Adam cooks on Monday- The GingerBread People

Okay, this is my second entry on the same title. :D I started "Adam cooks on Monday" series last week in order to record Adam's kitchen ventures.. :D It's fun for both of us.. so far..

Today we started early, as early as 9am. We did gingerbread cookies and he first helped me with the egg-whisking, again. Then, my little kitchen helper helped me poured each ingredient inside the mixing bowl. He even cut one of the cookies and smashed few other cookies with the whisk..isk isk..;p 

So far so good. No messy flour on the kitchen floor. Only scattered pots, mixing bowls, a scraper, and a whisk on the floor, played by him, off course. 

The fun part is eating the cookies. He excitedly wanna bite those little tiny hands and legs haha..and so far he ate 3 cookies already.. which is great since he barely into cookies before this..:D 

So here's the recipe: {Source from my own bought cookbook, Just for Kids}

Ingredients:

175g plain flour

2tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

55g butter

85g soft brown sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 egg, beaten

1. Preheat oven to 190C. Sift flour, ginger, and soda into large mixing bowl. Add butter and rub it into your fingertips until resembles into fine breadcrumbs. Mix in sugar.

2. Warm the syrup until runny, then add to flour mixture, continue with the beaten egg. Mix to form soft dough then knead lightly until smooth. Add flour if it's too sticky. 

3. Roll out dough onto lightly floured surface then use a cutter to make the cookies. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and allow to cook for 10 minutes, or until golden crisp. Allow to cool. 

4. Decorate!

BigDaddyO..

Sunny Saturday at Singapore Zoo

On Saturday, we brought Adam to the Zoo. The last time we went there was June last year. He  didn't quite get the whole zoo idea during that time. And caught himself with a bad fever after we went home, which was later diagnosed as HFMD.Huhu But this time, the reversed things took place perfectly just in the nick of time. :D

Adam, inside the car

After bought the tickets, BigDaddyO rented out a wagon for Adam [and for the 'luggage']. Adam was really excited on the whole wagon idea at first, but after the fifth or sixth stop at the penguin's, he decided to pull the wagon instead. Haha. It was okay for us, as long as he walked! Can't imagine how my body would ache if I had to carry him for the whole journey...phew~

Adam, inside the wagon

As for the "luggage", it was actually our packed lunch for the trip and BigDaddyO's gadgets. I cooked tomato rice with meatball in tomato sauce and dalca as side dishes. I know, I know, it was such a heavy type of food for a zoo picnic lunch, but there is no reason why we couldn't eat heavy stuff at the zoo. Hehe Bring on the steaks and chops!! As soon as we arrived at the KidzWorld, we quickly searched for a shady area to settle down and changed Adam into his swimming attire. He was reluctant to play at first and kept holding my hands like forever..sigh I guess he was intimidate with the surrounding at first but after he realized he was at kid's heaven, he started to enjoy the place. We had our lunch there too.. 

Overall, it was fun. It was fun watching Adam's and other kid's behaviors toward water..Adam got to taste new experience at new place and we got our lesson learnt. Parent should change the attire too! We should had bring our attire as well, it slipped from my mind while doing the packing.. BigDaddyO had to buy new shirt after he got wet playing with Adam. 

We continued touring the zoo after we managed to 'trick' Adam away from the pool ;p.. To our surprise, he wasn't sleepy at all. He usually took his nap at  1 or 2 pm, but not that time. At that hour, he was excitedly gazing at the lions, zebra, rhinos and giraffes. :D 

We wave goodbye to the animals and went back at 3PM. BigDaddyO took Adam to nap after we reached home and he slept soundly until 6pm Tired-little-boy.. Freshen up myself with a shower, unpacked things, and prepared a quick dinner after that. Creamy Carbonara Spaghetti. We had the funnest time together.. :D

How was your Saturday? ;)

Sunday -Breakfast with Banana Bread

My Sunday started early. 

I woke up at 3 am and had a strong urge to eat sweet things. Googled few blogs, looking for the right recipes to suit my suddenly aroused sweet-tooth-munching feeling.  None of them were the right one. 

Paused. 

Then I recalled the ripe bananas that I've stored last night inside the fridge. Banana Bread is it! I browsed Sophie Dahl's cookbook and found the recipe. Sweet start for the day! :D BTW, I borrowed the same title twice.. I  love the recipes inside and the foodography is amazing! 

