This is great for breakfast and snack for my son. He loves the granola bar. But they are expensive if you buy it off the shelf but if you make it, it is way much cheaper. A commercial granola bar costs about RM1 ++. If you have one everyday, in one month it will cost RM30++. This will really blow my budget. Anyway, I have a look around online and found an easy recipe for this with a bit modification. Check out this photo:
I think it took me half an hour. You just need to mix the dry ingredients which comprises of oats, sunflower seeds, cashew nut or any other nuts that you like and mix it together before you toast them. Then you simmer the blackstrap mollasses and brown sugar together for awhile until well combined. Lastly, you mixed all together with raisins and pour them in a square pan; compress them on the pan and let it chill in the fridge for 2 or 3 hours then walllaaa you have a delicious granola bar. But one thing about my recipe, I find it a bit too sweet. Next time I am going to cut down on both brown sugar and blackstrap mollasses or replace with honey.
If you would like the recipe:
2 cups of oats
3/4 cups sunflower seeds
1 cup of crushed cashew nuts
2/3 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of blackstrap molasses
4 tablespoon of vegetable oil or butter
1/2 tsp salt
some dried mixed fruits
Tags: snacks for kids, breakfast granola, homemade granola, granola bar recipe, homemade granola recipe
I know it is not a very pleasant gift for anyone who doesn't know the true meaning of it but it means a lot to me. On the 10th May, 2011 my son finally poop on his own using the toilet bowl. Hurrrrayyyyy!!! no more diapers....
Now whenever he wants to pee or poo, he just calls me and I will lead him to the toilet. He is still not big enough to climb the giant bowl. So, he will do with a little help.
I was planning to train him right after we moved (last year, November) but I was so busy tidying the house to make it feel more like home that I put behind his potty training until recently. Off and on I do read with him a book about potty training to make him understand.
I know the quickest way to train him is to let him wear pants and let him have a few accidents. I wasn't prepared to let him poop or pee on the floor because I don't want the house to smell like toilet and it will be more work for me. I have enough cracked and rough fingers from doing all the washing, I just want to let them rest. So, finally when I read the book "Potty Train Your Child In Just One Day:Proven Secrets Of The Potty Pro" by Terri Crane, I brave myself up to let him put on the pants. But before that, I followed some of Terri Crane's method and that is to keep on repeating and telling him about how to use the toilet and when to go. I even have him follow me to the toilet to do my pee thing. But later we had an opportunity to go to a friend's house and their son showed us how he did his pee.
From then on, I just keep on telling him the same things and praise him when he pee in his potty. Finally, I think he gave in. I use "gave in" because I think he knew all along where to go for his pee or poo but because of the convenience of a diaper, he just took advantage of it.
So, to get a toddler to potty train himself fast you need:
1) Give him the knowledge. read to him books about potty training, seeing other toddlers do it. They are more willing to follow toddlers who go to toilet by themselves.
2) Once you feel you have feed him/ her enough knowledge. Then go ahead let him use pants. Good Luck!
That is right. All three of us, my husband, me and my baby all down with flu. And who gets the worst sickness? Me. I was so dissappointed because I thought I have a better immune system.
I have never thought that being a stay-at-home mum could be this tough when one is sick. I was so sick that I just want to curl up on the bed and sleep the whole day. But that cannot happen because I have to cook, clean and take care of the family. For that few days I only get to do minimal things like cook for my baby, clean up my baby's mess, cook dinner and pop VCDs for my baby to watch. I know he must be very bored and angry as to why his mum didn't play with him for that few days. Poor darling!
I thought I have a better immune system that I restrict myself from going to the clinic and rely solely on Manuka honey. It come to a point where my throat worsen that it feels too tight to shove down any food. Then later I shed pus at the corner of my eyes and I can't sleep because of the sickness and because I scared my two year old will be as worst as me. Turn out he has a very mild flu whereas later I had to see the doctor and was told I had a fever. I feel so defeated when I have to visit the doctor over some flu, a serious one and it also prove that my experiment on manuka honey fails. Well, I should think that manuka honey is still great. Maybe its because I ran out of it fast that I tend to take less teaspoon.
So, after two weeks recovering, I am down with a cold. But this time I recover fast enough taking more frequent manuka honey and bought a new one. This time with a stronger UMF 30+.
Today I felt that I'm back at my old school days reading mystery books. I have read Nancy Drew, Secret Seven, Famous five in my teenage days and only now I read Alfred Hitchcock and I am glued to it. Sometimes it is enjoyable to read children or teenagers books because they give me the feeling that life is simple and carefree and you can just forget how complicated life is. I wonder whether teenagers these days do read mysteries or books at all!
With all the attraction of electronic games from Ipad, Xbox and PS and the world of information from the internet, it is really hard to get one to read nowadays. I ask my brother once whether he has been reading books and he says that he don't anymore. He reads more from blogs and surfing the net for information.
It was on the Star Metro today which published a man hugging a tree to avoid the city council from chopping down trees that are as old as 35years. I think it is a noble thing to do. read the article.
