Mothers who have growing infants who increasingly need playtime in order not to feel bored and fussy, I have but one word for you - PLAYGYM.
We just bought Daniel one and boy is he a happy camper! He's been swiping at them hanging toys all morning and he loves that huge mirror that hangs on the gym - I don't think kids yet realise that they're staring at themselves. To them, a mirror is neverending entertainment as the image keeps moving and changing when they move and change. ^__^
Daniel staring at the mirror - the big flower attached to the pole.
Like a typical Singaporean, I must also share that we got this 3-in-1
Bear Playgym for less than 1/3 of its retail price and it was brand new!
How did we manage that? Surf onto Yahoo
Auctions and Singapore
Motherhood Forum - there's tons of stuff there for sale! Cheers!
Kick kick kick kick kick kick kick - I could do this forever while mommy
takes a power nap!
When Lmama first tagged me for this meme, I had to think very hard as I couldn't really remember anything from my childhood, let alone distinctive childhood food memories. But boy, once the juices started flowing, I found I had so many "favourite foods" to share. Here they are in no particular order:
1. Khong Guan Fancy Gems - check out amazing pic by Beezy here (used with permission)
2. Mamee instant snack noodles
3. Fanta Orange - in a plastic bag - remember how they used to serve drinks in plastic bags with plastic string which you could then hang on door knobs?
4. Kickapoo
5. Strawberry Pocky (pic taken from wikipedia)
6. Jelly in cups - check out pic here - this link also contains many nostalgic childhood foods!
7. Frozen syrup sticks - syrup water frozen into long tube-like plastic containers which had their tips snipped off with a scissors and then you spent a good hour sucking out the melted liquid! Does anybody else know what I'm talking about? Does anybody have a pic of this???
8. Han's peach tarts - Only $0.60 when I was in secondary school. And today,
Han's peach tarts are still available at only $1.00! Talk about value-for-money!
BEST!
9. Danish butter cookies
10. Mentos - Before they gave mentos the silly ad tag, "The Freshmaker", and started showing all fancy hip mentos ads on TV, Mentos was just a plain old simple and delightful sugar fix for kids!
Thanks Lmama for the lovely saunter down memory lane. And now, to tag 5 other unsuspecting bloggers:
2. Aromacookery
"Hallo, when can we come and shoot your chicken?"
"Er... tomorrow afternoon is fine. If I'm busy feeding the baby, my mudder will let you in and show you the chicken."
"OK, see you tomorrow!"
"Er... ok!! Bye!"
A designer & photographer from Young Parents magazine came by this afternoon to "shoot my chicken". I'm both tickled and pleased that one of my recipes - namely, the grilled honey mustard chicken recipe - will be featured in the Dec issue of the mag, replete with fresh photographs of the chicken, all shot in my humble HDB flat today!
I thought it'd be a simple matter of taking a few shots of the dish, but the "professionals" had something else in mind - they asked for a fancy plate, some garnish (we only had spring onions in the house!) and began sussing out the best location for the "chicken shoot". Then, they spent quite a bit of time "arranging the chicken" for the shoot:
I felt a bit skeptical at first - how good can grilled chicken look? But I must admit that I also felt a bit excited and honoured - all that fuss over a plate of chicken! Hee.
In the end, the deft duo chose the balcony as the location to "shoot the chicken" because of the natural lighting. Here they are busy at work. You can see Little Daniel in the pics as we usually lay him in the balcony to kick about on his playmat. Today, he had some unexpected and interesting playmates!
All in all, it was an interesting afternoon for all involved. I'm looking forward to having my first recipe published in a mag & judging from what I saw today, the pic of the honey mustard chicken will look quite yummy! Here's our own "amateur" shot of the chicken - not too bad yea? Thanks to Husband for taking so many shots too! ^__^
I've been meaning to rave about this place for the longest time. Have gone for repeat visits, dragging along friends and relatives, and still have not tired of the food yet. The food is yummy, unique & home-style. Hakka food is not commonly found in Singapore, save for the ubiquitous yong tau foo. Grandma's Place serves up a nice variety of Hakka food - from the Hakka style ngoh hiang to braised duck, stewed pork with mei cai, yong tau foo (of course) and a very interesting dish - lei cai fan or "Thunder Tea Rce": fragrant garlic rice topped with a bed of veggies and served with an aromatic basil soup. Let me just say - this dish is simply amazing. I found more info on this dish & a recipe from the lovely The Star Online. Check it out!
Above: Lei Cai Fan or Thunder Tea Rice
Below: Yong Tau Foo - the kind that is deep-fried first, then stewed! Awesome stuff!
Another great thing about this place is that it is relatively unknown, so therefore, it is relatively uncrowded. Grandma's Place is run by a family and the chef is a young, hip-looking man (the grandson) who doesn't look like a chef at all. But boy can he cook up a storm! The whole atmosphere of the place is "family-run". Every time we go, they serve up a small dish, compliments of the chef. And now, they even recognise us by face & greet us warmly too. Also, they make & sell their own peanut butter and dragonfruit jam. WOW.
Some of the dishes served compliments of the chef when we ate there.
Do check out the place - the food is fantastic & the service great. Highly recommended!
