Blueberry Banana Oatmeal Porridge

For the above, I used 2 small bananas

Wow! So quickly and the 1st month of the year has gone past in a whiz. We are into February now! It's so scary how everyday just flies past!!

So here's a quick, easy, yummy and nutritious breakfast recipe to start the month rolling! You can make this for your tot or for yourself! Cat, here's the oatmeal I was talking about.... especially for your eyes :) .... keke!

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp of Nestum
• 2 tbsp of Instant Quaker Oats
• 1-2 small ripe banana
• Handful of blueberries
• 1 scoop of formula milk OR some fresh milk **

Method

1. Mix nestum, oats and formula milk together and add 1/2 - 1 cup of hot water


2. Stir till all combined. Adjust consistency of porridge by adding a little more hot water to make it more diluted.


3. Mash half of the banana and stir into porridge


4. Slice the balance and add to it together with the blueberries


5. Serve and ENJOY!

** If using fresh milk, boil milk and add to the dry ingredients. You can use all fresh milk or 50 milk, 50 water. It all depends on your tastes and needs.

Notes

• Be careful not to add too much or the whole cup of water all at once as oats do absorb water and after about 3 mins res, it will expand and thicken up. Do it bit by bit or it may be over watery. Adjust to your child's prefernce or your preference. I like mine slightly thick. :) But should you add too much water/liquid, you can just stir in another scoop of nestum or oats to thicken up. No hard and fast rules, just play with the texture!


• I like adding more nestum as it is more fragrant so kids are more encouraged to eat this.


• If you like, you can use ALL nestum too! This was my favourite breakfast when I was growing up! A bowl of nestum, hot water & condensed milk or hot milk and sugar! I could eat this everyday and I made it myself when I was in Pri 1.


• Banana is naturally sweet so there is no need to add any sugar.


• Experiment with different fruits or use the fruits of your choice.

Quick Noodle/Pasta Soup & An Afternoon Of Fun!

Quick cook veggie soup meal

We had such a enjoyable afternoon today after church at Serene's new place. We loved it and Kimi loves Estelle's new bed. He said it is HIS STAGE!!! :)

We mummies had such a good time chatting and just enjoying the breeze in our faces! Thanks Serene for your hospitality!

Again, I forgot my camera so these pix are courtesy of Corinna. Tks Corinna! :)

As Kimi did not have his nap, he needed to sleep early, preferably by 7pm. I thought I could settle his dinner by giving him nuggets that he can eat in the car and once home I can shower and put him to bed.

But, he insisted he wanted to have his noodle soup with his animal pasta. Well, since Kimi seldom requests for food, I obliged although I was a little tired. So, here's a real healthy quickie if you only have 10 to 15mins to spare!

Ingredients

• Swanson's Chicken Broth diluted with water (or home-made broth)
• 1/3 section corn
• 2 leaves of Long Chinese Cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 large thumb of carrots diced small
• 3 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 stalk celery thinly sliced (optional)
• 2 slices onion (optional)
• 1 cilantro root (cleaned, optional)
• Dash of pepper and sesame oil
• Handful of pasta/noodles/macaroni

Optional Ingredients

• Mushroooms
• Tofu
• Egg
• Minced pork balls
• Potatoes (can omit pasta/noodles)
• Edamame beans
• Etc, or whatever you have in you fridge! :)

Method

1. Bring diluted chix broth to boil.
2. Add onions and corn.
3. Once boiling, add all other ingredients and let it boil.
4. Simmer for 10-15mins. Add pepper and sesame oil.
5. In the mean time, boil/prep pasta/noodles/macaroni on another stove.
6. Rinse boiled pasta/noodles/macaroni and rinse with cold water.
7. Place in bowl, shave corn and add veg soup over.
8. Serve and ENJOY!!!

