toddler spinach and macaroni

 blended spinach. olive oil, garlic, onion and spinach. no other flavouring.


 cooked for 4 minutes


store them in cubes and refrigerate a few and freeze the rest.

i passed them to babysitter so that she can add them into his meals, either porridge during lunch or served with rice for dinner.

typical chinese family, and a fussy-eater, KJ only eats a few types of vegetable namely broccoli and soft green leaves. i mentioned typical chinese family because aunty feeds him with more carbohydrate than proteins and greens.

i prepared these blended veges for him when he was younger but ive stopped since then. guess i should continue doing this till he eats like an adult!

the child himself is so picky that he can eat soft stir-fried cucumber this week and not eat it the next. he still does not know what is KFC-kentucky fried chicken. he does not eat burger which tells you that he does not eat big pieces of meat. i have sneaked in small pieces of stir-fried bittergourd in his rice with no objection.

he likes he likes to 'check out' what is in the spoon before it enters his mouth.

 
mushroom soup with macaroni

claiming to love the powder cheddar cheese (milled ourselves from blocked cheese, much healthier choice than processed sliced cheese).


he do not usually like pieces of mushroom but he loves this dish. by the way darling, both mom and dad love mushrooms! that is how finicky he can be. he dived into the bowl and towards the end, he started to protest. pointed to the mushroom. huh?

 
notice his enthusiasm? asked for more cheese.

so a week after this (he eats home with us on weekends and on non-working days), we had baked paste with chicken bolognese sauce, topped with shredded gouda cheese.

"i dont like the cheese!"

-____________-

quickly, i asked the father to remove the bowl and do some magic > cut up all the cheese and mix thoroughly into the sauce and pasta.



this is our Gouda Cheese. the father said it tastes good! of course darling. 
i would love to bring him to Netherlands simply because i had my best there.

my oat adventure

this is steel cut oat. uncooked. they said this is not exactly raw, also cant refer to this as uncooked. but since i am still a noob in the raw world, i would just refer to this as uncooked. well, atleast it is uncooked from the packet.

do u know that we need to soak our grains and nuts before consuming/cooking?
i have shared in the previous post the links on why we need to do so.

after gaining this knowledge, i have since soaked my brown rice and now i am soaking my oats and eating them uncooked!

i have always soaked my oats before cooking ever since i was in UK. but now i am soaking them and eating them raw. ROARS!

this steel cut oat is too grainy though, maybe i am still not accustomed to it.

what i did was soaked them in warm water with a little apple cider vinegar and leave them in room temperature for about 24 hours. then i rinsed them and portion them before transferring into the fridge, soaked in milk and dried cranberries.

since i dont have the luxury of blueberries or strawberries sitting in my fridge, i usually eat my oats without fresh fruits. not much toppings as i love plain oats on its own. you can add agave nectar or raw honey or manuka molasses or even salt it. i dont add butter as well , which you can.

for my children, i WISH to make oats with butter and molasses and banana? that is my fantasy. because kj hates oats. well, he has not tasted them before, or maybe he did. but if he did, he sure as hell has good memory because i dont remember preparing oats for him (baby food does not count) and on sunday when he saw me preparing the oats for coming weekdays, he says "i dont like this". ouch.


anyway, back to oats, i went back to the store last night and bought Organic Rolled Oats by Country Farm. very limited choice here as compared to KL. u can practically get just anything under the stars in that urban city these days.
yes, i don't eat quick cooking oats. it has to be at least cooking oats, if not rolled. told you im a health conscious person, therefore the reason of me venturing into steel cut oats.

the rolled oats should be soft upon soaking and more palatable eaten uncooked hence i should make a gradual move from here before moving on to steel cut oats, which is more nutritious.

i cant find other brands here besides Bob's Red Mill. 

u can read here on how they freeze oats from New Nostalgia, or how to prepare steel cut oats in 2 minutes from here and here.

i hope i would be able to eat my oats uncooked like her.

going raw

current obsession:



blended pineapple, frozen bananas and 1 tsp of chis seeds




dont remember if i added water. i think i did? since banana would give thick consistency but the pineapple would be quite watery? makes the concoction more 'slippery'

 

 let me tell u, this was AWESOME! best that i have blended so far! maybe i could be bias because i love pineapples.
the pineapple was sweet and also a little sour. this is how exactly i like my pineapples to be. yum!