Grandma's Place
147 Telok Ayer Street Singapore 068606
62209200/ grandmasplace@pacific.net.sg
Husband made lunch for me again. He's been doing this every weekend for past three weeks, as a way of giving me a nice break and a yummy treat. Last week, he made Nikujaga (Jap beef stew), one of my favourite dishes as it's so hearty and warm. Today, he made beef & broccoli pasta. Lurve-ly. ^__^
Left: Nikujaga; Right: today's lurvely pasta
Husband's gesture of love-by-cooking made me reflect on a principle our church taught us in marriage preparation class - namely, that Husband should Lead and Wife, Submit. Like all normal women of this day & age, I struggled with that concept for a while when I first heard it. It made women sound subordinate, inferior even, as if we didn't have the brains or wit to make our own decisions and live our own lives. But I have come to realise that this principle is harder for men than it is for women. This is because it places the onus squarely on the man's shoulders to lead in love, communication, reconciliation and service. To put it across clearly, Husband is to be the first to apologise, to serve, to love and to forgive. Now how many men can do that???!!
Well, I thank God that I have a husband that strives to obey God & live out God's design for marriage by trying his darndest to do exactly that. His efforts are not necessarily in the Big Theological Things - he doesn't give me a sermon or a Bible Study everyday. Nay, it's in the small things - in apologising even when he is not in the wrong, in patiently listening to my grumbles even when he is busy with work, in reminding me to spend time in personal devotion to God and of course, in cooking and doing the laundry over the weekends. And here's the cool thing - the more Husband leads, the more I submit, i.e., the more I reciprocate. And the little virtuous cycle of love grows and grows.
Serving each other is not derogatory, nor is it mere duty. Christ came to serve us all - by dying for us. Likewise, as part of God's design, serving each other in marriage is deemed delight, both to each other and to God.
Marriage Christ's way has taught me that two is indeed better than one.
And now, we are three. (More on motherhood later.)
So we went to a chalet over the weekend and invited like a lot of friends & relatives along. It was a chance for everybody to meet Baby and for Baby to meet everybody. One shot "pau ka liao". ^__^
Baby slept through most of it, while hordes of people took turns to tip toe in and out of his well-protected-from-mosquitoes room (a la mosquito patches, repellant, coil & electric mortein plug-in) to stare stare and poke poke. He even woke up towards the evening & we got to show people how he looks like awake, and even, in his nerdy pants! Love those nerdy pants. They make me laugh so much.
Love them nerdy pants! :)
The outing was a chance for me to reflect on how life has changed. As Husband quipped recently, sometimes it still feels like a really long babysitting session. We keep thinking, "When are the parents coming back?" Then we remember, "Oh yea, we are the parents. Ha." Most of the time, Daniel has been a cinch to take care of - he recently started sleeping through the night, which is like a miracle of God, and I was near tears on bended knee thanking God and saying Hallelujah the whole day that day! But even though God has blessed us with a "non-fussy" child, life with a Baby is unmistakably, irrevocably and undeniably DIFFERENT from before. There is no turning back. There is no return address. Life will never be the same. Ever.
I think Husband & I still need some time to get used to that. It's adjusting to the small things - like how leaving the house requires us to pack an extra bag of stuff along & we need an extra 15-20 mins to strap him to his infant car seat - and also, adjusting to the big things - like how holidays overseas may never be the same with Daniel around. I really pray that we will begin to enjoy parenthood more than mourn it or begrudge it. Sometimes, our selfish instincts bewail, "I want my carefree life back!" but I pray that there will always be a still small voice that will prevail - parenthood is a privilege & blessing from God. We should not take it lightly. Do pray for us, thanks.
The Lau family - happy, but tired.
I've managed to cook lunch 4 to 5 times a week for the past 2 weeks, thanks to some advanced planning & buying of groceries over the weekends. Of course, my meals are nothing spectacular as I have limited time to whip something up, but I make a special effort to include extra veggies so that I get a good share of vitamins, minerals and roughage, all of which are sorely lacking in our tingkat meals. :(
Today, I made myself chicken teriyaki don with some help from a frozen food pack. See pic:
It was given to me by my mom & sis-in-law and tasted surprisingly authentic. In the pack is a vacuum-sealed plastic bag containing two chicken thighs - they were of a good size and could have filled two persons' tummies! All that was required was to place the sealed plastic bag in boiling water for 5 minutes. Then, I used the teriyaki chicken thigh & scrambled an egg on top of it, placed it on top of steaming rice & served it with lots of cut cucumber and tomatoes. Very yum! As I mentioned earlier, the sauce from the frozen food pack was surprisingly authentic and the meat was tender too. I don't normally like frozen foods, but this one is an exception! Cheers!
Ella is a teddy bear. I retrieved her from a cardboard box of 'items to be recycled' which had been placed in the lobby of my dorm, freshman year of college. Since then, she's become my favourite stuffed toy - we even took her on our honeymoon to Spain!
Since Daniel has become more smiley recently, we've begun to subject him to all sorts of camera angles and poses. Here he is with Ella, for the first time. I really like these pics - they make me laugh so hard, cos they're so funny to look at. ^__^ Don't ask me why my son looks so fat... hee.
Husband made a good lunch today - salt cod with baby fennel and lemon-garlic potatoes soup and poached eggs benedict. Rather 'atas' sounding, but very yummy :) Happy belly... :)
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* Einstein Never Used Flash Cards - How Our
Children Really Learn and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize less
* The Bible
* Love & Respect by Dr Emerson Eggerichs
* What to Expect When You're Expecting
Cravings
* None, surprisingly!
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