Notes

• For rushed meals, I always slice, chop or diced all the veg small so that it will cook and soften quickly.
• These days I hardly boil broth and freeze them like I used to when Kimi was a baby. I just buy these Swanson's pack and used them diluted. It is so much easier.
• I like adding tomatoes as it gives a sweet n sour taste that is really appetising after a long day!

Playing by the fish pond

My suave little one!

Miso Udon Soup with Chicken

Now that Kimi attends school, I need to prepare easy, 1 pot-meals for him in the morning before sending him to school so that when we come home, he has lunch ready.

Frankly, 2 hours is such a rush! It is really not even 2 hours considering the drive, settling Kimi in school, etc.

Hence, I'm always on the look for easy cook (max 20min prep time in kitchen), thermal pot meals. This is 1 recipe I came up with which Kimi loves and we have this at least once a week. For the moment, I more often than ever, guiltily, repeat lunch meals.

I like how the addition of chicken drumstick and vegetables make the soup thick and tasty! I recently found another kind of noodles which is something like a soba that is made from 5 grains and is greyish brown in colour. This is definitely more heathly and Kimi loves this noodle. I got mine from Sheng Siong Supermarket. Like udon, it comes in a bag of 3 individual packs. Will update with pix the next time!

Ingredients (for 2 person)

• 2 chicken drumstick skinless (small)
• 1 corn cut into sections
• 1-2 pcs of Wawa vegetable OR some Long Chinese Cabbage
• 1/3 cube of Maggi No MSG Chicken Cube
• 2-3 tbsp of Miso
• 1-2 pack of Udon noodles or any other desired noodles

Optional ingredients

• Mushrooms
• Tau pok
• Egg tofu
• Etc, the list in endless .... :)

Method

1. Bring water ( 1-1.2litres) to boil and add chix cube
2. Use the hot water boiling in the pot to soak miso and stir well before adding back to pot
3. Add corn and chicken
4. Let it boil for 10-15mins and add cabbage and continue to boil for another 5-10mins
5. Taste soup and add more miso if not tasty enough (pls go easy, use a little blob each time)
6. Transfer to thermal pot and add pre-sliced tofu on top of soup
7. Place udon with warm water in upper layer and cover up
8. Serve after 2-3 hours or more. Remember to rinse udon in cold water to remove starch before serving.
9. Shave corn and remove the soft tender meat from the chicken drumstick and serve.
10. ENJOY!!

Notes

• Pls taste/test your miso before use as different miso have different degree of saltiness. I personally like the plastic bag pack I bought from NTUC that has a 'little monk' cartoon on it at a corner.
• If using mushroom or taupok, can add in together with corn and chicken.
• When ready to eat and you have used the egg tofu, pls remember to use a ladle to slowly scoop up the tofu and place it in another plate before you dig into the soup so that the tofu retains its shape
• If you don't like noodles of any sort, this goes well with rice too!

Devastatingly Happy and Kueh Bangkits

Looks great doesn't it? It smells and tastes great too but fail miserably cos it is rather hard and crispy and not those melt in the mouth kind. :(

I got this idea of using my Tigger cutter for CNY cookies from Ellena. I used it for Kueh Bangkit as I thought it was so cute. But as usual my Kueh Bangkit failed. As always! This is such a tempermental cookie I tell you...I can never get the melt in the mouth texture since I started trying to bake this cookie.

But, frankly, I never got round to trial n errror... I just use a new recipe each year. Anyway, I have another 2 to try to see if it will turn out better. If you have 1 that you can share, pls pls teach me! In the mean time, wish me luck!

If you wish, you can download recipe from here. Maybe you have better hands, let me know? :) I'm hoping to get the old Kueh Bangkit mould cos I feel less handling of dough would make it more tender. But I've yet to see any around....

UNTIL ..... yesterday!!! I was soooo happy I bought both designs! I've seen even cuter ones from Malaysia but since this is the ONLY one I've seen, I decided to get them! :)

Look at the cute, intricate carvings!!

