updates of little one

aww when he first started to crawl …when was it? he is only 14 months old and i don't remember already! sigh. lousy mum!

anyway, in Jan 2014, he started to crawl a think, and as he gets more active, crawling and commando-ing like crazy, these was what he gets. the skin on the knees peeled.

awww, the mother is heart broken hence the adhesive. heh heh

fast forward to now, 14 months old.

we need to accompany his brother to swimming lesson every saturday.

of course, he can't sit STILL for more than 30 seconds.

he loves water.

2-3 weeks back, he could stand up and began taking a few steps.

still not more than 5 steps now but he loves to stand up! in the bathtub. on the bed! silly boy.

:)

the joy on his face when he is walking! 

he still drinks mummy's milk and he loves to scream for me at 5,30am in the morning, knowing that I'm in the kitchen busy preparing food for everyone. (actually not everyone, mainly for the 2 kids). dad has no breakfast now, poor dad.

I'm still cooking porridge every morning for this little one.

introduced celery, aubergine, leek for him last month.

he is vegetarian on most days of the week.

initially i gave him beef, fish and pork but now that i think of it, he would have plenty of meat when he grows up, so I'm giving him more veg/beans/legumes whilst he is still under my control :p

i add all sorts of grains - millet, quinoa, red lentil, green pea, buckwheat, oat groat, nutritional yeast into his porridge.

he loves to tear things into pieces!

so he found a big piece of kitchen towel in my bag hence he decided to practice his motor skill by shredding it into pieces.

well done sweetie!

kj could never do that.

when kj was a toddler, i gave him a small piece of newspaper and place it on a beautiful tray and present it to him. showed him how to tear the paper.

he just watched me.

no, he is not copying me!

sigh, i was disappointed because he doesnt like the activity.

but hey!

this kid, did it without me demonstrating!

is he smart or what?

:p

(could you sense any sarcasm?)

we can never neglect this boy.

he adores his little brother tremendously.

how do i know?

how do we know?

because he never fails to tell us that his brother is very cute! :)

ok, so why can we not neglect him?

because he talks so much and he is an attention seeker!

sometimes i feel like giving him a whip at the butt!

he stalls time.

he negotiates and gives excuses! O.O at this age??????!!!!

burger pau and mushroom soup

thermomix mushroom soup recipe:

15g olive oil
300g mixed mushroom (fresh/ dried shitake, any mushrooms)
2 clove garlic
1 small onion
10g butter (estimate, means don't need to be accurate)
dried italian mixed herbs
500g water + 1 maggi chicken stock (or chicken broth)
cream (optional)
sea salt , pepper to taste

methods:
1. garlic, onion, mushroom, olive oil, butter. Varoma, Reverse, speed 2. sauté for 10 mins
2. speed 6 to puree it. add in water, chicken stock (or broth) , cook for 20 mins. 100 degrees. speed 4.
3. add cream, herbs, salt and pepper. serve.

OR traditional method (jamie oliver) :

• Olive Oil
• 300g mixed Fresh Mushrooms (shitake, oyster, portabello, button) - cleaned and sliced
• 2 cloves Garlic - peeled and finely sliced
• 1 small Red Onion - peeled and finely chopped
• ½ tablespoon Butter
• 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme (or a handful of fresh thyme leaves)
• 500ml chicken or vegetable stock, preferably organic
• Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste
• a handful of fresh Parsley - roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoon Cream
• 1 lemon - grate for zest & juice
• Truffle Oil (Optional)

Instructions

1. Heat up a medium pot, add about 2-3 tablespoon of olive oil and your fresh mushrooms. Stir around very quickly for a minute, then add your garlic, onion, butter and thyme. After 1 minute, you'll probably notice moisture cooking out of the mushrooms. Carry on cooking for about 10 minutes until most of the moisture disappears.
2. Season to taste, and add your stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes. Remove half the soup into another pot and whiz it up to a purée with a hand blender (or pour into a blender to puree), then pour it back in.
3. Garnish with parsley & drizzle of cream
4. You can serve this soup as you like, or you can try Jamie's suggestion. Quickly stirfry some nice-looking mushrooms like oyster and sprinkle these on top of the soup with lemon zest and spoon some lemon juice. When you go to eat it, stir it in and it gives a wonderful flavour. If using truffle oil, a few drips on the top just before serving and leave out the lemon.

smooth homemade yogurt

I am proud to announce that i have mastered how to make yogurt, the no frills way!

and i will be sharing it here.

if you do not follow my instructions closely, u will sometimes succeed, or if you succeed, you will get gritty yogurt like i used to get :p

i never knew that i could make a completely smooth yogurt.

i thought homemade yogurt is ugly and gritty sometimes.

imagine what we have been consuming prior to this ;)

when it gets too gritty, we throw away sometimes. HEHE

 smooth aren't they?

pardon my lousy camera

soooo smooth and creamy! :D

let me rant a little but before i spill the methods :p

I've had a yogurt maker given by my dear friends, but i do not need to use it anymore now.

remember i said no-frill method?

i read that we can add some milk powder to thicken the yogurt. well, not anymore now, i don't need them.

i used to make them in the thermomix because it has temperature control, but not anymore, i don't need to make using the thermomix.

our thermomix is a heavy work horse in our kitchen so it is good if i can let it rest for a while ;P

ok,here goes!

how to make yogurt successfully!

