My 2nd Mother's Day

This Mother's Day is a lonely one for me cos hb is again out of town. I think in the last month or so, he's been home less than 10 days collectively. The word is SIAN!

So, I decided to have a sinful dinner... I wanted to snack so I wanted to have cake, chips, chocolate milk and yogurt! Well, it's my day and I want to just lay back a bit.

I bought a slice of carrot cake from the bakery at The Market Place at Tanglin Mall. I simply do not have the energy to get my fave from Marmalade or Cedele. I just wanted to get one quickly and leave Tanglin Mall as Kimi needs his nap anytime.

When I saw the packaging, I was so frustrated. I would have rejected it if I had not paid. But then, I also wanted my carrot cake. Well, the least they could do was give me a decent cake box. Because at S$5.20 a slice, it is not exactly cheap. They put it in a salad box and let the cake lay on its side! How could they? It did no justification for a slice of cake!

Verdict? The crumb is relatively tender and moist with enough raisins and walnut to boost but frankly, I can't taste the cream cheese topping. I had to clear my palate with water and scrape the cream to taste. It had a very artificial commercial feel and well the frosting was sparingly thin!

So would I return for more? Nay, even if I had a bad case of craving, I would let my craving pass. Fyi, I did not finish the cake. But the chips and chocolate milk were long gone! I just love these chips but they are so hard to get your hands on! After first tasting them last month, I couldn't find it until today at the Market Place. I like it's crispy fluffiness despite being a tad too salty.



Today had been quite an emotional day for me... I don't know why, maybe cos the hb is away. yet again. As I was driving thru the old estate where I used to live as a child (had to drive around as Kimi was napping in the car). I felt so nostalgic, sentimental and even a tad sad especially when I saw the 'shortcut', me and my frens called as kids. Its a linkway that cuts through the estate to the beach and we used it everyday for meetups or chats.

The estate has changed so much! It's no longer the same. My friends were also not staying there anymore. Sadly, we've lost touch too. At that moment, I so so wanted to return to the time when I was a girl, cycling thru the estate with my friends, catching mud-skippers, chasing chicks or just frolicking on the beach. It was so carefree then and life was so simple. Just the tranquil crashing of waves or swaying of the coconut trees - such peaceful, beautiful afternoons. I doubt I can ever find such indulgences ever again!

Now the estate somehow lost its charms. It felt distant and unfriendly. Back then, everyone knew everyone. It felt so homely.

After a large hump, Kimi stirred and woke. That woke me too. I made my way out of the estate and was grateful that I had a wonderful childhood... guess that's what they call memories.

With that, I hope I can be a good mummy and give Kimi a wonderful childhood. So that he, too, can have lovely memories of growing up!

Here's a little something I wrote for all mummies, I believe it echoes many of your thoughts!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Until You Become A Mother
By : Tona-mama

Until you become a mother,
You never knew love.
Those selfless sacrifices for another,
You never knew you are capable.

Until you become a mother,
You never knew pain.
Scraped knees and bruised egos,
You vow to make it all rosy again.

Until you become a mother,
You never knew patience.
A tiny being that wields such power,
You trudge on without grievances.

Until you become a mother,
You never knew happiness.
A silly smile, a thoughtless antic,
You feel you are on top of the universe.

Until you become a mother,
You never knew exhaustion.
Endless days and sleepless nights,
You only wished it could get better.

Until you become a mother,
You never knew multi-tasking.
Baby on the feed, dinner on the stove and a floor to clean,
You wished you had 10 limbs.

Until you become a mother,
You never knew humility.
Cajoling and dancing to a screaming brat,
You just know his well-being is your entirety.

Until you become a mother,
You never knew discipline.
Whether it’s 3 or 5am and your baby needs a cuddle,
You jump up immediately without a struggle.

Until you become a mother,
You never knew separation anxiety.
When your happy tot goes to nursery,
You hoped he was still a baby, worrying endlessly.

Until you become a mother,
You never knew such was life.
How a baby so little,
Can make you love him ever and ever.

BB Chicken Rice

Kimi's Chicken Rice dinner with garlic stir fry spinach and car moulded rice!

Special Green Dip & Chilli Sauce for the adults

I was thinking of making Chicken Rice for us for dinner so I thought why not make a baby version so I can kill 2 birds with 1 stone. And also to introduce this dish to Kimi and see if he likes it. He loves it!

