Mee Jawa

A Nyonya-inspired noodle soup that is generally served in thick tomato or potato based soup.

Mee Jawa Sauce Ingredients:

200gm    Sweet potato
30gm      Prawn paste
20gm      Chili paste
30gm      Meat curry powder
30gm      Onion
20gm      Shallot
20gm      Ginger
20gm      Garlic
15gm      Tamarind Juice (Jus Asam Jawa)
20gm      Ground peanuts
20gm      Sugar
15gm      Salt
2 liters    Water

Method:
1. Place sweet potato, prawn paste, chili paste, meat curry powder, onion, shallot, ginger, garlic, tamarind juice and water together and bring to boil. Set aside to cool.
2. When boiled ingredients have cooled, blen them together and then return to the pot to heat over low flames.
3. Add in ground peanuts, then season with salt and sugar. Serve with boiled noodles.

Personally, I replaced the prawn paste with fresh prawns (about 8 nos). And I find 2 liters of water is a bit too much, unless you have ample of time to heat the blended sauce over low flames to thicken to sauce, I would suggest to reduce the water used.
Hubby's verdict: The sauce smelled like those sold at stalls/ restaurants. Taste is yummy too. But somehow there's something missing.. I guess it must be the prawn paste that I omitted.

Moist Blueberry Cupcakes

Recipe from Squidoo.com

Ingredients List :

1 1/4 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar (I reduced to 2/3 cup)

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup blueberries

1/3 cup chopped unblanched almonds, toasted (I omitted these as I'm baking the cupcake for lil K)

Instructions:

Sift dry ingredients together to mix well.

Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Whisk egg vigorously to incorporate air and make the eggs light.

Stir in egg, milk and vanilla and combine thoroughly.

Add to dry mixture and stir together (some lumps should remain) and add the blueberries.

Fill well greased muffin tins with batter until two thirds full.

Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until done.

Hubby's Verdict: YUMMY!!

Lil K's Verdict: He finished 2 whole cupcakes

Mother-in-law's Verdict: Nice and very moist cupcake

A different ballgame

I have never been an early riser. Except during school days and some occasions or official functions every now and then, when I’m forced to. Even during workdays I get up from the bed around 8.15 a.m. (well it used to be 8.30 a.m. before I had lil K) since my workplace is only 10 minutes away!

I woke up early yesterday to a Sunday, cloudy morning (when everyone, well most, is still enjoying their sleep in the nice weather), at 7.30 a.m. mainly to get to the morning market as lil K’s food stash at the babysitter had run out. And partly it’s because of I’ll be having a long busy Sunday ahead of me. So what I did on my Sunday:

7.30 a.m.          Got up and nursed lil K before heading to market
7.45 a.m.          Headed to the market
8.30 a.m.          Got back from the market & started baking blueberry cupcakes
9.00 a.m.          Blueberry cupcakes in the oven & started prepping lil K’s food stash
9.30 a.m.          Lil K came out from the room, took a break to entertain him
9.45 a.m.          Continued prepping his food stash
10.30 a.m.         Done with his food stash & went for a quick shower
10.45 a.m.         Bathed lil K & nursed him to sleep (his nap time)
11.00 a.m.         Thought I got him to nap, but it only lasted 5 min.
11.15 a.m.         Had my ‘breakfast’
11.30 a.m.         Urut lady came. My long awaited urut session began
1.00 p.m.          Took bath after resting for 30 min.
1.20 p.m.          On our way out for lunch & IKEA with parents in laws
6.00 p.m.          Left IKEA, headed to SS2 New Paris for dinner
7.30 p.m.          Reached home
10.30 p.m.        Nursed lil K to sleep & retired to bed.

 And yesterday, for the record, was my earliest bedtime for years ever since my high school days! Being a mom has certainly changed the ballgame altogether.

Melt-in-your-mouth Vanilla Butter Cookies

Recipe adapted from http://www.food.com/ and made some tweaks in between.

What You'll Need:

• 1 cup butter or margerine
• 3/4 cup sugar (I reduced to 1/2 cup since I didn't want it to be sweet for lil K)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups flour (I used 2 3/4 cups because I find the dough too soft to be rolled)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

 

How To:

1. Cream butter or margarine with sugar.
2. Add eggs and vanilla and mix.
3. Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix well.
4. At this point you can either roll out and cut with cookie cutters or roll dough into 1 inch balls and flatten on cookie sheet. (Cookie cutters take longer time, so rolling the dough to balls and flatten them is best if you want to save time)
5. Bake at 160C for 8-10 minutes till golden brown.