1 tbs sugar

1L fresh milk/ UHT milk

1tbs yogurt starter (plain yogurt)

1. heat up the milk in a pot. make sure u stand there and wait till bubbles forming at the sides. once u see bubbles forming, and if bubbles begin to form in the middle of the pot. off the fire.

do not over boil.

2. cool the milk, until it is warm to dip your finger in. (takes about an hour? depending on the environment/weather)

3. transfer the milk into glass jar / high heat plastic container. Stir in the sugar (food for the microbes ) and yogurt starter.

4. set aside. put in a quiet corner, warmest part of the kitchen. or if my oven is not in-use, i'll put it inside the oven.

5. after 12 hours, or less if it is a hot day, check if it has set. store in fridge.

DONE!

i used to boil my yogurt on stove and do other things , busy mums like me need to multi-task :p but too bad, to get thick smooth yogurt, i need to hang around the stove and check on the milk ;)

best to make yogurt at night.

incubate at night where there is less activity in the kitchen.

okay, now if you want to make cheese yogurt, (yum! i add it into salads /make dips)

pour the yogurt into a cloth strainer before refrigerating,

position a bowl / container to collect the whey at the bottom.

you can still strain after refrigeration but maybe it would take a longer time to separate.

Note: utensils and containers must all be clean, without oil.

keep the whey in the fridge.

can use it to make cakes/cookies, add into smoothies and etc.

how to use whey, and this

yogurt whey nutrition

yogurt > greek yogurt > yogurt cheese (if you strain further)

i make my yogurt at night, next morning i strain it and go to work.

by lunch time i'll get yogurt cheese.

if u want greek yogurt, u can pour a little whey back into it and stir.

 never fails!

keep a few spoonfuls of the yogurt so that it could be used as a starter for the next batch.

some claim that u can't recycle too many times. some shared that we can. i don't know, I've recycled 3 times, will experiment further.

soft tooth brush for baby

 loves to splash!

im glad both my children loves water.

they love to bathe.

some children cry whenever they see a tub of water.

 i am also lucky that this boy loves to brush his teeth! :)

wants to do it on his own.

i think he loves the bristles?

he bites and gnaws on the toothbrush.

i bought this ultra soft toothbrush (Radius) from iherb for RM 11.53

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cute baby monkey

12 months old!!! 

i really can't stand this boy! he is toooooo cute! i don't remember going this crazy over my first born! haha 

milestoone:

• he can wave good bye. 
• he can find hidden things easily (if you show him a toy, and you hide it under a pillow, he will climb towards the pillow and lift it up! )
• pulls up to stand walks holding on to furniture / cruising
• explores things in different ways , like shaking, banging and throwing

he likes to bang things! (kj doesnt do this )

he likes play pee ka boo! (kj doesnt do this)

why am i comparing? take it positively. i did not record kJ's milestone as i should have, so i am getting a second chance to do so, without an accurate timeline, sorry darling.

funniest was when baby matty tries to 'shakes his head' yesterday!

he can turn from left to right when he was in his car seat or on the bed. but he can't do it when he is sitting. funny! he body will follow suit if he does it! and he smiles after doing it! ugh!

i am so so emotional. how i truly wish he could stay this way.

he also tries to blow air from his lips, making the puuuzzz sound. please help me!!! I'm going crazy over him!!!

food wise, he eats beef, pork, fish, veg, fruits. almost everything that we eat, i'll throw into the thermy and cook and blitz.

check out what i've prepared for him here in FB Group. search under baby food.

dirty little secret

4.5 years old now. sigh. i admit, i lose control over him. his dad who is more calm can handle him better.

for now, i can only tolerate him 70% of the time. 30% of the time he will be whining or answering back..etc haha

anyway, we do have our little secret banter.

one day we were in a coffee shop and i went to the loo, with him. i can't put him outside on his own while i do my business so both of us went into the cubicle.

it was a squatting toilet, so i squat! and pee. he too, squat down and and lowered his head to check ME out! he says mommy! why woman don't have penis but water can still come out?

next, i was in the bathroom in our house and suddenly he pop his head in. yes, we don't lock our doors when we bathe ;)

then he caught me peeing into the toilet bowl, standing up! :p haha!

and he O.O. mummy! why did u stand and pee? only boys pee standing up. -________-

Semporna 2012

thats my dad and kayjay in 2012, april, in semporna, sabah.

on a speed boat with Uncle Lee and partner to the islands.

our second time in semporna (i mean my parents and i).

i had the privilege to do to the notorious? or popular :) island - sipadan before the restriction.

Mataking island.

quiet island.

Uncle Lee's friend owned this.

they are building a lodge.

packed food from city

Regatta Lepa 2012

dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in january this year.

stage 4. metastasis to liver and spleen.

we flew home almost immediately, brought him to the best doctor in the country, mr mani operated him.

removed spleen and tail of pancreas. it is only a palliative surgery.

he is now undergoing chemo in IKN - institusi kanser negara.

for solid tumour, he was given gemcitabine.

prognosis of pancreas ca is very poor.

anyway, i will disclose how we ended up with the diagnosis.

bye for now :)