Wind O Wind, go away!

I am about to blog about this Ointment for baby.... right it is from Indonesia and it does really help my baby.

Recently my baby has been feelilng cranky and moody and refusing to drink her formular milk and also having a bit constipation. So I have decided to try this Ointment reconmended by my Masseur. I have some doubts about it before as I feel if she got use to the Ointment and I do not want her to have a habbit of massaging before her sleep... occasional is ok but not everytime or even everyday.

After I realise she may be have some wind in her stomach and after she drinks her milk she vomits / spits out some of her milk out..... then I think it's time I try the ointment.

Now after bath, I apply some on her stomach/ buttocks / feet.... she did actually release lots of wind from her body. Then she manage to pass motion often which leads to a happy baby!

SO this ointment is indeed useful. I rarely use it only when I realise she has wind in her stomach!

Wonderful surprise!

Today I had a wondeful Christmas Present from my little baby girl. To both me and hubby she starts to laugh out loud, giggle and smile while I hold her and Daddy play with her. In fact she continues to laugh with excitement for about 15 minutes or so non stop! WOW.... it's a fantastic milestone for her. Today is the first time she had so much fun with us. I guess daddy has to be home often to play with her.... which is rare as it is Christmas today!

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all! :)

Mediterranean Mutton Stew

This is a Mediterranean influence dish. This is the first time that I am cooking a mediterranean dish and it turns out to be so good that my hubby who doesn't really like mutton ate all of it. LOL, in fact I try to mask all the mutton smell so that my hubby will not know it is mutton! Indeed he thought it was beef! Then again, we all love this dish and I will make it again no doubt!

Well, If you like to try here are the ingredients:

• Some Fresh Rosemary
• Fresh Coriander (chopped)
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp clove (ground)
• 1 Tbsp Flour
• 500g Mutton
• 50g Dried Apricot
• 100g Raisins
• 1 Carrots
• Juice of 2 Oranges
• 2 Tbsp Red wine vinegar
• 2 cups Beef/Lamb stock
• 1 Onion (chopped)
• 2 cloves Garlic (smashed)
• 2 Tbsp Oil
• Iceberg Lettuce leaves (for deco)

1. Soak the dried apricots and raisins in the orange juice for about 2 hours.
2. Brown the mutton with a bit of oil and add in the rosemary in a heavy base pan. Remove set aside.
3. In a Casserole, fry the onion and garlic with the rest of the oil till slightly brown.
4. Add in flour and all the spice, stir well then add in the mutton and stir for another 5 minutes.
5. Add in the Carrots and the apricots, raisins and orange juice. Stir for a while then Pour in the stock and vinegar.
6. Simmer about half an hour.... viola!

Hope you enjoy your meal. Merry Xmas!

Love Bites

When I visit Paris, I have bought a silicon mould. So this is the first time I am using it and I am happy that the results turn out to be fantastic. The silicon mould is so easy to use and above all you do not need to coat an extra layer of butter/ or lay a baking sheet on before put it in the oven.

Above here is the picture of what I have made. These are the mini "Love Bites" that I made... well it is actually butter cake and strawberry jelly. WHat do you think lovely isn't it?

Happy Winter Solstice Festival. (冬至)DongZhi

Every year around this time (冬至)DongZhi, there will be a small gathering at home whereby everyone gather to make small balls of glutinuous rice "汤圆"-"Tang Yuan". This actually symbolizes happy reunion in the family. So the night before everyone will gather to make these tiny balls normally in various colours such as White, Red/Pink, Yellow, Green which you can buy the paste from the market. I have never encounter blues ones... but there are special ones with blue, brown and purple as it's kinda mix with fruit so I guess it's special order.

Say the picture above shows the "汤圆" that I took this morning. It's made by my grandma (the mickey mouse).... Yum!

The Vege Soup Mix

I have been cookin this soup over the weekend. It's really yummy and for those who loves Veg, here's a soup which is full of legumes.

