Steamed Egg

My son like Sushi King's steamed egg with mushrooms and crab meat. So, I asked my mom how to make a good steamed egg. But my mom was not sure. So, I had to do some experiments to get the right steamed egg for my son.

This is extremely simple.

Break an egg into a bowl. Add pinch of salt and sugar to it.

Beat till the yoke break up.

Add 30 ml of water to it. Mix well.

Put to steam above boiling water for 10 minutes.

Mix well with white rice. For a stronger taste, add a round of soy sauce to it.

Time to eat!

Every cloud has a silver lining

This is how KL view looks like at night, dawn and afternoon from the balcony of my house.

The same thing might look so different as time changes.

The time could only be an hour, a minute or even a second.

At one time, life could be so dark, hopeless and wretched but if one keep going, there is always a turn in life.

Every little act of kindness, words of encouragement or a simple smile will go a long way...

Pao Sam Sou to reduce heat

New mothers really need this...

WHY?

Because we don't get enough of sleep and most of the nights, we have to wake up to feed the baby. This will cause the body to be 'heaty' and soon the three 'best friends' of sickness will join in - sore throat, flu and cough.
And being a mother, I definitely don't want to get any of those and then pass on to my son. So, taking care of my own health is as important as taking care of my son's.

Hence, if you could, get a pack of Pao Sam Sou (around RM5) from a Chinese medicine shop.

Put 4 bowls of water to it and boil for around 30 minutes.

Wait till the liquid cool off entirely before drinking. Drink it throughout the day and you will feel better.

I've tried taking honey at the same time and it helps tremendously.

Wish you well too...

Take a break

                                           
Portugese tart...hmmm....yummy!

No, I didn't bake it. I bought it from a nearby bakery shop. I am taking in what my mom says, "It's so much easier to buy one or two pieces of it to satisfy the taste buds than spending the whole day baking them."

I can't remember when was the last time I ate one of these but I've to say that it tastes good! So good you wanted to have more...

If you want more, than you better bake them! Ha...

I'm taking a break at the moment, too exhausted from the daily chores plus one new thing to do. I'm compiling some info, calling up bank after bank. Probably I will upload the info I've compiled later on. Who knows, you might need them!

Adios~ going to enjoy my tart!

Yam Cake

My friend, Hooi Thiam, likes to make Yam Cake for her family for breakfast. She thinks that it is much healthier than eating processed cereals.

Thanks to Hooi Thiam for this recipe.

Well, if you want to make this, then, you've gotta be very hardworking. It takes a lot of work to prepare this dish. Unless you have someone who appreciates the food, you might as well forget about making it.

My mom always says, buy a few pieces of it to satisfy the taste buds is so much easier than cooking it by yourself.

A good yam cake depends very much on the yam itself. And so, each time the taste of a yam cake that you bake might differ slightly due to the texture of the yam.

I have this honest vege seller, Rabbit Teeth Aunty. She will choose the best yam in her store for me. A good yam is 'powdery'. The knife will have white liquid on it as shown in picture no. 3.

Pictures showing process (top left to right)

The main ingredients are:
1) 1/2 yam
2) one large onion
3) 3 tablespoons dried shrimps
4) 250 gram of blended rice flour (1/2 packet)
5) 1 teaspoon salt
6) 1 teaspoon sugar
7) 125ml + 750ml of water (put separately)

My friend says that you can add in other ingredients such as sweet potatoes, lap cheong (preserved wax meat) or even minced pork. Trust me, I tried that and it's so delicious!

1) Cut the yam into cubes
2) Chop the dried shrimps coarsely
3) Slice the onion
4) Add the salt and sugar to the flour and mix well with 750ml of water. Strain the mixture.
5) Fry the onion till fragrant. Add in dried shrimps.
6) Add in yam. Then, add in 125ml of water. Keep frying till the yam absorb most of the water.
7) Add in the flour mixture in 3 stages. Pour in the mixture and fry till sticky. Don't panic here. It is meant to be dry and sticky. Add in more flour mixture and keep stirring.
8) Turn off the heat and scoop out the mixture into a big bowl.
9) Put to steam above boiling water for 30 minutes.
10) The cooked yam cake needs about 1 and a half hour to totally dry up. So don't get panic when you see the finished product which is quite wet the moment it comes out of the pot.

