Addicted to Mushrooms

Recently I've done a TAG about my Top 5 Addictions, however, if I can add in one more addiction, it would definitely be Mushrooms!!

Ever since MW & I have started eating vegetarian on every 1st & 15th day of the Lunar Calendar about 5 years ago, we are hooked on this fungi. The reasons for having this practise is not purely religion related though. I also wanted to let my digestive system to take a break from all the meat that I've consumed on all the other days and to practice self-discipline. Yes, sometimes we needed an extra dose of self-discipline to keep our hands away from the enticing plate of sweet & sour pork ribs that the others are having. This does not mean that we are just torturing ourselves by insisting on eating Vege only on these days. Vegetarian meals can be very interesting and full of varieties especially if we include mushrooms in them :P

Mushrooms are full of Vitamins, Minerals and the disease fighting antioxidants. What's more, its fats-free, low in calories, cholesterol-free and very low in sodium. I'll usually add in loads of mushrooms in dishes like Stir-Fried Mee Sua with Mushrooms, Japanese Fried Rice with Mushrooms, and our All-Time favourite Pasta in Tomato Sauce (that's what we're having tonight for dinner which btw, included Buna Shijimei, Shitake & Enoki). Just fry some minced garlic, onions and mushrooms, add in a can of diced tomatoes, couple of tsps of tomato paste, oregano and salt & pepper, that's all. Done! It's very yummlicious :P

 

The Best Way to Eat Fries

I guess all kids just love the taste of french fries. So even though I'm quite particular of the kinds of food that I feed ZY, I will allow ZY to eat some fries occasionally so as not to deprive her of her childhood. This is also my way of preventing her from gorging fries whenever she has some pocket money in the future :)

When buying fries, I will always make a special order to have unsalted ones so as to reduce the saltiness of this sinful 'snacks'. ZY, however, goes a step further by eating the fries in her own very special and healthy way... and from what I can see, that's the BEST WAY TO EAT FRIES and ALL OF US SHOULD FOLLOW HER WAY :D



See my little girl dips her fries into a cup of water before consuming them. I really have no idea where she learnt it from as I like to eat my fries plain without any sauces. Even though I have suggested to dip her fries in tomato sauce, she just look at me and refused to touch the sauce.

Looking at the way she enjoys her fries, I guess this little girl deduced that she can unreservedly eat more fries by making them less salty & oily =_="

Top 5 Addictions

Tks Joyce for tagging me :D

Here's my addictions (in no particular order)

1. Writing my blogs & reading others blogs

2. Buying books for myself & ZY (I've still a few books that I've bought last year that are yet to be read)

3. Cheesecake :P (I can eat an 9-inch round cheesecake all by myself in less than 3 days)

4. Going to Daiso & buying Bento stuff (that I've yet to used)

5. buying stickers (everytime I go bookstore/Pasar Malam Stall, I'll sure buy a few sheets)

Erm..Think I'm suppose to tag someone but hor most of by bloggers friends are already being tag le, so....

Clicking Away..

I have chanced upon this website www.starfall.com while surfing the Internet one day. It's quite an interesting site that teaches little kids phonics and reading. ZY is able to correctly click on the right button at the "Favourites Centre" to go into this website :D And judging at the speed of her nimble fingers, I guess this little girl has got the genes from her daddy :) ZY is very interested in it and has fantastic times trying out on the different games! Some of her favourites are Snowman, Gingerbread Man and Turkey

Colouring Exercise

I happened to see a stack of colouring papers on the counter of the Swensen Restaurant during our last visit, so took a piece home to let ZY try. This is the first time that I let ZY coloured on a paper with picture on it because I usually let her "free play" and colour on plain paper instead.

It's either ZY has little patience or this piece of paper is too big, as she needed some coaxing before she finishes the whole piece :(

Anyway, she manages not to colour too "out-of-line" with my constant reminding :)

 

 

ZY Birthday Celebration (Part II)

Today is ZY birthday. I really can't believe that the little baby that I've carried not too long ago is already 3 years old!! (For my record, ZY is 96cm tall and weighs about 13.1kg)

ZY who is attending playgroup now did not go to school today as she did not wish to celebrate her birthday in school. Weird right? I have asked her a few times for the past few weeks whether she wanted to celebrate her birthday and cut her cake in front of her friends at school, but she adamantly said NO everytimes. Anyway, its her birthday, so I let her decide lor :)

 

We went to the newly extended Jurong Point in the morning with her stroller as we intended to chiong for the whole day and hence ZY needed to take her nap in the stroller. The place is really far away from our house and by the time we reached there, its already almost noon! So we quickly have our lunch at the 3rd floor Kopitiam and geared up for our mission for the day - Birthday Present for ZY! However, ZY is so tired by now that she was kicking a fuss and was asking for her nap so we had to grant Her Majesty's wish lor, hiaz..

