Toot toot time

Many mothers confess that after the huge investment of time and effort on their firstborn, the same cannot be said of the attention given to their subsequent offspring. I admit that I am guilty of it too.

On the other hand, because of the experience gained in teaching Big Buddy, I have also discovered that I am more effective in guiding my younger one and bolder in leading him to explore areas and concepts that are traditionally reserved for older children. Do not get me wrong, this is not a case of kiasu-ism at work. I do not push my kids unnecessarily and certainly never beyond their interest and capability.

After recognizing both upper and lower case letters of the alphabet and numbers 1-10, Little Buddy breezed through writing them and has mastered writing them from memory. Over a span of 7 months, since I started Little Buddy on written work, he is now able to write his English name, read some English and Chinese words, draw expressively and converse intelligently with a wide vocabulary. He handles writing and drawing instruments well with a firm and confident grip and turns book pages without creasing them.

On life skills, he has been able to use the toilet, remove and wear his trousers and briefs and flush the toilet without help. He can self-feed if he so desires and is able to communicate his needs and wants more than adequately to people around him. He displays a self-confidence way past his 3 years, pooh-poohs babyish games and often prefers older play mates who play more interesting and rowdy games.

He has a strong character with definite likes and dislikes which he does not hesitate to let known. He is strong-willed with firm opinions that are difficult to sway.

Much of Little Buddy’s development has been self-driven as he constantly shows interest in what his brother does, often emulating him in speech and actions too. His progress too has been helped by an exceptional memory, he remembers very well things that were said, taught or done just once.

As I grow along with Little Buddy, I have been pleasantly surprised and secretly proud of his achievements. While he is strong in character and not easy to teach and guide, I rejoice at his well-rounded mental, physical and character development.

Floating Lotus

Over the past two months, I had been in the kitchen occasionally, baking brownies as gifts for friends and cooking some simple dishes. However, it has been quite a long while since I last whipped up something new and my fingers are starting to itch again.

The thought of making something Thai is tempting but nothing too exotic as I am but an amateur in the kitchen still. This recipe seems simple enough and the ingredients called for are easily available.

It tastes a little like Bubur Cha Cha and it brought back nostalgic memories of the time I made that sweet dessert in Home Economics class during my secondary school days. In those days, my class usually treated these lessons with little seriousness, indulging instead in much chatter and laughter as skills like cooking and sewing were the least on our young minds then.

Little did I know then, that I would one day willingly step into the kitchen to cook for my family with such positive anticipation and joy…



Floating Lotus


Ingredients

½ cup thai pumpkin
½ cup taro (yam)
1 cup sticky rice flour
½ cup coconut milk (use only the cream if using fresh)
¾ tsp salt
2 cups pandan-infused water
1/3 cup white sugar


Method

1. Steam the pumpkin and taro until soft, between 10-15 min.

2. Mash the pumpkin, then mix equal parts pumpkin and sticky rice flour together until a uniform paste. Do the same to the taro (separately).

3. Roll into small ¼ ″ – ½ ″ balls and set aside.

4. Boil the balls in hot water until they float. Remove with a slotted spoon and put into a bath of room temperature water.

5. Boil the coconut milk with the water, sugar and salt. Add the balls and serve.

Reference : Real Thai Recipes

Up up and away

Last Sunday was Hubby’s Company Family Day and they organized a private viewing of UP at the cinema. There were lots of other kids and it was great fun meeting other families. We were given vouchers redeemable for snacks at the snack bar and we came away with bag loads of hotdog buns, popcorn, nachos and drinks. To top it all, there was a mini lucky draw just before the movie screening and we were pleasantly surprised to discover that our family won a prize.

UP is a stereoscopic 3D movie, requiring specially provided glasses in order to view the 3D effects. It was great fun with the kids reaching out to grab at things that appear to pop-out at them. But yet I wished those glasses came in smaller sizes for the kids as Little Buddy had his adult-sized one falling off his nose.

The movie had a story-line with much more depth than the cute characters and graphics. It explores themes of love, adventure, loyalty and honour, issues associated with aging, making choices and dreaming new dreams with cursory light mention of childless marriage, absent parenting – some in greater depth than others. The emotional aspect was so well portrayed that even Big Buddy caught the nuances and could empathise with the characters at critical moments. It is a wonderful journey of sorts, whimsical and yet poignant.

UP is a fantastic showcase of how far Pixar has advanced over the years. I love their subtle portrayal of unlikely themes and the clever presentation of subjects that may still appeal to the thinking adult.

Go watch it if you can!

Mango with Sticky Rice

Every time we visit Thailand, we will definitely seek out this popular Thai dessert. It is so much cheaper and tastier than the versions found back here in Singapore. The sweetness of the mango goes so well with the fragrance of the coconut milk in the warm and slightly-salted sticky rice.

Sweet ripe mangoes are a key ingredient for this dessert and I had a hard time finding them. They were everywhere just a couple of weeks ago but now, just as they were in abundance then, they are a scarcity now. The recent few that I bought 2 weeks back were sour. To make this dish, I scoured the market stalls till I saw some huge Taiwanese ones. Thankfully, they were delightfully sweet.

A last thing to note : if you do not intend to consume this immediately, please remember not to refrigerate it. It will turn into a rock-hard sticky mess – something you definitely will not want to sink your teeth into!