You can keep the unfinished yam cake in refrigerator and steam it again the next day before eating. The yam cake can be kept for 3 to 4 days before it turns mouldy.
My friend goes a distance for her yam cake - she blended her own rice to be made flour! So, her yam cake can only last for 1 to 2 days. The logic is that - the blended rice flour we bought from the market contained preservatives to keep it fresh. At the moment, I opted the easier way out, the ready blended rice flour! What about you?

Do enjoy the process!

Steamed Dong Guai with Chicken

Dong Guai (in Cantonese) is good for females, especially after menses or during confinement period. I remember having Dong Guai soup almost everyday during my confinement period.

Dong Guai is said to replenish and nourish blood. It is also quite heaty. So, one has to drink more water if one takes Dong Guai soup.

Mom says that Dong Guai must be stewed so that the taste can get throughly into the liquid. But if one have got not enough of time, one can opt to steam Dong Guai with Chicken and Kei Chee (Wolfberry).

Buy chicken drumsticks, preferably 'kampung chicken' (village chicken). 'Kampung chicken' is said to be healthier and the meat leaner. The chickens in the village are allowed to run around and exercise unlike those chickens rared in the city which are confined in the cage.

You can ask the chicken seller to remove the skin and bones if you don't like them. But I prefer to eat them just like that.

Put a few slices of Dong Guai and 1 tablespoon of Kei Chee (Wolfberry).

Put 1/2 cup of water to the ingredients. Then, put to steam with the rice or under boiling water for 30 minutes.

Dong Guai tastes a little bitter while Kei Chee tastes sweet. The combination brings out a delicious meal!

Commonly used ingredients for soup

Let us take a closer look at the four ingredients commonly used in soups.

Top left photo shows Wyai San (Chinese Yam). It is chalky.

Benefits:
1) Nourish the lung
2) Nourish the kidney
3) Strengthen the spleen
4) Stop diarrhea
5) Improve vitality

Top right photo shows Kei Chee (Wolfberry)

Benefits:
1) Improve eyesight
2) Strenghten immune system
3) Nourish liver
4) Nourish kidney
5) Activates blood circulation

Bottom right photo shows Yuk Chuk (Solomonseal Rhizome)

Benefits:
1) Nourish yin
2) Moistens internal dryness
3) Quench thirst
4) Heals cough
5) Clear internal heat

Bottom left photo shows Hong Chou (Red dates)

Benefits:
1) Nourish blood

Walnut & Corn soup

My uncle bought a pack of walnuts from Australia for us. I am not a fan of walnut but my mom was. She used to eat walnuts like snacks! But ever since she knew her blood is against nuts, she keeps to strict diet.

So, I have to do something with the walnuts...

Today, I boil walnut with corn soup. To be honest, I find the taste weird. Probably I am not used to the taste of walnuts. Nevertheless, it is worth a try since walnuts are good for the brain and I definitely need that!

Ingredients
1 handful of walnuts
2 corns
1/2 handful of Kei Chee (Wolfberry)
1/2 handful of Hong Chou (Red date)
1/2 handful of Yuk Chuk (Solomonseal Rhizome)
4 to 5 sticks of Wyai San (Chinese Yam)

1) Flatten Hong Chou (Red date) and peel off the cores.

2) Rinse all the ingredients before putting to boil

3) Boil under HIGH heat for 15 mins before turning to LOW heat and let it simmer for another 1 to 2 hours.

4) If you have chicken bones or pork ribs, add in after 1 hour and let it boil under HIGH heat for 15 to 20 minutes before turning off the gas.

The concept of soup boiling is rather easy. It is the preparation of the ingredients which one might find difficult. But you can always purchase more at one go and keep them in the refrigerator.

