My family loved dodol. We adored the triangle shaped Durian dodol and Pandan dodol. But the online store where I got my fix from had closed down. So, what to do? Guess I will have to make my own. When I was at Lily's house on CNY party, I got a taste (more than a taste, :P) at her homemade dodol. It was so gooooood, I got a fix then. Later, her daughter told me it was very easy to make, just use the microwave. Okay, anything easy was what I liked, so I went to look at Lily's recipe, very few ingredients which I have, instruction seem fairly easy too. So, why not?
Well, not so easy! Expect to have some good arm exercise at stirring the mixture vigorously for about 11 intervals or so. I kept stirring and stirring and when I touched the dodol, it still stuck to my finger even though it was shinning. Luckily at 11 intervals, I finally did it, I thought it would never stop. So, if you want to eat some dodol, expect to work hard for it. :P
This dish is so good. Definitely saving it to make my salmon dish in the future. The sauce is slightly on the salty side, so remember to eat it with lots of rice. You can probably dilute the sauce with some water, but I like my sauce thick. You don't have to season the salmon at all. Just enjoy the salmon with this thick and yummy sauce is enough to make you clean your rice bowl at no time. This is one of my experiments in the kitchen that turned out superb. Now I am a converted salmon fan (but I only like WalMart wild salmon)! What an opposite to people who dislike WalMart wild salmon eh?
The recipe I promised. Sharing with you my healthy whole wheat and oats cookies made using canola oil. No fragrant of butter but each bite leaving you feeling less guilty. Canola oil has lower saturated fat, zero trans fat, higher monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat which are better for your heart. Whole wheat and oats are also recommended heart healthy diet so this cookie is sure a healthy cookie to me. Still no over indulgence, limit to 2-3 cookies per day. Any over snacking will result in gaining weight as you know. But of course it is better to snack on some thing healthy for you instead of bad for you. This is a crispy cookie and sort of addictive (well to me).
One of my quick dinner is to stir-fry noodle. I always have some chopped garlic and cut carrot in my refrigerator ready to be used. So, all I needed to do for this noodle is to julienne some red bell pepper, shallots and washed and cut some baby bok choy (available at WalMart or your local Asian supermarket). I kept boxes of 100% whole wheat spaghetti in my pantry for use in Asian or Western cooking, whichever strike my fancy that day. According to American Heart Association, diet rich in whole grains and other plant foods, and low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may help reduce the risk of heart disease. Only look for those that said 100% whole grain or 100% whole wheat to get the full benefit.
100% whole grain or whole wheat spaghetti can be delicious, just cook to the maximum amount of time listed at the back of the instruction. Cook it a minute or two longer if you prefer the texture to be softer. I once tried a sample at Costco where they tried to market the whole grain spaghetti but the salesperson undercooked it as the spaghetti was hard and chewy, what message did he send? That whole wheat/whole grain spaghetti was hard and chewy which seem to be agreeable with what the majority think. Do you think people would buy it with that kind of experience? I am doubtful. Anyway, instead of eating it with Parmesan cheese (as served in Costco), why not try stir-frying it Asian style? I have no doubt it is much delicious this way. Try it!
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."
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. :)
