Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Girls Update



I am so proud of my two girls. I decided to move them into their own room yesterday after months of mental preparation injected into Evy. I put them on a queen size mattress so that if they fell off from the mattress, they were not going to hurt themselves. Everything was set, I put on a new bed sheet, more mental preparation talk on both girls while doing that. The night came, Edda was easy because she already fell asleep down stair so I just needed to carry her to the bed. I accompanied Evy to brush her teeth, showed her her own bathroom (sharing with her sister of course), but her own sink and her own face towel. Then ushered her into bed, kissed her good night and laid at the bottom of the bed to wait for her to fall asleep. I was afraid that she might be scared because she always told me she is scared to sleep alone. Thus, the co-sleeping with her sister was my solution. But you know what, she actually told me to go back to my room. I was like really and she said yes and I was real impressed. I actually felt weird sleeping in a room without my two girls or simply worrying about them (took me a long time to fall asleep). I had my monitor on the whole time and they did so well, they slept through the night, no crying, not a single sound. I was so proud of them and I told them so. I kept praising them in the morning and told them how well they did and how proud I am of them. They both kept smiling and I know they understood it. So, another smooth sailing move to their own room.



Next would be Edda potty training (I will get it done when she turned three, right now I am mentally preparing her) and teaching her shapes, colors and alphabet. I will really work on her when her sister goes to Kindergarten this Fall. At that time, I will have the private one on one time with her and thus the best time to really teach her. I will start to prepare her for kindergarten. Phonic digestion at 3 years old and at 4, she will know how to read like her sister. One thing though her learning skill is a bit slow, I guess it was my fault because I did not read to her from 6 months up to a year every night like what I did with her sister. So until now she still cannot differentiate shapes and colors which her sister already knew at 9 months. I can really see the difference what advance reading do to their learning ability. One a fast learner and really smart, the other a slow learner and not as smart. Luckily she started talking in sentences and more now, at 2 she still hardly spoke at all and I was worried. Just that sometimes I have to figure out whether she is talking in Mandarin or English because her pronunciation is a bit off. But she sure try to express herself in sentences.

Evy is going to Kindergarten this Fall. I enrolled her into a school that teaches Mandarin from K to grade 5. She already has good Mandarin foundation and I hope that it will get reinforce in the school. I have prepared her well for Kindergarten as I did not send her to pre-school. She knows how to write, how to read (very good at reading, can read the whole Dora (1) book with no mistake), how to count, how to add and minus in her mind, without using her ten fingers (her mathematics skill is up to grade 1 level), how to use a computer, how to draw, color and tell story of what she drew. She even made a story book, drew some pictures, illustrated the story to me and had me wrote down the story in that book for her. And she would read the story over and over again and kept it as her possession. I have no doubt she will do well in school.

Extra update: The next day, I put both of them in bed, kissed them good night and left the room. Edda still wanted to play I guess because I heard (through my monitor) Evy said, "睡觉了,好不好?". Edda replied, "好". Some comforter ruffle sounds. Few minutes later, Evy said, "
睡觉了,好不好? 姐姐累累了,要睡觉了." Then, silent. The following day I asked Evy, she said her sister was trying to tickle her. Haha...

Translation:
Evy said, "Let's sleep, ok?" Edda replied, "ok"
Evy said, "Let's sleep, ok? Sister is very tired and wants to sleep now."

Monday, April 06, 2009

Red Bean Konnyaku Jelly



I was in the mood for some jelly and red bean jelly to be exact. The only jelly powder I had in my pantry was Konnyaku jelly powder, so Konnyaku jelly it was. I bought some mooncake jelly molds when I was in Malaysia last year so I thought this would be the perfect time to use it or open ceremony with it like we Chinese said. I do love this molds, making the jelly looking ultra cute. I wanted to make a red bean jelly because I had a canned of red bean and making a red bean jelly was much easier than making a red bean kuih even though both tasted great. Also I got to use my new jelly molds. :)

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Deep Fried Chicken Strips



Who wouldn't love fried chicken strips? Anything deep fried with batter is pretty appealing, unless you are a health conscious person who seldom eat fried food. I have cut down a lot of deep-frying at my house, but once in a while I do like to treat my girls to some deep-fried food. I love freshly ground grinder and you can easily find the Spice Depot spice grinders at WalMart. It came in bigger bottle with cheaper price which I liked, any bargain is a great bargain to me. You can visit the website for recipe idea, recipes or check out the variety of spices they carry. Here's my crispy fried chicken strips recipe to share with you.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Salmon with Ginger Slices



Salmon is rich in omega 3 fatty acid and is one of the fishes recommended for heart healthy diet. My husband and I are not a fan of salmon. Often time I eat salmon is due to the fact that it is rich in omega 3, that's the only reason that I would eat it. Another reason is salmon is not cheap at all, especially wild salmon. I don't really like the farm raised salmon mainly because coloring is added to make it looks pink, not to elaborate about the farming of salmon and the condition the salmon were in before it has been packaged. But, I found that you can actually buy affordable wild salmon at Walmart. I bought One lb (16oz) of individually vacuum sealed fillets, wild caught, all natural salmon for only $3.50 (about 4 fillets) on sales, usual price is $3.95. And the whole half size of the wild salmon for only $7+, that's affordable to me. So, I got tempted just because it's high in omega 3 fish oil. I want to balance this fish with the Tilapia fillet that we liked. When I bought this, my hubby actually said who wants to eat this yucky fish. *roll eyes*

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Evy's Birthday Cake: Marshmallow Cake



I asked Evy what cake she wants for her birthday, a store-bought cake or a cake mommy made for her, at first she said she wanted a store-bought cake but later changed her mind to a marshmallow cake. So I said okay and since the strawberry was in season again, large and sweet, why not make a strawberry chiffon cake again and decorated it with whipped cream. Just like a cake I made for her last year except this time will have some marshmallow on the cake. When I started to decorate the cake, she said she wanted a smiley face marshmallow cake, so here's her smiley face marshmallow cake for her 5th year old birthday.


Another look of my tall chiffon cake. Can you see the smiley face?


This time I made it three layers with two layers of whipped cream with strawberry bits.



I definitely added too much red coloring as this cake is redder compared to my previous one. This time I also used 2 cups of fresh whipped cream plus 1/3 cup of confectioner sugar to ice the cake. Remember to place the bowl and beaters in the refrigerator before you whip the cream. The whipped cream beats best when the bowl and beaters are cold.

Note: The marshmallow turned soft the next day but nevertheless still delicious.

I realized I haven't shared the pictures of my girls for quite some time, so here are the most updated pictures of them saying Hi.


Evy with her birthday cake saying cheese.


Edda saying cheese without looking at the camera.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Stir Fried Baby Bok Choy



Baby Bok Choy has been a regular vegetable in my household. All Asian grocery stores have it, even WalMart and the grocery stores here have it. It is one of the common Asian vegetable and most people know what it is. I buy my Baby Bok Choy at the Asian market here because it is cheaper. Sometimes the Asian grocery store here doesn't carry much vegetable choices, but they always have the Baby Boy Choy and regular Boy Choy (darker green) available and looking fresh. That's why this vegetable is a staple in my house. Sharing with you an easy and delicious recipe.