Recipe can be found in my previous entry on banana bread. [ I forgot I've made an entry on it before this.. I should start reading my previous entries back to back.lol.]

Adam cooks on Monday- Oyakodon

Last week was a mess. I was slow in getting into my routine and Adam still had his getaway "jet-lagged", which is easily described as throwing tantrum every hours or minutes, and he wanted to be carried around literally 24/7..sigh..He cried whenever he woke up from sleep and he didn't empty his milk bottles as he usually did.. So I guess he is in boredom and he need few changes on his daily activities. 

During our visit to the library last weekend, I browsed few parenting books and I read suggestions on how to vary toddler activities at home. There are actually more fun things we could enjoy doing with our little ones rather than the usual hide and seek, reading, police and thief and whatnots..

I've list few simple activities for him this week. Go the park [ we used to do this, but the weather doesn't allow us to do it often..but will try to bring him to park this week, if possible], treasure hunt, shape-learning-games, playing bubbles and cooking!! I always thought Adam is too young to venture out in cooking.. But age is just a number..he is actually into cooking..or at least playing cooking-cooking [masak2]..hehe 

Yesterday, I asked him to help me prepared his lunch. A chair was pulled near the preparation counter, and I told him to stand on the chair quietly.But being an active boy, he couldn't hold his curiosity all over new things in front of him..he keep asking about my KA, drumming my pots with spatula, and played with the drawers..hehe I could only keep my patience high and continued preparing the ingredients..

Since I was making Oyakodon, the only part that Adam could help was with the egg-whisking.. He was eager to help me, and I let him slowly whisked the egg and kept reminding him not to let the egg spill over the bowl. He whisked it slowly and I help him by holding the bowl. You should see his proud face after that hehe..As if he just did a big big job...hehe 

He usually would bother me with his cry or asked me to carry him while I was cooking, but yesterday was different..He would let me do what ever I like and he did his own business.. this happened before [due to the "helping with cooking" promise] and after the egg-whisking event.. hehe 

During lunch, I asked him to eat his own home-cooked meal and he smiled.. and that really made my day.. I just brought something to light up his routine, it was a score! definitely will keep doing this from now on..InsyaAllah.. :D  

So here's the Oyakodon's recipe..taken from MamaLoli's Oyakodon recipe. TQVM!

Ingredients:

1 bowl of cooked rice

2 large lightly beaten eggs

1/8 sweet onion

6 oz chicken thigh meat

3 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoon mirin (Japanese sweet cooking wine)- I omitted

1 teaspoon granulated dashi (Japanese Soup Stock)- I used chicken stock

1/4 teaspoon sugar

Way to do it:

1.Slice onion thinly, cut chicken to bite size pieces.

2.Put water, mirin, dashi, and sugar in an 8 inch pan and let the mixture come to a simmer at med-high heat. Add onion slices and simmer for about 2 minutes.

3: Add chicken and soy sauce and reduce to medium heat. Cover and simmer for 1 minute then turn chicken over. Cover and simmer again for 2 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

4: Add the lightly beaten eggs. Cover and simmer for a minute. Remove cover and simmer for another minute. Turn off heat and let it rest for 3 minutes.

5: Serve over rice in a deep bowl.

For dinner, I cook blanched Kailan with soy sauce and fried shallot as side dish. :D Oyakodon is a must-do-dish in every household..thee..quick, delicious and everybody loves it! BigDaddyO had a big bowl of it.. ;p

Sunday- Garlic Prawn and Mushroom Linguine

Okay Adam is taking his nap now.. It's a perfect time for Mommy to update her blog huhu

Yesterday, BigDaddyO asked me to prepare pasta for dinner instead of the usual same old same old rice.. hehe This recipe is actually similar as Spaghetti Olio, but I'd substitute the spaghetti with linguine..

I bought a packet of Portobello Mushroom yesterday and used few of them for this dish. Few of them were spared to make stuffed mushroom tomorrow/ the day after tomorrow.. I've been planning to make stuffed mushroom for ages..sigh no more tanguh2x..

FYI, we have to avoid washing the mushroom before cooking in order to avoid the loss of flavor. The right way is to tap them just to remove any sand or debris or brush them with cooking brush. I just brushed them lightly with my pastry brush huhu...For those who is watching their waistline, this mushrooms are low calorie, fat-free yippee and a great source for protein..great kan? 

