Recent cooks

A whole week of lonely lunch and lonely dinner. K is busy with his most dreaded NUS project which keeps the team working 16 to 19-hour days. Madness!

Chicken congee. Cooked with chicken bone leftover from XY's steamed chicken thigh. Remember I said I will be frugal? Ok maybe this is toooo frugal. Btw I decided not to buy a whole chicken afterall. My boss, K (the chicken breast hater) irritates me so much whenever he eats. Every pce of chicken he takes, he will ask me "Is this chicken breast?" despite me pre-empt him he will be expected to eat whatever is in his bowl and no more choosing cuz I want to be frugal. Forget it. Let me find other ways to be frugal. *Great. I mentioned FRUGAL 4 times in this short paragraph. 5th time.*

Anyway the congee was yummy. i always cook my congee with some chinese herbs for flavour. Added some beancurd skin too and it went very well with the congee.



I suck at taking soup pictures. Sorry soups!!
This is my most wonderful soup by far. Remember I cooked lotus root peanut soup the previous week? Bubblygal gave me this idea to cook it with chicken bones and pork ribs for more flavour and I did. I was sooo happy with it. And I sliced the lotus root thinner than before after K feedback to me previous week that I cut it too thick. Needless to say XY had the soup as a stock base for her porridge. Lucky girl she is. Mummy always cooks yummy porridge for her and she can still eat with difficulty. *drum roll* Guess what happened in the end? K started the 1st day of the work week stuck with that horrible job and he didn't get to drink the soup at all. Not willing to give up, I heated a bowl for him the next morning. "Forced" him to drink some before he went to office. I saw myself a bit like those housewives in Korean drama who has to cook rice and soup for the whole family for breakfast. Except that what I did was give my hubby leftover rice and soup...

Cheater dish: Soft tofu with pork floss. Yes, can't think of anything to cook so I made this. Luckily I didn't cook other dish cuz I ended up eating dinner alone.

Nicer version of 鲁肉饭. To make myself happy, I bought this "don" bowl from Daiso. Nicer presentation I eat also happier.

药材鸡with the skin on. Was meant to be for K (who feedback to me must have the skin on then taste nice) but since he's stuck at work, I ate it. He's damn right, it tastes better with skin on even if you don't eat the skin.

Aglio Olio. This was for lunch. Angel's hair is my favourite pasta for now. Only dump in and stir for a few moments and it's done. No need to use timer.

This was for dinner the following night.

I've decided to include some of XY's meals too. This is porridge (mixed brown, red and white rice. no millet) cooked with cherry tomatoes. I usually put 1:1 ratio for rice and millet but some meals I omit millet. Topped with sauce from steamed fish.



Steamed threadfin with miso paste. I didn't taste it as I'm scared of fishy smell but I think it must have been great cuz she seems to love it so much. No fussing during the meal and she finished everything within 20min which is a good timing for her.

New Ikea table and chair

Oops posted the trip to Ikea but forgotten to show what we bought there. Same table as what Adelle has. I got her the chair with backing cuz she has this habit of leaning back.

We were playing a game of cutting veggies and fruits. Tough job cuz Mummy has to hold Bean's right hand to hold the knife and hold the fruit on my other hand and together we will "cut" the fruit. Just a few days only and 1 side of the broccoli gone missing. Really tired to find it. The whole of this week is a tough one. K been working minimum 16 hour days for the whole week, reaching home only after Bean and I long slept. I've been living a single mum life for the past few days.

Beanster family outing Oct 2010

Mama decided it was time to buy Miss Beanie a little table from the day we had Aqua Doodling session and the girl kept stepping and sitting on the mat itself. Ok, have to admit after seeing Adelle's new bedroom, mama very gian to go Ikea walk walk.

The cheeky girl in her favourite seat. I swear she loves this seat sooo much that she don't even care where are her parents once she's placed inside. Most of the time she'll be in a world of her own or fall asleep if it was a longer journey.



New Robeez shoes. The soles are too soft. She will need a real soled shoes for the next pair. The pair of Clarks hand-me-downs sandals from her cousin can still fit her lengthwise but too tight at the width.

Children's section at Ikea Tampines. Her daddy wanted to buy the soft soccer ball for her. Weird right? No meaning one. End up never buy la.

He also wanted to buy her the rocker toy. More weird. Waste of money. Of course never buy la.