The first photo (top left) shows the main four ingredients commonly used for Chinese soups. Buy those in packets. You will find most of the recipes for soups are using those.

Wholesome Breakfast

After I went through a detox program, my friend suggested that I take multi-grain porridge as breakfast rather than bread. She explained that multi-grain contained a lot more nutrients than bread. She has a friend who took only bread continuously for breakfast for a prolong time and was diagnosed with depression.

So, this friend of mine opines that food and depression are interrelated. And to take bread, which contains only empty carbo does not help my fatigue problem at all. Instead, if I take multi-grain, probably my fatigue can be kept at bay.

To me, there is no harm making a change as long as it is a good one.

Cooking multi-grain porridge is so easy.

For 1 cup of rice, add in 6 bowls of water. Cook it in the slow cooker.

Set your timer to start cooking at 3am and stop at 7am. If you need to go to work early, then, set the cooking time to be earlier. The porridge needs 3 to 4 hours to be ready under HIGH heat.

So, by the time my husband takes his breakfast at 8.15am, the porridge is still warm yet not boiling hot. It is just nice and delicious.

Surprisingly, my baby likes this too!

You can add a little of Marmite to the porridge for a start.

To be honest, I don't really like the look of the porridge at the first sight. In addition to that, I felt the porridge is tasteless...So, I added a little of Marmite to it. But now I am used to the taste and even like it better without Marmite!

Steamed Egg with minced pork

This dish is extremely easy to cook. I remember having this at least once a week throughout my Secondary school years.

Ingredients
RM4 minced pork (request for lean meat if you don't like fats)
1 egg
half bowl of water
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
one round of soy sauce

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

1) Put a pot of water to boil.

2) Add salt, sugar and soy sauce to the minced pork. Mix well.

3) Beat 1 egg. Then, mix well with the minced pork.

4) Add half bowl of water to the minced pork. Mix well.

5) Put to steam under boiling water for 30 minutes.

There might be some water on top of the cooked dish. You may use a chopstick and poke a few holes into the pork cake.

If you are cooking rice at the same time, put the dish to steam on the rice cooker like the picture shown in "Food for the day" post. Then, you can have steamed egg with pork and rice.

Let us use water wisely

Water reaches us conveniently in the comfort of our homes. But how many of us, the residents of Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, realise that we might be facing a threat of water supply shortage by 2014?

It is reported that the Federal Government foresees water supply shortage by 2014. If so, the government should take imperative move to ensure that the project of Treatment Plant goes smoothly. Otherwise, the residents of the abovementioned three states will be the victims of politics.

Besides government, it is also our responsibility as consumer to ensure that the water supply is sufficient.

Each individual plays an important role in conserving water and it should start from home as the saying goes, ‘Charity starts from home.’

For example, the water I used to bath my baby will be used to flush the toilet, wash the bathroom or mop the floor. Other than this, I also use the water I used to soak the vegetables to rinse the dishes after our meals. There are so many ways to conserve water. Besides being a responsible individual, one will also feel contented seeing a decrease in water bills.

The crux of the matter is to educate the public. We should go hand in hand in conserving water and making sure that we have sufficient water to go on comfortably. Pipes leakage should be reported immediately. Children should be taught in school and at home on how to use water wisely.

It is also crucial to educate the public on proper waste disposal. Rivers should be preserved because it is a source of water supply too.

A little effort from each individual will make a big difference. The next time when you ignore  a leaking pipe or water wastage, think of a child dying every 20 seconds due to water-related disease.

Edited and published in The Star newspaper:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/3/22/focus/8318191&sec=focus

Stir-fry pork with mushrooms and carrot

 This dish is simple yet delicious.

Serves 2 to 3

Ingredients
1 carrot
2 small onions / 1 big onion
5 mushrooms
RM4 pork (sliced)
Organic black bean sauce
1/2 bowl of water

Soak the mushrooms for 30 minutes or until the mushrooms become soft.