If everyone shared the same compassion and appreciation towards the environment, I would certainly think that we don't have to worry about the weather changes, the flood and other natural disaster which could wipe us out one day.
The earth is certainly very ill for the lack of forests, trees and the heaps of garbage that is choking the earth. I just found out that we are so lucky to be living in this part of the country where we have the convenience of cooking using a gas stove.
But things are not the same with the third world country. In these countries, they have to walk miles to search for wood to build fire and cook. When they couldn't find wood, then, animal dung and crops were used to supplement it. And mind you that the forests that we have in the developing countries are shrinking by more than 15 hectares a year.
So, I think we will have to be mindful of the trees around our neighbourhood and protect them from chopping down.
I don’t know what is wrong with me, first the push cart incident yesterday and now I had a huge doggy fright this morning. Ok read through my words again. It is “doggy fright” and not “doggy fight”. If it is a doggy fight, you won’t see me blogging any longer. I could be missing an ear or some parts of my skin.
I don’t know, is it because that now I have a child and since their safety is my priority that suddenly I have fear for dogs? Or is it because of the recent news of dog attacking human?
This morning is a perfect morning to take my toddler son to go to the park because he woke up very early today. So, after pointing to the sky, the birds, the trees and baby talk about things in the park, we set to walk back home again. The morning breeze is absolutely refreshing today. This is the first morning I took my son for a walk since we moved. Yep! I know I should have taken him to the park more often but I am still juggling with the new environment after 3 months. I am a slow learner you see.
I was walking back carrying my toddler when I notice a lady walking a dog with a leash on her hand on the opposite direction. I feel my hair fang out like the tentacles of an ant signaling that that could be an oncoming danger to my son. My eyes were hooked on that big giant golden retriever although I know that golden retrievers don’t have a history of human attack but yet I have to be cautioned. I mean that dog certainly look very gigantic to me that I feel so small and vulnerable.
All of a sudden the dog changed its mood and keeps on wanting to pounce out of the owner’s hand. Finally she released it and the dog charged towards our direction. In my heart I was thinking both me and my toddler will be a goner.
How could the owner do that? Turn out the dog wanted to greet the ladies walking behind me and not to pounce on me or my toddler. I had such a fright that I began to see the danger of walking to the park. The lady even have the heart to smile (I don’t know at me or her friends behind).
I should think that no matter how safe you think your dog is, never to let go the leash because it could pose danger to other people especially kids. I had a negative impression on that owner; that she is not considerate enough. But what can I say? Each and every one of us lived within our own world that we can’t be considerate enough to suit everyone. But isn’t this situation obvious enough for some consideration?
Oh well, there will be no more walking to the park. I think it will be better to drive there although it is such a short distance.
Tags: near dog attack, afraid of dogs, golden retriever.
I was at the vegetable stall looking for some parsley when I feel a tug or someone trying to push my handbag which was at the back of me. I turned around and saw a lady in her 60’s trying to push her cart in between me and another cart. I thought she was rude because she could have open her mouth and say “excuse me” rather than keep on pushing as though she is trying to clean a gunk of sewage from the water pipe. Lucky my bag didn’t get snapped from me. I said “Hey” and she still keep on pushing without looking at me. For a second I thought she must have come out from the zombie land or maybe suddenly I turned into a super powerful “Invisible Woman” (that will be nice but not in this circumstance) because she never looked at me once. Her face is cold and expressionless and she looked straight ahead as though everybody else is invisible.
So I just forcefully pull my bag and walk out of it to give her way and still she doesn’t look at me. That is so plain rude.
A nice looking auntie like her with spectacle and decently dressed really deceive people into thinking she is a nice and polite lady with a lot more civility than most of the young people here. But turn out she is the other kind.
I mean I always thought that the older we got the wiser we will be and of course when it comes to simple rules of politeness it is an easy finger snapping task.
I know I couldn’t avoid people like that but I do hope it’s only 1% in the world and it is not growing like cancer.
I don't know whether it is my age of getting older or whether it is the timing for Chinese New Year that is not right this year. First, our house did some minor renovation for a few days before Chinese New Year where we have to clean up the dusts and dirts in the house, not to mention the house preparation for the Chinese New Year. It is all very tiring and stressful having the house cleaned up for guests to visit. It adds more to the stress thinking about all the stuff (unopened boxes since we moved) occupying rooms that were meant for my son's room and guest room.
Then we spent two days mingling with our parents, in-laws and relatives. And another two days we spent at home recuperating. The wet market is closed for a few days and the streets are all very quiet. The other headache is giving "ang pows", to make sure they are enough. Chinese New Year is not as fun as when I am in my younger and cheeky days where I get to wear new clothes, collect lots of "ang pows" from uncles and aunties, lots of favourite food to eat, fireworks, chatting and running around with my cousins. For a second , I thought that life would be different for my son because he won't get as many cousins like I use to have because not many of us have more than 2 children nowadays. Well, those were the days!
The only thing I find rewarding is eating Chinese New Year cookies but it also mean I could gain a few pounds of weight. Then I will look more like an aunty. Sigh!
