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The Maestro and the Orchestra

It has been only a couple of months since the first grandchild was born in the family, but I am sure it has felt like an eternity for the newly minted parents. Even before the inaugural date of conception, the work of raising a human being was already in full gear. Getting through nine months of enabling a healthy foetus to flourish is no walk in the park. It was not just one person’s lifestyle and dietary habits that had to shift - overnight, if you have to be rid of bubble tea and late-night nibbles after an intense day, that is simply another hurdle to jump over. Most significantly, it was about what the bystanders could do. You learn very early on, once your adult children hit their twenties, that they are their own person - and so as a to-be granny, the first thing one does is to seal thy lips and just listen. Listening and observing are both very formidable skills. They make caregivers of any generation emotionally attuned to their recipients of care. Some memories still linger:...
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Shepherd's Pie Recipe (Life Review)

  Every year, when September rounds the corner, thoughts of Christmas and Chinese New Year preps loom near. Anticipating the coordinated arrangements that will be needed, some preliminary preps begin. I try to prep ahead so that I don’t get all stressed out at year-end. It is a great time after all to sit back in awe and enjoy the festivities all around the world (the Internet is best for this!) Christmas beckons first ~ I have all the usual recipes tucked away in my blog and easily retrieved on the app Pinterest (which also makes it easy for my family to access). The recipe I am ‘reviewing’ is the Shepherd’s Pie. Do you ever wonder why one flinches when another says a particular dish is ‘so easy to do’? I’ve realised that saying a dish “is easy to do” is only ‘so easy to do’ when one has cooked it several times until it becomes ‘automatic’, a bit like preparing for a standard exam when one rehearses the practice of previous years’ exam papers within the given time. Yeah, that sort...
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Fried 'Kway Teow' (Flat Rice Noodles with Black Vinegar)

  This recipe feeds four. I adapted it from https://www.messyvegancook.com/five-minute-zhenjiang-noodles-recipe/. It’s a keeper. My hubby grew up with black vinegar. I hated black vinegar at the beginning. But we have been married for 29 years, so our dietary habits are beginning to be a lot more alike than different! It makes family cooking easier too! The adult kids like this dish a great deal. Black vinegar always gives that additional punch of flavour. For those with lack-lustre appetite, fry some sliced onions with black vinegar and put them over a fried egg and eat it with rice. This is also an easy way to cook a ‘no-salt’ dish! Ingredients Kway Teow (2 pkts; 420g each – follow the instructions on it to prepare it for frying – mine came in a pack but one can get fresh ones from the wet market) 6 tablespoons of (Chinkiang) black vinegar + 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, mixed together Spring Onion (1 sprig – separate the white from the green (buy the whole pack of spring onion and...
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Minimising Food Wastage

  If I have learnt anything from these years of being a home manager, it is to mimimise things and keep work flow processes simple because stages of family life change1, every person goes through a different life stage2 and in so doing goes through a developmental stage too. Frugality is a value transmitted down my side of the family; and for me, I have internalised it as part of my outlook on life3. This value has translated into the application of ‘waste not, want not’ in the home and for my husband and I, do form part of a common outlook, to educate our children on home economics. A budget set aside for food is a part of home economics and minimising food wastage is an approach also taken to adhere to a part of the household allowance set aside for food every month. In our family we minimise this by: Organised pantry We had already kept our kitchen organised. Recently, thanks to a clever tip, we put   together all ‘carbs’, ‘protein’, ‘fruit’ , and ‘vegetable’ and ‘flav...
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Pineapple Fried Rice Recipe

  Pineapple Fried Rice Recipe (1 serving) (Adapted from ‘Rasa Malaysia’ Pineapple Fried Rice Recipe) Ingredients 200 grams leftover cooked rice (I use brown rice) 2 cloves of garlic 112 grams fresh pineapple(I used S&W fresh pineapple from NTUC Fairprice) 112 grams shrimp (shelled and deveined, leave whole or cut into small pieces) (substitute with chicken if shrimp not available) 2 tbsp cashew nuts (optional) 1 tsp of shrimp paste ( I substituted with oyster sauce) 1 tbsp fish sauce 1/2 tbsp pineapple juice (I used canned Delmonte pineapple juice from NTUC Extra) 1/4 tsp dark soy sauce (for coloring) (I used Kwong Cheong Thye Chicken Rice dark soy sauce) 1 fresh red chili (seeded and cut into smaller pieces) 2 tbsp oil cilantro leaves for garnish Method Heat up a wok and add cooking oil Stir fry garlic, red chili and shrimp paste until aromatic. Add shrimp and stir fry until half-cooked. Add rice, pineapple pieces, pineapple juice, and do a few quick stirs. Add fish sauce and ...
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Coping With Bedtime Routines

  An article contributed for Calvary Community Care (C3) ‘Read With Me’ Literacy Campaign When the children were preschoolers, I incorporated reading aloud or hearing stories read aloud as part of the children’s bedtime regime which assisted with ‘bedtime challenges’. Routines and schedules always help with a child’s emotional development because when the routine kicks in, the child living in an ‘adult world’ knows what to anticipate in the whirlwind world of adult life. Admittedly, I never liked reading a storybook to my own children more than once – parents will know a child will ask you to read a book again and again because for some reason the content resonates with them and they want to continue learning about themselves and about the world from the book. So I substituted in other ways. During that time, we had a domestic helper who was good with children and would read the whole book in my place. My children liked her and looked forward to her reading with them. Or I put on a...
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Easy Cooling Drinks And Comfort Food Prep (Part 2)

5.  MEAT CONGEE I could use the same chicken stock as the ‘white’ bee hoon to cook this (Knorr stock cubes) but when I or someone else in the family fall ill, I prefer to rely on the homemade garlic-rich chicken stock  I have on hand to cook congee – I could be just imagining it – but I feel better after consuming congee made from it 🙂 Homemade chicken stock cubes always ready on hand for ’emergencies’ The congee is also a great breakfast food for children who are sitting for exams. It is comforting and satisfying to eat a small bowl of warm chicken or pork congee in the morning. A great morale booster! What is more, if you, the main cook in the family, fall ill, you just need to cook one dish which you, as well as the rest of the family, can partake. Honestly, I only eat congee when I am sick but after experimenting with different ways to confirm a surefire way to prepare it, I may think about whipping it up on any other ordinary day 🙂 The surefire way I cook it is inspired...
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