• Zoe turn 18 months as of 1st July (1.5 years old already!). She is getting more and more cheeky by the day. I often wonder what tricks is up her sleeve next…sigh!
• Daddy and Zoe flew back to Kota Bharu without me today - to visit great Grandma as she has not been feeling well. Their first solo flight together - Father and Daughter…just got a call they have touch down safely. Today I felt the type of anxiousness seeing my loved one fly in a plane without me - such a mixture of feelings.
• Daddy will be leaving us for a business trip to US - next week…We will not be seeing him till early August…feels so looooooooooong….
• I hope my parents will come over to stay with me while Daddy is away - I really need someone to literally watch at Zoe while I am taking bath - at least! She can do quite a bit of damage if no one is watching her…even if someone is watching her!
• About a week before she turns 18 mths, Zoe discovered the fun of unscrewing caps from bottles or tubes (her nappy cream, toothpaste or anything she can get her hand on). One evening, she climbed up to the dining table, grab her unattended bottle of antibiotic (my fault!), unscrew the cap and pour the contents into her sippy cup…
• Zoe insists on putting the nappy cream by herself now after bath - she will take the nappy cream from me, unscrew it and dab little by little with her chubby fingers on her buttock. I wonder whether any other kids her age doing this!?
• I have just recovered from a major migrain that lasted 3 days - and I am still feeling the after effect now, numb all over and not functioning as well as I could…sigh…I really need my Excedrin soon….
• Got a notice that the unit 2 doors away from our condo is up for auction, the price is very attractive at more than 40k below developer price…tempting!

Well…I hope I sailed thru July and somehow…I am still hoping for a breakthru in certain part of my life…need to pray harder!

Out of the blue, I remembered how tasty those "ku lou yuk" my Mom dish out for us (very often) when we were children. This dish always makes us eat more - our plate so squeaky clean, my Mom probably saves on the washing as well…hahaha

I attempted this dish and this is how it looked like…

Sweet Sour Pork, Stir fry baby french beans and ABC soup

Given the time I have, I used the shortest way I know to cook the sweet sour pork.

Ingredients
Pork belly (I used the really lean type with less fat)
1 egg
Cornflour
Oil for frying
Spring onion (for garnishing)
* You can add other fruity veges to make this dish more wholesome such as cubed pineapples, capsicum and cucumber

Seasonings (mixed all in a bowl - you can do this a day earlier if you are busy)
Tomato sauce
Chilli sauce
Apple cider vinegar
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
A dash of Chinese cooking wine

Method

1. Cubed the pork belly and soak them in 1 beaten egg.
2. Heat up a wok with enough oil for frying.
3. Dab the pork belly with egg in corn flour and fry all of them till golden brown. Dish out.
4. Leave a little of the frying oil in the wok and heat up.
5. Pour the seasonings in the wok and let it come to a boil - stirring occasionally.
6. Once you can smell the pungent sourish taste of the seasonings, add in the fried pork and stir fry.
7. Once the pork cubes are all well covered with the sauce - dish out and garnish with some spring onions. Serve with rice.

Hubby commented that he dislike the use of vinegar in the dishes (even healthy apple cider vinegar), so maybe next time I have to use lemon or some other subsitutes for this dish. Anyhow, I am not sure whether the outcome will be the same  - I doubt it!

After a tiring time chasing Zoe in Curve, with the help from my Mom. She cannot stop saying that Zoe is notti, too active and her bones are breaking chasing her…sigh…ask us why we did not bring stroller…double sigh…
We met our sister-in-law with her 2 sons (3 yrs and 1+ yrs), sitting nicely on their umbrella stroller, so nice and smiling away. There, my Mom add more salt into the wound and commented that even boys can sit quietly and we did not even bother to buy an umbrella stroller…super sigh…if only Zoe would sit so nicely in a stroller now. Not that we did not train her, but she is at this age where the world is a big playground to her and being strapped on a stroller is a Big No No No!!!

By then I was already quietly praying in hard, "God, please let Zoe be good, at least that will encourage my Mom to agree in taking care of her one day….soon….please, please, please…..super please!!!!Amen……

Anyway, thats not the point of the lesson with Zoe on today’s post, but this one while we are on our way home from Mom’s place…sort of saves my day man!!! Save me ….please…hallelujah…

Zoe: Nen! Nen!….Nen! Nen ar… (asking for her milk)

Me: Wait ar, Mommy make (fumbling in the car trying to pour hot water, water and milk into the bottle)

Zoe: Nen! Nen! (louder and getting a little impatient)

Daddy: (trying to drive as stable and slow as possible)

Me: Wait ar…coming coming! Just a little while more…(trying to buy time by talking)

Zoe: Pis! Pis! Pis!…….Pis! Pis! Pis!……Nen! Nen!

Daddy and me: (pause for a moment in surprise)….HaHaHa!