Mango with Sticky Rice


Ingredients

½ cup raw glutinous rice
¼ tsp toasted sesame seeds or salted fried mung beans (optional)
1 sweet, ripe yellow mango


Sauce for rice :
½ cup coconut milk
¼ tsp salt
1 1/3 tbsp white sugar


Sauce for topping :
¼ cup coconut milk
1/8 tsp salt
1½ tsp white sugar
½ tsp tapioca starch (optional)


Method

1. Soak the sticky rice for at least an hour before steaming.

2. Steam for 20 minutes on medium-high in a sticky rice steamer or in a bowl placed in a covered saucepan with an inch of water at the bottom of the pan.

3. While steaming, prepare the sauce for the rice. Add the ½ cup of coconut milk to a saucepan along with the 1 1/3 tablespoons sugar & ¼ teaspoon salt, and stir over low heat until dissolved. Set aside.

4. Prepare the topping sauce as well. In another small saucepan, add ¼ cup coconut milk, 1½ teaspoons sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt, and stir over low heat until dissolved. Mix the tapioca starch with a little bit of water in a small bowl until a paste, then add as well. Mixing the starch beforehand will prevent any lumps from forming in the sauce. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat.

5. When the rice is cooked, spread out in a shallow bowl and cover with ½ the sauce meant for the rice. Stir well and keep adding more until saturation point is reached – which is usually just before puddles of coconut milk are seen. Stir well and cover with a towel. Let the rice absorb the coconut milk for 10-15 minutes.

6. Slice mango as shown and arrange on a plate. Spoon an equal amount of sticky rice next to it, and top with a few spoons of the thicker sauce. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds or fried salty mung beans.

Reference : Real Thai Recipes

Silky Girl Funky Eyelights Pencil

The last time I tried a pencil eyeliner was almost a decade ago. The experience put me off pencil liners for good as it was messy with powder fallout. To seal it off, within a couple of hours, the smudge was so bad that I looked like a panda with punched eyes.

Only in recent months after seeing smudge-proof versions in candy colours, did I contemplate revisiting pencil eyeliners. So on a whim, I bought one from Silky Girl since it was on discount at Watson’s. It was so cheap that I thought I could just throw it away with no heartache if it disappoints again.

I had my first opportunity to use my new Silky Girl Funky Eyelights Pencil in Metallic Bronze last Saturday. It was on smoothly enough without tugging although I did not use an eye primer. The colour was too sheer with just one application so I went over twice till I liked what I saw. But I wager one application will be fine for daily light make-up. There was no smudge even after four hours but for all its staying power, it was easily removed with eye makeup remover at the end of the day.

I like that application is such a breeze and it being affordable adds to the overall positive experience. The other colour I was eyeing was the Olive Green one, so now I may just go get it.

Skin79 Prestige Diamond BB Cream

A slew of Blemish Base (or BB in short) creams has hit the market since a few years ago with many touting it as a wonder must-have beauty product. It was originally developed for post-laser/surgery skin and so it supposedly has inherent gentle healing properties while providing light-medium skin coverage. Most BB creams also contain a sunscreen (both UVA and UVB) and some other properties like whitening or anti-aging.

I have been slow in getting onto the bandwagon because I tend not to have a healthy image of most Korean beauty products. Nothing proven, just a personal biasness.

But just recently since I was on the look-out for a sheer liquid foundation, I decided to give BB cream a try. After trawling CozyCot for reviews on the heaps of BB creams, I bought a sample each of Skin79 Prestige Diamond BB Cream and Dr Jart+ Detox Healing Black Label BB Cream.

Over the weekend, I tried the Skin79 Prestige Diamond BB Cream and was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. I dabbed 2 dots each on my forehead and each cheek, 1 dot each on my nose and chin. It glided on very smoothly with a texture that is neither too thick and sticky nor too watery and diluted. It was a very close match to my skin tone with no visible differentiation in tone at the jaw-line even with only minimal blending done. I lightly dusted over with compact powder, and immediately liked how I looked in the mirror.

While I would not use it solely for skincare, it is a convenient all-in-one product that shaves minutes off the makeup routine.

Getting ready for school

Knowing Little Buddy’s strong character, we encroached the subject of him going to school very early on although he will only join his elder brother next year. As expected, we encountered resistance from him right from the start and all the way from there.

He argued that he does not need to go to school to learn as Mommy and Grandma can teach him at home. He insists that he is a small boy and cannot go to school yet (he says this when he is asked to do something he does not want). He refuses to go near the school bus when it arrives to fetch Big Buddy and will run off.

Sigh…thankfully he is now more receptive to the idea of going to school after continually talking about school, the friends he will make, the fun activities he will enjoy. Big Buddy’s excited chatter about his school day has helped tremendously as well.

At the current moment, we are stuck at the stage of getting him to accept the idea of going to school in the school bus. Although he enjoys bus rides, for some unfathomable reason, he balks at the idea of getting on the School Bus.

Today, while waiting for a neighbour’s kid, the bus aunty and driver invited Little Buddy to go up the bus and have a look. With much persuasion, he finally relented and allowed me to carry him up and be introduced to the Bus Aunty, Driver and the other children. He remained disinterested and insisted on getting off after a while.

However, it is a positive step forward and hopefully, after today, his resistance will slowly come down and we can soon count it as one challenge overcome…