I saw this nice mural on the wall when we go shopping at the newly opened SS2 mall.
And for this Chinese New Year, I found my favourite cookie. It's a chocolate mixed with cornflakes and peanuts with crunchy biscuit in the middle. I can finish the whole bottle in one day.
I will try to make this cookie myself in one of these days.......
My treasure......and I don't leave any crumbs behind.
I was just about to blog about the unpleasant feeling about pets being exhibited in shopping malls and being poked by onlookers and then I came about a video of "Sushi" a brown poodle dog being abused by the owner and they have got the guts to video shoot the whole abuse.What are they? psychos? I am sick to my tummy that I can't watch it further. I just don't understand why people could do such a thing to an animal who doesn't speak, who yelps at being slap and thrown across the room .....this is tragic...I imagined myself in "Sushi" 's predicament and to go through it everyday is excruciatingly painful. I sure hope that something could be done to these folks. Maybe throw them in jail for 2 years or send them to a mental rehabilitation. It seems that the punishment under the Malaysian Animals Act 1953 is too lenient (fine of RM200 or 6 months or both). My whole day is affected by that video. It is horrible!
Just few days ago, I went to Tropicana shopping mall and saw that there is a pet exhibition in the centre court and they exhibited mostly puppies. I regreted ever being there because I feel disgusted by adults prying their fingers into the cages and poke at the puppies. It is terrible. I mean I feel terrible looking at that poor darling curled up in the cage feeling vulnerable and having people poking it is certainly a torture. Can you imagine you are that puppy being poke at the whole day? Obviously, we need some education about how to be gentle to these creatures. I mean they are living creatures too which granted them every right to be treated with gentle and respect.
I have been wanting to make my own kaya for ages. I feel the greatest satisfaction preparing my own kaya especially for my family although I can't call it perfection yet. Cooking is my life. It is through cooking that I bond with memories of my mother, my father, my grandma and my siblings. The experience is always fun.
Whenever I cook, I will go way back into my teenies where I cooked myself lunch after school. You don't know how proud it is for a teenager to cook for herself. It cultivates the character of being independent and able to take care of oneself.
It brought by the memories when my mom went for her holiday overseas and I am given the task of cooking for the family. At that time there is no rice cooker, only a traditional stainless steel pot and it takes a bit of skill for the rice to be cooked. At that time I am on my wits end when my father commented how long more will the rice be cooked. He must be pretty hungry then and the cooking is taking a long time; a result of a young inexperience cook. But the experience is full of excitement.
Again I built up my self esteem when my mother assigned me to cook for the family when she was ill. Such trust she has upon me is unforgettable. It shows love and trust and I would bring this family practice down to my children.
The other memory will be with my siblings. We were young and cooking can be a class of humor when dealing with amateurs. I laugh at my brother for cooking chicken that is half raw and he laughed at me when I have a slice of cooked egg white in between my chocolate brownie ( the egg whites are suppose to fold in between the batter before cooking but I just dump the whole eggs into them..hah!)
Between me and my grandmother, we don't have much in common except for cooking and her telling me about her life in the olden days. We don't talk much, but we do spend a big amount of time talking about delicious food and cooking together.
I am a bit off the topic but excuse me if they sound bragging. I just want my memories documented down in my blog. Who knows if blogger still exists when I am in my 70s, this blog will be very much valuable to me.:).
Ok enough of the memories about cooking. Now, I want to get in to this kaya. I will call it a sweet egg jam that is most love by Malaysians, Singaporeans and Indonesians. We will have this for breakfast and children loveeeees them! I love kaya which has an intense pandan aroma. I prefer to prepare the kaya myself because commercial ones don't have enough pandan flavor and some of them tasted fake.
I got this recipe from this website and I really have to thank Nazlina because my kaya turn out very well the first time I prepared it. I have to chuckle to myself that gone are the days when we buy recipe books, search high and low (neighbors and friends) for recipes . Here in the internet we can learn from the experienced cook online and it save us from experiments that will go wild and bad.
Tags: Kaya, Malaysians, Sinagporeans, Indonesians, cooking, memories, kaya recipe
I have been quite for about 2 weeks. Gosh I feel lazy. I have taken many pictures but have yet to upload them here. Wish I can shake myself up and tell myself to wake up and get to work. *Huh*
It's another year and another older me. My new year resolution is to be as young as my heart feels though my skin doesn't feel that way.
Ok, I want to share this yummy silken tofu dish. I know some people don't like to eat silken tofu by itself because they are tasteless but their silky smooth texture is ok. Try buying organic silken tofu, they have yummilicious soya taste.
Ingredients:
Garlics
Broccoli
carrots
mushroom
silken tofu
Minced the garlic and cut the rest of the veggies into small pieces but leave the silken tofu alone for awhile.
Next, heat the wok / pan then saute the garlic till fragrant. Then, add the veggies. After they are almost cooked, add the silken tofu and mash it then and there.
Add 1/3 bowl of water, together a 1 1/2 tablespoon of oyster/ mushroom sauce, a teaspoon of sesame oil and some soy sauce.
Stir fry for a few minutes and it will be done.
