Crab missing a pair of legs

 

#350

School reopened on Monday.  The boy has difficulty getting out of the bed early in the morning even if the alarm rang incessantly at 6.10am.  He dragged his body to the bathroom after snuggling in the warm bed for another 10 minutes.  Honey oatmeal with poached egg for breakfast and a cup of warm milo to kick start his engine. I had the same minus the egg.  Papa had cereal with milk instead.  Oatmeal was not my boy's favourite food with the exception of cold overnight oats.  Daddy detested oatmeal in any form and literally telling his son "It's yucky" while my boy polished off the remaining oatmeal in his bowl in silence.  I would really appreciate and wish he could keep such comment for discussion at another time and place rather than first thing in the morning at the dining table.  

Lunch was :-

• Organic brown rice
• Teriyaki chicken
• Boiled broccoli/carrots
• Cherry tomatoes

And he decorated his own lunch with the ingredients. I  love his idea although the crab was missing a pair of legs. 

Weight has been an issue for this young man and his has been hovering at the 'acceptable' level. He would normally put on weight during festive seasons and school holidays because I did not restrict or take away his pleasure of enjoying his lolly pop, chocolates, cakes, soft drinks, fried chicken, burgers and fries...etc that I allowed only that period.  And he knew mummy controlled his diet daily that he would request 'this' and 'that' whenever he had an opportunity during these special days.  It was hard not to give.  And he was wary of being overweight as evidenced in his conversation with me before bedtime lately:-

Chinese New Year period
"If I gain 2kg during Chinese New Year, I will loose the extra kg when back to school."

Health Screening period
"I don't feel like eating during recess time."

Best to stay fit and healthy ^_^

Battleship playground at Sembawang Park

We have reached the tail-end of school holidays and my boy began lamenting that it was too soon to be over.  We were so pre-occupied for the first time during the one week school break. 

• Sunday - Stayover at Granny's house
• Monday - Breakfast at Burger king and played at Battleship playground, Sembawang Park
• Tuesday - Lunch at Ikea and marketing at Giant Supermarket
• Wednesday - A visit from Granny and brought her to Guat Hoon Vegetarian Temple at Jalan Senang where we found Grandpa's (ancestral) tablet
• Thursday - Papa and son had many games of Animal Kaizer (百獸大戰) - at Timezone, City Square shopping mall
• Friday - A field trip to Bollywood Veggies farm organised by the Parent Support Group from his primary school

Actually, I also planned to bring my boy to meet his pen pal from Switzerland whom has just relocated to Singapore for couple of years.  Squeezing into the schedule would be a mad rush and too tiring for both of us. Therefore, I shelved it for the next school holiday. 

 

The battleship playground has been in our "to-play" list and I have postponed many times purely because I was too lazy to travel from the east where we stayed to the far north of the little red dot.  In order not to disappoint the big boy again, we started our March holidays in the northern part of Singapore.  A stayover at Grandma's house on Sunday night.  Then, a breakfast treat at Burger King together with an old friend/neighbour and her kid/nephew at Sembawang Shopping Center the next morning.  Followed by free play at Sembawang park where the boys had a blast at the battleship playground. The sun was not forgiving.  And they had to forgo the idea of sliding down the slides because it was too hot.  But that did not stop them from playing.  The playground was huge and great workout for these rascals. Plenty of space to run and climb.  Just to be mindful that children need to stay low on top of the battleship as his friend, Xian Xian, accidentally bumped his head against the structure.   And some parts proved to be a challenge for the boys.  The kids dug an unbelievable deep hole in the sandpit where they buried a plastic toy dolphin in the hope to retrieve it on the next visit.  I was amused and felt like a scene in the Chinese drama television show.  

 

It was a beautiful day and great outing.  However, the sight of oil rig nearby marred the sea view.  We left the place close to noon.  I love SG playgrounds.  How about you? 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday

We went to Bedok public library last Saturday for the first time.  We were totally at awe with the spacious reading area and adored the picturesque backdrop at the children's section.  We love Sg public libraries!!