1) Cut the mushrooms, carrot and onions into small slices

2) Heat up a wok. Add some oil.
Count to 10 and pour in the onions. You will hear "pssttt!!" sound...

3) Fry till fragrant. Then, add in mushroom slices. Fry for a while before adding the pork slices. Fry till the pork slices are cooked.

4) Add in carrot. Fry for a while. Then pour in 1/2 bowl of water. Wait till the water boils.

5) Pour in three rounds of organic black beans sauce.

6) Stir-fry till the sauce boils.

Dish up and it's time for dinner!

Note: I am quite particular with sauces. But this black bean sauce was bought from an organic shop and the ingredients say: black bean and sea salt only. There is no colouring, artificial flavouring, preservatives, etc... Hence, I believe it is good. If you think otherwise, kindly advise...

And you can be creative with the dish - if you don't like pork, you can choose chicken! You can add in other types of vege as well - eg. celery, pea, etc.

Like I said, cooking is fun!

Tauhoo with tomato and seaweed

This is one of my mom's favourites.

1 piece of tauhoo
2 tomatoes
1 piece of seaweed

1) Soak the seaweed in the water.
2) Cut the tauhoo and tomatoes into small cubes.
3) Bring to boil one bowl of water
4) Put in the tauhoo and wait till it boils again
5) Add in the seaweed and wait till it boils again
6) Add in tomatoes
7) Add in soy sauce

If you like noodles, cook the noodles before everything else.

Juicing

Juicing is not something new. There are tonnes of books on juicing and how it cures sicknesses.

Now, I am talking about pure fruit and vege juices and not something you order from restaurants, which have been added with water and lots of sugar.

It is said that our body is able to absorb 90% of the nutrients from juices while if we eat them, we can only absorb 30% of the nutrients. Another book I read said that juices go straight into our blood stream, cleansing it and balancing our body pH level. I am not sure how true it is but it's worth a try. After all, there is no harm in taking more fruits and vege.

Juicing is quite simple. Just wash and cut the fruits and vege and put them in the machine.

The juice is ready within minutes and you have to drink them within 15 minutes to prevent it from being oxidised.

And an important thing to remember, while you are drinking a glass of juice, you have to chew the liquid. I know it sounds funny but books on juicing said that when we chew or the motion of chewing produces saliva and at the same time causes the production of enzyme or so. Hence, making the juice we drink to have greater positive effect in our body.

For the beginners, you will find yourself going to the toilet more often to poo. You will feel so much lighter and healthier.

Juicing is easy. The most difficult part I find is washing the machine!

A clean toothbrush is recommended for the purpose of washing the blender.

Oh yea, at the moment I take apple, carrot and celery juice in the morning, empty stomach.

2 apples
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery.

Let's stay healthy!

Simple Steamed Fish

We like fish. Steaming a fish is easy and it is good for the health.

Ask the fishmonger to chop off all the fins and sharp edges. Otherwise, you might hurt yourself when washing the fish.

Though the fishmonger has scaled off the fish, you still need to double check on it. Take a small knife and scrap off the scales that the fishmonger missed. Then, scrap off the blood clot that sticks to the spinal of the fish.

Slit the fish, front and back so that the fish will be cooked easily.

Flatten a few cloves of garlic and minced them. Put on the fish.

Add 1 or 2 tomatoes (remove the seeds).

Put the fish with the garlic and tomatoes to steam under boiling water for 20 minutes.

Add in soy sauce when ready.

Here are what we have for dinner:
1 steamed fish
1 plate of broccoli
1 plate of lettuce
1 big bowl of lotus root soup

And we eat mixed grains - brown, red and black rice.

Preparation and cooking time for the vege and fish is around 1 hour.

Simple yet delicious! And most of all, you don't have to worry about oily kitchen after cooking.

Lotus Root Soup

I know of a very honest vege seller. She is known as Rabbit Teeth Aunty. She would go a distance for her loyal customers.

When I asked her which lotus root was better, she took the lotus roots and cut away a little of the ends. Magic happened here!

