PPC Foo Chow red wine paste chicken

Finally I got hold of the Foo Chow red wine paste (from my aunt). Together with ginger wine (given by a friend), I could easily cook this dish in the pressure cooker!

The ingredients used:

Ghee Hiang sesame oil, 4 big tbsp Foo Chow red wine paste, chicken , ginger stripes, about 300ml ginger wine and garlic

Stir fry ginger and garlic with sesame oil under bake (vege) mode.

Add in the chicken and stir.

Add in the red wine paste and stir.

Add in ginger wine (amount just nice to cover the chicken) and stir.

Close lid, seal it and I used ‘Steam’ KPT10. The reason being – I know I will likely keep it warm and I don’t want my chicken to be too soft!

Done!

Taste great with mee suah!

Pressure cooker pig stomach with ground nuts

Here we have a postnatal nourishing soup: the pig stomach with ground nuts soup

The ingredients prepared: cleaned pig stomach, some pork bone for soup, soaked ground nuts, carrot, ginger, garlic,roasted white pepper and water

Using Phillips pressure cooker, under default mode for ‘beans/tendon, kpt30, cook the ingredients!

I left it in the pressure cooker for about 2 hours before taking the cooked pig stomach out to cut! It was really tender! 

Fried hoi sin sauce pork

Blanched pork marinated in Angel Brand hoi sin sauce, egg, five spiced powder, Angel Brand thick soy sauce, corn flour and rice flour (no exact measurement) – marinated it overnight. Then shallow fry the marinated pork!
——

Some thoughts: 
I still prefer giving my girls seasoning free food. But with my elder girl growing older, I do slowly introduce her to seasonings. In this one year, I started to learn more about Angel Brands products – and I have much assurance that most of its products (if not all) have no added MSG, preservative and artificial colouring.

Yah, I have been frying pork quite often because Noelle likes it that way! At least, I don’t have to pester/nag her to eat meat!

Lunch: 

Fuzzy melon with minced pork

Fried curry and turmeric powder fish

Old cucumber chicken soup 
Dinner:

Fried hoi sin sauce pork 

Stir fry spinach 

Black beans for milk booster drink

One thing I learn before delivery this time round is how to toast and store black beans! And this lesson only happened after two jars of toasted black beans – one stored in fridge (in two weeks) and another at room temperature (less than one week)- had growing fungus! I decided to ask the herb shopkeeper for advice! 

I realised the mistake I made! I shouldn’t have soaked the beans. What I needed to do is to just wipe the beans with a clean damp cloth! Then toast it over the pan until well done (took me about 15 minutes) or you can smell the good fragrant from the beans! Let the toasted beans rest in open air and room temperature overnight. Then store into a glass sealed container and keeping it under room temperature! 

Meals today:

Our lunch: Hokkien mee

Kids’ lunch: Udon soup
Everyone’s dinner:

Stew lemon grass chicken 

Stir fry broccoli, cauliflower and tofu

Advantage Quest Publication warehouse sale!

Coincidentally a friend (Rachel Ong) shared the warehouse sale post yesterday on facebook. Hubby and I are sort of ‘fans’ to this publication house – not just because they have affordable range of books but also good range of books’ topics plus interesting authors. The motivation books sold at the warehouse were not more than RM10 per book. There were some range of Disney books and children activities books that were as low as RM5. There were many designed note books sold! 

There wasn’t any crowd when we were there after lunch and before their naptime. It was located at their factory which is not too far from our place.

Meals today!

My breakfast: Oats with extra virgin coconut oil and molasses sugar + fruits
Our lunch:

Loh hon chai 

Fried red beancurd pork 

Chinese cabbage and pumpkin chicken soup 
Our dinner:

Loh hon chai

Stew chicken with carrot and potato

Long beans omelette 

Chinese cabbage and pumpkin chicken soup

Planning for rejuvenation after birth

Last day of my planned meal
Breakfast: Egg mayo and fruits (no pic)

Lunch: Salted egg fried rice (for hubby and I)

Spinach noodles in soup with cheese omelette (for kids)

