Simple and easy to make ramen soup

Hi folks!

It's been hazy again..and it's time to eat in more and also time to brew some soups.

I made a pot of old cucumber soups and boiled some ramen aside(drizzled with udo oil) and oven-baked some beancurd and added some chopped parsley..

A nice and simple homemade ramen for our lovely meals at home for the weekend 😊

Satisfied...yumm...

What are you cooking/eating during these hazy days?

Cheers!

Vegan Book giveaway

Hi folks!

As some of you might knew that our family is on plant-based diet. And more recently ZS has suffered from very bad eczema which I have omitted soy, certain nuts in our diet (as i am still bf him). And during the process, I have also been checking out on a lot of vegan as well as gluten free recipes.

Here is one lovely ones that I've been reading and following and they are having a giveaway for their lovely cookbook(yet!!) and best thing is they do cover my part of the world..hoping that one of us here might win this lovely cookbook as well..here's the link for the giveaway 😉

http://www.veganricha.com/2015/10/holiday-giveaway.html

May we learn some lovely,yummy 😋 and easy-to-make( and what's more to mention guilt-free recipes from it 😊 )

Cheers!

Guiding a child gently through hand puppets

Hi folks!

Howdy? Lately I have been facing challenges at work (with my colleague on a 90 days maternity break and extended pre- and post maternity leave which comes up to about 4 months of absence at work.)

It wasn't easy but I managed to got through...phew..finally she's back at work now.

Back at home I am facing with another lessons to learn, trying to guide a pre-teen, a primary schooler and a (i prefer not to call it as Terrible-Two stage) Mr. DIY at home.

Truly an amazingly challenging time which requires a lot of patience.

I learnt to listen, to adapt and also to love deeply so that I have the patience to listen, the love to think of ways to guide the different stages of life of my lovely children.

Let's start with my toddler, two-year-old Mr. DIY at home.

At this stage, he wants to do everything on his own and he gets frustrated easily whenever someone goes against his wishes that is to DO THINGS ON HIS OWN!

He will have a meltdown and cry loudly till he cools down. I tried to explain to him but it doesn't work. I had to resort to letting him cry his heart out safely at his own space and then guide him gently when he could at least listen.

I found a good way to create similar stories of things which happens in his daily life with a hand puppets.

Using the hand puppets as a "third-party", I tried to guide him gently to learn how to voice out his opinion or his view without throwing his tantrums or throwing a big temper.

So far it seems to be working. Kids, I tell you...they are amazingly smart and pick up things very quickly...both the good and the bad.

So, our nightly ritual nows will involved his hand puppets which he calls him fondly as "yellow bear". Yellow bear will sing along with him at night, recite his scriptures or poems he learnt lately and then will be my way of guiding him gently by story telling with his Yellow bear.

I kinda like this nightly ritual when he's more calm and loving, blowing kisses to his yellow bear, and then to me.

Do you have any good ways to guide your "smart" child at home?

Do share your secrets with me!

Cheers!

What would you do if you have 20 or 30 minutes extra time everyday?

Hi folks!

These days, people invest money to gain more time. But do we cherish or make full use of the extra time gained?

Or, do we simply kill our boredom by just FB-ing.

Sometimes, certain things or choices we made in the first place out of good intention may not be that way if we swayed away from our original intention of having that something in our life whether is a gadget ( like kitchen tools?), a change of job(nearer perhaps?), etc, make sure we truly make full use of the extra time gained.

As for me, I do have that extra 20-30 mins. extra time now from a choice I've made. Thus, I am committed now to spend it on reading/self-improvement and housework!!! Yes! You heard me right! I find that doing housework is therapeutic and it's something I can't avoid of doing every single day. Combined with self-improvement and also my greatest hobby (i.e. reading), i just kill two (wait a minute ...actually three) birds in one stone...as when i do housework i get to exercise and sweat it out as well.

Thus, nowadays i would either ON my inspirational audio/podcast of the day while washing the dirty dishes/mop the floor, or I would ON my e-book and fold my clothes at the same time (I just maximize the screen and read along as I fold along).

I find it easier this way as I don't find excuse of not having time to exercise while getting the house cleaned at the same time. At the end of the 20-30mins activity, i get to sweat it out, the house is clean and my soul is nourished!