I was over the moon and cant wait to get started with baking a new batch of Kueh Bangkits when my oven DIED on me yesterday. YES, it did!! And thank God I had jus finished baking the Kueh Lapis.. can you just imagine if I was half way through?? Really FAINT!

I was totally upset as I had just bought a load of ingredients for some baking... Anyhow, I managed to get a contact from June who came today to take a look at my oven. The repairman said I could get my oven back next Friday.

Well, that's better than the agent who said if I'm lucky I'll get it within 3 weeks or latest by 6 weeks and I have to bring the oven to his shop. This is an oven not a toaster!!! Goodness! Sia Huat's after sales service is really crap! I was really in no mood yesterday!

But I look forward to next week to get my oven back. I hope by then I would still have the enthusiasm to continue baking and be in time!

Anyone have some free hours to spare so I can bake at your place? Keke! ;)

Hold My Hand

Since Oct or Nov last year (2009) Kimi would ask me to hold his hand whenever he slept. To me, it was the sweetest request. Why? That showed that I was his security blanket... how nice can that be? :)

I've always put Kimi to bed and I would carry him in my arms till he slept and this was from the day he was born. But I 'trained' him such that I shall not be rocking him like a 'yao-lan' or walked around the house endlessly. I KNEW that 1 day he will be more than 10kg and that would be back-breaking! So I planned right from the start that it meant sitting down comfortably and with rhythmically patting only.

It worked. And that was how he slept, night after night in my arms. I loved the feeling! But as Kimi grew, he became heavier and my arm was giving way and so we progressed to a pillow propped on the bed and he sleeping on my thighs. Nice too. :)

Then came last year when he said he wanted to sleep on his own, in his own cot. Frankly I was devastated! So I let him, feeling so sad everyday. Then one day out of the blue, he said that he wanted to hold my hands and I was SOOOOO happy!

Last week's article on Mind Your Body was interesting. While all of us are guilty of subscribing to some Parenting Gurus on how to bring up our kids, the writer was so right when she said that the best parenting was 'gut feel'. And I agree. I never really bothered about what most books or Gurus would say reagrding when a child needs to be toilet-trained, sleep on his own, etc, etc. I always believed that 'when a child is ready, he will be ready' and that will make everything so much easier.

Kimi toilet-trained himself when we were in Hong Kong last year. One day at the hotel, he told me that he didn't want to wear his diaper so I said as long as you tell me or papa when you needed to go. And that was it. Of course there were a few accidents but it was far and few. Kimi is currently not toilet-trained for naps and bedtime. Again, when he is ready, he will be ready and I also do not bother to push him.

I know many parents are eager to let their child sleep on their own. For me, it's the other way round, I really have no hurry. Again, my theory was proven. When they are ready, they will be ready. Kimi is starting to display such independence and I am not in the least bit frantic that he still needs to hold my hand now to sleep.

In fact, I wished he would want to hold my hand till I'm 80! Such closeness with our children sadly to say diminshes as the child grows. It is a fact and we can't deny it. It will come a day when we will take a back-seat in their lives.

So, enjoy and savour the moment we can with our little ones cos they REALLY grow up too fast. Everything else can wait, the laundry, dirty dishes, your beauty mask and even sleep! Cos there will be a day when they may not even want you in their rooms!

Scoot scoot scoot and away!

Every since we gotten Kimi his scoot for Xmas, he's been loving it and wants to use it everyday! We love this make and have been eyeing it for almost a year. We were so blessed to see it on sale at Taka for S$125 and grabbed it.

It's really a safer and smoother ride with 2 wheels in front and anchored low. Kimi's old scoot also had 2 wheels but the built, etc was really crap and we felt it was more dangerous than safe.

Get a Micro if you want to start your kids on scoots... Er, I don't work for them ok? Just wanted to share a good buy. :)

We have 1 confident scooter now who wants to move on to skate boards!! Faint! Now, Kimi is using the scoot as a skate board, balancing on the side... Goodness!

This was taken on 2 Jan 2010.

