Happy New Year 2010

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Love you.......All My Friends and whoever visits my blog.

May you be bless with joys !!!

Chinese Rice Wine Chicken – Confinement Food Recipe

Here's a traditional chinese rice wine chicken recipes for lady under confinement period (one month after childbirth). It was passed down from my grandma to my mom to me. Now, I'm sharing with you my dearest sisters. It can be taken not only for confinement ladies. It can be taken for ladies after their periods which will replenish lost energy, reduce unwanted wind and make us super strong Haha...:)

(For normal consumption, amount of rice wine and sesame oil may be reduce by half)

Chinese Rice Wine Chicken :

Ingredients :
One Chicken (cut into small pieces)
Old ginger (slice into thin strips)
Black fungus (Sock 2 hours before cook and slice into thin strips)
sesame oil (sufficient amount to cover the ginger when frying)
1 litter of Chinese Rice Wine
a bit of salt to taste (you may go without it for confinement)

Direction :

1) Fried ginger for a while, add in sesame oil and continue frying till fragrant.

2) Add in black fungal and chicken. Continue frying for about 3 minutes

3) Cover with lid and cook in medium fire for about 20 minutes (chicken is about 70% or 80% cook)

4) Add Chinese rice wine and boil for another 5 minutes

This post is specially for you my sweet sisters C and R. You girls will be blessed with sweet and healthy babiesss....

When & Why to give Baby First Hair Cut

The first haircut is actually considered as a special milestone that the little one has achieved often varies on his culture and religious. Different countries' babies have different way and some will even accompany by certain ritual and celebrations.

Some babies did their first cut on his first month, some did it when they begins to speak, some had it on his first birthday. It really varies with the tradition of his culture.

Since I'm Chinese, my kids had their first hair cut when they are one month old. I kept a log of his/her hair, tie up with red string and kept it together with his nails and umbilical cord. I placed all of it in a red packet (A red color packet which we use to put money in it and give it to the kids as good wishes during Chinese new year) and slot it beside their baby photo (taken in the hospital on their 1st day to this beautiful world).

The hair cut is done in the morning and celebration follows where all relatives and friends are invited to share our joys and give him their blessings. The father is a good cook and he will prepare a buffet lunch and dinner for all our guests to enjoy. We call this celebration 'Man Yue' which means full month.

Most of my friends did not shave the hair of their babies but some did. Anyway it's your own preference. Some believe that by shaving the hair, you are removing the hair that is growing since they are in their mummy's womb and their hair will become thicker. Well, I didn't do that cos I do not like 'botak' baby hehe....

For friends out there who miss the first hair cut on baby's first month, just do it on a meaningful day. It's the thought that counts.

Cheers to all babies !!!

When to feed baby water ?

When to feed baby water ?
- When the lovely baby is about 6 months old.

Will he/she be dehydrated without feeding water ?
- She will get all the hydration she needs from formula or breast milk.

What will happen if too much water is given ?
- When giving young baby less then 6 months too much water, it will make her tiny tummy feel full and reduce the desire to feed. It will interfere her ability to absorb nutrients from milk.
In more serious case (rare case), it may cause water intoxication.
- For an adult who has too much water, it can result in hyponatremia that cause seizures and even coma. Too much water will dilute concentration of sodium affecting electrolyte balance which cause tissue to swell.
- Small sips of water is ok if your intention is just to cleanse her mouth. Anyway, you may just use a sterile and wet cloth to cleanse.

Should I add more water to formula to let her have more water ?
- By doing so, you are giving your baby lesser nutrients as formula is diluted. Follow the instruction on the formula carefully. Consult the doctor if stretching formula is necessary.

What happen if my baby seems dehydrated ?
- Consult a doctor. The doctor may give her electrolyte drink if need be.

When she reach 6 months of age
- It is ok to give her sips of water but there again do not overdo it. I saw some mummy and daddy pushing the baby to drink sips of water every one hour thinking that it is good for them. Well, that is overdone unless it is advise by the doctor.

When she is one year old and taking solid
- You may let her drink as much water as she likes. Do not force her but encourage her.


Happy feeding mummy and daddy. Hope this info is helpful.

Thanks to Dr PL who helps me and guides me with all her knowledge. Now, I'm a proud mummy of 3 and sharing what I've learn from her with my dearest friends.

Miss Piggy ???

Miss Piggy is my all time favorite character in Sesame Street. My grandma adore her too especially the way she flick back her silky hair :). But since when I become Miss Piggy ?????.....Hm........actually, I really don't mind. She is a charming lady anyway.