Verdict: The cookies really melt in the mouth as the title says,  even though I added another 1/4 cup of flour to the batter. And because I used superfine flour, the texture is really soft and fine! A yummy easy to make cookie.

Our First Real Parenting Challenge

I have finally had my first real taste of challenge in parenting. Lil K has been more cheeky, curious, mischievous and rebellious than ever. I’m not sure if it’s due to his teething, but he just loves putting stuffs, whatever his hands could get on, into his mouth. In the early days, when we tell him ‘NO’ sternly, he would just stare at us giving the “Puss-in-Boots” eye look.

Then after sometime, he couldn’t even be bothered. Eventually, we started telling him ‘NO’ sternly and at the same time hit his hands. Again, he would give us the “look” in the beginning. Then it was ‘upgraded’ from the look to showing us the gesture of hitting hands when we tell him ‘NO’. Now, whenever we tell him ‘NO’, he shows his temper by throwing the object, beat his own hands and start ‘scolding’ us in his baby language.

Yesterday, he was really testing out our patience while we were out for dinner. He was trying to get up a little from his high chair to reach for our dishes, though he’s having his biscuits (which he threw onto the floor because he’s more interested in our dishes). So when I told him ‘NO’, he kept hitting the table while staring back at me. I give his hand a hit, and he kept rebelling by hitting the table even harder and then moving on to hitting me. At the corner of my eyes while I was being stern to him and hitting his hand, there were two tables next to us kept looking at our table. I’m not sure if they’re looking at the way I’m hitting lil K on his hands or the fact that lil K is rebelling at us. Sigh. And at that point of time I really had this thought floating over my head: “Now what am I going to do with this child??” Anyway, I chose to ignore him for the moment and carry on with my dinner.

Back at home, hubby surfed the internet and found this:

 

Scorpio Child

A Scorpio child will usually have a stronger body than the rest of the kids. It is just perfect to support his much stronger will. He will never play or compete just for the heck of it. The aim of winning is always the main reason for it and he will never compromise on this front. He may give in at one point of time, to find some other way through which his victory will be assured. A Scorpio baby has a very hypnotic gaze, under which most of the people feel uncomfortable. So, it is better if you prepare yourself to outstare him every time.

You will have to make him understand that you are the boss of the house and he has to accept the rules you have made. Say it softly but firmly, while staring him down. He will need to be constantly disciplined. You will have to teach him to be considerate towards the weak, inculcate sportsmanship, respect authority and learn to forgive those who hurt him. As per their characteristics profile, Scorpio children are sharp, brave, honest and tend to attract people with their magnetic personality. However, you need to teach them humility before it's too late.

When your Scorpio baby does something wrong, don't shout at him. Learn to say 'No' in a kind, but unyielding manner. Show him that you are stronger than him and only then, will he learn from you. While disciplining him, don't forget to give him love and affection. Just like the other kids, he also needs constant cuddling and pampering. If you fail to do this, he may become too nervous, fearful and fidgety, which is completely opposite to his natural self. His honesty may make him a little blunt and direct and you will need to teach him to sheath his sharp tongue.....

 

The article does have some point which were spot on! Guess, we'll need to try the "soft approach" and see how it goes. Wish me luck!

 

Butternut Squash Pancake

I had my first attempt in making pancake for lil K on the day off of Awal Muharam. Found this Applesauce Pancake recipe but decided to swap the applesauce to butternut squash puree as I still have some butternut squash in the fridge.

Applesauce Pancake Recipe

What You'll Need:

1 cup flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon melted butter

½ cup milk

1 beaten egg

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 ¼ cups applesauce (I swapped them with butternut squash puree)

Method:

1. Sift flour, salt and baking powder into a medium mixing bowl.
2. Combine milk, egg and butter.
3. Stir into dry ingredients.
4. Add vanilla and applesauce; beat well – do not overbeat to achieve light & fluffy texture.
5. Spoon batter into a hot, well-greased griddle, enough batter to make applesauce pancakes about 4” in diameter.

This pancake freezes well too!

*Pancake recipe from www.wholesometoddlerfood.com

And the final product of my first attempt in making butternut squash pancakes!

Butternut Squash Pancakes