Ingredients:

• 2 Onions (Chopped)
• 1 Capsicum (diced)
• 1 pack Button mushrooms (sliced)
• 2 sticks celery (finely chop)
• 3 Potatoes (diced)
• 2 Carrots (sliced)
• 1 pack Soup mix (soak overnight/blanched)
• 3 litres Chicken stock
• 1 tbsp Oil

1. First use a heavy base pot and add in the oil.
2. Put in the Onion and brown it.
3. Now add in the capsicum, mushrooms, and celery. Stir for 5 minutes.
4. Add in the potatoes, carrots, and soup mix. Stir till even.
5. Pour in the Chicken stock and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Done!

See it's easy cheesy! Do try it. Ohh... I make my own chicken stock so it's yummy, but if you want it quick just buy those cubes and add in water.

Ooo Baby!

She's has grown much as you can see. She's exactly 3 months and able to prop up her head well. Will let her sit up often... LOL. Here she poses with her soft toys.

Moo Moo Baby Sling (Part II)

I did promise to show you how I use my Moo Moo Sling... so here it is. Baby is a bit cranky at first when she's in it, but after a while she got use to it and felt comfortable in it. I guess I 'll have to practice to use it often so she can get use to the idea. LOL.

My Lovely Mini Book

Well, I have created a mini book for myself. It is a mini scrapbook that I can bring around anywhere I like in my bag. I have compile some photos of baby and me in this mini book so when I miss my baby I can browse through the pictures in this mini scrapbook. Brilliant right? Also if anyone wants to see what my baby look like this will be perfect and I don't need to bring my baby along. :)
So you see I still wanna go out sometime and not stay home all the time with baby. Too much sticking around with baby is not so good for her and me. If she becomes too clingy then I'll be in trouble. Alrighty... will update my mini book every now and then too as baby grow.

Those sweet little ones

This picture says it all... :)

The Yellow Wine Dish

This is one of the confinement food that I cooked recently. It is delicious and I suggest you use good Yellow wine and good Ginger wine too. It smells so good and trust me you will definately love it.... but no matter how good it is; it is indeed a very heaty dish. So those who cannot take heaty stuff sorry this is not for you to savour.

Ingredients:

1 Kampung chicken (Free range chic) (Cut into pieces)

3 tbsp sesame oil (for frying)

1 bottle (600ml) good yellow wine (taste sweet)

1/3 portion (200ml) good ginger wine

Black wood ear (Shredded)

Ginger

1. Blanch the shredded wood ear, drained & put aside.

2. Stir fry the shredded ginger with sesame oil until fragrant, add in wood ear.

3. Add in chicken pieces (I did discard the chicken skin) & stir fry for a little while, add some water, covered & cook well.

4. When the chicken is cooked, add in yellow wine & ginger wine (the proportion I used is 1 bottle of yellow wine with 1/3 bottle of ginger wine)

5. If you prefer, add in a little bit of hard liquor (eg. brandy) to the dish.

*(Oh, I did add in 2 tablespoons) LOL.

p/s: The yellow wine you can get it at a chinese medicine hall. :)

Hope you all like this recipe.

Common Sense

Ermm.. did I ever blog about this topic "Common Sense"? Well I guess not, if I did, I want to repeat this again. The importance of training the brain to be aware of things around you.

What is Common Sense?

Well, according to Wikipedia: It is a strict construction of the term, consists of what people in common would agree on: that which they "sense" as their common natural understanding. Thus "common sense" (in this view) equates to the knowledge and experience which most people allegedly have, or which the person using the term believes that they do or should have.

Hmmm.. make any sense? To me basically I feel it's the common daily routines or actions or even knowledge that one would apprehend and believe to know; is called common sense. For example like say holding a pencil? Flushing the toilet after usage... etc.

Now what I want to highlight here is.... how does one teach common sense to their children? Does all parents know the importance of common sense? And how do we determine which and what common sense to teach a child?

Then again, it all depends on the parents whether to teach their child common sense or not as well. These days I find parents seldom teaches common sense to their kids as we ourselves are expected to figure it out when we were young. How brilliant is that?

So back again, Basic common sense like how to walk properly or sit properly when studying... how to hold a pencil... how to stand properly... all these are as important as to how to study well in school. So, I guess I have made my point clear here that these minor stuff is actually the most important things that one must teach their kids. Have I make myself clear?