Buttery Moist Banana Cake

I think all of us at some time or another, accumulate way too many RIPE bananas somewhere in the kitchen. Well, that just happened to us and I decided to bake this family favourite which I had not in YEARS!!

This is an easy and yummy recipe, the cake is rich yet moist and soft! I used the paper loaves which I bought from Daiso that came in a set of 3. In less than 30mins coming out of the oven, 1 loaf was GONE! Mostly devoured by hb and Kimi. I was a happy mummy & baker! :)

Cat, here goes my 'secret recipe' as you call it! Haha! No secret lah.. u so drama! :)

Recipe (makes 3 smallish paper loaves which I bought from Daiso OR 1 9" round)

• 260g self-raising flour
• 220g caster/fine sugar
• 180g butter
• 260g banana
• 4 eggs
• 30ml milk
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat oven at 170 degrees celsius
2. Mash banana and stir into milk, set aside
3. Cream butter and sugar at medium speed till light abd fluffy.
4. Add 1 egg at a time till combined **
5. Add essence
6. Fold in sifted flour and soda till combined
7. Pour into desired tins/moulds and bake for 60 to 70mins or until pick comes out clean

Notes

** As this is a high fat cake, when adding the eggs, sometimes it may curdle. On the 1st sighting of the mixture curdling, add in 1 tsp of the pre-sifted flour and continue till all the eggs are added. Adding of a little flour helps to stop the curdling.

Adjust timing according to size of baking tins. Lesser time for smaller moulds, etc

Name Calling

Kimi has MANY way of calling/addressing us. And it's all dependent on his moods. I know Estelle has special name for her daddy so 'name-calling' I know is not uncommon! Haha! Here are what he calls us.

For me:

During his serious, needy ways, he will call me MAMA. But when he is playful or did something naughty, he will call me MUMMY. And when he feels cheeky &/or grown up, he will call me MOM.

As for hb, Kimi will call him PAPA. Playful time Kimi calls his PAPPY. (pronounced as puppy as in Spanish for Papa).

Rather creative for a 2+ year old (he started last year) don't you think? Keke! What and how do your child address you? :)

Kimi Speaks

I'm so upset that I have TONS of back-dated posts to do! Not that I was procrastinating, I was really just too tired after a long day to blog. I really missed blogging and yes, I will not stop and don't intend to do so for the moment.

Well, I will still post my back dated posts as they are important to me, to us even if it's old news for my readers and/or they may not be keen. I need to document (what's left that I can remember!) so that Kimi can read them when he's older.

Overheard:-

1)
Normally hb will prep Kimi and tell him he's going to work so that Kimi will not whine esp if he wakes and realises Papa has left for work.

Papa : Kimi, Papa will be going to work later.
Kimi : No, I will make a lot of money so you don't need to go to work. You and mama can stay at home.

Then, 30mins later, during shower, Kimi wanted to sit on his throne. After some time, I hurried him.
Me : Kimi, have you finished? Hurry up. It's very late already, Papa needs to go to work (he ONLY wanted Papa to wash his behind after his biz).

Kimi : I want to be late, I don't want hurry up. So Papa can be late and then he don't need to go to work already.
(Then he started smiling cheekily)

2)
We were watching an advertisement that has Fann and Chris having dinner and Chris whipped out a diamond ring.

Kimi : Mama, next time I make alot of money and buy a diamond for you!
Me : ok, thank you!
(we had only told him that a diamond is very expensive the night before, nothing else!)

3)
Finally after so many months and now that Kimi is more 'articulate' he told us the reason why he didn't want to go to school...

We saw Kimi's school bus and he quickly exclaimed that it was his school.

Kimi : Mama, the school, Kids.. Kids... where Teacher CT, what's the name?
Me : Oh, it's Kids Kingdom. What is the name of your school now?
Kimi : (shouting) DS!
Me : Kimi, do you like to go to school?
Kimi : YES!
Me : How about KK?
Kimi : No.
Me : Why not?
Kimi : Cos it's so boring!
Hmm, is that really the reason? Sometimes I can't really trust what he says cos Kimi has an over-imaginative mind.

