Cooking

Dear hubby commented that ever since I started blogging, my cooking has become less thoughtfulness and less sastifying. (Hinting of degrading in quality) I must admit that, it’s quite true. Instead of going through the recipe books, trying out different recipes, what I did in the past 1 month is to ransack my fridge and simply hantam with whatever ingredients I have to come out with some REAL simple dishes. (Which is less presentable but still palatable to my standard) I’m just a novice cook, hence not possible for me to cook up a feast by just running through what I have in the fridge. (Need to do careful ‘research’ and preparation before something more presentable can be served, make sure everyday there is different variety and no repetation.Can’t be doing spicy food all week long, or deep fried too often, as hubby will surely got sure throat and tummy ache) And also the kids has been on boring porriadge daily… poor kids.

So what I’m going to do now is to have a planner every Sunday. Planning the menu ahead for the week. Need to be more thoughtful on the drinks as well. To keep in mind to alternate between healing teas, juices and dessert (糖水) ie bubur cha cha , red bean. Before dear hubby banned me from blogging.

Here’s what we having tonight

1) Deep fried prawn wonton
2) Pan fried salmon marinate with teriyaki sauce
3) Stir fried asparagus with fish cake in abalone sauce and shiu hing cooking wine
4) Radish and dried cuttlefish soup

Drinks we have figs (无花果) and longan aril. This drink is believe to be able to moisten the spleen, stomach and lungs. It can reduce heatiness, dispel phlegm, stop cough, engender fluids, ease discomfort in the throat and cure constipation and piles. And it’s easy to boil

Dress Up

Lately JS likes to dress up like a muslim lady. She will take the silk scarf and asked us to wear “ludung” (her way of saying tudung) for her. She has seen the neighbourhood aunties, kakak, our previous weekend cleaners, schoolmate wearing one, hence she’s following their “fashion”. She call herself Kak Ros (the urut lady that came to our place during my confinement). I think she does look like an authentic Muslim.

A Little Accident

A little accident happened when I was composing my Bee Hive recipe post. Heard JS crying in agony in the living room ..

She came to me showing me her thumb.

Baby had bitten her while they playing doctor and left this tiny hole on her thumb.
As for baby I heard him laughing “kakakakaka” outside when JS crying in here. Ask him why he bite jie jie.. he said “armmmm….armmmm…armmmmmm” and wanted to bite me too…. such a naughty boy!

Bee Hive Cake

Today I’m trying out my mum’s recipe of bee hive cake. First time making, a little anxious whether it would turn out ok.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup plain flour
5 eggs
1/2 cup condensed milk
1 tbsp bicarbonate soda
2 level tbsp butter
This is the cup I use for measuring in this particular recipe. Not those conventional measuring cups meant for cooking

Method
1) Melt the sugar until disolved. Become 糖浆.

2) Add in water and bring to boil. Leave aside to let cold. This is the syrup after adding water to the disolved sugar.

3) Sieve flour together with Bicarbonate of Soda.

4) Beat eggs together with butter, then add in condensed milk. (Use manual egg beater) Beat the mixture till blended well.


5) Fold in flour. Mix well

6) Lastly, add in the syrup and beat well with egg beater until there are a lot of bubbles
7) Bake in moderate oven until golden brown

The end product… smell, look, taste exactly the same like what my mum had made.(She hasn’t bake this cake for so long) That was many many years ago, maybe in my primary school day. Hhmmm….so nostalgic eating this cake.

In the process of making this cake, I had wasted 4 eggs. The last egg I cracked into the mixing bowl was a rotten egg… gosh..it stint ..and the earlier 4 eggs had to go into the dustbin together with the rotten one.

Texture of this cake is not buttery, creamy or spongy. In fact it is a little springy. A little similar like “pat tong ko” which can be found in the kueh stall in market. I think “pat tong ko” is steamed version, but above is baked.