 

 bought a huge whole watermelon. they are in season now.

prepared this - watermelon and raw broccoli.

but i ended up adding in one orange, to make it tangy and cover the taste. since this is my first attempt with green.

 



 

 they were good

 

this small bottle is for the little boy.

he must finish a bottle of what i have made. i even passed it to the babysitter in the morning and i will get feedback from the aunty if he finishes it. *wicked grin*


 
this is pure watermelon juice

green apple, carrot, celery and broccoli


 

 not as bad. still tasty because the watermelon was sweet!

despite us coughing our lungs out at this moment, i manage to convince myself to forget all the old wives tales and feed ourselves watermelon.

i said this because i thought some people said watermelon is 'heaty'? hence not to be eaten when coughing.

oh well.















this was my very very first attempt in going 'raw' actually. there are actually a group of raw foodist out there if u dont know ;) neither do i until last month.
therefore im now a much healthier person! *whistles*

bought a bag of cucumber.

blend cucumber, apple, lemon, celery, ginger

i usually prefer to eat my fruits directly so now my main reason to blend/juice (there is a difference between the two) is to incorporate more greens into our diet. raw green food that is.

green smoothies

the lemon was too sour and the father does not like celery. 

celery is a powerful vegetable, as well as the taste.

it overpowers the whole concoction and the father claimed it was like 'fear factor'.
besides, if you are careful, u would realize ginger is in it.
the size of the ginger should not be bigger than your thumb.
sole reason for me adding in the ginger is to treat the nose and throat congestion.
or for more benefits, read here.

nevertheless, everyone drank their share and i was glad.

kj's portion had to be mixed with a little apple juice (from the box).

little boy can cheat, but not the adults.

i did a few trials with the cucumber and they were not worth sharing. ha-ha.

this week, im excited to try out my new greens. stay tuned!

by the way, i'll make sure my new baby gets his share of greens as seen here.

awesome site on going RAW!
 

turn me, turn you

turn me. turn you. turn him. turn her. turn mommy. turn daddy

just ignore. nothing to be alarmed. children will pick up on their own and self correct as they grow. that is how they learn language.

that is also how we should teach language. best method is to expose them to the language and speak them at home.

we are living as a nuclear family - mommy, daddy, him. so there is only that many language that we can speak.

i try to speak cantonese to hubs as much as possible because in doing so, i can also learn!

babysitter and family speak mandarin to him. we begged babysitter to speak hakka to him but we got turned down :) nevertheless, we are happy with his mandarin proficiency. sabah's mandarin is way gentler to the ear than peninsular's.

whenever we go home to my parents house or inlaws, they both are from different clan.

MIL - fu zhou and FIL - hakka. nevertheless they are conversing in cantonese to one another.

kj was confused and he doesnt fancy it when MIL speaks fu zhou to him. he thought MIL was being naughty and he digested it in mandarin, hence trying to correct MIL.

Recent activities:


 sea animals puzzle from Popular bookstore.

at this age, he is still not a puzzle boy. not sure if i have mentioned, he is a lazy thinker. while executing this activity, he will go "mommy how? " a 100 times!

usually i'll get so sick of it till i'll walk away :p so poor daddy needs to chaperone.

he can *sort* of complete them on their own i think? well when i see him giving up, i have no choice but to encourage and helped a wee bit.

  
 colourful ikea bowl. i think EVERYONE has it ;)


 
 played with play dough last weekend. this time! he was eager to play with them.


 
 learning how to cut with a knife.

 

 he made burger!
his creation was on the right, mine was on the left.
u cant believe how ecstatic i was! ;)

 

 finally he is not afraid to rub and roll the dough!

now im getting excited, looking at places to buy the playdough maker set! ELC mother care or melissa and doug. doubt kota kinabalu has it. boo

and i was really disappointed that our short trip back home was ruined by the election date. we couldnt stay in KL hence no shopping and we missed the Goldilocks and the Three Bears Musical.

all because of the election. sorry, im not a fanatic so i would not buy tickets just to fly home to vote. call me irresponsible or ignorant i dont care. family comes first. i will not SPEND money on flight tickets just for that. but let is call it fate. the DATE has to fall on our homecoming vacation, sigh. hence all my plans were cancelled. sobs.

