Girl with heart shaped eyes

23/5: Ning drew this at school yesterday. I didn't even noticed it as it was folded into a sailors hat. Lougong discovered it when he came home. And... haha Ning wants to show Mummy first. Yeah! I am still the favourite parent!

In this pictorial...
Ning is grown up and in love with some boy in her class. He is happy he is marrying her. They're in their home garden, with a pet cat and a caterpillar that crawled up to eat the apple on the tree.

I told her she can only do this at the earliest 18!

I asked her where did she see people with heart shape eyes before... she says on TV. Wow. I've seen it before but never used it in my drawings. Cool!

Salty muffins for breakfast

This one's simple with preparation.

Just distribute the sliced courgette, I used 1/3 of a large piece, ran it thru the Benriner slicer, some diced pineapples, chopped ham, shredded parmesan cheese, and 2 eggs beaten.

Made 6 muffins,  2 each.

Ning really missed the thousands and she's been understanding that she cannot eat the heaty foods for 1 week plus now. She asked if she could just put a tiny bit on her salty muffins and I agreed.

So voila!

Boiled baby kailan, steamed chicken and soy sauce mee sua

Boiled halved baby kailan in a bit of salt and oil. Added pepper, oyster sauce, bit of sesame seed oil to plates. Piled on the boiled mee sua and mixed. Marinaded chicken in salt, soy sauce, sesame seed oil and put to steam.

And we have tonight's dinner, voila!

And a whole sink full of dishes to wash up. Not recommended for a weekday after work meal.

Cover your head from the rain

Last Sunday, it was drizzling and we were on our way to Ning's gym. The only unsheltered path was crossing the road from bus stop to the complex. It was wet and slippery and the road was 2 lanes each side.

Baba carried her.

Mummy said, "Cover your head with your hands ah!" And I dashed across soon as there were no cars. Baba was still at the bus stop.

2 days later Baba told me, Ning thought for a while, then she covered her head with 1 hand and covered Baba's with the other hand because Baba was carrying her with both hands and cannot cover his own head.

I think Baba's heart must've melted.
Mine did just by finding out bout this.

Rainbow fried rice and chawanmushi

I didn't plan to fry rice today. All I wanted to do this morning was chawanmushi. I bought the hon dashi yesterday and saved some mushrooms from yesterdays batch.

When I woke, it came together, the corn, carrots and long beans can be fried with rice. So along with some chicken, garlic, onions, shallots and dried shrimps we have fried rice for tonight! Next time can add fried egg and some chopped mushrooms! Good for picnic or on the road.

This 1 pot dish isn't easy at all, loads of washing up to do. Ended up finishing only 7:30am. Finished my chawanmushi in lrss than minutes and off to work! Forgot to take picture of fried rice!!! Aargh. Tonight!

My 2nd organic box

Am not excited bout the greens...
But will take it as leafy vegetables are good for us right?

Tonight's dinner:
Fried kailan with dried shrimps
Mushroom mince pork potatoes
Lotus root soup

The secret of staying 'forever young'

Saw this at the clinic some time ago.
Recently shared this with my parents.
It's now on their table under glass for display.

起的早，睡的好
七分饱，常跑跑
多笑笑，莫烦恼
天天忙，永不老

Rough translation:
Wake up early, will sleep well
Eat 70% full, run around often
Smile a lot, will have no worries
Keep busy daily, stay forever young

Must get this in fancy calligraphy, print and frame it up for reference!

Do not judge a person until you've walked a mile in his shoes

I think I have heard this one a long time ago... back in secondary school.

At the time, I thought, what have shoes gotta do with your judgement? Maybe the shoes influence our behaviour? Literally. If the other person is wearing uncomfortable blistering shoes, would it make him work harder or steal shoes?

Now, bout 20 years later, I am thinking it's more about empathy and being non-judgmental, don't be too harsh on others until you know what the other person has been through.

The thing about the other person is, we never know the full story, what they've been or are going through.

For example, a person who seem distracted at work, may be going thru a miscarriage or having a difficult pregnancy, or even dealing with a untreatable disease.

Instead of giving the person a breather, you breathe down their neck, or even severe all amicable ties with them. If you knew about the miscarriage or disease, would you still have breathed down their neck?

We visited Haw Par Villa recently and we saw this outside one of the displays, the 10 courts of Hell.

What it meant was, roughly:
Kind deeds begets kind deeds
Unkind deeds begets unkind deeds
If you don't get your just returns immediately,  it doesn't mean it won’t get it at all
It's just that the time has not arrived

Gosh... a lot of times when I felt injustice,  I didn't have this to console me. Now I do. I can face any injustice and be rest assure that there'll be justice. Just not right now. Gosh, I am so mean :P

Hope I've done more good than wrongs, else there'll be hell to payback. Karma.

Baddies out there, the hardcore ones out to plot harm against others, not the accidental ones, beware! Your just returns will be served in life or in death!

Long beans fried egg

Protein and fibre packed breakfast!

Tonight's clearance dinner

These are the vegetables I think won't last until we're back on Tuesday, so big cookout today!

Steamed then fried bean paste brinjal with minced pork (I just couldn't resist having a bit with rice before cooking the rest, first successful tasty brinjal dish I cooked)
Fried ladies fingers
Fried egg, mushrooms with 'neem gua'
Reheated leftover duck

Been at it since 0935am. Now time to hang laundry before fetching Ning.

Pumpkin, dried shrimps, mushroom, chicken rice

Yesterday, we had the above with the quarter piece of pumpkin. I fried everything with chicken (marinaded in oyster sauce) then add to the rice cooker while its cooking.

At dinner time, turned on keep warm and ate that with boiled broccoli, carrots and baby corn.

The rice looked a little over soft but the idea was there. Tasty. Like loh mai kai. Now I have a recipe for pumpkins!

Banana pancakes for breakfast

Surfed for a paleo recipe, my bananas and eggs version was not quite filling enough. Found this one from www.myfitfamily.com.

Ingredients
2 ripe bananas
3 eggs
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
2 tbsp coconut flour
2 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
And oil for the pan (i used coconut)

The results were firmer and more filling then my 2-ingredient original version.

Bon apetit!

Udon with eggs breakfast

15 minutes
1 pack of udon, miso and dried vegetables
2 eggs

And we have a filling and nutritious, sort of, breakfast for 3.

Constructive destruction

Yesterday I visited Ning in her play area when she didn't come out after 5 minutes. This was what she was trying to show me. But before I had a good look at it, her friend Zachary threw a block at it and mowed it down.

Ning was screwing up her face to cry. I said, why don't you build it once more and Mummy will take a picture of it for you.

That she did and was happy again that I've captured it forever, again right before Zachary destroyed it. Funny boy.

Monitor stand from acrylic frame and bases of trophies

Admin was throwing out old stuff.

I rescued a large acrylic frame, slotted my photos inside, unscrewed 4 trophy bases and voila! A custom built monitor stand.

Good for hiding my charging phone and calculator under it.

$30 Zenxin Organic Box

Total price of individual tags was $35.97. Most seems quite fresh. Think enough for 7 days vegetables. Only need to get soup or meats. Hope it can last the week in fridge without spoiling. 

I chose Cash on Delivery but the guy arrived when I wasn't around, I asked him to leave it at my door. Left a note to pay by bank transfer. Great!

Menu options for 2 adults and 1 child:

Fried chye sim

Fried celery, baby corn and carrots

Fried cabbage with carrots

Dried shrimp fried pumpkin

Boiled ladies finger with oyster sauce

Fried/boiled kailan with oyster sauce

Minced meat fried with steamed long beans and brinjal