Wonderful daily ritual for me..really..

So what would you do if you have extra 20-30 minutes a day?

Do share with everyone!

Cheers to a fruitful weekend!

Indoor Activities during Hazy days - Baking

Hi folks!

During the hazy days and we happened to run out of bread (and food actually as we did not go out to replenish our groceries during the hazy weekend). Thus, i found some bread flour and some very ripe bananas and voila, we end up baking some stuff for our breakfast and teatime.

We've made some focacia bread with the breadmaker and bake some whole-wheat eggless bananas muffin (yummy). I googled and found the recipe from this website.

Now, this is yet another lovely indoor activity we can do with our kids at home during the hazy days!

Kids and adults can get so restless when they don't get to go out in the sunshine and nature, do you agree?  Now, what do you do with your kids during the hazy days? Please do share :)

Cheers!

Indoor Activities during Hazy days - Jenga

Hi folks!

Recently I participated in the Jenga Games competition in my company. It's my first time ever participating in a game quite new to me. I've seen people playing it but I have not try playing it myself.

Thus, after having a round of practice with two colleagues (one of the them was the champion of the Jenga Game in our company last year), I got the hang of it.

During the competition day, I've had a tough game and my competitor is a guy! Now, not all guys have such meticulous skill to play Jenga well and my opponent sure is a good player here.

I find the Jenga really helps to build up patience, being calm and steady and also being clear-headed to think of the strategy or next step.

After playing the game, i got hooked and got my own set of "local" Jenga set to play with my family. To my surprised, they knew about the game and play it before....ah..how outdated I am!

So, during the hazy days when we skipped the swimming class and we played Jenga game together instead.

From the Jenga, you can also find out what type of skills your children has. Whether they are the hasty and impatient type, or one who strategy, careful and patient type.

Interesting discovery for me indeed.

So, are you bored at home during hazy days or running out of ideas what to entertain yourself/ your family members, especially children? Why not get yourself a Jenga set. It's a way for me to "detox" from the watching too much IPad...now how long can we glued ourselves on the screen?

Let's get active and play some indoor games together!

Cheers!

Shape a Colorful Community

Hi folks!

First of all, Happy Malaysia Day!

In conjunction with Malaysia Day, my kids and I did some fun indoor activities (well..to enjoy some bonding and fun time together despite the haze).

We did some sculpturing with PLAY-DOH® , yes! The all-time favourite that we used to play since young.

First I team up with my kids to imagine try to put some ideas together on what everyone in the family think will best and most positively represent Malaysia. 

The first thought that came to KY's mind was her favourite food- nasi lemak (a fragrant rice dish cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf), but alas we don't have any white play doh at hand, so she quickly switched to another of her favourite food, that is satay (a dish of seasoned, skewered and grilled meat, served with a sauce).

Whereas for SE, he came up with the idea to create Malaysia flag, again we don't have any white play doh with us,so he got creative and started to sculpt the word MALAYSIA with the multiple, vibrant colors we had at hand. Very creative indeed!

As for ZS, he helped to build the hands of the three Malaysians (Malay, Chinese, Indians) holding hands together and KY made a special braided hair for our Indian friend here with lovely and fashionable saree (the traditional costume for Indians). ZS also helped to create the small buttons for our Malay friends who is wearing their traditional Baju Melayu. How cool is that?

As for me, I thought of our National flower hibiscus and thus TOGETHER, we made this to represent our Colorful Community in Malaysia and also to express our love for Malaysia, our beloved country.

Can you see the plate of satay along with the yummy peanut sauce and refreshing cucumber made by KY in the picture?

I am surprised how much quickly they could come up with ideas about our country Malaysia. And of course, all these food, flowers, and identities of our community is very close to our heart as Malaysians.

So, what activity are you doing with your kids today on Malaysia Day? Here are some inspirations of ideas came up by others:

Lovely aren't they?

May our country and our folks be blessed with abundance of wisdom, strength and integrity to progress further as a nation.

Special thanks to PLAY-DOH® which helps brighten up our day with lovely shapes and colors we could explore together as family and expand our creativity!

Have a fruitful and lovely time folks...

Cheers!

For more information and updates about PLAY-DOH® Month, be sure to visit the PLAY-DOH® website: www.playdoh.com.