It's one week school holiday in Singapore. Last night my niece and nephew came over to my place to have a computer game session. Imagine all five kids and Narcissus who is taking care of my kids and being a kid herself are all competing among themselves with their facebook games.

After the game and it's almost 11pm ET suggested to have supper in a nearby 24 hours coffee shop for dumpling noodles. The kids were trilled. While walking towards the coffee shop, I told ET that we really look like rooster and hen with 6 chicks. ET says I look more like Miss Piggy.

We ordered delicious noodles, porridge and lime drinks. The young chef after preparing the food finally ask, "Uncle uncle,.....can I ask you something ?.....Hm........you have 6 kids ? How can you manage ? So scary !!!! How ????....." Wahaha..........see, my instinct is right, we are rooster and hen with 6 chicks. Our answer to the young man is "Yes, they are all our kids !!!" The kids are all laughing and they too agreed that all are our kids. Suddenly, I have this wonderful and proud feelings that filled my heart. I'm really the hen of the 6 wonderful chicks.

I remember when I was young, my mum and dad too brought 9 kids for a movie (4 children and 5 cousins). Along the way, they collected strange stares and people did ask if they have 9 kids. Well, my mum is too shy to admit. haha.....I'm thick skin. To me, the more the merrier.

Here are the chick chick :

Marina Barrage

It was a warm evening and ET suggested to go to some place cool, relax and unique. Yup...we ended up in Marina Barrage. It's our first visit and we fall in love with the place immediately.

Marina Barrage is Singapore's 15th freshwater reservoir. It is built across Marina Chanel right in the heart of the city. Brilliant idea and vision from our Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

Since young I have this fear of Singapore unable to generate enough water for our consumption and buying expensive water. I'm sure this reservoir will definitely boost our water catchment and prevents flooding to our lovely city's low area.

It was so breezy and magnificent. We stroll through the barrage's compounds enjoying the stunning view. My little princess was running and shouting "Singapore Flyer" when she saw the Flyer from the barrage. we then proceed to the green roof and there are teenagers having fun time chatting and flying kites while young kids were having their fun with the fountains. Me ? haha...busy taking pictures and enjoying the beautiful city skyline.

It is indeed an architectural masterpiece. To all my friends who love beautiful sight, here's the address and operating hours of Marina Barrage :

Address :
260 Marina Way, Singapore 018976

Opening Hours :
Marina Barrage : All day
Gallery : Mon - Fri (9am - 6pm) - Closed on Tuesday
Sat, Sun & Holidays : 10am - 8pm
Tours : You may join their visitors tours and enquiry them at telephone at 65145959

Location :
Please click here - How to get there


P.S. This post is my 100th post of my blog.
So this is for you
Singapore....My Home.......I'm always proud of you !!!

Singapore Flyer (Marina)

Many thanks to D&M for giving us Tickets to Singapore Flyer.

My family and I rushed to the Flyer on the very last half an hour before the entering time is up and it's really worth the rush cos it's a wonderful experience with magnificent view.

My kids were trilled when they saw Marina Barrage, Merlion, the constructing Integrated Resort, F1 track, city view, ocean view, etc etc. Many would have said it's borring but to me it's our pride to have such a lovely flyer, to be in it viewing our vibrant country, having good food with the interesting restaurants and welcome by friendly faces.

The little jungle at the foot of the flyer is a Must Visit. I love the little waterfall and beautiful coyfishes swimming gracefully in the beautiful pond.

We ended our day with a surprise.....Popeye (they serve fastfood similar to KFC) where they serve excellent biscuits with fried chickens, pastries and cakes. The biscuits really surprise me. Never thought that a fast food center can serve such a tasty biscuits.

P.S. Black Ninja....I promise you I'll let you try the Fish Foot Theraphy on our next visit to the flyer. I wonder how it feel with tiny fishes kisses our stinky foot :P

TIRAMISU Non-Bake Cake

Encouraging my kids to do experiments, cook, bake, invent their own toys is part and parcel of our life which we really enjoy doing together. Baking cakes is one of our favorite.

I always start up with easy recipe so they will have no problem preparing, enjoy their own results and feel great achievement after that. Let me share with you one of my favorite recipe which never fail us. Try it mums and dads. Your kids will love it.

The best thing with this recipe is that it DOES NOT REQUIRE BAKING.

Ingredients :
75g sugar
3 egg yolks
250g whipped fresh cream
250g mascarpone cheese
2 packets sponge fingers
1 cup black coffee
8-10 tbsps brandy
Some cocoa power for dusting

Preparation :
1. Put egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream them together until thick. Add mascarpone cheese and continue beating. In a separate bowl, whip fresh cream. Fold whip fresh cream into the cheese mixture and set aside.