But hubby did not give him all the rice as he was afraid he may not be able to stomach it all. After all, this is the first time Kimi is having rice as a meal.

For adults, this is a healthy version as I do not use any of the chicken fat. This way, you will never be guilty eating the rice! Haha! There's also no need to add too much seasoning as the fragrance from the pandan leaves, lemon grass and sesame oil makes it tasty enough. We can always add a little dark soya sauce if we need it later.

I've also included recipes for the chilli sauce and green dip which we enjoy. Hope you can take some time to make these as they are really great with the chicken and rice. My new U-Like blender made it a breeze for me to churn these out. I'm sooo happy with this blender!


Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (approx. 1-1.3kg)
• 1 stalk of lemon grass
• 1 bunch of pandan leaves
• 1 cleaned root of the chinese parsley - optional (look here to see wat I mean)
• 4 large slices of ginger

Chicken Method

1. Boil a large pot of water and add all the above ingredients except chicken
2. Lightly rub the chicken with kelp (optional)
3. Make sure the pot is large enough to hold the chicken comfortably
4. Once the water is boiling on high, slide whole chicken in and let it boil on high for 30-40 mins (depending on size of chicken)
5. Remove and plunge into cool water
6. Once the chicken is cooled, cut as needed
7. Drizzle some of the fragrant oil over the chicken
8. Serve with rice and your favourite greens

** If you don't want to use whole chicken, you can use breasts or fillets but I suggest you steam them instead as the meat will toughen up as there is no skin and fat to 'moisture' it as you boil it. Whole chicken is the most juicy as you really need the skin and fat. You can always remove prior to serving. Alternatively, use a whole chicken thigh.

Frangrant Oil Ingredients

• Shallots thinly sliced and fried till crispy. Remove shallots from oil and set aside
• Ginger & garlic oil (kept from the oil used to fry rice)
• Sesame oil
• 1tbsp light soya sauce

Fragrant Oil Method

1. Mix all the above together and lightly drizzle over chicken

** If you find frying the shallots too troublesome like I sometimes do. I will buy the pre-fried ones in oil from supermarkets like NTUC, etc. It is a plastic bottle with a yellow cab and the crispy shallots have oil. So you only need to take some oil from here and warm up and use.

** Or like me who don't like waiting endlessly and hogging the stove top, I use the microwave. Yes, the micro makes very crispy and good shallots! And you won't get splattered by runaway oil too. Just slice as per norm, use hand to separate the shallots and put into micro-safe bowl. Add oil and micro on high UNCOVERED for 2-3 mins. Use fork to stir and keep at it till golden. Monitor, monitor as the last few minutes just before browning are crucial as may burn easily. So go on short pulses of 10-30 sec till nice n golden.

Rice Ingredients

• 2 cups rice (or how much you need) washed and drained
• 2 stalks of lemon grass cut into smaller sections
• 2 tied up bunches of pandan leaves
• 8 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 thumbs of ginger, minced
• Sesame oil + oil

*Adult version : Add 2 tsp of Chicken granules or salt


Rice method

1. Use half sesame and half oil to fry the minced garlic & ginger till fragrant. Remove 1/3 of the oil and set aside. If not enough oil in the pan, add a little more. Let it warm up before adding the rice
2. Add the drained rice and fry till fragrant
3. Throw in the pandan leaves & lemon grass
4. Fry till frangrant
5. Transfer to rice cooker
6. Add home-made chicken stock or water and let it cook as per normal

** Add only half of the amount of water of what you would normally use to boil the rice cos the rice has been pre-fried so it takes only a short time to cook the rice

** Should you find that the rice is too hard, add a little water and put the rice cooker to cook again

** For adult version, add in the chicken granules or salt and fry before putting into the rice cooker

Chilli Sauce Ingredients

• 4 medium red chillies de-seeded
• 2 thumbs size ginger
• 1 small clove garlic
• 4-6 green limes (squueze and strain juice)
• Pinch of chicken granules (or salt)
• 1 tsp sugar

Chilli Sauce Method

1. Place chillies, ginger, garlic, lime juice, salt & sugar and blend till smooth
2. Try to check taste. Add more sugar if too spicy or salt if not tasty enough or more strained lime juice if too thick
3. If you like more spicy, u can add a few chilli padi or do not remove the seeds

** I like to use lime juice as it is not too acidic and gives a nice aroma to the chilli. But if you like, you can still use the traditional way of adding some white vinegar. But if you are adding vinegar, pls remember to add some water and sugar. Taste to check.

