Red Dot Mum

6.  Fried White Bee Hoon A detoxification (detox) tea like lemongrass ginger tea should have a simple dish to go with it and what better than ‘plain’ bee hoon like this (you can prepare this in advance for a lazy Sunday lunch and thereafter enjoy the lemongrass ginger tea..) I was inspired by this link but as I always ‘shop from my pantry first’ I made some modifications.. I had an extra packet of bee hoon (400g)so I used that. I also had on hand a packet of frozen seafood (400g) as well as a packet of minced meat (300g) (might as well clear everything!) It’s that hard to get your daily serving of greens rich in vitamin C when you eat out so I bought about 4 packets of greens (‘xiao bai cai’ was on offer at 45cents per pack at 200g each) to supplement the bee hoon. As in the recipe, I did not want to put onions so I replaced it with leeks (quantity up to you and even this is optional-remember..keep it SIMPLE) You can actually follow the steps in frying the bee hoon from the above l...

This post is Part 4 of ‘An Organised Home’. 9.  Streamline organisational tools and boxes I use the same organisation system throughout my home… i. Binder Clips ii. Same-sized Storage Boxes iii. Clear Pockets Clear pockets stretch the dollar compared to clear holders; order of pages can be easily changed and the quantity is easily customised They have saved a bundle for me over the long run. Invest in some storage boxes and receptacles after surveying and measuring your available empty spaces, may it be in your cabinets or inside your fridge Of course, it’s easier if you are in a new home and therefore can anticipate using similar-sized storage containers and prepare the renovations for that 🙂 If in doubt, just recycle and reuse the boxes of some consumer items your purchases come in for the time being. Oftentimes, the cheapskate I like to gain that ‘win-win’ situation by buying a supermarket food item so that I can reuse their empty receptacles once we finish eating out their con...

This post is Part 3 of ‘An Organised Home’. 6.  Setting Up Routines Set up some routines to follow up …on your tidy, clean, ‘purged’  home   a) Firstly, tracking your expenses (or what others call keeping a ‘spending diary’) I do this at least once a fortnight (or else my wallet will be bulging with receipts) I scan my receipts and record my expenses in Evernote   In this way, I -keep my weekly spending in check(budgeting) -am informed of my buying history eg. I know how many crates of eggs on average we purchase every month or when it was I bought a bottle of laundry detergent This regular routine allows me to set aside an annual budget for the next year in many categories-groceries, holidays, children’s spendings etc. It, therefore, allows me to carry out Tip 8 above “Stock Up” and I can buy ahead and save time and save some more money!   b) A second routine is paying your bills before time and filing away documents at least once a month will help you tame tha...

 This post is Part 2 of ‘An Organised Home’. 4. Stocking Up As the saying goes, ‘Out With the Old, In With the New’ According to an article in Frugal Housekeeping, “After you’ve gotten rid of the stuff you don’t use, make sure you have stuff that makes sense for the space.” For me “makes sense” is also translated into “makes cents” 🙂 After habitual purging, and having done the TKSD (Throw, Keep, Sell, Donate), I have occupied the ‘vacant’ spaces with items my family regularly use… The items I stock up are toiletries, groceries and cleaning supplies and paper products.  This VERY MUCH lessens the trips I need to make to the stores. In fact, we have honed this so well until we only buy toiletries once a year This once-a-year purchase is made possible because we keep an expenses diary (I compute mine in the app Evernote) We had been able to count the number of dishwashing detergents, rolls of toilet paper, shampoos, dental floss, etc. needed in a year based on the recording of o...

  Yummy and quick minced meat fixes! Chicken and corn patties…Bulgogi mince..steamed egg with mince…pumpkin and mince..potato and mince(Shepherd’s Pie) My life is streamlined around…minced meat! Do you know what’s nice about minced? It’s ready to cook! You don’t need to cut it..it’s just ready to fling all into the pan and to just fry! Minced tofu with minced meat garnished with red pepper (for colour as well as a more ‘spicy’ taste if cannot tolerate the fiery taste of red chillis ) spring onions as well as coriander. An easily assembled dish! You know why I am squirmish about handling raw meat..because when I was raising my kids with no domestic helper and the ‘bao ka liao’ roles (‘do-it-all-mum’ means part-time working employee, housemaid and mummying roles all rolled into one), my children had food poisoning twice because I did not clean the utensils properly… You might be thinking..how could I have let my children suffer as such…but all those who are mummies to pre-school chil...

  Cooking Bird’s Nest In A Crockpot And so my teenager just feels like eating bird’s nest..exam season is on..but she doesn’t want  ‘all the drama’🙄 with it…so this blog acts as a step-by-step guide for her on how to cook the bird’s nest herself(easy instructions) yes..she often does this..raiding the kitchen pantry for ‘stuff’ to eat or when she has the ‘feels’ for some foodstuff but I refuse to cook it because she always tells me at the last minute and I am rushing out. Sometimes, what she asks for is unhealthy..like hams and stuff..and I tell her ‘no’ she has to cook that herself if she wants to eat it..or when the whole family is not at home, she is all alone, there is ‘no food’ (that she likes) in the fridge and she has to fend for her own meals. STEPS ( I cooked this a couple of years ago using the same cooking style and method adapted from http://www.noobcook.com/bird-nest-soup/2/ ) 1) Soak 4 pieces of bird’s nest in water for at least half an hour (just enough to cove...

  Easy Chicken Corn Patties Other than the Claypot Vegetarian Brown Rice (rice cooker method) food recipe I had adapted from the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC) website, another very easy and inexpensive to prepare food is this sweet corn chicken patty. Ingredients Chicken, minced 200g Tau kwa 1 piece (the supermarket packs sell in twos so just double your recipe if you are following the recipe to the letter) Sweet corn kernals 1 cup^ Onion 1 big (minced)* Spring onions 2 stalks (finely chopped) (sometimes I omit this if I don’t have any) Oil 2 tbsp ^1 cup is 250ml ..they sell sweet corn in a can or little carton form – I usually divide the corn  into half (so in this case you will get 2 cups from one can of sweet corn:P) *if you don’t have any onions, you can substitute with onion powder (about 1 tbsp) Seasoning Light soy sauce 2 tbsp Dark soy sauce 1/2 tsp (I hardly buy standard dark soy sauce anymore ; instead I have streamlined all my dark soy sauce with one ...