I'd to removed the prawn shells earlier since "one of the boys" would like to enjoy his meal smoothly, without having troubles kopek2 kulit udang..hehe I kept the shells aside since I'm going to use it to get the flavors..Oh don't forget to remove the intestinal vein at the back..

Okay how to do it? I guess most of the bloggers are familiar with this recipe..So this recipe is dedicated to my husband, BigDaddyO.. he has requested me to teach him simple dishes that he could prepare for himself while travelling..So here it is dear..

Garlic Prawn with Mushroom Linguine..

Ingredients:

1. Any type of pasta-take a med strand of it..

2.Mushroom-up to you

3. Prawns-up to you

4. Garlic granules-small spoon

5. Mixed herb-small spoon

6. Black pepper-half small spoon

7. Salt-up to you

First, sauteed the mushroom until the aroma touch your nose. Then add the prawn and cook it for 1,2 minutes or until it turned while or opaque..If possible try to cook the prawns with the shell, as this will ensure a stronger and tastier flavor..After that, sprinkled them with garlic granules,herbs-I used mixed Italian herbs and black pepper.. then add salt to taste. [I fried the prawn shells first, then removed them to get the enhanced flavor..]

In the meantime, boil the linguine until it cook or simply said al dente..;p

Add the pasta into the pan and stir, stir and stir it until it all well-combined. Tadaa..finito.. easy kan?

This is a quick and healthy dinner.. finally, before serve, grind black pepper and some herb onto the dish and enjoy your meal.. :)

Ni Adam nyer portion.. he loves pasta.. so Italiano..huhu

Friday- So called Getaway..

Our 10 days 'getaway' was a mixed of joy and exhaustion.. The joys came from hours of good time with my parents & sisters, seeing Adam having fun mingling around with his own bloods, laughing-gossiping-golek2-malas2 with them 24/7..I love my parent's house..the surrounding is so serene and peaceful.. therapeutic..

Oh Did I mention exhaustion just now..we spent 4 days at our KL house for spring cleaning since we planned to rent out the space..sorting my junks with a feverish boy wasn't easy..
Yes, Adam's temperature rose up at night after he got his jabs earlier that morning..I forgot to tuam his jabs area with ice, he then complained [in gibberish talk followed with signs]to me that he couldn't move his both thighs. I was panicked but soon realized that I forgot to tuam the area. Since Adam refused to take his med, BigDaddyO and me had to to take turns cooliong down his body with wet towels.. The next morning, we forced-syringed him with med, and he became a lot better after tat..syukur.. 
We continued with packing the next day and to our surprise, the total of boxes are more that we expected. There's no way I could stuff those boxes inside our car and my sister car. Adam carseat je dah makan space.. so I had to call my Dad and asked him to help us. And since my mom mmg expert in "organizing things", she managed to sumbat most of our things inside my Dad's car. Imagine a Camry penuh ng kipas, big and small boxes, periuk, comforter, bantal, etc2.. seriously macam org nak buat bisnes or org curik2 pindah tggh malam haha.. :P thanks mak ayah!
 Packing and more packing after we got back at my parent house in Melaka.. Seriouly penat..the whole body is still aching from those packing exercises. Nilah akibat kurang exercise.. huhu Oh Oh I also gained 2 kg while at Melaka.. cis..My mom food is irresistible..nak mengunyah je..

Hopefully we got a nice tenant for the house.. We love that house..It's our first house.. I spent a year there while I'm pregnant with Adam..ALONE.. huhu 

Adam managed to take a dip at the pool before we went back to Melaka.. both photos were taken by my BigDaddyO..great job! *pat urself ;p*

This photo is taken from here..tq.

Ok..I leave you guys with this song.. We watched Hantu Kak Limah Balik Rumah together last Thursday. And I've to admit that this song is really catchy and it stuck in my brain up to this moment hehe My mom also humming the tune while cooking haha.. and we keep repeating the only line that we knew which is the soley soley part again and again.. This movie rocks!! 

Tasty Thursday- Cranberry-Orange-White Choc Chips Scones

Before putting it in the oven...

After taking it out of the oven..

Recipe taken from Eat Real's Scone Four Ways.. TQ2..it's a keeper!!