Me: Good girl! You said "Please!….Bravo!"

Zoe: Pis! Pis!

Me: (Finally Nen Nen is ready and pass it to Zoe)

She finally learn her first please…looks like it will only happen in desperate moments like this…hahaha! Better than never right!?

I hope she is saying please and not that she is pissed! Being a parent, we gotta be super positive and only see or hears all that are good…hahaha…hope we did not annoys some poor souls out there…pis! pis!

Zoe: Daddy! Daddy…ehhh…..amm! (asking for pao)

Me: Zoe, say please…

Zoe: (quiet and look blur)

Me: You must say please when asking for pao…say please!

Zoe: (still looking blur…)

Daddy: (gave her a small piece of pao…)

Zoe: (chuckles and happily stuff the pao into her mouth…)

Me: Zoe…say Thank you!

Zoe: (resume looking blur…munching away)

Zoe: Mum mum!…ehhh

Me: Say Please…..

Zoe: (Look at me and kept quiet…)

Me: Apa la!

Zoe: Apa ar!!!…..

Me: (pengsan!)

I have many such lessons with Zoe. I am hoping she will pick up more words…polite ones. We are really still working on this….expect more such conversations to come….sigh….

Its about another 2 weeks before Zoe reach 1.5 years old…

I have been telling her she is a big girl already, must be good, polite, gentle…somehow, she is rather on the rough side…sigh!

This morning, Daddy steamed some pao for breakfast and he went to take his bath. Me, as usual busy preparing our morning tea and getting ready the stuff to cook soup.

I heard Zoe fusses in the bedroom, went in to carry her out and showed her the pao steaming. Immediately, she brighten up and even chuckles when the cover of the steam pot blew out some hot steam. I told her we are gonna eat pao shortly. She said, "Mum Mum!"

Put her down and I went to take the pao, serve it on the dining table and got back to rinse the kitchen cloth. When I turned around, Zoe was already standing at the dining chair, body leaned on the dining table and trying to grab a pao. I was shocked! I only did not keep an eye on her in less than 10 seconds!

Just yesterday night, she was climbing onto the leg rest sofa and small table I used to put near the TV to prevent her from going too near to TV. She climbed up and touch the TV, even did some hand waving and dance, while I nag her not to do that else she falls….haiyo!!!

How? she is getting very mobile now… I have a little spidey at home…sigh!

After all these, Daddy said to me, "Ooooo…she has been climbing on top of the study table already, playing with my laptop, pens, paper…."

Sometimes, when she is really notti and it gets on my nerve, I raised my voice, "You want Mommy beat beat!!?"

Zoe replied, "Beat Beat ar!!!" while trying to beat me with her hand.

I got this recipe from Darrius’s Mom cooking website. It is really easy as it uses premix and I do not even need a electronic mixer to make this.

For the love of baking, I am gonna present this in picture steps. Here you go…

Ingredients - blueberry muffin premix, 3 eggs,
135g melted butter or corn oil and 100ml water
Some cream cheese cut into cubes

Blueberry muffin mix - makes 12 muffins

Mix the premix into the butter/oil and gradually add water to mix them all up

Add eggs one at a time and continue whisking

Whisk until you get a soft batter and scoop using spoon into muffin casings.
You can add a piece of cream cheese and add another spoon of batter to cover it.
Make sure that the casings are only half filled.
Casings are also from Bake with Yen (50s for RM2.70 - large size)

Bake in oven at 180 degree for 30 mins.
Taaadaaa! You’ve got yourself a nice batch of homemade blueberry muffins with cream cheese fillings…yummmy!!!

Juicy Prawns with stir fry choy sum!

As long as the seafood is fresh, anyway of cooking it will be good - that is for sure.

Ingredients
Big fresh prawns (XXL size)
Old ginger - chopped
Garlic - chopped
Chilli padi - chopped (optional if you prefer a bit spicy)
Tauchu (fermented bean paste)
Spring onions (cut small)
Oil

Seasonings (all mixed)
Tomato sauce
Chilli sauce
Pepper
Apple cider vinegar
Chinese cooking wine

Method

1. Heat a little oil in wok and throw in the chopped garlic, ginger and chilli padi with tauchu. Stir fry until fragrant.
2. Put in the prawns and continue to stir fry - see that the prawns is all smeared with the garlic, ginger and chili padi paste.
3. Pour in the seasonigs and continue to stir.
4. Once the prawn is cooked, garnish with some spring onions and serve.

Daddy was really delighted and keeps telling me it was really yummy cause the prawns are very fresh. The meats are crunchy and juicy, and since the prawns are huge - there is really a lot of meat there. I think he ate 7 prawns that nite…hahaha! This plate of prawns cost us about RM25+….but if we ate outside, it is probably double the price and I doubt we can even get such big prawns. Eating at home is fun as well as we do not get people starring at us while we slowly peel and suck on those juicy prawns…hehehe