The egg chair-lookalike. This one daddy did not say want to buy. Very expensive ok. $119!!! If buy this one I will die of exhaustion of playing peek-a-boo the whole day. Is it by default kids like to play peek-a-boo and catching?

She was enjoying it so much, so many actions but I couldn't capture any good shots.

Wa another interesting station which got her attention for a long time.

Should have taken pics of her rolling about on Ikea (dusty) beds. Yes she loves doing it and refused to go when we carried her away. Thanks to her dad's good idea of letting her "try" one. And best of all, she actually remembered WHERE is the bed section and kept going back towards that direction. We had a hard time fighting her off that. My Bean Bean is a very persistent girl ok.

Before checking out, we had a short break at the cafeteria. Look what the little girl is holding on to - French fries. The mama, me went to search for mini fork and returned to see daddy already given her fries. Chey wasted my effort and wasted the fork. Nevermind, mama brought the disposable fork home to use as a 道具during her meal times. Don't make me go into the details of HOW a disposable fork is useful during feeding time.

Bonus videos to see how Little Miss Rocker reacts to eating junk food. By the way the fish nuggets was very flour-ey. Even LMR the junk food learner did not like it.

Bean eating fries.



Bean eating flour-ey fish nugget.

Recent cooks

It was a soupy week this week. 3 soups and a stew.

1st attempt at peanut lotus root soup. There was chicken feet too but the pic looks so scary, better not post it. Really good so I'll make it again the following week except it will be pork ribs instead of chicken. I read somewhere not to give peanut to children below age of 2 years old due to allergy precautions but I gave this soup to XY. I used the soup as a base stock to cook her porridge for dinner. She turned out fine so it's safe for me to cook this soup on regular basis.



1 thing to note: Fairprice sells lotus root much cheaper than the wet market I go to.

The laziest soup one can think of - Corn, carrot soup. Works all the time. No skills required.

Bean loves exotic porridge

3rd time mama cooked beetroot porridge for her. The colour was so intense that even mama herself dare not try it.

She seemed interested...

Bean: "Mama, is that some coloured paste or a patch of uncooked minced beef? It looks so funny."

Bean: "Just a small bite to test ok."

Bean: "Hm... seems edible enough."

She gave face by finishing up the whole bowl. Usually mama is satisfied if she can finish about 80% of the porridge.

Someone's growing to be more girly

Just taken in the evening. Her Daddy was so surprised to see his little girl has grown up so much. *He worked late 2 days this week and both days he was back, Bean Bean has already slept. Yes back to 9pm bedtime.*



She may have matured in her looks but look at the way she stacks the hoop toy. Hahaha still cannot get them in order. I thought she at least knew the blue one should go first but then she was in her "anyhow" mood again. Just 2 days back, she impressed her 舅舅twice by stacking all 5 colours in order. Twice!! That was probably by chance...



Not even in the mood to complete all 5 pcs. Mama says "dots".

Jo can brag!

Yes... after putting this little keyfob in storage for over a year, the mama finally took it out and put it to use. Home keys on the fob.



And now I can brag all I want :))

Xiang Ying loves "catching"!

Eversince she started walking well, she makes us play this little game with her whenever there is a chance. Sometimes we get tired but she's still full of energy. We play with her hoping to make her tired and easier to sleep. Last night it worked, she fell asleep without much fussing.

Recent cooks

Besides trying out new dishes for the husband, I do think of something new for the little one too.

There was this day mama decided to make the usual fish and pumpkin a little more interesting by steaming the pumpkin and when it is almost ready, add in the fish to steam together. Scoop some olive oil spread and mash everything together. I decided to try out the olive oil spread since it seems healthier than butter.

This is the outcome. Looks quite good eh?

Angel's hair for her carbo intake. Pasta was cut into bite size and mixed with the pumpkin/fish puree. Verdict: Did she like it? NO!!! Ok nice try. Try harder next time.



Back to adult's menu...

I had a pack of baby kailan in the fridge and thinking how to cook it. Don't want to do stir-fry with oyster sauce again. K not sick of it, I also sick of it. So I decided to be creative.

Step 1: Make golden garlic bits.
Step 2: Fry dried shrimps till brown and nice.

Step 3: Blanch the veggies in boiling water (salt and some oil added into the water to retain a good colur) and mix with pre-prepared seasoning.