When the ends were sliced off, watch the colour of the lotus root. If it is pinkish, then it is a good one for soup. Otherwise, don't bother to make a lotus root soup at all.

A good lotus root will make the soup 'powdery' and thick.

It depends on what else you want to add into the soup.

As for me, I put in:
1/2 handful of Kei Chee (Wolfberry)
1/2  handful of Hong Chou (Red dates)
1 Mat Chou (Honey Date)

Flatten the Hong Chou (Red Dates) with a knife. Then, remove the cores.

Bring a pot of water to boil and put in all the ingredients.

High heat - 15 minutes.

Turn to low heat and simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours.

If you like to add meat, then, put in the meat and turn to high heat. Cook for another 15 minutes. Meat boiled for too long will become hard. So, to keep the meat tender, don't boil for too long.

Boiling lotus root soup is quite easy. The toughest part is cutting the lotus roots into very thin slices. It takes patience and some "kung fu". My right arm ached after finishing the task.

Kon Lo Pan Mee (Dry Pan Mee)

If you've come across my previous post on my Mom, you'll know that my mom is allergy to rice. Hence, she eats food made of flour most of the days now.

The making of Pan Mee is actually the same as Mee Hoon Kueh.

The only difference is that one needs to fold the flattened dough and cut into strips for Pan Mee. The width of the strips depends on how thick you want your noodles to be.

Cook the noodles in boiling water. Dish out and add in a few spoons of fried onion oil.
Mix well. You can add in soy sauce and dark soy sauce to taste. My mom likes it simple, so she didn't add the dark soy sauce, saying it just darken the noodles, which she doesn't like.

For me, I would go for chilli sauce too! And probably stir-fry some minced pork and pour over the noodles. But since my mom is a vegetarian (at this moment), she opted for Mok Yee (Wood Ear).

Add in vege, preferably Choy Sam (Sayur Sawi) and it's ready to be eaten!

Phlegm Dissolver

I had a very exhausting weekend.

My son had a serious nose block due to flu in the evening of Saturday. He woke up throughout the night and needed to be carried. Being a mother, this is one of the sacrifices I have to make...

On Sunday's evening, around 10.30pm, he woke with a cry again. We knew we had to send him to the hospital. He has history of difficulty in breathing due to thick phlegm. Once, doctor even said that he might collapse due to suffocation if we had not send him earlier. It really worried me.

We sent our son to Hospital Selayang, reaching there at 11.30pm. Blood test done and doctor checked on him and gave him Ionised Seawater Nebuliser. We were back home at around 4am. Thank God, the baby slept through the night.

My husband took leave on Monday so that he could have enough of sleep. I asked him to buy some pears.

He called back so many times asking whether it is: crystal pear, yellow pear, green pear, Korean pear or China pear.

I didn't know there are so many types of pears in the market...Each time I would just go and grab the things I wanted, pay for them and leave.

Just get the cheapest pear. Cut it and discard the core.

Go to Chinese medicine shop to get Lam Hang (Sweet Almonds) - 100grams, Chun Pui 40grams, and one Mat Chou (Honey Date). Pei Pa is optional. The amount of water is between 1.2 to 1.5 litre (serves 3 to 4).

Put everything to a slowcooker and let the soup be cooked for 3 to 4 hours.

I let my baby drank for two days and I see improvement in him. He has lesser phlegm. Though he still has flu, he can sleep through the night.

My mom saw this recipe in TV, said to dissolve phlegm and cure cough. It worths a try before taking antibiotics!

Mee Hoon Kueh & Fried Vegetarian Dumplings

My mom's blood test shows that she is allergy to grains.

For the last two weeks, she has been eating multi-bean soup, corns and sweet potatoes. She was sad that she was not able to eat anything that make her feel full.

She missed rice. So, I suggested that she make her very own staple food - her favourite Mee Hoon Kueh.

It was quite a tedious task. One has to mix the flour, water and oil together until they become a dough. The dough cannot be too dry or wet.