Teatime: Egg mayo wrap

Dinner: Baked honey chicken thigh served with macaroni 
********

Today marks two weeks since we welcomed baby Norrah. And it means I had two weeks of ‘recuperating’ from labour. Yeah, it is recuperating rather than ‘confinement’ since I don’t confine myself. 
Like the other two kids, we didn’t have any confinement lady with us. With Noelle, we had confinement catering – but we regretted the decision – for poor service and it being pricey. With Nikki, I decided to prepared my (our) own food – and with this ‘experience’ (plus I had a pleasant time deciding my own food), we decided to go ahead with our decision to preparing our own food after delivery of Norrah! 
Many did ask me if I were getting a confinement lady this time round – and a few assured me that ‘You will need help this time!’ 🤔 I did stumbled to think ‘if I could really do it myself this time?’ – but then I gave myself self confidence that ‘it is possible!’ 
I actually did not ‘panic’ this time round and got most planning and preparation starting only in July! Even my bestie and hubby were asking why was I so relaxed this time round! 🤣 So, I put some ‘stress’ on myself – more stress when the house water pipe burst and required renovation. The whole day cleaning/mopping the kitchen actually resulted to my rectum bleeding (due to over squating) and some mild contraction- panic la tu that day (I wasn’t ready for birth at that point and it was just 35 weeks of pregnancy!); so I actually went to bed rest [i didn’t expose this earlier as I don’t want cause a major concern]. Thankfully all was fine then. I quickly finished up my ‘planning’ during the period of rest! 
So, then came the plan – where I cooked some food and stored in freezer, partially prepared some food/soup ingredients and stored raw meat in the freezer. Menus for two weeks were written and passed to hubby (just in case I needed his help – I labeled most of the things) and it was also my guide (which can be repeated in weeks ahead). I was more concerned about Noelle and Nikki’s meals when I am away in hospital – because when I am back from hospital, I am sure everything would be in place! And it went as long expected (and I required the least help from hubby – though he did offered help; I find myself working on it far faster than explaining to him 😝). But by him helping me cut and prepare fruits for the girls every morning, it did save my 30 min on a daily basis! Like what hubby said, I just required a part time nanny to look after the other two! 
While many think that the meal plans I prepared seem tedious, to me – actually they were pretty simple (imagine if you work on excel all day long in office for few years, you will be so familiar with it – so myself working in kitchen for these four years or more on a daily basis, I become so familiar with it too)! 
I wasn’t ‘tired’ per say, but actually feeling contented! The freezer and fridge were almost full when I left for the hospital. And slowly now, it became empty – actually the feeling is great – seeing how things fall in plan! I not only followed the plan but as days go by (where my lethargic feelings went away and I slowly gained energy) I also could improvised the dishes – for example, from baked chicken I could stew it instead! The key was preparing ‘healthy and balanced’ meals – rather than ‘confinement food’, per say! 
During this ‘recuperating’ period, being ‘happy’ and doing things that make me ‘happy’ are two most important thing! The main reason why I don’t like having a confinement lady is – I don’t like having a stranger at home; what more a stranger who can ‘nag’ me though I am the one paying her! I don’t need someone to look after myself as I can look after myself – and having a fully breastfed baby who just direct latch – taking care of the baby is minimal. 

Again, the issue is then looking after the two elder kids! And I trust no other than my hubby with them two! Thankfully, hubby’s company has two weeks paternity (though he has been working from home and going back to work for 1.5 days🙄) and this is also his daddy’s role- so he was in charge of the two kids (though it was more like the two kids bullying him 😂)! Well, overall, he did well with the two fellas in these two weeks! It was more like he was having confinement as in ‘confined’ to the two girls! 🙄😂
The short grocery shoppings that hubby brought us along was also mind rejuvenating ! 
I have also some fabulous people to thank – who thought of me and offered to cook for me (or help around) during this period – though I ‘rejected’ most of them, ‘kam-siah’! 
I no longer have a pre-planned menu tomorrow but as I mentioned a lot can be repeated from the same planned menu! Next week will also be the real test when hubby officially goes to work (and comes home late🙄)!

Confinement meal 10

Today I didn’t follow the pre-planned menu! It is also because I am cooking lunch for hubby! And tomorrow is THE final menu – I will follow partly, I guess! 

My breakfast: fruity overnight oats 
Our lunch:

Stir fry cucumber with mushroom 

Stir fry leek with lap Cheong and dark sauce 

Steamed threadfin 

Radish chicken soup 

Kids had macaroni with radish chicken soup topped with steamed threadfin 
Our dinner:

Chicken nuggetto for the kids 

Sweet and sour chicken (first time using instant Brahim sweet honey sauce – but I think I can make a better sauce than this premix sauce – tasted a little artificial)

Stir fry bok choy with garlic

Nothing much today except we went to Heromart to get veggies. Norrah and Nikki stayed in car with hubby while I and Noelle did the quick grocery shopping. Then during naptime, I ‘requested’ hubby to ‘go out’ 😝 so that we all can nap without interruption – so he went out to settle his stuff. 
Anyway, today marks his official last day of paternity leave! We have him for the next four off days before the long days (for me) begin again (reminder to self: days are long, years are short!)

A trip to the bank

Today we get some ‘fresh air’ out there – we went to the bank to open savings and sspn accounts for Norrah (just like we did for Noelle and Nikki in their early days)! 
We waited quite some time in the bank for the account opening. The bank officer was rather ‘slow’ until Norrah fussed – once Norrah was heard crying in the bank, everything was sped up – the officer looked panicky! 🙄🤣 (should have used that ‘speed’ earlier)! 
Today I managed to nurse Norrah in the carrier despite her petite size! 