4)
After school one day ...

Me : Kimi do you like your teachers? Whom do you like beta? Mrs R or Z laoshi?
Kimi : Mrs R!
Me : How abt Z laoshi?
Kimi : No, I don't like her. She is fierce like a Tiger! (then he gave me a roar and used his hand to imitate a paw-swing)

5)
One morning after Kimi climbed into our bed and plonked between us.

Kimi : Papa, I want to kiss you. (he then planted a kiss on papa's forehead) Kiss your forehead.
Papa : Thank you.
Kimi : Papa, where is my three-head?
Hb & Me : LOL!!!

Seashells by the Beach

Kimi enjoys going to the beach and he has been bugging us ever since he started Pre-Nursery as his kindy is just a short distance away.

I had some ideas for craft so thought why not bring the little one for short walk before dinner? I told him we needed to pick shells and some sand...

It was a short walk but we had a wonderful time! The great thing about outdoors is that you get to learn as you have some fun too! Kimi picked and touched dead crabs (yikes!), saw crab holes, picked different kind of shells. It was all touchy-feely!

See how eager Kimi is? He brought his trusty bucket and a small friend, Ducky for company. :) Finally, at the beach! Look at his face! Beaming!
When I was growing up, I lived next to the sea and I could find loads of nice shells easily on the beach. It was rather sad that we walked the whole stretch to find only few shells. Clearly, pollution has rid alot of sealife. :( Here, Kimi found his first shell and he was esctactic.

Kimi, not giving up.... still looking for more shells The sea was nice and blue and I had wanted the 2 boys to take a pix. But Kimi was not co-operative as usual. See the little ducky by his side? He said he needed to put ducky nicely so it can take a pix too.
Finally managed to coax him to wave 'hi' albeit still not looking in the camera and very unwillingly...
See? When I asked him to show me what he picked? He pushed the bucket in my face, refusing to look in the cam. What's with taking pix that he dislikes so much? I pray that this stage will pass soon... it's been like that since he was 13 months!!
Some of the shells we picked

Kimi is 3! A Weekend of Celebration!

We started with a mini celebration at SM class and as usual, Kimi wanted a Pirate theme. And he also told me he wanted a cake with an elephant pretending to be a pirate. Ok, I told him, mama will try her best. :)

We decided to do a whole weekend of celebration and let Kimi have loads and loads and fun - that's what Birthdays are all about ya?

We ate so much cake that really, enough is ENUFFF! I, er, we need to rest our systems a little. I was also tired cos besides all the going out, etc... I still had to bake and bake and bake. But it was all fun!

I decided to make cupcakes with a Pirate theme so it will be less messy and instead of using just icing frosting, I used cream cheese frosting with choc chips in the cuppies. I made the little pirates and Captain Pirate a few days earlier as it took a few days to dry out. Then I printed out some pirate flags, stuck them on a pick and away it went! Ahoy!

Fondant pirates

Kimi's classmates at SM

My little Pirate! How cute!!!

Eating his cuppie

Our little pressies for his friends

After class, we went home for a nap before bringing Kimi to the Night Safari - Kimi's first and he loved it!

Kimi giving me a hi-5 while waiting for dinner

Fish & Chips for the boys

Pepper Bongo Burger - looked great but tasted rather bleah....

At the souvenir shop

Since our plans were to let Kimi do the stuff he enjoyed most, we decided to do away with the eating session with our family and instead bring Kimi to see his most anticipated Dinosaurs Show at Hollywood Dinos and watch a IMAX movie. There were many good reviews for the show, Under the Sea so decided to give it a go!

This was about the only pix I took cos Kimi was screaming and said he was scared although he knows that dinosaurs are extinct and those were fake. Oh well...
So, he enjoyed playing and looking at the ducks and swans at the entrance of Jurong Bird Park best.