It was a trial and error thing for us to make the right dough. An estimated 100gram of white flour (organic unbleached preferred), with 3 tablespoon of filtered water and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. It is advisable to use a mixer. Otherwise, you will have to dirty your hands with the sticky mixture. I remembered how I juggled between making bread and taking care of my crying son. I was not able to carry him because my hands were so sticky and it made me feel guilty.

The mixer I bought was less than RM100 and I have no regret buying it. It is really a good companion in making bread, cookies, cakes or even now, our Mee Hoon Kueh.

After mixing the ingredients with a mixer, a dough will be formed. If it doesn't, use your hands to make it. It is just like making a ball with clay.

Pull out a small piece from the dough and start rolling out. My mom likes thin texture Mee Hoon Kueh. So, she flattened the dough till it is really, really thin yet not torn. If you like the chewy thick texture, then don't roll out too much.

Bring a pot of water with Kei Chee (Wolfberry) and Hong Chou (Red dates) to boil. Sprinkle some salt in the water.

Tear the flattened dough into small pieces. (sizes depend on your liking). When the Mee Hoon Kueh is almost cooked, put in Kao Kei vege into the pot and let it boil for a moment.

Besides making Mee Hoon Kueh, the extra dough can be used to make dumplings. Roll out the dough and flatten it. This must be really thin yet not torn. Cut into square or round pieces. Fill them up with mix vege (diced carrots, corns and peas). My mom bought hers from Jusco - frozen department.

Fry the dumplings and viola - you have Mee Hoon Kueh with fried vegetarian dumplings...

Chinese Spinach (Po Choy)

Cooking to me is extremely easy. Firstly, I eat simple food which need no extravagant time to prepare or cook. Secondly, I've a very simple mom who cooks simple dishes. Hence, I've inherited that.

Although my husband is choosy on his food, he finds it OK to eat the vege cooked through boiling. How about you?

Put a pot of water to boil.

Add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar.

Add some oil. "Some" here means as you like. I am quite a 'cin-cai' person when it comes to cooking. I want things to be done fast, fast enough to be eaten so that I can spare the time for something else.

And while you wait for the water to boil, you can do something else.

When the water is boiling, put in the Po Choy and wait till they turn dark green (which means they are cooked). If you don't know how to differentiate, then, wait till the water boils again and scoop out the vege.

Add in soy sauce to taste.

Note: I like Po Choy because they are easy to prepare...
Cut the roots away. Then, use scissors to cut the vege into three-inch length and soak for some time before cooking.

The Art of Life

I received a call from a stranger yesterday. We chatted for almost an hour.

The call made me realise that I've long forgotten my hobby - drawing.

I like drawing. My parents sent me to drawing classes when I was in year 2 and the classes continued until I was in my Form 5.

Although I tried my very best, I did not get any compliments from my mother. I was sent to piano classes as well. But that did not last long.

I was soon exhausted from school work and all the practises.

I needed compliments, especially from my dear mom.

I never really know about LOVE until I met someone special... Jesus Christ. He gave me hope again. If it were not because of Him, I would not pick up the pen and write again. If it were not because of Him, I might not be here anyway.

To Nurul, thanks for your call. What I can say is that, it is not only about the classes that you are going to send your children to, but the environment, the teachers, the children themselves and you, as a parent.

Children need supportive parents, teachers and friends. They need to know that there are people who care even though they might not do well in what they are doing.

Everyone is born unique and each of us has different gift. One may draw well while the other sing well.  As parents, what we can do is to pay some attention to our children. Get to know the gifts of the children and then, sharpen their skills.

I once read that, "Life is like a white canvas. It depends on what colours you want to fill it with."

I hope ours will be filled with the colours of the rainbow.

Thanks Nurul. You have add a stroke of colour into my life.

Broccoli

Who say children don't like vege? My toddler son likes broccoli. If he comes to the kitchen and see me cutting broccoli, he would go out to play and come in again in minutes to check out whether the broccoli is ready to be eaten.