So while ZY was taking her nap, we explored the mall and stop over at the dessert shop at the basement to rest our feet. This shop, 记得吃 served Hong Kong desserts and its our first time patronising it. We ordered the Mango & Pomelo cold dessert and the Almond Paste with Black Glutinous Rice Ball. It's delicious :P
MW even jokingly said that luckily it does not have a branch at Toa Payoh, or else he will patronise it everyday during his lunch hour!!

 

After ZY nap, we went to Kiddy Palace for ZY bday present. She had such a good time mingling among the wide array of toys :) She also had a hard time choosing one toy but finally decided to select the baby doll set.

We quickly took the train back to avoid the peak hour madness and reached Causeway Point around 5p.m as I needed to collect the Sesame Block Cake that I've ordered for ZY. Another reason was also because I've got to know from a fellow blogger that Swensons offer a complimentary sundae to the birthday girl :P
We ordered the Sourdough 49er Chicken, Caeser Salad with Breaded Fish and the BBQ Halfed Chicken. The BBQ Chicken was a great disapointment as the meat was dry and tough :(
(we will remember not to order this dish again if we ever go back cos' we are usually a Jack's Place regular, hehe)

 

At the end of the meal, we got to eat our complimentary Firehouse Birthday Sundae, yummylicious :P

 

 

The day finally ended with the singing of birthday song (again)..
I would think that ZY would have refused to cut the cake simply bcos its so cute but NO, this 'sweet' little birthday girl was so eager to cut up Big Bird, Elmo & Cookie Monster that I did not have the opportunities to take a good picture of the cake!!!

 

Birthday present from daddy with Love..hehehe, I think she has the potential of becoming a great mum in the distant future!! Yes, she even named the doll, Pecky :D

 

A Very Happy & Joyful Birthday to my little princess,

With Love,
Daddy & Mommy

ZhiYu's Birthday Celebration

We celebrated ZY's three years old birthday today. Her actual birthday is on the 10th of February, but we have a mini party for her. We invited our family and some of my close friends to join in the fun :)

ZY as you know loves to sing birthday song and cut cakes, so she was extremely excited to be finally able to have a real party and cut her own birthday cake. I've ordered her cake from a neighbourhood bakery near my mum place as ZY has specifically requested to have an Sesame Street cake. I do not like the cake from Polar, who also has Sesame Street cake, as the picture is on a thin crepe and not directly drawn on the cake. I've given the design to the cake shop and it came out quite nice :) What's more the cake comes with Sesame Street figurines which ZY will be able to play with after the party!

 

The kids are enjoying themselves with the sparkles after lunch. My mum has made this dress for ZY especially for her birthday and it looks so good on her.

 

ZY who has lots of practices, has no problem blowing the candles and cutting the cake. My friend even jokes that ZY has a SOP (standard Operation Procedure) and do not need any help or prompting on what to do :D

 

 

 

As for her actual birthday on Tuesday, we intend to bring her out on a shopping spree to buy her a present. Of course, the present must be approved by me lah :D

Mummy's Good Helper

Ever since ZY is still very young, I have allowed her to help me in doing housework whenever she initiates to help. I believe that since she shows interest in helping, I need to encourage her rather than thinking that she is just too young to help. She might make a mess initially or a task will take me twice the time to complete but I am sure that after some practices and guidance, she will be able to hone her motor skill and has greater self confidence.

Like for example now, she is a pro in helping me to putting the peg on freshly washed clothes and taking the peg out when they are dried. And I tell you, she can do it really FAST!!!

 

ZY also likes to help me to prepare her favourite dishes like Stir-fry French Beans w Garlic & Oyster sauce and Steamed Egg with Minced Pork. She will quietly sit on the floor and break the french beans into equal lengths (good to train her patience) and also mixed the eggs & minced pork without spilling (practice her motor skills).

 

 

So you see, my 36 months old girl has becomes mummy's best helper. Thanks dear :)

Papa, Please Get The Moon For Me

ZY has quite a number of Eric Carle's books. I love his books simply because its easy to read, repetition of words and also the illustrations. They are always very colourful and hence very captivating.

Today, ZY and I tried to "replicate" one of the illustration in Eric Carle's book "Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me." We've make used of the okra (again) that was left in my fridge for the stars and used the sponge to paint the dark evening sky.

I'm not sure where ZY learnt it from, but this little girl will use both her hands to hold the paint brush when she is painting the corners. Guess she has found out that she can have better control of the paint brush if she holds it with both hands :D

 

95% of the painting is done by ZY as I've helped her to outline the moon and draw the face of the moon. I've wanted to use the light yellow for the moon, but ZY highlighted to me that the moon in this book is greyish in colour and she insisted that I followed.

So here it is, our "masterpiece" :D