At Omnimax Theatre. Kimi although enjoyed the show, he almost fell asleep towards the end cos we had allowed him to skip his nap. :(

In the end, he fell asleep on the way home and we ate at the field at Punggol while enjoying the cool breeze and many kites!

After Church on Sunday,we went home as we wanted to bring Kimi for a nice dinner and he really needs his nap. Skipping it can sometimes be like a walking time bomb - sometimes he will be ok while most times he will be whiny and grouchy and unco-operative.

Once Kimi slept, I quickly baked and then iced the cake. By time I had finished, it was 5.45pm and Kimi didn't want to go out, preferring to stay in.

So we headed to Chomp Chomp and bought lots of yummy food and stuff ourselves silly! It was so fun!! After dinner, our neighbour Wayne came to give Kimi a pressie and they had lots of fun catching up and playing, er, I mean fighting together. Haha! Nah, they still played together lah..

Kimi's request for an elephant-pretending-to-be-pirate cake.

Kimi's favourite - candle blowing!

Papa, Kimi and Wayne

Ha! This time I finally remembered to take a pix of the cut cake

Wow... after so many days of non-stop baking and celebations, I was becoming rather weary. Today (Mon) we will be doing a mini celebration in Kimi's school and he could choose what he wished to wear and of course he chose ELEPHANT and his favourite camouflage pants.

Pressies for his little friends

Decided to make simple mini raisin cupcakes with a dollop of cream cheese frosting with an animal theme. Didn't have the time and energy to churn out fondant animals so I just made these animal picks using bento barans.

Kimi always looks forward to candle blowing
Teacher asking Kimi to make a wish before blowing his candle - aiyo, see how cute he is with his eyes closed? :)

Group photo before we leave

After a weekend of celebrating and fun, our wish for Kimi is,

"Darling, may you always be happy and healthy. To put God first and always look to God for all your needs. May the Good Lord always hold your hands, leading and showing you the way and giving you the wisdom to live in accordance to His Words. Papa and Mama will always stay by your side and give you all the support and love in whatever you do. Happy Birthday Darling!"

Happy Blessed 2010!

We celebrated New Year with family members over popiah which I made and to sweeten the coming year, a Strawberry Fresh Cream cake.

Again, totally forgotten to take pix of the party and the cut cake. Age IS catching up.

Submarine

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

A submarine greeted me this morning! Kimi said this was a special submarine that was also a fighter jet. :)

Bounce Bounce Bounce

Today we went on a playdate with my neighbour's son, Wayne. The boys had so much fun running, jumping, climbing and bouncing on the Bouncy Castle at T3 that before sleeping, Kimi said this to me :-

Kimi : Mama, thank you for a fun day at the Bouncy Castle!

Me : You are most welcome! (*Beaming from ear to ear*)

Sometimes Kimi CAN be sooo sweet .... :)

This Bouncy Castle is on at Changi T3 daily from 12pm to 10pm and limited to 15mins per child. And best of all??? It is FREE!!! Available from now till 4 Jan 2010!

I'm sure we will be heading there again! :)

A shot before attacking the castle! And this is how you do it - Kimi's style. Climb without using the stairs on the left ...
Slide down in style ignoring EVERY instructions laid out to him earlier by the play guides ...

Or, when more familiar, try the norm too ... just to show that he too can listen to instructions ....
And then, jump into the ball pit with aplomb and repeat cycle again! Haha!

Look at how tiny Kimi is against this huge musical ball. Every 15 or 30mins, it will open up and release lovely x'mas tunes. During scheduled times, (7pm onwards on weekdays and 12pm onwards on weekends) balls will roll out from the tubes and you can redeem it for toys, sweets, etc. How nice right? See my Kimi waiting dutifully to catch something? But nothing came as it was not during the scheduled time. He was so sad! All these are FREE too! We went to Forum after that thinking that the Green Sheep was still on but it had ended on 6/12, the kids were so disappointed! But Toys'r'us saved the day!