2. Mix coffee and brandy in a separate bowl. Dip each sponge finger into the coffee mixture and line the base of a baking pan.

3. Spread a layer of cheese mix over. Add another layer of dipped sponge fingers and another layer of cheese. Dust with cocoa. Chill in the fridge for 4 hours but it taste best when chill overnight.

Enjoy little friends, big friends, dads and mums with this easy recipe. Hope you have fun with it.

Tips :

My kids and I love to eat it frozen like ice-cream. The pics above is after freezing for 1 hour.

You may just chill it and the texture will be soft. You can serve in beautiful desert bowls and scoop with spoon.

Facebook Games - Restaurant City, Pet Society & Farm Town

Lately I'm or rather we (friends and my kids) are crazy about facebook games. I've been using facebook sending greetings to friends but recently my friends introduce new games (RC, PS and Farm) and all of a sudden we are competing with each other in the games.

Restaurant City -
We have to answer daily quize about food, how we should set the tables and chairs to be efficient, how to get awards, how to level up, how to save and spend money we earn etc etc.

Pet Society -
Hug pet friends to gain coins and experience, run in stadium, buy items to decorate food, buy food to feed pet, play with pet, exercise our pet and how to make our pet poo etc.

Farm Town -
Learn how to Plow the farm, buy seeds, grow plants, keep farm animals, plant trees. We need to harvest, pow, seed, arrange the farm, save money and expand the farm etc.

After trying out the games, I find it so interesting and it might be a good idea to introduce it to my kids as it trains them with some simple strategies of saving money, spending money wisely, be patient when faceing obsticles etc. Ofcourse I will have to limit their playing time before they get addicted.

Now, my kids and friends are enjoying the games and challenging each other. It gives me something in common to chat with my kids. There's this time when the game is under maintenance and my son supercute gets furious with it cos I can play my Restaurant City while he can't play his pet society. I encourage him to write blog but it seems that he feels very unfair cos I got to play, he can't, I ask him not to keep trying (cos no point trying when it's under maintenance) and he think I'm being contridicting (ask him not to play and I'm playing). Well, it gives us a chance to debate haha....

Have fun kids and friends but just dont get addicted !!!

P.S. My dear friend R played till 4am one night just to avoid me leveling up above her. Hahah....that's what I call addicting. Stop playing that way okay. It's just a game.

Happy Birthday SPrincess

Happy Birthday little princess S !!!

My dearest son Black Ninja has been planning with his classmates to have a little party and outing to celebrate his classmate Princess S's birthday. They will be having good food in Jack's place follow by a good movie and games.

Initially I thought it's an April Fool's prank cos the birthday is on 1st April. Well, it's indeed a bday. A chocolate cake is specially done for her and I do hope they enjoy and have lots of fun.

BEAT

SLICE

DONE

Kueh Pisang (香蕉糕) Recipe

It was a lazy Sunday and Supercute suggested we might as well sweeten it up by making a nice dessert. We had come to a decision and it's Nyonia Kueh.......Kueh Pisang (Nyonia Banana Pudding). It's very so easy and fun to prepare. My lovely cheif Supercute is going to put it up in his blog too. Hey son, see who is faster kay......hehe..

Ingredients :

3 Big Ripe and Soft Bananas
300ml Thick Coconut Milk
1 Packet of Hun Kwee (Mung Bean Flour) 绿豆粉
220g of Sugar
550ml of Water
Pinch of Salt
Banana leaves for wrapping

Direction :

1) Cut diagonally the banana into about 1cm thick.
2) Divide the coconut milk equally into two bowls.
3) Add bean flour into one of the coconut milk bowl and mix well.
4) Pour the other bowl of coconut milk, water, sugar, salt into a non-stick pan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves.
5) Add mixture (3) into the pan and continue stirring over low heat.
6) Keep stirring till the mixture is thickening (gluey, sticky but smooth paste).
7) Scoop 3 spoonful of mixture onto banana leaves and top with banana slices.
8) Wrap it up and place it in refrigerator.
9) Serve it as a cool dessert.

Tips :
1) It will be good to steam the bananas for about 5 minutes and leave it to cool before cutting if the banana is not very soft and ripe. (I prefer using Pisang Rajah)
2) Must continuously mix and stir over low heat as the mixture burns easily.
3) You may also scoop the mixture into jelly bowl or moulds and top with slice banana if you have difficulty finding banana leaves. (I use jelly bowl simply because I’m Too Lazy hehe….)

