bit different. The "intensive moisture body mils (48h)" still the same, but the vitamin E and avocado oil sequence is changed. 

Nivea Body Milk (left is finished, right is newer)

The most important is behind of the bottle, the newer one is 20ml lesser. Shrinkflation here. I bought these for more than 10 years I think, last time I could buy 2 bottles for RM30 in Guardian Pharmacy. Now, normally one bottle would be above RM20. Inflation and shrinkflation, Haiz!

the older is 400ml, the newer is 380ml

packaging behind the older version

The behind of the newer version is cleaner, not too busy. 

packaging on newer version

It's still made in Thailand though, and going through the ingredients list, still the same. And for the newer version, there's an asterisk and mentioned that "test on 33 volunteers by Skin Investigation and Technology, October 2017". I think this is to say I don't use animal testing, maybe?

older version ingredients

newer version ingredients

I had this bad habit of stocking up. Due to the packaging is different, I somehow checked the expiry date for the older bottle, LOL, it expired on 2024, I think I bought too much few years ago. Luckily, my skin can tolerate this. 

expired on 2024, and only finished on March 2026

I think will going to use Nivea Body Lotion for years to come. Unless there's another affordable and ok on my skin body lotion comes out.