Cutting of 3rd tooth

Kimi's cut his 3rd tooth today. He has been extremely cranky the past weeks and I believe the tooth next to this will also cut very soon.

October Reflections - Emotions & Cuddles

My instalment for October's reflections is late this month. That's because my pc crashed last week and I was offline for a week! Gosh, it's terrible! Well, I'm back again after the guy fixed the pc yesterday.

Just like my pc, you never know how dependent you are on it till you lose it. I believe it's the same with everything - our spouses, family, friends or even the simple dryer! When you have it, you don't think much of it but when it is no longer within reach, you pine and wish you had it again.

October had been a tumultuos month in the emotions department - Kimi was at his worst with his feeding/behaviour, I, emotionally was way down in the pits and a close relative was contemplating divorce. Amidst the domestic emotional roller coaster, we also had to help D deal with his misery and legal issues.

I guess it is never easy to come to terms with betrayal - what happened to the sacred vows pledged during the wedding? The other party felt emotionally empty and a lack of connection and communication, hence the search for someone else to fill the gap.

This brings me to say this, "Never underestimate the power of a cuddle". Why? Cos just the other day, after a hard power struggle and battle with Kimi (during feed), and as I was putting him to sleep, he suddenly grabbed my neck and cuddled me tight! I was startled and felt so touched! No words can describe how GOOD it felt! NOTHING can compare - not the most expensive truffle or diamonds!

Just that cuddle Kimi gave, it took away all my negative emotions and broke down the anger wall I had built earlier. Sometimes, all it takes to make things better are not material stuff but a good, nice cuddle!

I wished D & C would cuddle and make-up cos a cuddle really breaks down the emotional wall and heals. For my ardent blog readers, may I say, please cuddle your loved ones at least once a day - it does makes a world of difference.

To end on a sweet note, I am sharing a shot of my current favourite cake - Carrot Cake from Marmalade. The cake is not only moist and has a tender crumb to it, it is also fragrant and delicious. It is filled with juicy pineapple cubes, walnuts and raisins. Most Carrot Cakes are enhanced by the Cream Cheese Frosting but this tasted good on its own!

Enjoy the cake and don't forget to hug your baby and dear ones today! (Sorry, couldn't resist, stole a few bites before taking the pix. My photography really didn't do justice for the cake! Sigh..).

Baby - Apple Stewed Salmon Fillet

More fish food for Kimi. This time I'm going to trying slow stewing it with apples. The result is sursprisingly nice. Most importantly, it's whether my little gourmet likes it. He likes it - think anything cooked with fruits, he will enjoy.

Ingredients

- 200g salmon steak

- 1 small red apple (peeled, cored & diced)

- 2 tbsp of wolfberries (gou qi zi)

- 2 stalks of celery (diced)

- 2cm length of cinnamon stick or pinch of ground cinnamon

- Dash of powdered kelp

- Dash of pepper

- 2 tsp of chopped onions

- 2 Xlarge cubes of chicken stock

- 4 tbsp of dry red lentils (boiled separately & drained before pureeing together with salmon)

Method

- Season salmon with pepper & powdered kelp

- Add a little oil and the chopped onions to slow cooker and switch on high

- Once you can smell the onions, place all the diced apples and celery at into the slow cooker and turn evenly

- Place the salmon steak on top of the diced vegetables, add stock, switch to auto and cover

- After an hour, check on the vegetables, if it has soften a little, move it slightly apart so that the salmon steak can immerse more deeply into the stock. Repeat after some time till all the vegetables are soft and the salmon can immerse fully.

- At this point, add the wolfberries.

- Stew for another hour or until salmon is soft.

- Remove salmon slowly and set aside

- Keep half the apples and all of the other ingredients

- Add pre-cooked & strained lentils to salmon and puree/mash to desired texture. You can use the gravy from the salmon to puree/mash.

Tips :

- You can also use green apples but they may be too sour. Red apples are more fragrant and adding cinnamon brings out the sweetness and aroma of the apples. I used only half of the cooked apples as the apple I had was a little sour.

- Adding the wolfberries in the last hour helps to ensure that it doesn't get too mushy.

- There is actually more gravy but I wanted to show this cute plate with chicks that I only added a little gravy.

Sweet & Sour Salmon

Bought extra Salmon fillet so made some for lunch today for hb & myself. Thought of trying a different approach so tried it with a Sweet & Sour sauce and it complimented the salmon quite well. This is a simple & quick recipe if you want to whip up a Sweet & Sour sauce dish. You can use this basic sauce and alternate the meat. Our green dish was Quick Stir Fry Celery with Mushrooms.

Ingredients

400g salmon steak

Salt & pepper to taste

Sesame oil & Chinese wine

Some plain flour or corn flour

Sauce

6 tablespoons of tomato ketchup

2 tomatoes (cut in quarters)

Sugar & white vinegar to taste

1 clove garlic chopped

Ginger (thinly sliced)

1 tbsp cornflour dissoved in half cup of water

Method

- Wash salmon and rub some salt & pepper to it. Cut salmon to bite size and drizzle some sesame oil & Chinese wine and mix lightly. Set aside to marinate for 30 mins.