Nikki behaved better than Noelle in the bank! 🙄

Nothing much today after coming back from the bank. Hubby went back to work in the second half of the day! 🙄🙄The kids managed to nap at their usual hours. And mama had chance to settle some housechores. 

Sensory play cum snack time
This coordination play was ‘designed’ for Nikki but Noelle wanted to be included. On the other hand, Nikki became defensive as she thought Jeh Jeh was taking over her snack! Nikki then cried because she didn’t want to share. Eventually after showing her few times how we were ‘playing’ and not ‘taking away’ her snack, Nikki accepted it and played together! 

After ‘playing’, we ate the cheerios that were stacked along the sticks. No wastage, for sure! <video>

Dinnertime was rather rush and frustrating – as ‘all’ things (eat, 💩, bath) happened at the same time! 😓😓(Self reminder: I can’t expect everyday is a smooth running day!)

Anyway, today also marks Nikki turning 20th month old! 😁😁😁

Today’s menu is totally out of the plan as I wanted to leave the easier menus next week when hubby goes to work!

So I cooked one pot chicken and veggie curry for lunch and dinner. I used instant curry paste for simplicity.

I used our butterfly blue pea flowers to make evco rice! 

We had stir fry bok choy with red pepper and mushroom and fried eggs for lunch while I blanched spinach in soup for dinner.

Breakfast was egg mayo in homemade wrap with fruits!

Mama handles three!

With hubby going back to work today (despite still being on paternity leave – because of work urgency 🙄🙄), I am less ambitious in kitchen today! 😂 I wanted to ‘test water’ how the girls behave when papa is not at home. 

So I just cooked one pot minced pork with baked beans pasta sauce – for both lunch and dinner. On the side, we have vegetables salad! Anyway I am still following my pre-planned menu and it was coincidental that I have simple meal plan today! 😝

Noelle was with her usual request – noodles soup for lunch; she wanted seaweed noodles. I am fine with her request as it is not something extravagant that she asks for. For this, it is important for me to have some extra soup in fridge at all times! She agreed to have spaghetti for dinner later! 

Breakfast was egg mayo sandwich with fruits. 

For tea, I quickly kneaded flat bread dough and made wrap using the veggies and pasta sauce!

Ok, I ‘passed’ myself! 🤣 At least they behaved relatively well today! 

Lunch <video>

Dinner <video>

Maiden attempt to putting three to nap simultaneously! ✌🏻

I just have to remind myself to:

– simplify things

– fewer ‘goals’ in a day 

– handling emotions first than achieving ‘goals’ 

– don’t be a perfectionist/ less OCD

– leave whatever that can be delayed to the last of the day 

– rest when they nap

– be kind to myself 
Anyway, papa is back and will be ‘serving’ his last days of paternity leave in the next few days! 😂

Happy kids 👉🏻happy mama👉🏻happy baby (and happy papa)

No secret + not hiding – and guess not surprising to some 🙄🙄 (some may be shaking head though 🤦🏻‍♀️😝) – we went out to chill ourselves at Citta Chill Out Weekend, where they have a very mini Farm in The City (just comprised of rabbits, roasters, hamsters, turkeys and llama). The activity was free. They were having promotion on visits to their farms – 50% off, and we did purchase them – which is valid till Jan next year! 

Noelle was very happy seeing and feeding the rabbits; still on the ‘nervous’ side of holding them (I actually told her that if she is nervous of holding them, please don’t- as I don’t want to see her ‘throwing’ the rabbit down because it will hurt the rabbits; after giving a thought, she gave way of carrying them). 

Nikki was afraid initially – but as Noelle encouraged her by giving rabbit feeds, Nikki started to be braver! I didn’t timed how long we were there – but they had a great time there despite just a small area and few species.

Video <here> 

We had to pursuit Noelle to go by bringing them to McDonald’s playground. I finally ‘rewarded’ myself with a good cup of premium roasted coffee; though it was just McDonald’s coffee – it was the best coffee is 2017 (for now)! I want to thank THE one who reminded me to reward myself on one pleasant morning earlier in the week! 😉 And so far, two ‘nennentator’ still taking their naps (no coffee effect yet 🙄😂). 

And finally we went to supermarket before returning home! 

While we try to adjust ourselves with baby Norrah, it is also time for baby Norrah to adjust to certain of our schedules. Well, she did ‘well’ by sleeping through in the carrier.

Meals today!

My breakfast: Tuna and cheese toast & pressure cooker red and green beans & fruits
Our lunch:

Leftover braised yam and chicken (not in pic)

Fried lobak (homemade by Nicole Ann Ng)

Stir fry broccoli with pork 

Peanut and lotus root soup

Kids had seaweed noodles
Our dinner:

Steamed chicken in vegetables and brands chicken essence 

Stir fry sawi with enoki mushroom and cherry tomatoes 

Pork nuggetto