Mom's Crepes

This is the crepes I remembered from home.  One that is plain and sweeten.  My mom used to make this plain crepes for us when we were young and I remembered we all loved it very much.  Did you have this plain crepes before?  When I came over here, I was actually surprised that American served their crepes differently, with so many condiments and fresh fruits.

Now, I made it occasionally for my girls (no school day).  As you know, fortified cereal with milk is the easiest breakfast to serve kids in America.  We don't have a pasar pagi (morning open market) to go to buy the kuih-muih, nasi lemak, porridge, or whatever goodies the market sells.  So, I just give them what is convenient and also healthy for them.  Even though most cereals that my kids liked are probably sweet but it is still better for them since all have been fortified with vitamins and minerals and they had it with milk.

Stir Fried Chicken with Broccoli Stems

You can separate the broccoli from the broccoli steams and make different dishes out of it.  I used the broccoli for my microwave broccoli with butter and thyme and the stems I used in chicken stir-fry.  Nothing is wasted right, I even saved the green leaves on the stem to stir-fry.  I julienne it and if you are not an expert in taste, you might not even know what you are eating, unless the leaf gives you the hint.

I couldn't remember how I cooked this dish already, it had been left in the draft for too long and I couldn't refresh.  Looking at the picture, I don't think it is just oyster sauce, I seriously couldn't recall.  I know I lost a few good ones because of that.  Even I have to refer back to my old recipes to cook a certain dish again.  It was just too many over the years and I realized some of my old favorites I hardly cook it again.  Do you have the same problem?

Pork in Hoisin Sauce

I had this dish in one of the authentic Chinese restaurant in Memphis 10+ years ago.  They prepared it without the carrot, just the pork and fresh scallion and it was simply divine.  I tried to recreate it here and it was not bad too.  Except my girls won't eat the fresh scallion as predicted.  I knew they won't eat it so I added the carrots, well at least they will have a little vegetable in their diet.  Of course I cooked another veggie dish to go with this.  In my house, there will always be a veggie dish, in fact, I prefer more veggie in a meal.  My veggie dish will only be veggie but my meat/seafood dish will be paired with veggie as well. 

Try this easy dish for yourself.  Just a few ingredients with sauce you have at home.  Preparing dinner doesn't have to be difficult and a delicious and healthy meal will be your reward.  I am someone who will prefer Chinese food (no butter, heavy cream, and cheeses) over American food because it scream healthier to me. I guess it still fall on what you order on your plate.  Even in Chinese food, if you order crabs, lobsters, prawns, squids, coconut laden curry or dessert, fried food, beef and pork dishes all the times, you will end out with high cholesterol too.  I know in Chinese culture, when you eat out, you are obligated to order a variety of seafood and expensive items, as it to show your social status or whatever.  But I think we should eat for our health first and indulge only on Chinese New Year or special occasions.  Order healthier food actually cost less on your wallet too.
 

Edda's Drawings and Show Piece

I asked her what is this picture about?  She told me, on the right side is we are going out and on the left side is we are coming home.  Mmmmm.....

She said this is a picture of her sister, but the fat version.  Okay, it does look like a person with long hair.

But what about this?  She said this is a drawing about we are going out but didn't know where to go.  Great imagination huh?

She built this and asked me to take picture.

Then, she got excited and said she can make two and asked me to take picture.

Then, she kept building more so I asked her to be in the picture too.  I thought this was pretty good considering she made it closed together without it falling down.  Edda is three years and seven months old.  I would love to see her drawing before she goes to kindergarten.  Her abstract drawing now is too hard to understand.  Look at Evy's drawing before she turned three here.  I have one who draw properly from the very beginning (I'm serious ever since she started drawing, it was always proper drawing), one who draws abstract drawings only she can understand.  Why the huge contrast? 

My Mother's Day Cards from Evy

Front of card 1 (kindergarten, 6 years old, May 9, 2010)

(I saw mothers showing their mother's day card/ gift/ gesture made by their kids and I want to share mine too.  So that it will be documented here for my memory.)

 Inside of card 1

Her poem to me.  I asked her what did you mean by when you are gone?  She said it meant when she is at school and not with me.

Fish in Creamy Sauce

We know how important seafood is in our diet.  Among all the seafood, fish is considered the best choice for me as it is affordable, lower in cholesterol compared with the rest of the seafood except scallop & sea cucumber and nutritious.  I love to cook fish twice a week, alternating Salmon and Tilapia.

I used Tilapia in this and to get rid of the fishy smell, I marinated the fish with salt, ShaoXing wine and white pepper.  Of course in my cooking, I got to throw in colorful mixed vegetable for extra fiber.  I added one secret ingredient in this dish, evaporated milk for extra creaminess and fragrant.  Just don't over stir the fish to prevent it from broken out.

Another one of my easy dishes with minimal ingredients.  If you don't have evaporated milk, feel free to substitute it with cream or milk.