Sprinkle 1 & 2 over 3 and this makes a nice vegetable dish. Not too much work and yet makes everyone happy :)

阿晴经济小炒 Part 1: Fried ikan bilis (anchovies).
My sis and I grew up eating this home-cooked dish. I think it was mostly cooked my our father but don't know for what reason, he stopped making it since about 10 years ago. So, there was this day AJ went to 福华 to buy some 干粮 for cooking and decided to try to replicate this ikan bilis dish. And AJ surprised herself cuz at the very first attempt, she succeeded. Even K who usually don't care much for ikan bilis loved it. In fact he was skeptical when he had the first mouth. First reaction was: "You bought it right?" As it happens, he has a wife who often likes to pull his legs (whenever possible), he doesn't believe it when his wife told him she cooked it. Till at least more than 3 times affirmation and a straight face. Another way to look at it, stop looking down on his wife's cooking already!

Ok I must admit it I am quite obsessed with this that I actually cooked it 3 times in a week. 3 times also eat with porridge some more. I had told myself not to finish it. Can keep for a few days in an airtight container was what I told K. I ended up finishing up the whole box. *Secret recipe. Much different from hawker stalls. I have never eaten anything like this outside.*

阿晴经济小炒 Part 2: Spicy stir-fried long bean with dried shrimps.
A simple dish to go with porridge. K seems to like it.



Saw this Korean eggs in the supermarket and I just had to buy it. Korean actors/actresses all look so good not only because of plastic surgery right? Maybe part of the reason is the food they eat? Ok la maybe eating a few Korean eggs won't make the bridge of your nose any higher or your double eyelids deeper... Aiya you know AJ was once a carefree working executive located in town area and shopping during lunchtime or after work was a normal thing to do. Eversince being tied down by a kid, even supermarketing in the neighbourhood also a joy. Some more see new products must try!

Every egg is Korean! Wahaha happy...

Fried rice using Korean eggs. K's share more prawns.

Mine with ikan bilis.

Korean chicken stew. This is not a joke, it's really a Korean dish. I watched a Korean cooking show on Mio TV (Life Inspired channel) months back but never got to do this till few days ago. The real reason I bought the box of Korean chilli paste is for this actually. Really tasty. Want to know why? Beer was added before simmering. Really made the dish nice but the problem after cooking is that I had 2/3 can of beer left and no one drank it. Maybe I will put more beer into the dish the next attempt. Can't wait to cook this again. K likes it so much :)

Not quite yet...

Mama Cow thought it was official but after 1 whole day of not pumping, who knows there is this slightly engorgement late at night so I had to do my job. Hey not bad! 80ml worth of bm but I poured it away cuz the pump not sterilised and I had some alcoholic drinks before that. Will see how it goes. Maybe will be down to once a pump late night and gradually stop.

Mama Cow officially retires

Taking a little break from the studio shoot...

Just wanted to post this nostalgic moment of the last bottle of breastmilk for my little darling. That's 130ml worth of bm there (which is about 20ml lesser than her morning intake but I can squeeze no more) and it is definitely the last time she will be drinking it. It took the cow 4 pumping sessions in 48hours to get that amount (I was able to get that in 4hours in the good old days) and therefore the cow decided it's time to cease operation. Allow me to reminisce the days when I was at my peak and I had half the freezer filled with bags of ebm and then when I decided to stop freezing them (XY hates thawed bm), I had to label the time of each pump of milk. I really had to do that cuz the supply was so abundant that I had to give not only by day but even have to go by time. I even joked to K I may run out of post-it pads soon. It never happened la. I was just joking.



Miss Medela bottle can finally take a rest. So can Miss Ameda pump (not pictured).

Just had to take a pic of XY drinking the last drops of the precious milk.

She doesn't know... but tomorrow onwards it will be solely Mamil Gold 3 for her. *sob sob*

Managed to dig up this old pic taken during my peak exactly 7 months ago! Can't seem to find the hilarious pic of the bottles full of post-it labellings. Whatever it is, I'm proud to be able to produce enough for XY for the past 14.5 months. Seriously hope there is no #2. I can't stand another 14 or 15 months of pump, sterilise, pump.

Preliminary selection of images

Chosen with K on our big tv screen last night but I might change some.

In the metal bathtub.



In the flowerpot.

Dressup teddy.

Standard studio shoot setup. *This might be the tabletop*

Little ballerina.