The Mom Song

My cute son Black Ninja introduced me to a very funny song "The Mom Song". We watched it together and have a good laugh. Hmmm.....is he trying to imply something ? Anyway, I would like to share it with all moms and kids. Enjoy.

Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe

(Serving for 8 persons – 9” round backing tin)

Ingredients –

Pie Crust :
1-1/2 cups of crushed graham crackers or digestive biscuits
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) of unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 tbsp of sugar
1/4 tsp of salt (If the biscuits you select is salty or butter is not unsalted, you may go without salt)

Lemon Fillings :
1/3 cup of cornstarch
1 1/2 cups of sugar
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup of lemon juice (from about 4 lemons)
1-1/4 of cup water
2 tbsp (1/4 stick) of unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tbsp of grated lemon zest (from about 4 lemons)

Meringue :
5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Directions –

For Pie Crust crust:
1) Crush the biscuits into small crumbs.
2) Place all the pie crust ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Press mixture evenly into a 9-inch metal backing tin (I use a flat base heavy cup in helping me to press the crust). Bake till lightly brown (5-10 min). Remove from over and leave on a wire rack to cool.

For Lemon Filling:
1) Mix cornstarch, sugar, egg yolks, and lemon juice in a big non-stick saucepan. Slowly add in water and whisk till the mixture is well blended.

2) Boil the mixture over medium heat for 1-2 minutes and whisk constantly to avoid burning. The mixture will be a bit thickening. Remove saucepan from heat immediately and add in butter and lemon zest. Stir quickly till the butter melt and well mixed into a smooth and creamy paste.

3) Pour the mixture into the crust and let it cool at room temperature. Cover with baking paper.

For the Meringue:
1) Prepare a large bowl. The bowl must be absolutely clean.
2) Place egg whites and salt in it and whip with a mixer on high speed until soft peaks form (when you lift up the mixer a bit, the mixture is able to form soft peaks). Add sugar gradually and continue beating till glossy, firm, stiff peaks (when you invert the bowl, the mixture will not flow right down i.e. able to stay in the bowl even the bowl is upside down).
3) Remove baking paper from pie. Pipe or spoon meringue (step 2 mixture) over lemon filling. Spread meringue to cover the entire surface of pie. I prefer piping as it will forms peaks on the surface. When bake, the peaks will turn brownish while the bottom of the peaks remains white.
4) Bake for about 10 minutes at 180°C till meringue is golden brown.

5) Remove from oven and let it cool on wire rack to room temperature.

6) Chill in refrigerated for at least 4 hours. Slice and serve.

Tips –
1. Use center rack of the oven at 180°C for even heat.
2. While spreading/piping the meringue over lemon filling, MUST make sure that the meringue covers the entire surface and meets the crust. This is because the meringue will shrink inward. You will not like to see a meringue pie exposing fillings.

3. For additional fun, I sprinkle Almond slices on top of the lemon fillings before spreading the meringue.

P.S. -

I bake this pie for my son Supercute's birthday instead of cake and he is delighted. It's a great fun and beautiful pie for kids and adults. If you want something special for someone special, this pie never fail you.

RAY after STORM (阳光总在风雨后)

Lunar New Year is around the corner. Many especially Chinese are preparing for this great year of Ox to arrive but many are facing undesirable situations such as wars, sickness, lost of jobs, reduction of pay etc etc which diminish the joy of celebrations.

However, we must have this Faith and Strength to Fight and Survive. All we need is Hope and Courage. I always tell my friends and myself when we face difficulties that we should "fight like a warrior"....."We are warrior of life".

So friends, believe that Ray of Hope and Happiness are awaiting after storm. I like this song RAY after STORM (阳光总在风雨后-yang guang zong zai feng yu hou) and would like to share with all of you. Always remember my friends......hope is always in your hand.

阳光总在风雨后
乌云上有晴空
珍惜所有的感动
每一份希望在你手中
(Sun will emersed after storm
There is clear sky above the dark clouds
Cherish all the touching moments
Hopes are in your hand)

阳光总在风雨后
请相信有彩虹
风风雨雨都接受
我一直会在你的左右
(Sun will emersed after storm
Please believe there's rainbow
Accept stormy days
I'll be by your side....always)



只有在风雨后我们才会体会阳光的可爱
那刺破苍穹的万丈光芒才会真正的温暖人心
只有经历了一些小小风雨后
才会真正学会面对人生
如果是为拥有一个精彩的人生过程
那么我们无论是风雨，阳光，甜蜜还是打击
也永远不要放弃我们的梦想
因为梦想终将实现！
努力吧朋友！