Once when I sent my son to visit the doctor, I chatted with the nurse. She told me that taking care of children and housechores aren't an easy tasks. She was a full time housewife too but started working again lately. She told me that cooking was one of the major tasks. But I told her that vege need not be fried. They can be cooked with boiling water. She squinted her eyes and gave me a "Yuk!" look. Then, she explained that she had never tasted anything good which are steamed or seethed. She likes all food to be fried, either stir-fry or deep-fried.

I understand that every individual has different taste but I recommend that you try this before saying no.

Cutting broccoli may take quite some time. But you'll find yourself enjoying it later on...I put some chitosan powder into the water to soak the cut broccoli - just as a measure to clean out the chemical used during plantation.

The skin of the broccoli needs to be shredded off because it is hard. I feed my son with the cut stem of the broccoli as I heard a lot about the chemical getting into the flower part of the broccoli. Whatever it is, the choice is yours.
Put a pot of water to boil. Add in some oil, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar into the water.

When the water is boiling, put the clean cut broccoli into the water. Wait till the water boils again. Scoop out the broccoli. Add some soy sauce to taste and the food is ready.

Trust me, it tastes good!

Steamed Pork Ribs

While I was in my confinement period after giving birth, I was overstressed thinking about myself not able to take care of my infant son. I cried day and night when I thought of how demanding my baby was.

Fortunately, I had a very caring and clever confinement lady. She comforted me by saying that cooking can be easy and she taught me some simple dishes.

When my confinement lady left, I was so stressed up because I had to feed my baby every three hours and at the same time, cook and do all the house chores which include mopping the floor and clearing the laundry. While my baby uses cloth nappy, I have so many nappies to wash, dry and fold. There is no stopping of that.

Nevertheless, overtime, I got use to the routine.

Here is a simple dish, any busy mother can cook without worrying about low or high heat or the time of cooking.

Preparation time: Roughly 15 minutes.
Cooking time: 45 minutes (depending on how long your rice cooker cooks)

Pictures (clockwise) showing the process of preparation.

1) Wash the garlic cloves and flatten them with a big knife.
2) Chop the garlic
3) Wash the pork ribs
4) Add in the marinate - some sugar, salt, 1 tbspn soy sauce, 2 tbspn Hsiao Xing wine and the chopped garlic
5) Mix well
6) Put the pork ribs to steam on the rice cooker

When the rice is cooked, so are the pork ribs.

And you have a meal of pork ribs rice for lunch!

My Writing

I have been quite active in writing of late.

All of a sudden, I remembered what a local author said. She advised people interested in writing to write to the Opinion column in newspaper publication. It struck me that that probably was the only way for me to improve my English without having to pay a single cent.

Below are a few links to my writings which are published in The Star newspaper.


http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/25/focus/8137531&sec=focus
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/28/focus/8151636&sec=focus
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/3/8/focus/8206963&sec=focus

Pray that I will work harder and able to work harder...

New Posts Coming Soon...

Lately, I've been thinking of writing on food...again...

Well, it was not the first time that I wanted to write about food. This time will be different, I won't be writing about the food that others cook but all about food that I cooked and am going to cook. 

To be frank, I never really cooked before I gave birth to my son. But for the sake of the family's health and also mine, I decided to cook.

Cooking doesn't need to be tough. It could be FUN.

Last time, when I thought of cooking, the only thing I thought of was the oil bouncing up and down and onto my dear skin. Now, it excites me to wait till the wok is hot and throw in all the vege with the sound "CHARRR!!" 

Wow! The joy of looking at the cooked food and thinking of my clean blood test give me pure contentment. Yea, speaking of clean blood test. I was diagnosed with fatty liver, which could lead to liver cancer if not taken care of. And because my dad actually died of liver cancer, I knew I had to do something about the food I take. 

People say we inherit some part of our health through genetics. Yea, I believe in it. I believe more in FAMILY eating habit. Because Dad ate fried food almost everyday, the whole family ate that way too. And so, my dad, my brother and I also have fatty liver. 

After two years of eating home cooked food (6 days a week), my fatty liver marker got lower. It was at the borderline. Thank God, I feel so much healthier. 