Playing Doctor

One of the kids’ favourite game is playing Doctor-Patient. JS will always be the doctor, WH, me or the maid be the patient and I would also be the doctor’s assistant or just plain being mummy. Most often they will just be glad to play by themself
Setting up their “clinic”, JS helps WH to get up to the doctor’s bed.

Comfortably lying down waiting to be checked
“Doctor” getting ready to work
Taking temparature
Giving baby a jab

These are the things that I often hear my little “doctor” telling her patient or the patient’s mummy

Doctor: WH, lai lai (come come) , lie down here, let me check. Where pain?
Doctor: Don’t be scared huh, not pain huh, lie down properly
Doctor: Ahhh, let me check our mouth
Doctor: Baby, you cannot share your drinks huh (mummy always say this to her that she must not share her drinks at school)
Doctor: Baby, you must take warm water, no cold water huh, no cold food, no cold fruits. You know
Doctor: Baby, you cannot drink milk from bottle huh, teeth will spoil. (again, this is what mummy always said)
Doctor: Baby, you must lie down properly drink milk, after get ear infection.
Doctor: Baby, when your shirt wet, must quickly change huh, must wipe dry dry.
Doctor: Open mouth..ah..yah..like that like that
Doctor: Relax huh, where pain, mana sakit
Doctor: Lie down here, this way, this way
Doctor: Must eat alot of vege, drink alot of water then only can ng ng
Doctor: Nah..here’s your medicine

The doctor buruk sounds more like mummy talking than what a real doctor would say.

When she’s sick of playing doctor, she wants to be patient, and FORCE baby to be doctor…
JS: Babbbbby, Babbbbby, come check me….sakit lah

She even force WH to be the patient sometimes

Isn’t it fun just to be able to stay home to be with the kids, enjoy them, watch them, be part of their growing up and have a good laugh.

More About WH

1) Baby can pull a stool all by himself and step on it to reach for the high surface.

2) When baby wants to call me to go to him, he will waves his hand at him and make this sound “Ahhh….Ahhh…Ahhh…”

3) Where’s baby? Can’t find him anywhere around the house, when to check in the bedroom.. he has quietly went to sit on the potty ready to poo.

4) WH likes to hug us from behind especially me and the maid and kiss our butt, pull our pants and skirts.

5) WH grabs maid’s breast and said nen nen nen nen(SO EMBRASSING!)

6) When JS’s crying (mostly because of manja), WH will give us this cheeky look, then he would imitates his sister’s cry. After that he would give himself a good laugh.

Wrong Timing

My girl alway likes to do her big business at the wrong timing.

1) Each time we want to rush to school. Already 5 minutes late and just before we step out the house, she would say, “mummy, I want ng ng”

2) When getting her to nap or sleep at night. After turning and tossing and I’m almost 1/2 asleep she would say, ” I want ng ng berak lah”

3) When she’s in the midst of eating, still with food in her mouth, she will go sit on the potty then after finish her business, she can continue her meal somemore

4) When I’m in the midst of having my meal…so with food in my mouth, I have to clean her and then proceed with the rest of my meal again.

I guess that’s part of motherhood…on standby to clean up whenever summoned!!

I Want A Mei Mei

Some months back we have brought up the topic of a baby for JS. We asked her would she like to have another baby and whether she wants a meimei or a didi. She said she wants a meimei.

Weeks ago, I told her if there is a meimei, when mummy need to go hospital to deliver the baby, she would have to stay back home with didi, daddy, kakak and possibily with ah kong, ah mah and ku ma.

JS: Then..who is going to take care of me?
ME: Daddy and Kakak will.
JS: Who is going to sleep with me at night?
ME: Daddy
JS: I don’t want to have a meimei already lah. You don’t need to go hospital. (JS is too attached to me, so look said and troubled with the thought that there is a possibility that I might not be around her)

Last night before bedtime, our routine of playing in the room and story reading. Out of the sudden to brought up the topic again. And here goes our early sex education.