Year of Monkey - Chinese New Year reflection



#349

A monkey silhouette for the bento to mark the year of Monkey in the Chinese zodiac.  His lunchbox consisted of :-

• Teriyaki chicken thigh
• Boiled carrot flowers
• Stir fried sugar bean
• Japanese cucumber leaves
• Salmon furikake on the rice

We had a fabulous short getaway cum Chinese New Year holidays last weekend in Malaysia from 5 to 9 February 2016.  A yearly affair we would not want to miss catching up with relatives in Penang and Kedah whom we did not meet for the entire year.  We flew instead of driving up this year to avoid the horrendous jam at the Singapore and Malaysia custom checkpoints which we heard from another parent that they were jammed up to 4 hours for the roadtrip (as usual). 

This year we stayed at Eastin Hotel in Penang which somewhat lacked the homecoming feeling.  It was our second lunar new year without Ah Ma who passed away in 2014.  We used to gather at our Granny("Ah Ma")'s house for 拜年 (Chinese greetings/wishes for good health, prosperity, etc).  Young and old were delighted to see each other whom perhaps, only met once a year. Because Papa has a large family, it almost felt like having a party in the house.  Joy and laughter filled the air.  It was contagious!  We loved it and longing to be part of it.  Things had changed and were never be the same as before since Ah Ma left us.  And yes, we were already missing the gathering.  Indeed, very much.  There's a Chinese saying,  "家有一老，如有一宝" (meaning it's a treasure to have old people at home). It could not be more apt.

Nevertheless, it was a great reunion.  We borrowed YY jie jie's car and went house to house visitation on the first day in Kedah and, then Penang on the second day of the Lunar new year before flying back to Singapore in the afternoon. Papa felt a sense of accomplishment.  However, my boy complained he did not get the chance to play firecrackers.  Hope we could have some time and a right place for him to play. It was not a promise but would try depending on the schedule next year.

We managed to create some new year decorations below.

 

 

Sushi Art - Bee

#348

I was really excited and intrigued to learn how sushi can be beautifully made into different patterns and shapes. So I bought 'Kawaii Deco Sushi' written by Little Miss Bento, Shirley Wong from Popular bookstore for reference and keepsake. I tried one of the bee sushi - one of the easiest as she stated in her book that the difficult level was 1 of 4. Instead of using rice to make the wings, I replaced it with crabsticks.  Also I did not follow the exact weight of the rice used.  I just stuffed till it filled up the gaps.  I was happy with my bee sushi even though it was not as neat as hers.  But it certainly looked better than my first attempt previously.

My first attempt was a sleepy piggy sushi which I followed the instructions on the leaflet that came together with the sushi mat I bought from Tokyo.  It was a disaster.  Piggy face was squashed! I was quite discouraged and for a long time did not want to attempt another one till yesterday.

I began my spring cleaning in the kitchen cabinets for the Chinese New Year in the beginning of the month.  Here's a peek at my bento boxes that I stashed in my kitchen cupboards ;)  Still more cleaning to be done......  Well, I normally could not finish all it every year..haha. 

Healthy bento at the beginning of year

For a long time, I have not prepared any bento(s) for my boy due to the December school holiday break and also, he requested less bento(s) because he wanted to buy food from the canteen.  These were the first bentos of the year!  We had it for our lunch at home and I got my share too. I felt so good eating a healthy meal at the beginning of the year.  But once a while, I would love to have a plate of sinful char kway teow, chicken rice or other hawker food here. ;P 

 

Ingredients:-

• Fried tau kwa (firm tofu)
• Tomato slice
• Boiled broccoli
• Steamed kabocha with mirin and soy sauce (Japanese pumpkin)
• Steamed chicken drumstick with grated ginger, salt and sesame oil (tear into small pieces)
• Brown rice

 

 

#346

#347

First week of Primary 2 was not that exciting for my son.  In his primary school, the teachers and classmates remained the same for the first 2 years.  When he progressed to Primary 3, there would be streaming and change of classes according to his academic results then. Everything was a familiar sight and lesson has not fully started.  The time table of the lesson would only be ready by next week.  I asked about his day in school.  "What did you do since there is no lesson?"  He said "Nothing, just talking, talking and talking." in a boring tone.

How was your child doing in the first week of school?

Wordless Wednesday

Ping-Pong Ball Float (Idea from Science Spy magazine from Science Center)

Adult supervision required