Hence, I am going to include simple recipes...Yes, simple as ABC for working mothers or busy full time mothers who wanted to have healthy food for the family. 

HEALTH is in your hands. You decide what you want!

Sponge Cake

This is how my first successful sponge cake looks like!

Well, one can say that baking sponge cake is not as tough as it is but come on, can you make a sponge cake without using baking soda, baking powder or rising flour?

That's the toughest part.

My friend, also a full time mother, has been engaging herself in baking HEALTHY bread and cakes for the sake of her family. Since she has three children, she wanted the best food for them. Best doesn't need to be expensive. Best is something we start from the ingredients.

Nowadays, most people like fast food. Everyone seems to be in a rush and to be fast, food comes in packet and with boiling water, they are cooked in minutes! In fact, some other food might not need to be cooked at all!

OK. Enough of health theory. Back to baking, please...

This friend of mine, has recipe of baking sponge cake without all those powder powder thingy...We are using all the basic ingredients: Plain flour, sugar, water, oil, and egg.

The toughest part is to whisk the egg white with the sugar till the whole thing become fluffy. I know "fluffy" doesn't mean anything to people who have never seen what is "fluffy". Even after seeing "fluffy" for so many times, yet I can't really make a good sponge cake. That was how tough it was!

Anyway, like my friend said, whether the cake rise up or not, let's not be so pressure up. Just celebrate and EAT! It is meant for the family. Who cares about the appearance as long as it is healthy....Right? Most importantly, my son likes it. =)

Multibeans soup as dessert

This is what I had for my supper - a multibeans soup!

Well, it was actually my mom's dinner. She went for a food compatibility test and found that she was allergic to all kinds of grains and bread! So, it ended up that she has to take beans as her main meal.

So, while preparing her dinner, I thought why not I make more of it so that I can eat them too.

There are red, green and black beans. Actually, black beans need to be soaked in the water for at least 30 minutes before cooking them but I was a little lack of time this evening and poured everything into the pot straightaway.

After the water boiled, I turned to low heat to simmer the soup for another 2 hours.

My mom can't take sugar and I had to scoop out her portion before adding 1 1/2 tablespoon of brown sugar into the rest of the soup.

My mom complained of the hard texture of the black beans but I like them! They are crunchy and that gave my teeth some good bites. Although I am not teething, I find biting on something crunchy quite engaging.

To make this soup:
1) 1/2 cup of green beans, 1/2 cup of red beans and 1 cup of black beans
2) 1.5 litre of filtered water (or if you like more water, add in more water)
3) wash all beans and pour into the pot with water
4) cook under high heat till the soup boils
5) turn to low heat & boil for another 2 hours
6) Add in 2 to 3 tablespoons of brown sugar (or to your taste)

Viola! You have something for supper!

New Year Reunion

I went to Johor for the Chinese New Year with my husband and son, just like the previous years. My husband's mother is still living in Johor and unlike his father (Papa), his mother (Mama) still prefer very much to live in Johor. Mama is still very alert and strong at the age of 70 and working very hard in a restaurant handed down by her mother. 

For the previous years, I felt an extreme pressure for meeting the in-laws, especially my sister-in-law, who was found to be very money-minded. This year, though, I left everything to God, praying daily for a better relationship with the in-laws. 

Viola! God opened the path for me. I had a great time with my in-laws after all these years of marriage! It was great talking and learning from my sis-in-law and her husband about money sense. Yes, no doubt, my sis-in-law is a money minded person, but as we stayed together in the same house for the past 5 days, she did not keep to herself on successful child raising nor avoiding my little toddler who went to her now and then. 

I learned that as long as we are willing to be opened, there are just things to learn from everyone...Yes, God created us different so that we can learn from each other and because of the differences, we are suppose to COMPLEMENT and COMPLETE each other and not COMPETE with each other. 

This world is a mean one, going to be a meaner one with the economy down and the gap getting larger ...So, it is time to learn to appreciate each other's existence.