- Put the flour into a shallow bowl, coat the salmon pcs and shake off excess.

- Heat oil in pan, once oil is hot (test by inserting a chopstick into oil, once you see bubbling round the chopstick. It means oil is hot enough. Reduce to medium low and slide salmon pc into pan.

- Turn salmon when the edges are golden brown. Remove once both sides are golden and place in some kitchen towels to soak up excecss oil.

Fried salmon pcs waiting for drizzling of sweet & sour sauce

Preparing sauce

- Heat a little oil in pan, add garlic and ginger.

- Once fragrant, add tomato sauce & stir gently on low fire.

- Add tomato quarters

- Once tomatoes are soft, taste sauce. Season with sugar and vinegar. Only add vinegar if sauce not sour enough. Different brands of tomato sauce have different taste so taste test first.

- Add the cornflour mixture and once sauce thinckens, add the pre-fried salmon pcs and toss gently and quickly.

- Transfer to plate and serve immediately.

My Little Drummer Boy

Hb has been playing the drums with Kimi, letting him bang at the snare, tom and cymbals.

Let's sit back and enjoy Kimi's drum performance!

6th Kindermusik Lesson With Papa!

Kimi Chat:

Yay! Papa could attend my Kindermusik class with me again, today! I'm so happy and had a ball of a time!

My First LRT/MRT Ride

Kimi Chat:

Yesterday, while we were going for our photoshoot, the battery light in our car lighted up. Papa was very concerned and quickly called and send the car to the workshop.

Apparently, the alternator has worn out. So today, papa & mummy is bringing me on my first LRT/MRT ride to collect the car! I can't wait cos I don't know wat is that and I've never been on one!

Onigiri (Rice Balls) & California Rolls

Decided to try out the triangle rice shapers since I bought them a few days ago. It's very easy to mould and you can add just about anything you like to the Onigiri (riceballs).

I made a batch of sushi rice and divided them into 2 portions, 1 for the onigiri and the other for the california rolls. For the onigiri, I used the rice sprinklers and added to the rice once it was cooked. Then I place some into the shapes, added some filling, top up with more rice, press to shape and Wah-la! Then cut some sea-weed and wrap round for aesthetics.

Same for the california rolls, I used Tuna Mayonaise and Luncheon meat for the main filling with avocado, bacon bits and cucumber for accompaniment. It tasted very good, except that the luncheon meat roll was a tad dry. Should have added more Jap Mayo. Next time!

Note : I used ordinary white rice as I did not have any sushi rice. I added a little more water so it is more moist.

Recipe for Sushi Rice

- 2 cups of uncooked rice grains (washed & strained)

- Add 5 tbsp of white vinegar, 2 tbsp of sugar & pinch of salt to washed rice and then cook rice in rice cooker as per normal

- Once cooked, separate and prepare as per preference

Tip : For better looking rice balls, use the pink coloured sprinkles. I had ran out of this so had to use the brown ones.

Photo Shoot @ YK

Today we went for a photoshoot and although Kimi was very cranky since wake, I still decided to go ahead with it. I should have trusted my instincts and postpone it as Mr Smiley became Mr Grumpy today!

It was so difficult to get him to even look at the camera, much less smile for it. But YK was very patient and tried very hard to get Kimi's attention. Although the pix came out not too bad, I can imagine how much more fab it would have been it Kimi felt better. We suspect his 2 top teeth is cutting soon so he's been overly cranky the past weeks.

I really hope this difficult phase will get better and pass. Let's pray together!

Anyhow, I've attached some pix here:-

Tingkat-free!

We have been eating tingkat meals since Mar this year. Tried a few caterers and altho there were reputed to be the better ones around, we were really getting very tired of the food.

I've wanted to stop many times and try to manage to cook my meals but hb is afraid that I would (most likely) ignore my meals and end up snacking, etc. Hence, he has insisted that I stick with tingkat.

Hb is on leave for the next week so I've persuaded him to let me cook simple meals and try to see if I can manage. He has agreed. But, I sneakily also cancelled it. I want to try out if I can manage when hb is not around. Well, if I can't, they are just a phone call away.

So, for our 1st home cooked dinner, it has to be yummy and easy to prepare. This dish is also hb's and my fave - Chinese Sausage Rice and Spinach & Fish Ball soup. Whenever I make this rice, I must make this simple boil of spinach soup (red leaves) or watercress soup. It just goes so well together! I did not use my favourite duck liver sausage as hb doesn't like them so stuck with the normal ones.