 

 ok, i digressed.
with play dough, children can learn Math as well!
how many balls are there in the bowl? five!

and u see the green ball? we learn colours! primary and secondary colour.

i made three colours - pink, blue and yellow because they are only what i have.

noticed that he was playing in the kitchen? that was because we were busy cooking.


 

the pan contained ingredients for jap chae korean food. we bought the vermicelli from a korean shop.

kota kinabalu has many korean expatriates. i think they could easily make up the highest population of expats here.

well the season in our kitchen now is Japan! so we have lots of japanese condiments. will post up the japanese food that the chef had whipped up, produced in our very own kitchen :)

the jap chae was so tasty that the 3 of us sucked it up and i could only manage this pic (below) when i could take a breather.

the father can eat very fast, so i must catch up :p

this is kj's last few mouths :)

 he has reached his sensitive period for Arithmetic. therefore i must seize the opportunity to do math with him.

problem is: he does not have the patience or concentration to sit through the entire series of work.

i would not force him henceforth would glumly put them away. then, this little imp will move from one activity to the other, all unfinished.
? it makes me think, is that OKAY?




kj is 39 months old

flour, fun thinker, quinoa

backdated post: 33 months old. currently 38 months


FLOUR PLAY
























he insisted buying the turtles tortoises in Pick & Pay (a mini express mart).

we do not just fall into our child's whims easily, or so i thought. he asked if can buy once. twice. thrice. since he remembers the turtle whenever we made a stop there, we finally decided to buy. hoping it would not be just an infatuation.

im not a very creative person, sadly. so while trying to hunt up and down our junk to see what can be included in this fun play, i chose these green tortoises?

threw in some flour and some rice!























i gave him a siever but he didn't understand the concept. he just scooped and pour. not sieving at all. treated the siever as a spoon.















now this is a Fun Thinker from Grolier.

i've read about some bad reviews on this company and i cant help it, i am attracted to their Fun Thinker and Logicco Set so we made our purchase and guess what! my nightmare came true. they did not deliver as promised, which was other mommies had shared.

i've got to call and call their headquarters and it took 7-8 months for things to be settled.

the father was tempted with their ranges of books and he thinks the price they offered was a steal. u have to really bargain though. dont show your eager face the first time they propose the quotation!




the little boy enjoys playing with it. he can only do the first few easy ones.

either they are too easy for him, or too difficult.




he knows his alphabets very well (many thanks to Leapfrog DVDs) that sometimes he can just be cheeky and simply place the tiles. or he just wants to test us.

if u proceed to more advanced activities, he'll say "mommy how?" or "daddy how?"

we gather that this child is a lazy-thinker.  on many occasions he'll ask those questions, which i loathe!!!!

he wouldnt want to try on his own.

like today, his friend Rou-rou (few months younger than him, tiger baby) wore her own shirt and i was there to witness the whole task! of her pulling down the shirt over her head, and pops up her hand through the sleeves. *jaw drops*

i sing praises for her (must exaggerate i thought) and gave her a hug for the feat! and guess what my little boy responded? he said "mommy i dont know how" . speechless.
























kiasu mom i am. bought all these Kumon worksheets from Singapore back in 2011. when the boy was just a wee child at 1 year plus. well, just in case, u know, if u cant find these in malaysia. ;)

havent even used any of these to date. *sheepish*

i did try! dont say i didn't! i do bring them out from time to time to see if he is ready for any of these.

he doesnt like to color. nor fancy folding.

ive only exposed him to random cutting of papers, using the the paper scissors.

























who can tell what is this?

it is quinoa. pronounced as keen-wah.

i bought one packet since he started on solids and i still have that same packet till now. grin.

cooked it from time to time because he is growing up to be a fussy eater.

just last month, i have learned that we need to soak other grains too besides oats, such as brown rice, beans, millets, quinoa.

yes, so now i soak my brown rice with a little apple cider vinegar for a night, try not to exceed 24 hours because they will ferment and it smells really rotten. i continued to cook but the husband intervened half way through and discard the rice.