Green Dip Ingredients

• 2-3 sprigs of spring onion
• 1 sprig of chinese parsley/cilantro
• 1/2 small clove garlic
• 1 thumb size ginger
• Pinch of salt & sugar
• Sesame oil (approx 10 tbsp)

Green Dip Method

1. Blend garlic & ginger roughly, add spring onions & parsley and continue to blend till smooth
2. Remove to dish, add sesame oil, salt and sugar
3. Stir well, pour into air-tight container

Sorting sorts & Statcking stacks

Managed to show Kimi how to sort the round peg into the sorter. Round is the easiest. He enjoys doing this now as well as stacking the Lego blocks (thanks, aunty Sherl for the pressie!). But I can't understand why he needs to open the lid of the sorter after putting 1 in? To check? Beats me!

Next will teach him how to sort the triangle... think star would be the most difficult. But, we'll get there, I'm sure!

Chocolicious

These 2 are 1 of my favourite Choc Milk Drink avail. The packet one is from Frankfurt while the bottled one is from Seoul.

I simply love the one from Frankfurt as it is so chocolatey yet not overly sweet or scarily rich. It's so yummy!

Buy, buy, buy

We went to the Popular Sale today and I lugged back $100+ worth of books for Kimi. Sounds like alot ya? Not really... only about 6 books and 2 books for me. Those that I was interested in were not on sale. But, I still bought it cos that was what I was looking for.

After that, we went to Parkway Parade for some shopping and I bought yet another blender! And I oradi have quite a few. But I was so taken by the salesperson's demo, I decided to buy it. It's called U-Like and I like the freebie that could churn out fresh soya milk.

Kimi contemplating whether to touch the Ixoras ...

Well, as usual, curiosity got the better of him ...

Ready to explore again

Refused to hold hands again

Giving the stairs a try

When home, he had to open up my buys ... cute thing was he said 'wah' when he peeked into the bag!

Not giving up checking my blender

That got boring so it was down to the new books!

When Kimi Met Tong

When Kimi met Tong, there were no fireworks but nice presents from Cath to Kimi. They played on their own, a few times snatched toys but were generally placid. Think need a few more months before they know how to play with each other.

Think Kimi was overwhelmed with Tong's toys to notice his playmate. Sorry, Tong! But Tong was as sweet as ever and even more sharp and sensitive. Kimi was holding onto a Dog flash card and we decided to leave the room for lunch.

So I took the card from him and started to walk him out. Of course, much to my embarassment, he begin screaming. Tong was so sweet and brought the Dog flashcard and gave it to my bawling son! How sensitive can such a young toddler get? And Tong is exactly 1 month younger than Kimi. We are ashamed...

I really hope they can grow up as great play mates!

Cath pressie for Kimi - Look how lovely it is wrapped?

A security blankie! Great! Cos Kimi loves to nibble at cloths


The 2 boys, excited about the fountain at Cath's condo


Think Tong mus be wondering what is the fascination with the pebbled top...

Kimi's favourite BUBBLES!

Swoosh swoosh!

We brought Kimi to the new playground at my mom's place. It was nice and new and were filled with kids and maids (don't parents bring their kids to the playground anymore? It's a Sunday, goodness!).

Kimi enjoyed the slides as usual but we only spent a grand 15mins there as it was really difficult for a young toddler to be competing with bigger, sturdier kids. And it was another 30-40 mins walk home.

We will go again, during the weekday, see you soon playground!

I want to slide down on my own, papa

I don't like this funny, jiggly ride

I want to walk & explore on my own, no need to hold my hands, Papa

Weee - weee!

Yay! Sliding down on my own!

Baby Surf & Turf

Sweet potatoes mash & cheese baked fish for a yummy combo!

Ingredients

• 1 small sweet potatoe (about size of finger) boiled or steamed
• 3 broccoli florets boiled or steamed
• 150g Batang fish fillet
• Dried Basil
• Butter
• Milk
• Cheese
• Pepper
• Oil
• Aluminium foil

Method

1. Mash the hot sweet potatoe using a fork with butter and milk till a smooth consistency. Set aside


2. Chop up the broccoli and add to the mash


3. Rub pepper on fillet and leave for a while


4. Pre-heat oven to 200 degree celsius


5. Add a little oil to the bottom of foil


6. Place the fillet onto the foil and place a few knobs of butter on top


7. Sprinkle the dried basil


8. Cover the fish with the cheddar cheese and fold up the foil


9. Bake in oven for 10 mins


10. Remove from oven and open up the foil and put back into the oven for another 10 mins


11. Serve with the mash

Tips

• You can use other kinds of fish like cod, threadfin or fillet. I use whatever I have in my fridge.