Chinese Sausage Rice (Yau-mei fan)

Ingredients

11/2 to 2 cups uncooked rice (washed and drained, set aside)

3 chinese sausage (sliced)

5 - 6 dried mushrooms (pre-soaked till soft and sliced thinly)

4 tbsp of dried shrimps (washed and soaked for 5 mins, discard water)

Cilantro (chopped)

2 tbsp fried onions

1 thumb size of ginger, sliced thinly

Seasonings

2 tbsp Oyster sauce

1 tbsp dark soya sauce

1 tsp Maggi chicken powder (no msg version)

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp of chinese wine

Dash of sesame oil

Method
- Place washed rice (w/o) into rice cooker and set aside

- Heat a little oil in the wok/pan and add a few slices of ginger (keep some for the rice)

- Once ginger slices are fragrant, add the dried shrimps and fry lightly till fragrant

- Add the chinese sausage and fry till light golden brown

- Add shrimps, sausage and mushrooms to rice cooker

- Pour in seasoning and add some pepper before mixing well

- Mix in the fried onions and sliced ginger

- Add slightly more water than what you normally use for cooking white rice.

- Once cooked, sprinkle cilantro and more fried onions and serve hot

Simple Spinach Soup with Fish Balls

Ingredients

1 packet of red round leaves spinach

1/2 cube of ikan bilis stock cube

1 packet of Dodo Chilli Fish balls

3 large slices of ginger

Cilantro

Method

- Boil a pot of water with cube stock and ginger

- Once boiling and can smell ginger's fragrance, add the spinach and let it boil for 5-8 mins

- Add the fish balls and continue to let it boil for another 10 mins

- Season with pepper and a dash of sesame oil.

- Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice

Tips

- Keep the clean mushroom water, which you can use to cook the rice

- If you are not comfortable to use cube stock, you can use fresh ikan bilis or soya beans as soup base

- You can also add the fish balls in the last 5 mins before soup is boiled. I prefer to ensure it is thoroughly boiled as afraid of fishy smell

Kindermusik With Papa

Finally, hb is in Singapore to join us after so many lessons. And for me, I can rest my arms a little as can be quite taxing prancing around, sashaying like a ballerina (quote from Sharon) and stomping like a Red Indian Chief. Let papa have the honours this week.

Also managed to capture a few shots. Here goes :-

More Bento Madness

Went to Daiso ... yes, again! Really can't resist these! Look at the cute sauce bottles!

Bento Madness

I'm really getting into it! Collecting all things bento related! All things that can shape a nice rice ball, cut a cute shape or cute bottles/pots for sauces and mayo.

With my kind of luck, I'd better buy what I like when I see it now. Don't you guys have the same prob? You never can find the stuff when you need them or not a cab in sight when you need one and throngs when you don't?

So, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Here's my latest loots :-

Cute pancake shapes, lunch boxes holders, sausage shapers, sauce and mayo holders, rice (omu) moulds

Kimi's Latest Squeeze

Now, don't let your thoughts run wild, it's got nothing to do with any girls or such - it's his toy!

Kimi's current favourite toy/past time got to be the IKEA Bead Chaser. It's an inexpensive & good toy that allows babies to practise fingers reflexes and their fine motor skills.

See how he's enjoying it...

Busy Body, literally

Lately, Kimi has been very busy, in fact, a real busy body (aka kaypoh)! Everywhere he goes, he must open that cupboard, check that drawer or jus dig at things.

Look how busy he is digging at my drinks holder in my coffee table?

Baby - Oven Baked Parsley Crusted Salmon Pocket

Seems like I've been doing quite a bit of cooking ya? Enjoy it while you can as a period of drought may soon come as my freezer becomes sufficient for the next few weeks.

So, 2 more fish recipes and I can rest a little! I personally think the oven is a marvellous cooking equipment cos you can do so much with it. Wrapping meat with vegetables in a foil pocket brings out the natural sweetness and flavouring of the dish. It's also very healthy as limited oil is used and it's almost like steaming. But minus the extra water as this is like a dry bake and the food is cooked in its own natural juices. Yummy!

Recipe

Ingrredients

- 200g fresh salmon fillet steak

- 100g pumpkin (skin removed & diced)

- 10 sprigs Baby Beans

- 1 hand bunch of Chinese Parsley (Cilantro, Yong-sui) chopped finely

- 1 tomato

- Dash of pepper &/or ikan bilis powder

- 2 cubes of veg or chix stock
- 2 dried apricots (thinly sliced)

Method

- Preheat oven to 200 degrees

- Use an oven safe dish or baking pan. Line with foil first. Use another foil and make a well-like pocket. Drizzle some oil into the pocket

- Place the diced pumpkin, beans and tomato into the pocket and turned lightly so that it is coated with the oil

- Lightly marinate salmon with pepper &/or ikan bilis powder. Press the chopped parsley on top of the salmon and put in pocket

- Sprinkle the sliced dried apricot and frozen stock cubes on top of the salmon and veg

- Close up the foil so that there is no opening. If the foil is not big enough, tear another piece and blanket it on top of the dish

- Put into oven and allow to bake for 30 -40 mins. Check after 30mins to see if salmon is cooked especially the centre area

- Pumpkin and beans should cooked relatively fast

- Once fish is ready, remove and leave the whole dish with the foil closed for 10 mins before removing and pureeing to desired texture

Tip

- Remove the skin of the tomatoes before mashing or pureeing