Tasty Thursday- Creamy Mango Pudding

A cold creamy mango pudding is a nice complement to a dry and hot weather. I did this last Monday but there are still some leftover from it. This recipe is from Rima's Bisous A Toi home. Thanks K.Rima.. :D Hubby and Adam love it! The mangoes are from my mom. She bought kilos of it while we were in Malacca and she packed some for us. I thought of making a smoothies out of it, but since hubby and I just recovered from bad cough, I turned it to pudding instead. Less cold konon..huhu

Thursday-The Extreme Weather

I've been meaning to post an entry since last Monday.. I wrote three entries so far and left them in the draft.. I guess I'm waiting for the right MOJO to finish and publish it.. :p

The sunny weather has helped me lots with the laundry. The clothes are crisply dried..which is great, but seriously seriously I couldn't stand the heat. It is too hot and dry. Bad for human, but perfect for the laundry or anything that need to be dried huhu 

I'm not a global warming scientist,weatherman pun bukan..but I do know that the Earth temperature is rising up due to the greenhouse effects which also lead us to the climate change. 

Extreme rainy and sunny days..sana sini banjir..extreme weather.. that's explained all rite and we have to see it as a warning sign. Scientist on this area has predicted that in years time, I'm not sure how long, our planet temperature would gradually become 6 degree warmer. With that kind of temperature, human civilization will be in grave danger. We might not even be there to witness it happens, but the next generation will suffer from this. The next generation really depends on our actions to turns this mess the other way around..Anak cicit Adam nanti yg suffer.. 

One degree warmer will make all the glacier in many mountains disappear and that will cause billion of people to lose access to  drinking water and farming water and more domino effects after that.. mind you that it gradually happening right now.. Read here for more on what happen if the temperature rise degree by degree.. 

I'm just a one person. Can one person slow global warming? Yes! Jum read "TIME's Global Warming Survival Guide" and start doing any parts that related to us.. :D Less worry about it and start doing it. Usaha and tawakkal, if we view it in Islamic perspective.. :)

Okay let's cut it short.. be as green as you can and spread the words on this issue.. Nak gi angkat kain.. cepat je kering.. hehe 

Not that Wordless Wednesday- Rex the Dinosaur Cake

OK, a quick entry.. As promised, here an entry for the dinosaur cake. I baked 2 mini chocolate cakes, then I follow the Youtube tutorial on assembling the cake. 

So, from this form,

it turned to this dinosaur shaped cake...

Sources:

Chocolate cake & green frosting recipe from my own. 

Dinosaur template from Betty Crocker. 

You can watch the tutorial on Youtube. 

[I'm so busy playing with the flours right now, I'll put it here once I'm free.. ;p]

Tasty Tuesday- Tangerine-shaped Pineapple Tart

Sorry for not being around that much. I've been putting my nose on my sewing machine lately. It's my new found hobby and there're so much things to learn and I'm all excited for it. hehe 

So, what's up? For us, we're going back to Melaka, visiting my parents and siblings this CNY holiday. Oh I miss them so much already..wish I'd a Mary Poppin's umbrella with me right now.. [oh wait, Doraemon's pintu sesuka hati is way easy hehe].. we also planned to go for Adam's med check up and shots at Prince Court Med Centre [PCMC] and maybe spend a night or two at our KL home. 

My sisters have been asking for Adam every time I phoned them this week. They're all excited to meet Adam and eager to spend time with him. [I'll have my own sweet time..yeay..] Adam is the first grandson and nephew of our family and yet, my family didn't get to meet him that frequent. So you could imagine how much my family especially my parents miss him... I bet they'll have some marvelous time together. I can't wait for a picnic, shopping, visit kambing2, hehe, cooking with my mom, my dad's lecture on various topics, my sisters' jokes, laughters and tears, meal times esp dinner and solat jamaah... 

Since my family is really into pineapple tarts and it's CNY celebration, so I made a jar of it [about 100 pieces of big tarts] for them. I totally forgot to count BigDaddyO in since he also crazy over this tarts. So I might have to stay up tonight preparing another batch of tarts for him hehe.. 

The recipe was taken from my previous Flower-shaped Pineapple Tart.

Okay gtg now.. I need to finish off my sewing project, then bake trays of tarts, 2 cakes, and if the weather permits, I might also making some macarons for my family. It's been raining cats and dogs these few days!! Humidity plays a large part in making this little beauties. Soggy day was not a good day to make macarons. It'll take few hours for the batter to dry which normally took about half an hour only. 

okay..can't wait to go back to Melaka and have fun, fun fun.. Org Jasin a.k.a Lurpak, jgn jeles kay haha.. I'll be back with load of photos..and foods :D :D