quinoa can be soaked the same way too. it is better to presoak so that the saponins will be removed and therefore won't taste bitter. Opps, ive been feeding my son bitter quinoa for the last 2 years! my bad darling.

u can get more info here on why we should soak our grains.
Link 1
Link 2

i told KJ that he will be having a special rice with soup! obviously, he does not enjoy his special rice meal. he prefers to eat the fish only! or the carrots only! without the special rice = quinoa.

i try to avoid introducing new vocabulary to him, for fear that he will not want to try the quinoa. he's a child with characteristic!
 -______-

in my mind, special rice makes it sound SPECIAL! and interesting! dont u think so?

anyway, he finished up that whole batch of quinoa. he ate them as rice replacement on saturday and sunday.

more of these fancy pansy food coming up! im eager to get the brown/red quinoa and other beans to spice up our menu! i have always been a healthy person *wink*

i need more week-ends

KJ 38 months old


2 weeks ago we brought KJ to Zen Q Dessert in Lintas on friday, after his music class.

and a week after that, after his music class, he remembers the place and he shrieked "Go There!! i wanna eat dessert!"

wow, i was amazed! and it was at night mind you.

never underestimate a child.

then, when he saw daddy's ipad, he asked "can i play with ipad ma?" A curt reply from me "no".

"why cannot? i very long didnt play already"

O.O

when there is a first time, there will always be a second. *smirk*

just 2 days ago, he whined for Leapfrog, means he wants to watch the DVD. i try to reduce, reduce, reduce screening time at home since he already watches TV half of the day in babysitter's house.

(i allowed screenings during his potty ritual before this but not anymore now because he hardly needs to sit on the potty to poo. whenever he wants to poo, he'll ask for the potty. to urinate, he will go to the loo on his own - pulls down his pants and shoots into the toilet bowl and leave. yes, without flushing. we are to be blame for this because both our toilet bowls' flushing system is not exactly working)
i want my own house!!!! :(

so anyway, again as expected my answer was a simple No. did i actually replied no to the kid? we should actually reply creatively, instead of N.O. n-o! perhaps say something like "can u read books instead of watching leapfrog?" distract the child. "do u want to read your dinosaur book?"

okok, back to kj. after i declined him, he fought back with " but i never watch very long already "

O.O

i am truly flabbergasted. i swear, i did not expect that to come from him.














this is printed off from Homeschoolshare but i couldnt find the link.



This is from 1+1+1=1.



Got this from 2 Teaching Mommies.


Printed this Dinosaur Clip Cards from 2 Teaching Mommies as well.



whereas this photographic memory game is from Our Little Smarties.























Hor Fun

usually the dad will cook 'exotic', well not exotic but at least this chef-wannabe will explore and cook something different from our boring weekdays menu during the weekend. therefore im usually off cooking on weekends. but i still do need to prepare and plan ahead for the little kid. adults are more flexible anyhow, with diversified palate.

Huai Shan Soup for the family

recipe for huai shan (chinese wild yam) soup


i used chicken to boil this soup. this is the second time i'm cooking it. i think both times i used chicken instead of pork.

we cook more chicken than pork, because i cant quite tell their parts and i dont know which part suits which cooking.
and i hate it, no, we both hate it when the pork smells!


well, people reckoned that huai shan has some beneficial properties so all the more i will purchase whenever i see it available in the market.

i love to go to the wet market. yes, im aunty just like that! :p although i do not look like an aunty at all! *hah*


this is how the huai shan looks like~
vacuum packed , from china


i only use this much for a pot, catering for a the 3 of us. dad,mom,toddler


u need to handle it like a lightning. it is slimy hence it is advisable to slice swiftly and wash and cut.



these are what i put into the soup.

huai shan + carrot + dried wolfberries + dried yu zhu (Solomon seal rhizome)

did not add red dates because the father shudders when he sees red dates in soups. ? whatever




chicken carcass. 2 whole-chicken-backbone. this is my usual USUAL chicken broth.

never really tried chicken feet or wings or anything else.

unless my mom buys me kampung chicken (i will make sure it is throughly cleaned before accepting it), we will then deskin the chicken and cook herbal soup in the slow cooker.

these are my sources :
1. annelicious food
2. food4tots
3.noobcook
4. mywoklife