Comfy Snooze

I love it when Kimi lies so comfortably on my chest for his snooze. I hope he will continue to sleep like this even when he is bigger - I feel so close to him and it makes me so warm & fuzzy!

Kicking & Dribbling

Hb taught Kimi how to kick a bsll today and he picked it up very quickly. I was just about to buy a bigger, inflated ball this morning but forgotten to do so after brekkie. Guess, I don't need to?

Lately, whenever he feels he has done well, he will give himself a little clap, sooo cute, I'd say! Guess my constant clapping as an encouragement has made him do this?

So, what do you think of his kicking & dribbling skills? Kekke :)

Streaming in...Our New Car

Santa Claus came early this year - Hb decided to change our car for a new one when I told him that my friend, Sharon changed her's and it seemed much nicer than when we test-drove it last year.

Thanks papa for getting me a bigger and more spacious car! Kimi loves it too!

Let me check out the leather first ... hmm, nice smell and feels good!

Eh, got a row of seats at the back, let me check it out. But, hey what's that in the front? Can I drive?

Cheese!

So big & comfy

Hey, I can touch the ceiling and hang from it!

Hearty Grainy Soup

Saw this interesting Vegi Mix at MarketPlace (Tanglin Mall) last week, so decided to get it. I made it for dinner today.

The instructions say add 1 portion of mix to 4 portions of soup stock and boil for an hour. I added Xiao Bai Cai, Meatballs and straw mushrooms and dump it in the slow cooker and let it boil (2+ hours). After my chores, my hearty soup was cooked and ready, easy peasy! Great for a cold, wet night.

I did not over-boil so that it would not be overly mushy. It's alright if you like a thick, mushy soup. :)

I quite like it as it has a lot of bite what with all the goodies like barley, lentils, pasta, beans, etc. But when I cooked this a few days later, the hb didn't like it.

Interesting Cheese

I was wondering what Buko Cheese was when Cath blogged about this. I've never heard or seen it before. Went walk about at Giant Tampines today and saw it and decided to give it a try. It's yummy!

Kimi loves it too, so glad he did cos he's been fussy during brekkie of late. This soft yoghurt cheese spread is light and has a soft tangy taste, great for those who do not like too strong or heavy cheese taste.

Somehow, feel less guilty too! Keke! :)

Dexterous or Itchy?

See what my little boy did? I only gave him this toy which I bought at the Taka Baby Fair a few days ago.

He actually scraped the paper and almost tore it off! He really got very dexterous fingers and could 'dig' almost any small thing and pick up the tiny-iest of fluff on the floor or carpet.

Boon or Bane? Maybe, my dear blog readers, you can tell me.

Sweet Dreams

Since January this year, I've been training Kimi to sleep on his own. I think he is ready cos sometimes it takes so long to pat him to sleep and the moment I put him in his cot, he would toss & turn and 'eee-ee'-'ahh ahh' and then fall asleep.

So, I thought it was time that he may want to sleep on his own. Of course, it takes much longer as he has to calm himself down before sleeping. But, so far so good and he is able to put himself to sleep.

But, the daytime which he takes the longest to fall asleep also results in some of the most precarious or cute positions. Most times, he is at the foot of the cot and never on his pillow. Other times, he sleeps with his butt in the air (yet, to snap a pix!) or horizontally in the cot.

Nevertheless, I love looking at him sleeping, he looks so blissful especially with his thumb in his mouth!

Funky, Cool Kimi

I absolutely adore Kimi's hair when he just wakes up cos sometimes it can get into some really cool styles. But because Kimi's hair is so fine and soft, it falls into shape in a jiffy. He hardly has any bad hair days.

You can ruffle, mould, shape or play with it any which way you like. And all you need is a rub and smoothen down and it goes as neat as before.

That's why, now that his hair is longer, i love to ruffle and make it messy!

How did his hair become like that jus after a nap? Beats me!

Never mind Mummy, I will brush my hair to make it sleek & nice

Hmm, must not forget the back too ...

There! Don't you think I did a good job, Mummy? Handsome & neat! Yay!