JS: Mummy, I want a meimei
ME: Wait for the time to come, ok?
JS: Mummy, where meimei come from huh?
ME: From mummy’s tummy. Mummy’s tummy have to grow very big, then only got meimei
JS: Why now no meimei in mummy’s tummy yet?
ME: Because we haven’t made one yet
JS: How’s meimei made?
ME: There’s the egg in mummy’s tummy, mummy and daddy have to love each other then only the egg will grow and then have a meimei
JS: Why never make now? Where’s the egg? Why mummy’s tummy not big yet? (She thought that the meimei can pop out instantly from my tummy… haha)
ME: Wait lah…not time yet (At this time..dear hubby walks in the room)
JS: Daddy, why you haven’t made meimei yet?
DH: (As smart as he always is) because you must learn how to take care of didi first. You have to love didi, share your things, don’t snatch toys from didi, don’t push and scold didi. Can you do that?
ME: Yeah… you have to love didi first.
JS: I can..

I wonder why she suddenly brought this up. But it’s also a good chance to start of with sex education as it’s not a taboo to us. I have actually bought this book called Birds, Bees & Kids. It’s a very good sex education book for young children.

For me I really wish and hope that my next pregnancy would be a baby girl. Why a girl? Because JS’s has got a lot of nice cloths that she hardly wears and is still in very good condition, what a waste to keep it aside or give away, might as well hand me down to another girl. A sister can also give JS a good companionship. At least she would have someone to talk to, go shopping with. I don’t have any sister myself, and I long for one. I envy both my SILs as they are very close, they go shopping together, they share almost everything. I envy my mother and her youngest sister, when I was young, aunty always come over to our house to chit chat with mum, they exchange opinions on cooking and fashion. I envy my cousins June and July. They are both very close to each other. That’s why I hope that I can give JS a sister to share that kind of bond.

Copy Cat

I have a little copy cat at home. WH will tags along JS and copy almost everything she does. Though he still can’t speak much words, but he certainly can copy each sound that JS made. He would copy her, when she dance, follow exactly the same movement, he would want to play the things JS’s playing, he would sit down and do writing and drawing when JS is doing so. He wants to sit together with JS the way she sat. Now that I buy things for the kids , I need to buy a pair so that they won’t fight. Even for clothings, if I buy a new one for JS, I would need to buy one for WH too. Sometimes he even go to JS’s drawer and pick some of JS’s cloth that he wants to try on.

Even for feeding medicine.. those chinese medicine with very strong smell, if I only gave it to WH, he would usually spit it out. If I feed JS first, then he would follow and finish off in one gulp.

When I’m bathing JS, he would also want to join in. The problem is when I do let him, he likes to touch his sister naked body. (actually he likes to touch everyone naked body… I wonder why… so young already so “hamsup” or just plain inquisitives)

All the time WH will look intensly, observing his sister and try to copy as much as possible. I guess it’s a process of learning. I haven’t notice these much during JS growing up phase, as I was working full time and also there isn’t any kids around the house that she can actually imitate. Now that looking at WH, it can be quite amusing to see him does all the little acts. Of course this sometimes irritates JS.

Cough & Wheezing

Just only after one day of school, JS started to cough badly again and with bad wheezing. She has also vomitted twice. Keeps me wondering, it’s the food that the teachers had offered or was it the environment. Is her sensitive/allergy brochial that bad?? Because of the cough so frequently, we have actually deprive her from many things she used to enjoy before ie ice cream, certain fruits and food and we don’t even bring her to the pool anymore. Was it her body way of protesting of going to school that make her sick each time, so that she can get to stay home?? Makes my heart ache to see her cough like that. So, off to staying home again for this week.

Now the 2 sided me is fighting against each other. The kiasu side has wanted JS to continue school, the other side of me think her health is more important. I feel like crying and being like tearing apart on coming up with a decision. No matter how many million times I chant “I dont want to be kiasu” “I don’t want to be kiasu” “I don’t want to be kiasu” ….. but the evil side of this kiasuism still seems to stand out louder than the other side of me.